CHAPTER

CHAPTER 1
Origin of Oil and Gas (Black Gold)
 oil and gas (hydrocarbons) are valuable resources hidden in the

subsurface of the Earth
 Geologists and geophysicists use a myriad of advanced techniques in
order to find commercial accumulations of oil and gas.
The investigation of organic rich rocks (hydrocarbon source rocks) and
their geological history is important to understand the petroleum system in
a sedimentary basin. The basic elements of a petroleum system consists of
a source rock, a porous and permeable reservoir rock and a tight cap rock.
When organic rich rocks (usually shales containing 4-20 weight % total
organic matter (TOM)) are buried, they are subjected to increasing
temperatures and pressures (typically 30 degrees Celsius/km).
CHAPTER 1
Oil and Gas (Black Gold)

Hydrocarbon source rock, Silurian fluvio-deltaic sandstone, Oslo
Carboniferous, Spitsbergen Graben, Norway
Petroleum Geology
 The origin, occurrence, movement,

accumulation, and exploration of hydrocarbon
fuels.
 It refers to specific set of geological disciplines
that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons
(oil exploration).
 Sedimentation basin analysis
- Source, Reservoir, Seal, Trap, Timing,
Maturation, Migration
Origin of Oil and Gas
Question: What is oil & gas? Where does it come
from?
• Oil and gas are made of a mixture of

different hydrocarbons.
• As the name suggests these are large

Crude Oil
molecules made up of hydrogen atoms
attached to a backbone of carbon.
Origin of oil & gas
Plant plankton Animal plankton
would fit on a pinhead!
10,000 of these bugs
Most oil and gas starts life as microscopic plants and animals
that live in the ocean.
Reservoir Drives
Recovery of hydrocarbons from an oil reservoir is commonly
recognized to occur in several recovery stages. These are:
(i) Primary Recovery (20 % recovery rate)
This is the recovery of hydrocarbons from the reservoir using
the natural energy of the reservoir as a drive.
(ii) Secondary Recovery (25-35 % recovery rate)
This is recovery aided or driven by the injection of water or
gas from the surface.
(iii) Tertiary Recovery (5-15 % recovery rate)
There are a range of techniques broadly labelled ‘Enhanced
Oil Recovery’ that are applied to reservoirs in order to
improve flagging production.
Primary Recovery Drive Mechanisms
• There are five important drive mechanisms (or

combinations). These are:
(i) Solution gas drive
(ii) Gas cap drive
(iii) Water drive
(iv) Gravity drainage
(v) Combination or mixed drive
Secondary Recovery
Secondary recovery is the result of human

intervention in the reservoir to improve recovery
when the natural drives have diminished to
unreasonably low efficiencies. Two techniques are
commonly used:
(i) Water flooding
(ii) Gas flooding
Tertiary Recovery (Enhanced Oil
Recovery)
Primary and secondary recovery methods usually only extract
about 35% of the original oil in place. Clearly it is
extremely important to increase this figure. Many enhanced
oil recovery methods have been designed to do this, and a
few will be reviewed here. They fall into three broad
categories; (i) thermal, (ii) chemical, and (iii) miscible gas.
All are extremely expensive, are only used when
economical, and are implemented after extensive SCAL
studies have isolated the reservoir rock characteristics that
are causing oil to remain unproduced by conventional
methods.
Origin of oil & gas (Black Shale)
• However, if there is little or no
oxygen in the water then animals
can’t survive and the organic
mush accumulates
• Where sediment contains
more than 5% organic matter,
it eventually forms a rock
known as a Black Shale
Origin of oil & gas (Black Shale)
As Black Shale is buried, it is heated.
Organic matter is first changed by the

Kerogen increase in temperature into kerogen,
which is a solid form of hydrocarbon
Around 90°C, it is changed into a liquid

state, which we call oil
Oil
Gas Around 150°C, it is changed into a gas

A rock that has produced oil and gas in
this way is known as a Source Rock
Origin of oil & gas (Migration)
Hot oil and gas is less dense than

the source rock in which it occurs
Oil and gas migrate upwards up

through the rock in much the same
way that the air bubbles of an
underwater diver rise to the surface
Rising oil
The rising oil and gas eventually gets

trapped in pockets in the rock called
reservoirs
Exploration and Production (1): Oil Traps
• Some rocks are permeable

and allow oil and gas to freely
Impermeable pass through them
• Other rocks are impermeable

and block the upward passage
of oil and gas
• Where oil and gas rises up

into a dome (or anticline)
capped by impermeable rocks
Dome Trap it can’t escape. This is one
Permeable type of an Oil Trap.
Exploration and Production (2): Reservoir
Rocks
• The permeable strata in an oil trap

is known as the Reservoir Rock
• Reservoirrocks have lots of
interconnected holes called pores.
These absorb the oil and gas like a
sponge
As oil migrates it fills up the pores

