Evaluation of Hydrocarbon Generation Potential of the Pabdeh Formation as a Probable Source Rock across Dezful Embayment, Southwestern Iran

Thanks to its petrological and geochemical characteristics, the Pabdeh Formation has been acknowledged as a probable source rock across the Dezful Embayment, southwestern Iran. The present research investigates the hydrocarbon generation potential of the Pabdeh Formation through studying the distribution of the organic matter (OM) content in terms of quantity, quality, and maturity over the study area. For this purpose, Rock-Eval pyrolysis was conducted on a total of 330 samples taken from 15 fields in the study area, with the results subjected to geochemical evaluations. Our findings show that, in the Dezful Embayment, the Pabdeh Formation contains Type-II, Type-III, and mixed-type (II and III) kerogens and exhibits poor to very good oil generation potential. In terms of the OM maturity, the kerogens were found to be immature to early oil generation window. Investigation of organic facies reflected variable conditions of the depositional area and frequent changes in the mean sea level. To sum up, the results show that, as far as the Dezful Embayment is concerned, the Pabdeh Formation is yet to achieve an adequate degree of maturity for generating hydrocarbon.