Petrographic methods to distinguish organic matter type in shale

Pores within organic matter are widely recognized as a significant component of pore systems in gas shale. These pores form not only in kerogen, but also in solid bitumen, with different morphology and development degree. The source of organic matter can be divided into depositional and migrated organic matter. Depositional organic matter is deposited in direct contact with detrital mineral grains and comprises depositional kerogen and its alteration products. Migrated organic matter occurs in mineral pores initiatially as bitumen or oil that filled the cement-lined pores and cement would separate bitumen or oil from mineral grains and may evolve into solid bitumen and pyrobitumen during maturation. Authigenic quartz has a dual role in influencing shale porosity. On one hand, it reduces shale porosity by filling pore space,while on the other hand,it supports pore preservation by inhibiting shale compaction and preserving pore space for migrated organic matter. There are pores both in depositional organic matter and migrated organic matter. Migrated organic matter is present in three-dimensional connected mineral pores, which produces a pore network with higher reservoir quality than a pore network associated with only depositional organic matter. Migrated organic matter decreases from bottom to top in the Wufeng-Longamxi formations, the connected pore network decreases accordingly, and reservoir quality becomes poorer.