Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas | Clastics
Deepwater Depositional Systems (Virtual Outcrops)
Format and Duration:
3 days
5 sessions
This course is designed to address the fundamentals of deepwater systems at an appraisal and development scale within a regional context. Systematic, practical workflows will be used to guide interpretation procedures, mapping of stratigraphic architectures, and prediction of lithologies and reservoir heterogeneities. The workflows can also be used to indicate key points for assurance/audit reviews. The course will consist of short lectures and focussed hands-on experience with seismic, well logs, core/outcrop photos, and 3D outcrop imagery.
Business Impact: Participation in this course will enable a good understanding of deepwater systems within a sequence stratigraphic and tectonic framework.
Schedule
Duration and Training Method
A classroom or virtual classroom course comprising practical exercises interspersed with short lectures.
Course Overview
Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn to:
- Develop a systematic approach to mapping and interpreting deep-water depositional systems at scales from basin to individual reservoirs.
- Evaluate seismic facies to create depositional models and predict reservoir presence, distribution, and quality.
- Assess implications of interpretations on lithology, net-to-gross, and reservoir architecture.
Course Content
1. Deepwater depositional systems
A review of the fundamentals.
- Depositional processes and facies
- Sequence stratigraphic setting
- Submarine fan types and controls
- Slope types and key depositional elements (Channels, MTC’s, Sheets)
- An overview of slope types based on degree of structuration and confinement of depositional systems
- Exercise: Deepwater facies through core and outcrop photos
- Exercise: Regional seismic lines to examine facies types and distribution
2. Application of workflow for channel systems
We will investigate downdip changes in channel style and associated internal stratigraphic and facies architectures. Channels are very variable but we will develop a simple but effective workflow for systematic analysis of channel systems on slopes and basin floors.
- Mapping methodologies and stratigraphic architecture
- Facies prediction and reservoir quality
- Exercise: Outcrop imagery of channels facies
- Exercise: Seismic examples demonstrating interpretation process, architecture, and facies
3. Application of workflow for sheet systems
Sheet sands occur in a wide variety of settings including ponded basins, stepped slopes, and basin floors; We will generate an analytical approach and workflow that is applicable in all of these settings.
- Mapping methodologies and stratigraphic architecture
- Controls of slope topography
- Facies prediction, reservoir architecture and reservoir quality
- Exercise: Outcrop imagery of sheet sands
- Exercise: Seismic lines to demonstrate location, geometry, and facies of sheet sands
4. Application of workflow for Mass Transport Complexes (MTCs)
Mass transport complexes only very rarely form reservoirs with sustainable production rates. However, we can recognise a number of ways in which they can be critical in controlling the distribution and character of reservoirs and act as potential seals.
- Mapping methodologies and stratigraphic architecture
- Impact on reservoir distribution
- Exercise: Outcrop imagery and seismic lines to demonstrate the range of impacts MTCs have on reservoir distribution and facies
5. Stratigraphic traps and review of course
Understanding the mechanism of stratigraphic trapping in deep water is critical to defining prospect risks and lateral changes in facies and reservoir properties associated with trapping geometries.
- Stratigraphic traps in deep water: mechanisms and examples.
- Exercise: Seismic lines demonstrating a range of stratigraphic trapping mechanisms
- Exercise: Seismic example interpretation demonstrating key points of the course
- Course summary: key points
Who Should Attend and Prerequisites
Geoscientists working on deepwater sediments, whether in exploration, appraisal, development, or production.
Instructors
Philip Hirst
Background
Phil left BP after 32 years working as a sedimentologist, latterly as the global discipline lead for sedimentology, stratigraphy, and reservoir quality. He is now an independent consultant focusing on clastic reservoir challenges and geoscience training. He is also involved in delivering lectures and supporting fieldwork for the Royal Holloway Petroleum Geoscience MSc.
Phil completed a PhD on the structural controls and alluvial architecture of Tertiary sediments in the Ebro Basin, Spain. Following this, he began work as a continental sedimentologist. As a sedimentologist in BP, Phil worked across the BP international portfolio from Argentina to Alaska and Australia to Sakhalin and many points between. He has contributed to the reservoir descriptions in access, exploration, and development ventures with frontier field work being an important component; this has included field work in Turkey, Yemen, Sakhalin, Algeria, Jordan/Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
Phil has evaluated many of the more complex depositional and diagenetic issues in BP, such as opaline deposits, tuffaceous sandstones, and the role of chlorite in sandstones. However, it is the glacial reservoirs of North Africa and the Middle East that have been a particular favourite area of study. He co-edited the Geological Society, London 2016 Special Volume No 436 "The Value of Outcrop Studies in Reducing Subsurface Uncertainty".
