Providing Short Courses to the Petroleum Industry

Specialising in cross-discipline and introductory level training

Public Courses

Course outlines

The following courses are currently available. Click on title below to view course outline:

Introduction to Petroleum Exploration (1 Day)

Introduction to Petroleum Drilling (1 Day)

Fundamentals of Petroleum Drilling (2 Days)

Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology For Non-Geologists (2 Days)

Fundamentals of Seismic For Non-Geophysicists (2 Days)

Introduction to Petroleum Exploration (1 Day)

Target audience

The course is designed for personnel who work in the exploration industry but have little or no exploration-specific technical background. This includes administration staff, technical support staff, and those in management or professional roles whose background is in a field other than Earth Science.

Course objectives

The course provides an overview of the business of petroleum exploration from acreage selection through to final discovery of an oil or gas field. It highlights the multi-disciplinary nature of the business, examines the tools and methods used in exploration, and provides an understanding of the technical terminology.

Course outline

Participants will be exposed to the basic concepts of acreage management, exploration geology, petroleum geophysics, rotary drilling, and economics and risk assessment:

Acreage acquisition and legal aspects

How exploration groups are put together (joint ventures, floats, operators, non-operators)
How companies acquire exploration acreage (permits, gazettals, open acreage, bidding, work programs, farmins, joint ventures)
Legal obligations and moral responsibilities (legislation, environmental controls)

Petroleum geology

Why companies explore where they do (rock types and properties, geological models, prospectivity)
Where oil and gas come from (source, seal, reservoir, generation, migration, trapping mechanisms)
How oil and gas fields are found (basin analysis, regional studies, play concepts, prospect generation)

Petroleum geophysics

How explorers determine what it looks like below the surface of the earth (remote sensing)
How seismic works (acquisition, processing, 2D and 3D surveys)
What seismic tells us (interpretation, mapping, hydrocarbon indicators)

Exploration drilling

Types of drilling rigs (land rigs, jackups, drill ships, semi-submersibles)
How rotary wells are drilled (hoisting, rotating, circulation, control)
Information obtained from wells (cuttings, cores, logs, well seismic)
What happens after the well is drilled (abandon, suspend, test)

Economics and risk

Why do we drill so many dry holes (outcomes, prospect risking and ranking)
Differences between technical success and commercial success (costs, prices, infrastructure)
How do we handle the risks involved (geological risk - POS, commercial risk – EMV)
The “Exploration Game” An fun opportunity to draw the learnings of the day together

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Introduction to Petroleum Drilling (1 Day)

Target audience

The Drilling course is an ideal follow-up for those who have previously attended the Basic Exploration Short Course and would like a more detailed understanding of the drilling process. However, that is not a pre-requisite as both courses are entirely self-contained.

Course objectives

The drilling of an oil well is seen as the culmination of the exploration process, but to the lay person it is a mysterious and complex undertaking which has a language all of its own. This course highlights the multi-disciplinary nature of the business, examines the tools and methods used in exploration drilling, and provides an understanding of the technical terminology and jargon used.

Course outline

Rules and regulations

The historical record and current activity levels
Who controls the drilling process; safety and environmental constraints
Reporting requirements – how to read a drilling report

Pre-drill preparations

How companies select a drilling location
Rig types and selection
Well planning, procedures and costs

Drilling the well

Components of a rig – hoisting, circulating, rotating and control systems
The mechanics of making hole
Special techniques – deviated and horizontal drilling

Evaluating the well

Cuttings and core analysis
Oil and gas shows, sampling, testing
Basic wireline logs, measurement while drilling
What it all means – interpreting the results

What can go wrong

Kicks, blowouts and oil spills
Loss of hole, loss of equipment and fishing
Completion and abandonment
The “Drilling Game” – just for fun: drill a well and gain an appreciation of some of the risks involved

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Fundamentals of Drilling (2 Days)

Target audience

Although this drilling course requires no pior knowledge, it provdes a more in-depth look at drilling than the one-day course so is more suited to personnel who work in a drilling related area such as purchasing, contracting, accounting, reporting type roles directly associated with drilling operations.

Course objectives

This course examines the tools and methods used in exploration drilling, provides an understanding of the technical terminology and jargon used, and also examines sources of error and uncertainty which might lead to costly problems.

