2D petroleum system modeling to reduce exploration well deployment risks: a case study from the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China sea

Abstract

To overcome the limitations of traditional way of exploration well deployment, an innovative workflow was developed to focus on dynamic factors with 2D petroleum system modeling technology. It was applied in the Zhu1 depression of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, Southern China, helping geologists to improve their understanding of the dynamic elements such as the generation of the source rocks and migration pathways along faults. Simulation show that source and migration can be screened from six risk factors, “Source”,” Reservoir”,” Cap”,” Migration”, “Trap” and “Preservation”. More simulations focused on two of the factors for different geological scenarios, fault properties, such as active period, and source rock properties, such as thickness, total organic carbon, hydrogen index. faults are the main migration control as their active period matches the main oil migration time. Of them, those cut through source rock layers and have the same inclination as that of the source rock formation acted as good migration paths. Source rock properties not only control the amount of oil generated, but also influence the vertical and lateral migration distances. Drilling result proves clearly that this new workflow is valuable for studying geological uncertainties and reduce exploration ricks.