Petroleum Geology

Lecture: 5
 The Source Rock
Questions to be asked:

❖What is a source rock for oil and/or gas?

❖Where is the likely place to find a source rock?
❖How much oil and/or gas has a source rock in a basin
produced?

➢What is the quality and quantity of a source rock?

➢What is the timing of maturation for oil and for gas?
➢Did the time of maturation coincide with tectonic events
that could have formed traps, leaking fractures, etc.?
Definition of source rock:
A Petroleum source rock is any rock that has the capability to generate and expel enough
hydrocarbons to form an accumulation of oil and gas.
➢A potential source rock is one that is too immature to generate petroleum in its natural setting but
will form significant quantities of petroleum when heated in the lab.
➢An effective source rock is one that has already formed and expelled
petroleum to a reservoir.

Characterizing source rocks

To be a source rock, a rock must have three features:
• Quantity of organic matter
• Quality capable of yielding moveable hydrocarbons
• Thermal maturity
Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
If a rock contains significant amounts of organic carbon, it is a possible source rock for
petroleum or gas. The TOC content is a measure of the source rock potential and is
measured with total pyrolysis.

Source Rocks
Generally, finer-grained sediments contain more organic matter than coarser-grained
ones because of the restricted diffusion and thus the lower amount of oxygen that can
get in contact with OM. TOC can reach 20% or more. Coals and oil shales are rich in OM
but are called source rocks.
 Total organic carbon (TOC) is the main measurement used for estimating the quality and
productivity of a source rock.

➢ Based on Total Organic Carbon (TOC) measurements, the rock which has sufficient organic
matter can be considered a source rock.

➢ Rocks that have insufficient TOC content can be rule out as possible source rocks.
➢ The TOC content needed for petroleum generation is thought to be greater in siliciclastic shales than
in carbonate source rocks. The table below shows how TOC (in weight percent) relates to
the source rock quality.

Generation potential of petroleum source rocks based on TOC content

 Habitat of Source Rocks
Inefficient overall process of hydrocarbon accumulation:
(reservoir oil/generated petroleum in place) < 15%
Generally, finer-grained sediments contain more organic matter than coarser-grained ones because of
the restricted diffusion and thus the
lower amount of oxygen that can get in contact with OM. TOC can reach 20% or more.
Coals and oil shales are rich in OM but are called source rocks.

Quality of a source rock – How much petroleum can be generated?

• Quality of kerogen – Types I and II for oil; Type III for gas.
• Types of rocks with high-quality kerogen –
➢ Gray and black (not steel gray) shales, calcareous shales and
argillaceous limestones, non-fossiliferous limestones and dolomite.

Quantity of a source rock – How much petroleum can be generated?

• Quantity of kerogen TOC
• Quantity of source rocks with high TOC – Thickness, distribution.

➢ Source rocks in a sequence stratigraphic framework.

Dehydrogenization and Carbonization

The dehydrogenation and carbonization of organic source material can be illustrated

with the H:C ratio during the formation of coals:

Source material H:C ratio

Wood 1.5
Peat 1.3

Lignite 1.0
Bit. coal 0.8
Anthracite 0.3-0.0

Deoxygenization and Carbonization

The deoxygenation and carbonization of the source material is illustrated with the
formation of petroleum:

Source material O:C ratio

Organisms 0.35-0.6
Pyrobitumen (kerogen) 0.1-0.2
Petroleum (average) 0.004
 Time of Maturation – Any Oil Generated Yet?
• Oil and gas windows

• Maturation indicators
➢ Vitrinite reflectance (Ro),
➢ Tmax (determined by pyrolysis of source rocks),
➢ fluorescence color,

• Transformation ratio of kerogens – Time, temperature, pressure, kerogen type.

➢ Time and temperature compensate with each other and there is a relationship
between them, but temperature seems more important.
➢ Temperature and pressure are related in terms of reaction kinetics, but
temperature is more important.

• Burial history and Thermal history

➢ Superimpose subsidence curve on a oil-window
➢ Timing between maturation, expulsion, formation of migration pathways, time of
secondary migration, formation of traps, formation of leaking fractures and deep
burial (preservation)
➢ Time lag between time of source rock deposition and time of petroleum
generation – 1-100s Ma.
Maturation Indicators

Several approaches to quantify the degree of maturation have been proposed. Most of them are
sensitive to temperature and time.

Purposes of Maturation Indicators

• To recognize and evaluate potential source rocks for oil and gas by measuring their contents

in organic carbon and their thermal maturities

• To correlate oil types with probable source beds through their geochemical characteristics and

the optical properties of kerogen in the source beds

• To determine the time of hydrocarbon generation, migration and accumulation

• To estimate the volumes of hydrocarbons generated and thus to assess possible reserves and

losses of hydrocarbons in the system.

