Potential Fracturing of Hydrocarbon Source Rocks in MMV and Caguán-Putumayo Basins by Mineralogical Characterization

Global energy matrix is mainly based on the use of fossil fuels, but, they have little time left says peak oil theory. The number of discoveries of new conventional oil and gas deposits has declined in recent decades, and, while it is true that the frontier exploration, especially in deep water and deep wells, as well as in remote regions now enabled for exploration adds new reserves, the reserve replacement rate worldwide is a concern permanent.

In Colombia, with the information gained from North American analogs, the search for equivalents is underway. The middle valley of Magdalena and Caguán-Putumayo basins both has showed potential to generate unconventional hydrocarbons systems associate to shale gas and shale oil plays.

The Middle Magdalena Valley Basin constituted a major regional sedimentary basin from the Triassic to the middle Miocene.

The Caguán-Putumayo Basin is the northern extension of the Oriente Basin of Ecuador.

In this investigation, we integrated the mineralogical characterization from XRD tests with geochemical information like maturity, TOC, etc. from 15 different wells in each basin with the purpose to obtain specific intervals in the source rock that have good fracturing potential.