Hydrocarbon Resources

Question 1

define conventional hydrocarbons

Answer 1

Conventional oil and gas (pumped from a reservoir)

Question 2

Define unconventional hydrocarbons

Answer 2

Unconventional hydrocarbons are sources of oil and gas which require methods for extraction which are not normally necessary in the conventional extraction of hydrocarbons such as Coal bed Methane, shale gas/oil, tight gas and gas hydrates

Question 3

Define fossil fuels

Answer 3

named - coal, petroleum, and natural gas
they are all derived from partially decomposed organic matter.
All of the energy from these fuels come from the original source of energy photosynthesis.
So technically we are releasing ancient atmospheric Co2 every time we burn fossil fuels

Question 4

Explain resources vs reserves

Answer 4

Resources: the total amount of a geological material
Reserves: economically recoverable
Reserves are the fraction of the resources that is economically recoverable, this changes a lot due to price of commodity and technology.

Question 5

Process of formation of oil into reserves

Answer 5

Oil is a biproduct of marine micro-organisms death
As the micro-organisms get burred further and further into the strata layers, are subjected to intense heat and pressure. This temperature turns the organisms into oil from a source rock. This source rock has very slow permeability and allows little flow from oil. As long as there is pore space oil will keep rising upwards until it hits an impermeable layer.

Question 6

What is a collection of oil into a pool of pores of rocks called

Answer 6

Conventional play

Question 7

What occurs when oil is subjected to high thermal maturity

Answer 7

Oil is converted into natural gas

Question 8

define thermal maturity

Answer 8

he extent of heat-driven reactions that alter the composition of organic matter

Question 9

Why does the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) matter

Answer 9

Very distinct basin from the Devonian

Question 10

Define Petroleum traps

Answer 10

A petroleum trap is an arrangement of geological units whereby oil and gas can’t migrate to the surface.

anticlinal trap: there is a permeable layer and oil and gas rise upward until they usually hit an impermeable shale layer.

stratigraphic trap: means there’s an unconformity in the rock layers, that force the oil and gas to rise on an angle until it hits an impermeable layer

Question 11

Define vugges of reef petroleum traps**

Answer 11

dissolution of some fossils creates
large pore space (vuggy porosity)
- if oil is formed below, oil will fill pores

Question 12

How do unconvential play work with migrating oil

Answer 12

If there is no permeable layer, oil migrates to the surface and becomes an oil sand.

Question 13

Define formation of oil sands

Answer 13

Oil sands form where viscose hyrdocarbons migrate upward into unconsolidated deposits of sand.
Oil sands are a mixture of sand, water, clay, and bitumen**
Much of the oil sands, formed during the early cretaceous, the sands were deposited in fluvial and deltaic sedimentary environment. This sand was never subjected to diagenesis.

Question 14

Why are oil sands important

Answer 14

NEB estimtes that by 2050 - 70% of cnada oil production will come from Alberta Bitumen deposits.
Alberta now produces the most oil of any region in onshore north america

Question 15

How much money does Alberta’s government collect in royalties from the oil sands over the next 30 years.

Answer 15

1 Trillion dollars in royalties.

Question 16

Where does coal come from

Answer 16

Organic land plants