Introduction

Abstract

Sedimentary basins are the sites where petroleum is formed by chemical re-actions from sedimentary biogenic precursor material, where it is redistributed by migration via permeable pathways, and where it is dumped and stored in reservoir rocks or dissipated and destroyed by chemical or biochemical reac-tions. As in a chemical reactor, the type of product formed, the processes responsible for the formation, and the separation of the product from the precursor or reactant mixture are constrained by a few critical parameters and the prevailing physical and chemical conditions. The counterpart of the reactor is the sedimentary basin, and the counterpart of the original feedstock is se-dimentary organic matter. The chemical reaction is controlled in nature and in the laboratory principally by the course of temperature and pressure changes In the laboratory the removal of the product is normally achieved by a special plumbing system connecting the site of reaction with an appropriate storage vessel. In nature the product removal occurs by migration out of the source rocks and via permeable migration pathways through carrier rocks, to the place of storage in a suitable reservoir rock.