World-class training for the modern energy industry

Type: Classroom

Transition Skills: From Oil and Gas to Geothermal (G573)

Tutor(s)

Malcolm Ross: Consultant Geoscientist.

Overview

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. Participants will be introduced to the fundamentals of a variety of geothermal system styles and be guided through the exploration and development of a project, focusing on subsurface workflows based on those used for oil and gas. The course is intended as an introduction to the entire lifecycle of a geothermal resource, covering aspects of geoscience and some engineering.

Duration and Logistics

Classroom version: A 3-day in-person classroom course comprising a mixture of lectures, exercises and discussion with a focus on geothermal project case studies and examples.

Virtual version: Five 3.5-hour interactive online sessions presented over five days. Digital course notes and exercise materials will be distributed to participants before the course.

Level and Audience

Fundamental. This course is designed specifically for geoscientists wanting to transition from the oil and gas industry to the geothermal sector.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Describe the fundamentals of geothermal energy and how it is harnessed and used.
  2. Understand the key subsurface characteristics of geothermal resources and reservoirs.
  3. Understand what exploration tools (seismic, potential fields, geochemistry), exploration data (bottom hole temperatures, gradient surveys) and exploration approaches (basin modelling, play-based exploration) are used in geothermal exploration, which ones are in common with oil and gas, and how their uses differ.
  4. Define the subsurface geoscience requirements for a geothermal project, including the key similarities and differences with an oil and gas project.
  5. Appreciate the data types and subsurface workflows involved in a geothermal project.
  6. Examine the key project risks and uncertainties in developing geothermal resources and how they are mitigated.

Geologic Carbon Storage for Geoscientists and Engineers (G551)

Tutor(s)

Alex Bump: Research Science Associate, University of Texas at Austin.

Seyyed Hosseini: Research Professor, University of Texas at Austin.

Katherine Romanak: Research Scientist, University of Texas at Austin.

Overview

This course empowers attendees to develop and apply their skills to the growing industry of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS). Attendees will be guided through the lifecycle of a CCUS project with an emphasis on key concepts, processes and workflows of the CCUS industry. Focus will be on developing the geoscience and engineering skills needed to progress a project.

Duration and Logistics

Classroom version: A 3-day course comprising a mix of lectures, case studies and exercises. 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.

Level and Audience

Intermediate. The course is intended for petroleum geoscientists, reservoir engineers and first-level leaders looking to adapt their skills to carbon capture and storage.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Outline the regulatory, policy and financial drivers and constraints for CCUS.
  2. Describe the subsurface requirements for a successful storage project, including similarities and differences with oil and gas exploration.
  3. Understand the workflow and perform the key tasks for defining, developing and permitting a CCUS project, including site selection, characterisation, risk assessment and monitoring for operational and post-operational phases.
  4. Apply your subsurface knowledge and skills in oil and gas development to the concepts, processes and workflows of the CCUS industry.
  5. Estimate CO2 storage capacity in saline aquifers at reservoir and basin-scales.

Working with Unconventional Petroleum Systems (G032)

Tutor(s)

Andy Pepper: Managing Director, This is Petroleum Systems LLC.

Overview

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, 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.

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.

Creativity and Innovation Skills for E&P (G029)

Tutor(s)

Henry Pettingill: Senior Associate, Rose & Associates LLP; President, Geo Ventures International Inc.

Niven Shumaker: Independent Consultant.

Overview

This course addresses how value is created from creativity and innovation. It provides participants with practical tools and methodologies to become more creative, and to make innovation actionable. Creativity and innovation are learnable skills, with step-wise approaches possible. Participants will leave with tools that allow them to formulate an action plan that can be used when they get back to work.

The course is interactive and practical. It uses group discussions and exercises to develop creative thinking techniques, models and frameworks that can be applied to real life oil and gas industry situations. It stresses breaking away from the “business as usual” environment.

Duration and Logistics

Classroom version: 2 days; a mix of lectures, case studies and discussion groups. 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: Four 4-hour interactive online sessions presented over 4 days. A digital manual and hard-copy exercise materials will be distributed to participants before the course.

