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News: Date: 04/23/08
Thanks for all the interest!!! please feel free to contact us with any questions.

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
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