Affiliations and Accreditation
Visiting Lecturer, Royal Holloway UoL
PhD University of Cambridge
BA Oxford University
Geological Society, London
International Association of Sedimentologists
SEPM, the Society for Sedimentary Geology
Courses Taught
N530: Shore to Shelf Depositional Systems (Virtual Outcrops)
N533: Deepwater Depositional Systems (Virtual Outcrops)
N534: Delta Plain to Base of Slope Reservoir Systems: Outcrop, Seismic, and Production Analogues in a Sequence Stratigraphic
N544: Source to Sink: Provenance, Sediment Routing and Reservoir Characterisation (Southern Pyrenees, Spain)
N387: Exploration and Development in Fluvio-Lacustrine Systems
N713: Reservoir Characterisation for Reservoir Modelling
Mike Mayall
Background
Mike Mayall is a consultant for the oil industry and has also helped develop and deliver industry training courses on ‘Passive margin play concepts’ and ‘Maximising the impact of analogues across the E&P cycle’. He is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London with a research program on sedimentation and tectonics in slope systems. He also teaches on the Petroleum Geology MSc course. Mike works with the Aberdeen University deep-water PRAXS consortia on developing workflows for interpreting deep-water slope systems. He has numerous publications particularly on deep-water sediments.
Mike started at BP as a sedimentologist in the International group in London and worked on numerous projects from all over the world, particularly in Indonesia, Ireland, Norway and Alaska. He later became manager of the International Sedimentology group and subsequently moved to Houston as manager of an Integrated Reservoir Description group. Mike spent four years in Houston where he was involved in many projects including early exploration and appraisal of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. On returning to London Mike worked on major projects in the NW shelf of Australia and on clastic and carbonate reservoirs offshore Vietnam. When new giant discoveries were made in deepwater offshore Angola Mike was part of the small BP team which evaluated the discoveries and took them through the BP sanctioning process. During this time Mike was able to interpret the fabulous seismic data, integrate with small multidiscipline teams and work with, and learn from, the operating teams in other major companies. Through this thrilling and exhilarating period Mike was involved in the appraisal and sanctioning of ten major projects in deepwater reservoirs. Thirty four years after starting with BP, Mike retired to become an independent consultant.
Mike’s key skills are in reducing complex technical issues to practical and pragmatic value focused on important element of a project. He is an energetic and passionate advocate of technical quality, teaching and coaching of both young and more experienced professionals. Mike has taught many field and classroom training courses ranging from basic sedimentology and petroleum geology to conducting advanced workshops. Mike has always had strong links with academia and he is enthusiastic about applying research results to industry subsurface problems. Mike has published papers on clay mineralogy, Devonian limestones, shelf edge deltas, tufted algal mats, Miocene carbonates and earthquake beds. His more recent work has been focussed on deepwater reservoirs and he has published a number of papers with colleagues from industry and academia.
Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD Reading University - The late Triassic (Rhaetian) transgression in SW Britain
MSc Reading University - Sedimentology and it’s Applications
BSc Cardiff University - Geology, Honors
Courses Taught
N533: Deepwater Deposiitional Systems (Virtual Outcrops)
N372: Integrated Subsurface Description in a Working Petroleum System (North Derbyshire, UK)
N477: A Systematic Approach to Defining and Evaluating Stratigraphic and Subtle Combination Traps
N483: Deepwater Stratigraphy and Facies Analysis from Seismic, Well Data and Outcrops
Accreditation and Certification
CEU: 2.1 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 21 Professional Development Hours
Certificate: Certificate Issued Upon Completion
RPS is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. We comply with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognised internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices.
We issue a Certificate of Attendance which verifies the number of training hours attended. Our courses are generally accepted by most professional licensing boards/associations towards continuing education credits. Please check with your licensing board to determine if the courses and certificate of attendance meet their specific criteria.