Transcript Petroleum Exploration Methods

HGS Petroleum
Exploration Methods
What Geologists and
Geophysicists
do to find oil and gas
Cerro Azul #4 blow-out,
Veracruz, Mexico
February 1916
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HGS Petroleum
Exploration Methods
Part I:
What is petroleum
and where is it found?
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What is Petroleum?
A natural, yellow-to-black, flammable, liquid
hydrocarbon found beneath the earth’s surface
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The Origin of Petroleum
Organic-rich
Source Rock
Thermally Matured
Organic Matter
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Oil
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Kerogen Types
TOC 2.12 WT.%
TOC .38 WT.%
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Types of Petroleum
Oil and gas are formed by the thermal cracking of
organic compounds buried in fine-grained rocks
Algae = Hydrogen rich = Oil-prone
Wood = Hydrogen poor = Gas-prone
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What is Petroleum?
What is it used for?
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What is Petroleum?
More Than 3,000 Products
• Detergents - Cosmetics
• Fertilizers - Weed Killers
• Medicine - Antiseptics - Anesthetics
• Plastics - Synthetic Fibers
• Synthetic Rubber
• Rust Preventatives
• Liquid Petroleum Gas
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Petroleum—Where is it found?
Basins are containers for sediment
Earth’s basins contain sediment/rocks, air, or water
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Basins: Forces that shape the earth’s crust
Plate Tectonics
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Basins: Forces that shape the earth’s crust
Basins form in response to subsidence caused by movement of
the crust and grow due tectonic “loading”
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Basins: Forces that shape the earth’s crust
Basins form in response to subsidence of the
crust and grow due “loading” of sediment deposited in them
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Basins: Sedimentary rocks accumulate in basins
Basins may contain petroleum
source rocks, reservoir rocks and
seal rocks
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