Oil and Gas

Oil and Gas | Unconventional Resources

Unconventional Resource Engineering for Geoscientists

Course Code: N274
Instructors:  Yucel Akkutlu
Course Outline:  Download
Format and Duration:
3 days

Summary

This course introduces geoscientists to the terminology and practices of the drilling, completion, and reservoir engineers with whom they interact on multi-disciplinary unconventional resource evaluation teams. It also discusses future directions in unconventional resource engineering.  This course will help you improve business performance by developing a solid understanding of unconventional resource engineering concepts and terminology, as well as improving your technical communication with the engineers in your team.

Feedback

A very interesting & relevant course! I really appreciated that it was taught at a level that non-experts in the industry could really grasp & apply. I would suggest it as a 3-day course vs 2!

Duration and Training Method

This is a three-day classroom course comprising lectures and exercises.

Course Overview

Participants will learn to:

  1. Illustrate the drilling, completion, and stimulation technologies applied to unconventional projects.
  2. Explain the sampling procedures adopted by reservoir engineers.
  3. Demonstrate how resource estimates, production forecasts, and economic evaluations are generated for these plays.
  4. Analyze the water demand and disposal issues associated with stimulation of unconventional reservoirs.
  5. Examine the impact of unconventional projects on air quality.
  6. Illustrate future trends in development of unconventional plays.
  7. Understand and predict the hydrocarbon phase change in reservoirs.
  • Introduction
    • Overview of unconventional resources
    • Geological and geochemical considerations for resource shales
  • Drilling, completion, and stimulation technologies
    • Horizontal well drilling
    • Multi-stage hydraulic fracturing
    • Micro-seismic monitorin
  • Sampling and laboratory measurements for shale
    • Sampling techniques and field measurements of fluid content
    • Porosity and pore size measurements
    • Permeability measurements
    • Storage and flow characteristics of resource shales
    • Pore size considerations for hydrocarbon storage and transport
    • Multi-phase flow in tight formations
  • Reservoir engineering
    • The five reservoir fluids
    • Pressure transient regimes in hydraulically-fractured horizontal wells
    • Hydrocarbon recovery from kerogen pores
    • Volumetric calculations for natural gas reservoiurs
    • Material balance for natural gas reservoirs
    • Fracture Net Present Value (NPV) and Discounted Return on Investment (DROI) calculations
    • Decline curve analysis using Arp's equation
    • Estimated ultimate recovery of production well
  • Future directions in unconventional resource engineering
    • New trends in drilling and completion technologies
    • Enhanced hydrocarbon recovery technologies for shale
    • Environment

The course is intended for non-engineering technical professionals and managers assigned to unconventional resource projects who want to understand the role of the engineer in these projects.

Yucel Akkutlu

Background
Dr. Yucel Akkutlu is Rob L. Adams ’40 Professor in Petroleum Engineering and William Keeler faculty fellow at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. He previously worked as a faculty for the University of Oklahoma, USA, and University of Alberta, Canada. He is a chemical engineer and received Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in petroleum reservoir engineering, petrophysics, and physical sciences.

His research focuses on characterization and exploitation of unconventional oil and gas resources, enhanced oil recovery, and oilfield chemistry. He has written more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, six book chapters, and has four patents. He is the author of “Nano-confined Petroleum Recovery from Source Rocks,” which will be published in 2020. He has received over $3 million in external research funding during the last 10 years from sources such as the US Department of Energy (DOE), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the unconventional oil and gas industry.

He is a distinguished member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). He was the executive editor of the SPE Journal 2013-2016. He was 2014-15 SPE distinguished lecturer. He received 2020 SPE International Lester C. Uren award, 2017 TAMU-Association of Former Students teaching award, 2016 TAMU-Association of Former Students distinguished achievement award, and 2015 AIME Rossiter W. Raymond memorial award. Akkutlu served in various SPE, EAGE, and NSERC committees.

Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD University of Southern California - Petroleum Engineering
MSc University of Southern California - Petroleum Engineering
BSc Hacettepe University - Chemical Engineering

Courses Taught
N274: Unconventional Resource Engineering for Geoscientists
N279: Geological Characterization and Engineering of Unconventional Oil and Gas Shales: Classroom and Field Seminar (Oklahoma, USA)
N484: Resource Management for Unconventional Oil and Gas Plays
N956: Enhanced Oil Recovery using CO2: Techniques, Practices and Simulation
N973: Reservoir Engineering for Unconventional Gas and Tight Oil Reservoirs
N989: Rate and Pressure Transient Analysis for Unconventional Reservoirs
RM01: Fundamentals of Unconventional Reservoir Engineering for Earth Scientists

CEU: 2.1 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 21 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.