Module GEOL4101: PETROLEUM GEOSCIENCE IV

Department: Earth Sciences

GEOL4101: PETROLEUM GEOSCIENCE IV

Prerequisites

• A pass at Level 1 GEOL1061 Mathematical Methods in Geosciences or pass at AS Level in Mathematics, grade B or above or the equivalent.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• GEOL3031 Sedimentary and Petroleum Systems, GEOL4111 Environmental Geochemistry IV, GEOL4171 Paleobiology IV, GEOL4121 Tectonics and Deformation Processes IV, GEOL4161 Earth Structure and Dynamics IV, GEOL4131 Petroleum Geophysics IV, GEOL4141 Earth System and Climate IV, GEOL4151 Hydrogeology and Geomechanics IV.

Aims

• To introduce students to the key elements of geoscience and related disciplines which underpin petroleum exploration and production.
• To develop an advanced understanding concerning the importance of fluid flow in petroleum exploration and production.
• To integrate different types of geological, geophysical and petrophysical data in order to reduce exploration risk and enhance petroleum production.

Content

• Basin formation and seismic interpretation: Rifts and Passive Margins; Foreland and Strike-Slip Basins; Tectonic Inversion
• Petroleum Systems: Source Rock Deposition; Source Rock Volumetrics; Petroleum Generation; Migration and Trapping
• Unconventional Hydrocarbons
• Pore Pressure Prediction
• Reservoir Quality
• Petrophysics and Wireline Log Analysis
• Petroleum Exploration to Production - the Value Chain
• How an Oilfield Works
• Fluid Flow and Permeability
• Enhanced Oil Recovery
• Oil Field Size Estimation

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the main ways in which sedimentary basins form and evolve.
• Be able to undertake an analysis of a petroleum system.
• Understand the main controls on fluid flow and how these impact petroleum exploration and production.
• Understand the concept of the value chain in petroleum exploration and production.
• Understand the main controls on the quality of a petroleum reservoir and how these may be assessed with wireline log data.
• Ability to integrate data in order to assess the volumetrics of an oil field.

• Will have acquired intellectual and practical skills necessary to plan, conduct and report on mix of laboratory and field data.
• Will have acquired intellectual and practical skills to be understand the importance of uncertainty in geological and petrophysical data.
• Will have acquired intellectual and practical skills to synthesise information/data from a variety of sources.
• Will have acquired intellectual and practical skills in citation and appropriate use of the literature.

• Prepare, process, interpret and present data using appropriate qualitative and quantitative techniques and packages.
• Ability to integrate different types of data in order to make interpretations of economic importance.
• Understand the importance of data quality and uncertainty.
• Receive and respond to a variety of information sources.
• Consider received information critically, even that received from a perceived reliable source.
• Analyse conventionally accepted information based on independent thought.
• Communicate effectively to a variety of audiences in written and verbal forms.
• Put together a short but effective written review of a Petroleum Geoscience topic of the students choosing.
• Use internet and library resources effectively.
• Acquire skills necessary for self-managed lifelong learning including independent research, critical analysis, and time management.
• Identify and work towards targets for personal and academic development.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures, practicals, and seminars will be used to demonstrate processes and examples which are then to be further examined by extra directed reading.
• Lectures, practicals and seminars will be assessed through summative tests.
• A common theme through the whole course is extra directed reading and important for a level three module.
• Two timetabled meetings during Michaelmas and Epiphany terms (four total) designed specifically to promote advanced critical reasoning, scientific research, and scientific writing skills, and writing skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Discussions and feedback during practical sessions.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University