The offshore Sierra Leone basin is an exploration frontier area with commercial hydrocarbon potential. The basin is located at the northernmost end of the equatorial Atlantic margin in the South Atlantic; it is bound to the South by the Gulf of Guinea Petroleum province. The Sierra Leone margin has not had the exploration attention like most basins in the equatorial Atlantic, such lack of attention may be explained by the structural complexity of the basin. Despite the recent successful petroleum activities in the basin, very little geological information have been placed in the public domain by the operators. This research will be the first published detailed analysis of the offshore Sierra Leone basin. This work focuses on the broader aspects of basin structural evolution, seismic stratigraphy and reservoir development. The basin analysis is based on 2D seismic dataset, acquired in 2002 by TGS-NPEC. Seven megasequence boundaries have been identified in the offshore Sierra Leone basin. There is one megasequence boundary each in the pre-transform and syn-transform phases. The post-transform phase is composed of five megasequences. They have been dated using well data information and through correlation with the seismic surfaces of adjacent basins in the region. The Sierra Leone margin is structurally divided into three segments, which evolved through transtensional and/or extensional rifting. From a geological perspective, this basin straddles a major tectonic transition zone (the Sierra Leone Transform). The Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the basin was partly controlled by basement heterogeneity and plate kinematics. This study also highlights the importance of N-S and ENE-WSW trending Archaean structural lineaments, which were vectors for the Sierra Leone margin segmentation. The structural division of the Sierra Leone margin into the Northern, Central andSouthern segments is based on varying structural geometries. The Northern and Central segments developed as rift-transform margins, while the Southern segment developed as a volcanic rifted margin. Syn-transform sequences (late Early Cretaceous) show the influence of normal fault related subsidence and uplift, modified by localised transpressional deformation. The basin bounding faults and half grabens are oriented at high angles to the ensuing passive margin slope strike. Post-transform sequences (Late Cretaceous to Present) are dominated by major phases of slope failure and the development of extensive lowstand submarine fan systems. Some models of slope failure and synchronous development of submarine channel and canyon systems have been developed for this basin. Extensional slope failure is controlled by pre-existing structural trends. Submarine canyons which developed in the hanging-walls of these fault-blocks, became the site of rapid head-ward expansion of turbidite filled channels. The temporal development of these systems are expected to have profoundly affected the distribution and quality of key play elements, such as reservoirs and stratigraphic traps in slope settings, and the distribution of sands in deeper water and base of slope plays.

Groningen Gas Field is located within the southern part of the South Permian Basin in the northeast Netherlands. Since several wells have been producing from the Carboniferous-Permian Petroleum System, the field is considered as mature for hydrocarbon exploration. More detailed work is necessary to evaluate further exploration and development opportunities. Thus, evaluation of the subsurface has been carried out as part of the petroleum system concept by using the basin modeling. In this study, seismic interpretation was performed by using 3-dimensional seismic and borehole data with Petrel software in order to understand stratigraphy and structural settings of the area. PetroMod basin analysis software has been used for 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional basin modeling study by integrating interpreted geophysical, geological and geochemical data. Results show that the most recognized traps were formed during pre-Zechstein, and the major generation-migration and accumulation of hydrocarbon commenced during Middle Jurassic and continues to the present time. Since the timing of main hydrocarbon generation varies spatially and has begun after trap formation, both early and late migration enhances the potential of the porous Upper Rotliegend reservoirs. Prospective hydrocarbon traps may occur in the southwestern regions of the basin due to shallower depth of burial. On the other hand, all local structural highs that formed as a result of salt movement create potential traps in the region.

