Carrier beds are lateral migration pathways that link source rocks with reservoirs in conventional petroleum plays. Carrier beds may—but need not—have the same reservoir properties as the conventional reservoirs supplied by them. Indeed, the downdip limits of many conventional fields are defined by changes in porosity and, more often, permeability, associated with a change in facies between the carrier beds and the reservoir. The low permeability of the carrier beds does not preclude them from supplying the reservoir at geological time scales. If sufficient porosity exists for economic volumes of hydrocarbons to be present, the low permeabilities that previously marked the economic limits of some fields need no longer preclude extension of the field downdip into strata that served as carrier beds for the conventional reservoir. Horizontal wells and multistage hydraulic fracturing allow low-permeability carrier beds to become viable hydrocarbon reservoirs. The east Pembina halo play in the Cardium Formation (Cretaceous) of western Canada and the offshore Mancos Shale play in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, both produce from carrier beds that served as migration pathways for oil in conventional reservoirs. These plays are now interpreted as carrier bed plays, along with the Codell Sandstone (Cretaceous) of the Denver Basin and the Turner Sandy Members of the Carlile Shale (Cretaceous) of the Powder River Basin. Placing plays within a petroleum system framework by identifying them as carrier beds should help focus the search for similar plays in the future and extend the areal extent and life of analogous oil and gas fields.

中文翻译：

---

与常规石油聚集相关的载体床层

运载层是连接常规油气藏中烃源岩和储层的横向运移通道。载体床可以——但不需要——具有与它们提供的常规储层相同的储层特性。事实上，许多常规油田的下倾极限是由孔隙度的变化定义的，更常见的是渗透率的变化，与载体床和储层之间的相变化有关。载体床的低渗透性并不妨碍它们在地质时间尺度上向储层供应。如果存在足够的孔隙度以提供经济体的碳氢化合物，那么先前标志着某些油田经济极限的低渗透率不再需要将油田下倾延伸到用作常规储层载体床的地层中。水平井和多级水力压裂使低渗透性载体床成为可行的油气藏。位于加拿大西部 Cardium 地层（白垩纪）的东 Pembina 晕区和位于新墨西哥州圣胡安盆地的离岸 Mancos 页岩区均产自作为常规油藏中石油运移通道的载体床。这些地层现在被解释为载体床层，以及丹佛盆地的 Codell 砂岩（白垩纪）和粉河盆地的卡莱尔页岩（白垩纪）的特纳桑迪成员。通过将油气藏识别为载体床将油气藏置于石油系统框架内，有助于在未来集中寻找类似油气藏，并延长类似油气田的面积和寿命。