Petroleum geology refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons (oil exploration).

Petroleum geology is principally concerned with the evaluation of seven key elements in sedimentary basins: Source, reservoir, seal, trap, timing, maturation and migration. In general, all these elements must be assessed via a limited 'window' into the subsurface world, provided by one (or possibly more) exploration wells.

These wells present only a 1-dimensional segment through the Earth and the skill of inferring 3-dimensional characteristics from them is one of the most fundamental in petroleum geology.

Recently, the availability of cheap and high quality 3D seismic data (from reflection seismology) has greatly aided the accuracy of such interpretation..

For more information about the topic Petroleum geology, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Sequence stratigraphy — Sequence stratigraphy is a relatively new branch of geology that attempts to link prehistoric sea-level changes to sedimentary deposits. The ...  > read more

Hydrocarbon — In chemistry, a hydrocarbon is any chemical compound that consists only of the elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). They all contain a carbon ...  > read more

Sedimentary rock — Sedimentary rock is one of the three main rock groups (along with igneous and metamorphic rocks) and is formed in four main ways: by the deposition ...  > read more

Elastic-rebound theory of earthquakes — In geology, the elastic rebound theory was the first theory to satisfactorily explain earthquakes. Previously it was thought that ruptures of the ...  > read more

Related Stories

USGS Assessment Significantly Increases Afghanistan Petroleum Resource Base (March 15, 2006) — The USGS and the Government of Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Industry have completed the first-ever assessment of Afghanistan's undiscovered petroleum resources and have determined that the ...  > read more

Improving Oil Extraction With New Mapping Technology (February 4, 2009) — Picture this: an accurate map of a large underground oil reservoir that can guide engineers' efforts to coax the oil from the vast rocky subsurface into wells where it can be pumped out for storage ...  > read more

Scientists Found Fatty Acids After Hydrolysis Of Purified Crude Oil Fractions (August 12, 2008) — The nature, activity and metabolism of microbes that inhabit the deep subsurface environment are a matter of ongoing debate. Primarily limited by temperature , little is known about secondary factors ...  > read more

Finding New Oil In Old Ground (June 21, 1999) — A new technology developed by CSIRO could help oil companies find elusive oil ...  > read more

Huge Amount Of Fossil Fuels In Arctic: 90 Billion Barrels Of Oil And 1,670 Trillion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas (July 24, 2008) — The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, and 44 billion ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily

Underwater Earthquakes