Commercial development and application of the Re-Os geochronometer and tracer to petroleum systems

碳氢化合物及其衍生产品是当今社会的核心。我们知道碳氢化合物的来源是埋藏的古代植物和动物的产物。学术界和工业界的石油地质学家面临的不太清楚的问题是，确定碳氢化合物（如石油）形成的时间，以及它们如何被困在足够大的石油系统中以供开采。为了解决这个问题的起源和形成的碳氢化合物的时间，天然存在的同位素时钟的187铼-187锇存在于石油被利用。这种直接测定石油年代而不依赖于多组分模型的能力非常重要，因为石油勘探者需要知道沉积盆地中碳氢化合物的起源，以限制它们可能积聚的位置，或者它们是否能够积聚。石油勘探钻孔耗资数百万美元，每一个告知现场位置的数据都具有巨大的价值。虽然铼-锇系统对石油系统的潜在效用现已得到证实，但其在勘探期间的大规模应用和工业常规开发仍处于起步阶段。因此，需要与工业界接触，以开发一系列基于资产的案例研究，以增进对铼-锇系统学的了解，并评估该方法对全世界含油气盆地的普遍适用性。（见上面的目标部分）将是创建一个多公司（英国石油公司，道达尔，挪威国家石油公司，康菲石油公司，雪佛龙，壳牌，Chemostrat）Re-Os咨询委员会（ROAB），主要有两个目的与目标（B）有关的工作根据与已在使用Re-O的公司建立的关系，让ROAB成员成为战略伙伴;以及对Re-Os系统的应用有共同兴趣的公司。ROAB的所有创始成员都拥有石油勘探方面的全球专业知识，因此可以补充、支持和发展PI和Co-I的研究能力，建立一个强大的综合研究团队，例如，与目标（c）有关的工作包括由项目研究员在达勒姆主办的2个讲习班，讲习班将包括对现有知识库的总结，并将随后举行一次智囊团会议，讨论如何为最终用户更好地理解和开发铼-锇系统。一个影响案例研究将在达勒姆大学媒体办公室的科学作家的帮助下开发。

Hydrocarbons and their derivative products are central to today's society. We know that the source of hydrocarbons are products of buried ancient plants and animals. Less clear, and question that petroleum geoscientists both academic and industrial are challenged with, is establishing the time that hydrocarbons, such as oil, form and how they are trapped in petroleum systems large enough to be exploited. To address this question of the origin and time of formation of hydrocarbons, the naturally occurring isotopic clock of 187Rhenium-187Osmium present in oil is utilized. This ability to directly date oil and not rely on multi-component models are important because petroleum explorers, need to know the origin of hydrocarbons in a sedimentary basin to constrain where they might be able to accumulate, or whether they are able to accumulate at all. With oil exploration drillholes costing multiple millions of dollars, every piece of data informing site location is of immense worth. Whilst the potential utility of the Rhenium-Osmium system to petroleum systems is now proven, its wide scale application and routine development by industry during exploration is still very much in its infancy. Thus, engagement with industry is needed to develop a portfolio of asset-based case studies needed to improve the understanding of Rhenium-Osmium systematics and assess the general applicability of the method to hydrocarbon-bearing basins worldwide.Work related to Objective (a) (see Objectives section above) will be to create a multi-company (BP, Total, Statoil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Shell, Chemostrat) Re-Os Advisory Board (ROAB) with two main purposes (as noted above).Work related to Objective (b) will involve ROAB members to become a strategic partner based on established relationships with companies already engaging in the use of Re-Os; and companies with shared interest in the application of Re-Os system above and beyond its current use. All of the founding ROAB members have global expertise in petroleum exploration and thus compliment, support and develop the PI and Co-I research capabilities establishing a strong-integrated research team, e.g., traditional industrial applied techniques (basin modeling, organic geochemistry) with novel Re-Os geochemistry and fracture network models.Work related to objective (c) includes a 2 workshop hosted by the PIs at Durham which will include a summary of the current knowledge base and will be followed by a think tank session on how the Rhenium-Osmium system can be better understood and developed for the end-user. An Impact Case Study will be developed with the help of a science writer in the Durham University Media Office.