Distribution Characteristics of Effective Source Rocks and Their Control on Hydrocarbon Accumulation: A Case Study from the Dongying Sag, Eastern China

Abstract The exploration conducted in the Bohai Bay basin, eastern China has demonstrated that the abundant petroleum resources have close affinities to the hydrocarbon kitchen with rich organic matter. A number of oil‐generating associations with various characteristics of organic geochemistry and assemblages of multiple reservoir facies are developed due to the multi‐center sedimentation, multi‐source supply and multi‐cycle evolution of filling, which have resulted in the formation of multiple oil and gas accumulation zones of various layers and trap styles. Among them the Paleogene Shahejie Formation is the most important hydrocarbon accumulation combination in the Dongying sag. Heretofore, its proved reserve has reached nearly 1.8×10 9 t, which accounts for more than 90% of the total proved reserves of the Dongying sag. Based on previous studies, more than 600 source rock samples and 186 crude oil samples of the Shahejie Formation, collected from 30 oilfields, have been treated with organic geochemical testing. By combining the sedimentary sequence characteristics and geochemical analysis results, the source rocks of the Shahejie Formation can be divided into three genetic types, i.e. the saline lake facies (the upper E s 4 , brackish water deep lake facies (the lower E s 3 ) and fresh‐water lake facies (the middle E s 3 ), which correspond to the under‐filling, balanced‐filling and over‐filling lake types respectively and represent the three most essential genetic models for source rocks of non‐marine fault basins in China. Based on a thorough oil‐source correlation, the source rocks of the saline lake and brackish deep lake facies are determined to be the most contributive source rocks in the Dongying sag. Furthermore, by probing into the accumulation of organic matter and hydrocarbon migration pattern, it can be inferred that the hydrocarbons, generated from source rocks of the saline lake facies with relatively low maturity, have mainly accumulated in the uplifted parts of the basin's margin via lateral migration and the reservoirs are dominated by the buried hill and stratigraphic types, while hydrocarbons generated from source rocks of the brackish lake facies are mainly distributed in the basin's center via vertical migration and characterized by forming lithologic reservoirs. Also, the reservoirs located in the transitional belts have complex types and mostly controlled by faults, characterized by block (structural‐lithologic) reservoirs, and the crude oils mainly come from source beds of Es 1 3 and Es 2 4 respectively.