Paleozoic Carbonate Hydrocarbon Accumulation Zones in Tazhong Uplift, Tarim Basin, Western China

Abstract

Diverse types of marine carbonate reservoirs have been discovered in the Tazhong Uplift, Tarim Basin, and late alteration of such reservoirs is obvious. The marine source rocks of the Cambrian-lower Ordovician and the middle-upper Ordovician provided abundant oil and gas for hydrocarbon accumulation. The hydrocarbons filled various reservoirs in multiple stages to form different types of reservoirs from late Caledonian to early Hercynian, from late Hercynian to early Indosininan and from late Yanshanian to Himalayan. All these events greatly complicated hydrocarbon accumulation. An analysis of the discovered carbonate reservoirs in the Tazhong Uplift indicated that the development of a reservoir was controlled by subaerial weathering and freshwater leaching, sedimentation, early diagenesis, and alteration by deep fluids. According to the origin and lateral distribution of reservoir beds, the hydrocarbon accumulation zones in the Tazhong area were identified as: karsted reservoirs, reef/bank reservoirs, dolomite interior reservoirs, and hydrothermal reservoirs. Such carbonate hydrocarbon accumulation zones are distributed mainly in specific areas of the Tazhong uplift, respectively. Because of differences in the mechanism of reservoir formation, the reservoir space, capability, type and distribution of reservoirs are often different in different carbonate hydrocarbon accumulation zones.