Petroleum Geology for Engineers

Audience

Petroleum engineers and reservoir engineers with no formal geological training.

Content

This course covers problems of predicting reservoir geometry and connectivity in three dimensions in heterogeneous rocks penetrated by a limited number of widely spaced wells, problems associated with mineral composition on the pore scale, and the contribution that geology can make to volumetric assessment of reserves.

- Source Rocks and the origin of oil and gas: Depositional environment; kerogen; thermal maturation; migration of hydrocarbons; classification of natural gases and crude oil
- Reservoir and seals: Clastic and carbonate reservoir sedimentology; Depositional environments; Sandbody geometry and connectivity; Permeability profiles; Porosity and the effects of diagenesis; Formation damage and clays; 3-D modeling
- Structural geology: Basin types and plate tectonics; Trap types: structural; stratigraphic; combination
- Geological maps; Reservoir, structure and isopach maps; Seismic mapping; Generating cross-sections
- Exploration geology: Wireline logs; Play fairways and prospects
- Seismic stratigraphy
- Volumetrics: Geological input to reserves estimates

Learning Objectives

This course is intended to provide engineers with a basic understanding of Petroleum Geology and how it can aid the reservoir engineering process.