Level and Audience

Fundamental. Intended for oil and gas industry staff responsible for solving problems, visualizing opportunities or developing new business streams. Suitable for managers and team members in technical, financial or support positions.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Apply the fundamentals of creativity and innovation to create value.
  2. Prepare for creative thinking and to improve your creative skills.
  3. Implement the concepts of creative thinking critical to innovation, such as associative thinking and disruptive thinking.
  4. Develop questioning skills, effectively employing both descriptive and disruptive questions.
  5. Apply the five critical aspects of creative thinking and determine your current state in each one.
  6. Challenge your own thinking and your “status quo” mindset.
  7. Understand the various types of innovation and how they can be applied your challenges.
  8. Assess your own level in each of the five behaviors of innovative business leaders, where you can improve on each and how to leverage other people with complementary skills.

Reservoir Model Design (G025)

Tutor(s)

Mark Bentley: TRACS International Consultancy and Langdale Geoscience.

Overview

This course offers a software-independent view on the process of reservoir model design and simulation model-building, addresses the underlying reasons why some models disappoint and offers solutions that support the building of more efficient, fit-for-purpose models.

Considerable time is dedicated to reservoir model and simulation exercises in many companies but the results often disappoint: the time taken to build models is often too long, the models too detailed and cumbersome and the final model is ultimately not fit-for-purpose. This course examines the reasons why and offers remedies to fix these problems.

Duration and Logistics

Classroom version: 4 days; a mix of classroom lectures (60%), case studies (20%) and exercises (20%). 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: Four 4-hour interactive online sessions presented over 4 days, including a mix of lectures (60%), case studies (20%) and exercises (20%). A digital manual and hard-copy exercise materials will be distributed to participants before the course.

Level and Audience

Advanced. The course is aimed at geoscientists with knowledge of reservoir modeling software, petrophysicists who provide input to static reservoir models and reservoir engineers involved in simulation work who deal with the static-dynamic interface on a regular basis. The course is also of benefit to team leaders who wish to have a deeper understanding of the principles behind modelling and how to QC models made by others. The ideal group is an asset team who can join the course together.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Create a fluid-sensitive conceptual model for a heterogeneous reservoir, built from a selection of elements and placed in a realistic architectural framework: the “sketch”.
  2. Guide the use of geostatistical tools intuitively, balancing deterministic and probabilistic components with awareness of the limits of the tools.
  3. Select appropriate methods for modeling of matrix properties, including the handling of net (cut-off’s vs total property modeling).
  4. Evaluate fracture properties, covering both faults and fault seal, and also flow through open fracture systems – understand how to model these practically.
  5. Understand issues surrounding permeability modeling and why this differs from the handling of other properties.
  6. Learn a rule of thumb (“Flora’s rule”) to help assess what level of static model detail matters to flow modeling and forecasting.
  7. Review how to use well test analysis to constrain models.
  8. Review options for model-based uncertainty handling (base case led, multi-deterministic scenarios, multi-stochastic ensembles), learn how to post-process the results and how to select an appropriate workflow which minimizes impact of behavioral bias.

Reservoir Engineering for Geoscientists (G024)

Tutor(s)

Mark Cook: Associate Reservoir Engineer at TRACS International Consultancy and Independent Engineer at Delta-T Energy Consultancy.

Overview

The course examines reservoir engineering processes, techniques and terminology, particularly those that interface with geoscience activities. The material is structured around the three-part process of building a reservoir model: (1) building a static model to identify the main flow units, (2) developing a dynamic model to predict fluid flow in the reservoir, and (3) implementing a life-of-field reservoir management plan to maximize economic recovery. Numerous examples illustrate the use of subsurface data and the techniques employed during the construction of a reservoir model. The focus is on the principles rather than the detailed work of the reservoir engineer; the use of complex mathematics is avoided.

Duration and Logistics

Classroom version: 5 days; a mix of classroom lectures (60%), case studies (20%) and exercises (20%). 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, including a mix of lectures (60%), case studies (20%) and exercises (20%). A digital manual and hard-copy exercise materials will be distributed to participants before the course.

