25th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry IMOG 2011

P-008
High resolution measurement of petroleum potential of oil
shales using laser pyrolysis on cores
Daniel Dessort, Pierre Allix, Jean-Michel Krafft, Dominique Duclerc, Robert Le-Van-Loi
Total S.A., Pau, France (corresponding author:daniel.dessort@total.com)
Conventional core- or log-based methods for TOC
and petroleum potential measurement are not always
satisfactory. For oil shale these parameters are
important:
� For calculating the yield of petroleum which
can be produced from oil shale pyrolysis,
� For extrapolating, modeling and mapping the
remaining petroleum potential of oil shale
deeper in the basin (oil shales may have
deeper gas shale potential).
The LIPS (Laser Induced Pyrolysis System) is a new
instrument developed by TOTAL. It performs the
automatic acquisition of quantitative and high
resolution (centimetric or sub-centimetric) logs of
organic carbon on cores (Tar mats, source rocks, oil
shales, gas shales).
The LIPS consists in:
1. One mobile bench carrying the core,
2. One power laser providing a continuous infra-red
laser beam through an optical fiber,
3. One 3D movable head which guides the laser
beam and collects the material expelled from the
core during the laser shoot,
4. One or more detectors can be used for analyzing
the material pyrolyzed and expelled from the core
during the laser shoot (mass spectrometer, PID,
FID, sulphur detector…)
5. An acquisition and data processing system.
Typically one data point can be acquired every
minute.
The LIPS data are calibrated using the Rock- Eval or
Fisher assays. Thus, the results can be expressed as
log of Total Organic Carbon or Petroleum Potential.
The figure below shows an example of high resolution
log of petroleum potential obtained on a single well of
Jordan oil shale. Blue dots are Rock-Eval controls
every 50 cm.
Lithology TH U Color
Hydrocarbon
Yield % w/w
10 20 30
• Rock-Eval
Control
156