Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Gas Hydrates (ICGH 2008),

Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA, July 6-10, 2008.

PALEO HYDRATE AND ITS ROLE IN DEEP WATER PLIO-

PLEISTOCENE GAS RESERVOIRS IN KRISHNA-GODAVARI
BASIN, INDIA

Nishikanta Kundu, Nabarun Pal*, Neeraj Sinha, IL Budhiraja

Reliance Industries ltd, Petroleum Business (E&P), RCP-5A, Ghansoli, Navi-
Mumbai, India

ABSTRACT
Discovery of natural methane hydrate in deepwater sediments in the east-coast of India
have generated significant interest in recent times. This work puts forward a possible
relationship of multi-TCF gas accumulation through destabilization of paleo-hydrate in
Plio-Pleistocene deepwater channel sands of Krishna-Godavari basin, India. Analysis of
gas in the study area establishes its biogenic nature, accumulation of which is difficult
to explain using the elements of conventional petroleum system. Gas generated in
sediments by methanogenesis is mostly lost to the environment, can however be
retained as hydrate under suitable conditions. Longer the time a layer stayed within the
gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) greater is the chance of retaining the gas which can
be later released by change in P-T conditions due to sediment burial. P-T history for
selected stratigraphic units from each well is extracted using 1-D burial history model
and analyzed. Hydrate stability curves for individual units through time are generated
and overlain in P-T space. It transpired that hydrate formation and destabilization in
reservoir units of same stratigraphic level in different wells varies both in space and
time. Presence of paleo hydrates is confirmed by the occurrence of authigenic carbonate
cement and low-saline formation water. We demonstrate how gas released by hydrate
destabilization in areas located at greater water depths migrates laterally and updip
along the same stratigraphic level to be entrapped in reservoirs which is outside the
GHSZ. In areas with isolated reservoirs with poor lateral connectivity, the released gas
may remain trapped if impermeable shale is overlain before the destabilization of
hydrate. The sequence of geological events which might have worked together to form
this gas reservoir is: deposition of organic rich sediments methanogenesis gas
hydrate formation destabilization of hydrate and release of gas migration and
entrapment in reservoirs.

Keyword: Gas hydrates, bacterial gas, Krishna-Godavari basin

NOMENCLATURE
C1-n=Carbon number, M Cl-=Molar concentration of
Chlorine= Pressure in Kg/cn2, GHSZ = gas hydrate
stability zone, b= density g/cc, %Ro=Vitrinite
reflectance, Ma= Million years, P-T=Pressure-
Temperature, TH = Temperature in (C), TOC = Total
organic carbon, o/oo = parts per thousand, =porosity.
INTRODUCTION
Methane hydrate in deepwater sediments has
generated interest in the recent years not only as a
drilling hazard in deep water hydrocarbon
exploration but also as a potential for huge energy
resource. Hydrate has been reported from deep water
sediments in Indian offshore in Bay of Bengal in

