Research paperCharacteristics and petroleum origin of the Carboniferous volcanic rock reservoirs in the Shixi Bulge of Junggar Basin, western China

•Primary gas pores are widely found in the volcanic rock.•Secondary dissolution pores and fractures are two major reservoir space.•Striped lava mostly developed with highest porosity but lowest permeability.•The oil is a mixture derived primarily from P2w and secondarily from P1j source rock.•The gases are gas mixtures with the sapropelic gas type dominant.

Shixi Bulge of the central Junggar Basin in western China is a unique region that provides insight into the geological and geochemical characteristics of large-scale petroleum reservoirs in volcanic rocks of the western Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Carboniferous volcanic rocks in the Shixi Bulge mainly consist of striped lava and agglomerate, as well as breccia lava and tight tuff. Volcanic rocks differ in porosity and permeability. Striped lava exhibits the highest porosity (average: 14.2%) but the lowest permeability (average: 0.67 × 10−15 m) among the rock types. Primary gas pores are widely developed and mostly filled. Secondary dissolution pores and fractures are two major reservoir storage spaces. Capillary pressure curves suggest the existence of four pore structure types of reservoir rocks. Several factors, namely, lithology, pore structure, and various diagenesis, govern the physical properties of volcanic rocks. The oil is characterized by a high concentration of tricyclic terpane, a terpane distribution of C23 < C21 > C20, and sterane distributions of C27 < C28 < C29 and C27 > C28 < C29. Oil and gas geochemistry revealed that the oil is a mixture derived primarily from P2w source rock and secondarily from P1j source rock in the sag west of Pen-1 Well. The gases are likely gas mixtures of humic and sapropelic organic origins, with the sapropelic gas type dominant in the mixture. The gas mixture is most likely cracked from kerogen rather than oils. The Carboniferous volcanic reservoirs in Shixi Bulge share some unique characteristics that may provide useful insights into the various roles of different volcanic reservoir types in old volcanic provinces. The presence of these reservoirs will undoubtedly encourage future petroleum exploration in volcanic rocks up to the deep parts of sedimentary basins.