Research

BPSM Scientists and Graduate Students work on a variety of problems in basin and petroleum system modeling. These problems are organized here by research topic and by geographic area. A research topic covers themes both broad and specific in scope that can be applied to many modeling scenarios in different geographic areas. Most of these research topics are placed in their sedimentary basin and petroleum system context in the geographic area section to determine their applicability to other settings. A geographic area is a sedimentary basin or tectonic setting where a research topic is applied to a basin and petroleum system modeling case study.

Student Research

Testing the Sediment Organic Contents Required for Biogenic Gas Hydrate Formation

Gas hydrates comprise one of the largest reservoirs of organic carbon on Earth. Marine gas hydrate predominantly consists of biogenic (i.e., microbially generated) methane molecules trapped within lattice-like cages of frozen water molecules. Sedimentary organic matter is the feedstock for methanogens producing gas in anaerobic sub-seafloor environments. Therefore, an understanding of the minimum amount of organic material (measured as carbon and hydrogen content) necessary for methanogenesis to result in appreciable volumes of hydrocarbons is central to understanding the requirements for gas hydrate formation. Reactive transport modelling by workers over the past 20 years suggests minimum requirements of ~0.3–0.5. wt. % TOC (total organic carbon) for gas hydrate formation, while earlier workers predicted TOC as low as ~0.1–0.2. wt. % could produce biogenic gas. Read more

Sediment Organic Contents Required for Gas Hydrate Formation

Recent advances in basin and petroleum system modelling have allowed for the investigation of gas hydrate systems, including modelling of the generation, migration, and accumulation of biogenic and thermogenic gas within gas hydrate deposits. In this brief survey paper, the treatment of sediment organic properties (organic content and richness, expressed as total organic carbon and the hydrogen index) within previously published basin and petroleum system models of marine gas hydrate systems is reviewed. Eight studies (published between 2015 and 2020) are described and discussed. This review contributes to the state of knowledge in the field by reviewing existing modelling studies of gas hydrates and concludes with brief takeaways on important considerations and knowledge gaps in the state of basin and hydrocarbon system modelling of gas hydrate systems.  Read more

Fault Seal

Faults play a significant role in subsurface fluid flow; faults can be leaking, sealing, or partially sealing. Sealing properties of fault rock are controlled by many parameters, each of which are uncertain.  Read more

Natural Hydrogen

BPSM participants are exploring the potential of natural hydrogen and its relationship to rock-fluid system modeling.  Important issues include the relative importance of various natural mechanisms for generation, migration, and trapping.  More specifically: (1) what are the contributions of radiolysis and high-temperature decomposition of residual organic matter relative to serpentinization, and (2) what are the conditions that could effectively trap hydrogen given its substantially lower solubility in water and higher diffusion constant relative to methane?  In fact, are observed seeps of highly concentrated hydrogen a reflection of currently active generation?   Are high concentrations in some natural gasses a reflection of organic decomposition or an indication of mixed sourcing?  Read More

Geomechanical basin modeling for stress and pore pressure prediction by constraining evolving properties of seal rocks through stress-induced permeability

Most sedimentary rocks experience some form of inelastic deformation, especially in areas with structural complexity, leading to high risk of migration and seal quality. Existing studies using basin modeling techniques show inaccurate pressure predictions typically due to assuming elastic, vertically-oriented deformation.  Read more

Prediction of off-fault deformation from experimental fault structure using convolutional neural networks

Geodetic measurements record contributions of both deep loading along active faults and distributed deformation of the rock between faults. However, the latter has few robust estimates.  Read more

Interdisciplinary approaches with geological and physical constraints to assess Earth properties

Exploration and exploitation projects in the hydrocarbon industry base their decisions on subsurface Earth models. However, the inference of subsurface properties is not trivial. It requires several geoscience competencies and the ability to solve inversion problems to condition models with data.  Read more

Machine learning for geological image analysis

Analyzing images plays a major part in the work of geoscientists on a range of spatial scales, from interpreting regional seismic data to identifying and classifying lithofacies in thin sections. This visual information is crucial when solving many geoscience problems, including reconstructing depositional environments, paleocommunities, and tectonic history as well as understanding the quality and heterogeneity of reservoir strata.  Read more

