Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas | Clastics
Reservoir Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of Continental Clastic Systems (Wyoming, USA)
Format and Duration:
6 days
Continental clastic reservoir systems (aeolian, alluvial, fluvial, and lacustrine) account for at least 30% of the total known global hydrocarbon resource. Participants will be exposed to critical exploration and exploitation concepts for continental clastic reservoirs through a combination of outcrop exercises, classroom lectures, and core examination, all placed within an applied sequence stratigraphic context.
Feedback
Great course! - Loved the aeolian sections
Schedule
Duration and Training Method
This is a six-day field course in NE Utah and SW Wyoming with classroom intruction (10%), core examination (10%) and outcrop visits (80%). Exercises link outcrops with well log and seismic data. Each day begins with lectures, followed by field visits. Participants will visit the Utah Geological Survey core repository, Dinosaur National Monument and Museum, and the world famous Ulrich’s Fossil Fish Quarry.
Course Overview
Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn to:
- Compare successions in low accommodation settings to those in high accommodation settings.
- Evaluate the economic application of key concepts to predict play fairways, reservoir occurrence and behaviour, within a sequence stratigraphic model.
- Assess trapping styles and exploration strategies within continental clastic systems.
- Predict typical reservoir spatial relationships and lateral continuity for a broad spectrum of continental clastic sedimentary systems.
- Predict anticipated locales of most likely occurrences of major sediment conduits, based upon the sedimentary system and synsedimentary tectonic setting.
- Evaluate strategies for designing a geologically driven plan of depletion within a continental clastic reservoir.
- Compare the stratigraphic architecture and lateral variability of fluvial deposits resulting from variability in climate, tectonics, accommodation space and sediment supply.
- Compare fluvial, alluvial fan, aeolian and lacustrine facies both in core and outcrop.
Course Content
This course provides the tools and approaches needed to identify and differentiate the diverse depositional environments encountered in continental clastic reservoir systems. Emphasis is placed on economic application of key concepts to predict play fairways, reservoir occurrence and probable reservoir behavior, all placed within the predictive power of the sequence stratigraphic model.
Itinerary
Day 0
- Participants arrive in Salt Lake City
Day 1
- Introductory Lecture and Core workshop at the Utah Geological Survey
- Field Stops: Proximal to Basinal Transect in alluvial systems: Cretaceous-Tertiary outcrop
- Mountain-front alluvial fans; syn-tectonic conglomerates
- Braided river systems (high net to gross succession)
- Low net-to gross meandering river systems
Day 2: High accommodation settings in contintental systems
- Major components of Continental Clastic Depositional Systems
- Visit to the Adaville Coal Mine – opportunity to observe and examine spectacular three-dimensional exposures within a high accommodation fluvial/coastal plain setting; lateral variability of channel sands, coal seams, and fine-grained fluvial deposits
- Blazon Gap- excellent exposures of a fine-grained fluvial succession deposited in a high accommodation, tectonic foredeep setting
Day 3: Moderate to low accommodation continental settings
- Incised valley-fill and distributary channels in the Cretaceous Rock Springs Formation – compare and contrast.
- Effects of variations in accommodation space on fluvial architecture within the Cretaceous Ericson Formation
Day 4: Successions in low accommodation continental settings
- Fluvial field exercises in the Lower Cretaceous Dakota and Muddy Formations.
- Group exercise across a lateral transect within the upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation.
- Scenic drive across Uinta Mountain Range and the spectacular Sheep Creek Geologic Loop.
