AAPG International Conference & Exhibition
October 24-27, 2004 • Cancun Convention Center • Cancun, Mexico

All courses will be held at the Camino Real Cancun Hotel
and include course notes and refreshments.

PRE-CONFERENCE
Course #3 (AMGP)
An Integrated Approach to Turbidite Reservoir Prediction and Characterization

Who Should Attend

The course is aimed at geologists, geophysicists, subsurface engineers, and technically-minded business-unit managers who have an introductory knowledge of sequence stratigraphy and deep-water sedimentation and are involved in the exploration and production of turbidite reservoir systems.

Course Content

This course consists of a series of exercises and lectures focused on the importance of a broad, integrated approach to the characterization and prediction of reservoir-prone turbidite facies. Participants will be exposed to a broad scope of process-response relationships that serve as the basis for improved reservoir presence, architecture, and quality prediction. Exercises involve the integration of seismic and log data from exploration and production scale data sets and examine a range of channelized to sheet architectures. Outcrops will be examined using the BEG's laser-based virtual reality data sets.

Subsurface data sets are assembled from the Tertiary systems of the North Sea, offshore West Africa, and the Mexican margin of the Gulf of Mexico. Outcrop examples include the Brushy Canyon of West Texas, the Ross Formation of Ireland, the Miocene Capistrano of California, and the Tortonian deposits of the Tabernas Basin.

Workshop segments:

• Introduction
• Depositional Processes and Products
  • Turbidity Currents and Turbidites
  • Debris Flows and Debrites
• Architectural Analysis and a Hierarchy of Deep-Water Reservoirs
  • Channel-Dominated Reservoirs
  • Sheet-Dominated Reservoirs
• Controls on Deep-Water Reservoir Systems
  • An Appreciation of the Sediment Delivery System
  • Staging Ground: The Role of the Shelf Edge
  • Sea Level and Sequence Stratigraphy -- Boundary surface recognition criteria and stacking pattern analysis
• Role of Paleogradient on Reservoir Development
  • Simple vs. Complex
  • Local gradient: Pre-existing topography and differential compaction
  • Formation of Traps
• Production-scale characterization and reservoir performance