Petroleum Exploration for Non-Geoscientists
Who should attend?
This course is designed for petroleum support staff who do not have formal training in geology, geophysics or engineering. It is most suitable for secretaries, archivists, librarians; technical assistants, technicians and financial support staff who are working within the petroleum industry and who need a guide to oil and gas exploration.
Overview:
To the non-specialist, working with petroleum geologists, geophysicists and engineers can be confusing. The petroleum industry has a language of its own and a wealth of concepts and data sources unfamiliar to the uninitiated. This course is designed to introduce these and provide an insight into how oil and gas are formed, how they are found and how they are extracted. Using lectures and practical exercises it will involve an introduction to fundamental geological concepts, to exploration techniques, prospecting, drilling, well logs and recovery methods. The course will include practical sessions.
Content:
- Petroleum geology: Geological requirements for hydrocarbon accumulation.
- Origin of hydrocarbons: Source rocks; kerogen types; thermal maturation and hydrocarbon generation; oil and gas types.
- Rock types and origins
- Reservoir rocks: Sandstones and limestones; depositional environment; porosity and permeability; sandstones and limestones; cementation.
- Seals: Shales, evaporites.
- Stratigraphy: Stratigraphic column; biostratigraphy; correlation.
- Plate tectonics: Sedimentary basins.
- Traps: Structural, stratigraphic, combination; faults, folds, unconformities, salt domes, pinch-outs.
- Exploration: Geological mapping; satellite imagery and remote sensing; gravity-magnetic surveys; seismic reflection geophysics acquisition, processing and interpretation; seismic mapping; play fairway mapping; prospect evaluation and risking.
- Drilling: Rotary drilling; cuttings, cores, sidewall cores; wireline logs; log interpretation; the discovery; appraisal drilling; volumetrics; reserves calculations; recovery - primary, secondary, EOR; production; development drilling.