Petroleum Source Rock Analysis

JAPEX Research Center is equipped with the facilities and personnel to provide the testing and analysis required in a wide range of fields, from exploration and development to production and transportation, for providing services both in Japan and abroad.

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Summary of Petroleum Source Rock Analysis

Source rocks are the rocks that have the potential to generate oil/natural gas and essential to the formation of oil and natural gas fields. Determining the characteristics of source rocks, therefore, is critical to the precise evaluation for exploration.

The source rock potential is evaluated based on three parameters: organic amount, organic type, and maturity. Specifically, samples including outcrop rocks and well cuttings are analyzed using analytical instruments, such as elemental analyzers, Rock-Eval instruments, and vitrinite reflectance microscopes. The resulting data are used for basin modeling, migration and accumulation analysis, as well as the determination of exploration well locations.

Survey/Analysis Items

Source rock analysis evaluates primarily the organic amount, organic type, and maturity of samples.

• Analysis of organic carbon content
  
  • Combust source rock samples to assess the amount of organic carbon
• Rock-Eval pyrolysis
  
  • Heat source rock samples to evaluate the organic amount, type and maturity
• Measurement of vitrinite reflectance
  
  • Measure the reflectivity of vitrinite to evaluate organic maturity

Rock-Eval pyrolysis device

Technical Service Brochure: Petroleum Source Rock Analysis (240KB)