oa Oil fingerprinting and its application in Qatar petroleum

Petroleum Geochemistry is an established science to study the formation, migration, accumulation and alteration of petroleum. It is routinely applied to understand the exploration and recovery of oil and gas, both for "conventional" hydrocarbons as well as "unconventional" resources like shale gas. Due to its diverse origins and subsequent alteration processes during migration and accumulation processes, many hydrocarbons constitute of unique chemical components and markers that can be identified, a technique called Oil Fingerprinting. Routine applications of Oil Fingerprinting are: o solving reservoir production allocation o identify production from commingled reservoirs o connectivity/compartmentalization issues o identification of wellbore mechanical problems o characterization of reservoir bitumen and tar mats Qatar Petroleum Research and Technology Center (QPRTC) is in the process of establishing a state of the art geochemical laboratory to study and research Oil Fingerprinting applications. High Resolution Gas Chromatography (HRGC) is used to have a wide range (C1-C40) of chemical constituents of crude oil. The Multi Dimensional Gas Chromatography (MDGC) technique is used to separate a unique set of geochemical components sensitive for reservoir processes. QPRTC is now conducting research activities to support QP operations utilizing Oil Fingerprinting.