Who Should Attend
Development and exploration geologists, geophysicists,
geochemists, petroleum engineers, managers, and technical
personnel
You Will Learn
- How to quantify charge risk during exploration by identifying
petroleum systems, predicting regional variations in organic
facies, predicting source maturity, volumes of expelled petroleum,
gas-to-oil ratios, and the risk of oil biodegradation.
- How to integrate geochemical, geological and engineering data
to identify reservoir compartments, allocate commingled production,
identify completion problems, and monitor flood progression to
optimize field development.
- How to recognize pitfalls in geochemical interpretations
- Familiarity with various geochemical tools, including Total
Organic Carbon (TOC), Rock-Eval pyrolysis, vitrinite reflectance,
thermal alteration index, kerogen elemental analysis, geochemical
logs and maps, gas chromatography, stable isotope ratios, and
biological markers.
- How to design geochemical studies and collect samples.
About the Course
Undiscovered reserves in prolific, mature basins and bypassed
oil in developed fields are key targets for increasing reserves at
minimal cost. Modern geochemical tools can dramatically improve
discovery success by identifying and characterizing these targets.
Course participants learn to interpret geochemical logs, predict
volumes of oil generated and expelled, map organic facies
variations, identify petroleum systems using multivariate data,
predict regional variations in oil quality and gas-to-oil ratios,
and predict the extent of source thermal maturity and oil
biodegradation. Unique to this course are detailed discussions of
how to integrate geochemical, geological and engineering data to
identify reservoir compartments, allocate commingled production,
identify completion problems, and monitor flood progression to
optimize field development. The course also explains how to
optimize development by predicting vertical and lateral variations
in API gravity and viscosity. Attendees learn interpretive
guidelines to evaluate geochemical data. Interpretation pitfalls
are illustrated using exercises. Sample collection techniques are
discussed.
No background in geochemistry is needed. The course is an ideal
introduction or review for those who plan to use basin modeling
programs.
Participants receive (1) a course notebook and flash drive
containing the 900+ lecture figures, and (2) the book:
Peters, K. E., C. C. Walters and J. M. Moldowan (2005) The
Biomarker Guide, Volume 2 - Biomarkers and Isotopes in Petroleum
Exploration and Earth History, Cambridge University Press, 1155
p.
Course Content
- Identifying Source Rocks
- Geochemical Logs
- Volumetrics and Reconstruction of Generative Potential in
Postmature Rocks
- Oil-Oil and Oil-Source Rock Correlations Using Biomarkers,
Isotopes, and Statistics
- Assessment of Reservoir Continuity, Prediction of Lateral and
Vertical Changes in API Gravity and Viscosity, and Relative
Contributions from Discrete Zones.
- Worldwide Exploration and Production Case Studies
- Sample Collection and Project Planning
- Exercises Using Actual Exploration and Production Problems
About the Instructor
Dr.
McCaffrey received his B. A. degree (1985) from Harvard
University, magna cum laude with highest honors in geological
sciences, and his Ph.D. (1990) in geochemistry from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution Joint Program. Mark is a California Registered
Geologist (License #5903), a Texas Professional Geoscientist
(License #350), and an AAPG Certified Petroleum Geologist
(Certificate #5339). He is a senior or co-author of more than 30
articles on petroleum exploration, reservoir management, oil
biodegradation, hazardous waste remediation, paleoenvironmental
reconstruction, and marine chemistry. Mark was the 1995 recipient
of the Pieter Schenck Award from the European Association of
Organic Geochemists for "outstanding work on biomarkers in relation
to paleoenvironmental studies and petroleum exploration." In 1998,
Mark received (with project co-workers) the Arco Award of
Excellence "for developing a new charge and migration model for the
Brookian petroleum system, allowing improved charge risk assessment
for prospects on the Central North Slope of Alaska. Mark spent 10
years at Chevron and Arco integrating geochemistry, geology and
engineering data to solve a variety of oil exploration and
production problems. In 1999, Mark then co-founded OilTracers LLC,
a firm specializing in this type of work. Mark was a 2001-2002
distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers and
was the Chairman of the 2002 Organic Geochemistry Gordon
Conference. Mark was Chairman (2006-2007) of the Geochemical
Society Organic Geochemistry Division, and is a PetroSkills
Instructor in the area of Oil and Gas Geochemistry and has taught
courses in: Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, England, India,
Indonesia, Kuwait, The Netherlands, Mozambique, United Arab
Emirates, and The United States).
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