Hydrocarbon source rock evaluation and quantification of organic richness from correlation of well logs and geochemical data: A case study from the sembar formation, Southern Indus Basin, Pakistan

Abstract

Sembar Formation of Cretaceous encountered in Khajari-01 and Miran-01 wells, which are located in the Southern Indus Basin (SIB), Pakistan. Total organic carbon (TOC) content is generally measured by traditional methods such as the evaluation of side wall cores and formation cuttings in a geochemical lab. Data obtained from these experimental techniques are not continuous and also a time-consuming process. A solution to this problem is high resolution and continuous information obtained from well logs. Different methods were used to estimate TOC through well logs. Among those methods, four methods have been chosen to estimate TOC in the current research, i.e., Density Log, Spectral Gamma-Ray Log, ΔlogR, and Multivariate Fitting methods. The TOC estimated values have been correlated with well cuttings TOC values to optimize a method for TOC estimation through well logs. Fourteen well cutting samples of Sembar Formation from Khajari-01 well and seven samples from Miran-01 well have been selected for measurements of geochemical parameters. These parameters were used for source rock evaluation of the formation to determine the quality, quantity, and maturity of the Sembar Formation. Modified van-Krevlen diagram of Hydrogen Index (HI) versus Oxygen Index (OI) and Langford diagram of S2 versus TOC indicates that Sembar Formation in Khajari-01 well contain kerogen type-III (gas prone) compare to Miran-01 well that contains kerogen type-IV which makes it non-productive. The organic richness results indicate that TOC in Khajari-01 well is poor to very good while in Miran-01 a fair to good generation potential exist. Maturity indicators i.e., Pyrolysis Temperature (Tmax) and Production Index (PI) values show an immature to early mature zone for Khajari-01 well and over-mature zone in Miran-01 within the Sembar Formation. Density Log, Spectral Gamma-Ray Log, and Multivariate Fitting methods have poor coefficient of determination (R2) values between the estimated TOC (from well logs) with well cuttings tested samples TOC values. It has been inferred from data obtained using ΔlogR method that it has good R2 value between well logs estimated TOC and actual laboratory measured TOC in both wells which is optimized for future study in Southern Indus Basin, Pakistan.