SOUVENIR COMMITTEE - Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany

Training Programme on “PALYNOLOGY IN FOSSIL FUEL EXPLORATION”
[ September 10-17, 2012 ]
PALYNOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN HYDROCARBON
EXPLORATION
M. SHANMUKHAPPA
KDMIPE, ONGC, 9 Kaulagarh Road, Dehradun-248195
E-mail: drmshanmukhappa@hotmail.com
There is a continued increase of global demand for hydrocarbon in the 21 st century in
developing countries due to industrialisation and fast growing population. In view of this, continued
efforts are made to evolve different R&D techniques involving geological, geophysical and
geochemical data to suggest the possible source and locales of hydrocarbons. ONGC is the India’s
best leading national E&P company which has carried out most of the exploration work in different
sedimentary basins of India. The surface and subsurface palynological studies in pursuit of
hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in the ONGC’s premier institute KDMIPE are carried out in
various Indian and foreign sedimentary basins. This lecture is aptly designed for young researchers to
gain knowledge on palynological techniques and its application in hydrocarbon exploration.
Palynology is one of the techniques used as an integral tool in the search for oil and gas. The
multimicrofossil palynostratigraphic information of the Indian sedimentary basins has been generated
by the palynologists of ONGC for the last three decades which greatly helped in oil industry. The
development of industrial palynology and improved methods has been tremendous in the last 10 years
in view of the practical synergistic approach to find more oil. A number of modern developments in
palynology are utilised for precise dating of sediments, high resolution biostratigraphy for finer
zonation, correlation paleogeography, paleoclimate, paleodepositional environments, sequence
stratigraphy and source rock evaluation. Sequence stratigraphic analysis continues to be a dynamic
area of study in the process of refining the geological modelling of the area related to the hydrocarbon
exploration. The integrated approach of sedimentary process analysis, palynological marine index
(PMI) analysis, log characters, seismic reflections, biostratigraphic studies and source rock studies led
to petroleum system analysis and prioritisation of the exploratory efforts. Palynological study
integrated with chemostratigraphy, add time stratigraphic value for identification of finer correlatable
units in different depositional realms of the subsurface sediments. The integrated high resolution biochronostratigraphic
studies in the east and west coast of India provided meaningful help in firming up
the exploratory programmes. The high impact Palynology uses global bioevents of commonly utilised
fossil groups spore-pollen, calcareous nannofossil, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, diatoms and
silicoflagellates. Integrated palynological studies in the highly explored basins Assam-Arakan,
Bengal, Mahanadi, Krishna-Godavari, Cauvery, Andaman Offshore, Cambay, Kutch-Saurashtra,
Rajasthan and Mumbai Offshore have been carried out to achieve bio-chronostratigraphic
framework. The efforts are also made to develop petroleum systems sequence stratigraphic model to
understand the genetically linked strata. Case histories of palynological studies and integration with
other data sets add immense value to understand geological history of the area. The knowledge of
palynological applications is paramount for effective communication of thoughts and new ideas
through focussed industry-academia approach aiming oil industry needs.
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow
21