La modélisation numérique de la migration des hydrocarbures dans les bassins sédimentaires permet de déterminer les accumulations d’hydrocarbures au sein des formations géologiques. A partir de cela on peut prévoir la hauteur d’hydrocarbure piégé. Cette détermination est essentielle dans l’industrie du pétrole. Cependant grâce à certaines études, on a pu s’apercevoir que des erreurs numériques pouvaient apparaître lors de l’utilisation de pression capillaires polynomiales. Dans cette thèse, nous travaillons principalement sur les modèles dits de Darcy et nous évoquons sommairement les modèles de type percolation. L’objectif de ce travail est de fournir de nouveaux modèles des pressions capillaires, donnant de meilleurs résultats que ceux actuellement utilisés. Dans un premier temps, nous décrivons les mécanismes de la migration des hydrocarbures dans les couches. Ensuite nous étudions plus attentivement les lois des pressions capillaires permettant l’écoulement des fluides. Puis nous établissons la discrétisation, suivant la méthode des volumes finis, du problème. Dans la partie suivante nous testons en une dimension de nouveaux modèles de pressions capillaires affines par morceaux. Puis dans une autre partie, nous faisons les tests en deux dimensions de ces modèles auxquels nous rajoutons un autre modèle, bâti à partir des deux précédents. En conclusion, nous synthétisons l’ensemble des résultats et évoquons certaines perspectives concernant l’amélioration des modèles étudiés. / Numerical modeling of hydrocarbon migration in sedimentary basins makes it possible to determine hydrocarbon accumulations within geological formations. From this it is possible to predict the trapped hydrocarbon height. This determination is essential in the petroleum industry. However, thanks to some studies, it has been found that numerical errors can occur when using polynomial capillary pressure. In this thesis, we work mainly on the so-called models of Darcy and we briefly discuss percolation-type models. The objective of this work is to provide new models of capillary pressures, giving better results than those currently used. First, we describe the mechanisms of hydrocarbon migration in the layers. Then we study more closely the laws of capillary pressures allowing the flow of fluids. Then we establish the discretization, according to the finite volume method, of the problem. In the next part we test in one dimension new models of capillary pressures affine in pieces. Then in another part, we do the two-dimensional tests of these models to which we add another model, built from the two previous ones. In conclusion, we summarize all the results and discuss some perspectives concerning the improvement of the studied models.

La modélisation de bassin est couramment utilisée pour décrire l’évolution des bassins sédimentaires à partir d’une reconstitution de leur histoire. Durant la modélisation des processus géologiques, les propriétés de transfert des sédiments peuvent changer significativement à cause de leur fracturation naturelle. La présence de ces fractures dans le bassin peut constituer des chemins préférentiels d’écoulement ou des barrières qui contrôlent les niveaux de surpressions, l’accumulation et la migration des hydrocarbures dans le milieu ainsi que la perméabilité du milieu. Dans l’industrie pétrolière et en particulier durant l’exploration, la connaissance de l’historique des processus de fracturation naturelle permet d’améliorer la prédiction des positions de réservoirs d’hydrocarbures dans le milieu ainsi que leurs propriétés. En profondeur les fractures s’amorcent dans les roches aux niveaux des discontinuités géométriques. Cependant, les chargements à l’origine de l’initiation de ces fractures restent mal connus. Dans les bassins sédimentaires, les propriétés mécaniques et géométriques de ces fractures sont directement reliées aux processus inhérents à leur formation. Elles peuvent dériver de certains processus comme par exemple le dépôt des sédiments, les chargements tectoniques ou le processus d’érosion. Le but de cette thèse est de fournir une amélioration de la caractérisation de l’amorçage des fractures dans la modélisation de bassin à partir d’un outil numérique de simulation de réseaux de fractures et de son évolution sous chargement hydromécanique. Au cours de la sédimentation, les matériaux enfouis subissent une augmentation de la contrainte verticale. Cette augmentation de la contrainte par sédimentation entraîne une compaction mécanique et une diminution de la porosité. La compaction mécanique qui dépend du taux de sédimentation et de la perméabilité des matériaux enfouis peut générer des surpressions importantes dans le bassin. Dès lors une compétition s’établie entre la dissipation de la surpression des fluides et la vitesse de sédimentation et peut conduire à l’amorçage de fractures. Ainsi, pour étudier analytiquement l’amorçage des fractures dans le bassin, un modèle synthétique géologique est proposé. La solution analytique de l’évolution de la pression et des contraintes dans ce contexte est obtenu en superposant deux problèmes de poroélasticités. L’analyse de la solution et d’un critère de fracturation serviront de base pour prédire l’amorçage et la propagation des fractures. Pour simuler la propagation et l’évolution des fractures, un modèle numérique comportant des chemins potentiels de fracturation uniformément repartis est mis au point dans le code de calcul par éléments finis Porofis. Les fractures sont modélisées par un modèle de joints cohésifs avec endommagement et l’écoulement est décrit à partir de loi de Poiseuille. Les effets du couplage hydromécanique dans les