Page 22 - Geology and Geochemistry of Oil and Gas

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Chapter 1

SYSTEMS APPROACH IN SCIENCE

1.1. NATURAL SYSTEMS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION

Despite political, economical, and military crises, oil and natural gas usage in the
world is growing. Ecological problems are becoming more serious. Any concerns
about the future cannot undermine humankind’s drive to the technical progress
provided by using oil and natural gas. The environmentalists are preventing the
construction of nuclear power generating plants, and the alternative sources of en-
ergy, probably will not satisfy more than 15–20% of the world energy demand. Thus,
the demand for oil and natural gas will grow.
Usually such a statement is accompanied by another statement on the limited
amount of these mineral resources. This should be clarified. From the viewpoint of
inorganic origin of hydrocarbons, the process of hydrocarbon accumulation is con-
tinuing. A possible resource replacement due to inorganic synthesis, however, has
not been discussed here, because most scientists reject the possibility of hydrocarbon
accumulation via this process. Some proponents of the organic theory (Weber et al.,
1966; Miller, 1991; Hunt, 1979) believe that hydrocarbons could have formed in
Pleistocene and Quaternary sediments. Hunt (1979) stated that inasmuch as about
9% of hydrocarbons entered the sediments directly from the living organisms; they
may have originated hydrocarbon accumulations in the Quaternary. Such amounts
of resources cannot be disregarded.
In addition to the irreplaceability, or rather a very low replaceability, of the
hydrocarbon resources it is also very difficult to discover new ones. Most of the
‘‘easy’’ accumulations (shallower than 4000 m and associated with the most common
anticlinal traps in mature basins) have been already discovered. Discovery of ac-
cumulations associated with non-conventional traps and those present at great
depths and in the offshore basins required non-conventional exploration techniques.
This resulted in an accelerated development of geophysical (mainly seismic), geo-
chemical and, even, space exploration techniques.
Technology of exploratory drilling was simultaneously progressing: (1) the drill-
ing penetration rate increased, (2) core and fluid sampling techniques became avail-
able without interrupting the drilling process, (3) logging and measuring-while-
drilling methods were developed, and (4) horizontal drilling in the productive res-
ervoirs became a reality. The time has come to reconsider the old theoretical con-
cepts in view of the progress achieved in allied scientific disciplines (physics,
chemistry, geochemistry, geotectonics, lithology, geomathematics, etc.). The basis
for this reconsideration is the systems approach.
Intuitive systems approach was introduced in natural sciences by two prominent
biologists and philosophers: Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 –1829), in the book en-
titled Zoological Philosophy (1809), and Charles Darwin (1809 –1882), in the book