Magnetic and mineralogical studies to characterize oil reservoirs in Venezuela

High-resolution aeromagnetic surveys over oil fields and magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements in soils, sediments, and drill cuttings have been proposed as complementary or alternative means of exploration and assessment of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Some micromagnetic anomalies detected by these studies could be the likely result of the existence, at shallow depths, of authigenic magnetite and/or Fe-sulphides. It has been hypothesized that such magnetic minerals are the chemical byproducts of primary Fe-oxides exposed to a reducing environment induced by the underlying reservoir. Secondary magnetite could appear as spherical aggregates (framboids) of submicronic crystals identifiable by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation of these framboids seems linked either to inorganic chemical processes associated with the presence of hydrocarbons or to oil biodegradation. In the last few years, we have examined the causal relationship between framboids of magnetic minerals and hydrocarbons via rock magnetic and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analyses of drill cuttings. The samples used have been taken at different depths (within the first 1500 m) of producing and nonproducing wells from two oil fields in southwestern Venezuela. We have complemented MS results with S-ratio logs, SEM, X-ray energy dispersion (EDX), IRM acquisition curves, and high-temperature susceptibility measurements. More recently we have also studied soil samples from an oil prospective area in western Venezuela, where rock magnetic and EPR results were compared with ethane gas analyses and remote sensing data. Rock magnetic and EPR studies have been performed in 14 oil wells from La Victoria (3) and Guafita (11) fields (Figure 1). Since our research has focused at the near-surface expression of hydrocarbon migration, the samples analyzed (drill cuttings) were taken from different depth at intervals of about 15 m between 100 and 1500 m. All samples belong to a single group of molasses from strata that lie far above the producing levels …