Estimation of vitrinite reflectance from well log data

Abstract

Vitrinite reflectance (VR) data provide important information for thermal maturity assessment and source rock evaluation. The current study introduces a practical method for vitrinite reflectance determination from sonic and resistivity logs. The main determinant factor of the method is ΔRRS which is defined as the separation between cumulative frequency values of resistivity ratio (RR) and sonic log data. The values of ΔRRS range from −1 at ground level to +1 at bottom hole. The crossing point depth of the DT and RR cumulative frequency curves, where ΔRRS=0, indicates the onset of oil generation window. From the surface (ground level) to the crossing point depth ΔRRS takes negative values indicating organic material diagenesis window. Below the crossing point depth ΔRRS turns into positive values showing thermally-mature organic matter within the catagenesis window.Vitrinite reflectance measurements revealed strong exponential relationships with the calculated ΔRRS data. Accordingly, a new calibration chart was proposed for VR estimation based on ΔRRS data. Finally, an equation is derived for vitrinite reflectance estimation from ΔRRS and geothermal gradient. The proposed equation works well in the event of having limited VR calibration data.