Exploration Petroleum Geology
(From the Petroleum System to the prospect resource assessment)
1. Introduction
Professor: Dr.Bernard Fourcade
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Preliminary remarks
Basin petroleum evaluation and prospect concepts
2. Hydrocarbon available for prospect charging
Day
1
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Source rock characteristics
Source rock potential and type
Maturation, transformation ratio
Migration, Petroleum System efficiency
My source rock becomes my productive reservoir. Introduction to
shale oil and gas
Lectures and exercises
Detailed CV on www.totalprof .com
3. Hydrocarbon fluid prediction
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Objectives :
For future petroleum explorationists, this
course provides an up-to-date and
professional introduction of resource and risk
assessment of a prospect before drilling. The
petroleum system elements and processes are
also revisited, but with an application oriented
approach.
Day
2
Who should attend :
University students in geology or geophysics
at a Master level. This course will complement
their academic university petroleum geology
courses, by integrating the whole petroleum
evaluation process from the basin regional
scale to the prospect scale.
For undergraduate students at BSc level , this
course can be adapted as a comprehensive
introduction to petroleum geology
Prerequisites :
A comprehensive background in general
geology and seismics is required for such a
course (e.g. petrography, sedimentology,
structural geology, organic and inorganic
geochemistry, seismic principles and
interpretation…)
A basic knowledge of petroleum geology is
also recommended and will be a plus to
successfully attend this course.
HC fluid characteristic basics
Before trapping : source-rock type, maturity, migration
During and after entrapment :
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PVT, Pressure Volume Temperature inside reservoir
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H2S and CO2 origin, Oil cracking
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Fluid contact determination
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Alteration: gas stripping, water washing, asphaltens,
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Biodegradation
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Seal efficiency
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Oil to oil and SR to oil correlations (biomarkers, isotopes)
Lectures , exercises, and videos
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4. Reservoir parameters prognosis
Day
3
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Reservoir characteristics
Depositional environments for sandstones
Diagenesis, sandstone reservoir changes during burial
Lectures and videos
5. Trap definition
Day
4
Classification of traps :
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Structural traps, examples
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Stratigraphic and mixed traps, examples
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Traps associated with salt tectonics, examples
Lectures and exercises
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6. Prospect resource assessment
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Prospect definition and evaluation, single objective
Resource distributions
Probability of Success, risk assessment
Multi objective prospect
Conclusions
A good understanding of English is also
requested
Lectures and exercises
Duration:
5 half days of about 3 ½ to 4 hours each,
about 15-18 hours for the whole course.
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Duration can be adapted to the students’
knowledge, requirements, interests and needs.
Language:
Course in French or English
Power Point slides only in English;
Handouts:
One paper copy booklet (A4 size, with 4 color
slides per page).
One exercise booklet
No digital support provided (eg. on CD or USB
key) because problems of data confidentiality.
Exam : quiz with 20 multi-choice questions
Day
5
Version B Fourcade 16/01/2013
Exploration Petroleum Geology
Lomonosov Moscow State University,
Moscow, Russia, March 25th – 29th 2013
From the petroleum system to the prospect resource assessment
Course detailed programme
by Dr. Bernard Fourcade, from the Total Professor Association
Day 1: Monday , March 25th, 2013
1 - Introduction
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100. Course content, requirements , preliminary remarks
110. Basin petroleum and prospect evaluation concepts and methodology
2 – Hydrocarbon available for prospect charging
200. Source rocks (=SR)
o (201) SR characteristics, (202) SR parameters (=Petroleum
potential), (203) SR types, (204) SR transformation ratio,
(205) SR during geological times.
- 210. Maturation
o (211) Optical and (212) chemical techniques for maturity evaluation,
(213) oil and gas windows, (214) transformation ratio.
- 220. Hydrocarbon migration
o Drainage areas, migrations routes, richness and efficiency of the
petroleum systems, examples
Exercice n° 1: define the HC migration pathways on a geological cross
section
10’
- 230. My source rock is now my reservoir:
o Introduction to shale gas. A worldwide game changer ?
Video Mauritania
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Day 2 : Tuesday , March 26th, 2013
3 - Hydrocarbon fluid prediction
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300. HC before entrapment
o Fluid characteristics according to source rock types, maturity ..