Earth Science World Image Bank Image #h5innl
(oil-filled pores shown in black)
Exploration and Production (3): Seismic Surveys
Drill here!
• Seismic surveys are used to locate likely rock structures

underground in which oil and gas might be found
• Shock waves are fired into the ground. These bounce off layers
of rock and reveal any structural domes that might contain oil
Exploration and Production (4): Drilling the well
• Once an oil or gas prospect has

been identified, a hole is drilled to
assess the potential
• The cost of drilling is very great.

On an offshore rig, it may cost
$10,000 for each metre drilled.
• A company incurs vast losses

for every “dry hole” drilled
Exploration and Production (5): Enhanced
Recovery
• Although oil and gas are less

dense than water and naturally
rise up a well to the surface,
in reality only 40-50% of the
total will do so.
• To enhance recovery, a hole

is drilled adjacent to the well
and steam is pumped down. The
hot water helps to push the oil out
of the rock and up into the well.
Exploration and Production (6):
Transport
Trans-Alaskan Pipeline • Once extracted oil and

gas must be sent to a
refinery for processing
• Pipelines transport
most of the world’s oil
from well to refinery
• Massive Oil Tankers

also play an important
role in distribution
Exploration and Production (7):
At the Refinery
Oil refinery Distillation

Plant
Car fuel
Jet fuel
Road tar
• Beforeit can be used crude oil must be refined.

• Hydrocarbons can be separated using distillation, which
produces different fractions (or types) of oil and gas
Practical Exercise 2
The Oil Prospector Game
Politics (1): Fuel source
• 84% of crude oil is refined

into fuel, principally for cars
and planes
• Demand is ever increasing,

especially due to growth of
Chinese economy
Politics (2): Main Producers - OPEC
• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a

group of 13 countries that produce 38% of the world’s oil, or
34 million barrels of oil per day.
• The biggest producer is Saudi Arabia, but Iran, United Arab

Emirates, Kuwait and Venezuela are also major suppliers
Politics (3): Other Producers
• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

(OECD) produces 24% of all oil, or 21 million barrels per day.
• The USA is the biggest single producer in OECD but Mexico,

Canada and the UK are also major suppliers
• Outside OECD, the states of the former Soviet Union are also
major producers supplying a further 15% of global output
Well productivity
• The role of a petroleum production engineer is to

maximize the well productivity in a cost effective
manner
• Understanding and measuring the variables that
control the productivity index become imperative
• The productivity index, J of an oil well can be
written as:
Example
Assume that a well in the reservoir with the

following information. Calculate the steady-
state production rate
re = 2980 ft, k= 8.2 md, h= 53 ft, pe= 5651
psi, pwf= 4500 psi, 𝛽 = 1.1 res bbl/STB, 𝜇 =
1.7 cp, rw= 0.328 ft, and skin factor, s= 10
Ans: q= 100 STB/d

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CHAPTER 1

Origin of Oil and Gas (Black Gold)

 oil and gas (hydrocarbons) are valuable resources hidden in the

Oil and Gas (Black Gold)

 The origin, occurrence, movement,

• Oil and gas are made of a mixture of

• As the name suggests these are large

• There are five important drive mechanisms (or

Secondary recovery is the result of human

As Black Shale is buried, it is heated.

Organic matter is first changed by the

Around 90°C, it is changed into a liquid

Gas Around 150°C, it is changed into a gas

Hot oil and gas is less dense than

Oil and gas migrate upwards up

The rising oil and gas eventually gets

• Some rocks are permeable

• Other rocks are impermeable

• Where oil and gas rises up

• The permeable strata in an oil trap

As oil migrates it fills up the pores

• Seismic surveys are used to locate likely rock structures

• Once an oil or gas prospect has

• The cost of drilling is very great.

• A company incurs vast losses

• Although oil and gas are less

• To enhance recovery, a hole

Trans-Alaskan Pipeline • Once extracted oil and

• Massive Oil Tankers

Oil refinery Distillation

• Beforeit can be used crude oil must be refined.

• 84% of crude oil is refined

• Demand is ever increasing,

• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a

• The biggest producer is Saudi Arabia, but Iran, United Arab

• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

• The USA is the biggest single producer in OECD but Mexico,

• The role of a petroleum production engineer is to

Assume that a well in the reservoir with the

Ans: q= 100 STB/d

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