OIL AND GAS MIGRATION

Traditionally (Illing, 1933), the process of

petroleum migration is divided into two parts:
primary migration within the low-permeability
source rocks
secondary migration in permeable carrier
beds and reservoir rocks.
It is now recognized that fractured source
rocks can also act as carrier beds and
reservoir rocks so more modern definitions are:
Primary migration of oil and gas is movement
within the fine-grained portion of the mature
source rock.
Secondary migration is any movement in
carrier rocks or reservoir rocks outside the
source rock or movement through fractures
within the source rock.
Tertiary migration is movement of a
previously formed oil and gas accumulation.

PRIMARY MIGRATION
Primary oil migration within a fine-grained
mature source rock with > 2% total organic
carbon (TOC) occurs initially as a bitumen that
decomposes to oil and gas and migrates as a
hydrocarbon (HC) phase or phases.
The process of HC generation causes
expulsion of petroleum and is often a more
potent mechanism for migration than
mechanical compaction.
Generation and expulsion of light oil,
condensate and gas can come from low (<
2%) TOC source rocks without a bitumen
intermediate. Type III kerogens are the most
likely source. The migrating phase is HC.
Migration can also occur in aqueous solution
for the smallest and most soluble molecules
(methane, ethane, benzene, toluene).
Migration by diffusion is not significant.

PORE WATER SALINITY

The salinity of pore waters in reservoirs
typically increases by 6 to 160 g/L per km
depth.
The causes of increased salinity are:
salt dissolution (primary)
membrane filtration (secondary)
Seawater salinity is about 35 g/L. Much higher
salinities are found in oil field brines.
Typical salinities for giant oil and gas
reservoirs are 30 g/L for sandstones and 90
g/L for carbonates.
Concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS)
range from 80 to 300 g/L in reservoirs deeper
than 1 km.

SHALE POROSITY
Under hydrostatic conditions, the change in
porosities of shales below 30% tends to follow
two distinctive stages.
Stage 1: A linear or exponential decrease in
porosity and density due to mechanical
compaction
down
to
a
subsurface
temperature of 90 to 110oC
Stage 2: An unchanging porosity and density
indicating no further compaction.
Depth (km)
0
Stage 1

1
2
3

Stage 2

4
0

10

20
30
Porosity (%)

40

POROSITY vs DEPTH
Porosity reductions in stage 1 are mainly due
to mechanical compaction should follow an
exponential curve according to classical
consolidation theory. A more linear trend is
often observed.
The minimum matrix porosity at the top of
stage 2 ranges from 3 to 15% depending on
the clay mineral composition.
Low values correspond to quartz-rich shales
with little illite or smectite content. Higher
values correspond to clay-rich rocks.
Slight porosity reductions in stage 2 can
originate from cementation. Small increases
can occur due to hydraulic fracturing.
Porosities of sandstones and carbonates at
depths > 3 km show much greater variability
than shales, due to chemical diagenesis,
cementation and dissolution.

PORE DIAMETERS
Pores are classified by size:
macropores > 50 nm
mesopores 2 to 50 nm
micropores < 2 nm
Nitrogen desorption (2 to 50 nm) and mercury
intrusion (3 to 300 nm) porosimetry are the
principal methods available to determine pore
size distributions.
Median pore diameters of shale source rocks
range from 5 to 20 nm with a corresponding
porosity range of 4 to 15%. The effective
molecular diameters of some HC products are:
Molecule
Water
Methane
n-Alkanes
Cyclohexane
Complex aromatics
Asphaltenes

Diameter (nm)
0.30
0.38
0.47
0.48
1-3
5-10

EXPULSION EFFICIENCY
Shale source rocks act like sieves during
primary migration. They preferentially release
small paraffinic and naphthenic molecules and
retain aromatic and asphaltic molecules.
Small HC molecules can migrate through all
but the smallest micropores. Large complex
molecules are retained by small pores.
Expulsion efficiency is a measure of the
percentage of a particular hydrocarbon that
can escape from the source bed during
primary migration.
100

Expulsion
Efficiency %

10

15

20
25
Carbon Number

30

35

PRIMARY MIGRATION MECHANISMS (1)

Migration by Diffusion
Diffusion is the spreading of HC as a result of
a concentration gradient. This process leads to
dispersal rather than accumulation. Diffusion
rates in porous media are very low. Methane,
the HC with the highest diffusion coefficient, is
estimated to take 80 Ma to diffuse a distance
of 1 km.
Migration in Aqueous Solution
Methane is widely distributed in the subsurface
because of its solubility in pore fluids and its
high mobility as a gas phase. Methane has a
solubility of about 2500 mg/L at 100oC and 50
MPa for a salinity of 150 g/L.
Most other HCs have solubilities less than 50
mg/L in the petroleum generation window.
Solubilities decrease with increasing pore fluid
TDS, decreasing pressure and temperature,
and increasing HC saturation.

