The main purpose of basin modelling is to simulate the burial and thermal history of a sedimentary basin and apply the derived Pressure/Temperature/Rock Properties data to simulate HC generation, HC expulsion and HC migration.
Initially developed as a 1D tool to simply assess maturity levels at some sparse points in a basin, with the availability of 3D models since the mid 90’ it became an integrated tool to assess conventional Petroleum Systems.
With the advent of the Unconventional revolution, the basin modelling toolbox didn’t need fundamental adjustments, the workflow simply needed to be switched from a focus on expulsion/migration towards retention/expulsion.
With the Energy Transition, basin modelling will still be needed to support the conventional and unconventional oil&gas exploration for years to come but also did already started to support initial geothermal investigations of sedimentary basin as well as CCS.
For both the Geothermal and the CCS applications, the derivation of present day rock properties, thermal and pressure field are the main requirements.
The presentation will cover Arabian plate controls on heat flow and the challenges to derive sealing data.
