Introduction to Petroleum Exploration

The course provides an overview of the business of petroleum exploration from acreage selection through to final discovery of an oil or gas field. It highlights the multi-disciplinary nature of the business, examines the tools and methods used in exploration and provides an understanding of the technical terminology.

CONTENTS

Acreage Acquisition and Legal Aspects

• How exploration groups are put together (Joint Ventures, Floats, Operators and Non-Operators) 
• How companies acquire exploration acreage (Permits, Gazettal, Open Acreage, Bidding, Work Programs, Farmins, Joint Ventures)
• Legal Obligations and Moral Responsibilities (Legislation, Environmental Controls)

Petroleum Geology

• Why Companies explore where they do (Rock Types and Properties, Geological Models and Prospectus)
• Where Oil and Gas come from (Source, Seal, Reservoir, Generation, Migration and Trapping Mechanisms)
• How Oil and Gas fields are found (Basin Analysis, Regional Studies, Play Concepts and Prospect Generation)

Petroleum Geophysics

• How explorers determine what it looks like below the surface of the earth (Remote Sensing)
• How seismic works (Acquisition, Processing, 2D and 3D Surveys)
• How seismic tells us (Interpretation, Mapping and Hydrocarbon Indicators)

Exploration Drilling

• Types of Drilling Rigs (Land Rigs, Jackups, Drill Ships and Semi-Submersibles)
• How rotary wells are drilled (Hoisting, Rotating, Circulation and Control)
• Information obtained from wells (Cuttings, Cores, Logs and Well Seismic)
• What happens after the well is drilled (Abandon, Suspend and Test)

FOR WHOM:

New Oil and Gas Staff, Supervisors, Admin Personnel, Marketers and other who want to update their knowledge.

TRAINING METHODOLOGY

The training methodology combines lectures, discussions, group exercises and illustrations. Participants will gain both theoretical and practical knowledge of the topics. The emphasis is on the practical application of the topics and as a result participant will go back to the workplace with both the ability and the confidence to apply the techniques learned to their duties.