News:
Date: 04/23/08

Petroleum Habitats (PH) is commercializing technology based on a revolutionary scientific discovery that transition metals in sedimentary rocks are catalytic in the generation of natural gas.  This technology is totally new to the industry and should be particularly powerful in frontier exploration where questions of oil or gas have great economic impact.    

Overview:

   Petroleum Habitats (“PH”) predicts hydrocarbon composition (% gas) in un-drilled petroleum deposits, a longstanding problem of great economic potential: “occurrence of oil or gas reservoirs seems random and unpredictable…Thus, understanding and predicting hydrocarbon type and distribution and particularly CGR (condensate-gas-ratio) are of prime economic importance,”( H. Ganz (Shell), NAPE/AAPG, Nov 18, 2004).

  The basic idea of our technology is simple. Oil converts to natural gas catalytically, promoted by trace metals in sedimentary rocks. We can predict the amount of gas generated in a rock (% Gas) from its catalytic activity (Activity), which we measure, and the rock’s estimated temperature at depth (Figure). Consider, for example, a reservoir rock charged with oil with an activity of 100 ppb (parts-per-billion active metal). The 100 ppb curve in the Figure indicates oil at 10,000 ft, condensate at 12,000 ft, and gas at 13,000+ ft.

   Figure1. Deltaic Basin Model, Gulf of Mexico.

     We have successfully field tested two models. The first for gas generation in reservoir rocks: Bastian Bay and Midland fields in southern Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico. The second for gas generation in source rocks (marine shales): Barnett Shale, Ft Worth Basin. These studies are described under Gulf of Mexico and Barnett Shale, respectively. There is also a brief description on how to use the Model in conventional reservoirs and source reservoirs (e.g., shale gas) under Applications.

  The science behind the Technology is outlined in the following Abstract, Catalytic Activity in Sedimentary Rocks. The full paper is currently under review.

Catalytic Activity in Sedimentary Rocks

Frank D. Mango 1 and Daniel M. Jarvie 2  

1 Petroleum Habitats, 806 Soboda Ct., Houston, Texas 77079 U.S.A.; fmango@houston.rr.com

2 Humble Instruments & Services, P.O. Box 789, Humble, Texas 77347; danjarvie@humble-inc.com.

ABSTRACT

     Sedimentary rocks are considered passive containers in the decomposition of oil to gas, because they show no catalytic activity under ordinary laboratory conditions. We have found robust catalytic activity under anoxic conditions, however, were relative rates of gas generation reach 250,000. Activity vanishes irreversibly with even brief exposures to oxygen, which may explain why this unusual rock property has gone undetected for so long.

     Over 500 sedimentary rocks were analyzed for activity. They included source rocks that range in age from Miocene to Pennsylvanian, and reservoir rocks of Cretaceous to Tertiary age. Activities ranged over 5 orders of magnitude, with marine shales in the higher ranges. Several lines of evidence suggest natural activity carried from the subsurface rather than artificial activity created under analytical conditions. First, all activity can be extinguished with oxygen at room temperature prior to analysis. Thus, the rocks are active as received in the laboratory, before exposure to analytical conditions. Second, activity is directly proportional to nickel content, organic carbon content, and the Rock-Eval ratio (HI/(HI+OI)). It shows no sensitivity to analytical conditions. Eighteen marine shales (Miocene, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian) analyzed under identical conditions show a strong linear correlation (r = 0.84) between activity and HI/(HI+OI) (Figure 1), a ratio reflecting reducing conditions of sedimentation (Hunt, Petroleum Geochemistry and Geology, 1995, p 341). This supports our hypothesis that low-valent nickel (Ni 0) is the active agent: reducing conditions should promote activity (Ni +2 → Ni 0) while oxic conditions should suppress activity (Ni +2 ← Ni 0). Rock activity is independent of rock maturity and geologic age. It increases sharply in rocks deposited in outer-neritic environments under anoxic conditions, conditions that favor the accumulation and activation of transition metals. The correlation between activity and HI/(HI+OI) supports this conclusion. The catalytic nature of the reaction and its sensitivity to oxygen-poisoning implicates transition metals and our experiments with pure nickel support this possibility.

  
Figure 2. Catalytic Activity in Marine shales from the Monterey formation (Miocene, CA), the Barnett Shale (Mississippian, Delaware Basin, TX), and the Bend Group (Pennsylvanian, Palo Duro Basin, TX). HI is the hydrogen index and OI is the oxygen index from Rock-Eval analysis. The oxygen index (OI) reflects oxic environments of sedimentation while the hydrogen index (HI) reflects reducing environments (Hunt, Petroleum Geochemistry and Geology, 1995, p 341). The linear coefficient of correlation r = 0.84. Reducing conditions would promote zero-valent nickel, the active catalyst proposed here.

Frank Mango, PhD
Founder, President, and CEO
Petroleum Habitats, LLC
281-497-0384
f mango@petrohabs.com
www.petroleumhabitats.com