ThedirectionofoilchargeswithinafieldintheNigerDelta,Nigeriawasdeterminedbythesumofdifferencesrankingmethodofcarbazoleconcentrationsafterascertainingotherpossiblegeologicalconstraintsontheircompositionalvariations.Theprincipleisthatthesmallerthesum,thecloserthewelltothesourcekitchen.Theapproachmakesuseofcarbazoles’interactionwiththematrix,whichleadstoareductionintheirconcentrationwithincreasingdistancefromthesourcekitchen,allowingpredictionofthechargingdirection.AwiderangeofcompositionalvariationswasobservedforC1(806.72–2152.90lg/g)andC2(767–2469.72lg/g)carbazoleswithinthefield.Basedontheseresults,weinferredafillingpathwayorientationfromwesttoeast.Thissuggeststhatthesourcekitchen-themostpromisingregionforoilexploration-islocatedinthewesternpartoftheoilfield.