 Types of Thermal Maturity Modeling

Time-Temperature Index (TTl) Modeling ( L o p a t i n ’ s T T I I n d e x ) (Lopatin, 1971; Waples, 1980)

TTI modeling assumes that:

(1) Only time and temperature are important factors in maturation.

(2) This model assumes the maturity reaction rate doubles every 10 C⁰
(3) Time and temperature can be substituted for each other.
(4) Pressure effects are neglected ➔??
(5) The way in which time and temperature are interconverted depends on a gross simplification
of basic principles of chemical kinetics.

V. Lopatin (1971) recognized the dependence of thermal

maturation from temperature AND time. He developed a
method wherein the temperatures are weighted with the
residence time the rock spent at this temperature. Periods
of erosion and uplift are also taken into account. This so-
called time-temperature index TTI is still in use, although in
variations. The plot on the right shows a simple depiction
of it. Rock of age A enters the oil-generating window at
time y, while the older rock B has been at that time already
in the gas-generating window and will stay there until the
present.
 Depth (m)

Figure showing the relationship between burial time, temperature, depth, and the type of hydrocarbons generated
Other Maturation Indicators

• Vitrinite Reflectance (Ro) measures the reflectance of vitrinite (see Kerogen maturation
diagram) in oil, expressed as a percentage. It correlates with fixed carbon and ranges between
0.5 and 1.3 for the oil window. Laborious but widely used.
• Thermal Alteration Index (TAI) measures the color of finely dispersed organic matter on a
scale from 1 (pale yellow) to 5 (black). This index has a poor sensitivity within the oil window
(TAI around 2.5 to 3.0) and is not generally used.
• Level of Organic Maturation (LOM) is based on coal ranks and is adjusted to give a linear
scale.
 Characteristics of Crude Oil

• Definition – A mixture of hydrocarbons that existed in the liquid phase in

natural underground reservoirs and remains liquid at atmospheric pressure
after passing through surface separating facilities (API, AAPG, SPE)

• Density of crude oil = Degree of API Gravity of Crude Oil

API = 141.5/(specific gravity at 15.5oC) – 131.5

API: The American Petroleum Institute

A crude oil will typically have an API between 15 and 45 degrees. Higher API indicates a
lighter (lower density) crude. Lower API indicates a heavier (more dense) crude. Generally,
lighter (high API) crudes are more valuable because they yield more high-value light
products when run through a refinery.

Light crude is typically in the 35-45 API range, which includes most of the highest
valued crudes such as Brent . A medium crude is in the 25-35 API range, and a
heavy crude is in the 15-25 API range. Anything below 15 API would be considered
an extra-heavy crude.
 Coal and Oil Shales as Sources for Petroleum
Coal

❖ Coals are mainly derived from terrestrial higher plants in nonmarine

environments.
❖ Composition of coal
✓ Macerals (recognizable or unrecognizable),
✓ detritus,
✓ authigenic minerals (pyrite),
✓ gas (hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon), and liquid (water, oil).

❖ Type of macerals – Liptinite, vitrinite, Inertinite

❖ Coalification sequence (Fig. II.8.1)

✓ Peat →brown coal (lignite) → bituminous (hard) coal → anthracite.

❖ The greatest chemical and evolutionary similarities are between coal and Type III
kerogen
❖ Methane as the major hydrocarbon products during coalification (coalbed methane);
✓ may or may not generate commercial oil accumulations, depending on the
liptinite content.
Oil Shale

❖ Any rocks, mostly fine-grained shale (clayey, calcareous, or siliceous),

or limestone, that contain a large amount of kerogen and will yield
economically-viable quantity of oil upon pyrolysis at about 500oC.
✓ Oil shale does not contain producible oil.
✓ Types I and II kerogen as organic matter, low maturity.
✓ Not Type III kerogen as in coal and carbonaceous shales.

❖ Deposited in anoxic lakes, shallow seas, swamps, and lagoons from

late Precambrian to Tertiary

❖ Lower Permian Lucaogou Formation of NW China.

❖ Large reserve of ~500 billion tons of shale oil (conservative estimate).

Gas Shale, Shale Gas, Shale Oil, Oil Sand, Unconventional Oil and Gas
 Examples of the source rocks in Iraq
1. Najmah Limestone Formation
2. Yamama Formation
3. Sulaiy Formation
4. Ratawi Formation
5. Zubair Formation
6. Nahr Umr Formation
7. Sargelu Formation

8. Chia Zairi Formation