6.

Oil Geochemistry

Chemical and Physical Properties of Petroleum

Petroleum (Lt. petra = rock + oleum = oil) : a mixture of
hydrocarbon compounds and other compounds containing
additional amounts of nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen, and other
minor elements
Hydrocarbons : compounds made up solely of hydrogen and
carbon
Crude oil : the liquid part of petroleum, exists in the liquid phase
both in subsurface and surface
Natural gas : the gas part of petroleum, exists in the gas phase
both in subsurface and surface
Condensate = gaseous in the subsurface but condenses to
become liquid at the surface, called condensates

Levorsen (1967)

Chemical and Physical Properties of Petroleum

There are three main groups of compounds found in petroleum : saturated HC,
aromatic HC, NSO

Saturated HC : compounds in which each carbon atom is completely saturated

with respect to hydrogen structures, include :
o

normal alkanes/n-paraffins : simple straight chains of carbon atom

iso-alkanes : branched chains

cyclic HC (naphthenes) : ring chains

Aromatic HC : a group of unsaturated hydrocarbons with cyclic structures, and

include several important biomarker compounds (such as triterpane and
sterane) that allows oils and source rocks to be correlated.

NSO compounds : hetero-compounds, consist predominantly of nitrogen,

sulfur, oxygen compounds and are subdivided into resins and asphaltenes.

Fractions of Oil

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Variety of Oil and Soluble Extract Compounds

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Selley (1985)

Selley (1985)

Hunt (1996)

Oil Properties and Classification

There are four major controls on the composition of a petroleum

accumulation :
type of source
maturity
migration effects
in-reservoir alteration

Bulk properties of oils :

elemental composition
API gravity
wax content
sulfur content
pour point
boiling point

BP Research (1991)

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Tissot and Welte (1984)

Oil Properties and Classification

Elemental composition : quantitative analysis of the various
elements present in a sample (C, H, N, S, O, Ni, V)
API gravity (API), measured at 60F (15,6 C) : density of oil

API = (141.5 / SG) - 131.5 (SG = specific gravity in g/cc)

SG = 141.5 / (API + 131.5)

heavy oil < 20 API

medium oil 21-40 API

light oil > 40 API

most normal oils : 25 -45 API

biodegraded oils : < 20 API

condensates : > 50 API

Oil Properties and Classification

Wax content (weight %) : indirectly related to n-alkanes >
C20; sources : cuticular waxes of higher plants or from the
long
chain
unsaturated
molecules
(alkadienes)
synthesized by some freshwater algae. Marine oil wax
content < 10 %, terrestrial oil wax content > 10 to 40 %.
Sulfur content (weight %) : sourced mainly from
carbonate, organic-rich source rock. Sulfur content can be
raised substantially by biodegradation.
marine carbonate-sourced oils S > 1.0 %
marine non-carbonate-sourced oils S 0 to 1.0 %
terrestrial sourced-oils : little

Oil Properties and Classification

Pour Point : the temperature at which crude oil will not flow
when a tube containing it is first heated in a bath to dissolve all
the wax and then cooled slowly. Oils have pour point ranging
from about -57 to 43C (-70 to 110F). The pour point is raised
by straight-chain HC and lowered by branched-chain HC, cyclic
compounds, and asphaltic substances.

Boiling point fractions : another useful physical properties of oils

is its boiling point distribution. Boiling point cuts from petroleum
have various names, from lower to higher boiling points are :
gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, heavy gas oil, lubricating oil,
residuum. The higher the API gravity of an oil, the larger the
yields of the lower boiling point cuts.

Oil Classification
Crude oils may be classified to enable specific oil types to be
directly related back to their source rocks. Such classification
schemes use parameter such as oil density, sulfur content,
metals content, wax content, carbon isotope value, and
biomarker (like pristane / phytane ratio)

Selley (1985)

Tissot and Welte (1984)

Tissot and Welte (1978)

Oil
OilClassification
Classification(Grouping)
(Grouping)
OIL
CLASS

ORGANIC
MATTER
INPUT INTO
KEROGEN

API
(deg.)

WAX
(% wt)

sulphur
(% wt)

pr/ph

N (ppm)

trace
metal
(ppm)

DEPOSITIONAL

nickel/
vanadium

ENVIRONMENT
OF SOURCE
MARINE

PHYTOPLANKTON

25 - 30

< 10

> 1.0

< 3.0

1000 - 5000

50 - 300

(carbonate and other

BACTERIA

non-siliciclastic
sediments)

PHYTOPLANKTON

35 - 40

< 10

0 -1

< 3.0

500 - 1500

0 - 50

MARINE
(siliciclastic

BACTERIA

sediments)

PHYTOPLANKTON

varies

BACTERIA

(bimodal)

HIGHER LAND PLANT

30 - 40

(angiosperm
dominated)

up to 40

little

< 3.0

500 - 1500

0 - 50

> 2.0

LACUSTRINE
(freshwater)

up to 40

little

> 3.0

< 500

little
NON-MARINE

DEBRIS, BACTERIA

HIGHER LAND PLANT

(gymnosperm
dominated)

40 - 45

up to 40

little

> 3.0

< 500

little
NON-MARINE

DEBRIS, BACTERIA

BP
BPResearch
Research(1991)
(1991)

Flow
FlowChart
Chartfor
forOil
OilClassification
Classification
OIL

CLASSIFY
WITH
CAUTION

YES

ALTERED

NO
YES
>1%S

NO
NO

YES
Pr/Ph>3

NITROGEN
>500 ppm

API < 30

YES

NO

YES
WAX >10 %

API < 30

WAX >10 %

NO
YES

NO

SATS >70 %

YES

NO

NO

Ni + V > 0

NO

YES

NO

YES

YES
MATURE

BP Research (1991)

NO

MATURE

A, B

YES
Ni / V > 2

MATURE

MATURE

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Clayton and Fleet (1991)

Clayton and Fleet (1991)