Kerogen petroleum generation

Artificial Maturation. Laboratory maturation studies provide a means to determine the influence of temperature on kerogen composition, since other variables (e.g. source input) can be eliminated. In order to study the behaviour of organically bound sulfur under these controlled conditions, Py-GC-FID/FPD was performed on a suite of solvent-extracted residues from sealed vessel (hydrous pyrolysis) experiments aimed at simulating maturation over the range involved in petroleum generation. 

II kerogen, with a high petroleum-generation potential. However, most kerogens fall between types II and... 

There is generally at least a small increase in volume associated with the generation of petroleum, and particularly methane, from kerogen. So pressures significantly higher than normally associated with the depth at which petroleum generation occurs in the subsurface will have the effect of suppressing the formation of hydrocarbon fluids. 

Fig. 4.21 Summary of temperature ranges for petroleum generation from kerogen (after Mackenzie Quigley 1988).

Fig. 4. 29 Trends in petroleum generation (gen) and expulsion (exp) for source rocks of varying kerogen composition (at a mean heating rate of 5°C MyE1 after Mackenzie Quigley 1988). Concentrations refer to kg of kerogen per tonne of rock.

Kinetic models can be further refined by incorporating functions that describe in more detail the different types of reactions involved in petroleum generation. For example, by monitoring the products of kerogen trans-... 

One main application of basin modelling has been the assessment of timing and extent of petroleum generation in sedimentary basins using chemical kinetics of kerogen degradation determined experimentally on immature source rock samples (Vandenbroucke et al. 1999). However, in view of the kinetic variability observed in source rocks (Jarvie 1991 Sundaraman 1995) it is questionable whether such predictions are valid. 

The forrrthtype of kerogen is reworked from older sedimentary forrrrations. It is essentially inert, and has no petroleum-generating potential. 

Petroleum geologists commonly call the catagenesis range, in which oil is effectively produced from kerogen as oil windows . One can see this in Figure 2 in a bell-form generation curve. 

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