GeoMark-Humble Libyan Kinetics Study

The keys to understanding hydrocarbon charge and oil quality in the Sirte Basin, Libya are determination of the various petroleum systems and the related generation rates of source organic matter. Why?

Each system is generated by source rocks of variable organofacies. These differences in organofacies impact the type of oil that is generated in terms of oil quality (sulfur content, wax content, API gravity, viscosity, etc.) and the timing of hydrocarbon generation.

Oil asphaltenes have been shown to be good analogs of immature source rocks (di Primio et al., 1999; Jarvie et al., 1999; 2002a-b). In fact it is speculated that the oil asphaltene may be a better indication of the source rock kinetics than samples of the source rock itself since variable lithofacies within a given source rock unit make it difficult to correlate to oils and their generation rates. Knowing the different organofacies of oils and their thermal maturity by detailed analysis and interpretation is critical to selection of samples for kinetic analysis. Samples from each organofacies are essential for accurate determination of the timing of hydrocarbon generation. Kinetic data provide the rate at which organic matter decomposes into hydrocarbons under a given thermal history.

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