Abstract
Natural gases are produced from reservoirs (Precambrian to Tertiary in age) located on structural highs around the margins of the Békés basin. Gas composition and stable carbon isotope data indicate that most of the flammable gases were derived from humic kerogen contained in source rocks located in deep parts of the basin. Depths of gas generation and vertical migration distances were estimated by comparing rock maturity and carbon isotopic composition of methane with Neogene source rock maturity-depth relationships. These calculations indicate that as much as 3500 m of vertical migration has occurred. Isotopically heavy (> -7 %o) CO2 is the predominant species present in some shallow reservoirs located on basin-margin structural highs and has probably been derived via long-distance vertical and lateral migration from thermal decomposition of carbonate minerals in Mesozoic and older rocks in the deepest parts of the basin. A few shallow reservoirs (<2000 m) contain isotopically light (-50 to -60 %o) methane with only minor amounts of C2+ homologs (<3% v/v). This methane is probably mostly microbial in origin.
Porous horizons in Neogene rocks and fractured basement rocks have provided long-distance secondary migration routes for thermal gas and CO2.
Little migration has occurred across formational boundaries. An understanding of the migration distances at certain oil and gas fields provides a guide which, when integrated with the geology of specific plays, can help predict occurrences of undiscovered gas accumulations.
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Clayton, J.L., Koncz, I. (1994). Geochemistry of Natural Gas and Carbon Dioxide in the Békés Basin — Implications for Exploration. In: Teleki, P.G., Mattick, R.E., Kókai, J. (eds) Basin Analysis in Petroleum Exploration. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0954-3_9
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