Improved Hydrocarbon Charge Prediction by Use of Source Rock Modelling

Source rock modelling has until now not been applied on a routine basis in exploration basin modelling studies. Main reasons for this have been lack of source rock modelling tools that can both be applied in 3D and at the same time be simple enough to be applied within the short timeframes which typically apply for exploration studies. These types of tools are now, however, starting to emerge and are gradually incorporated into the basin modelling workflow. In this presentation we show an example from a recently conducted petroleum systems modelling study in the Western Barents Sea. In this study, a process-based organic facies modelling was performed to provide input to the hydrocarbon charge and migration modelling. The source rock and hydrocarbon charge modelling was an iterative process, where the source rock model had to be re-evalutated and modified in areas where the migration modelling results did not match the observed well data.