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Petroleum Geoscience

Sedimentology and Reservoir Depositional Environments

Two wells a kilometre apart can find entirely different reservoir quality because their sand bodies were laid down by different processes, a meandering river channel in one case and a crevasse splay in the other. Predicting that variation begins with reading the depositional environment correctly. Delegates work through grain size, sorting, sedimentary structures and facies associations, then through each major clastic setting in turn: alluvial fans and fluvial systems, aeolian dunes, deltas, shorefaces, tidal estuaries and deep water turbidite fans. For each, the geometry, connectivity and heterogeneity of sand bodies are tied to core, log motifs and outcrop analogues. Compaction, cementation and their control on porosity close the programme. Delegates leave able to describe core, interpret an environment from logs and predict sand body dimensions for mapping and modelling.

5 day course

Course objectives

  • Describe core in terms of lithology, grain size, structures and facies
  • Interpret depositional processes from sedimentary structures
  • Recognise characteristic log motifs for major depositional settings
  • Predict sand body geometry and connectivity in fluvial, deltaic and deep water systems
  • Select outcrop analogues appropriate to a subsurface reservoir
  • Evaluate the effect of compaction and cementation on reservoir quality
  • Construct facies maps to guide well placement

Who should attend

  • Exploration and development geologists
  • Geomodellers and reservoir geologists
  • Petrophysicists interpreting facies from logs
  • Core analysts and laboratory geologists
  • Graduate geoscientists early in their careers

Course outline

  1. 01Sediment texture and sedimentary structures
  2. 02Facies and facies associations
  3. 03Alluvial, fluvial and aeolian systems
  4. 04Deltaic environments
  5. 05Shoreface and tidal settings
  6. 06Deep water turbidite systems
  7. 07Core description and log motifs
  8. 08Diagenesis and reservoir quality
  9. 09Facies mapping for development

Scheduled sessions

Scheduled sessions for Sedimentology and Reservoir Depositional Environments
DatesVenueFormatPriceRegister
26 to 30 October 2026Lusaka, ZambiaClassroomUSD 1,325 per delegate
2 to 6 November 2026Maputo, MozambiqueClassroomUSD 1,325 per delegate
23 to 27 November 2026Nairobi, KenyaClassroomUSD 1,325 per delegate
30 November to 4 December 2026Gaborone, BotswanaClassroomR19,950 per delegate
22 to 26 February 2027Johannesburg, South AfricaClassroomR19,950 per delegate
15 to 19 March 2027OnlineOnlineR8,500 per delegate

Sedimentology and Reservoir Depositional Environments

From R8,500

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