Application of Biomarkers to Quantitative Source Assessment of Oil Pools

Recent detailed organic geochemical and geological investigation indicate that oils of the Bamianhe oilfield, Bohai Bay Basin, East China are the mixture of less mature oils and normal oils derived from the ES4 mudstones and shales with a wide range of thermal maturity from immature to middle-maturity, and most of the oils were proved to be sourced from the depocenter of the Niuzhuang Sag immediately adjacent to the Bamianhe oilfield. Two approaches to quantify the amount of immature oils mixed through quantitative biomarkers were established. One is a relatively simple way only through organic geochemical analysis while the other is to be combined with basin modeling. Selecting biomarkers as proxies is the crucial point in both of them. The results show that the less mature oils mixed in the Bamianhe oilfield is less than 10% and 18% respectively based on the two approaches, which coincide with the results of oil-source rock correlation.