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A consensus has been reached through previous studies that organic matter (OM) pores are crucial to porosity in many shale gas reservoirs; however, their origins and types remain controversial. Here, we report the OM pore types hosted in algae, bitumen, graptolite and other fossil fragments in the Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations of the Sichuan Basin, Southwest China. Algae types mainly include multicellular algae, unicellular algae, etc. The OM pores in multicellular algae usually exhibit irregular, bubble-like, spherical and/or elliptical profiles, and their diameters vary between 300 and 800 nm. The shapes of the OM pores in unicellular algae are either irregular or oval, and the pores are hundreds of nanometres in size. The pores associated with solid bitumen are sporadic, isolated and variable in size, ranging from 500 nm to 3 μm. The pores in the graptolite, sponge spicule, radiolarian and other fossil fragments are much smaller and fewer. The pores may only have developed in the surface of the graptolite and bitumen by filling in the biological cavity of the sponge spicule. These new findings provide stronger evidence that multicellular algae are the main hydrocarbon generating organisms of OM pores development.

Shale reservoir has strong heterogeneity in mineral composition and oil content even at a short distance in the same interval. To better understand the accumulation mechanism of shale oil and hydrocarbon migration tendency in the interval, and explore the main influencing factors of distribution. This paper employed various methods, including thin‐section observation, TOC (total organic matter (OM)) analysis, rock pyrolysis, Soxhlet extraction, group component separation, and GC–MS (gas chromatography mass spectrometry) analysis of saturated hydrocarbons. The shale oil samples were collected from an exploratory well in the Songliao Basin, and the distribution and enrichment characteristics of shale oil interlayers were analysed. The results show that the first member of Qingshankou Formation (K2qn1) could be divided into six small layers. From Q1 to Q6, the lithofacies could be divided into three types: high‐frequency laminar shale, massive shale, and bioclastic shale. The lacustrine matrix shale of K2qn1 in Songliao Basin has medium TOC, and high oil contents, OM conversion rate. The TOC ranges from 1.5 to 4.2 wt%, S1 varies between 1.4 and 4 mg/g, S2 falls within the range of 4 to 10.6 mg/g, Tmax ranges from 351 to 497°C, and the OSI varies between 57 and 115.34 mg HC/g rock. The lower part of the K2qn1, Q1–Q4, characterized by high‐frequency laminar shale, contained residual shale oil, while the upper part of the K2qn1, Q5 and Q6, characterized by bioclastic shale and massive mudstone, and are dominated by in‐situ type shale oil. The crude oil in K2qn1 is homologous, and primarily undergoes micro‐migration. The Q5–Q6 section has the highest light oil content, while other regions with notable light components are located in the middle of Q1, the upper sections of Q2, Q3, and Q4.Q1–Q4 are primarily composed of residual shale oil, whereas Q5–Q6 is primarily composed of in‐situ shale oil, and the primary micro‐migration direction of shale oil occurs laterally within Q1–Q4. The lateral migration of each section mainly occurs at the upper part of Q3 and Q4, the lower part of Q1 and Q2, the bottom of Q5, and the interface between Q6 and the second member of Qingshankou formation (K2qn2). The block mudstone retains in‐situ shale oil, especially light hydrocarbons. Within the high‐frequency laminar shale, there is strong horizontal connectivity, and lateral hydrocarbon expulsion serves as the primary mechanism for micro‐migration in Q1–Q4. This paper can provide reference values for K2qn1 Formation shale oil and the migration and differential reservoir formation of medium and high‐maturity matrix shale oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil in an unconventional tight reservoir is considered to migrate from a very adjacent reservoir or be impregnated in situ within source rocks, but their large hydrocarbon molecular fractions during short‐distance migration in the tight system are poorly understood. In order to explore the evolution characteristics and differences of the geochemical properties, especially the biomarkers, between expelled oil (just detached from source rock and not undergoing long‐distance migration) and retained oil under different