Switch menu

Applications of Petroleum Geochemistry in Oil and Gas Exploration

From $5250 per attendee

Email Course Course PDF
Enquire About This Course In House Training

Available Courses

Course Information

  • Course Content
  • Course Description
  • Course Objectives
  • Who Should Attend
  • CPD Unit

Course Content

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

Course Description

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.

Course Objectives

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.

Who Should Attend

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.

CPD Unit

Continuing Professional Development

35 HOURS CPD

Related Courses

Development Geology Training

This course will teach the participants how to develop oil and gas reservoirs and fields in order to recover the maximum volume of oil and gas reserves with a minimum investment of time and capital resources. Understanding of subsurface is the key for a successful development of oil and gas fields, and the development geologist plays an important role in the process. The course is designed to equip the development team with tools and skills to pull together an efficient field development plan (FDP). During the course, the oil and gas project lifecycle, reservoir characterization of carbonate and siliciclastic reservoirs, building subsurface models, volumetric estimation and uncertainty analysis are discussed in preparation of a development plan. Decision making process, economical evaluation and project risks are discussed to provide a full picture of the field development. Importance of modifying development plans as a result of new data is emphasized. In addition, techniques for field redevelopment and rejuvenation of the fields which are in decline are also discussed. When applicable dedicated exercises are included to ensure that participants understand the concepts discussed.

4 locations available

Introduction to Wellsite Training

This course is aimed at Drilling and Completion administrative personnel wishing to deepen their knowledge of basic field equipment, operations and exploration science.  The course includes discussion of basic reservoir geology, drilling components and processes.  Also, the role of the operating and service company personnel in performing these processes.

4 locations available

Wellsite Operations Management Training

This short course is designed for any anyone involved in wellsite operations that would benefit from using modern data acquisition and processing software to improve their company’s performance on the wellsite and/or communication between the wellsite and the office.

4 locations available

Pore Pressure Prediction and Evaluation Training

Starting from the very basics this course describes how we predict, calculate and evaluate overburden, fracture and pore pressures as well as subsurface stresses and how they are related. Theories of how overpressures are generated will be discussed, how these pressures are subsequently modified and how they impact on hydrocarbon generation and migration, well planning and risk identification as well as evaluation techniques.

4 locations available

Petroleum Geology for Non-Geologists Training

This course covers the fundamentals of the Earth sciences and examines their role in controlling the occurrence, distribution and quantification of oil and gas resources. It focuses on geological and geophysical principles and practices, demonstrates their application to hydrocarbon exploration and production and provides an understanding of the factors and processes involved in the formation of oil and gas fields and their worldwide distribution. It also reviews the recent trends in the global petroleum industry and provides an insight into the operations of the international oil companies.

4 locations available

Integrated Geological Well Planning and Operations Training

The aim of this course is to practically demonstrate how wells are planned and executed taking into consideration the inputs of various discipline. This integrated approach will be facilitated across discipline understanding and responsibilities of each team member. At the end of this course, participants will be exposed to hands on steps in planning and executing different well objectives. Delegates will also understand the methodology and techniques used in generating geological and formation pressure prognosis for exploration, appraisal and development wells.

4 locations available

Applied Stratigraphic Concepts for Reservoir Characterization Training

This course will explore the concepts, methods and applications of facies models and stratigraphic principles in reservoir characterization used in the energy industry. Throughout the course, we will emphasize integration across disciplines and scales, focusing on reducing stratigraphic uncertainty in delineating both clastic and carbonate reservoirs. Facies architecture of the various depositional environments will be addressed through numerous examples, case studies and exercises from field analogs, core description, well-log correlation and seismic stratigraphy.

4 locations available

Carbonate Reservoirs Training

This carbonate course addresses the fundamentals of carbonate systems from deposition to early and late diagenesis, and how these impact on reservoir properties. The module starts with the basics of carbonate classification, biological properties of carbonate grains and their relevance for the oil geoscientist, and how sequence stratigraphy in carbonates compares and differs with their siliciclastic counterparts. Furthermore, post-depositional mineralogic and chemical transformations are extremely important in carbonate reservoirs, and the module will thus explore diagenesis and how these transformations can be fingerprinted using a variety of methods.

4 locations available

Exploration Concepts in Carbonate Systems Training

Exploring for carbonate reservoirs is regarded as high risk and the aim of this course is to provide a “what do you really need to know” framework to help understand the “rules” and uncertainties, and to aid in de-risking carbonate plays. There is a heavy emphasis on seismic facies.

