Hydrocarbon Generation and Expulsion Histories of the Upper Permian Longtan Formation in the Eastern Sichuan Basin, Southwest China

[Image: see text] The Upper Permian Longtan Formation is the main source rock of the Lower Triassic Jialingjiang Formation in the Eastern Sichuan Basin, Southwest China. However, studies of its maturity evolution and oil generation and expulsion histories are lacking, which are not conducive to the accumulation dynamics of the Jialingjiang Formation in the Eastern Sichuan Basin. Based on the study of tectono-thermal history and geochemical parameter data of the source rock, this paper uses basin modeling technology to simulate the maturity evolution and hydrocarbon generation and expulsion histories of the Upper Permian Longtan Formation in the Eastern Sichuan Basin. The results show that the Longtan Formation source rock in the Eastern Sichuan Basin entered the oil generation threshold at the middle stage of the Early Jurassic and reached the high-maturity stage in the north and central regions at the late stage of the Early Jurassic, and the maturity did not increase after the late stage of the Middle Jurassic. The source rock had the characteristic of “one-stage oil generation and one-stage oil expulsion”; the corresponding period of high oil expulsion was 182–174 Ma (the late stage of the Early Jurassic), which was later than the formation time of the trap of the Jialingjiang Formation, possibly providing oil sources for the paleo-oil reservoirs of the Jialingjiang Formation. The results are of great significance to the gas accumulation process and exploration decision-making in the Eastern Sichuan Basin.