Kerogen

Definition - What does Kerogen mean?

Kerogen is a naturally occurring, mixture of organic chemical compounds that form a major chunk of organic matter in the sedimentary rocks which when heated can yield crude oil. There are two types of organic matter that are found in the sedimentary rocks, i.e., land derived organic matter and aquatic algae derived organic matter. When this organic matter undergoes through high amount of pressure and temperature, it gets converted into “Humin” and then into Kerogen. With time and under high pressure, the Kerogen is converted into crude oil.

Petropedia explains Kerogen

Kerogen is insoluble in the usual organic solvents and is composed of various organic substances such as algae, wood, pollen, vitrinite, etc. Different types of Kerogen contain different amounts of hydrogen relative to oxygen and carbon and thus control the type of hydrocarbon that will be generated in the sedimentary rocks in due course of time. There are four types of Kerogens whose types are arranged in decreasing order of their proneness to get converted into more oil. Thus, Kerogen that has a high predominance to produce oil will have abundance of hydrogen.

Kerogen Type	Hydrocarbon Potential from Higher to Lower predominance order	Amount of Hydrogen Presence	Depositional environment
I	Only Crude Oil Prone	In Abundance	Lacustrine
II	Crude Oil and Natural Gas Prone	Moderate	Marine
III	Only Gas Prone	Small	Terrestrial
IV	Inert Material and no proneness	None	Could be Terrestrial