PRIMARY MIGRATION MECHANISMS (2)

Migration as Hydrocarbon Phases
Most migration of petroleum takes place by
flow of a hydrocarbon liquid or gaseous phase
through microfractures in the source rock.
Matrix permeabilities for source rocks range
from 1 to 10-8 md or 10-15 to 10-23 m2. These
low values are unlikely to be sufficient for
migration. A few microfractures can increase
permeability by many orders of magnitude.
Consider a 1 km
cube of shale with
a permeability of
10-23 m2. A single
microfracture with
a width of less
than 5 m would
provide the same
.

flow. Microfractures with apertures from 5 to

500 m are commonly observed in source
rocks.

MULTI-COMPONENT SYSTEM
CB

LIQUID

CP

LIQUID
+
GAS

CT

GAS

T
For a multi-component system, the bubblepoint line divides the liquid stability field from
the liquid + gas field. The dew-point line divides
the liquid + gas field from the gas stability field.
The bubble-point (BPL) and dew-point (DPL)
lines meet at the critical point (CP).
CB = cricondenbar (max. P).
CT = cricondentherm (max. T)

ISOTHERMAL PRODUCTION
CB

LIQUID

LIQUID
+
GAS

CP

CT

GAS

Oil and Gas:

Two phase oil and/or gas below CB.
Retrograde Gas:
Single phase wet gas between the CB and CT
with liquid over part of the P-T path.
Gas:
Single phase dry gas above CT.
P-T Path:
Reducing both P-T moves from the gas to gas
and condensate to liquid and gas fields.

GAS-PHASE MIGRATION
As T and P increase, compressed gas can
dissolve increasing amounts of heavy liquid
hydrocarbons.
At depth, the gas-phase can pick up
significant quantities of liquid hydrocarbon. As
the
gas
migrates
upwards
through
microfractures, T and P are reduced and
retrograde condensation leads to formation of
an oil-phase.
Gas-phase migration cannot account for giant
oil accumulations (such as the Middle East)
unless huge volumes of gas have been lost.
Nevertheless, gas-phase migration is a
reasonable explanation for accumulations in
the Gulf Coast, Niger Delta, Mackenzie Delta,
Mahakam Delta and the Po Basin.

OIL-PHASE MIGRATION
Thermal stresses in source rocks (1.5 to 2.5%
TOC) generate a continuous bitumen network
within the pores from original kerogen. As
temperature increases, the bitumen forms an
oil that fills the micropores and is expelled into
adjacent fractures.
Bitumen and oil have lower densities than the
original kerogen and a net volume increase
occurs in the generation process, which
causes expulsion of oil. Conversion of organic
matter to liquid and gases can cause a net
increase in volume of more than 25%.

Kerogen

Oil and
Condensate

Gas

Kerogen

Kerogen

Increasing Maturation

SECONDARY MIGRATION
The main force driving secondary migration is
the buoyancy of hydrocarbons. There is a
tendency for oil and gas to segregate from
aqueous phase liquids because of density
differences.
In most cases, the action of gravity leads to a
column of gas over oil over water. In a few
cases, this does not happen and gravity
migration is restricted by capillary forces.
Capillary pressure is the excess pressure
required for oil or gas to displace water from
pores.
If capillary and buoyancy forces are matched,
hydrocarbon can be trapped within a particular
lithology. Hydrodynamic traps of this kind are
found in western Canada when gas is found
downdip and below water saturated rocks.

FLUID PRESSURE
Pressures at 1,000 m (1 km) depth and
pressure gradients depend on the saturating
fluid the porous medium densities.

GAS

OIL

WATER

BRINE

ROCK

2,000

8,300

9,800

11,600

22,000

kPa

dP
dh

2.0

8.3

9.8

11.6

22.0

kPa
m

FLUIDS AND PRESSURE

Pressure at any point in a static fluid is equal
to the weight of the overlying fluid column:
P = g.h = h
where
P is
is
h is
is

the fluid pressure

[F/L2]
the fluid density
[M/L3]
the column height
[L]
the fluid specific weight [F/L3]

The pressure gradient

g.
specific weight , =

dP/dh is thus

the

Fluid specific gravities in reservoir engineering

can range from 0.1 for shallow gas to 1.25 for
saturated brines. Hydrocarbon gases range
from 0.1 to 0.5, distillates from 0.5 to 0.75, oils
from 0.75 to 1.0 and formation water from 1.0
to 1.25.

