This rigorous workshop is a must for geoscientists dealing with exploration for and exploitation of carbonate reservoirs. The seminar emphasizes the complexity of carbonate porosity. Its modification and evolution will be discussed in a sea-level driven sequence stratigraphic framework. Case histories and exercises from around the world will be utilized throughout to illustrate important concepts. These exercises and case histories give the participant experience in developing viable exploration and exploitation strategies for carbonate terrains.

How to:

1.    Recognize basic characteristics of carbonates important to reservoirdevelopment

2.    Understand how sequence stratigraphy can be applied to carbonatesand mixed carbonate-siliciclastic systems

3.    Understand the complexities of carbonate pore systems

4.    Recognize the nature of carbonate porosity modification duringdiagenesis and the role of sea-level and climate in porosity modificationand gross reservoir heterogeneity

5.    Develop viable exploration and exploitation strategies in carbonateterrains by working with subsurface datasets

1. Basic nature of carbonates

2. Carbonate facies models

3. Basic concepts of sequence stratigraphy

4. Relationship of stratigraphic patterns to changes in subsidence rates 

5. Sequence stratigraphic models including the ramp, the rimmed shelf,the escarpment margin, the isolated platform, and the mixed carbonate-siliciclastic shelf

6. Characteristics of carbonate pore systems

7. Diagenesis, porosity evolution, and porosity distribution at the time ofburial

8. The fate of early-formed porosity during burial

9. The potential value of dolomitization, including by hydrothermal processes

10. The problem of H2S in carbonate reservoirs

11. Natural fractures in carbonates

12. Case histories and exercises from the Americas, Europe, and Asia

13. Exploration and exploitation strategies in carbonate and mixed terrains.

Exploration and development geologists, exploration and development managers, and geophysicists as well as engineers with some geologic background will benefit.