Operations Geology Course

Course Level: Skill / Advanced

The operations geology role has evolved over the last few years. It is no longer exclusively a well execution phase role involving data acquisition and distribution. Now it is a wide-ranging, responsible and dynamic role encompassing safety critical functions through the entire life of a well.
This course describes how to perform this critical role and to become an effective practitioner.

DESIGNED FOR YOU, IF YOU ARE…
• Familiar with the basics of wellsite and operations geology and want to become more proficient in operations geology
• An oil & gas company geologist, as it will give you valuable insights into the process of well planning, wellsite data acquisition, the value of the data, its limitations and its use in regional studies and well planning
The course assumes some basic knowledge of rigs, rig equipment, drilling activities and the personnel involved in these activities.

HOW WE BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE
You will be taken along a path from well planning, through execution and on to well review. Each phase will be described and supported using exercises and case studies. The manual provides a good future reference for what has been taught in the course.

THE BENEFITS FROM ATTENDING
By the end of the course you will feel confident in your understanding of:-

• The role of modern operations geologists
• Soft skills – the importance of good communication and awareness
• How to competently plan the geological aspects of a well including well and data acquisition programs
• How to identify, manage and mitigate drilling and subsurface risks
• How to competently perform well surveillance
• How to manage wellsite derived data effectively
• How to predict and evaluate formation pore, fracture and overburden pressures
• The basics of geomechanics and influences of earth stresses
• The basics of geosteering and well trajectory analysis
• How to manage and archive final well documentation

TOPICS
• Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) and wellsite/operations geology
• Overview of the operations geology roles and responsibilities
• Importance of ‘soft skills’
• Well planning from location identification to spud
• Working with shallow hazards
• Drilling and subsurface risk identification, mitigation and management, NPT analysis
• Data acquisition program
• Coring/Sidewall coring programs
• Geological contracts, contractor evaluation and quality control
• Personnel preparedness
• The geological program
• Fundamentals of directional, ERD and geosteering
• Well surveillance and well data management, data quality
• Supporting the wellsite geologists
• Liaising with drillers and subsurface teams
• Managing geological contractors
• Incident management
• Monitoring partner wells
• Geopressure development and influences of earth stresses on drilled wells
• Formation pore, fracture and overburden pressure prediction and evaluation
• Use of trend line analysis and indirect indicators for pore pressure evaluation
• Wireline Logging QC and MDT pressure evaluation
• Logs, reports and final well documentation

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
“Very good manual, very good illustrations, very good instructor” – Geologist at RWE Dea AG
“Tim is very knowledgeable and very good at explaining, the study and training material is very well made and thorough” – Petrophysicist at DONG Energy E&P AS

INSTRUCTOR:-
Tim Herrett holds a B.Sc. (honours) in Geology from Portsmouth University, UK and is a chartered geologist with the Geological Society of London. Starting in the industry as a mudlogger in 1978 he subsequently worked as a pore pressure engineer, wellsite geologist and then operations/project geologist. He is considered a subject matter expert in these roles as well as formation pressure evaluation and HTHP wells having worked as a contractor for extended periods with ExxonMobil and BP as well as many other companies. He designed and developed software for wellsite and office use which are now commercially used in the industry. He was founder and technical director of Cambrian Consultants with responsibilities for training, computing and software products.
Tim is the author and presenter of well-received industry training courses worldwide. All his courses have been peer-reviewed and accredited by the Geological Society of London. Tim currently provides training courses for HOT, lectures part-time on two M.Sc. courses at the universities of Manchester and Derby and performs independent pressure studies for various oil companies. Over the last 6 years he has co-written and is lead facilitator/trainer on BP’s Accelerated Development Programme for Operations Geology.
The courses he presents are based on years of experience and practical knowledge which are used to enhance the learning experience. Tim was chairman of the convening committee for the Operations Geology Conference held in London in November 2016. He created, distributed and presented the results of a survey of operations geologists at this conference.

Duration: 5 days

Cost: 3,300 EUR + VAT