Kinetic Characterization of Source Rock from Western Barinas-Apure Basin, Venezuela

The right choice of kinetic parameters is important with respect to assessing the reliability of basin model predictions. Thus, this research is focused on increasing the knowledge of the organofacies in La Luna/ Navay Formation (Western Venezuela Basin) and their kinetic parameters, in order to reduce the uncertainties in the petroleum system modeling of the Barinas Apure Basin. Eight rock samples were collected in south-westernmost sector of the Barinas-Apure Basin and were used to determine organofacies and theirs kinetic parameters using Py-GC and bulk open pyrolysis. Four organofacies were identified: A1, A2, B1 and B2, where A1 is labile, marine, sulphur-rich, Ea: 51 – 52 Kcal/mol, this is the most representative organofacie to this formation. The kinetic similarities found between samples from the northern and southern part of the Western Venezuela Basin indicates that the current generalization to consider that the Navay Formation has a lesser hydrocarbon genetic potential than La Luna Formation, as frequently assumed is incorrect. The use of these new kinetics parameters for hydrocarbon generation modeling has demonstrated the variability in the age of onset of transformation ratio and their influence in the assessment of exploration areas, because the hydrocarbon potential of basin could be over or under-estimated.