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Thermal history of the light hydrocarbons in EI-330: Implication of their origin

Conference ·
OSTI ID:214819
; ;  [1]
  1. Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)

Oil, gas, and condensate are produced from the Eugene Island 330 field (EI-330) on the continental shelf of northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Stable carbon isotopic compositions and biomarker data of the hydrocarbons indicate a common source for all the fluids. Hydrocarbon compositions, however, varied considerably among the reservoirs and over the production history. Fluid recharging into the reservoirs as recent as the last few years has been proposed to account for the heterogeneity in the compositions. Calculated thermal history and maturity of the fluids from newly acquired geochemical data indicate that the light hydrocarbons have much higher thermal maturity than the higher molecular weight compounds and that the maturity of the light hydrocarbons consistently increased with time during production from the field. These data provide evidence that highly mature hydrocarbons are being actively injected into the light component of the reservoired EI-330 field oils.

OSTI ID:
214819
Report Number(s):
CONF-950801--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English