Hydrocarbon plumbing systems and petroleum migration-leakage dynamics

I. Ostanin, GFZ Potsdam 2012

Leakage of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons through focused fluid flow systems is a process recognized along most continental margins worldwide. Studying the indicators, abundance and distribution of these fluxes through geologic time, and the triggering and controlling mechanisms, is crucial to understand the role of this process on a variety of phenomena as basin slope instability and mass transport deposits, changes on sea bottom-water temperature, and stability of gas hydrate deposits, among others. Furthermore, as this process may yield significant input of greenhouse gases as methane to marine and terrestrial systems, it may have an important signature on the global Carbon budget and climate record. We address the dynamics of natural gas seepage and focused fluid flow at different spatial and temporal scales, through the integration of several disciplines including geochemistry, geophysics, and petroleum geology, as part of a comprehensive basin analysis approach. Our main partners include both academia and industry.

Ongoing projects:  

• Post-glacial rebound dynamics and leakage of hydrocarbon in the Hammerfest Basin, SW Barents Sea
• Seismo-stratigraphy and high-resolution modelling of hydrocarbon leakage in the Malvinas Basin
• Long-term evolution of the Argentinean Continental margin: implications for hydrocarbon generation, migration, leakage in the Austral Basin
• Controlling mechanisms of generation and leakage of natural gas during the post-rift history of the South Atlantic. A supra-regional approach
• Orange Basin Petroleum System Model
• Quantification and monitoring of hydrocarbon leakage from Canadian basins: Mackenzie Basin and Western Canada Basin
• Hydrocarbon leakage in a glacially influenced marine environment, Southwestern Barents Sea

Specific Topics:  

• Direct detection of past and present-day natural gas seepage and liquid hydrocarbon leakage indicators through integration of geophysics– geology – geochemistry data:
• Relation (in time and space) with structural and stratigraphic elements
• Internal and external controls on major leakage events
• Numerical Modelling of coupled hydrocarbon and focused fluid flow systems
• MoM: timing and rates of natural gas emissions from sedimentary basins

New project proposal:
Hydrocarbon plumbing systems and slope instability in Brazilian off-shore basins