Relationship between petroleum reservoir rocks and source rocks

A substantial fraction of sandstones containing commercial quantities of oil are proposed to be in contact with source rocks which produce oil. For these situations the quantity of oil collected in a sandstone is proportional to the area of contact with a source rock of relatively low permeability, rather than to the total thickness of the potential source rock. It is inferred that source rocks along the upper or lower faces of a sandstone should produce more oil into the sandstone than source rocks lateral to the sandstone. Semiquantitative estimates of the thickness or width of required source rock are obtained. The arguments and results are based on published statistical studies and the assumption that a degree of geometrical similarity exists among sandstones.