*
Corresponding author: Phone: +91 022 447 70090 E-mail: nabarun.pal@ril.com
1984 (Chopra, 1984) and since then several reports
on occurrence of gas hydrate in the east coast basin
of India have been published by various agencies
(Rao et al., 1998, 2001). The most recent being the
Indian National Gas Hydrate Program 2006-07 which
established gas hydrates in several deep water
locations in the eastern coast of India. The multi-
trillion cubic feet super giant deep water Plio-
Pleistocene gas discovery (Bastia, 2003, Bastia 2007)
in Krishna-Godavari offshore the east coast of India
by RIL generated huge interest within the geo-
scientific community regarding its generation and
entrapment. This work tries to explore a possible
mechanism of migration and entrapment of the gas
(bacterial) found in the Pliocene reservoirs through
hydrate formation and its subsequent destabilization.
GEOLOGICAL SETUP
The Krishna-Godavari sedimentary basin is a major
intracratonic rift within Gondwanaland until Early
Jurassic overlain by the pericratonic basin of Late
Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (Biswas, 1999; Rao,
2001; RIL unpublished report). This basin covers the
shelf and slope in the eastern passive continental
margin of India. The basin evolved through rifting
and subsequent drifting during Mesozoic. The
Mesozoic and subsequent Early Tertiary deep water
sequence provide the base for the Late Tertiary
marine sediments brought in by either large canyon
A Post mature
A
Figure 1: Location map. A-A: X-section
along well A, B and C
systems or feeder channels in the upper slope.
Sediment input in this region has been dominated by
the Krishna and Godavari river systems.
The basin has several gas discoveries in the
deep water Plio-Pleistocene multi-stacked, sinuous
channel-levee complexes. The present study is
focused mainly in the upper-slope region of the
Godavari river mouth. Two drilled wells A, B and a
pseudo well C, along the cross section A-A is taken
for detailed analysis (Fig.1).
GAS COMPOSITION
Gas composition in the study area shows dominance
of methane (>99%) with minor amounts of higher
hydrocarbons. The C1/(C1-C5) ratio in all the
analyzed gas samples collected during MDT and
DST varies from 0.9923-0.9995 which indicates a
predominantly bacterial origin. Results of interstitial
gas analysis from shallow cores in the sea-bed near
the study area also indicate biogenic nature of seeped
gas. Samples were also analyzed for their 13C
methane values. Methane 13C varies from -69.9 to -
71.6 o/oo in the reservoir gases and 61.2 to -105.4 o/oo
-80
Bacterial Gas
-70
-60 Mixed Gas
Cmethane( /00)
0
-50
Matured Gas formed with oil
13
-40
Post mature wet gas
-30 dry gas
-20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Gas Wetness (%)
Figure 2: Genetic characterization of gas.
Modified after Schoell (1984). Fig symbol:
Star- interstitial gas, circle- reservoir gas.
 in the interstitial gas. Genetic gas characterization produced mainly during CO2 reduction by hydrogen
diagram (after Scholl, 1983) suggests primarily while the acetate fermentation is dominant in fresh
bacterial origin for reservoir and interstitial gas from water deposits. There are over 60 different species of
the cores (Fig 2). methanogens reported to be responsible for the
generation of bacterial gas. Though these species can
It is established that bacterial gas is generated at low survive in a wide rage of temperatures (2-100oC)
temperature through decomposition of organic matter however the majority thrive within a narrow range of
by anaerobic microorganisms from thermally 35-45oC. The factors that control the level of methane
immature source rocks (Dudley and Claypool, 1981). production after sediment burial are anoxic
The two most important mechanisms of methane environment, sulfate deficient environment, suitable
generation are CO2 reduction and acetate temperature, salinity (< 4M Cl-) and availability of
fermentation. In marine sediments methane is organic matter. Thus the depth of significant
o production of bacterial gas depends on the local
Temperature ( C) geothermal gradient and rate of sedimentation which
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 may vary from basin to basin and over time within a
single basin (Shurr and Ridgley, 2002).
0
90.4% C1 Biogenic gas in deep waters

5 Source of this huge bacterial gas, hosted in

Plio-Pleistocene submarine channel-levee complexes
Pressure (MPa)

