Title: Houston Geological Society
1HGS Petroleum Exploration Methods
What Geologists and Geophysicists do to find oil
and gas
Cerro Azul 4 blow-out, Veracruz, Mexico
February 1916
2HGS Petroleum Exploration Methods
Part I What is petroleum and where is it
found?
3What is Petroleum?
A natural, yellow-to-black, flammable, liquid
hydrocarbon found beneath the earths surface
4The Origin of Petroleum
Organic-rich Source Rock
Thermally Matured Organic Matter
Oil
5Kerogen Types
TOC 2.12 WT.
TOC .38 WT.
6Types of Petroleum
Oil and gas are formed by the thermal cracking of
organic compounds buried in fine-grained rocks
Algae Hydrogen rich Oil-prone Wood
Hydrogen poor Gas-prone
7What is Petroleum?
What is it used for?
8What is Petroleum?
More Than 3,000 Products
- Detergents - Cosmetics
- Fertilizers - Weed Killers
- Medicine - Antiseptics - Anesthetics
- Plastics - Synthetic Fibers
- Synthetic Rubber
- Rust Preventatives
- Liquid Petroleum Gas
9PetroleumWhere is it found? Basins are
containers for sediment
Earths basins contain sediment/rocks, air, or
water
10Basins Forces that shape the earths crust
Plate Tectonics
11Basins Forces that shape the earths crust
Basins form in response to subsidence caused by
movement of the crust and grow due tectonic
loading
12Basins Forces that shape the earths crust
Basins form in response to subsidence of
the crust and grow due loading of sediment
deposited in them
13Basins Sedimentary rocks accumulate in basins
Basins may contain petroleum source rocks,
reservoir rocks and seal rocks