thermal evolution stages of lacustrine marlstone. Semi‐open hydrous pyrolysis was conducted on an immature lacustrine marlstone collected from the third member of the Eocene Shahejie Formation in Shulu Sag, Bohai Bay Basin and the hydrocarbon product expelled from and remained in the rock during pyrolysis were collected and analysed with gas chromatography–mass spectrum instrument. The results indicate that the saturates compositions show expelled oil having commonly lower thermal maturity than retained oil because expelled oil is a mixture of multiple‐term hydrocarbon expulsions, while retained oil is the remained final hydrocarbon product of pyrolysis in semi‐open experimental system. The hydrocarbon migration has a significant effect on the maturity‐related parameters distribution such as 20S/(20S + 20R) and αββ/(αββ + ααα) for C29 steranes. Hydrocarbon expulsion enables Ts/(Ts + Tm) ratio in expelled oil is much greater than that of retained oil at lower matural stage. The saturated hydrocarbon maturity biomarkers in retained oil and expelled oil vary in a subtly different pathways with increasing maturity, comparatively the aromatic hydrocarbon biomarkers, such as triaromatic steroids and methyl‐phenanthrene (MPI1 and MPI2), regularly changed during maturation, which is not obviously affected by migration effects and can be used not only for thermal maturity predications but also for oil–oil or oil–source correlation. C29 20S/(20S + 20R) and C29 αββ/(αββ + ααα) commonly are preferable maturity parameters for shale or mudstone, reflecting that mineral matrix and oil in source rock are not affected by migration and supposed to have an oil thermal maturity corresponding to depth. Combined with some tight reservoir cases in North America and China, the biomarker ratios variation along depth and its abnormal value can be used to predict sweet spots in tight reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, tight oil exploration has made significant progress in the lower part of Shahejie Formation ( Es 3 L ) in the Shulu Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, Eastern China, which shows good exploration prospects for tight oil. However, accurate evaluation of tight oil resource potential is influenced by a lack of studies and an incomplete understanding of hydrocarbon expulsion from marlstone source rocks. This study investigated the geological and geochemical characteristics of marlstone source rocks, their hydrocarbon generation and expulsion, and the tight oil resource. Results show that the marlstone source rocks were deposited in a reducing to weakly oxidizing lacustrine environment with low-middle salinity, distributed widely in the central and southern troughs, with the maximum thickness greater than 700 m. The marlstone source rocks have relatively high organic matter abundance (0.06–7.97% of total organic carbon content with an average value of 1.51%), are dominated by type II and I kerogen, and are at the immature to mature stage (0.3% < vitrinite reflectance (VR) < 0.8%), which reveals fair–good source rocks for the marlstones. The threshold and peak of hydrocarbon expulsion for marlstone source rocks are at 0.51% VR and 0.6% VR, respectively. The amounts of generation and expulsion from marlstone source rocks are 19.72 × 108 t and 8.53 × 108 t, respectively, with an expulsion efficiency of 43%. The total tight oil resource in place is 10.9 × 108 (5.8 × 108 t within the carbonate rudstone reservoir and 5.1 × 108 t within the marlstone reservoir), indicating a significant tight oil potential and promising exploration prospect in the Shulu Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, Eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been significant progress in shale oil exploration in the first member of the Qingshankou Formation (K2qn1) in the Qijia‐Gulong Sag, Songliao Basin, Northeast China: It shows good prospects for shale oil. However, the recognized lack of the geochemical and hydrocarbon generation and expulsion characteristics of K2qn1 source rocks limits an accurate evaluation of shale oil resource. This study systematically investigated the geological and geochemical characteristics, hydrocarbon generation and expulsion, and shale oil potential of the K2qn1 source rocks. The results show that the K2qn1 mudstones were mainly deposited in the semideep and deep lacustrine facies under reducing and weak reducing conditions. Compared with the southern Gulong Sag, the northern Qijia Sag has a higher