Geoscience for Petroleum Engineers
About the Course
This course aims to familiarize participants with fundamental principles in Geology and Geophysics. It facilitates an understanding of the Petroleum System and elucidates the interconnectedness between geosciences and the petroleum industry. Geoscience for Petroleum Engineering encompasses various aspects of geology, geophysics, and geological statistics, empowering individuals without a geoscience background to comprehend the acquisition and application of geological information in petroleum exploration, appraisal, and development. The focus lies in elucidating geological and geophysical principles, demonstrating their relevance in hydrocarbon exploration and production, and providing insights into the processes governing the formation and global distribution of oil and gas fields. Additionally, the course reviews recent trends in the global petroleum industry and offers an overview of international oil company operations.
Course Content
Geological concepts
➢ Overview of Earth Materials, Geological Processes, Basins, and Petroleum Systems: Examination of Earth’s composition and characteristics; Study of plate tectonics’ influence on sedimentary basins; Fundamentals of stratigraphy; Identification and classification of rock types. Analysis of Transport, Deposition, and Deformation Processes: Understanding the roles of Reservoirs, Seals, Source Rocks, and Migration Paths; Evaluation of Traps and Timing in petroleum systems. Analysis of how depositional processes impact the texture of sedimentary rocks and their correlation with petrophysical properties. Examination of common depositional structures and their origins; Correlation of observations from wells (logs and cores) with a 3-D depositional model. Differentiation between carbonate and classic depositional processes and environments.
Reservoir architecture
➢ Reservoir heterogeneity, architecture, faults seals: Identify the main types of structural features; Identify the characteristics of a structural trap; Main types of faults, and tectonic setting; Fold geometries; Fractures and other localized deformation and the effect on fluid flow characteristics; Fracture patterns associated with folding; Structural features shown in core and on dip meter/image logs/cross sections and maps; Fault compartmentalization
Geophysics
➢ Geophysics: Review the basic geophysical concepts as used in the petroleum industry; Applications of seismic data in reservoir description, main geophysical methods; Wave propagation – P and S waves, alteration at interfaces (reflection/refraction); Seismic method (data gathering and interpretation); Use and limits of seismic in reservoir description.
Subsurface interpretation
➢ Mapping: Spatial data contouring using manual and mechanical methods; Advantages and disadvantages of computer and manual mapping techniques; Characteristics of computer gridding and manipulation; Identification of “good” and “poor” maps from the type and density of the input data. Correlation: Importance in reservoir development; Definition of a subsurface framework to understand geological relationships between wells; Identification of correlation markers and flow units; Principles of flow unit correlation; Role of different data (e.g. seismic, log, biostratigraphic) and models (sequence stratigraphy) on flow unit correlation; Common misinterpretations in flow unit correlation.
What size hydrocarbon accumulation?
➢ Geostatistics, Property evaluation and Volumetrics: Porosity/permeability variations; Relationships between petrophysical properties and geology; Construction of measures of spatial correlation (variograms); Definition of gross/net sand and gross/net pay; Methods to determine gross rock volume; Reserve parameter distributions; Calculation of volumetric reserves by deterministic and stochastic methods?