Validating Compositional Chemical Kinetics for Basin Modeling of the Vaca Muerta Formation in the Neuquen Basin

We developed a compositional chemical kinetics model for the Vaca Muerta Formation and a paleothermal history model for Neuquén Basin, Argentina.  The calculated oil and gas properties agree well with source rock parameters and known hydrocarbon deposits.  Read more

Modeling the Chemical Origin of CO₂ 

There are two major issues the migration of carbon dioxide into a reservoir rock. It can replace valuable hydrocarbons. Also, reservoirs need high-cost equipment if they have high contamination of CO₂. The generation of CO₂ within the source rock environment can happen through two kinetics: the thermal generation from organic matter kerogen, and the dissolution of carbonates.  Read more

Forward modeling of carbonate platforms 

One of the main challenges in understanding facies distribution in carbonate platforms is predicting the growth patterns of carbonate platforms through time. Predicting these growth patterns is essential in carbonate reservoir exploration as the growth patterns control facies distribution and internal stratigraphic architecture of the carbonate platforms.  Read more

The role of tectonics in the evolution of petroleum systems in the sedimentary basins - BPSM Group

The role that tectonics play in the geologic evolution of sedimentary basins affects the geothermal gradient, evolution of pore pressure, nature of structural traps with respect to seal and subsurface stress distributions.  Read more

Gas Hydrates Studies 

The basin modeling team at Stanford University elucidated fundamental features of the formation and dissociation of methane hydrates through geologic time via basin and petroleum system modeling of hydrates.  Read more

Principal Scientist Research

Chemical kinetic models

We have developed improved chemical kinetic models of vitrinite reflectance to replace the well-known Easy%Ro model for the purposes of validating paleothermal history models.  The Vitrimat model was modified to treat Types I, II, and III organic matter, and simplified versions using the Easy%Ro approach were created for vitrinite and bitumen reflectance.  Read more

Integrated workflows for improved understanding of the subsurface

My research interests deal with developing integrated workflows such as seismic, well logs, rock physics and various aspects of quantitative geologic modeling to understand and gain insight into subsurface models for geopressure, geomechanics, and other interesting geological phenomena.  Read more

Studies in Alaska North Slope

A well-developed research program in the geology of the Alaska North Slope is a hallmark of BPSM. One study is highlighted here; more Alaska projects will be posted soon.

A lateral well in the Shublik Formation

Since reaching a peak of 722 million barrels (MMBO) of produced crude oil in 1988, Alaska North Slope oil production has steadily declined.  All of the wells that have been flow tested in Alaska’s most prolific source rock, the Shublik Formation, are located in the producing fields; these are vertical or minimally deviated rather than drilled horizontally, which optimizes production from fine-grained rocks by targeting specific zones, optimizing stage placement, and designing stimulation techniques.  In our research efforts in Alaska, we discovered a little-known well in the Shublik Formation that was both drilled horizontally and flow tested. This bears on the development of unconventional resources.  More studies in Alaska

Quantitative Evaluation Rules for Programmed Pyrolysis Data Greatly Improve Their Reliability

Geochemistry data obtained via programmed pyrolysis of geologic samples are widely used in the oil and gas industry because pyrolysis is a quick and inexpensive technique and the data help to characterize both source and reservoir rock intervals.  However, the interpretation of such data is difficult for a number of reasons.  We codified nine quantitative rules for screening programmed pyrolysis data, which we refer to collectively as PARSE: Pyrolysis Analytical Rules for Screening and Evaluation.  Read more

Petroleum System Investigative Research

The Stanford BPSM affiliates program provides expertise in visualization and quantification of the geohistory of sedimentary basins and petroleum systems. Our objectives include developing the next generation of expert petroleum system modelers, devising quantitative tools that are rigorously applied to evaluating geologic risk, and conducting fundamental and applied energy-focused research.  Read more

Quantifying multiple source rock contributions to petroleum fluids: bias in using compound ratios and neglecting the gas fraction

Despite documented pitfalls, many geoscientists continue to publish problematic oil-oil correlations based on compound ratios determined from ‘dead oil’ that lacks volatiles. Mixtures of petroleum from more than one source rock pose issues for assigning genetic affinity, proportions of contributing endmembers, and predicted gas-liquid ratios (GLRs).   Read more