Petroleum and natural gas are found within the pore-spaces of porous rock which forms the crude oil and gas reservoirs. Typically, the oil and gas are found with saline water which may be mobile or immobile. This is in contrast to the popular belief that crude oil is found as “oceans of oil” in vast underground caverns. The pore-space in porous rock is identical to the pore-space found within the sand grains of beach sand. If you were to dig a hole in the sand at the beach and fill it with ocean water, then that water would eventually drain out of the bottom of the hole and migrate through the sand back to the ocean. Oil and gas storage and transport are identical to the storage and transport of ocean water in beach sand. In fact, the physical laws that govern the storage and transport of fluids in porous rock and unconsolidated sand are identical.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
To Read | Lesson 2: Origin and Occurrence of Hydrocarbons | Click the Basic Earth Geology link below to continue reading the Lesson 2 material |
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To Do | Submit the Lesson 2 quiz | Located in the Lesson 2 module in Canvas |
Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates.
If you have questions, please feel free to post them to the Course Q&A Discussion Board in Canvas. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help a classmate.