Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas | Basin Analysis
Next Event
Location: Virtual
Date:
20th - 23rd Sep 2027
Start Time:
14:00 BST
Event Code: N771a27V
Fee From: USD $2,380
(exc. Tax)
This course teaches participants how to utilize geochemistry and petroleum systems modelling in the evaluation of conventional and unconventional resource plays. It covers the range of depositional settings for organic-rich source rocks, as well as generation, expulsion, migration, and accumulation processes. Integrating the geological framework with petroleum systems modelling is key to assessing petroleum composition and reservoir pressure and, ultimately, identifying sweet spots in shale play fairways. The course also addresses tight oil and gas petroleum systems, which contain all the elements of a conventional petroleum system and therefore follow the same physical principles.
Business Impact: Successful exploration depends on the accurate evaluation of sweet spots, which represent the commercial targets. This course will equip geoscientists with the capabilities needed to identify sweet spots in unconventional resource play fairways.
Schedule
Event Code: N771a27V
Sessions: 4 sessions
Instructors: Leon Dzou
Dates:
20th - 23rd Sep 2027
Start Time:
14:00 BST
Location: Virtual
Fee From
USD $2,380
(exc. Tax)
Good Availability
Please login to book.
Duration and Training Method
This course can be delivered as either four online webinar sessions (four half-day sessions) or a two-day classroom, hands-on course. It includes a range of informative exercises designed to reinforce the key principles, supported by a series of short lectures. A rich set of global examples and case histories is included throughout.
Course Overview
Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn to:
- Employ bulk properties, gas chromatographic fingerprints, biological markers (GCMS), and carbon isotope data to correlate oil to oil and oil to source rock, and to infer the depositional environment of source rocks.
- Interpret source-rock depositional systems.
- Analyze source rocks and their petroleum-generating potential using total organic carbon, vitrinite reflectance, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, pyrolysis gas chromatography, and kinetics data.
- Determine the limitations and uncertainties inherent in thermal models.
- Use petroleum systems modelling as a holistic approach to evaluate tight oil and gas plays.
- Define shale oil and gas plays, including the key productivity drivers and methods for identifying sweet spots.
- Appreciate a wide range of case histories from basins worldwide and apply relevant lessons to their own prospects to help reduce risk.
Course Content
The key elements to be discussed will be:
- Organofacies, source rock properties, source potential and distribution
- Thermal modeling principles and practices
- Petroleum generation – maturation processes
- Pressure, fluid flow and migration processes
- Oil and gas geochemistry
- Correlation of oils
- Tight oil and gas petroleum systems
- Shale oil and gas sweet spot evaluation
The following shows the anticipated schedule of content, which may vary according to the pace of your course and focus of the participants, as well as if any new case studies arise.
Topic 1 - Practical Petroleum Geochemistry
- Course overview
- Introduction to gas geochemistry
- Introduction to petroleum geochemistry
- Exercise: Williston basin
- Molecular geochemistry
- Case history North Slope, Alaska
- Oil–oil and oil–source rock correlation
- Case history SCOOP and STACK, Oklahoma
- Exercise: Geochemistry of crude oils from Eastern Indonesia
Topic 2 - Source Rock Evaluation & Thermal Modeling & Petroleum Generation – Maturation Processes
- Source rock properties and potential evaluation (total organic carbon, vitrinite reflectance, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, pyrolysis gas chromatography, and kinetics)
- Thermal modeling principles & practices
- Input data, workflows, and common software tools
- 1D, 2D and 3D thermal modeling
- Petroleum generation - maturation processes and kinetics
- Case history Western Canada basin
- Exercise: Thermal stress maps
- Case history Eagle Ford basin modeling
Topic 3 - Pressure, Fluid Flow and Migration Processes
- Pressure and fluid flow fundamentals
- Exercise: Water flow – can you predict it on paper?
- Petroleum expulsion – primary migration processes
- An overview of petroleum secondary migration guiding principles
- Exercise LW3-1 gas field
- Formation, preservation, and release of overpressure in shale gas reservoirs
- Case history Anadarko Woodford, Arkoma Woodford, Eagle Ford, Sichuan Basin Wufeng–Longmaxi shales to illustrate the importance of post-burial uplift in shale plays
Topic 4 - Unconventional Petroleum Systems
- Unconventional plays
- Finding sweet spots in a shale play fairway
- Basin-centered tight gas accumulations
- Bakken tight oil petroleum system
- Mississippian Barnett shale oil/gas petroleum system
- Early Permian Wolfcamp tight oil petroleum system
- Late Jurassic Haysville shale gas petroleum system
Concluding remarks and summary of best practice
Who Should Attend and Prerequisites
This course is relevant to exploration and development/production geoscientists of any experience level who come into contact with geochemistry or basin modelling in their work. Reservoir engineers seeking to broaden their understanding of the origin and properties of fluids could also benefit from attending this course.
Instructors
Leon Dzou
Background
Dr Leon Dzou worked as a Consultant for ADNOC in Abu Dhabi, UAE until 2021 and is currently an Associate with Exploration Excellence LTD as well as a part-time Tutor for RPS Energy. He has more than 30 years’ experience with a variety of companies across the spectrum of petroleum systems, with a strong background in geochemistry, source rock depositional environments, petroleum generation and migration, as well as pressure and seal analysis. He has experience of both conventional and unconventional plays across the value chain of Exploration, Development and Production. As well as teaching courses on the Nautilus programme, Leon has been deeply involved in delivering training courses as part of a cohesive exploration capability development programme for a national oil company.
Dr Dzou completed a PhD at the University of Texas at Dallas, with the title ‘Quantitative study of biomarkers in coals and vitrinite concentrates of different maturity and a geochemical study of oils and condensates from K Field, offshore Taiwan’. He is the recipient of the 2015 ARCO Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, recognizing significant contributions to the understanding of Alaskan North Slope petroleum systems (ARCO-wide award).
Most recently, Dr Dzou was a Senior Advisor in Petroleum Systems Analysis with BP and a member of the global Exploration Assurance team. He was passionate about developing discipline health at BP and dedicated a lot of energy to training, advising, and mentoring less experienced petroleum systems specialists and practitioners. He derived great satisfaction from coaching, teaching and generally stimulating staff in the Petroleum Systems arena at BP.
Research interests include generation, expulsion and migration processes, especially secondary migration, which appears to be the key technical issue, mostly because the movement of petroleum in the subsurface is so poorly understood. Leon believes that young geoscientists should be taught to become skeptics who search for data that does not fit existing paradigms; they must go back to basics and challenge conventional wisdom.
Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD University of Texas at Dallas - Organic Geochemistry
MSc University of Texas at Dallas - Organic Geochemistry
BSc National Taiwan University - Geology
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, USA - Member
Recipient of the 2015 ARCO Outstanding Technical Achievement Award
Courses Taught
N425: Play Analysis for Targeted Prospect Identification
N491: Play and Prospect Assessment
N598: Geochemistry, Petroleum Systems Modelling, and Charge Evaluation
N522: Integrated Charge Access Evaluation: The Key to Successful Exploration
N771: Geochemistry and Petroleum System Modeling
Accreditation and Certification
CEU: 1.4 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 14 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.