Thermal maturity, source rock potential and kinetics of hydrocarbon generation in Permian shales from the Damodar Valley basin, Eastern India

• Shales characterized by high organic richness and thermal maturity.
• Activation energy distribution shows heterogeneous Type III kerogen.
• Barren Measure is in thermally late mature gas generating stage.
• δ13C ratio of desorbed C1–C3 gases suggests thermogenic origin.
• Mineral content is dominated by quartz, siderite and clay.

This study investigates the source rock characteristics of Permian shales from the Jharia sub-basin of Damodar Valley in Eastern India. Borehole shales from the Raniganj, Barren Measure and Barakar Formations were subjected to bulk and quantitative pyrolysis, carbon isotope measurements, mineral identification and organic petrography. The results obtained were used to predict the abundance, source and maturity of kerogen, along with kinetic parameters for its thermal breakdown into simpler hydrocarbons.The shales are characterized by a high TOC (>3.4%), mature to post-mature, heterogeneous Type II–III kerogen. Raniganj and Barren Measure shales are in mature, late oil generation stage (Rr%Raniganj = 0.99–1.22; Rr%Barren Measure = 1.1–1.41). Vitrinite is the dominant maceral in these shales. Barakar shows a post-mature kerogen in gas generation stage (Rr%Barakar = 1.11–2.0) and consist mainly of inertinite and vitrinite. The δ13Corg value of kerogen concentrate from Barren Measure shale indicates a lacustrine/marine origin (−24.6–−30.84‰ vs. VPDB) and that of Raniganj and Barakar (−22.72–−25.03‰ vs. VPDB) show the organic provenance to be continental. The δ13C ratio of thermo-labile hydrocarbons (C1–C3) in Barren Measure suggests a thermogenic source.Discrete bulk kinetic parameters indicate that Raniganj has lower activation energies (ΔE = 42–62 kcal/mol) compared to Barren Measure and Barakar (ΔE = 44–68 kcal/mol). Temperature for onset (10%), middle (50%) and end (90%) of kerogen transformation is least for Raniganj, followed by Barren Measure and Barakar. Mineral content is dominated by quartz (42–63%), siderite (9–15%) and clay (14–29%). Permian shales, in particular the Barren Measure, as inferred from the results of our study, demonstrate excellent properties of a potential shale gas system.