Basin modeling of the Parang (Socotra) Basin, northern East China Sea shelf: Implications for hydrocarbon potential

The hydrocarbon potential of the Parang (Socotra) Basin in the northern East China Sea shelf has remained poorly understood. We performed one-dimensional basin modeling for a dummy well located in the depocenter of the northern part of the Parang Basin to investigate the timings of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion. First, a depth-converted seismic profile crossing the dummy well was restored by backstripping and decompaction for eight regional and subregional unconformities, including the top of the acoustic basement, to reconstruct the subsidence history and to determine the timing of trap formation. The basin modeling, assuming rifting heat-flow model and source rocks with type III kerogen, suggests that the main phase of hydrocarbon (mostly gas) expulsion peaked in the Late Eocene, predating the inversion that created traps in the early Middle to latest Middle Eocene. Thus, the potential for large hydrocarbon accumulations in the northern Parang Basin is probably limited.