Geochemistry of petroleum systems in the Niuzhuang South Slope of Bohai Bay Basin. Part 2: evidence for significant contribution of mature source rocks to "immature oils" in the Bamianhe field

The chemical compositions of 28 representative crude oils and oil sand samples collected from the Bamianhe region of the Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China were studied in detail in order to understand their genetic relationships, biodegradation ranking and thermal maturity level. Molecular geochemical parameters indicate the presence of one single oil family in the Cenozoic reservoirs. A number of biomarker features support deposition of the source rocks for these oils under conditions of enhanced salinity/stratified water columns. The extremely low maturity levels of these "immature oils", as indicated by sterane isomerization ratios, were not supported by other maturity parameters. The genetic relationship between the oils and the Es-4 and Es-3 members of the Eocene-Oligocene Shahejie Formation present in the deeper part of the Niuzhuang Sag, but not those along the Niuzhuang South Slope was suggested using a wide range of molecular parameters. Variation in the sterane concentrations observed from potential source rocks with different maturity levels in the study area suggests a high probability of migration contamination of mature oils by immature bitumens along migration pathways or from intra-reservoir shales. Variation in the level of oil biodegradation could also create anomalies in the use of gross oil compositions as an indicator of oil maturity. Although the recent rapid subsidence of the Bohai Bay Basin and the saline depositional environment of one of the potential source rocks favor oil generation at relatively low maturity levels, most of the economic oils discovered in the Bamianhe region appear to have derived from conventionally mature source rocks but contain lower maturity fluids admixed with them. Crown Copyright (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.