Oil and Gas

Participants will learn to:

1. Identify the key facies in outcrop, core and well logs.
2. Understand their geometries away from wells.
3. Consider correlation at the inter-well scale.
4. Understand petrophyscial trends within the facies.
5. Learn how to incorporate the architectural elements into static and dynamic geomodels, including the application of multiscale modelling and REV if appropriate.
6. Consider uncertainty at all scales within the reservoir description and geomodelling workflows.  
7. Understand the impact of structure on aeolian and sandy fluvial reservoir systems.
8. Demonstrate the use of outcrop analogue data for building better reservoir models.

The course content is subdivided into three basic components: i) fluvial sediments, ii) aeolian sediments, and iii) fault impact, although there will be a degree of overlap between the sedimentology and the structure.

A typical day will start with a short classroom presentation to introduce the key aspects to be covered, followed by a field season to allow hands-on interaction with the rocks, making observations and interpretations at core to near-well-bore scales. This will be followed by a return to the classroom for the relevant Virtual Outcrops (2-3 hours). The virtual outcrops from Utah are typically much larger, allowing inspection of the facies architectures and geometries at the inter-well and gas field scale.

Day 0: Arrival

• Arrival in Aberdeen and transfer to Elgin (2 hours)

Day 1: Styles of aeolian dune system and implications for reservoir geometry and barriers

• Classroom introduction to the course and HSSE briefing
• Classroom introduction to aeolian systems
• Field: Outcrops between Hopeman and Covesea
• Looking at small-scale climbing dunes and comparing to larger slipface less bedforms
• Soft sediment deformation and the Weissliegend
• Focus on identification of facies and the role of bedform architecture on production 
• Classroom: Virtual Outcrops from Utah
• Looking at wet vs dry systems, comparing the Entrada Sst with the Page Sandstone
• Reservoir modelling at the dune bedform scale, heterogeneities at the inter-well scale
• REV and upscaling 

Day 2: Arid Fluvial Systems

• Classroom introduction to the fluvial systems in arid settings  
• Field: Outcrops at Burghead
• Contrast facies to aeolian from previous day
• Bedforms, geometries and architecture  - sheetfloods vs more channelized deposits
• Hetrogeneties to flow in arid fluvial systems
• Classroom: Virtual Outcrops from Utah
• Looking at a variety of arid fluvial systems
• The interaction between aeolian and fluvial deposits in the Cutler

Day 3: Structural interactions with fluvial/aeolian deposits

• Classroom introduction to styles of faulting and impact on fluid flow in the subsurface
• Field: Outcrops at Clashaic Cove
• Field: Outcrops at Cummingston
• Classroom: Virtual Outcrops from Utah
• Looking at faults, including the Moab Fault and Bartlett Fault
• Collapse structures on the Salt Valley Anticline
• Transfer to Aberdeen for departure

This multi-disciplinary course is designed for geoscientists, petrophysicists, and reservoir engineers involved in developing descriptions and models of Rotliegend reservoirs.