EASC 420: Petroleum Geology
| Credits: | 3 |
Pre-requisites: | EASC 207, 302, 304 & 309 |
Lecture (hrs/week): | 2 |
| Terms: | Spring, Fall |
Co-requisites: | None |
Lab (hrs/week): | 3 |
| Instructors: | Dashtgard | ||||
| Course Notes: | |||||
Description:
EASC 420 is a practical course that covers all aspects of petroleum geology: from oil generation and migration to exploration and development. The focus will be on a geologist's role in the petroleum industry and on the types of tools and information geologists use to explore for and develop hydrocarbons. Material covered will include: source rock deposition and maturation, migration pathways, hydrocarbon trapping mechanisms, well log interpretation, DST interpretation, secondary and tertiary recovery strategies, and unconventional hydrocarbon resources. Examples will mainly be drawn from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin . Laboratory exercises will demonstrate classroom concepts and will expose students to concepts and tools commonly used by Geologist's in the petroleum industry.
Course Topics- Introduction to petroleum geology and a brief history of the industry. Summary of the fundamental elements of the hydrocarbon system.
- Source rock types, deposition, and hydrocarbon generation.
- Hydrocarbon migration pathways and trapping mechanisms.
- Tools used in petroleum exploration: seismic, core, facies models, and sequence stratigraphy.
- Well-log interpretation. How well logs are used to discover oil and gas and the weaknesses and strength of each tool.
- Drill stem test (DST) interpretation.
- Mapping techniques and contouring.
- Land surveys, land sales, royalties, and basic economics.
- Secondary (waterflood) and tertiary (CO2)enhanced oil recovery strategies.
- Unconventional play types-oil sands, coal-bed methane, shale gas, and thermo-electric.
Gulyas & Swarbrick, Petroleum Geoscience, 2003, Blackwell.