Carbonate Reservoir Characterization

Course Duration: 5 days, including lecture-based modules, hands-on exercises, and workshop activities/discussion.

Who Should Attend: Geologists, Geophysicists, Exploration/Production Managers, and Reservoir Engineers.

You Will Learn: The fundamental tenets and applications of the development and production of hydrocarbon reserves from carbonate reservoirs using an integrative approach, with emphasis on geological, geophysical, and petrophysical datasets.

Course Summary: Carbonate rocks represent a significant class of petroleum reservoirs, yielding approximately 50% of historical production. Carbonate reservoirs can exhibit significant lateral and vertical heterogeneity due to their diverse nature of facies variability and diagenetic evolution of their pore system, and therefore development of carbonate reservoirs requires understanding of their sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic nature, pore development from deposition through diagenesis, including fracturing, and the tools and techniques used to evaluate these processes. This course provides the participant with competent knowledge in these topics, utilizing an integrative approach, enhanced with hands-on exercises and important case examples and histories.

General Topics:

• Introduction to Carbonate Reservoir Characterization—the need for sound geological reservoir models and their critical application toward reservoir characterization and exploitation, with worldwide case examples.
• Sedimentology and Sequence Stratigraphy of Carbonate Systems—mineralogy, petrology, and classification of carbonate rocks; depositional environments of carbonates and associated facies; carbonate sequence stratigraphic systems and analysis; and prediction of stratigraphic/facies-related heterogeneity.
• Diagenesis and Pore Evolution in Carbonate Rocks—primary pore formation and development; diagenetic evolution of pore network, including fracturing; porosity and permeability issues; and prediction of diagenetic-related heterogeneity.
• Integrated Reservoir Characterization and Quality Prediction—emphasis on the tools and techniques of carbonate reservoir mapping, quality prediction, and characterization, including integration of well log, seismic, core, and outcrop analyses; pros and cons of specific datasets, and how data integration can often resolve key issues; and upscaling and uncertainty concerns.
• Reservoir Simulation and Modeling—use of simulation and modeling studies, including process-oriented, empirical, and statistical/analytical models, for improved reservoir characterization and management.
• Enhanced/Improved Recovery (EOR/IOR) Techniques—a treatment of various EOR/IOR techniques and the application of geology toward the decision-making process, including fracture stimulation applications and techniques, and flood and other operations.
• Case Histories—detailed treatment of worldwide case histories toward sound carbonate reservoir prediction, characterization, navigation, and management. Case histories are interspersed throughout the course to emphasize key concepts.
• Hands-On Exercises—multiple exercises are threaded throughout course, emphasizing fundamental tenets of carbonate reservoir characterization and the tools of analysis, including well log interpretation, core and thin section analysis, seismic interpretation and attribute analysis, and other techniques.