N236 Addressing Carbonate Reservoir Description Challenges
Course Facts
- Course Code:
- N236
- Duration:
- 5 days
- Type:
- Classroom
- CEU:
- 4.0 Continuing Education Units
- PDH:
- 40 Professional Development Hours
- Certificate:
- Certificate Issued Upon Completion
Summary
Participants will gain a thorough understanding of the nature of carbonate rocks, the controls on carbonate reservoir quality, the implications of several scales of heterogeneity in carbonate reservoir architectures, the geological data requirements in preparation for static and dynamic reservoir modelling, and evaluate examples of development strategies for carbonate reservoirs. Lectures on these topics are supported by numerous exercises using subsurface data and case studies and analogues.
Duration and Training Method
A five-day classroom course, it is an integrated mix of lectures and exercies, involving numerous case studies.
Participiants will lern to:
- Appraise the controls on carbonate reservoir quality and be able to relate these to original depositional facies, rock textures and diagenesis.
- Predict the complexity of a carbonate reservoir and determine the likely impact that heterogeneities deriving from stratigraphy, pore types and structure may have on reservoir behaviour.
- Construct and correlate reservoir layers and determine the data required, and the most appropriate way, to populate these with reservoir parameters for static modelling.
- Synthesise the data from a range of carbonate reservoir analogues and become conversant with the principal issues to be resolved and integrated during the development and management of carbonate reservoirs.
1. Carbonate reservoir rocks: components, facies and controls
A brief introduction to: carbonate sediments and components; carbonate facies; carbonate platform styles and facies distributions
2. Understanding carbonate reservoir properties
Carbonate rock textures and fabrics; Pore types and their characterisation; Vuggy porosity; Data sources
3. Controls on carbonate reservoir quality
Diagenesis as a control on reservoir quality; Porosity vs. depth; Porosity vs. permeability; Kv; Impact of karst and unconformities; Dolomites vs. limestones; Faults, fractures and stylolites
4. Carbonate reservoir heterogeneities
Impact of stratigraphic-scale heterogeneities; Core- and pore-scale heterogeneities; Low-resistivity pay; Utility of seismic attributes; Use of analogues
5. Carbonate reservoir architecture
Carbonate reservoir styles; Sequences and cycles; Vertical and lateral reservoir quality variations; Correlation in carbonate reservoirs; Seals, baffl es and compartments in carbonate reservoir
6. Data requirements and sources
Collecting essential information; Issues of data scales in carbonate reservoirs; Value of core; Core logging; Core vs. wireline logs; Wireline log facies; SCAL
7. Aspects of carbonate reservoir characterisation
Objectives; Reservoir layering; Reservoir rock typing; Carbonate “geobody” dimensions; Identifying and accounting for thief zones; Upscaling issues; Sw distribution
8. Carbonate reservoir case studies
Carbonate reservoir development examples; Pressure-support mechanisms; Recovery factors and production rates; Fractured/faulted reservoirs
9. Participant case studies/reservoir problems
Optional confidential “no-notes” session in which participants can share examples of current carbonate reservoir characterisation/development problems that are problematic or of interest
Who should attend
Geoscientists and engineers with an interest in the characterisation of carbonate reservoirs. Prior experience with carbonate rocks is not essential, although some familiarity with carbonate depositional facies and sequences is advantageous. Note that this is NOT a reservoir modelling class, rather discussion is centred around the geological characterisation and data required in order to better represent carbonate reservoirs.
Prerequisites and linking courses
For people with no experience of carbonates a useful precursor to this course is classroom course N020 (Carbonate Depositional Systems: Reservoir Sedimentology and Diagenesis). Intermediate level field classes that examine carbonates are N059 (Applied Carbonate Geology: Carbonate Facies andReservoirs, Mallorca Spain), and N091 (Carbonate Reservoir Architecture and Applied Carbonate Sequence Stratigraphy). Topics relating to deformation of carbonates are discussed in N134 (Carbonate Faulting and Fracturing Seminar, Central and West Texas), and N186 (Complex Carbonate Reservoirs: Influence of Facies and Tectonic Processes on Porosity Development, Southern Italy). For experienced carbonate workers, the Nautilus Training Alliance offers an exercise and discussion-based 3 day classroom course N073 (Workshop in Geological Seismic Interpretation: Carbonate Systems) and field course N143 (Advanced Concepts in Carbonate Exploration and Reservoir Characterisation, Northern Spain).
Click on a name to learn more about the instructor
Trevor Burchette
Trevor Burchette
Background
Trevor Burchette studied the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the basal Carboniferous Limestone transgressioin in Wales and SW England. A Royal Society Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Technische Universität, Braunschweig followed, during which he investigated the sedimentology and stratigraphy of Devonian carbonate buildups in northern Germany and Belgium.
Trevor joined BP as a sedimentologist in 1980 where he has been the company’s principle carbonate adviser for over 30 years. Over this period, he has worked mostly international projects in both exploration and development environments. Trevor’s experience is global and has included major projects in Canada, Venezuela, Egypt, N Africa, SE Asia, Russia, and Europe. Over this period, Trevor acquired extensive experience in both carbonate reservoir characterisation and its impact on field performance and development strategies and in regional stratigraphic/exploration studies. Much of Trevor’s time over the last 13 years has been taken up with projects in the Middle East in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran and Iraq. In Abu Dhabi he was BP geological representative for all of this period at numerous multi-disciplinary peer reviews and technical committee meetings dealing with quality assurance for the two principal national oil companies, ADCO and ADMA. More recently, Trevor has been involved in regional studies in several areas of the Middle East including the early Cretaceous in the northern Arabian Gulf.
For many years Trevor also led major lab and field courses for BP covering aspects of carbonate exploration and development, most notably in the Dolomites (“Carbonate seismic stratigraphy and exploration models”) and on Mallorca (“Applied carbonate sedimentology”), organised numerous core workshops and field trips, and also ran an internal carbonates web site. For twenty years, he was principle company contact for several external research groups.
Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD University of Newcastle, UK - Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
BSc University of Cardiff - Geology
Courses Taught
N235:Exploring for Carbonate Reservoirs (Dolomites, Italy)
N236:Addressing Carbonate Reservoir Challenges (Mallorca, Spain)
N336:Carbonate Reservoir Description Based on Core and Well Data (Nottinghamshire, UK)
Dates for this Course
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