Oil Exploration Game
(Accompanying Materials Explanation)
1.) Walk students through and explain the hands on activities and posters.
a.) Densities- Explain density, ie. mass/volume, (essentially just the
weight of a particular substance divided by the space it occupies,
controlled by various chemical properties), noting the densities of the
three substances air, water, and oil. Allow students to tip around (not
shake) the bottle of oil/air, noting that the three always end up in the same
order (least dense at the top, most at the bottom). This is how oil and gas
deposits accumulate, the less dense substances become trapped in the
various types of traps. The less dense gases and oil occupy the higher
positions in the traps, trapped by non-porous/permeable rock on top and
the sides, while the more dense water sitting below, acts to keep it from
escaping.
-Water, oil, air container
-Density poster
b.) Porosity and Permeability- Explain porosity (how much space is between
individual grains of a rock) and permeability (the ability for a substance to
move through a rock, within these pore spaces), utilizing diagrams on the
accompanying poster. Allow students to drop a couple (~3-4) drops of
water onto both the sandstone and shale, noting which one appears to
absorb water and why. The sandstone being much more porous and
permeable, will suck up the water, while it will simply run off of the shale.
Explain that in oil deposits, it’s the porous/permeable sandstones which
contain the oil and gas, and generally the non porous/permeable shales,
that act as the source rock, as well as cap rocks, that is, keeping the oil
from escaping the sandstones.
-Shale/sandstone rock stand
-Small droppers and small container of water
-Porosity and permeability poster
c.) Seismic Reflection- Seismic reflection is the technique used to detect
subsurface structures (faults, folds, domes, pinch-outs) in oil exploration.
Knowing the velocities of seismic waves in different rock types and
substances therein, geologists are able to detect contacts between
contrasting layers by bouncing these waves (P - push/pull or
compressional, and S - shear waves), off of the layers contacts and records
the time it takes to travel down, reflect, and travel back up
to the surface, where they are recorded by an array of seismic receivers
(geophones on land, hydrophones at sea), by creating a seismic source (w/
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a hammer, explosion, or large vibrating truck). The geologist can than use
this data to assemble a fairly clear picture of what’s down there, and if
there’s any possibility of oil deposits. Allow the students to examine the
reflection poster (diagrams) and apparatus, making note of the several
layers of plexi-glass, and the bottom dipping layer. Allow students to point
the laser pointer at the top layer (at ~45° angle, so all four bright red dots
can be seen on the backboard), and slowly sway it from side-to-side, so that
it appears to ‘trace-out’ the different layers below, making note of the
‘bottom’ dot, which moves vertically as well as laterally, tracing the
lowermost tilted layer.
-Seismic reflection apparatus and laser pointer
-Seismic reflection poster
d.) Oil and Gas Traps- Display and explain the oil and gas traps poster (leave
up for reference during the game, these are the four most common types of
traps, and the types present in the models, but to succeed in the game, they
must understand the basic premise behind them). A stratigraphic trap is
generally a small body of oil bearing sandstone (reservoir rock), trapped
within a dominantly shale bed, or as shown, an oil bearing sandstone
which is ‘pinched out’ by shales. In a fault trap, vertical displacement
juxtaposes bedrock of contrasting composition against each other, and oil
bearing sandstones against cap rocks (shales), which act to keep the oil
from escaping. An anticline trap, is a type of ‘up-warped’ fold, which
allows for less dense oil and gas to accumulate towards the hinge point,
atop more dense water, and is trapped by cap rocks on both the upper and
lower contacts of a sandstone unit. The salt dome trap basically follows
the same premise as the anticline. The rising salt dome creates an upwarping in the bedrock, where the oil and gas can accumulate, and is
trapped in by the salt itself, which is in no way porous and/or permeable.
-Oil and Gas Traps Poster (leave posted during the game)
*Drive the points, that it’s in the porous/permeable sandstones (reservoir rock) where oil
deposits are actually contained, by non-porous/permeable shales (& salts), and due to
density differences, gas and oil are trapped in ‘up-warps’ by the more dense water
below.*
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Oil Exploration Game
(Instructions)
2.) Begin by splitting the class up into groups of ~4-5 students, assigning group #’s to
each to keep track of scores, also drawing a table on the board with a column for
each group, to tally scores. Each group should begin with:
-$5 million U.S. dollars (tally on board)
-A scale model with nothing but the oil field grid attached
-A vis-à-vis marker
They can use the marker to write only on the grid, to keep track of failed and
yielding oil wells, (ex) an x for yielding, a circle for dry wells (these need to be
wiped clean between games).
3.) Taking turns between groups, each turn, they can choose to purchase one thing:
-Drill a well* -$1 million
-A structure section** (i.e. look under any one panel) - $1 million
-A stratigraphic column (color to rock type key) - $500 thousand
*When drilling a well, they group simply supplies the proper coordinates,
match them off of the color coded key to find if they hit or not, and how much,
and push the proper button on the control box.
**When showing a structure section to a group, try to keep the other groups from
seeing it. Groups should not be supplying other groups with information.
They will also be given a scaled panel which attaches to the side of
their model w/ Velcro, only be sure that they’re given the panel that they
just paid to see, and that it’s placed on the proper side of the model relative to
the grid, so that everything matches between the large and small scale models.
These only show the structure in 2-D, by buying sides perpendicular to each
other, the 3-D structure becomes more apparent.
4.) Continue cycling through the groups, keeping track of each groups score on the tally
table, for the remainder of the class, where the group with the most money in the
bank in the end, wins!
*It’s at your own discretion as to weather or not a group is out of the game once they run
out of money, or if they simply go into the negative. Just in case any group goes out
early, so they’re not just sitting around for the remainder of the class.*
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