Chemical kinetics evaluation and its application of natural gas generation derived from the Yacheng Formation in the deep-water area of the Qiongdongnan Basin, China

Abstract

The natural gas generation process is simulated by heating source rocks of the Yacheng Formation, including the onshore-offshore mudstone and coal with kerogens of Type II2-III in the Qiongdongnan Basin. The aim is to quantify the natural gas generation from the Yacheng Formation and to evaluate the geological prediction and kinetic parameters using an optimization procedure based on the basin modeling of the shallow-water area. For this, the hydrocarbons produced have been grouped into four classes (C1 C2 C3 and C4-6). The results show that the onset temperature of methane generation is predicted to occur at 110°C during the thermal history of sediments since 5.3 Ma by using data extrapolation. The hydrocarbon potential for ethane, propane and heavy gaseous hydrocarbons (C4-6) is found to be almost exhausted at geological temperature of 200°C when the transformation ratio (TR) is over 0.8, but for which methane is determined to be about 0.5 in the shallow-water area. In contrast, the end temperature of the methane generation in the deep-water area was over 300°C with a TR over 0.8. It plays an important role in the natural gas exploration of the deep-water basin and other basins in the broad ocean areas of China. Therefore, the natural gas exploration for the deep-water area in the Qiongdongnan Basin shall first aim at the structural traps in the Ledong, Lingshui and Beijiao sags, and in the forward direction of the structure around the sags, and then gradually develop toward the non-structural trap in the deep-water area basin of the broad ocean areas of China.