Oil & Gas Geology ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 1515-1528.doi: 10.11743/ogg20220620

• Methods and Technologies • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A method for evaluating the thermal maturity of marine shale based on graptolite reflectance and Raman spectroscopy: A case from the Lower Palaeozoic Wufeng‒Longmaxi Formations, southern Sichuan Basin, SW China

Jianghui Meng1,2(), Peixi Lyu1,2, Wei Wu3, Renfang Pan1,2, Yiqing Zhu3   

  1. 1.Hubei Cooperative Innovation Center of Unconventional Oil and Gas, Yangtze University, Wuhan, Hubei 430100, China
    2.Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Resources and Exploration Technology, Yangtze University, Wuhan, Hubei 430100, China
    3.Shale Gas Research Institute of Southwest Oil & Gasfield Company, PetroChina, Chengdu, Sichuan 610051, China
  • Received:2022-07-25 Revised:2022-09-20 Online:2022-11-21 Published:2022-11-21

Abstract:

The marine shale of Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations is one of the main targets of the Lower Palaeozoic shale gas exploration in southern Sichuan Basin. The thermal maturity is a vital indicator for source rock and shale gas evaluation. Due to the lack of vitrinite, it has been difficult to establish a method to accurately evaluate the thermal maturity of Lower Palaeozoic marine shale. In total, 33 core samples were selected from the Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations in southern Sichuan Basin to observe the optical characteristics of solid bitumen and graptolites and measure random reflectance. Simultaneously, Raman spectroscopic parameters of kerogen were also used to quantitatively analyze the change of thermal maturity. The results show that compared with solid bitumen, non-granular graptolites are more suitable for reflectance measuring because they have a single source, larger particle size and obvious characteristics, and the random reflectance (GRor) values of non-granular graptolites on sections perpendicular to bedding are more concentrated. The characteristics of Raman spectroscopic parameters of kerogen show that the relationship between GRor and the equivalent vitrinite reflectance (EqRo) is not a single linear relationship in the whole process of thermal evolution. By using Raman spectroscopic parameters of kerogen as mediators, a method for calculating EqRo by GRor was established. The calculation results show that the maturity of Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations in Changning, Luzhou-Dazu and Weiyuan areas decreases successively, their EqRo falls in the range of 2.99 %-3.91 %, 2.87 %-3.54 % and 2.46 %-3.03 %, and the average EqRo is 3.44 %, 3.22 % and 2.77 % respectively. There is an abnormally high maturity area in the western Changning that calls for evaluation of its impact on shale gas exploration.

Key words: solid bitumen, graptolite, Raman spectroscopy, thermal maturity, marine shale, Wufeng?Longmaxi Formations, Lower Palaeozoic, Sichuan Basin

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