Learning Paths
Develop key geoscience skills and expertise with customized training solutions.
Explore Our Learning Paths
These programs allow professionals to rapidly develop and broaden their technical and personal competencies through an immersive and structured learning approach. Unique linked modules cover multiple topics using a wide variety of blended training methods.
Gain a thorough understanding of the acquisition, processing and use of geophysical data in exploration and appraisal workflows. This fully integrated Learning Path incorporates classroom courses for theory, hands-on practice with real data, field trips and workshops.
Engage in an overview of the acquisition process from source to seismic traces, including a comprehensive description of geophysical acquisition methods and their applications for exploration. You will study land, marine and ocean bottom/transition zone seismic acquisition methods and equipment, including the latest broadband techniques. Get to know the principles and acquisition of non-seismic data.
Review the concepts of survey evaluation and design, which are critical to achieving the goals of a geophysical survey, with reference to the key parameters for land, marine and ocean bottom seismic (OBS) scenarios. Resolve the necessary compromise between acquisition costs and geophysical objectives. Learn how seismic modeling can illustrate the illumination of the subsurface and influence survey design.
Understand the fundamentals of data processing. You will learn the main components of the seismic wave-field and their contribution to the processed image. Explore the major steps of a typical processing sequence, from reformatting through to final imaging, with an emphasis placed on data analysis and quality control. Discover the differences between the land, marine and OBS processing cases.
Image the subsurface through the theory of depth imaging. Observe how structural complexity influences the seismic wavefield and generates the need for depth migration. You will review the methods used to build and update a velocity model and carry out depth imaging. Explore the various approaches for velocity model inversion and the algorithms used for depth migration.
Build an understanding of the subsurface from well data with an introduction to the petrophysical workflow and rock physics. Learn about the generation of petrophysical logs, how they are used to generate elastic logs using a petro-elastic model, and how to tie a well to the seismic data (i.e., reconcile well data with seismic data and geology with geophysics).
Grasp the structure. The plate tectonic setting and basin evolution define the structural character and the development of depositional systems. Learn to recognize and interpret structural features and to relate them to the tectonic setting. Discover how these contribute to the character of the source, reservoir, seal and trap.
Get hands-on experience with interpretation from seismic boundaries to geological surfaces. Learn to evaluate seismic and well data and to pick and map horizon and fault surfaces that represent the structural features of the subsurface. Discover the use of seismic attributes for interpretation.
Build a sedimentary model of the subsurface. Combine geological surfaces and well data to construct a 3D sedimentary model and use this to predict the distribution of source, reservoir and seal. You will learn the principles and concepts of seismic sequence stratigraphy, how to map seismic facies, and how to identify sequences in seismic data, in various depositional settings.
Discover the fundamentals of rock and fluid properties and observe their seismic responses. Get to know the principles of AVO and use this knowledge to study the reservoir at the well location. Be introduced to the theory and methods of seismic inversion.
Predict rock and fluid properties away from wells. Transform seismic amplitude data into a quantitative rock-property description of a reservoir layer. Gain a detailed understanding of the deterministic seismic inversion workflow and independently perform an inversion to generate attributes such as acoustic impedance or Vp/Vs ratio, which relate to lithology and fluid properties.
Review your data. This module is the culmination of the learning path, integrating all the geological and geophysical studies in an appraisal stage, including analysis of volumetrics and uncertainties, estimation of resources, and an introduction to economics.
Understand the exploration life cycle from data acquisition through to prospect evaluation. Analyze, interpret and integrate your data to understand the petroleum system; assess source, reservoir and seal; and evaluate and risk prospects.
Learn project management theory and apply it to your exploration project. Define your project aims and objectives. Plan your project timeline and schedule. Identify your deliverables. Undertake a detailed data inventory and create a structured and validated database.
Explore the geophysical acquisition process from source to seismic traces. Study acquisition methods and their application for exploration. Learn the fundamentals of data processing and the steps of a typical processing sequence, from reformatting through to final imaging.
Define and integrate the geological setting and the tectonic controls on the evolution and sedimentary deposition of your basin. Explore the data and determine the source rocks, reservoirs, seals and likely trapping mechanisms that make up your petroleum system.
