Working With Unconventional Petroleum Systems

Learn to use petroleum systems analysis (regional geology, geochemistry and petroleum systems modeling) to evaluate unconventional/resource play reservoirs.

Description

This course teaches how to use Petroleum Systems Analysis (regional geology, geochemistry and petroleum systems modeling) to evaluate unconventional/resource play reservoirs. The subject matter ranges from deposition of organic matter in the source rock (generation, expulsion, migration and accumulation processes leading to saturation of the reservoir), to the prediction of reservoir and produced fluid properties and value. This class will equip geologists and engineers with advanced capabilities to: identify, map and evaluate new plays; identify storage and production sweet spots in plays; and identify vertical/by-passed storage and production sweet spots to optimize landing zones in new and existing plays.

Duration and Logistics

Classroom version: 5 days, a mix of lectures (75%) and quizzes/exercises (25%). The manual will be provided in digital format and participants will be required to bring a laptop or tablet computer to follow the lectures and exercises.

Virtual version: Five 4-hour interactive online sessions presented over 5 days (mornings in North America and afternoons in Europe), including a mix of lectures (75%) and quizzes/exercises (10%). A digital manual and hard-copy exercise materials will be distributed to participants before the course.

Course Content

This class uses modern and some all-new petroleum systems (geochemistry and thermal/fluid flow modeling) approaches, including modeling of petroleum saturation and composition in unconventional reservoirs. Prior knowledge of geochemistry and basin modeling is not required – although the class is advanced it contains the foundational information needed for a geoscientist or engineer to understand the “unconventional” petroleum system, building upon geology and reservoir engineering first principles. The class is primarily geological but is intended also to help reservoir engineers seeking to understand the fundamentals of unconventional reservoir performance.

Topics

Charge: Source Rock Potential – “The Feedstock”

  • Measurements of organic richness and potential.
  • How organic matter (OM) in source rocks is deposited: variations in distribution, thickness, organic carbon content and organic matter type (organofacies).
  • How source rock volumetric potential and system gas/oil potential can be quantified (Ultimate Expellable Potential).

Charge: “Making the Petroleum”

  • Modeling generation of petroleum from, and sorption in, OM.
  • Understanding thermal stress levels for oil and gas generation from, and cracking of sorbed oil to gas in, OM.
  • Prediction of petroleum composition expelled from OM – gas-oil ratio (GOR).

Charge: “Moving the Petroleum”

  • Sorbed vs fluid petroleum phases in OM-rich rocks.
  • Petroleum fluid phase behavior.
  • Migration/saturation of the fluid phase within, and adjacent to, the source bed.
  • Migration into the conventional fluid system – the “flip side” of unconventional reservoir storage.

Trap: Seal and Column “Building the Petroleum Saturation”

  • Controls on pressure evolution in sedimentary basins.
  • Controls on saturation in reservoir rocks: hydrodynamics, buoyancy, capillary entry pressure and interfacial tension.
  • Recognizing the unconventional reservoir as a petroleum system: source, reservoir and seal.
  • Capillary pressure and architecture of saturation patterns in unconventional reservoirs.

Reservoir: Storage “Storing the Petroleum”

  • “Unconventional” core measurements of porosity and saturation – effects of Dean-Stark cleaning.
  • Measuring and modeling sorbed vs mobile fluid phase saturations.
  • Profiles of fluid phase saturation in “classic” unconventional petroleum plays.
  • Fluid phase properties: predicting GOR and Formation Volume Factor.
  • Petroleum-in-Place sweet-spot logging and mapping – Permian Basin Wolfcamp example.

Reservoir: Deliverability “Producing the Petroleum”

  • Pressure – a key limitation on delta-P.
  • Modeling fluid viscosity in unconventional reservoir fluids.
  • Petroleum deliverability/rate sweet-spot logging and mapping – Permian Basin Wolfcamp example.

Product: “Valuing the Petroleum”

  • Properties of the produced liquid stream that affect sales value.
  • Properties of the produced gas stream that affect sales value.

