Online Geology and Geophysics 2020-2021

Petrophysics is fundamental to understanding the properties of hydrocarbon fields both for initial static volumes in place and potential and actual dynamic performance. It lies at the centre of all subsurface activities, whether in the context of open-hole evaluation of new wells, cased-hole operations on producing wells, or in an integrated team building reservoir models for asset evaluation, field development or reservoir management. The key aims of this course are to teach: the principles of petroleum exploration, development and production to staff entering the industry for the first time, and enough basic understanding to perform a simple reservoir evaluation.

This course builds on GL5015/5515 (Introduction to petrophysics and its role in the oil and gas industry). Students will learn how to integrate real log and core datasets to fully describe the variation in reservoir properties and how they may be distributed in oil and gas wells. Relating wireline data to core is important, as core analysis provides the only direct and quantitative measurement of the intact reservoir properties and provides essential calibration data for reliable formation evaluation. This course provides students with a solid grounding in the acquisition and evaluation of routine (RCA) and special (SCAL) core analysis datasets.

The key objective of this course is to understand how petrophysical data (core and log), can be used to calibrate and predict the seismic response of hydrocarbon reservoirs. This can be used throughout field life from reducing exploration risk at the early stages to better quantifying the differences seen in time lapse seismic for reservoir management and field development. Students will learn the nature of reservoir models and the petrophysical and other inputs used to construct them, including permeability predictors, upscaling and saturation height functions. The principles of uncertainty management will be described and applied to the petrophysical parameters.

Reservoir surveillance provides an understanding of well and reservoir performance to enable efficient management of production. The course gives an overview of the role of petrophysics in the long-term monitoring of reservoirs, including use of legacy data in understanding evolution of reservoir performance. This links to the day-to-day reality of petrophysical operations, which provide many of the inputs to predict reservoir performance and to determine the value of assets. A clear understanding of modelling objectives, methods to be used and uncertainties, across all of the subsurface disciplines is necessary to ensure that reservoir properties are effectively represented.

The course covers aspects of geology, geophysics and prospect evaluation to illustrate how geologists deal with uncertainty and risk during the exploration process. It will look at the place of the geoscientist during the productive life of an oilfield. Another key aspect of this course will be the issue of communication between geoscientists and engineers. By the end of this course students should understand how geologists explore for oil and gas, and the main tools at their disposal; the role of the geophysicist; how to make prospect maps; petroleum volumetrics; subsurface fluid flow; and the creation of static reservoir models.

Petrophysics and core analysis are key disciplines in the oil industry, providing the main data on porosoty, permeability and fluid saturations in the subsurface.  Petrophysics is a crossroads discipline and petrophysicists work closely with geologists and petroleum engineers in exploration and production.  This course provides essential information to allow petroleum engineers to interact effectively with geoscientists.

This course introduces students to the fundamental types of geographical, geological, offshore survey, and geophysical data used within the Oil and Gas and related industries, with special emphasis on those types of data where the spatial position is crucial to the significance of the measurements. Attention will be given to the common sources of data, acquisition and capture, storage, processing, quality control, and analysis, and representation through mapping and visualisation.

Petrophysics is fundamental to understanding the properties of hydrocarbon fields both for initial static volumes in place and potential and actual dynamic performance. It lies at the centre of all subsurface activities, whether in the context of open-hole evaluation of new wells, cased-hole operations on producing wells, or in an integrated team building reservoir models for asset evaluation, field development or reservoir management. The key aims of this course are to teach: the principles of petroleum exploration, development and production to staff entering the industry for the first time, and enough basic understanding to perform a simple reservoir evaluation.

The course will give students the skills to interpret
petrophysically complex reservoirs from a variety of sedimentological and
lithological environments. Integration with geology will be emphasised along
with the advanced tools and techniques necessary to characterise these very
different reservoir types.  By the end of
this course, students will understand: how the sedimentary environment impacts
reservoir properties; how those properties may be evaluated; the logging tool
suites available to interpret complex reservoirs; key differences between
matrix and fracture based production systems; impact of clay type and
distribution on clastic reservoir quality; and the potential volumes available
from unconventional reservoirs.

The course will give students the skills to interpret
petrophysically complex reservoirs from a variety of sedimentological and
lithological environments. Integration with geology will be emphasised along
with the advanced tools and techniques necessary to characterise these very
different reservoir types.  By the end of
this course, students will understand: how the sedimentary environment impacts
reservoir properties; how those properties may be evaluated; the logging tool
suites available to interpret complex reservoirs; key differences between
matrix and fracture based production systems; impact of clay type and
distribution on clastic reservoir quality; and the potential volumes available
from unconventional reservoirs.

The course will give students the skills to interpret
petrophysically complex reservoirs from a variety of sedimentological and
lithological environments. Integration with geology will be emphasised along
with the advanced tools and techniques necessary to characterise these very
different reservoir types.  By the end of
this course, students will understand: how the sedimentary environment impacts
reservoir properties; how those properties may be evaluated; the logging tool
suites available to interpret complex reservoirs; key differences between
matrix and fracture based production systems; impact of clay type and
distribution on clastic reservoir quality; and the potential volumes available
from unconventional reservoirs.

The course will provide an understanding of: data governance issues and how they impact on business workflows; data management organisation models and structures, data roles and responsibilities; legal issues relating to data governance, and a more detailed exploration of data protection law;  data policies, strategies, standards and procedures; the relation between data governance and data quality, security, entitlements and obligations; and data management maturity and impact.

The course covers aspects of geology, geophysics and prospect evaluation to illustrate how geologists deal with uncertainty and risk during the exploration process. It will look at the place of the geoscientist during the productive life of an oilfield. Another key aspect of this course will be the issue of communication between geoscientists and engineers. By the end of this course students should understand how geologists explore for oil and gas, and the main tools at their disposal; the role of the geophysicist; how to make prospect maps; petroleum volumetrics; subsurface fluid flow; and the creation of static reservoir models.

Petrophysics and core analysis are key disciplines in the oil industry, providing the main data on porosoty, permeability and fluid saturations in the subsurface.  Petrophysics is a crossroads discipline and petrophysicists work closely with geologists and petroleum engineers in exploration and production.  This course provides essential information to allow petroleum engineers to interact effectively with geoscientists.

The course will provide an understanding of: the value of data quality, the importance of data quality management and the consequences of poor data quality management. It will cover common data quality issues, and inherent uncertainty in data values, and demonstrate the need for data quality standards, business rules, policies and procedures, and how these are used to lead compliance activities. It will also show the relation between data governance and data quality. 

This project is an extended, independent, self-directed, piece of practical work integrating and reinforcing the material taught on the rest of the Petroleum Data Management MSc programme, and giving a detailed insight into the demands of, and ways of carrying out, data management in the oil and gas industry. Under guidance, the student will be responsible for the project design and execution.