Oil & Gas Geology ›› 2008, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (4): 517-526.doi: 10.11743/ogg20080416

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Weakness and difficulty of petroleum geology study and resource assessment:hydrocarbon dissipation

Liu Chiyang1, Ma Yanping2, Wu Bolin1, Liu Chao 1   

  1. 1. Institute of Petroliferous Basin, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics(Northwest University), Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710069, China;
    2. School of Petroleum Resources, Xi'an Shiyou University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710065, China
  • Received:2008-05-26 Online:2008-08-24 Published:2012-01-16

Abstract:

Hydrocarbon migration may have three results:(1)accumulation,(2)diffusion in rocks and fluids,or (3) loss due to interactions with fluids and surrounding rocks or surface exposure.The latter is defined here as dissipation.The dissipation is most active during hydrocarbon migration and is closely linked to hydrocarbon accumulation,thus study of the phenomenon become an indispensible part of petroleum geology research,and petroleum exploration and resource assessment.Hydrocarbon dissipations can be divided into four types according to the differences of quantity and quality of hydrocarbons before and after dissipation:quantity decrease,phase transformation,composition alteration,and quality conversion,reflectting the differences in environment,conditions and characteristics of dissipation.The quality conversion often occurs at surface or near surface,where hydrocarbons will interact with surrounding rocks,pore fluids or air.The epigenetic products and minerals resulted from these interactions generally have no apparent features of hydrocarbons,but the amount of dissipated hydrocarbons is huge,thus much attention should be given to this phenomenon.These products in combination with direct evidences of hydrocarbon dissipation ( such as seepage,bitumen and heavy oil) can not only serve as an important means to address the puzzle of hydrocarbon dissipation and its scale,but also provide effective clues and significant indicators for tracing hydrocarbon pathways,searching for oil and gas pools,and evaluating the scale of dissipations.This paper analyzes and discusses the types,basic characteristics,geochemical properties,environments of formation and distributions of various epigenetic products related with gas dissipation in the Upper Paleozoic in northeastern Ordos Basin.

Key words: hydrocarbon dissipation, destruction of oil and gas pools, hydrocarbon migration, fluid-rock interaction, epigenetic reductive alteration, Ordos Basin

CLC Number: