Chemistry and mineralogy of natural bitumens and heavy oils and their reservoir rocks from the United States, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela

Abstract

Twenty-one samples from natural bitumen and heavy oil deposits in seven States of the United States and six samples from outside the United States form the basis of this initial study. This Circular gives the mineral content of the reservoir rock, the trace-element distribution in the reservoir rock and hydrocarbons, and the composition of the heavy oil and natural bitumen. The reservoir rock and sediment residues from California contain more trace-element maximum amounts than any of the other rock samples. These relatively high concentrations of trace elements may be due, in part, to the low quartz content of the rock and to the presence of heulandite, cristobalite, siderite, and pyrite. The reservoir rock and sediment residues from Oklahoma contain more minimum amounts of trace elements than any of the other rock samples. This pattern probably results from the large amount of quartz in four of the samples and a large amount of calcite in the other sample. The maximum and minimum amounts of trace elements in the bitumen and heavy oil do not correlate with those in the reservoir rocks. The bitumen from Utah contains the greatest number of trace-element maxima, whereas there is no trend in the trace-element minima in the bitumen and heavy oil.