fractures et dans la matrice poreuse sur l’évolution dynamique de l’espacement des fractures pour des cas synthétiques typiques de la modélisation de bassin sont également étudiés / Basin modeling is commonly used to describe basin's evolution from a reconstruction of its history. During the geological processes modeling, the transfer properties of sediments can change significantly due to natural fracturing and therefore may constitute preferential flow paths or barrier that control hydrocarbons migration and accumulation. In petroleum industry, and especially for exploration, the knowledge of natural fracturing processes and history enhances the prediction of overpressures, potential location of hydrocarbon storage and matrix equivalent permeability. At significant depth, nucleation of fractures and initiation are triggered at existing defects, but the loads behind its initiation are unknown or poorly characterized. In sedimentary basin, fracture mechanical and geometrical properties are directly related to the processes from which it comes. Fracture initiation at depth can arise from by many processes such as deposition, tectonic and erosion processes. The aim of the thesis is to provide an improvement in the characterization of fracture initiation in basin modeling by using a numerical modeling of fracture network and its evolution under hydro mechanical loading. During sedimentation, buried rocks are subjected to an increase in vertical stress. This increase leads to a decrease of porosity that is commonly called mechanical compaction. Indeed, the mechanical compaction depending on its rate and on the permeability of the burden rocks, can induce significant overpressures. Thus, a competition is initiated between the dissipation of fluid overpressure and sedimentation rate, and may result in fracture initiation. For analytical study of fracture initiation, a synthetic geologic structure is used. The analytical solution analytical solution of the pressure and stresses in a sealing formation is proposed under sedimentation by superposing two problems of poroelasticity. This analytical solution and a fracturing criterion are used to predict the initiation and propagation of the fracture. The fracture propagation and growth are studied by numerical simulations based on a finite element code dedicated to fractured porous media called Porofis. The numerical model contains defects initially closed and homogeneously distributed. The fractures are modeled with a constitutive model undergoing damage and the flow is described by Poiseuille’s law. The effect of hydromechanical coupling on dynamicevolution of fracture spacing using synthetic geological structure for basin modeling are also studied

La compréhension d'un système pétrolier nécessite la caractérisation pétrographique de tous les éléments et les processus le composant. Dans ce travail, plusieurs exemples de roches mères, roches réservoirs et roches couvertures provenant de bassins pétroliers différents, ont été étudiés afin de décrire les méthodes pétrographique classiques et mettre en place des nouvelles. Ces dernières telles que : la création d'une cinétique de transformation d'un kérogène composé de deux types de matière organiques (programmation), analyse macérale et l'étude des microfractures par analyse d'images, la diffraction à rayon X ainsi que la tomographie ont permis la caractérisation de la roche mère. Quant aux roches réservoirs, les méthodes d'analyse d'image des propriétés pétrophysiques, la microscopie MSCL ainsi que les paramètres de mouillabilité permettent la description de la qualité de ces réservoirs et leurs préservations au cours du temps à cause des phénomènes de recristallisation, dissolution, circulation de fluide et de réaction TSR/BSR. Les roches couvertures étudiées dans ce travail sont celles des argilites callovo-oxfordienne, utilisant la diffraction à rayon X ainsi que l'analyse d'image et la tomographie. Ces méthodes ont facilité la compréhension de leurs comportements au cours du temps, leurs capacités de sorption/désorption et leurs fiabilités de stockage de déchets nucléaire. Enfin, la modélisation pétrolière avec Petromod permet de déterminer les fonctionnements des systèmes pétroliers. La modélisation par percolation est plus proche de la réalité des bassins pétroliers que celle de Darcy/Hybride / Understanding oil systems requires petrographic characterization of all elements and process that compose it. In this work, several examples of source rocks, reservoir rocks and seal from different petroleum basins have been studied in order to describe conventional petrographic methods and develop new ones. The new ones as: a program of transformation kinetic of kerogene composed of two types of organic matter, maceral analysis and microfractures study using images analysis, the diffraction X-ray and tomography allowed source rock description. As for, reservoir rocks, methods of petrophysical characterization by images analysis, MSCL Microscopy and wettability parameters permit reservoir quality description and their preservation over time due to recrystalization and dissolution phenomena, fluid flow and TSR/BSR reaction. The cap rocks studied in this thesis are those of Callovo-Ordovician argillites, using X-Ray diffraction as well as images analysis and tomography. Those methods facilitated the understanding of argillites behavior over time, their sorption/desorption ability and their reliability of nuclear waste storage. Finally, Modeling using Petromod helps to determine petroleum systems functioning. Modeling by percolation method gives results closer to oil basins reality, than by Darcy/Hybrid method