Surface Geochemical Prospecting by Adsorbed Gas Analysis-A Predrilling Risk Reduction Tool of Hydrocarbon Exploration

摘要

Surface geochemical prospecting is based on the postulation that hydrocarbons trapped at depth leak in varying but detectable guantities to the surface. Out of about twenty different geochemical methods, geochemical prospecting by adsorbed gas analysis (AGA) is the most enormously used tool in the quest for hydrocarbon exploration. Coupled with more expensivegeophysical tools such as 2-D and 3-D seismic, surface geochemical prospecting by AGA can provide impressive, highly valuable information regarding hydrocarbon potential of a basin.