4 locations available

Foundations of Special Core Analysis – SCAL Training

This course covers a broad overview current Special Core Analysis techniques, from native state analysis, clean state and restored state analyses, best practices and uncertainty in results. By the end of the course, the participant will be able to oversee the entire process from sample preparation through to data interpretation

4 locations available

Coring and Core Analysis Training

This course covers the introductory stages of current core analysis techniques, from the obtaining of core material through basic laboratory techniques, best practices and uncertainty in results. By the end of the course, the participant will be able to oversee the entire process from core retrieval through the handling process and initial data acquisition.

4 locations available

Petroleum System Modelling and Resource Assessment Training

This course discusses the creation of hydrocarbon and its volume assessment using petroleum system models. Understanding of these models is vital for geoscientists and engineers involved in today’s challenging conventional and unconventional exploration and development projects. The elements of the Petroleum System Charge, Trap, and Reservoir, are described systematically within the framework of play and prospect evaluation. In addition, the processes of generation, migration, accumulation and preservation of petroleum resources are reviewed. Petroleum system modelling simulates the hydrocarbon-generation process to calculate the charge, or the volume of hydrocarbons available for entrapment, as well as the fluid flow, to predict the volumes and locations of accumulations and their properties. Petroleum systems modelling workflow to integrate all the geological elements and processes that are fundamental to the evaluation of petroleum system is showed in detail. Petroleum Systems Models in 1, 2 or 3D and their use and importance is discussed.

3 locations available

Petroleum Geology Training

The course is designed to summarise the fundamentals of Petroleum Geology and demonstrate its application to hydrocarbon exploration and development, and its interaction with the other disciplines. It is aimed to help participants to understand variety of geological data that need to be integrated together for petroleum exploration and reservoir description. Participants will learn about the geological data acquisition, their interpretation, and integration to perform source rock and reservoir characterisation. Petroleum system elements and processes are discussed in play fairway analysis and prospect generation framework. Petroleum System Modelling and Reservoir Modelling methods and workflows are briefly discussed to show advanced techniques in petroleum geology. In addition, uncertainties associated with the geological data and methods are reviewed and their impact on the reserve/resource estimation is discussed.

4 locations available

Applications of Organic Petrography in Petroleum Exploration

This course introduces the petrology and maturity evaluation of source rocks (kerogens) using different optical methods. This course focuses on methods and applications of organic petrology on source rocks and maturity evaluation. It is designed for junior petrologists, geochemists, geologists, exploration geologists and petroleum systems analysts but could also benefit project coordinators and managers. The lectures and exercises are designed to improve your understanding and improve your knowledge on the different techniques used in organic petrography to characterize source rocks and evaluate their maturities.

4 locations available

Applications of Petroleum Geochemistry in Reservoir Management and Production Development Strategies

This course focuses on methods and applications of petroleum reservoir geochemistry in reservoir management and production development. It is designed for geoscientists, including geochemists, production and development geologists, reservoir engineers, but could also benefit exploration geologists and project managers. The course provides guidelines for the collection of suitable samples required to achieve project objectives, how to characterise and validate tested fluid samples, how to assess reservoir continuity, identify reservoir compartments, track oil quality variations, and identify tar mat intervals in reservoir oil columns as well as de-convolute commingled petroleum (production allocation). The course illustrates how reservoir geochemistry can be used to solve exploration, production and development strategy problems while minimizing cost. Reservoir geochemistry course shows how to optimise exploration, production, and development strategies and improve evaluation of hydrocarbon’s reserves, how to evaluate drainage areas and migration paths, understand compositional variations of oil and gas and their distribution in a field, and elucidate the character of oil and gas across a field, how to identify the presence of vertical and lateral barriers to migration (and production), and suggest the presence and character of untested accumulations.

4 locations available

Geochemistry and Basin Modeling

Petroleum Systems Analysis and Modeling is an essential tool in the evaluation of conventional and unconventional exploration and reservoir development projects. The course describes the fundamentals of source rock formation processes, generation, migration, accumulation, and alteration of hydrocarbons in a sedimentary basin; and the geological and thermodynamic processes that govern them. It also includes practical demonstrations of Petroleum Systems Modeling with Kinex/Genesis/Trinity software and basic geochemical interpretation of source rocks and fluids.

4 locations available
View all course categories

Accredited Oil & Gas training courses straight to your inbox

Mobility Oil and Gas will occasionally send you marketing material about training courses.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.