Characterization of the Organic Matter for Some Crude Oils from the North Western Part of the Western Desert, Egypt

Abstract

A direct method for crude oil evaluation based on spectral techniques is demonstrated. This direct method is demonstrated for five crude oils from the north western part of the western desert, Egypt. FTIR spectroscopy was used to study the distribution of functional groups contained in the crude oil samples. Some ratios calculated from peak heights of selected infrared bands allow for a better comparison of the spectra. These ratios will be useful to give valuable informations about the origin and thermal maturation of the organic matters. ¹³C NMR spectroscopy could provide a measure of the relative proportions of crude oils aliphatic and aromatic carbons so that the technique is proving to be a valuable organic matter maturation and typing tool. The proportion of organic carbon present in aliphatic structures correlates with oil-generating potential of a source rock. These spectroscopic techniques have been used to study the entire structures of crude oil samples. They may provide valuable informations about the aromaticity and diverse functionalities which are important to find out about the thermal history of the crude oil samples.

Keywords:

• Crude oil
• Organic matter
• Spectroscopic techniques

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute for the FTIR analysis. The author also thanks the National Center for Radiation Research and Technology for obtaining ¹³C NMR spectra. The author's best gratitudes are expressed to Khalda Petroleum Company for providing the crude oils samples.