Course Content

• Introduction
  • Course content and objectives
  • Why these ‘engineering’ topics are highly relevant to geoscientists
• Subsurface Pressures
  • Importance of understanding pressures
  • Fundamentals of normally pressured, overpressured, and underpressured formations
  • Overpressures and how to detect them
  • Overpressures due to hydrocarbons
• Drilling Technology
  • Introduction to recent advances
  • Development of a drilling program
  • Casing design
  • New technology (horizontal drilling, multilaterals)
  • Logging Whilst Drilling (LWD)
  • Drilling performance (cost-effectiveness)
• Reservoir Rock Properties
  • Porosity
  • Permeability (absolute, Kv, Kh, problems of averaging)
  • Capillary pressure
  • Effective and relative permeability
  • Mobility ratio and the concept of immiscible displacement
• Well Testing
  • RFT & MDT – Mechanics, theory, application, and interpretation in exploration and development
  • RFT & MDT – Continued
  • DST – Mechanics, theory, application, and interpretation (introduction)
  • DST – Productivity testing, introduction to transient flow testing, flow regime concept
  • Quantitative radial flow analysis for reservoir properties and skin
  • Quantitative radial flow analysis – Continued
  • Recognising reservoir boundaries and depletion
  • Well testing quiz
• Reservoir Fluid Properties
  • Sampling of reservoir fluids
  • Petroleum types and properties
  • Fluid behaviour in the reservoir (bubble point, dew point, etc.) and its implications for field development