Research progress of methane microseepage in petroliferous basins and its significance for oil-gas exploration
ZOU Yu1(), WANG Guo-Jian1, YANG Fan2, CHEN Yuan1
1. Wuxi Research Institute of Petroleum Geology,Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute,Wuxi 214126,China 2. Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute,Beijing 100083,China
Great progress has been made in the formation mechanisms of surface characteristics of gas microseepagesince the start of the 21st century, which is significant for oil-gas exploration. The microseepage in petroliferous basins is dominated by methane, which migrates nearly vertically from source rocks or reservoirs toward ground surface. The chemical, physical, and biological variation characteristics produced on the ground surface approximately reflect the oil reservoirs underground. Therefore, the methane microseepage is an objective and important part of the petroleum seepage system and has replaced microseepage as the most effective window for the tracing of underground reservoirs on the ground surface at present. Methane microseepage can be directly monitored on ground surface and in water and atmosphere, and the component concentrations and isotopic composition of methane-bearing hydrocarbon gases serve as the first-hand important data for the assessment of underground oil and gas. The data indirectly monitored mainly source from microorganisms, vegetation, minerals, radioactivity, and magnetism on the ground surface. Similar to the geochemical exploration data directly obtained, these abnormal data canbe distinguished from the background values of the ground surface far away from the oil reservoirs, and the distribution areas of the anomalies will become important targets of favorable exploration areas. It will play an increasingly important role in the future integrated oil and gas explorationto gain in-depth understanding of methane microseepage mechanisms, avoid single monitoring method and one-sided understanding, transform ideas to adoptsurface integrated monitoring methods, and establish new mathematical analysis systems.
邹雨, 王国建, 杨帆, 陈媛. 含油气盆地甲烷微渗漏及其油气勘探意义研究进展[J]. 物探与化探, 2022, 46(1): 1-11.
ZOU Yu, WANG Guo-Jian, YANG Fan, CHEN Yuan. Research progress of methane microseepage in petroliferous basins and its significance for oil-gas exploration. Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, 2022, 46(1): 1-11.
Etiope G. The Earth’s hydrocarbon degassing [M]. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2015.
[2]
Sechman H, Kotarba M J, Kędzior S, et al. Fluctuations in methane and carbon dioxide concentrations in the near-surface zone and their genetic characterization in abandoned and active coal mines in the SW part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland[J]. International Journal of Coal Geology, 2020,227:103529.
doi: 10.1016/j.coal.2020.103529
[3]
Kotarba M J, Więcław D, Bilkiewicz E, et al. Origin, secondary processes and migration of oil and natural gas in the central part of the Polish Outer Carpathians[J]. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2020,121:104617.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104617
[4]
Etiope G, Ehlmann B L, Schoell M. Low temperature production and exhalation of methane from serpentinized rocks on Earth: A potential analog for methane production on Mars[J]. Icarus, 2013,224(2):276-285.
doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2012.05.009
[5]
Etiope G, Schwietzke S. Global geological methane emissions: An update of top-down and bottom-up estimates[J]. Elementa-Science of the Anthropocene, 2019,47(7):1-9.
Yu Y, Tang J H, Wang G J, et al. A comprehensive review of geologic methane emission in hydrocarbon-prone areas[J]. Acta Geological Sinica, 2016,90(3):553-558.
Tang J H, Gao Y P, Shi M C, et al. A preliminary review of gas migration mechanisms of methane microseepage in hydrocarbon-prone areas[J]. Journal of Hangzhou Dianzi University:Natural Sciences, 2019,39(2):64-69.
[8]
Ciotoli G, Procesi M, Etiope G, et al. Influence of tectonics on global scale distribution of geological methane emissions[J]. Nature Communications, 2020,11(1):2305.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16229-1
Wang G J, Tang Y P, Tang J H, et al. Experimental simulation of the effect of faults on vertical hydrocarbon microseepage[J]. Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, 2018,42(1):21-27.
