Deepwater Petroleum Systems
Deepwater Petroleum Systems
| Instructors: | Jonathan Rotzien (Basin Dynamic, University of Houston & University of Texas at Austin) Andrew Pepper (This is Petroleum Systems LLC) |
| Language: | English |
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Duration and formats: | 1 Day - 16 November 2026 |
Course Description
Deepwater Petroleum Systems helps professionals identify, understand and interpret deepwater petroleum systems at various scales – both onshore and offshore. This course describes the best practices in the integration of geology and geophysics used to interpret these diverse environments. It draws on technical results gained from deepwater drilling campaigns, global field analog studies and frontier exploration both foreign and domestic. Covering conceptual approaches and state-of-the-art information on deepwater systems, this course serves as the essential primer for companies, consultancies, universities, governments and deepwater practitioners around the world seeking to understand deepwater systems amid the race to acquire new acreage and replenish reserves out to 2050 and beyond. Based on two books and a combined 50+ years of collaborative experience, this course provides a broad foundation in petroleum systems analysis, including kinetic models for petroleum formation/ expulsion, basin modeling innovations and integrated charge evaluation in turbidite, contourite, hybrid and mixed deepwater sedimentary systems.
Participants Profile
This course is designed for operator and service companies, government agencies and academic researchers. Deepwater practitioners who take this course range from graduate students, new employees to experienced explorationists who now find themselves interested in deepwater energy resources.
Course Objetives
Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:
- Understand deepwater sedimentary processes including gravitational flows, bottom currents, hemipelagic and pelagic sedimentation
- Recognize and interpret the range and variability of deepwater lithologies pertaining to total petroleum systems analysis
- Identify and differentiate deepwater sedimentary environments and their role and ranking in prospect generation
- Assess source rock depositional risk and controls on source potential in deepwater plays
- Understand controls on expulsion kitchen development and styles of pressure-driven vertical vs lateral charging as well as controls on fluid properties and column capacity in traps
Course Outline
1 Day
- Introduction to total petroleum systems analysis in deepwater environments- Principles and examples of deepwater sedimentation
- Deepwater sedimentation units, lithologies and reservoir and non-reservoir components of the total petroleum system
- Deepwater environments of deposition and their range and variability according to tectonic setting
- The Petroleum System Earth Model: principles are generic but will be focussed on deepwater exploration applications
- Source Rock depositional controls in time and space
- Quantification and mapping of Source Potential (Ultimate Expellable Potential)
- Thermal and burial controls on expulsion kitchen development
- Migration principles and styles
- Trapping, fluids and column capacity
Recommended reading
Rotzien, J. R., C. A. Yeilding, R. A. Sears, F. J. Hernández-Molina, and O. Catuneanu, eds., 2022, Deepwater Sedimentary Systems: Science, Discovery and Applications, 1st ed.: Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 806 pp.
Rotzien, J. R., 2025, The Explorer's Mindset: Lessons in Leadership in Applied Geoscience and the Energy Industry, 2nd edition, with new foreword by M. Shann and reviews by R. S. Bishop and J. W. Snedden: Amazon KDP, 447 p.
Venue
The Short Course "Deepwater Petroleum Systems" will be held at The Whitehall Houston.
