Petroleum Geochemistry Division – Designing an Analytical Program...

Given a client’s objectives, an analytical program (together with costings) can be designed by GEOTECH staff. The analytical programs offered by GEOTECH are a product of GEOTECH’s many years of experience and have been developed to meet the needs of the petroleum exploration industry.

A typical geochemical program for the analysis of a sedimentary sequence consists of four primary stages:

1.       Drilling Mud Characterisation
          To determine if contamination issues need to be addressed prior to sample           analysis

2.       Source Rock Screening
          TOC and Rock Eval pyrolysis allow intervals with high hydrocarbon potential to           be recognised for more detailed analysis

3.       Source Rock Characterisation
          Techniques such as pyrolysis GC and vitrinite reflectance allow for kerogen           maturation levels and gas to oil ratios to be determined

4.       Hydrocarbon Characterisation
          Organic matter is extracted from sediments to determine source, maturity and           depositional environment via GC-MS and isotope analyses

To characterise the free hydrocarbons contained in a sediment sample or a crude oil sample, the following basic analyses are recommended.

1.       Whole Extract / Whole Oil GC-MS

2.       Saturate GC-MS Analysis

3.       Branched/Cyclic GC-MS Analysis / Whole Extract / Whole Oil GC-MS

4.       Aromatic GC-MS Analysis

More sophisticated analytical techniques, such as stable carbon isotope analyses, Reservoir Geochemistry or Fluid Inclusion Analysis can be incorporated into geochemical programs to enable more specific exploration and production issues to be addressed.

Special requests from clients for one-off analyses or special data presentation requirements are also welcome.