Magnetic enhancement caused by hydrocarbon migration in the Mawangmiao Oil Field, Jianghan Basin, China

Liu, Q.S., Liu, Q-S., Chan, L.S., Yang, T., Xia, X.H. and Cheng, T.J. (2006) Magnetic enhancement caused by hydrocarbon migration in the Mawangmiao Oil Field, Jianghan Basin, China. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 53 (1-2), 25-33. (doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2006.01.010).

Abstract

Magnetic parameters (volume-specific susceptibility κ, and hysteresis parameters and ratios) of 47 samples, collected from an oil-producing well (M₃₆) and a dry well (M₄₆) from the oil-bearing II-You Formation of Paleogene Xingouzui Group in the Mawangmiao Oil Field in China, were measured to address the secondary alteration of iron-bearing minerals associated with hydrocarbon migration. Our results indicated that both κ and magnetization (saturation magnetization J_s and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization J_rs) of oil-bearing formation have been dramatically enhanced. Further grain size estimation reveals that the background samples (samples both in M₄₆ and outside the oil-bearing formation in M₃₆) contain coarser-grained magnetic particles (30 µm) of detrital origin. In contrast, the alteration of hydrocarbon produces finer-grained (25 nm) magnetic particles. The new constraints on grain sizes and its origin of the hydrocarbon-related magnetic particles improve our understanding of the mechanism of formation of these secondary finer-grained particles, even though the precise nature of this process is still unknown.

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