Wang G J, Tang J H, Tang Y P, et al. Simulation of microseepage of light hydrocarbon of different occurrence states in strata above reservoirs[J]. Petroleum Geology & Experiment, 2017,39(2):261-266.
[11]
He J, Wang J, Milsch H, et al. The characteristics and formation mechanism of a regional fault in shale strata: Insights from the Middle-Upper Yangtze, China[J]. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2020,121:104592.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104592
[12]
Asadzadeh S, de Souza Filho de Souza Filho. Spectral remote sensing for onshore seepage characterization: A critical overview[J]. Earth-Science Reviews, 2017,168:48-72.
doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.03.004
[13]
Allek K, Boubaya D, Bouguern A, et al. Spatial association analysis between hydrocarbon fields and sedimentary residual magnetic anomalies using Weights of Evidence: An example from the Triassic Province of Algeria[J]. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 2016,135:100-110.
doi: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2016.09.026
Gu L, Xu K W, Tang Y P, et al. Microbial diversity above a shale gas field using high-throughput sequencing[J]. Petroleum Geology & Experiment, 2020,42(3):443-450,458.
[15]
Abrams M A. Significance of hydrocarbon seepage relative to petroleum generation and entrapment[J]. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2005,22(4):457-477.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2004.08.003
[16]
Sobolev I S, Bredikhin N P, Bratec T, et al. Chemical diagenesis in near-surface zone above oil fields in geochemical exploration[J]. Applied Geochemistry, 2018,95:33-44.
doi: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2018.05.005
Qi X P, Zhang Y Y, Yang H, et al. Analysis and evaluation of beneficial gas exploration zone based on remote sensing geophysical and geochemical methods in Sanhu area of Qaidam basin[J]. China Petroleum Exploration, 2012,17(5):17-26.
Wang G J, Yang F, Lu L, et al. Influence of sampling seasons on soil gas method in surface geochemical prospecting for oil and gas[J]. Journal of Oil and Gas Technology, 2010,32(4):166-170,429.
[19]
Schumacher D Integrating hydrocarbon microseepage data with seismic data doubles exploration success[C]//Proceedings thirty-fourth annual conference and exhibition,Indonesian Petroleum Association, Indonesia, 2010.
[20]
Milkov A V, Etiope G. Revised genetic diagrams for natural gases based on a global dataset of >20,000 samples[J]. Organic Geochemistry, 2018,125:109-120.
doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2018.09.002
[21]
Milkov A V. Worldwide distribution and significance of secondary microbial methane formed during petroleum biodegradation in conventional reservoirs[J]. Organic Geochemistry, 2011,42(2):184-207.
doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2010.12.003
Zhao J, Liang Q Y, Zhang L, et al. Oil and gas reservoir attribute discrimination based on surface sediment acid-extraction hydrocarbon in the western depression of Taiwan Strait Basin[J]. Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, 2018,42(3):436-441.
[23]
Sechman H, Guzy P, Kaszuba P, et al. Direct and indirect surface geochemical methods in petroleum exploration: A case study from eastern part of the Polish Outer Carpathians[J]. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 2020,109(5):1853-1867.
doi: 10.1007/s00531-020-01876-y
Feng J X, Yang S X, Sun X M, et al. Geochemical tracers for methane microleakage activity in the Qiongdongnan basin[J]. Journal of Southwest Petroleum University:Science & Technology Edition, 2018,40(3):63-75.
[25]
Hunt J M. Petroleum geochemistry and geology[M]. New York: Freeman and Co., 1996.
Yang J X, Song P L, Wang H L, et al. Gas hydrate accumulation model and major controlling factors in Qiongdongnan Basin[J/OL]. Oil & Gas Geology, 2019:1-17[2021-02-04]. http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/11.4820.te.20191126.1454.004.html.