Level and Audience

Fundamental. The course is aimed at geoscientists, petrophysicists and others who interface with reservoir engineers on a regular basis, as well as anyone who wishes to obtain an understanding of reservoir engineering techniques.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Effectively interact with reservoir engineering colleagues.
  2. Interpret original fluid contacts, understand saturation vs height relationships and estimate original hydrocarbon in-place volumes for oil and gas reservoirs.
  3. Differentiate the physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons and their description through phase diagrams.
  4. Recognize the strengths and weaknesses of well tests and their analysis.
  5. Analyze production performance and describe production enhancement techniques.
  6. Contrast static and dynamic reservoir models and assess the merits of reservoir numerical simulation.
  7. Assess the value of reservoir management for forecasting production profiles and maximizing economic hydrocarbon recovery from a producing field over the complete life cycle.
  8. Examine the controls on fluid flow in the reservoir and reservoir drive mechanisms.

Applied Sequence Stratigraphic Analysis of Well Logs (G014)

Tutor(s)

Jeff May: Geological Consultant; Affiliate Faculty, Colorado School of Mines.

Overview

This course offers a practical approach to the sequence stratigraphic analysis of well logs. Lectures and exercises introduce the concepts and terminology of sequence stratigraphy and then apply them to the interpretation and correlation of well logs. Exercises are used to identify significant chronostratigraphic surfaces on well logs and then use the surfaces to construct log correlation sections for a variety of depositional settings. The approach allows for subdividing stratigraphic intervals into meaningful genetic packages, in order to interpret depositional histories and build geologically meaningful maps. Participants will develop the skills necessary to identify and predict new prospects and better subdivide reservoirs.

Duration and Logistics

A 5-day classroom course comprising a mix of lectures (30%), exercises (40%) and core examination (30%). The course is delivered at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, allowing participants access to the school’s inventory of cores. The manual will be provided in digital format and you will be required to bring a laptop or tablet computer to the course.

Level and Audience

Fundamental. This course is aimed at geoscientists to teach them how to interpret well log data, make well-to-well correlations and generate maps in a sequence stratigraphic framework. The content is also suitable for professionals who work with geoscientists, such as petrophysicists and reservoir engineers.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Apply the terminology of sequence stratigraphy.
  2. Identify sequences, systems tracts, sequence boundaries, marine regressive and transgressive surfaces of erosion, and flooding surfaces.
  3. Apply sequence stratigraphic principles in carbonate, continental, shallow marine, deep marine and shale environments.
  4. Generate well-log correlations using sequence stratigraphy concepts and contrast lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic correlations.
  5. Apply reservoir-seal-source rock concepts to sequence stratigraphic interpretations.
  6. Create maps of genetically related sequence stratigraphic units.
  7. Predict new stratigraphic prospects or previously untapped reservoir compartments.
  8. Assess the influence of chronostratigraphic surfaces on reservoir quality and flow units.

Core Facies Analysis of Conventional and Resource Plays: Lessons from the Mowry and Niobrara Petroleum Systems, Powder River Basin (G011)

Tutor(s)

Gus Gustason: Senior Geologist and Geoscience Advisor, Enerplus Resources.

Richard Bottjer: President, Coal Creek Resources; Research Associate, Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Overview

This core-based facies analysis course will use the petroleum system of the prolific Powder River Basin to develop realistic depositional models and sequence stratigraphic frameworks that can be used to better predict the extent and continuity of unconventional resources. Demonstrations will introduce participants to core handling, description and data integration techniques. Lectures and exercises will re-familiarize participants with lithofacies and facies associations and will describe applications of core-facies analysis to reservoir characterization of siliceous and calcareous mudstones, muddy sandstones and sandstones. Cores will be from the Powder River Basin, but learnings may be applied to resource plays in other basins.

