Studies on the Source and Phase Characteristics of Oil and Gas: Evidence from Hydrocarbon Geochemistry in the Pingbei Area of Xihu Sag, the East China Sea Shelf Basin, China

Wei Li (), Jianfa Chen (), Kaixuan Liu, Rao Fu, Cong Chen, Yingxun Wang, Xinjian Zhu, Xiaodong Chen, Tonglei Zhang and Liwen He
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Wei Li: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Jianfa Chen: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Kaixuan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Rao Fu: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Cong Chen: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Yingxun Wang: China ZhenHua Oil Co., Ltd., Beijing 100031, China
Xinjian Zhu: PetroChina Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Xiaodong Chen: Shanghai Branch of CNOOC (China) Ltd., Shanghai 200335, China
Tonglei Zhang: Shanghai Branch of CNOOC (China) Ltd., Shanghai 200335, China
Liwen He: Zhanjiang Branch of CNOOC (China) Ltd., Zhanjiang 524057, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: The Pingbei area is the main accumulation area of oil and gas in the Xihu Sag. The phase characteristics of oil and gas in this area are complex, and the understanding of their genesis is still unclear. In this paper, based upon discussions of crude oil and natural gas geochemical data, integrated with local geological features, we discuss the sources, migration, and phase state characteristics of oil and gas in the Pingbei area of the Xihu Sag. The study results show that the crude oil and natural gas in the Pingbei area are coal-derived and the oil and gas produced by the humic organic matter during the mature stage. The oil and gas source correlation showed that crude oil and natural gas have good affinity with the Eocene Pinghu Formation (PH) coal-bearing source rocks. Crude oil has the characteristics of near-source accumulation and short-distance migration while natural gas is supplied from a dual source: the coal-derived hydrocarbon rocks of PH in the deep part of the study area, supplemented by the coal-derived hydrocarbon rocks of PH on the bottom of the slope, and adjacent hydrocarbon-bearing sub sag. The distribution characteristics and geochemical migration indices of hydrocarbon show that the oil generated from the hydrocarbon source rocks of PH in the deep Pingbei area mainly migrates vertically along the fault connecting the reservoir and the source rocks to the trap, where it accumulates, while the natural gas exhibits deep and large faults that mainly migrate vertically, supplemented by its lateral migration along the composite transport system composed of faults and sandstone layers in the slope zone. The whole area presents the phase characteristics of “upper oil and lower gas, west oil and east gas”. The mechanisms of produced-exhausted and geochromatographic effects (PGE), as well as evaporative fractionation (EF) and phase-controlled migration fractionation (PMF), result in the obvious discrepancy of hydrocarbon’s properties on the vertical profiles.

Keywords: sources of oil and gas; phases of oil and gas; hydrocarbon geochemistry; enrichment mechanisms; Xihu Sag (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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