Level and Audience

Advanced. Intended for exploration, exploitation and production geoscientists, reservoir and completion engineers and managers who need to understand how the petroleum system works to determine fluid saturation and composition in resource plays. A basic familiarity with resource plays is assumed.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Understand modern approaches to describing source rocks: their expulsion potential and distribution.
  2. Establish the link between organic matter and petroleum: the organofacies scheme and the geochemistry and composition of oil and gas.
  3. Link the burial and thermal histories of onshore/exhumed sedimentary basins to the temperature and pressure history of the source bed/reservoir.
  4. Understand how organic matter quality kinetics control petroleum volumes and compositions expelled from organic matter.
  5. Understand the roles of pressure and capillarity in creating an unconventional reservoir: that petroleum migration and accumulation are flip sides of the same coin, controlling reservoir saturation patterns.
  6. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of current core analysis techniques and use geochemical concepts to differentiate between potentially producible fluid vs immobile sorbed petroleum in organic-rich reservoirs.
  7. Identify sweet spots in well rate performance from a pressure and fluid perspective, and fluid prediction using advanced pyrolysis methods in well samples.
  8. Understand the properties of produced fluids that contribute to/detract from well stream value.

Tutor(s)

Andy Pepper: Managing Director, This Is Petroleum, LLC

Similar events

Learn workflows to apply sequence stratigraphic concepts to the interpretation of core, well log, seismic and outcrop data.

More Information

Learn how to interpret faults and critically assess their impact on exploration traps and complex reservoir development.

More Information

A comprehensive examination of seismic stratigraphy to aid exploration and development of plays in mixed carbonate-siliciclastic systems, using examples from the Permian Basin.

More Information

Become a more effective member of a multi-disciplinary team by developing a solid understanding of engineering concepts and terminology.

More Information

Good seismic structural interpretation and analysis is required in everything from exploration risking to reservoir management. These examples and elements are discussed during the course.

More Information

This course focuses on large scale rules, risks, uncertainties, strategies and workflows to aid in de-risking carbonate exploration.

More Information

Learn core handling and core description techniques and how to integrate core-based facies analysis into reservoir characterization of siliceous and calcareous mudstones, muddy sandstones, and sandstones.

More Information

Study world-class outcrops displaying sandbody architecture in a variety of stratigraphic and structural settings to improve understanding of reservoir geometry and fluid flow characteristics.

More Information

Examine superb outcrops to develop better understanding of clastic shoreline and shelf systems and apply sedimentology and sequence stratigraphic concepts to build depositional models and predict facies distributions. 

More Information

Develop the skills necessary to identify and predict new prospects and better subdivide reservoirs by applying the concepts of sequence stratigraphy.

More Information

This course examines the structural geology of salt basins, the interactions between salt and surrounding strata, and includes interpretation of seismic data in salt settings.

More Information

Superb outcrops illustrate the range of depositional facies and tectonics that influence the style and intensity of faulting, folding and fracture development.

More Information

Learn the language of reservoir engineers, as well as what you should expect of them and how you can help them.

More Information

This software-independent course examines the reasons why reservoir models often disappoint and offers solutions for building more efficient, fit-for-purpose models.

More Information

Establishes the value of seismic data and provides a solid grounding in seismic interpretation techniques for early-career geoscientists, technical support staff, engineers and managers.

More Information

An overview of seismic technologies that might be used effectively along with geological and engineering data to solve exploration and production problems.

More Information

Creativity and innovation are learnable skills: lectures, discussions and exercises develop creative thinking techniques, models and frameworks that can be applied to oil and gas industry situations.

More Information

Application of the techniques described has consistently provided new interpretations that have led to new field discoveries and/or identification of stratigraphic compartments within existing fields.

More Information

Learn to use play fairway mapping and petroleum system analysis to identify and high-grade potential plays and prospects.

