Organic Geochemists are primarily concerned with the formation and
migration of oil and gas.
Purpose of Projects
Depending on the organization, a geochemist may be working on several projects simultaneously, or one big project, or one region or country. If a geochemist is working in Exploration, the purpose of his/her projects will typically be to come up with some kind of interpretive hard copy report, which will assist in the evaluation of acreage for hydrocarbon potential, or determining the prospectivity of an area (i.e., were hydrocarbons generated in this area, and where did they go?).
In general, geochemists are typically trying to address several questions:
- Does the area (acreage) of interest have the right kind of source rock to have generated
hydrocarbons (source richness and type-will it be oil or gas?)
- Has the area of interest gone through the right thermal history to generate hydrocarbons
after the formation of a structural trap (maturity)
- If/when hydrocarbons were generated, did they migrate to the trap (migration pathways)?
To answer the above questions, geochemists analyze rocks, oil, and gas samples, look at
the laboratory results, and make some conclusions about how the source rocks and resultant
hydrocarbons are related to each other.
Next . . .- Interpretation of Data - or - Download PDF File -
