Genetic pattern of belt-wide petroliferous phenomenon in the eastern Pearl River Mouth Basin and its practical application

Abstract

The Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) covers an area of approximately 20×104 km2. However, oil-gas fields detected in this area thus far are highly concentrated and controlled predominantly by second-order structural belts, the seven largest of which aggregate proved oil reserves of 7.7×108 m3, accounting for 86% of the total discovered reserve in the basin. These second-order structures have one common phenomenon: oil is contained in all traps present in them. In other words, they are all belt-wide petroliferous reservoirs. Research has identified eight types of second-order structural belts under two categories in the eastern PRMB. Their petroliferous properties are subject to three typical constraints: petroliferous properties of subsags hosting these structural belts, locations of these belts in the petroleum system, and availability of traps prior to the hydrocarbon expulsion and migration. The formation and distribution of oil reservoirs in these belts are characterized by subsag-belt integration and "three-in-one". The former indicates that sags and the second-order structural belts within the supply range of the sags constitute the basic units of hydrocarbon accumulations and are therefore inseparable. The latter indicates that a belt-wide petroliferous second-order structural belt always contains three important elements: hydrocarbon richness, effective pathway and pre-existing traps. © 2014 China University of Petroleum (Beijing) and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.