More Information

Of particular interest to individuals evaluating the pre-salt of Brazil and West Africa but will appeal to all geoscientists who wish to expand their knowledge of non-marine  carbonate reservoirs.

More Information

Examine well-exposed New Mexico outcrops to appreciate the variation in fracture types and the wide range of impacts they can have on hydrocarbon reservoirs.

More Information

A course that will guide participants through the lifecycle of a CCUS project with emphasis on key concepts, processes, and workflows of the CCUS industry.

More Information

This course provides an analysis-level treatment of fault geometry, characterization of seal effectiveness, and assessment of rupture hazard with application to hydrocarbon exploration, reservoir development and management, fluid pressure containment analysis for CCS, and induced seismicity hazard assessment. 

More Information

The course investigates world-class outcrops to introduce engineers to a wide spectrum of stratigraphic and structural features commonly found in exploration and production.

More Information

A field course focusing on the analysis of deepwater lithofacies, stratal geometries and key stratigraphic surfaces.

More Information

The course aims to improve the understanding of uncertainties in the mapping of complex fault zones and the processes that create potential seals and compartmentalisation in reservoirs in the subsurface for oil and gas as well as CO2.

More Information

A course aimed at women working in the energy industry as geoscientists, with a technical focus on salt tectonics.

More Information

This course will offer geoscientists an understanding of how they can use and adapt their expertise gained in the oil and gas industry to the growing geothermal industry.

More Information

Learn the theory and techniques required to assess trap and seal integrity in hydrocarbon subsurface reservoirs and carbon storage complexes.

More Information

Gain critical insights into the nature and behavior of thick evaporite sequences and learn to interpret salt structures in the subsurface.

More Information

Explore natural deformation at outcrop and tie to subsurface data to aid in fracture prediction in unconventional and conventional reservoirs.

More Information

Understand depth migrated seismic data and connect these data to geological settings for prospect evaluation and generation.

More Information

A comprehensive approach to fractures, teaching how to describe, measure and analyze them and to evaluate their impact on permeability in conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, and for EOR, CO2 sequestration and geothermal energy applications.

More Information

An in-depth introduction to clastic reservoirs, with a focus on stratigraphic and structural heterogeneities that impact reservoir prediction and production.

More Information

Learn to integrate all available data to develop an understanding of reservoir architecture and create fit-for-purpose reservoir maps for exploration, development and production projects.

More Information

Learn how to plan successful onshore seismic acquisition projects and how to work with contractors to execute these projects.

More Information

Understand how to plan successful offshore seismic acquisition projects and how to work with contractors to execute these projects. 

More Information

Explains the factors that control mudrock reservoir quality and presents practical methods to evaluate reservoir heterogeneity

More Information

A concise overview of the basics of sedimentology, stratigraphy and structure of clastic units; and of the environments of deposition of clastic sediments.

More Information

A course that introduces the fundamentals of geomechanics followed by an in-depth look at the relevance to unconventionals especially how geomechanics relates to the effect of fabric and heterogeneity.

More Information

This course classifies unconventional reservoirs from a petroleum systems perspective and reinforces the concepts of depositional controls on reservoir architecture and fractures.

More Information

This course will introduce the fundamentals of land seismic acquisition including receiver types and their spectrum indication.

More Information

Carbonate systems present different seismic responses and geobody geometries to clastic systems; this course examines the characteristics of seismic imaging of carbonate systems.

More Information

This course provides an introduction to siliciclastic facies in all aqueous settings focusing on sand deposition for application to conventional reservoirs.

More Information

This course provides a practical introduction to data science and its application in the E&P domain.

More Information

This class provides an overview of seismic wave propagation, discusses important issues related to seismic data acquisition and imaging, and introduces students to practical seismic interpretation workflows including mapping techniques.

More Information

The course will examine the depositional facies and stratal geometries developed in deepwater slope and channel environments.

More Information

This field course will use outcrops from the Cretaceous and Jurassic of Utah to analyze some of the major challenges facing the storage of CO2 in subsurface formations.

More Information