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Sedimentological and Petrophysical Aspects of Primary Petroleum Migration Pathways

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Sediments and Environmental Geochemistry

Abstract

The movement of petroleum from its source rock to a carrier bed called primary migration is mechanistically and quantitatively poorly understood compared to petroleum formation.

In the present article current theories and concepts of primary migration are reviewed with special emphasis being placed on sedimentological and petrophysical considerations. In particular the migration pathway through the pore network of the rock matrix is discussed with reference to field examples where hydrocarbon expulsion has occurred.

It seems likely that the factors determining the dimensions of the three migration pathways — organic, pore and fracture network — have to be quantified in order to evaluate primary petroleum migration mechanism. The respective key factors are:

  1. 1.

    Organofacies for the organic network;

  2. 2.

    Lithofacies, diagenesis and compaction for the pore network;

  3. 3.

    Permeability versus petroleum generation rate for the fracture network.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry at the Research Centre (KFA) Jülich, Germany

    Ulrich Mann

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  1. Ulrich Mann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Sedimentforschung, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 236, D-6900, Heidelberg, Germany

    Dietrich Heling

  2. Lehrstuhl für Geologie, Universität Mannheim, Postfach 10 34 62, D-6800, Mannheim 1, Germany

    Peter Rothe

  3. Arbeitsbereich Umweltschutztechnik, TU Hamburg-Harburg, Eißendorfer Str. 40, D-2100, Hamburg 90, Germany

    Ulrich Förstner

  4. Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut, Universität Kiel, Ludwig-Meyn-Str. 10, D-2300, Kiel 1, Germany

    Peter Stoffers

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Mann, U. (1990). Sedimentological and Petrophysical Aspects of Primary Petroleum Migration Pathways. In: Heling, D., Rothe, P., Förstner, U., Stoffers, P. (eds) Sediments and Environmental Geochemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75097-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75097-7_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-75099-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-75097-7

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