Oil and Gas

Oil and Gas | Stratigraphy

Sequence Stratigraphy Applied to Exploration and Production

Course Code: N410
Instructors:  Vitor Abreu
Course Outline:  Download
Format and Duration:
5 days

Summary

Participants will learn to the use sequence stratigraphy to describe, correlate, and map strata, enhancing geoscience workflows throughout the E&P life cycle. They will enhance value for their employers by identifying high- and low-risk areas, generating robust resource volume assessments, and providing an interpretation of connectivity that allows for more accurate prediction of production. The terminology of surfaces, systems tracts, sequence sets and stratigraphic hierarchy will be described, and then applied to subsurface data exercises in non-marine, shallow marine, and deep marine depositional settings. The emphasis will be on the recognition and mapping of play elements from exploration to production scales. The sequence stratigraphic method can be applied to cores, well logs, seismic, and outcrops in all depositional environments. 

Duration and Training Method

This is a classroom course comprising lectures, discussions, and practical exercises.

Course Overview

Participants will learn to:

  1. Characterize and map hydrocarbon play elements in different settings.
  2. Assess and interpret cores, well-logs, and seismic lines.
  3. Implement sequence stratigraphic methods to define plays and prospects, and to predict play element presence and quality on seismic data.
  4. Describe how the concepts of sequence stratigraphy were developed and apply the basic terminology and definitions of sequence stratigraphy.
  5. Apply the concept of facies, facies stacking, and shoreline trajectory to define parasequences, surfaces, and system tracts.
  6. Evaluate main controls on depositional sequences.
  7. Describe the Accommodation Succession Method and Sequence Stratigraphy Hierarchy.
  8. Apply chronostratigraphic techniques.
  9. Apply the sequence stratigraphic method in non-marine, shallow marine, and deep marine environments.

Day 1    

  • Introduction and Class Objectives
  • Stratigraphy History - How the Main Concepts Were Established
  • Exercise - Price River C - Core Description, and Interpretation
  • Sequence Stratigraphy Concepts
  • Exercise - Lithostratigraphy vs Chronostratigraphy Correlations

Day 2   

  • Sequence Stratigraphy Method Applied to Well-Logs
  • Exercises on Well Log Interpretation, Correlation, and Integration with Production data
  • Exercise - Well-Log Loop-Tie Interpretation and Mapping

Day 3 

  • Sequence Stratigraphy Method Applied to Seismic Data
  • Exercise - Idealized Depositional Sequences
  • Exercise - Fundamentals of Seismic Stratigraphic Interpretation
  • Sequence Sets and Composite Sequences
  • Exercise - Seismic Stratigraphic Mapping at Exploration Scale
  • Exercise - Play Definition at Regional Scale

Day 4       

  • Seismic Facies Mapping
  • Exercise - Woodbine Seismic Facies and EoD Mapping
  • Reservoir Distribution in Deep Water Settings
  • Exercise - East Breaks Seismic Interpretation and Mapping

Day 5             

  • Play Elements Distribution and Stratigraphic Trap Styles
  • Exercise - Identification of Stratigraphic Traps in Deep Water Settings
  • Reservoir Compartments in Deltaic and Deep Water  Reservoirs
  • Exercise - High Resolution Mapping at Production Scale - Deltaic reservoirs
  • Exercise - High Resolution Mapping at Production Scale - Deep Water Reservoirs

This course is intended for geoscientists, reservoir engineers, petrophysicists, and sedimentologists who require a working knowledge of the concepts of sequence stratigraphy.

 

 

Vitor Abreu

Background
Vitor Abreu has 28 years of experience in the oil industry in petroleum exploration, development production and research, with a proven record in evaluating, risking and/or drilling in 22 countries and 31 sedimentary basins in the 6 continents. His areas of expertise include projects in exploration, development and production of deep water reservoirs, regional studies to define the petroleum system elements and key plays in frontier exploration, tectono-stratigraphic evolution of basins in different tectonic settings, maturing opportunities to drillable status, and play to prospect risking assessment. His experience in development and production includes several field studies in different depositional environments, with high-resolution stratigraphic interpretation integrated to engineering data to define reservoir connectivity and main baffles and barriers for effective field development plans. On research, Vitor is considered one of the world leaders on reservoir characterization of deep water systems, proposing new deep water models with strong impact in development and production.

Vitor has been an Adjunct Professor at Rice University since 1999, where he took responsibility for the course on Sequence Stratigraphy after Peter Vail’s retirement. He was the recipient of the Jules Braunstein Memorial Award (best poster presenta-tion, 2002 AAPG Annual Meeting) and was appointed AAPG’s inaugural international Distinguished Instructor in 2006. He is the current President-Elect of SEPM and has been organizing and chairing technical sessions at annual meetings for both AAPG and SEPM. More than 1000 students globally have taken his short course on “Sequence Stratigraphy for Graduate Students” since 2000. This course has been taught at annual meetings, international meetings, universities, and companies around the world. Vitor is the chief editor of SEPM’s “Sequence Stratigraphy of Siliciclastic Systems”, which has sold more than 3000 copies since publication in 2010.

Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD Rice University - Geology & Geophysics
MSc Federal University of Rio Grande - Geology
BA Federal University of Rio Grande - Geology

Courses Taught

N410: Sequence Stratigraphy Applied to Exploration and Production
N442: Reservoir Architecture of Deep Water Systems (California, USA)
N468: Deep Water Reservoirs – Exploration Risking and Development Characterisation (Distance Learning)
N517: Well Log Sequence Stratigraphy for Exploration and Production (Distance Learning)
N518: Seismic Sequence Stratigraphy for Exploration and Production (Distance Learning)
N526: Sequence Stratigraphic Controls on Deep-Water Reservoirs Architecture: Brushy Canyon Formation,Permian Basin (West Texas and New Mexico, USA)

CEU: 3.5 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 35 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.