Organic geochemistry and basin modeling of the Eocene Mangahewa source rock system in the Pohokura oilfield, Taranaki Basin (New Zealand) and their indication of oil and gas potential

Abstract

The importance of organic geochemistry and basin modeling is widely recognized and used to understand the source rock potential and hydrocarbon generation history of the Mangahewa Formation, and thereby given the foundational role in the petroleum exploration. This study utilized the total organic carbon (TOC) content and hydrogen index (HI) to investigate the dominant kerogen type and hydrogen richness for the significance of petroleum generative potential. The Mangahewa coals and carbonaceous shales exhibit an excellent source rocks, with high total organic content (TOC) of more than 22%. The coals and carbonaceous shales were also characterised by Type II-III kerogen with Type III kerogen, promising oiland gas-prones. The Mangahewa Formation reached the main oil generation, with vitrinite reflectances between 0.53% and 1.01%. Vitrinite reflectance was also used in developing themal models and reveal the transformation (TR) of 10-50% kerogen to oil during the Late Miocene. The models also showed that the Mangahewa source rock has a significant oil generation and little expulsion competency, with a TR of up to 54%. These findings support the substantial oil-generating potential in the Taranaki Basin's southern graben and can be used as a guide when developing strategies for an oil exploration program.

Keywords

Mangahewa Formation / Thermal cracking / Coal and carbonaceous shale / Source rock system / Oil generation modeling / Pohokura oilfield / New Zealand

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Talha S.M. Qadria, Mohammed Hail Hakimi, Mahdi Ali Lathbl, Mohammed Almobarky and Aref Lashin conceived of the presented idea. Mohammed Hail Hakimi and Afikah Rahim created and interpreted the 1-D basin models. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to thank Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE), New Zealand, and GNS Science for providing the dataset for the research. The fourth author (Aref Lashin) is grateful to the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2025R92) at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for their support.

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