Evaluate the well data. Define the reservoir history and understand the complex interaction between deposition and subsequent diagenesis and what this means for your reservoir properties. Interpret depositional environments and predict reservoir and porosity/permeability distribution.
Interpret your seismic data; integrate the structural history and define and map your geological surfaces. Identify trapping structures and search for DHIs. Convert time to depth and calculate potential volumes.
Calculate the effectiveness of your source rocks, estimate timing of maturation, expulsion and migration. Model the burial history and temperature profile of your basin. Predict amount of hydrocarbon in place.
Assess the hydrocarbon potential of your basin. Integrate and evaluate your petroleum systems data. Define whether all the elements are in-place at the right time for there to be a working petroleum system.
Define the prospects within your basin, create a detailed prospect portfolio. Integrate all the geological and geophysical data. Calculate hydrocarbons in-place, evaluate the geological risks and estimate chance of success.
Calculate the potential economic yield of your prospects. Understand the issues with oil and gas pricing and forecasting. Interpret your results and quantify the risks to value your prospects and understand your development options.
Learn what is unique to the acquisition, processing and use of ocean bottom seismic data. In this Learning Path, you will explore the differences from conventional marine and land acquisition and learn about the benefits of this data through classroom theory, exercises and interaction with real data.
Engage in a comprehensive overview of ocean bottom seismic acquisition methods and equipment. Review spatial sampling and illumination theory and the considerations required to design surveys involving ocean bottom nodes and cables. Learn about multi-component sensors, how they allow recording of both compression and shear wave data, and the benefits this recording brings.
Explore the wide azimuth and dual (up and down) wavefield nature of ocean bottom seismic data. You will learn about common receiver processing techniques for quality control and de-noise; how to separate, calibrate and combine the up and down going wavefields; and how to create a final image for both.
Process the shear wave. Explore the main characteristics of the converted (shear) waves and learn how they respond differently to the physical properties of the subsurface. Study how their processing differs from that of compressional waves, and review the main steps of the shear wave processing workflow through to imaging.
Explore shear waves in depth. Combine PP and PS data within a velocity model-building workflow through joint PP-PS tomography to optimize the up-going PP, down-going PP and PS images. Improve the event registration between these images, and prepare these data for inversion.
Combine PP and PS data to improve fluid and lithology predictions. Review inversion theory in the context of ocean bottom seismic and discover the additional information that the S wave image brings. Learn how to combine PP and PS data and to invert them together to reduce uncertainty in reservoir characterization.
Explore the approaches and rationale behind geological studies of carbonate reservoirs using applied methods and workflows. This fully integrated Learning Path includes modules and workshops designed to develop a better understanding of carbonate geological data and its applications.
Uncover the complex interaction between deposition and diagenesis. Get the keys to understanding carbonate reservoir rock production/deposition and diagenesis, and to integrating data for reservoir characterization for detailed analysis of the controls on reservoir quality focusing on carbonate pore pressure. Learn how these complex interactions can lead to a confident prediction of reservoir presence, quality and distribution for volumetric assessments and to effectively reducing risk.
Get the opportunity to directly observe subsurface reservoirs and see what they are really made of. Describe the sedimentology of carbonate reservoir rocks in cores. Learn the rationale of core sampling and analysis. Describe core deposits at various scales supported by assessment of sedimentological calibration of conventional log response. Identify lithofacies and diagenetic imprints, and interpret depositional environments.
Explore the complex carbonate reservoir porosity and permeability. Gain the necessary knowledge and skills to understand the evolution of porosity through diagenesis, and the effect of fractured networks development on reservoir quality. Recognize and identify fractures from a variety of data types. Become aware of the main inputs and the workflow for creating a fracture model.
Understand the details of deterministic interpretation workflows. Have access to a guide for approaching carbonate and mixed systems, and introducing applied tools to investigate carbonate reservoir volumes and distribution. Have the opportunity to use your own selected formation data. See how to construct the framework of the hydrocarbon pore distribution through lithology, pore morphology and saturation distribution.
Establish a robust genetic correlation to help modeling, engineering and well planning. Gain a greater understanding of the position, geometry and stacking patterns of subsurface depositional sequences using a multidisciplinary sequence stratigraphy procedure. Integrate various disciplines including seismic stratigraphy, chronostratigraphy and biostratigraphy to develop a chronostratigraphic framework for correlating and predicting sedimentary facies.