salinity, more abundant prosperous aquatic organisms, and a greater paleoproductivity. The K2qn1 source rocks are pervasive and continuous in the entire sag, with maximum thicknesses greater than 110 m. They have a higher organic matter (OM) abundance (2.40% of the average TOC), are dominated by type I and II1 kerogen, and are mature (0.8%‐0.1.3% VR), which indicate that they are good to excellent source rocks and have significant hydrocarbon generation potential. The source rocks in the Qijia Sag have a higher OM abundance, a better OM type, and a lower OM maturity than those in the Gulong Sag. The threshold and peak hydrocarbon expulsion values for marlstone source rocks are 0.85% VR and 0.95% VR, respectively. The volumes of hydrocarbons generated and expulsed from the K2qn1 source rocks are 121.8 × 108 t and 46.9 × 108 t, respectively, with a retention efficiency of 61.5%. The in‐place and recoverable resources of shale oil are 74.9 × 108 t and (12.0‐13.5) × 108 t, respectively, indicating that the entire sag has a significant shale oil potential, especially the Qijia Sag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the new quantitative model for original total organic carbon (TOCo) evolution and recovery of source rocks, The TOCo evolution of muddy source rocks with different TOCs (MSRDTOC) (0.5% < TOC ≤ 1.5%, 2.5% < TOC ≤ 3.5% and 4.0% < TOC ≤ 6.0%, and their average values were 1.0%, 3.0% and 5.0%, respectively) and type III kerogen were investigated in the Western Sichuan Depression (WSD) of Sichuan Basin, China, finally recovery coefficients of TOCo were calculated. Studies showed that TOCo evolution of the MSRDTOC have similarities and differences. The similarities reveal that with the increase of thermal evolution level, varied TOC all reduce gradually and the sharp reduction occurs at the stage of a large number of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion (0.7% ≤ vitrinite reflectance (VR) ≤ 1.3%). The differences indicate that the starting time and decrease range for varied TOC are different. For TOCo = 1.0%, 3.0% and 5.0%, their starting time of TOC reduction are VR = 1.05%, 0.80% and 0.60%, respectively. When VR reaches to 3.0%, their TOC decrease ranges are 30.54%, 38.52% and 44.00% and their recovery coefficients are 1.44, 1.63 and 1.79, respectively. The higher the TOC is, the earlier the starting time of TOC reduction is, the bigger the range of TOC reduction and recovery coefficient are. It must restore TOCo when we evaluate source rocks at high-over mature stage and predict oil and gas resources. The MSRDTOC and their TOCo recovery should be evaluated, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic-rich shales, deposited in marine, terrestrial, and marine-terrestrial transitional (hereinafter referred to as transitional) sedimentary environments, were selected to evaluate the nature of organic-associated pores (OAP) and their developmental regularity using broad ion beam milling and scanning electronic microscopy (BIB-SEM). At least seven organic matter (OM) components (alginite, exinite, vitrinite, inertinite, amorphinite otherwise solid bitumen, bitumen, and bioclast) were identified under BIB-SEM based on their in-situ morphology in shale matrix. Besides, OAP were classified into four subtypes based on their differences in genetic mechanism, i.e., hydrocarbon-bubble pores (HBP), hydrocarbon-dissolution pores (HDP), hydrocarbon-shrinkage cracks (HSC), and bioclast-skeleton pores (BSP). HBP formed within OM are generated by the gas-exsolution from the OM surface under the gas-expansion force at the gas window stage, and thereby are widely developed in highly matured marine shales that are rich in structure-alterable liptinite (alginite, amorphinite, exinite, solid bitumen). HDP are essentially the secondary pores in minerals formed by the corrosion of organic-acids before or at the oil window stage and therefore are mostly developed in immature terrestrial shales containing certain amount of organic acids. HSC formed at the OM periphery are caused by the volumetric contraction of OM in case that they cannot generate the HBP within them, and thereby are commonly found in transitional shales which are rich in structure-stable huminite. BSP are the inherited internal structure pores of some bioclasts (planktonic algae or plant tissues), and they occupy only a small part of the total OAP in all of the three kinds of sedimentary facies shales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paleogene