[27]
Klusman R W, Saaed M A. Comparison of light hydrocarbon microseepage mechanisms [G]//Schumacher D, Abrams M A. Hydrocarbon migration and its near-surface expression. Oklahoma:AAPG Memoir. 1996: 157-168.
[28]
Abrams M A. Marine seepage variability and its impact on evaluating the surface migrated hydrocarbon seep signal[J]. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2020,121:104600.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104600
[29]
Hirst B, Gibson G, Gillespie S, et al. Oil and gas prospecting by ultra-sensitive optical gas detection with inverse gas dispersion modelling[J]. Geophysical Research Letters, 2004,31(12):1-4.
[30]
Zhou Q, Xu X, Xu H, et al. Surface microbial geochemistry of the Beihanzhuang Oilfield, northern Jiangsu, China[J]. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2020,191:107140.
doi: 10.1016/j.petrol.2020.107140
Tang Y P, Ning L R, Jiang T, et al. Experimental research on the oil and gas geochemical exploration method of snow cover[J]. Petroleum Geology & Experiment, 2009,31(3):287-291.
Zhao K B, Chen Y J, Sun C Q. Stability and petroleum geological significance of hydrocarbon geochemical Anomaly[J]. Geological Bulletin of China, 2009,28(11):1620-1627.
Yang J, Shen Z M, Wang G J, et al. Double-factor evaluation for oil and gas geochemical anomalies: A case study of Linnan-Qianguantun areas, Jiyang Depression, Bohai Bay Basin[J]. Petroleum Geology & Experiment, 2018,40(2):295-302.
[34]
Huang S, Chen S, Wang D, et al. Hydrocarbon micro-seepage detection from airborne hyper-spectral images by plant stress spectra based on the PROSPECT model[J]. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 2019,74:180-190.
doi: 10.1016/j.jag.2018.09.012
[35]
Senouci M, Allek K. Application of Bayesian classifier to magnetic and gamma ray spectrometry data for targeting hydrocarbon microseepages[J]. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 2020,181:104145.
doi: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2020.104145
[36]
Baciu C, Ionescu A, Etiope G. Hydrocarbon seeps in Romania: Gas origin and release to the atmosphere[J]. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2018,89:130-143.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2017.06.015
[37]
Berner U, Faber E. Empirical carbon isotope/maturity relationships for gases from algal kerogens and terrigenous organic matter, based on dry, open-system pyrolysis[J]. Organic Geochemistry, 1996,24(10):947-955.
doi: 10.1016/S0146-6380(96)00090-3
[38]
Zhang L, Bai G, Zhao K, et al. Restudy of acid-extractable hydrocarbon data from surface geochemical survey in the Yimeng Uplift of the Ordos Basin, China: Improvement of geochemical prospecting for hydrocarbons[J]. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2006,23(5):529-542.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2006.04.003
[39]
Zhang L, Bai G, Zhao Y. Data-processing and recognition of seepage and microseepage anomalies of acid-extractable hydrocarbons in the south slope of the Dongying depression, eastern China[J]. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 2014,57:385-402.
doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2014.06.009
Rong F Z, Chen X H, Sun C Q, et al. The determination and interpretation of near-surface geochemical oil-gas anomaly[J]. Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, 2013,37(2):212-217,24.
Wang J L, He Y H, Wang M, et al. The comprehensive evaluation of oil and gas exploration combining hierarchy analysis and eigenvalue analysis[J]. Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration, 2015,39(4):762-767.
[42]
孙忠军. 中国油气化探的成功案例[J]. 地质通报, 2009,28(11):1562-1571.
[42]
Sun Z J. Case histories of hydrocarbon survey success in China[J]. Geological Bulletin of China, 2009,28(11):1562-1571.
Tang Y P, Zhao K B, Wu C Z, et al. Recent advances and developing trend of hydrocarbon geochemical exploration in China[J]. Geological Bulletin of China, 2009,28(11):1614-1619.