Lateral migration of hydrocarbons as a possible mechanism of origin of their power-law distribution by mass

This paper discusses the conditions under which the lateral migration of primary oil accumulations in the near-top part of a reservoir leads to their Pareto distribution by mass. It is shown that this power-law distribution holds in a wide range of reservoir porosity, permeability, and dip angle and does not depend on the individual characteristics of the petroliferous basin.