Methods to Determine Conditions of a Hydrocarbon Reservoir
AssigneeExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
InventorsZarath M. Summers, A. Lucie N'Guessan, Aaron B. Regberg
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Abstract
A method of identifying in situ conditions of a hydrocarbon reservoir is disclosed. The method comprises, obtaining a sample from an area of interest, such as a sediment sample or water column sample near a hydrocarbon seep; analyzing the sample to detect lipid, protein, and/or nucleic acid signatures that are indicative of the Thermotogales order; identifying the relative abundance of the different genera and/or species of the Thermotogales present in the sample to generate a taxonomy signature of the sample; and then using the taxonomy signature to determine conditions, such as temperature, of the hydrocarbon reservoir.
Claims21
A method of determining one or more conditions of a hydrocarbon reservoir comprising:
- (a) obtaining a sample near hydrocarbon seep associated with the hydrocarbon reservoir;
- (b) extracting one or more of proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids from the sample;
- (c) analyzing the extracted proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids to identify signatures that are indicative of organisms from the Thermotogales order;
- (d) identifying the relative abundance of different genera or species of Thermotogales present in the sample and assigning a taxonomy signature to the sample;
- (e) using the taxonomy signature to determine the temperature of the hydrocarbon reservoir.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.