Day 5: Aeolian and arid river successions – Dinosaur National Monument and surrounding area
- Aeolian
- Intercontinental
- Coastal
- Sabkhas
- Stratigraphic character vs. climate and sediment supply
- Mixed Systems
- This day will include a stop at the Dinosaur National Monument Museum and Dinosaur Quarry
Day 6: Lacustrine settings
- Fluvial-deltaic feeder systems
- Conceptual models for lake formation (resulting from variability in climate, tectonic setting, and sediment supply)
- Visit to Ulrich’s Fossil Fish Gallery - participants will have the opportunity to quarry for their own Fossil Fish from the famous Eocene Green River Formation
- Synthesis – Reservoir prediction and exploration techniques
- Prediction of continental clastic reservoir systems
- Trapping styles
- Exploration strategies
- Strategies for designing a geologically driven plan of depletion
- Course summation and discussion
Day 7: Departure
Who Should Attend and Prerequisites
All geologists and geophysicists seeking training in applied clastic sedimentary geoscience as well as engineers who wish to broaden their geological knowledge with actual exposure to the reservoir styles they are analyzing. Valuable for asset team members working on continental clastic reservoirs and provides the opportunity to observe many examples of reservoir depositional features. The course is also suitable for asset managers with repsonsibility for the exploitation of continental clastic reservoirs, in addition to technical support staff developing into the Geology and Geophysics disciplines.
Instructors
Beverley Blakeney DeJarnett
Background
Beverly A. Blakeney DeJarnett has specialized in applied clastic sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy for the past 27 years. Blakeney formed BBD Consulting in 1992 and has provided both regional and field-scale stratigraphic analyses of clastic systems for clients throughout the U. S. Prior to forming BBD Consulting, Blakeney was a geologist with Union Pacific Resources. In addition to her consulting, Blakeney works part-time for the Bureau of Economic Geology, the University of Texas at Austin, as a research associate in BEG’s Houston Research Center. Her focus at the BEG is on the preservation of cores and cuttings, raising awareness of the importance of integrating rocks into geologic models, and outreach.
Blakeney has published numerous articles and has received awards for her presentations at national meetings.
Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD University of Alberta, Edmonton - Geology
MSc Pennsylvania State University - Geology
BSc University of Wyoming - Geology - Honors
Courses Taught
N011: High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy: Reservoir Applications (Utah, USA)
N027: Reservoir Sedimentology & Stratigraphy of Continental Clastic Systems (Wyoming, USA)
Lee Krystinik
Background
Dr. Lee F. Krystinik has specialized in using sedimentology and stratigraphy to find oil and gas in clastic reservoirs since he received his Ph.D. in geology from Princeton University. Krystinik has held positions as Manager of Regional Studies at Reservoirs Inc., Manager of Geology at Union Pacific Resources, and Global Chief Geologist for ConocoPhillips. He Co-founded and successfully sold Fossil Creek Resources, a private-equity-funded startup. Today, he is a founding Partner in Equus Alliance, LLC and Equus Energy Partners, LLC, exploration investment partnerships that aggressively apply technology to mitigate risk in the search for opportunities, predominantly conventional oil targets supported by 3D seismic. Lee's primary areas of interest include syn-tectonic sedimentation and other controls driving basin-fill architecture, integrated play assessment, cost-effective implementation of new concepts and technology, and paleoclimatology.
Dr. Krystinik has been an AAPG Distinguished Lecturer in North America and Latin America and he is a past President of both SEPM and AAPG
Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD Princeton University - Geology
Past President of AAPG and SEPM
Courses Taught
N011: High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy: Reservoir Applications (Utah, USA)
N027: Reservoir Sedimentology & Stratigraphy of Continental Clastic Systems (Wyoming, USA)
N042: Reservoir Sedimentology & Stratigraphy of Coastal and Shelfal Successions: Deltas, Shorelines and Origins of Isolated Sandstones (NW Colorado, USA)
N244: Clastic Reservoir Prediction Using Advanced Sequence Stratigraphic Interpretation (Wyoming, USA)
N407: Predicting Reservoir and Petroleum Systems in Rifts and Extensional Basins (New Mexico & Colorado, USA)
N451: Practical Oil-Finders Guide to Siliciclastic Sequence Stratigraphy (Wyoming)
N463: Geological Drivers for Tight-Oil and Unconventional Plays in the Powder River Basin and Applications to Other Basins (Wyoming, USA)
Accreditation and Certification
CEU: 4.8 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 48 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.