Basin Modeling for Shifting the Petroleum System Models to the Needs of the Energy Transition

Basin modeling is a technology for simulating the geologic processes involved in the development of sedimentary basins. It was developed for the purpose of Oil & Gas exploration to predict the location and nature of hydrocarbon traps and to identify overpressure risk before drilling.

With a few additional development efforts, the range of basin modeling applications can be enlarged. In the present paper, we show that coupling basin modeling with an existing mechanical simulation code makes it possible to accurately model the spatial distribution of geomechanical stresses and natural fracturing at regional scale, which are a valuable information in the frame of geothermal or CO2 storage site screening or production modeling. The coupled simulation is applied to the case study of the Neuquèn basin, Argentina, where it appears that tectonic stress significantly controls overpressure development and natural fracturing. This illustrates the potential use of basin modelling simulations for making decision or assessing and selecting optimal location for CO2 sequestration or geothermal exploitation at the basin scale.