The present invention relates to systems and methods for finding and sampling hydrocarbons from seeps in water or from artificial sources of water. The present invention related to systems and methods for in situ analyzing fluid samples in a body of water. The systems and methods can be used to find hydrocarbons and associated non-hydrocarbons from seeps in water. Such seeps may come from natural sources in deep water, possibly as deep as 3000 m or even more.

A method is disclosed for generating a machine learning model to predict a reservoir fluid property, such as gas-oil ratio or density, based on standard mud-gas and petrophysical data. It has been found that this model predicts these reservoir fluid properties with an accuracy that is close to that which can be achieved using advanced mud-gas data. This is advantageous, as than standard mud-gas data and petrophysical data is much more readily available than advanced mud-gas data.

Systems and methods for determining the thermal maturity of a rock formation from isotopic values in gases are provided. Isotope values may be obtained from mud gas isotope logging, vitrinite reflectance equivalence values may be determined from core samples using known techniques. A relationship between vitrinite reflectance equivalence and isotopic values, such as carbon-13 methane values, may be determined. The vitrinite reflectance equivalence may then be determined from isotopic values to determine the thermal maturity of rock formations accessed by drilling additional exploration wells.

In accordance with one embodiment, a method of locating mineral deposits suitable for production comprises obtaining via a computer an image of an area of land, determining from the image at least one fluid-expulsion structure present on the land, designating an area proximate the fluid-expulsion structure as a mineral exploration location; while in accordance with another embodiment a method of locating a hydrocarbon reservoir suitable for production is described which comprises obtaining via a computer an image of an area of land, determining from the image at least one fluid-expulsion structure present on the land, and designating an area proximate the fluid-expulsion structure as a hydrocarbon exploration location.

System and methods for heating boreholes include laser generators to trigger a chemical reaction to break down heavy hydrocarbons in boreholes. The systems and methods use arrays of laser generators or other heating sources at the borehole surface or within the borehole to heat the heavy hydrocarbons. The systems and methods may include hydrocarbon sensors within the borehole to detect gas seepage resulting from heating of the heavy hydrocarbons.

The present invention provides a five-component marine natural gas hydrate intelligent sensing node, comprising a titanium alloy compartment, an information acquisition unit, an integrated control chip, and a power module; the integrated control chip comprises an intelligent computing unit and a transmission unit; the intelligent computing unit is configured for acquiring quality monitoring indicators of marine natural gas hydrates by feature extraction and transmitting reduced represented features to a monitoring device on the sea surface via the transmission unit. The present invention has overcome problems of impossible timely quality monitoring due to blind acquisition process, promised a controllable undersea node working status, and acquired data are complete without any loss, which doesn't only facilitate nonconventional energy resources such as marine hydrates prospection, and is also of great application prospect and value in oil and gas resources exploration, geological hazards precautions and evaluation.

A system for identifying migration direction of natural gases is provided and may include a network of .sup.4He gas sensors and a migration monitoring hub. The network of .sup.4He gas sensors may be operable to identify a .sup.4He concentration in gas samples. The migration monitoring hub may be in communication with the network of .sup.4He gas sensors and may comprise a user interface and a processor. The processor may be operable to determine a direction of increasing .sup.4He concentration and map increasing .sup.4He concentration. The user interface may be operable to display migration information. A method for identifying migration direction of natural gases is also provided and may include isolating a target portion of a petroleum exploration environment, detecting gas samples from a network of .sup.4He gas sensors, identifying a .sup.4He concentration in the gas samples, and determining a direction of increasing .sup.4He concentration in the gas samples.

Methods and systems for determining an estimated reservoir property using a determined desorption stage are disclosed. The method includes determining a fluid property and composition of a first fluid sample obtained from a reservoir, determining a measured relative volume of gas components and isotope ratios of gas components of the sample, and determining an equation of state. The method also includes obtaining a second and third sample at two later times, determining a composition, a measured relative volume of gas components, and isotope ratios of gas components of the later samples, and calibrating the equation of state utilizing the fluid composition and measured relative volume of gas components. The method further includes predicting a relative volume of gas components from the equation of state, determining a desorption stage, determining a critical pressure, an extent of desorption and a quantity of produced desorbed gas and determining the estimated reservoir property.

A method and apparatus detects an unknown deposit in soil of a known mineral or gemstone using characteristic scents of the mineral or gemstone. The method may disturb the soil, for example, by causing a chemical reaction in at least part of the soil such that a mineral or gemstone present in the soil emits a characteristic scent. The unknown deposit of the known mineral or gemstone can be detected in real-time or near real-time in the field.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods of natural gas production and carbon sequestration. In one embodiment, a method of generating biogas is disclosed, comprising delivering a feedstock downhole to a coal reservoir, generating biogas within the coal reservoir, and harvesting the biogas. In another embodiment, a method for tracing the migration of biogas in a coal reservoir is disclosed. The method comprises delivering a feedstock downhole to a coal reservoir via an injection well, generating biogas within the coal reservoir through microbial action, creating a biogas that is isotopically differentiable from a background gas that is native to the coal reservoir, harvesting the biogas at the injection well and one or more offset wells of the coal reservoir, analyzing the biogas and coal bed methane from the coal reservoir at the injection well and at one or more offset wells within the same coal reservoir, detecting the biogas at the offset wells using isotopic differentiation, and mapping the migration of the biogas from the injection well to the offset wells using the biogas as an isotopic tracer.