INTERFACIAL TENSION
When a drop of one immiscible fluid is
immersed in another and comes to rest on a
solid surface the shape of the resulting
interface is governed by the balance of
adhesive and cohesive forces.
AIR

WATER

SOLID SURFACE

The surface area at the fluid-fluid contact is

minimized by the interaction of these forces:
cohesive forces at the fluid-fluid interface
adhesive forces at the solid-fluid interface
The interfacial tension represents the amount
of work needed to create a unit surface area at
the interface. The dimension of work is [FL] so
interfacial tension is [FL/L2] = [FL-1]. The SI
units are N/m or J/m2. Typical values are 0.02
to 0.03 N/m for oil-brine and quartz or calcite.

CONTACT ANGLE
The angle between the fluid and solid phases
is called the contact angle. Contact angles are
always measured in the denser fluid phase.
If < 900 the fluid is said to wet the surface. If
> 900 the fluid is said to be non-wetting.
MERCURY
AIR

WATER

SOLID SURFACE

adhesion > cohesion =>> wetting

cohesion > adhesion =>> non-wetting
Water wets glass, mercury is non-wetting on
a glass surface.
Interfacial tension creates a curved interface
between two immiscible fluids.

CAPILLARY RISE

Pa

2r

Pw

Water rises in a capillary tube diameter, 2r, to a

height, h. The downward force is thus:
r2h = r2.Pc
W = mg = g.V = g.
where Pc = gh is called the capillary pressure.
P c = Pa - Pw
The downward force of the water is resisted by
the interfacial tension at the contact around the
diameter of the tube:
r.
wa.cos
wa
r2.Pc = 2
wa.cos
wa /r
Pc = 2

CAPILLARY PRESSURE
The effect of interfacial tension is to create a
finite pressure difference between immiscible
fluids called the capillary pressure:
Pc = Pnw - Pw
where Pw and Pnw refer to the wetting and nonwetting phases.
Capillary pressure depends on the properties
of the fluids and solid surfaces, wa and
coswa, and the tube radius, r.
When adhesion > cohesion, adhesive forces
draw the fluid up the tube until they are
balanced by the weight of the fluid column.
When cohesion > adhesion, cohesive forces
drag fluid down the tube until they are
balanced by the weight of the head difference
forcing fluid upwards.

WETTABILITY
The wettability of a rock refers to the contact
angle for the oil-brine interface.
If < 900 the reservoir is said to be water-wet.
If > 900 the reservoir is said to be oil-wet.
In oilfield terminology:
0o - 70o
70o - 110o
110o - 180o

strongly water-wet
intermediate wettability
strongly oil-wet

Wettability is affected by factors including

fluid compositions
mineral surface properties
microbial activity
temperature and pressure

WATERFLOOD DISPLACEMENT

WATER WET RESERVOIR

OIL WET RESERVOIR

TYPICAL INTERFACIAL PROPERTIES

Fluid-Fluid System*
Air-Mercury
Methane-Brine
<30oAPI Oil-Brine
30o-40o API Oil-Brine
>40oAPI Oil-Brine
*

Contact Interfacial
Angle
Tension
(Degrees)
(N/m)
140
0.485
0
0.072
0
0.030
0
0.020
0
0.015

These results were obtained for a quartz solid surface.

For a pore-throat diameters between 1 mm and

1 m, we obtain the following capillary
pressures:
Fluid-Fluid System

Pc
kPa
Pore-throat dia. (mm) 0.001
Methane-Brine
288
<30oAPI Oil-Brine
120
30o-40o API Oil-Brine
80
>40oAPI Oil-Brine
60

Pc
kPa
0.00
28.8
12.0
8.0
6.0

Pc
kPa
0.1
2.88
1.20
0.80
0.60

Pc
kPa
1.0
0.29
0.12
0.08
0.06

OIL-WATER TRANSITION ZONE

Pc
OIL
hc

OIL + WATER
ho
WATER
Sw

At elevations greater than the capillary head,

hc, the oil saturation is (1 - Swi). At the OWC,
ho, the water saturation is 1. Between ho and hc
the saturations vary continuously through the
capillary transition zone.

INTERFACIAL TENSION CHANGES

Interfacial tensions for oil-water systems range
from 0.005 to 0.035 N/m at STP.
With
increasing temperature and pressure, typical
values are 0.01 to 0.02 N/m.
Gas-water systems range from 0.03 to 0.07
N/m at STP. With increasing temperature and
pressure these values to around 0.022 to
0.025 N/m.
This means that oil migrates more easily than
gas through water-wet rock. The much higher
buoyancy of gas combined with a low viscosity
gives gas a considerably greater migration
potential.
At even higher T and P, interfacial tensions for
oil-water and gas-water systems approach the
same value (above the critical point for the
system). The single-phase system exists as
gas and condensate.

