--> EXAMINING METHODS FOR OIL-SOURCE ROCK CORRELATIONS: A STUDY OF INORGANIC BIOMARKERS AND THEIR USE IN SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS, SPIVEY-GRABS-BASIL OIL FIELD IN KINGMAN AND HARPER COUNTIES

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EXAMINING METHODS FOR OIL-SOURCE ROCK CORRELATIONS: A STUDY OF INORGANIC BIOMARKERS AND THEIR USE IN SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS, SPIVEY-GRABS-BASIL OIL FIELD IN KINGMAN AND HARPER COUNTIES

Abstract

One of the largest and most productive Mississippian oil fields in south Kansas is the Spivey-Grabs-Basil in southwestern Kingman and northwestern Harper Counties. A primary question being considered in this project is: does Kansas create its own oil or has the oil in this field migrated from a distant source (i.e. the Woodford Shale in the Anadarko Basin)? The reservoir seems to be highly compartmentalized, complicating hydrocarbon production. This offers a natural laboratory for examining biomarker change, elemental variation within the oils, and an oil-source rock correlation using oil analysis results against potential source rock (Chattanooga Shale). Pre-established examination of biomarkers–found using GCMS–in the oils show two different oil types. Concurrent research and testing of the same oils to analyze inorganic biomarkers with ICP-MS focuses on expanding methodology to understand oil creation and migration. These data are compared to the underlying potential source rock, the Chattanooga which is stratigraphically equivalent to the Woodford shale in Oklahoma. Due to the stratigraphic relationship between the units, this project accurately predicts a positive correlation. Testing the potential source rock includes pyrolysis, GCMS, and ICP-MS to compare with oil analysis. Pyrolysis of potential source rock shows expected levels of variability in TOC with weight % ranging 0.75 to 3.75. This data fits into the compartmentalization model postulated for the area.