Whole Petroleum System Theory and Multi-Scale Modeling of Hydrocarbon Generation, Migration and Enrichment

Dear Colleagues,

The century-long development of petroleum geology features five key milestones: Anticline and trap theory (1885–1930s)、Organic hydrocarbon generation and petroleum system theory (1960s–1970s)、Continental petroleum geology theory (1940s–2000s)、Marine deep-water petroleum geology theory (1980s–2000s)、Continuous hydrocarbon accumulation and unconventional petroleum geology theory (2000s to the present).

Breakthroughs in unconventional hydrocarbons have revealed major limitations in the traditional petroleum system theory, as it only accounts for conventional hydrocarbons and excludes unconventional ones. Chengzao JIA (2014, 2017) proposed the concept of the Whole Petroleum System, arguing that the future of petroleum and natural gas geology should be built on a new theoretical model of the Whole Petroleum System. This model encompasses all geological factors and processes for the formation and evolution of both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon accumulations in petroliferous basins, covering the full spectrum of resource distribution and comprehensive prediction and evaluation.

Recent research progress has preliminarily established the theory of the Whole Petroleum System. It is defined as a natural system comprising all geological elements and processes associated with hydrocarbons generated by one or more interconnected effective source rock sequences in a petroliferous basin — from generation and evolution through continuous unconventional accumulation, conventional trap accumulation and subsequent structural adjustment and modification.;

This Special Issue seeks high-quality works focusing on Whole Petroleum System Theory and Multi-Scale Modeling of Hydrocarbon Generation, Migration and Enrichment.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Whole Petroleum System theory
• Hydrocarbon generation, migration and enrichment
• Enhance oil/gas recovery

Dr. Wen Zhao
Dr. Jianguo Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.