Basin and Petroleum System Modelling

Basin and Petroleum Systems Modelling (BPSM) allow geoscientists to examine the dynamics of sedimentary basins to determine if past conditions were suitable for hydrocarbons to be generated in source rocks, and if those hydrocarbons may have charged potential reservoirs and are still preserved there. BPSM is a forward simulation of subsurface properties which can be divided into two components:

• Burial history (deposition, compaction, porosity and permeability reduction, uplift and erosion)
• Pore pressure evolution
• Thermal processes (heat flow, temperature and thermal maturity)

• Hydrocarbon generation, adsorption and expulsion
• PVT-controlled secondary migration towards traps
• Accumulation
• Preservation (biodegradation, secondary cracking, seal failures)

BPSM is a bottom-up modelling of geological processes which needs calibration to rock property and fluid measurements and the overall observed pattern of petroleum systems elements (presence and absence in wells).