Abstract
A new classification of petroleum systems (PSs) based on reservoir qualities is proposed. We classify PSs into the following three basic types: (1) source-rock petroleum system (SPS); (2) tight-reservoir or tight petroleum system (TPS); and (3) conventional-reservoir or conventional petroleum system (CPS). The CPS is a PS in which hydrocarbons accumulate in conventional reservoirs, and all the essential elements and processes are significant and indispensable. Oil and gas accumulations are geographically discrete and therefore exist as discontinuous accumulations. The TPS is a PS where hydrocarbons accumulate in tight reservoirs and the source rock, reservoir, seal, migration, and trap are also indispensable, but the traps are mostly non-anticlinal and the accumulations are primarily quasi-continuous and secondarily discontinuous. The SPS is a PS where both hydrocarbon generation and accumulation occurred in source rocks and traps and migration are unnecessary or inconsequential; the hydrocarbon distribution is extensive and continuous and has no distinct boundaries. The aforementioned three PSs can be derived from a common hydrocarbon source kitchen and are closely linked in terms of their formation and distribution. Therefore, to maximize the exploration efficiency, a comprehensive study and different strategies are needed by considering the SPS, TPS, and CPS as parts of a greater whole.
Highlights
Since the notion of the petroleum systems (PSs) was introduced in the 1970s, studies on the PS have mainly focused on the research and exploration of conventional oil and gas accumulations
They correspond to a common stratigraphic unit in some unconventional petroleum accumulations, such as those of shale oil and gas and coalbed methane (CBM), where the unit acts as a source rock and as a reservoir
Migration is less important for many unconventional petroleum accumulations than it is for conventional petroleum accumulations, and even the driving force, and migrating pattern, pathway, and distance are quite different from those of conventional petroleum accumulation (Zhao et al 2016a)
Summary
Since the notion of the PS was introduced in the 1970s, studies on the PS have mainly focused on the research and exploration of conventional oil and gas accumulations On this basis, it was proposed that a PS consists of such essential elements as source rock, reservoir, seal, and overburden rocks, and such processes as petroleum generation, migration, accumulation, and entrapment (Magoon and Dow 1994). Studies have indicated that a hydrocarbon source kitchen can lead to both conventional and unconventional petroleum accumulations and that they can coexist in a basin and are closely related to each other in the formation and distribution, but cannibalize each other in terms of resource potential (Zhao et al 2016a). Different reservoirs with similar qualities can be attributed to the same category of PS in our classification, they were identified, according to Magoon and Dow (1994), as different PSs in specific practices of PS identification in a basin
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