310. HC fluids inside the reservoir
o Fluid characteristics at reservoir conditions, PVT, classification
Exercice n°2: determine the fluid characteristics of a prospect by calibration
from a nearby field using thermodynamic phase diagram
15’
320. Non hydrocarbon fluids
o H2S, CO2, origin and risks
Video: CO2 capture and sequestration at Lacq pilot plant , France
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330. Oil cracking
o Thermal changes of oil inside a reservoir
- 340. Fluid contact determination
o Oil/water, Gas/oil or Gas/water contact determination for prospect or
fields, from seismics, logs, pressure gradients, RFT/MDT/DST,
Exercice n°3 : fluid contact determination from a RFT plot
15’
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350. Oil to oil and source rock correlations
o Organic geochemistry techniques, gas chromatography, molecular
geochemistry, mass spectrometry, biomarkers, stable isotopes;
application examples
360. HC Fluid alteration inside the reservoir
o Biodegradation, water washing, gas stripping, asphalten
precipitation. Impact on the oil characteristics
370. Top Seal efficiency optional
o Top and fault seal evaluation
Day 3 : Wednesday , March 27th, 2013
4 - Reservoir parameters prognosis
- 400. Reservoir general characteristics
o Reservoir definition, parameters controlling porosity, permeability,
- 410. Sandstone reservoir depositional environments
o Eolian, fluvial, deltaic, deep marine deposits, turbidites. Reservoir
geometries, oil field examples.
Video Akpo, deep offshore Nigeria
- 420. Diagenesis of sandstone reservoirs (Optional depending of timing)
o Porosity reduction by mechanical compaction, chemical compaction,
Quartz cementation, clay coating, cement dissolution; impact on
reservoir properties, examples
Day 4 : Thursday , March 28th, 2013
5 - Trap definition and classification
- 500. Structural traps
o Fold and fault associated traps, in different tectonic settings, field
examples
Video Sismage
- 510. Stratigraphic and mixed traps
o Classification, conformable, unconformity related traps, mixed
structural and stratigraphic traps, examples
Exercice n°4: imagine potential traps from a seismic section
20’
- 520. Salt tectonics
o Salt structure nomenclature, examples of traps associated with salt
Day 5 : Friday, March 29th, 2013
Conclusions : to choose among 4 options:
6 - Prospect resource assessment
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600. Prospect definition: single objective
o Required data, procedure and techniques used for prospect
evaluation
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610. Prospect resource distributions
o How to build reserve/resource distribution for a prospect
Exercices n°5: Structural closure of a prospect, Mini, Mode and Maxi
closures
0.5 hour
620. Risk assessment
o Risk evaluation and Prospect Probability of Success
630. Multi-objective prospects
Exercice n°6: define 1P, 2P, 3P reserves from a map and a cross section
over a drilled prospect
0.5 hour
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7- The Exploration & Production process
The different phases of the Exploration and Production process: from
preliminaries studies in exploration to the field abandonment at the end of
production, through the basin evaluation, petroleum system definition,
prospect assessment, exploration drilling, field appraisal, development and
production.
Short review of the geosciences techniques used during the different phases
of the E & P process: introduction to: satellite remote sensing, field geology,
seismics, structural geology, sedimentology, well logging, testing,
petrophysics, reservoir modeling and management.
The different jobs in petroleum geosciences : description of the different jobs
and their specialities: geologists (well site geologist, field geologist,
specialists, etc…), geophysicists (seismic acquisition, processing ,
interpretation, special techniques), reservoir engineers (petrophysicists, log
analysts, reservoir modeling, etc..).
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8 - Examples of present day exploration challenges:
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Back to the old days of surface geology exploration. A new petroleum
province in the making: the Zagros in Kurdistan, Iraq
The Artic challenges
Application of the plate tectonic concept: exploration cruise across the
South Atlantic Ocean : from the pre-salt Tupi/Ulla discoveries in Brazil to
the Kwanza basin in Angola and from Jubilee in Ghana to Zaedius in
French Guyana
Exam : Quiz with 20 multi-choice questions
Course evaluation by the students