9748 Whithorn Drive
Houston, Texas 77095
Source rock analysis is critical to your petroleum exploration success, both conventional and unconventional, as it helps characterize sedimentary organic matter and evaluate resource potential. GeoMark’s source rock laboratory, located in Humble, Texas, is one of the premier source rock laboratories in the oil and gas industry. With ten pyrolysis instruments, including Leco TOC, Rock Eval-II, Rock Eval-VI, SRA, and HAWK, we are equipped to handle any project in a timely manner. Our highly trained staff and dedication to following strict QA/QC procedures ensure accurate, reliable data that you can trust.
Source rock analysis is typically performed when initially assessing the potential of an oil or gas field of interest. It helps guide your immediate and future drilling program decisions, by determining:
This information is used in development work to define landing zones, but also expands to exploration projects, as it helps confirm petroleum system source presence and maturity.
An outcrop is a formation that is visible on the surface, making it easy and inexpensive to collect samples. Yet, these samples can provide valuable insight when looking for new potential source rocks. Additionally, outcrops may represent an end-member to your regional understanding of a source rock, helping constrain the overall risk of your project. Often, outcrops represent a less mature portion of the play and, therefore, can serve as a good measurement of original potential and the presence of organic material.
For best results when collecting outcrop samples:
A. When properly maintained and calibrated, all pyrolysis instruments should provide equivalent data, within a margin of error. Upon request, GeoMark can provide information on internal comparisons that have been performed to give you confidence in your own data and analytical program.
A. Many of the interpretive plots included with pyrolysis data are intended for immature source rocks. Therefore, as source rocks mature and hydrocarbons are expelled, the remaining hydrocarbon potential decreases, causing less validity in the kerogen type plots.
A. low temperature S2 shoulder is generally carryover of heavier free oil compounds from S1 into the S2 peak, which can cause an elevated S2 value and suppression of Tmax data. For the most accurate Tmax maturity data, it is recommended that samples with low temperature S2 shoulders are solvent extracted, then rerun for pyrolysis on the extracted rock. Please contact us to talk with a subject matter expert about the best sample preparation methods for your project.