PORE THROATS
The critical parameter controlling the value of
Pc is pore-throat radius. A hydrodynamic trap
will be created at a change in pore-size if
buoyancy cannot overcome capillary forces.
A small opening in a water-wet reservoir
rejects oil (and gas) whereas a small opening
in an oil-wet rock rejects water. Most rocks are
water-wet in the subsurface so capillary
barriers to petroleum migration are common.
Capillary pressures in shales with pore
diameters of 20-50 nm can be massive. For
example, for a light crude the value of Pc
would be 2400 to 6000 kPa or 24 to 60
atmospheres! Natural hydrofracturing limits
the differential pressure that can be sustained.
Microfractures often provide conduits for oil to
pass matrix capillary barriers, for example, a
500 nm (0.5 mm) microfracture would only
require 480 kPa provided by buoyancy to pass.

JOINTS AND FAULTS

Macrofractures of one kind or another are
pervasive in most brittle rocks.
Tensile fractures and normal faults are most
likely to provide flow conduits because the
fractures tend to be more likely to be open.
Fault breccias often provide zones of high
permeability.
Reverse faults tend to be less permeable than
normal faults as would be expected from the
stress regime responsible for their formation.
Vertical migration of fluids through fracture
systems in both low permeability rocks and
reservoir rocks is widely reported in the
hydrogeological and petroleum geology
literature.
Faults can also act as permeability barriers
where clay gouge or other low permeability
infill is produced by shearing.

UNCONFORMITIES
Unconformities are usually associated with
significant changes in permeabilities and may
represent either flow barriers or conduits.
Some petroleum geologists (North, 1985)
believe that sub- and intra-Cretaceous
unconformities may be the most important
structural phenomena involved in trapping oil
and gas on a worldwide basis.
In western Canada, where the sub-Cretaceous
unconformity is overlain by massive sheet
sandstones (Mannville), the unconformity can
be a permeable migration pathway.
Unconformities often correspond to periods of
subaerial erosion when permeability tends to
be enhanced.
A large number of oilfields are related to
unconformities including both the Venezuelan
and western Canadian heavy oil deposits.

TRAPS AND SEALS

A trap is any part of a reservoir that holds
commercial quantities of oil. The closure of a
trap is the vertical distance from the crest or
highest point to the spill point, where the oil
spills below the trap into adjacent permeable
beds.
Seal
Crest
Closure
Spill
Point

A seal is the low permeability interval above

the trap.
The gross pay zone in a trap is the distance
from the top of the accumulation to the lowest
point on the OWC.
The net pay zone is the part of the gross pay
interval that is commercially productive.

TRAP PROPERTIES
The three most important properties of a trap
are:
1. proximity to HC migration pathways
2. permeability of the seal
3. height of the closure (trap-size).
If a trap is not situated on a migration pathway,
it will not accumulate oil. Knowledge of
regional paleoflows is critical to the exploration
process.
All seals leak. If the seal is too permeable, the
trap the leakage rate may exceed the rate of
migration and no accumulation will occur.
If the closure is small, the accumulation may
not be commercially viable. Small pools are
difficult to find and expensive to develop.

SEAL PROPERTIES
It is not the matrix permeability but the fracture
permeability of a seal that is critical.
Gas hydrates (permafrost) or regional
evaporites (salt and anhydrite) are the best
seals. Both gas hydrates and evaporites have
the ability to heal fractures over time.
Ductile shales (> 40% clay minerals) are better
seals than more brittle fine-grained rocks. Only
a small percentage of shales have clay-mineral
contents as high as 40%. Most shales are
brittle and are readily fractured on a
microscopic scale. This is sufficient to render
them ineffective as seals.
Stylolites, formed by pressure solution, can at
times provide effective seals in carbonates.
Asphalt can also act as a seal where oil is
degraded near surface and large HC
molecules block pore-throats.

TRAP INTEGRITY
Structural Traps
In structural traps, such as simple anticlinal
traps, the buoyant force tends to be directed
vertically upwards and approximately normal to
bedding. Sedimentary sequences tend to
show vertical changes in lithology and a series
of silts and shales can provide an effective
seal.

Stratigraphic Traps
In a stratigraphic traps, such as a pinchout,
the buoyant force is directed up-dip rather
than vertically. A single thin silty layer in

pinchout can result in loss of seal integrity and

no petroleum accumulation will take place.

SECONDARY MIGRATION DISTANCES

About 60% of reservoirs worldwide appear to
have accumulated due to vertical migration
and 40% due to lateral migration from the
source bed. In many cases, both lateral and
vertical migration is involved.
Migration distances depend on the size of the
basin in which the oil accumulates.
Basin Type

Example

Foreland Basin and Fold Belts

Interior Rift
Divergent Margin
Active Margin
Deltas
Interior Cratonic Sag

Alberta
North Sea
Gulf Coast
Los Angeles
Mackenzie
Williston

% World
Reserves
56
23
8
6
6
1

Vertical migration is more efficient than lateral

migration but less petroleum is collected
because traps can only intercept migration
pathways vertically beneath themselves.
Lateral migration can drain a larger volume of
source rock.