GEOCLASTICA Ltd

Dr ROGER HIGGS
rogerhiggs@geoclastica.com
cc to rogerhiggs@hotmail.com

Consulting in:
Sedimentology, Sequence Stratigraphy &
Climate- & Sea-Level Change

 

PETROLEUM SEDIMENTOLOGY COURSE

Bude Formation, Carboniferous (Westphalian), SW England. Note: '2.5-dimensional' exposure (cliff & discontinuous wave-cut platform); people on cliff top (cliff height 30m); typical external-flysch "packeting" of turbidites; no visible channels or canyons; syncline at right-hand side. Photo © Roger Higgs.


Dr Roger Higgs of Geoclastica Ltd offers oil companies a 5-day course entitled 'Siliciclastic Sedimentology & Sequence Stratigraphy from a Petroleum Reservoir Perspective'. The course comprises lectures interspersed with visits to Bude's magnificent cliffs, just a short walk from the lecture room, to study Bude Formation (Carboniferous) turbidites, 'slurry beds', 'hybrid beds' and slumps, and their hugely varied sedimentary structures, in superb wave-polished exposures. Alternatively, the course can be given at the client office (anywhere in the world), where the lectures can be coordinated with examination of local outcrops and/or client cores. Although clients may enrol any number of employees in the course, a limit of 10 persons is recommended, to ensure adequate personal attention.

Lectures are as follows:

  • Introduction to facies analysis.
  • Basins
  • Sedimentary structures (including trace fossils)
  • Alluvial environments
  • Lakes
  • Deserts
  • Clastic coasts
  • Shallow clastic seas
  • Deep clastic seas
  • Glacial environments
  • Facies analysis - case studies
  • Sequence stratigraphy
  • Sandstone diagenesis & porosity evolution

The Bude lecture venue, just 3 minutes' walk from the beach, is the historic Brendon Arms

Participants arrange their own transportation to/from Bude (4 hrs by car from London; 5-6 hrs by train plus bus). Accommodation is also self-arranged, giving participants a very wide range of options, from tents to caravans to 3-star hotels! Early bookers can reserve one of the nine rooms at the lecture venue (Brendon Arms), at special rates. Otherwise, rooms within easy walking distance can be had at economical low- or mid-season rates in a variety of delightful hotels and guest houses in this small and beautiful Atlantic-facing holiday town …
Bude Tourist Information Centre
Bude Webcam

Bude geology is renowned. Bude is also well known for surfing, fishing (sea and canal), golfing and walking (South West Coast Path), all of which can be enjoyed year-round.

Lectures are profusely illustrated with examples from the author's extensive collection of colour photos of modern environments and corresponding ancient facies (as seen in outcrops, cores and borehole image logs), collected during 30 years of petroleum sedimentological studies on five continents. Many of the slides are from South America, especially Colombia, Trinidad and Venezuela; others are from Canada, England, Ireland, Jordan, Malaysia and the USA.

Emphasis is placed on sand-body (reservoir) geometry in each depositional environment, given the importance of correctly predicting reservoir geometry in petroleum exploration and production. Such prediction is essential for (A) lower-risk well placement, (B) realistic production simulation, and (C) reliable reserves forecasting.

By way of case studies, some examples of conflicting interpretations of depositional environment, with vital implications for predicting reservoir-sand-body geometry, are presented for selected formations in Colombia, England, Malaysia and Venezuela, from the author's own experience (see references on CV webpage).

Previous course venues (lectures only) include:

  • Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela, 1994 (in Spanish)
  • IX Congreso Latinoamericano de Geología, Caracas, 1995 (in Spanish)
  • Sociedad Colombiana de Geología, Bogotá, 1997 (in Spanish)
  • Ecopetrol, Bogotá, 2001 (in Spanish)
  • Kuwait Oil Company, Paris, 2003
  • Petróleos de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela, 2004-7 (3 times; in Spanish)
  • Petronas Institute of Technology, Perak, Malaysia, 2006
  • Petróleos de Venezuela, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, 2011 (in Spanish)

Contact
For further information, please email me at rogerhiggs@hotmail.com

GEOCLASTICA LTD
 
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Climate & Sea Level Advice Petroleum Sedimentology Course
Turbidite Reservoir Analogs Lecture Outcrop Analog Field Trips
Core & Outcrop Facies Logging Sandstone Porosity Prediction
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Trinidad Venezuela