Undergraduate Course: Hydrocarbons and Geophysical Exploration (EASC10093)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (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.
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| Course description |
The course covers topical issues including: 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.
Subjects include: Conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources; origin of oil and gas; petroleum geochemistry; seismic attribute analysis; source rocks; maturation and migration; plays, traps and field volumes; drilling and wireline logs; introduction to North Sea geology.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students should have a basic understanding of Geology, as provided by a course such as Introduction to the Geological Record (EASC08017). |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Basic geological training. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
68 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written Exam: 50%, Course Work: 50 %, Practical Exam: 0%.
There are 2 assessed practicals, both of 2 hours duration with a hand-in 30 minutes after the class ends. Paper hand-in only.
The exam is essay-style questions (i.e. short questions [which may have sub-questions] requiring a relatively long answer), a choice of 2 from 5 questions.
Both assessed practicals are handed in on the day of the class, deadline is 30 minutes after the class ends. |
| Feedback |
Staff and demonstrators are available throughout the practical classes. They will provide feedback both on the current practical, and on any previous practical work. The solutions to all the practicals are placed on LEARN, so that students can self-assess their performance. There are 2 assessed practicals, which are marked with feedback on each individual piece of work. In addition, there is an oral feedback session for each assessed practical, when collective feedback on the performance of the entire class in provided. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 1:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe the individual components of a petroleum system
- Analyse and understand typical data from petroleum production e.g.produced volumes of hydrocarbons, a traditional suite of wireline logs
- Undertake simple basin modelling in 1D
- Undertake 2D seismic interpretation, and construct a geological history
- Describe both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon plays
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Reading List
Recommended Textbooks (*, **, *** indicate relative usefulness)
Consider buying:
*** Selley, R.C., 1998. Elements of Petroleum Geology, 2nd ed. Academic Press.
** 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.
** Kearey, Brooks and Hill (2003) An Introduction to Geophysical Exploration. Blackwell. ISBN 0 632 04929 4. Good for seismic reflection, magnetics & gravity, wirleline logs.
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 (digital version is available through the Library)
North, F.K., 1985. Petroleum Geology. Allen and Unwin (out of print).
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Practical classes encourage data analysis and synthesis of a wide range of geoscience topics |
| Special Arrangements |
None |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Lectures Wednesdays at 9:00-9:50, Weeks 1-11.
Laboratory sessions on Wednesdays at 10:00-12:00, Weeks 1-11.
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| Keywords | Hydrocarbons; Geophysical exploration |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mark Wilkinson
Tel: (0131 6)50 5943
Email: Mark.Wilkinson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Casey Hollway
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: Casey.Hollway@ed.ac.uk |
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