THE LA LUNA/RÍO NEGRO(.) PETROLEUM SYSTEM AT THE URDANETA WEST FIELD, LAKE MARACAIBO BASIN, NW VENEZUELA: 1D BASIN MODELLING AND SECONDARY OIL MIGRATION

This paper investigates the timing of hydrocarbon generation in the northern part of the Urdaneta West field in the NW of the Lake Maracaibo Basin, NW Venezuela, based on 1D basin modelling at three wells referred to as wells X, Y and Z. Kitchen areas were identified and secondary migration directions were inferred based on analyses of the thermal and burial history of the Upper Cretaceous La Luna Formation source rock and the geochemistry of 20 oil samples from the Río Negro Formation reservoir. Aliphatic hydrocarbons in the oil samples were analysed by gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) while the vanadium‐nickel and sulphur contents were determined by energy dispersive X‐ray spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, respectively. Bulk and molecular characterizations indicated that the oils originated from a marine carbonate source rock containing oil‐prone Type II kerogen, consistent with generation by the La Luna Formation. Burial and thermal history modelling in the study area indicated that the La Luna source rock at wells X, Y and Z reached the oil window during the late Eocene, mid‐Eocene and early Paleocene respectively. 1D model results from the three wells showed that hydrocarbon generation began in the early Eocene. The transformation ratio of the La Luna Formation source rock in the modelled wells reached values of 35%, 98% and 100% by the end of the Eocene. In the Urdaneta West field, two different oil charges appear to have mixed in the Río Negro reservoir. Both oil charges were generated by the La Luna Formation source rock but at different times. A first charge of less mature oil occurred in the middle‐late Eocene (Phase 1 generation), and a second, more mature oil charge took place in the Miocene – Quaternary (Phase 2 generation). The kitchen area for the first oil charge is inferred to have been located to the north and NE of Urdaneta West; that for the second oil charge to the south of the field. This migration model is supported by observed variations in the geochemical compositions of the oil samples analysed from different wells in the Urdaneta West field.