Abstract
Hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation have been going on in the Jaisalmer Basin, Western Rajasthan, India, for over a decade. The Cretaceous sequences are the potential source rocks in the basin; however, Mesozoic and Tertiary clastics and carbonates form the reservoirs. This study aims to investigate the quality of the source rock, hydrocarbon generative potential along with the thermal maturity of the Paleocene–Eocene clastics and carbonate sequences in Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, India, using geochemical methods. Results of pyrolysis show that the Sanu Formation possesses poor hydrocarbon generative potential, as the values of generative potential range between 0.03 and 1.29 mg HC/g rock with an average of 0.26 mg HC/g rock, and poor to fair organic richness, with TOC ranging from 0.03wt% to 1.32 wt% with an average of 0.42%. Sediments of the Khuiala Formation also possess poor to fair organic content, with average TOC content ranging from 0.04 to 1.34 wt%. However, the generative potential of sediments ranges from 0.03 to 3.02 mg HC/g rock, with an average of 0.41 mg HC/gm rock, suggesting that the sediments have poor generative potential with fair remaining hydrocarbon generating potential as depicted from S2 values (max S2 values of 2.92 mg HC/gm rock) at selected depth intervals. The sediments from the Sanu and Khuiala Formations primarily contain type III and type IV kerogens. The prevalence of kerogen types III and IV is indicative of terrestrial organic input derived from terrestrial plants along with highly degraded or metamorphosed organic matter. The thermal maturity parameters reveal that the sediments are immature to early mature in nature and can generate only wet gas at present.
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Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank the leadership of ONGC for granting permission to publish this research. We also thank the GGM-Basin Manager, Frontier Basin, ONGC, Dehradun, for affording us the opportunity and necessary resources to prepare this manuscript. We would like to acknowledge Mr. Krishna Kumar, Senior Geologist (GSI), for his invaluable assistance and unwavering guidance during the fieldwork in Jaisalmer. It is important to note that the viewpoints expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the stance of their affiliated organization.
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Kumar, D., Sharma, R., Maurya, A.S. et al. Source rock characterization for hydrocarbon generative potential and thermal maturity of Paleocene–Eocene sequences, Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, India. Arab J Geosci 17, 92 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-024-11872-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-024-11872-0