A Look at Shell's Genex model
The recent paper by John Stainforth (Marine and Petroleum Geology 26, 2009, pp. 552�572) gave us a hint of how Shell models hydrocarbon generation and expulsion. I can't help but to comment a bit here. The paper begins by explaining the problems of other models, quote: " Models for petroleum generation used by the industry are often limited by (a) sub-optimal laboratory pyrolysis methods for studying hydrocarbon generation, (b) over-simple models of petroleum generation, (c) inappropriate mathematical methods to derive kinetic parameters by fitting laboratory data, (d) primitive models of primary migration/expulsion and its coupling with petroleum generation, and (e) insufficient use of subsurface data to constrain the models. Problems (a), (b) and (c) lead to forced compensation effects between the activation energies and frequency factors of reaction kinetics that are wholly artificial, and which yield poor extrapolations to geological conditions. Si...