Course outline

Overview of drilling activities

The historical record and current worldwide activity levels
Rules and regulations
Who controls the drilling process; safety and environmental constraints
Reporting requirements
EXERCISE: Decoding a drilling report

Pre-drill preparations

Selecting a drilling location
Rig types and characteristics
Well planning, procedures and budgets
EXERCISE: Constructing a time-depth well prognosis
EXERCISE: Budgeting a well

Drilling the well

Components of a rig – hoisting, circulating, rotating and control systems
The mechanics of making hole
Special techniques - deviated and horizontal drilling
CASE STUDY: Intercepting a deviated wellbore

Evaluating the well

Sources and reliability of well data
Mudlogging and coring
Oil and gas show analysis
Wireline logging
Measurement While Drilling
Flow testing
EXERCISE: Reading wellsite reports
EXERCISE: Working with well logs

Completing the well

Well abandonment
Completion for production

Drilling problems and remedies

Kicks, blowouts and oil spills
Loss of hole, loss of equipment and fishing
Workover and intervention techniques
CASE HISTORY: Repairing damaged well

Fundamentals of Oil & Gas Production

Types and characteristics of reservoir drive mechanisms
Field development concepts

Concepts of reserves

Categorisation of reserves and resources
Definitions: technical, proven, probable and possible
Approaches to reserves estimation: deterministic versus probabilistic
Measures of profitability: NPV and EMV
EXERCISE: Beans, beans and more beans! – Illustrating uncertainty
EXERCISE: Understanding press releases

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Fundamentals of Petroleum Geology For Non-Geologists (2 Days)

Target audience

This course is designed for people who need to communicate or work with geologists on a regular basis, such as petroleum engineers and geophysicists. It is also useful for project managers who have geoscientists in their team but do not have a geological background themselves.

Course objectives

The course examines the tools and methods used by the petoleum geologist and provides an understanding of the technical terminology and jargon used. It also examines sources of error and uncertainty which might lead to costly problems.

Outline of course

Occurrence, distribution, and nature of petroleum

History of petroleum exploitation
Worldwide distribution of petroleum
Essential characteristics of Oil and Gas

Basic rock forming processes

Classification and origin of rocks
Burial, lithification and diagenesis

Geological time and dating geological events

How rocks are dated (absolute and relative time)
Importance of time in rock formation and deformation
Lithostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy
EXERCISE: Dating and sequencing structural and stratigraphic events
EXERCISE: Understanding a stratigraphic column

Fundamentals of maps and sections

Concepts of strike and dip
Isochores and isopachs
Key characteristics of maps and sections
Mapping structure and stratigraphy
EXERCISE: Construction of simple maps and sections

Characteristics of petroleum accumulations

Nature and origin of traps, source, seals and reservoirs
Structural and stratigraphic traps
Petroleum systems
EXERCISE: Generating leads and prospects

Sedimentary depositional environments

Types and origins of sedimentary rocks (clastics and carbonates)
Major depositional environments and their importance to exploration
Characteristics and distribution of source rocks, reservoirs and seals
Facies mapping and palaeogeography
EXERCISE: Application of palaeogeographic principles to exploration

The process of petroleum exploration

Basin, play and prospect analysis
Remote sensing and the basics of seismology
Generating and evaluating prospects
EXERCISE: Converting seismic sections from time to depth
EXERCISE: The ‘Exploration Game’

Geological information from wells

Brief overview of drilling and well completion procedures
Sources and reliability of well data (mud logging, well logging, testing)
Role of the well-site geologist
Coring and core analysis
Working with well logs
EXERCISE: Reading and understanding a geological report
EXERCISE: Simple well log analysis and correlation

Fundamentals of production geology

Role of the production geologist
Sources and reliability of information
Reservoir geology and approaches to reservoir modeling
EXERCISE: Multiple map manipulation

Field development concepts

Reducing uncertainty through appraisal drilling
Key features of producing reservoirs
Leakage: spill points, vertical and lateral seals
Identifying contacts and fluid levels
Horizontal and multi-lateral completions
CASE STUDY: Review a field development program

Reservoir drive mechanisms

Types and characteristics of drive mechanisms
Enhanced oil recovery
Well intervention and workovers

Concepts of reserves

Definitions: technical, proven, probable and possible
Approaches to reserves estimation
CASE STUDY: Interpreting press releases -
EXERCISE: Beans, beans and more beans! – illustrating uncertainty

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Fundamentals of Seismic For Non-Geophysicists (2 Days)

Target Audience

The course is designed for anyone who needs to communicate effectively with petroleum geophysicists, such as petroleum engineers, geologists, managers, technical and IT support staff, contract and procurement officers, but would also be suitable for recently graduated geophysicists with limited seismic experience.

Course Objectives

This course provides a fundamental understanding and overview of the petroleum industry’s seismic method for personnel who come into contact with seismic during their work but have little or no background in this area. It is pitched at a basic awareness level so that participants will be able to understand key concepts, applications and terminology associated with the acquisition, processing and interpretation of seismic data. The course is non-mathematical and includes lectures, discussions, video footage, demonstrations, hands-on exercises, real data examples and case studies. Jargon is kept to a minimum and technical terms are clearly explained.

Participants will gain an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the seismic method, costs and risks involved, the meaning of seismic maps and sections and an overview of the latest developments in seismic technology.

Outline of Course

INTRODUCTORY PRINCIPLES

Basic Background Geology