lacustrine marlstone is an important source rock for giant oil fields found in Eastern China, which presently has become a main exploration target for tight oil resources. However, seldom studies have been conducted on possible variations in geochemical features of lacustrine marlstones during on-going burial process as well as the thermal evolution. Hydrous pyrolysis experiments were performed using organic-rich thermally immature marlstone samples from the Shulu Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, in order to have a better understanding in the formation process and accumulation mechanism for tight oil retained within the source rock. Laboratorial data of samples including solid residues, retained hydrocarbon (extracted bitumen) and expelled hydrocarbons were analyzed. The results indicate that quantity and composition of retained hydrocarbon are controlled by thermal maturity of the source rocks. Mass balance of organic matter provides a clue for recovering the amount of gaseous/light hydrocarbon retained in the solid residues. The formation and accumulation of tight oil mostly takes place in the oil window–wet gas window, which consists of four stages: (1) In the thermal maturity range of 0.5–0.8% Ro, the amount of retained and expelled hydrocarbons appears to increase synchronously; (2) At 0.8–1.0% Ro, the retained hydrocarbons reach maximum amount while the expelled hydrocarbons keep constant; and the gas to oil ratio of retained hydrocarbon (GOR R ) in the above two stages keeps at a low level; (3) Over the maturity of 1.0–1.1% Ro, the amount of retained hydrocarbons decreases while expelled hydrocarbons increases, during which GOR R increases significantly and retained hydrocarbons characterized by more lighter hydrocarbon composition; (4) At about 1.3–1.5% Ro the amount of retained hydrocarbons is less than that of expelled hydrocarbons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Continental shales in China are generally characterised by low thermal maturity and high clay content, characteristics that are significantly different from those of marine shales documented in the USA and elsewhere. Whether such continental shales have commercial hydrocarbon potential as marine shale in the USA is a question for the China petroleum industry. Recently, vertical drills in the lacustrine shales in the Yanchang Formation produced an average of two to five tons of oil and 1000–3000m3 of gas per day by reservoir hydraulic fracturing, which demonstrates that the continental shales can also achieve viable hydrocarbon production. Shale and gas samples collected from the Chang 7 (C7) and Chang 9 (C9) Members, Yanchang Formation in the southeastern Ordos Basin were examined for geochemical, petrologic and gas content analysis. The results show that the C7 and C9 Members developed a huge volume of organic-rich shales (with 2–4wt.% TOC) in the deep or semideep lacustrine, characterised primarily by type-II kerogen, with a relatively low thermal maturity and a vitrinite reflectance ranging from 0.5 to 1.5% Ro, which decreases from west to east. The hydrocarbon product varies with the thermal maturity. In the southwestern corner, the gas content measured by canister desorption equals 1.15–3.49m3/t rock, and the gas-absorption capacity ranges from 3 to 5m3/t rock, whereas in the eastern part, the gas content is low, and oil production is 1–4m3/day on average. Nanometre-scale pores and micro-fractures are well developed. All of this indicates that the continental shales in the southeastern Ordos Basin might have huge shale hydrocarbon resources. However, the clay content of the continental shales of C7 and C9, ranging from 40 to 60% of the bulk mineral content, are much higher than for gas produced in marine shales, which might lead to significant challenges for successful development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We documented a new type of self-sourced unconventional reservoir consisting of interbedded organic-rich marlstone and calcareous conglomerates developed in lacustrine carbonate successions in the Eogene Shahejie formation (Es 3 3 ) of Shulu Sag, Bohai Bay Basin. The Es 3 3 interval used to be regarded as a set of homogeneous source rock for oil plays in the upper strata due to their high abundance of organic-matter. However, the Es 3 3 interval actually has very strong heterogeneity in their organic richness and hydrocarbon generation ability among different stratigraphic sequences (the Es 3 3 interval can be