Oil and Gas

Oil and Gas | Oil and Gas Fundamentals

Fundamentals of the Oil and Gas Industry

Course Code: N831
Instructors:  Nigel Banks
Course Outline:  Download
Format and Duration:
3 days

Summary

The course provides an overview of the global oil and gas industry including the fundamentals of petroleum geology, how oil and gas are formed, how we explore for, and produce, oil and gas and how we transport it, refine it and sell the products. On completion of this course, participants will have a working understanding of the basic geological, engineering and economic principles of the petroleum industry.

Duration and Training Method

A three-day classroom course, comprising a mixture of lectures and practical exercises.

Course Overview

Participants will learn to:

  1. Locate the main oil and gas producing and consuming areas of the world and describe the factors that have controlled oil prices in the past and may influence them in the future.
  2. Explain the basics of geology, the ways in which oil and gas are generated and trapped in the subsurface, and the geoscientists’ use of contour maps.
  3. Describe the main methods used in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons including seismic, drilling, well testing and the processing of produced fluids.
  4. Identify the different aspects of the oil and gas industry, the range of skills and technology employed, and the roles of oil companies and contractors.
  5. Review how volumes of oil and gas in place are estimated and describe the factors influencing how much of this can be commercially recovered.
  6. Discuss the differences between onshore and offshore exploration and production and the particular challenges of deepwater operations.
  7. Review the factors that control the economics of oil and gas production and individual companies’ decision-making.
  8. Recognise the different challenges involved in the transportation of oil and gas.
  9. Understand the principles of oil refining and the petrochemical industry, and the range of products they create.
  10. Explain the factors influencing the price of oil and gas products.
  11. Identify the environmental, health and safety challenges that the industry faces.

The course begins by introducing some basic facts and figures of the global petroleum industry. Then, after introducing some basic geological concepts, ideas are presented of how oil and gas are formed and trapped in the subsurface (petroleum systems). The course then leads participants through the methodology employed by oil and gas companies in exploration, production, transportation, refining and marketing of petroleum. It provides an understanding of oil companies’ operations, the roles of various staff, the costs of operations both onshore and offshore, and the commercial factors that govern companies’ decision-making. Lectures are interspersed with exercises designed to make a variety of technical skills understandable to non-specialists. Emphasis is put on learning practical skills such as the contouring of maps, and on clarifying much of the jargon and confusing nomenclature that exists within the industry.

Day 1

Introduction

  • World Petroleum Industry

Geological fundamentals

  • Structure of the Earth
  • Plate tectonics
  • Types of rocks
  • Sedimentary basins
  • Geological Time

How are oil and gas fields formed?

  • The Petroleum System
  • Source rocks
  • Petroleum generation
  • Petroleum migration
  • Petroleum traps
  • Reservoirs

Day 2

How do we explore for oil and gas?

  • Geological mapping and surface geochemical sampling
  • Geophysical methods
  • Gravity, magnetics, resistivity
  • Seismic - 2D and 3D
  • Seismic Interpretation
  • Drilling an exploration well
  • Well Logging: What do the logs tell us?
  • Flow Testing (MDT/DST): what does it tell us?
  • Fluid samples for PVT analysis.  What do they tell us?
  • How successful are we?

How we know how much is there?

  • Measurement units and nomenclature
  • Appraising a discovery
  • Estimating volumes of oil and gas in place
  • Handling uncertainty

Day 3

How do we produce it?

  • Concept of reserves - How much can we recover?
  • Primary, secondary and tertiary recovery
  • Field Development concepts
  • What is the best development plan?
  • Development Wells and Production Facilities
  • Reservoir monitoring and management

How do we transport it?

  • Transporting oil
  • Transporting gas

Refining and marketing

  • Refining
  • The products
  • Marketing and sales

Exercises
Identifying rocks, working with maps, seismic interpretation, log correlation, appraising a discovery, estimating volumes of oil and gas.

The course is aimed at non-technical staff of any background including those in finance, administration, HR, I.T, data management, and also support staff in technical functions. It is also useful for entry-level graduate technical staff needing a concise overview of the industry.

Nigel Banks

Background
Nigel formed Banks Geoscience Limited in 1992 to provide geological and geophysical consultancy services to oil companies, governments, banks and universities.  He has over 30 years experience in oil and gas exploration and production as a geoscientist.

Nigel has worked for Shell, Occidental and, more recently, Cairn Energy.  As a consultant he has carried out numerous international projects involving equity determinations, reserves estimation and corporate valuations.  He has also assisted several governments and national oil companies in evaluating their country’s petroleum potential and in attracting foreign investment for petroleum exploration. 

Nigel was formerly a Visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University and currently is a Visiting Lecturer on the M.Sc. courses in Petroleum Geoscience and Petroleum Geophysics at Imperial College, London.  He also gives a variety of technical training courses to international oil companies and investors.

Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD Oxford University - Geology

Courses Taught 
N097: Introduction of the Oil and Gas Industry
N260: Practical Subsurface Mapping
N829: Report Writing and Presentation Skills for Geoscientists and Engineers
N831: Fundamentals of the Oil and Gas Industry
R001: Oil and Gas Essentials


 

CEU: 2.4 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 24 Professional Development Hours
Certificate: Certificate Issued Upon Completion
RPS is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. We comply with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognised internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices.
We issue a Certificate of Attendance which verifies the number of training hours attended. Our courses are generally accepted by most professional licensing boards/associations towards continuing education credits. Please check with your licensing board to determine if the courses and certificate of attendance meet their specific criteria.