Petroleum Systems: Modeling the Past, Planning the Future
Information Contacts:
- Debbi Boonstra
- AAPG Education Dept.
P.O. Box 979
Tulsa, OK 74101-0979
USA
Phone: +1 (918) 560-2630
Fax: +1 (918) 560-2678
Email : debbi@aapg.org - Marie-Christine Cacas-Stentz
- IFP Energies nouvelles
1 et 4 avenue de Bois-Preau
92852 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex
FRANCE
Phone: +33-1-47-52-71-46
Fax: +33-1-47-52-71-26
marie-christine.cacas-stentz@ifpen.fr : marie-christine.cacas-stentz@ifpen.fr
1-5 October, 2012
Nice, France
The goal of the conference is to promote discussion and new ideas in R&D topics that will improve our understanding of hydrocarbon distribution and associated petroleum systems in complex sedimentary basins, and how it will improve exploration success. The common theme will be to show how the modeling of basin and petroleum system evolution may affect exploration activities and risk evaluation.
Conference Description
The conference will address current research lines and applications related to Petroleum System Modeling (PSM), with a focus on geologically and technically challenging modeling aspects of petroleum systems, such as tight rocks, unconventional resources, complex structural settings with geomechanical issues, Arctic latitudes, or deep and hot basins.
In particular, the conference will aim to share ideas and stimulate R&D in the following fields where progress is expected in the future:
- knowledge and understanding of complex physical processes controlling sedimentary basin evolution and petroleum systems. Those include:
- the geomechanical control of tectonics and deep burial on petroleum systems,
- hydrocarbon migration and trapping mechanisms in low porosity rocks
- extreme climatic conditions as in the circum-Arctic and their impact on petroleum systems
- the diagenetic processes which have affected porosity and permeability of deeply buried reservoirs
- new workflows and new calibration methods to characterize and quantify such complex physical processes
- development of new numerical modeling techniques that will help to quantify and predict distributions of rock properties. Special attention will be given to stratigraphic modeling, diagenesis modeling, and geomechanical modeling
- application of new workflows and decision methods that will improve exploration risk assessment using petroleum system modeling, especially when new complex physical processes need to be incorporated in the Petroleum System Modeling process. This goal is also related to uncertainty assessment in PSM and how this impacts decision-making.
Format
Monday, October 1 will serve as arrival day with an opening icebreaker planned for that evening. The technical conference will begin on Tuesday, October 2, with 3 days of single session oral and poster presentations, and an optional field trip on Friday, October 5. The Conference will be held in Nice, France, which combines ease of access, attractive culture and sight-seeing, and proximity to the outstanding basin-wide outcrops of the famous Grès d'Annot. An optional field trip to the Grès d'Annot outcrops will be held on the 4th day of the conference. The Grès d'Annot outcrops, located 80km from Nice, offer a unique opportunity for observing the basin-scale sedimentological architecture of a sand-rich turbidite system. The trip will be a one day tour starting and ending in Nice. Total number of participants will be limited to 50 participants.
Themes
The program will be split in 6 sessions corresponding to the different themes listed below:
- Modeling structural evolution and associated mechanical effects: this theme includes modeling of basin deformation through time, numerical modeling of petroleum systems in complex structural settings and effects of tectonic stress on rock properties.
- Modeling the sedimentologic and petrophysical architecture of a sedimentary basin: this theme includes stratigraphic modeling, rock property assessment and characterization and modeling of diagenesis.
- Basin modeling in complex geological settings: high latitudes, high-pressure and high-temperature conditions, deep offshore and salt: this theme includes the impact of complex geological settings on modeling capabilities, and on numerical solver advances (necessary to increase robustness and stability of the modeling results).
- Making decisions in E&P using petroleum system modeling: this theme includes new workflows for basin modeling, which bring added value to decision making and reduce risk in exploration.
- Modeling unconventional petroleum systems: this theme includes generation, adsorption and retention of hydrocarbons in shale gas, tight gas, tight oil and biogenic gas accumulations.
- Looking into the future: What have we learned and how do we apply it?
Session 1 to 5 will include a keynote presentation, 3 oral communications, and poster presentations. Session 6 will be limited to two major keynote presentations and consist mainly of group discussion.