divided into sequence SQ1 to SQ5 from bottom to up). To better understand the heterogeneity in the unconventional reservoir and its effect on the hydrocarbon retention and migration, thin sections and scanning electronic microscopes were used to characterize the pore system in the reservoir, together with a amount of collected well database including wireline logging, gas logging, and physical property data (e.g. porosity and permeability). Intensive sampling from the Es 3 3 interval of Well ST1H was performed and samples were measured with Rock-Eval and TOC analysis. The rock extracts were analyzed with SARA and gas chromatography - Mass spectrum (GC-MS) analysis to examine the fluid geochemical characteristics and molecular biomarkers composition. The results show that although the whole Es 3 3 are characterized by low and ultra-low porosity and permeability, but the pore types in different lithology are different. The organic-rich marlstones develop large amount of organic matter pore and dissolved mineral pores, while the conglomerates developed inter-partical or inter-crystalline mineral pores dominantly. The sequence SQ2 has high quality of source rock for hydrocarbon generation, possessing moderate to high content of organic matter (TOC range 2–5 wt %) with Type I-II kerogen predominantly, basically in the thermal maturity stage of the peak oil window. OM and lithology play significant roles in controlling hydrocarbon expulsion and retention. Oil retained in the organic-rich marlstone was observed to absorb on the surface of OM and clay-rich matrix, which is also supported by the positive correlation between retained oil (represented by Rock-Eval S1) and TOC. Organic-lean conglomerates in the sequence SQ3 obtain abnormal high content of low mature oil determined by biomarker composition, which suggests the oil were derived from oil migration and mixture. Thermal maturity profile based on hydrocarbon biomarkers composition of rock extract provides a method to determine the effect of the hydrocarbon migration or retention within source rock. The organic-lean intervals adjacent or close to organic-rich source rock can be favorable targets for oil exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic-rich shales spanning in age from Pre-Cambrian to Quaternary were widely deposited in China. This paper elaborates the geology and unique characteristics of emerging and potential hydrocarbon-bearing shales in China. The Pre-Cambrian Sinian Doushantuo to Silurian black marine shales in the intra-shelf low to slope environments were accumulated in South China and Tarim Platform in Northwest China. These marine shales with maturity (Ro) of 1.3–5% are in dry gas window. During Carboniferous to Permian, the shales associated with coal and sandstones were mainly deposited in coastal swamp transitional setting in north China, NE China, NW China and Yangtze platform in South China. These transitional shales are generally clay rich and are potential gas-bearing reservoirs. Since Middle Permian, the lacustrine shales with total carbon content (TOC) up to 30% and Ro mainly in oil window are widely distributed in all the producing basins in China. The lacustrine shales usually have more clay mineral content than marine shales and are characterized by rapid facies change and are interbedded with carbonates and sandstone. The high quality shale reservoir with high TOC, hydrocarbon content and brittle minerals content is usually located at transgressive systems tract (TST) to early highstand systems tract (EHST) interval deposited in anoxic depositional setting. Recent commercial shale gas production from the Silurian Longmaxi marine shale in the southeastern Sichuan Basin, preliminary tight oil production associated with lacustrine hydrocarbon-bearing shale intervals and hydrocarbon shows from many other shales have proven the hydrocarbon-bearing shales in China are emerging and potential shale gas and tight (shale) oil plays. Tectonic movements could have breached the early hydrocarbon accumulation in shales and tectonically stable areas are suggested to be favorable prospects for China shale plays exploration and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower Cambrian shale in the Upper Yangtze Platform (UYP), South China, is an important source rock of many conventional petroleum fields and was recently recognized as a promising unconventional shale reservoir. In this paper, hydrocarbon generation kinetics and petroleum physical properties were