95.9 % C1 in Krishna-Godavari deep waters is difficult to

10 100% C1
explain using the elements of conventional petroleum
Seafloor system. Although considerable work is published on
biogenic gas that has been generated and trapped in
15 Base of GHSZ
100% C1 Base of GHSZ
shelf and deltaic depositional systems, little is
90.4 % C1 Geo
ther
mal
understood about this type of deposits in distal
grad
ient deepwater settings. One possible explanation of such
20
an accumulation can be generation of gas by bacterial
activity in deep water sediments and their
concentration by formation of gas hydrate under
25
suitable conditions. On subsequent sedimentation
these gas hydrate may become unstable on reaching
30 higher temperatures and thereby releasing huge
amount of gas. In this paper possibility of the
formation of hydrate at various stratigraphic layers
Figure 3: Plot of methane hydrate stability
and their subsequent destabilization to form large gas
relationship using different gas composition. Red
reservoirs are discussed in the following sections.
Line: stability curve derived using gas
composition and salinity of the study area
HYDRATE FORMATION
(Kamath and Holder, 1987); Blue line: gas
stability relationship following Handa (1990);
Formation and occurrence of gas hydrate are
Green curve: Curve calculated using CSMHYD
controlled by temperature, pressure, gas chemistry,
hydrate program (Solan 1998) for 95.9 %
pore-water salinity, availability of gas and water,
methane; Pink Line: Curve calculated using
migration pathways, and presence of reservoir rocks
CSMHYD hydrate program (Solan 1998) for
(Collett, 1995, 2001).
90.4 % methane; Sea floor depth for well B at
Gas hydrate stability curve is generated using
study area with measured Geothermal gradient
equation 1 (Kamath and Holder, 1987), considering
and position of GHSZ) for different gas
compositions.
 gas chemistry and pore water salinity in the drilled
wells of the field (figure 3):
TH = 8.8186 ln P 27.885 (1)
In addition hydrate stability diagram by Handa
(1990) and CSMHYD hydrate program by Solan
(1998) is overlain in Figure 3. In the discussed
diagram the base of GHSZ for different gas
compositions, at a representative location (well B) of
water depth 1277m with measured geothermal
gradient of 4.5oC/100m is shown. It is observed that
the GHSZ is depressed with increase in higher
hydrocarbon content. During drilling of the well A
and B, presence of hydrate was confirmed between
depths 1400 to 1425m based on the distinctive
signatures in resistivity, and sonic logs. The observed
result is in conjunction with the theoretical predicted
GHSZ taking 100% methane in the gas.
BURIAL HISTORY AND ESTIMATION OF
PALEO P-T CONDITIONS
One dimensional burial history modeling is carried
out in 3 locations using PETROMOD 1DTM (v 9.0)
software of IES, Germany. For calibration of the
models, EASY %Ro of Sweeney and Burnham
0 Depth-porosity curves were obtained by fitting a
4
Hydrate stability curve
8 equation 2.
2.05 Ma
Pressure (MPa)
12 3.58 Ma 1.3 Ma
0.8 Ma
16 Pleistocene 0.0 Ma
20 Broweri sand
0.0 Ma
24
28
0 10 20 30 40
o
50 60
Temperature ( C)
Figure 4: P-T history of 3 representative layers
from well B. The Pleistocene layer is within the
GHSZ all through out its history; the reservoir sand
(Broweri) was within the GHSZ from 2.05 to 1.3
Ma and was free of hydrates from 1.3 Ma to
present day; Abies layer started depositing from
3.58 Ma and have never entered within the GHSZ
(1990) was used and compared with the measured
data. The measured formation temperatures (from
drill stem tests (DSTs), the extrapolated bottom hole
temperatures (BHTs) using the Horner plot correction
method were used to constrain the model.
Detailed age subdivisions of different units were
made by integrating the biostratigraphic, seismic,
well logs and sedimentological data (Mandal et al.,
2005). Several condensed sections were identified in
the Plio-Pleistocene section which is recognized by
the abundance and diversity of microfossils
(nannofossils and foraminifera), presence of typical
stratigraphic marker microfossils. The identified
condensed sections were precisely dated based on
global nanno fossil datum such as D. berggrenii
(6.0Ma), S. abies (3.58 Ma), D. brouweri (2.25 Ma)
and H. Sellii (1.47Ma). Further each individual unit is
subdivided on the basis of major lithotypes and
corresponding ages were assigned.
Shale compaction curve is calculated for each
individual wells from the bulk density using an
appropriate grain density for mud rock, namely
2.7g/cc. The general equation for fractional porosity
used:
2.7 b
= (2)
1.7
polynomial curve to the porosity data which was
calculated from smoothed density log (b) using
The MFS age are compared with the eustatic sea
level curve of Haq et al., (1987) and was adjusted to
the time scale of Berggren et al (1995). Water depth
at various age intervals was calculated using
biostratigarphy from the wells in conjunction with the
standard sea level curves. Sediment water interface
Abies temperature was calculated for different age intervals
using the model given by Wygrala et al (1989). For
0.0 Ma
the reconstruction of the thermal histories a heat flow
70 of 75mW/m2 was used for the rifting phase. After that
a gradual cooling is assumed as proposed by
theoretical models (e.g. McKenzie, 1978) with
present day surface heat flow around 55mW/m2.
Burial history curves for the discussed wells are
computed and calibrated with measured BHT and
DST temperatures.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Pressure and temperatures variations with time of
each individual unit are extracted from the calibrated
1D burial history model for different wells. In well B
the condensed section abies was deposited between
5.3 to 3.58 Ma. The section between abies-
pentaradiatus, pentaradiatus-brouweri, brouweri-sellii
and sellii-recent are deposited between 3.58-2.46,
2.46-1.95, 1.95-1.47 and 1.47-0 Ma respectively.
Pressure-Temperature data for three representative
stratigraphic layers at this well are plotted together
with the gas hydrate stability diagram (Fig 4). From
the figure it is observed that the abies section has
never been within the hydrate stability field, while
the brouweri reservoir sand was within the GHSZ
from 2.05 to 1.3 Ma and free of hydrate after that till
present day. However, the Pleistocene layer is within
the GHSZ all through out its history. This model of
the stability relations matches with the present day
hydrate occurrence in the Pleistocene section
evidenced from well logs.
Though P-T conditions as described above
Figure 5. Seismogeological section through wells A, B and C. BSR (Bottom simulation reflector) is shown.
support formation of gas hydrate and their
destabilization at different times, the actual hydrate
formation will depend on the availability of enough
methane and water within the pore spaces.
Availability of methane depends on the degree of
methanogeneis of the recent sediments and/or supply
from matured source rocks from deeper layers. In this
field the measured TOC content of the various litho
units varies from 1.5-2 % which is conducive for
bacterial activity to produce biogenic methane. When
the P-T condition is favorable, this gas together with
the available water will produce gas hydrate, there by
retaining a part of the gas into the sediments. The
thickness of the hydrate layer depends on the amount
of time it had remained within the stability field
which is mainly controlled by the sedimentation rate
of the overlying units.
In order to understand the spatio-temporal variation
of hydrate formation and its destabilization, a
representative 2D seismo-geological section along
AA(Fig 5) has been considered. The water depth
varies from 400m in the NW part to more than
 0
1800m in the SE part. The drilled A & B wells are
situated at water depth of 1044 and 1277m 5 Hydrate stability curve

