aspects of organic geochemistry of nigerian coal university of ibadan

1.7 Aims and Objectives of this Study
The debate on hydrocarbon generation and migration within coal has
intensified since the early work by Brooks and Smith (1967, 1969). Many
studies suggest the possibility of non-marine coal sediments having potential
capacity to generate petroleum by thermal transformation of organic matter
compounds during natural diagenesis when buried in sedimentary basins
(Betrand et al., 1986; Boreham and Powell, 1991; Hunt 1991, 1996; Hutton et
al., 1994). Today, it is widely accepted that some coals can indeed generate oil
(Hendrix et al., 1995; Mario et al., 1997; Petersen et al., 2000; Bechtel et al.,
2001; Kotarba et al., 2002; Boreham et al., 2003).
Nigeria is one of the countries with the largest deposits of coal in Africa,
however despite its vast deposits, there is a dearth of information on its use as
a source-rock of petroleum. The present study therefore aimed at:
(a) evaluating the source rock potential of some Nigerian coal,
(b) assessing the organic source, depositional environment and maturity
of the coal based on the distribution of biomarkers and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and
(c) determining the carbon isotopic composition of individual n-
alkanes in the coal and its implication on organic source and
depositional environment.
30