Explore 3D carbonate reservoir geomodels. Understand the key steps for successful modeling, including petrophysical characterization and data integration at several scales, i.e., from outcrops and seismic interpretation through log images and down to thin sections. Represent this data appropriately in the 3D static and dynamic models to assess the faults and complexity of the fracture system and diagenesis and geomechanical characterization of the reservoirs to effectively model the impact of pressure changes on fracture permeability.
Develop expertise in all key aspects of petrophysics and discover its relationship with other geosciences from lab core analysis to drilling and fracturing. The concepts covered in the Learning Path will be supported by extensive examples and exercises designed to illustrate key principles and benefits of using log data to build a reliable model of your reservoir.
Get to know the principles of the petrophysics and how petrophysics, as a part of geoscience, relates to other disciplines. Discover how the pore systems of the reservoir rocks control porosity and permeability. Learn to explain capillary pressure’s influence on fluid distribution and how to identify water saturation from an Archie model.
Engage in an overview of the drilling and logging (conventional and advanced) process fundamentals to highlight issues that can occur during drilling and logging that can affect the borehole environment and hence compromise the logging tools critical to detailed petrophysical analysis. Learn fundamentals of conventional and special core analysis for petrophysical evaluation.
Understand the reasons for poor quality log data. You will learn the main components of the QC of input logs and core data and how to verify that the data is suitable for the geological context. You will review the methods used to correct logs. Explore when and how editing curves can be done and implement editing on practice.
Develop expertise in clastics petrophysics, review required data sets and how standard workflows look. Learn to compare and choose the most appropriate approach for shale volume estimation and porosity evaluation, calculate water saturation and permeability, and determine reservoirs, fluid types and fluid contacts in the clastic formations.
Explore basic principles of carbonate petrophysics and its main issues caused by complex pore structure. Get to know how to identify the intervals with the secondary porosity and justify the result. Create the workflow and carry out petrophysical evaluation of carbonate formations including shale volume estimation, porosity calculation, determination of cut-offs, reservoir/non-reservoir, fluid types and contacts.
Uncover the principles of shaly sand and thin beds and the difference between their approaches and conventional petrophysical study. Get to know how the Thomas Stieber method works, and determine shale volume in clay-bearing and thin bedded formations properly. You will learn about shale effects on porosity, water saturation and permeability and get hands-on experience with estimation of those parameters in shaly sand and thin beds
Discover the unconventional petrophysics workflow, providing applied tools to investigate tight sands, shale and coal reservoir volumes and distribution. You will be shown how to use petrophysical data to construct the framework of the hydrocarbon pore distribution through a core and geological basis related to the lithology, total organic carbon and saturation distribution.
Combine core, log, seismic and engineering data to give the best description of the reservoir rock properties and performance. Engage in a comprehensive overview of petrophysics in integrated, multidisciplinary reservoir description and reservoir modeling. Learn how to use saturation height functions, apply methods of averaging capillary pressure and perform rock typing.
Recognize the link between seismic and elastic properties and reservoir properties and explore rock physics principles. Examine input well data and determine if the data are suitable for petroelastic modeling. Lean how to evaluate mineral elastic properties of the matrix and clay component and determine them. Estimate rock elastic properties using the most suitable model and analyze modeling results.
Explore geomechanics fundamentals for wellbore applications, the origin of stresses in the subsurface, how these stresses can be calculated from wellbore data, mechanical properties such as rock strength and the origins of pore pressure and how it is measured and estimated. Learn how the mechanical properties and behavior of geological formations influence the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas.
Find out how petrophysics, rock physics and geomechanics as an integrated science create a bridge between reservoir properties, elastic properties and reservoir architecture. Learn about specific issues and objectives of integrated study: fractured reservoirs, anisotropic formations and organic-rich shales and their influence on reservoir properties, elastic properties and wellbore stability.
Review the use of machine learning to tackle petrophysical challenges and its potential applications. Explore the main toolkit including automating log cleanup and preparation on large data sets, depth matching, shear prediction, and facies analysis. Utilize machine learning to tackle your problems and QC the results compared with traditional approaches.
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