respectively. The gas bearing reservoir sand of D.

brouweri age encountered at A & B locations at a 10 2.05Ma 1.85Ma
depth 2011 and 2190m respectively. A pseudo 1D

Pressure (MPa)
burial model at location C is considered at a water 15
2.05Ma
1.47Ma

depth of 1786m in the SE part. This helps in 1.3Ma

1.15Ma

visualizing the migration and entrapment of gas in

2.05Ma Well A
0.0Ma
20 1.15Ma
the reservoir sands via hydrate destabilization. 0.0Ma
Well B
1.18Ma
25 0.0Ma
P-T history of reservoir sand (D brouweri) at Well C
locations A, B and C are plotted in gas hydrate
stability field (Fig. 6). It is observed that the reservoir 30
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
sands have stayed more than 10, 36 and 42 % of their Temperature ( C)
o

existence within the hydrate stability field

respectively. The sediments within and below these
units also have adequate TOC (>2%), therefore the
chances of forming adequate thickness of hydrate
layers in these units was very high. Due to
continuous sedimentation over the hydrate layer the
P-T conditions changed and ultimately the hydrate
destabilized to release the entrapped gas. The
reservoir sands up-dip of well-A are free of hydrate
when stratigrafically equivalent layer in down-dip
locations are still within the GHSZ. When these
hydrate destabilize gas is released part of which is
lost and the remaining may migrate up dip laterally
depending on the shale-sand ratio of the carrier beds.
It is observed that for a mean sand percentage of 20-
50% a large lateral migration of fluid flow develops
as sand bodies attract flow from a region 2 to 7 times
the radius of the sand body itself (Glenzen and
Lerche, 1985). In the discussed gas-field the presence
of aerially extensive thin beds in the levee/
interchannel areas is established through
conventional cores and high resolution seismic
attribute analysis. These thin beds favor lateral
migration of released gas from hydrate
destabilization. However, the amount of methane
available for entrapment depends on the thickness of
destabilizing hydrate layer, timing of gas release and
timing of trap development. The chance of charging
channel-levee sands from destabilized hydrate in the
study area is thus quite high.
Hydrate melting is generally associated with
release of low saline water and precipitation of
carbonates (Matsumoto, 1989; Zhu et al 2003).
Figure 6: P-T history of reservoir sand (Broweri)
encountered in 3 wells along the given section
AA. The reservoir sand was within the Hydrate
stability field (GHSF) till 1.85 Ma, 1.3 Ma and 1.18
Ma in well A, B and in C respectively. Hydrate
destabilization in deeper wells will charge hydrate
free sand reservoirs in the upslope locations under
suitable entrapment conditions.
Presence of authigenic carbonate cement (mostly
siderite) in reservoir sands of wells A and B provides
further evidence for the destabilization of gas
hydrate.
The above results thus confirm the presence of paleo
gas hydrate and their destabilization at different
geological time. Migration (both lateral and vertical)
and entrapment of the released gas at favorable
conditions has resulted in the huge gas reservoir in
the deepwater Godavari basin.
CONCLUSION
The gas in the deep water Plio-Pleistocene
channel-levee complex in the Godavari basin in the
east coast of India is predominantly bacterial in
nature. Our study furnishes a possible explanation of
this large gas accumulation by the destabilization of
the paleo hydrate. The following sequence of
geological events might have worked together to
form this gas reservoir in the following sequential
order: deposition of organic rich sediments in deep
water bacterial activity at reducing environment
(methanogenesis) formation of gas hydrate
increase of temperature leading to melting of hydrate
and release of gas migration and subsequent
entrapment in porous and permeable sand bodies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Reliance
Industries Limited for granting permission to publish
and present this work. We would also like to put our
sincere thanks to all the members of the interpretation
group of the KG-D6 block for their valuable support
at various stages of this work.
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