Petroleum Course

Lesson 1 • Global Petroleum Supply Chain Overview

Maps the journey from wellhead to end consumer across upstream, midstream, and downstream segments. Orients students to the industry structure referenced in later chapters.

Lesson 2 • Petroleum Economics and Market Dynamics

Introduces pricing mechanisms, supply-demand drivers, and geopolitical influences on oil markets. Grounds technical decisions in commercial reality.

Lesson 3 • Regulatory and Environmental Framework

Surveys the functional categories of petroleum regulation: safety, environmental protection, and resource ownership. Prepares students for compliance topics in applied chapters.

Lesson 4 • Composition and Classification of Crude Oil

Examines hydrocarbon families, heteroatoms, and crude quality indicators. Provides the chemical vocabulary used throughout refining and production chapters.

Lesson 1 • Reservoir Rock Properties

Quantifies porosity, permeability, and wettability as controls on fluid storage and flow. Links rock physics to production performance expectations.

Lesson 2 • Sedimentary Basins and Stratigraphy

Explains basin formation, sedimentary sequences, and stratigraphic correlation. Provides the geological context for locating prospective reservoir intervals.

Lesson 3 • Reservoir Characterization Workflows

Integrates geological, petrophysical, and fluid data into a coherent reservoir model. Prepares students for volumetric estimation and simulation inputs.

Lesson 4 • Structural Geology and Trap Types

Identifies structural and stratigraphic traps that concentrate hydrocarbons. Enables students to assess prospect geometry from seismic and map data.

Lesson 1 • Seismic Data Processing

Covers noise attenuation, velocity analysis, and migration to produce interpretable images. Students understand how processing choices affect image quality.

Lesson 2 • Structural Seismic Interpretation

Teaches horizon picking, fault mapping, and time-to-depth conversion. Directly supports trap identification and prospect mapping covered in the geology chapter.

Lesson 3 • Seismic Wave Theory and Acquisition

Explains compressional and shear wave propagation and field acquisition geometry. Establishes the physical principles underlying all seismic interpretation work.

Lesson 4 • Stratigraphic and Attribute Analysis

Uses seismic attributes and stratigraphy to detect reservoir facies and fluid contacts. Extends structural interpretation into reservoir quality prediction.

Lesson 1 • Wellbore Stability and Formation Damage

Analyzes mechanical and chemical causes of wellbore instability and formation damage. Prepares students to design preventive measures during drilling and completion.

Lesson 2 • Cementing and Casing Operations

Covers casing running, primary cementing design, and cement evaluation. Ensures students can verify zonal isolation critical to production and safety.

Lesson 3 • Drilling Fluids and Hydraulics

Examines mud types, rheological properties, and hydraulic optimization for efficient drilling. Connects fluid selection to wellbore stability and formation damage prevention.

Lesson 4 • Well Control and Blowout Prevention

Teaches kick detection, shut-in procedures, and well kill methods. Addresses the highest-consequence risk in drilling operations.

Lesson 5 • Well Planning and Trajectory Design

Covers casing design, pore pressure prediction, and directional well planning. Establishes the engineering foundation for all subsequent drilling operations.

Lesson 1 • Porosity Calculation from Logs

Derives total and effective porosity from density, neutron, and sonic logs. Directly feeds into volumetric reserve calculations introduced in later chapters.

Lesson 2 • Net Pay Determination and Log QC

Establishes cutoffs for porosity, saturation, and shale volume to define net pay intervals. Teaches quality control checks that validate petrophysical interpretations.

Lesson 3 • Shale Volume and Lithology Determination

Uses gamma ray and crossplot methods to identify lithology and quantify clay content. Provides the first step in any petrophysical evaluation workflow.

Lesson 4 • Logging Tool Principles and Applications

Introduces gamma ray, resistivity, density, neutron, and sonic logging tools. Establishes the measurement physics needed to interpret each log correctly.

Lesson 1 • Decline Curve Analysis

Applies exponential, hyperbolic, and harmonic decline models to forecast production and reserves. Provides a practical, data-driven tool used daily in reservoir management.

Lesson 2 • Reservoir Simulation Concepts

Introduces numerical simulation grids, fluid flow equations, and history matching. Prepares students to use simulation outputs for field development planning.

Lesson 3 • Reservoir Drive Mechanisms

Identifies solution gas, gas cap, water influx, and compaction drives and their production signatures. Enables students to diagnose reservoir behavior from pressure and rate data.

Lesson 4 • Inflow Performance and Productivity

Models well inflow using Darcy flow, IPR curves, and skin factor analysis. Links reservoir properties to achievable production rates at the wellbore.

Lesson 1 • Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery

Covers steam injection, SAGD, and in-situ combustion for heavy oil recovery. Addresses the largest EOR category by global production volume.

Lesson 2 • Primary and Secondary Recovery Methods

Reviews natural depletion and waterflooding as the baseline recovery strategies. Establishes the recovery efficiency benchmarks against which EOR methods are compared.

Lesson 3 • Chemical and Miscible EOR

Examines polymer, surfactant, and alkaline flooding alongside CO2 and hydrocarbon miscible injection. Expands the EOR toolkit for light and medium crude reservoirs.

Lesson 4 • Well Stimulation Techniques

Covers hydraulic fracturing and matrix acidizing to improve near-wellbore and reservoir flow. Connects stimulation design to inflow performance concepts from the previous chapter.

Lesson 1 • Refinery Economics and Configuration

Analyzes refinery complexity indices, margin drivers, and configuration selection. Enables students to evaluate refinery investment decisions in commercial context.

Lesson 2 • Crude Distillation and Fractionation

Explains atmospheric and vacuum distillation to separate crude into boiling-range fractions. Establishes the primary separation step that feeds all downstream conversion units.

Lesson 3 • Alkylation, Isomerization, and Blending

Reviews light-end upgrading processes and final product blending to meet specifications. Completes the refinery value chain from crude fractions to marketable products.

Lesson 4 • Catalytic Cracking and Reforming

Covers fluid catalytic cracking and catalytic reforming to upgrade heavy fractions and improve octane. Demonstrates how refineries maximize gasoline yield and quality.