The ARIES Group, LLC

The ARIES Group

AAPG Field Seminar

Field Courses

Classroom Courses

Other Information

Classroom Courses:
CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE FIELD?  THE NEXT BEST THING IS A 3- TO 5-DAY CLASS DESIGNED FOR THE CLASSROOM.
  • Superb outcrop and core examples
  • Great graphics
  • Clear descriptions of basic to advanced principles
  • Basin-wide outcrop to core to wireline-log examples
  • Oil and gas field case studies
  • Practical exercises that bring it all together
  • CD with all the essential material
The Clastic Reservoirs Facies course offers an in-depth analysis of  the distributions, geometries and sedimentary architectures of clastic reservoir facies.  The course is designed for geologists, geophysicists, reservoir engineers, reservoir simulation engineers and other asset team members.  Participants will learn the criteria for distinguishing reservoir facies using wireline log and core data, how to interpret facies distributions at regional and field scales, and how to integrate this information into exploration and development projects.  Emphasis is on fluvio-deltaic facies, with coverage of alluvial fan, fluvial, eolian, shoreface, deltaic and shelf environments.  Lectures cover the basics; supporting details are drawn from numerous studies worldwide.  Exercises utilizing log and core data provide an opportunity for participants to practice the methodologies addressed in the course.  A wealth of outcrop and core photos, as well as numerous wireline log examples, isopach maps, and seismic attribute maps, are combined to yield a detailed yet very understandable treatment of this complicated subject.

GENERAL STUDIES convey essential concepts and principles, drawing on examples from a variety of geographical areas.

 The Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway of North America provides many of the examples used in the course.

 Facies Tracts:  An introduction to facies tracts focusing on coastal plain to shallow marine.

Sequence Stratigraphic Concepts

 Definition of terms

Sequences and systems tracts

Accommodation space and coastal plain onlap

Parasequences and parasequence stacking patterns

Parasequence sets and trajectory

Facies architecture in parasequences


Shallow-Marine Facies

Shoreface

Shoreface profile

Shoreface processes

Marginal marine

Shoreface erosion

Tse vs flooding surface

Transgressive deposits

Deltas

Tour of world deltas:  a trip around the ternary diagram

Wave-, river-, tide-dominated deltas

Distinguishing delta front and shoreface using outcrop and subsurface data

Delta vs delta complex

Relating channel belts to their laterally equivalent delta-front deposits

Fluvial Strata

Categorization:  straight, meandering, braided and anastamosing, and the extent to which this may be a totally arbitrary exercise

Channel belt evolution

Barriers and baffles to fluid flow

Methodologies for subsurface correlations in high and low net-to-gross strata

Alluvial-fan facies

 

Eolian facies

 

Trace Fossils

FORMATION-SPECIFIC STUDIES utilize information from one or more formations, generally within a single basin or region.

Ferron Sandstone, east-central Utah

Dakota Sandstone, cental and southwestern Utah

Fall River Formation, Powder River Basin, Wyoming

Muddy Sandstone, Powder River Basin, Wyoming

Lower Troncoso Member of Huitrin Formation, Neuquen Basin, Argentina

Mio-Pliocene strata of the Kura Basin, Republic of Georgia

Morrison Formation, Henry Mountains Basin, Utah

FIELD-SPECIFIC STUDIES focus on the geology of a single or several related oil and gas fields.

Coyote Creek-Miller Creek Trend, Powder River Basin - meanderbelt and delta-front reservoirs

Lunlunta-Carrizal field, Cuyo Basin, Argentina - high net-to-gross, ephemeral stream reservoirs

Kerisi and Hiu structures, West Natuna Basin, offshore Indonesia - fluvial to shallow lacustrine reservoirs

EXERCISES demonstrate how concepts presented in the course can be applied in oil and gas exploration and development projects.

Muddy Canyon Sandstone Discovery.  A fictitious oil and gas discovery in the Muddy Canyon Sandstone (based on the Ferron Sandstone, Utah) involves probabilistic estimates of recoverable oil.  Does the project meet your client's criteria?

Mapping Channel Belts at Frostbite Falls.  Another fictitious reservoir, this one based on avulsion behaviour of the Saskatchewan River.  Depleted wells are to be recompleted in a shallower gas zone.  What is the range of uncertainty in the fluvial reservoir volumes?

Fall River Correlation Exercise.  Approximately 300 wireline logs are used to distinguish and map facies in fluvio-deltaic strata in the Coyote Creek-Miller Creek productive trend, which produces oil from a series of stratigraphic traps in the eastern part of the Powder River Basin.  Core photos guide the facies interpretation.  (The exercise utilizes logs, cross sections and maps compiled in Microsoft Powerpoint; it can all be done on paper in situations where a sufficient number of PCs are not available.)

Applied Research In Earth Science