Duration and Logistics

A 5-day classroom course comprising a mix of classroom lectures (25%) and core description exercises (75%) at the USGS Core Research Center, Lakewood, CO. The manual will be provided in digital format and you will be required to bring a laptop or tablet computer to the course.

Level and Audience

Fundamental. This course is intended for entry-level through mid-career geoscientists, reservoir engineers and petrophysicists who want to extract maximum value from cores, in order to improve exploration play analysis and reservoir characterization of both conventional and unconventional resources. Participants should have a basic knowledge of clastic and carbonate sedimentology and stratigraphy.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Identify the important physical and biological parameters of core, including sedimentary structures, biogenic structures, significant surfaces and diagenetic textures. We will examine siliceous and calcareous mudstones, muddy sandstones and sandstones.
  2. Calibrate core descriptions with wireline log data.
  3. Evaluate source rock potential of mudstones using elemental chemistry data (XRF), TOC, RockEval (Vre) and vitrinite reflectance (Vro) data.
  4. Integrate routine core analysis and/or unconventional shale and tight rock analysis with core descriptions to better understand the controls on porosity and permeability.
  5. Identify basic structural features in cores, such as faults and fractures, and relate them to mechanical stratigraphy, in situ stresses and borehole stability issues.
  6. Develop a sequence stratigraphic framework from core descriptions and wireline log data.
  7. Compare reservoir characteristics with production performance to identify target zones for horizontal well placement.
  8. Discretize core descriptions for core-to-log facies analysis and reservoir modelling input.

Sequence Stratigraphy and its expression on Seismic, Logs and Cores (G001)

Tutor(s)

Rene Jonk: Director, ACT-Geo Consulting and Training; Honorary Professor, University of Aberdeen.

Overview

The application of sequence stratigraphy allows for making geologic interpretations of cores, well logs, seismic and outcrop data within a predictive stratigraphic framework. These predictions can be applied to play and prospect definition and evaluation, pre-drill predictions and discovery appraisal and field development strategies. This course introduces the sequence stratigraphic method and presents workflows and tools to describe, correlate and map strata within a predictive framework using typical subsurface (core, well log and seismic) data. The terminology of surfaces, systems tracts, sequence sets and stratigraphic hierarchy will be described and applied to subsurface data exercises in terrestrial, shallow marine and deep marine depositional settings across clastic and carbonate settings and applied to conventional and unconventional play types. The emphasis will be on the recognition and mapping of play elements (source, seal, reservoir and trap) from exploration to production scales.

Duration and Logistics

Classroom version: A 4-day course comprising a mix of classroom lectures and discussion (50%), and hands-on exercises with subsurface datasets (50%). The lecture materials will be provided in digital format and participants will be required to bring a laptop or tablet computer to follow the lectures and exercises. Exercises manuals will be printed for each student to enhance learning by interpreting using pencil on paper.

Virtual version: Ten 3-hour interactive online sessions presented over 5 days. A digital manual and hard-copy exercise materials will be distributed to participants before the course. Some reading and several exercises are to be completed by participants off-line.

Level and Audience

Intermediate. This course is intended for geoscientists (reservoir modellers, seismic interpreters, sedimentologists), reservoir engineers and petrophysicists who want to understand and apply the concepts of sequence stratigraphy to solve business problems.

Objectives

You will learn to:

  1. Understand the sequence stratigraphic method, terminology and application.
  2. Contrast the various approaches to sequence stratigraphy.
  3. Apply the concept of facies, facies stacking and shoreline trajectories to define sequences, surfaces and system tracts.
  4. Evaluate depositional controls on sequences in non-terrestrial, shallow marine and deep marine environments.
  5. Assess and interpret cores, well logs and seismic lines to characterize and map hydrocarbon play elements in different settings using the sequence stratigraphic method.
  6. Implement sequence stratigraphic methods to predict play element presence, adequacy and risk from seismic data for exploration play and prospect definition.
  7. Apply sequence stratigraphic frameworks to evaluate connectivity in discovery appraisal and field development.
  8. Apply sequence stratigraphic methods to define seal adequacy for subtle and stratigraphic traps in various depositional settings.