The source kitchen of the Niger Delta oils: case study on Nembe Creek E1.0 and the Kolo Creek E2.0 reservoirs

The source kitchen of a petroleum system is that part of the pod of active source rock which is mature and generates the petroleum that charges the reservoir rock. The location of the source kitchen of a petroleum system is vital to the explorationist, its knowledge fosters the prediction of migratory pathways and the migratory losses prior to present times, also estimates potential volume of accumulation. Hither to, mapping of the petroleum basins was based on total organic carbon (TOC), hydrogen index (HI) signatures and maturity history of the source rock and has been used as the basis to suggest locations of petroleum kitchens. In contemporary times, 4D seismic or 3D time lapse geochemistry had been used to suggest location of source kitchen. However, settled is the concept of lateral maturity gradients, implying that within reservoir scales of a kilometer to tens of kilometers, regional petroleum emplacement direction could be deduced from subtle changes in maturity of successive charges of petroleum into the reservoir. In this study, the sterane isomerization ratio (20S/20S + 20R alpha alpha alpha C-29) was used to determine the maturities of the hydrocarbons from various wells in the Kolo Creek and the Nembe Creek reservoirs. Subtle increases in maturities were observed to be in a NE-SW direction for the Kolo Creek reservoir and in a NW-SE direction for the Nembe Creek reservoir. The direction of increasing maturities relative to the location of the reservoirs could be extrapolated for both reservoirs towards offshore Gulf of Guinea; this is invariably the direction of location of the source kitchen for the Niger Delta oils.