investigated using the PhaseKinetics approach (di Primio and Horsfield, 2006) and a Cambrian shale sample from the Georgina Basin, North Territory Australia (NTA), as similar paleogeological and sedimentary environments in Cambrian are found for the UYP and NTA. The source rock comprises type II kerogen and belongs to an organofacies generating Paraffinic–Naphthenic–Aromatic low wax oil. Bulk petroleum generation can be described by a single frequency factor A = 8.43E + 14 (1/s) and a dominant activation energy at 56 kcal/mol, which is characteristic for sulphur-poor organic matter deposited in an anoxic marine environment. Onset (transformation ratio TR = 10%) and end (TR = 90%) of bulk hydrocarbon generation was calculated to take place at 120 °C and 165 °C respectively for an assumed average geological heating rate of 1.5°C/Ma. Based on the thermal history of a local “model”-well, onset temperature was not reached until the Middle Triassic (241 ma) when sediments were buried more than 2000 m and basalt eruptions caused enhanced heat flows. The main generation stage of primary petroleum took place during the Middle–Late Triassic and ended in the Early Jurassic (187 ma) for burial depths exceeding 4000 m (TR 90%; 165 °C). Temperatures increased to more than 200 °C in the Middle–Late Jurassic leading to secondary cracking of primary products. Hydrocarbons formed at the onset (TR = 10%) of petroleum generation can be characterized by a gas-oil-ratio (GOR) of 63 Sm3/Sm3, a saturation pressure (P sat) of 101 bar, and a formation volume factor (B o) of 1.2 m3/Sm3. Those parameters stay low during primary petroleum generation before 203 ma, at temperatures < 145 °C, and at burial depths <3400 m (GOR = 176 Sm3/Sm3, P sat = 189 bar, B o = 1.6 m3/Sm3 at 90% TR). However, predicted parameters increase rapidly (GORs >> 10,000 Sm3/Sm3, P sat > 250 bar and B o > 2.0 m3/Sm3) during secondary cracking starting roughly at 200 ma, 152 °C and 3500 m burial. Assuming zero expulsion, the shale reservoir position within the sedimentary basin indicates that bubble point pressure was always below reservoir pressure, and fluids in the shale reservoir occurred only as a single, undersaturated phase throughout maturation history. Black oil and volatile oil phases dominated during the primary cracking period, whereas wet gas and dry gas phases dominated during the secondary cracking period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Oil and gas resources are abundant in China’s continental sedimentary basins, where the main task of exploration has been finding oil for many years. In recent years, however, new discoveries of large-scale natural gas have been successively obtained. The natural gas mainly exists in the sedimentary association of alternated mudstones and tight sandstones and is dominantly low-permeability tight sand gas. Through the in-depth study on gas reservoir analysis, diagenetic evolution, source rock distribution and hydrocarbon-generating behavior, natural gas generation and accumulation, it is concluded that, during the major subsiding stage of large scale lake basins, the multicyclic subsiding process of the lake surface controls the development of high quality source rocks, the wide distribution of sands, and the superimposition of the two types of rocks in the vertical direction. The lacustrine muddy source rocks are developed, including mud shale, carbonaceous mudstone and coal bed which are in the medium–high evolution stage and produce mainly gas and the gas generation intensity is high. Through the analysis of the subsidence evolution processes of the Carboniferous–Permian Systems (transitional marine–continental facies) in the Ordos Basin and the Triassic Xujiahe Formation (continental facies) in the Sichuan Basin, it is concluded that the widely distributed sandbodies of delta facies, although with tight properties, are interbedded with source rocks and easy to accumulate natural gases. The natural gas is migrated and accumulated within small distance, and is characterized by large-area accumulation. Because of the strong hydrocarbon generation capacity, big thickness and stable distribution of the underlying mud shale, the potential of gas resources should not be underestimated. The geocyclicity of China’s continental sedimentary basins controls the sedimentary association of alternated mudstones and tight sandstones, resulting in superimposed accumulations of shale gas and tight sand gas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]