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Published May 1981 | public
Journal Article

Hydrogen and carbon isotopes of petroleum and related organic matter

Abstract

D/H and ^(13)C/^(12)C ratios were measured for 114 petroleum samples and for several samples of related organic matter. δD of crude oil ranges from −85 to −181‰, except for one distillate (−250‰) from the Kenai gas field; δ13C of crude oil ranges from −23.3 to −32.5‰, Variation in δD and δ^(13)C values of compound-grouped fractions of a crude oil is small, 3 and 1.1%., respectively, and the difference in δD and δ^(13)C between oil and coeval wax is slight. Gas fractions are 53–70 and 22.6–23.2‰ depleted in D and ^(13)C, respectively, relative to the coexisting oil fractions. The δD and δ^(13)C values of the crude oils appear to be largely determined by the isotopic compositions of their organic precursors. The contribution of terrestrial organic debris to the organic precursors of most marine crude oils may be significant.

Additional Information

© 1981 Pergamon Press Ltd. Received 11 March 1980; accepted in revised form 15 January 1981. We are indebted to the following for donating samples and providing information: G. H. SMITH and I. C. COPLELIN of Union Oil Co., H. G. THODE and J. MONSTER of McMaster University, and T. H. CHOU of the Chinese Petroleum Corp. We thank Drs S. M. F. SHEPPARD and V. M. SCHOELL for their reviewing and editing this report. IVY YEH analyzed most of the samples. SUE YAMADA and CAROL KOYANAGI typed various versions of this report; CRYSTAL LIPTON and BARBARA W. JONES provided editorial help, and C. H. WONG helped prepare Fig. 2. Financial support was provided by NSF Grant DES71-00558-A03 (EPSTEIN) and OCE-78-25283 (YEH).

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023