Analytical approach for multivariate exploration planning via secondary migration modelling
Amin Shokrollahi A * , Sara Borazjani A , Syeda Sara Mobasher A , Ulrike Schacht A , Khalid Amrouch A and Pavel Bedrikovetsky AA Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 63 220-229 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22191
Submitted: 27 November 2022 Accepted: 25 January 2023 Published: 11 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
Identifying potential petroleum traps in petroleum basins is one of the key challenges in petroleum exploration. Specifically, it is the identification of probable petroleum traps within a set of stratigraphic traps of a particular location of source rock and carrier bed. One solution lies in understanding the behaviour of hydrocarbon flow during secondary migration, and the evaluation of the probability of successful transport from the source rock to the trap. Modern reservoir simulators rely on numerical methods to model the oil/gas secondary migration. Using numerical simulators is, however, cumbersome and requires high volumes of data and computation time, which affects successful decision-making in exploration planning. Yet, analytical models are fast and allow for multivariant analysis of hydrocarbon secondary migration requiring only a moderate amount of geological data. This study presents the analytical modelling of hydrocarbon buoyant transport in petroleum basins by including the (i) areal variation of stringers’ cross-section, (ii) chemical reactions including oil biodegradation and (iii) hydrological water flow. The explicit formula is provided for the first and last moments of hydrocarbon arrival at the trap, describing the dynamics of filling of the trap. Field data from Australian and Chinese basins are used to investigate the effects of the above-mentioned parameters on the first and last moments of hydrocarbon arrival at the trap.
Keywords: analytical modelling, basin analysis, chemical reaction, exact solution, filling history of traps, hydrological water flow, petroleum exploration, secondary migration.
Amin Shokrollahi is a PhD student at the Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources (ASPER) at the University of Adelaide. His current research is focused on the mathematical modelling of fluid flow in porous media, specifically oil/gas secondary migration and CO2/H2 storage in subsurface reservoirs. He received his MSc degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. Amin has over 10 years of combined academic and industrial research experience in reservoir engineering and rock/fluid evaluation. Contact email: amin.shokrollahi@adelaide.edu.au, shokrollahi.amin@gmail.com. |
Dr Sara Borazjani graduated from the University of Adelaide with a PhD in Petroleum Engineering in February 2016. She has since worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at ASPER. Her research interests include mathematical modelling of multiphase, multicomponent flow in porous media, enhanced oil recovery methods and fines-assisted water flooding for improved oil production. Contact email: sara.borazjani@adelaide.edu.au. |
Syeda Sara Mobasher is a PhD student at ASPER, University of Adelaide. Her research interests lie in the secondary migration of hydrocarbon reaching traps and carbon storage projects. She is modelling secondary migration cases numerically using PetroMod and working on measurement, monitoring and verification techniques to study carbon plume migration from an injection well to a monitoring well. Previously, she worked with Schlumberger as a reservoir characterisation engineer and completed her BSc and MSc in Geophysics from Bahria University, Pakistan. Contact email: syeda.mobasher@adelaide.edu.au. |
Dr Ulrike Schacht is the Chevron Senior Research Fellow in Carbon Storage Science and workgroup lead for subsurface gas storage at ASPER. She has extensive expertise in the geochemical aspects of subsurface gas storage, with 15+ years of experience in conducting laboratory and field-scale investigations into (gas–) water–rock interaction processes. Her contributions in this field of expertise include a detailed understanding of how these processes can impact on the storage and sealing capacity of reservoir rocks and seals, the impacts of leakage on near subsurface environments such as fresh water aquifers, as well as the development and implementation of assurance monitoring programs for CO2 storage sites. Contact email: ulrike.schacht@adelaide.edu.au. |
Dr Khalid Amrouch is a Structural Geologist with expertise in geomechanics. He graduated from Sorbonne University (Paris) with a BSc-Hons in Earth Sciences, MSc in Geosciences and a PhD in Structural Geology. His main interest relates to brittle tectonics, fracture characterisation and 4D stress analyses. Khalid started his career in 2005 at the Institut Français du Pétrole Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN), which sponsored his studies, followed in 2010 by a Research Engineer position at the Mines PariTech (PSL). In 2012, Khalid spent 1 year working for BHP as an Exploration Geologist in Chile, before joining ASPER in February 2013. Since then, Khalid has been an active member of the S3 Research Group, one of the largest geoscience research groups at the University of Adelaide. Since 2021, Khalid has also been an Adjunct Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P – Morocco). Contact email: khalid.amrouch@adelaide.edu.au. |
Dr Pavel Bedrikovetsky is a Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Adelaide. He authored a seminal book on reservoir engineering and 290 papers in international journals and SPE. His research covers CO2 and hydrogen storage, well injectivity and productivity, formation damage and EOR. He holds an MSc in Applied Mathematics, a PhD in Fluid Mechanics and DSc in Reservoir Engineering, all from Moscow Gubkin Oil-Gas University. Pavel boasts 40 years of industrial experience in Europe, USA, Brazil, Ukraine, Russia and Australia. Pavel was a 2008–2009 and 2016–2017 SPE Distinguished Lecturer. He is an SPE Distinguished Member. Pavel was ranked among the world’s top 2% of scientists by Stanford University (2020). Contact email: pavel.bedrikovetski@adelaide.edu.au. |
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