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Applications of Petroleum Geochemistry in Oil and Gas Exploration

From $5250 per attendee

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Course Information

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:
• Understand the fundamentals of source rock, oil, and gas geochemical analysis, including their interpretive pitfalls.
• Understand various geochemical techniques, e.g., sampling, preparation, TOC determination, Rock-Eval pyrolysis and microscopy, including interpretive pitfalls.
• Learn how to interpret source rock data, including source rock richness, potential, and type and how to distinguish between different types of source rocks, their kinetics and quality (e.g., oil- versus gas- prone source rocks).
• Learn what type and quality of hydrocarbons can be predicted from each type of source rock.
• Learn the different maturity tools used in geochemistry and how to interpret and use maturity data to evaluate thermal history of source rocks and calibrate thermal history of sedimentary basins.
• Learn about the different geochemical techniques used for the fluids (oil and gas samples), including interpretive pitfalls.
• Learn how to perform oil-oil and oil-source rock correlations.
• Learn how to assess post-migration fluid alterations (e.g., evaporative fractionation, biodegradation, geo-chromatography, and other reservoir alteration processes).
• Learn how to evaluate gas samples.
• Demonstrate how geochemistry can be used to assist explorationists de-risking block and basin petroleum evaluation.

Day 1
Introduction to Petroleum Geochemistry and Geochemical Evaluation of Source Rocks
• Introduction
• Basic concepts, source rock/kerogen formation, depositional settings
• Samples, preparation, and analysis
• Source rock interpretation and pitfalls
• Source rock kinetics – Conversion of kerogen to hydrocarbons (kerogen type versus nature, quality, and volumes of generated hydrocarbons)
• Data interpretation
• Exercises

Day 2
Maturity evaluation
• Basic definitions and concepts
• Methods of maturity measurements
• Advantages and problems of each method and their interpretive pitfalls
• Data interpretation
• Exercises

Day 3
Geochemical Evaluation of Hydrocarbons (fluids and organic matter)
• Samples
• Sample preparation – Solvent extraction and fractionation
• Gas Chromatography – n-alkanes and isoprenoids for organic matter, oil and condensate
• Interpretive pitfalls
• Exercises

Day 4
Geochemical Evaluation of Hydrocarbons (fluids and organic matter)
• Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) – biomarkers
• Isotopes
• Interpretive pitfalls
• Exercises
Geochemical Evaluation of Hydrocarbon and Non-Hydrocarbon Gases
• Samples/sampling
• Gas Chromatography
• Gas Chromatography-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC-IR-MS): isotopes analysis and interpretation
• Gas evaluation – Hydrocarbon gas: compositional analysis and interpretation

Day 5
Geochemical Evaluation of Hydrocarbon and Non-Hydrocarbon Gases
• Gas evaluation – non-Hydrocarbon gases: compositional analysis and interpretation
• Analytical and interpretational pitfalls
• Data interpretation
• Exercises
Physical & Chemical properties of crude oils
• Physical properties (API gravity, viscosity, Pour Point)
• Chemical properties (Sulphur content, asphaltenes content, metals content, wax content, Total acid number)
• Data interpretation

Applications of Petroleum Geochemistry in Oil and Gas Exploration Course

This course focuses on methods and applications of petroleum geochemistry for source rock, maturity, and fluids (oil and gas) evaluation. It is designed for all geoscientists, including geochemists, petroleum systems analysts, and exploration geologists, but could also benefit project managers to apply this branch of petroleum geology to prospect appraisal, exploration, and field development.
The course provides guidelines for source rock evaluation to determine the type of organofacies and deposition environment, maturity, and predict the variety and quality of hydrocarbons that have been generated from each type of source rock. The course also provides guidelines on how to characterise subsurface fluids, including oil condensate and gas; refine petroleum systems, and predict fluids quality.
The lectures and exercises are designed to improve your understanding to characterise source rocks and fluids, using bulk, molecular and isotopic tools that facilitate that understanding. Some examples of topics include source rock screening analysis, optical (maturity) analysis, gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), biomarkers, isotopes and chemometrics to identify oil families, perform oil-oil and oil-source rock correlations.
The exercises illustrate how geochemistry can be used to assist explorationists de-risking block and basin petroleum evaluation.

This course is intended to develop skills to conduct projects on the petroleum geochemistry evaluation of source rocks and subsurface fluids (crude oils, condensate, and gas) and seeps. The trainees will learn how to select rock and fluid samples for geochemical projects, the techniques to be used for analysis as well as how characterize source rocks and fluids, establish oil-oil and oil source rock, and gas-gas correlations, using a variety of geochemical parameters.

The course is designed for geochemists, geologists, exploration geologists and petroleum systems analysts but could also benefit engineers, project coordinators and managers.
Participants should have knowledge of basic chemistry and geology. Experience in exploration will also be helpful.

Continuing Professional Development

35 HOURS CPD