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Previous studies divided the Sinian-Cambrian gas accumulation processes into three stages, including (1) paleo-oil accumulation; (2) paleo-oil cracking; and (3) gas reservoir adjustment and finalization. The author thinks that they ignored a key process, during which the natural gas invades and changes the paleo-oil reservoirs into paleo-gas reservoirs. According to the micro-observation of bitumen in reservoirs, there were great differences between the asphaltene formed by gas invasion and the pyrobitumen formed by paleo-oil cracking. When the gas invasion happened in paleo-reservoirs, asphaltene was separated out and the liquid hydrocarbon was partially changed into solid bitumen which lead to the increase of gas storage for oil-cracking gas and source rocks pyrolysis gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petroleum asphaltenes consist of complex hydrocarbon molecules that pose a marked difficulty in the production of crude oils. They tend to flocculate and precipitate during oils refinery and this stimulates considerable interest in the elucidation of their molecular structure for improved processing. In this investigation, five bitumen samples obtained from oil sand outcrops at five localities in Nigeria were used. These were treated with n-pentane that necessitates the precipitation of asphaltene. The different asphaltene samples were analyzed by the x-ray diffraction technique to obtain their various structural parameters. The parameters were determined from the peaks of the gamma (γ) band, graphene (c=c) or (002) band and the (10) or (11) band in the diffraction spectra of the respective samples. Slight variations in the distance between the aliphatic chains and the distance between the aromatic sheets were observed for three of the samples, while the remaining two presented significant variations in the structural parameters. Variations in the average number of carbon atoms per aromatic units correspond to the variation in the size and number of aromatic units and aliphatic chains. The variations consequently determined the level of processing necessary to improve the heavy oil (bitumen). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]