20410477 - RESERVOIR GEOLOGY AND STORAGE

The recently acquired knowledge of the impact of human activity on the environment constrains a number of initiatives aimed to the reduction of the deriving risks. On the one hand we need to recover and manage the natural resources necessary for our energy supply. On the other hand, this requires the subtraction from the environment of the waste residuals that derive from this activity. In the subsurface there exist geological structures, sufficiently isolated from the biosphere, that could accumulate either the energy resources and the waste stocking. The study (exploration and development) of such structures represents a major task to reduce the human civilization impact on the environment. During this course there will be introduced both the information connected to the formation and accumulation of fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) and the exploration and evaluation of geological structures potentially capable to stock, in a sufficiently isolated way, waste products, including those deriving from other energy resources (nuclear power plants). These two subjects are joined by similar geological structuring and will be presented with their different strategies and risk analysis. The purpose of this course is to provide the students the information required to his knowledge on the subject and his professional insertion in the subject.
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Programme

INTRODUCTION TO PETROLEUM AND STORAGE GEOLOGY. GEOLOGY APLIED TO RESERARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROCARBONS. THE ROLO OF HYDROCARCON ENERGY IN THE PRESENT DAY SOCIETY. STATISTICS ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROCARBON RESERVOIRS. THE ROLE OF THE PETROLEUM GEOLOGIST. NATURE ANS ORIGIN OF HYDROCARBONS. HYDROCARBON COMPOSITIONS AND CLASSIFICATION. THE PETROLEUM ACCUMULATION CYCLE. ORGANIC AND INORGANIC NATURE. SOURCE ROCKS. PRINCIPLES OF TRASFORMATION OF ORGANIC MATTER INTO HYDROCARBONS. MIGRATION PROCESSES AND TRAPPING. ACCUMULTION OF PETROLEUM. RESERVOIR ROCKS. HYDROCARBON AND FLUID TRAPS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND STORAGE AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION. WELL LOGS TYPES AND INTERPRETATION. SEISMIC EXPLORATION. RESEARCH TECHNIQUES RELATED TO GEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS. PREPARATION OF BALANCED CROSS SECTIONS AND THEIR RESTORATION. PRACTICAL WORK. ONE DAY FIELD TRIP TO OUTCROPS OF SOURCE ROCKS, RESERVOIR ROCKS AND VISIT TO AN ACTIVE OIL FIELD.

Core Documentation

- J. GLUYAS, R. SWARBRICK - PETROLEUM GEOSCIENCE - BLACKWELL PUBLISHING (2003).
- SELLEY - ELEMENTS OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY-SECOND EDITION ACADEMIC PRESS (1998).
- N.B. WOODWARD, S.E. BOYER, J. SUPPE - BALANCED GEOLOGICAL CROSS-SECTIONS: AN ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUE IN GEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION. - AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION. R.C. (1989).