Undergraduate Course: Hydrocarbons and Geophysical Exploration (EASC09049)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Hydrocarbon resources fuel the entire Western-World lifestyle, yet the easily located resources are rapidly depleting, those remaining are in complex and difficult of access settings. Prospecting requires a high degree of understanding of both geological and geophysical aspects of basin exploration, and particularly the interplay between these two disciplines.
This course aims to bridge the gap between geology and geophysics, helping to produce geology graduates with a working knowledge of exploration geophysics, and geophysics
graduates with some geological knowledge as applied to the hydrocarbon industry, where many will be employed. The course covers the application of geophysical techniques to exploration and other subsurface problems;and the basic principles of petroleum geology, petroleum geochemistry, subsurface fluids & wireline logging in 11 lectures and accompanying practicals. |
| Course description |
How are hydrocarbons generated in the subsurface to form the accumulations we exploit to fuel our society? Is conventional oil running out and are there alternative fossil
fuels (and should we be using them?) How do we find oil and gas using exploration geophysical techniques? Will Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) allow continued use of fossil fuels? These questions form the background to the applied problem of finding sufficient resources to fuel the Western World lifestyle, and the long term sustainability of
that society.
Application and interpretation of geophysical exploration techniques; reconnaissance gravity and magnetics, and regional seismic survey; conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources, exploration histories; origin of oil and gas; source rocks; maturation and migration; plays, traps and field volumes; drilling and wireline logs; introduction to North Sea plays.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Basic geological training |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Geophysical exploration and interpretation
- Petroleum geology and geological carbon storage
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Reading List
Recommended Textbooks (*, **, *** indicate relative usefulness)
Consider buying (two copies of each should be in library):
*** Selley, R.C., 1998. Elements of Petroleum Geology,
2nd ed. Academic Press (£40).
** Gluyas JG (2004) Petroleum Geoscience. Blackwell. ISBN 0632 03767 9. Good for flow and integration of geology and geophysics applied to hydrocarbon exploration and production (£38 in 2003).
** Kearey, Brooks and Hill (2003) An Introduction to Geophysical Exploration. Blackwell. ISBN 0 632 04929 4. Good for seismic reflection, magnetics & gravity, wirleline logs (£30 - £40).
Also refer to:
Hunt, J. M. 1996 Petroleum Geochemistry and Geology, 2nd edition, Freeman & Co, New York..Rider M 1996 The geological interpretation of well logs, 2nd ed. Whittles Publishing, Caithness. ISBN 1 870325 36 2 .
Glennie, K.W., 1998 Introduction to the Petroleum
Geology of the North Sea. 4th ed. Blackwell Science
(£47). North, F.K., 1985. Petroleum Geology. Allen and
Unwin (out of print). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Practical classes encourage data analysis and synthesis of a wide range of geoscience topics |
| Keywords | Hydrocarbons; Geophysical exploration |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mark Wilkinson
Tel: (0131 6)50 5943
Email: Mark.Wilkinson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Katie Leith
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: Katie.Leith@ed.ac.uk |
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