A hydrocarbon enrichment model and prediction of favorable accumulation areas in complicated superimposed basins in China

Abstract

The geologic conditions of superimposed basins in China are very complicated. This is mainly shown by multi-phase structural evolution, multiple sets of source-reservoir-cap rock combinations, multiple stages of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion from source rocks, multi-cycle hydrocarbon enrichment and accumulation, and multi-phase reservoir adjustment and reconstruction. The enrichment, accumulation and distribution of hydrocarbon is mainly controlled by the source rock kitchen, paleoanticline, regional cap rock and intensity of tectonic movement. In this paper, the T-BCMS model has been developed to predict favorable areas of hydrocarbon accumulation in complicated superimposed basins according to time and spatial relationships among five key factors. The five factors include unconformity surface representing tectonic balancing (B), regional cap rock representing hydrocarbon protection (C), paleo-anticline representing hydrocarbon migration and accumulation (M), source rock kitchen representing hydrocarbon generation and expulsion (S) and geological time (T). There are three necessary conditions to form favorable areas of hydrocarbon accumulation. First, four key factors BCMS should be strictly in the order of BCMS from top to bottom. Second, superimposition of four key factors BCMS in the same area is the most favorable for hydrocarbon accumulation. Third, vertically ordered combination and superimposition in the same area of BCMS should occur at the same geological time. The model has been used to predict the most favorable exploration areas in Ordovician in the Tarim Basin in the main hydrocarbon accumulation periods. The result shows that 95% of the discovered Ordovician hydrocarbon reservoirs are located in the predicted areas, which indicates the feasibility and reliability of the key factor matching T-BCMS model for hydrocarbon accumulation and enrichment.