Geochemistry, possible origin and exploration potential of crude oils from Neogene Shawan Formation in the Chepaizi Uplift, Junggar Basin (NW China) based on biomarker recovery method

Abstract

The Neogene Shawan Formation in the Chepaizi Uplift of the Junggar Basin (NW China) has obtained high oil flow, demonstrating a good potential for oil and gas exploration. The multi-source hydrocarbon generation background and strong tectonic activity have led to the simultaneous production of heavy oil and light oil from multi-layer in the area, which makes it very difficult to identify oil origins, presently, the hot debate on the oil origins needs to be clarified. In this paper, due to the selective consumption of different types of compounds in crude oils by severe and intense biodegradation, the commonly used oilsource correlation tools are ineffective or may produce misleading results, this study adopted a biomarker recovery method based on the principle of mass conservation that uses the sum of the mass of the residual biomarkers and their corresponding biodegradation products to obtain the mass of the original biomarkers, improving the reliability of oil origins determination. Based on the nature and occurrence of crude oils, the investigated oils are subdivided into three types, Group A, Group B and Group C. Group A, light oils occurred mainly in lower structure Neogene Shawan Formation in the western Chepaizi Uplift, while Group B, heavy oils occurred mainly in higher structure Neogene Shawan Formation in the western Chepaizi Uplift. The two types of crude oils may come from the mixed source of Jurassic Badaowan Formation source rocks (J₁b) and Paleogene Anjihaihe Formation source rocks (E_2-3a) in the Sikeshu Sag, and Jurassic Badaowan Formation source rocks (J₁b) are the main source of crude oils. Group C, heavy oils occurred mainly in Neogene Shawan Formation in the eastern Chepaizi Uplift, showing good correlation with the Permian (P₁f and P₂w) source rocks in the Shawan Sag. At the same time, by combining stable carbon isotope and parameters related to triaromatic steroids, the accuracy of the oilsource correlation results by biomarker recovery method was further verified.

Keywords

Biomarker recovery / Oil-source correlation / Stable carbon isotope / Heavy and light oil identify / Oil-gas exploration potential / Chepaizi Uplift / Neogene Shawan Formation / Petroleum exploration engineering / Junggar Basin

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