Chemometric Classification and Geochemistry of Crude Oils in the Eastern Fukang Sag, Junggar Basin, NW China

Abstract

Thirty oil samples collected from the eastern Fukang Sag were analyzed geochemically for their biomarkers and carbon isotopic compositions. The chemometric methods of principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis, employed to thirteen parameters indicating source and depositional environment, classified the oil samples into three genetically distinct oil families: Family A oils were mainly derived from lower aquatic organisms deposited in a weakly reducing condition of fresh–brackish water, Family B oils came from a source containing predominantly terrigenous higher-plant organic matter laid down in an oxidizing environment of fresh water, and Family C oils received sources from both terrigenous and marine organic matter deposited in a weakly oxidizing to oxidizing environment of brackish water. Indirect oil–source correlations implied that Family A oils were probably derived from Permian source rocks, Family B oils originated mainly from Jurassic source rocks, and Family C oils had a mixed source of Carboniferous and Permian. Biomarker maturity parameters revealed that all three families of oils were in the mature stage. However, Family A oils were relatively less mature than Family B and Family C oils.

Keywords

• biomarkers
• carbon isotopic composition
• principal component analysis
• hierarchical cluster analysis
• oil family classification
• Fukang Sag