N387 Exploration and Development in Fluvio-Lacustrine Systems
Course Facts
- Course Code:
- N387
- Duration:
- 3 days
- Type:
- Classroom
- CEU:
- 2.4 Continuing Education Units
- PDH:
- 24 Professional Development Hours
- Certificate:
- Certificate Issued Upon Completion
Summary
This course considers fluvial, alluvial fan and lacustrine depositional systems as exploration targets and in terms of field development. The controls on these systems will be assessed at a variety of scales to aid the understanding of the distribution of source rocks and reservoir units in continental basins. Topics covered include stratigraphic analysis and correlation, tectonic, climatic and base level controls on facies distributions, system-scale variations in sandstone body architecture, and dimensions and connectivity of reservoir units. Exercises based on subsurface data form a key element of this workshop.
Duration and Training Method
A three-day classroom workshop presented as a mixture of seminars, case study presentations, workshops discussions and exercises of varying duration in the classroom.
Participants will learn to:
- Understand the characteristics of alluvial fan, fluvial and lacustrine systems in sedimentary basins.
- Evaluate and integrate the controls on lacustrine and fluvial depositional systems.
- Develop tools for the prediction of field-scale distribution of reservoir units.
- Analyse the variation in stratigraphic architecture of fluvial successions in terms of connectivity within a reservoir.
- Evaluate the different scales of heterogeneity in fluvial successions and their effects on reservoir quality.
- Use appropriate correlation techniques in fluvio-lacustrine systems.
- Assess tectonic controls on basin margin alluvial fan characteristics.
- Integrate different data types in the analysis of continental depositional systems.
1. Continental Rift Basins
1.1 Controls on Sediment Accumulation in Rifts
1.2 Sediment Supply
2. Fluvial Systems
2.1 Fluvial and Alluvial Systems
2.2 River Forms
2.3 Channel-fi lling Processes
2.4 Trends in Fluvial Systems
2.5 Floodplain Deposition
2.6 Patterns in Fluvial Deposits
2.7 Soils and Palaeosols
2.8 Fluvial Systems Summary
2.9 Fluvial Form in Modern Continental Sedimentary Basins: Distributive Fluvial Systems
2.10 Ancient Fluvial Distributary Systems
2.11 Fluvial Distributary Systems and Lakes
2.12 Conditions for the Formation of a DFS: Tectonic and Climatic Settings
2.13 The Stratigraphic Architecture of Fluvial Distributary System Deposits
3. Alluvial Fans
3.1 Morphology of Alluvial Fans
3.2 Processes of Deposition on Alluvial Fans
3.3 Fluvial Deposits Forming Alluvial Fans
3.4 Modifi cation of Alluvial Fan Deposits
3.5 Controls on Alluvial Fan Deposition
4. Lacustrine Systems
4.1 Lake Formation
4.2 Lake Hydrology
4.3 Lake Margin Deposits
4.4 Deep Lake Facies
4.5 Saline and Ephemeral Lakes
4.6 Controls on Lake Facies
5. Case Studies
5.1 The Ebro Basin, Southern Pyrenean Foreland Basin,C enozoic, Northern Spain
5.2 Lacustrine Case Study: The Orcadian Basin -Old Red Sandstone
5.3 The Clair Field, Devonian West of Shetland
6. Reservoir Modelling in Continental Systems
6.1 Introduction to Geocellular Models
6.2 What Aspects Need to be Considered when Modelling Continental Systems?
6.3 How Good is my Static Model?
Who should attend
The course is aimed at relatively experienced exploration and development geoscientists, petrophysicists and reservoir engineers.
Prerequisites and linking courses
Participants are expected to have a background in clastic sedimentology. For those wanting an introduction to fluvial sedimentology and reservoir geology at the Basic Application Level there are courses N155 (Introduction to Clastic Depositional Systems: A Petroleum Perspective) and N156 (Clastic Depositional Systems in a Basinal Framework: Exploration and Reservoir Implications (Pyrenees, Spain). Course N108 Exploration and Geological Model Development in Fluvial Reservoirs (Ebro Basin, Spain) provides and opportunity to consider many of the topics covered in N387 in a field context and apply them to the building of reservoir models.
Click on a name to learn more about the instructor
Philip Hirst
Philip Hirst
Background
Phil recently left BP after 32 years working as a sedimentologist, latterly as the global discipline lead for sedimentology, stratigraphy and reservoir quality. He is now an independent consultant focusing on clastic reservoir challenges and geoscience training. He is also involved in delivering lectures and supporting fieldwork for the Royal Holloway Petroleum Geoscience MSc.
As a sedimentologist in BP, Phil worked across the BP international portfolio from Argentina to Alaska and Australia to Sakhalin and many points between. He has contributed to the reservoir descriptions in access, exploration and development ventures with frontier field work being a important component; this has included field work in Turkey, Yemen, Sakhalin, Algeria, Jordan/Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Although starting as a continental sedimentogist following his PhD studying the structural controls and alluvial architecture of Tertiary sediments in the Ebro Basin, Spain, Phil has evaluated many of the more complex depositional and diagenetic issues in BP such as opaline deposits, tuffaceous sandstones and the role of chlorite in sandstones. However, it is the glacial reservoirs of N. Africa and the Middle East which have been a particular favourite area of study.
Affiliations and Accreditation
Visiting Lecturer, Royal Holloway UoL
PhD University of Cambridge
BA Oxford University
Courses Taught
N387: Exploration and Development in Fluvio-Lacustrine Systems
Dates for this Course
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