Petroleum GeoscienceStructural Geology of Traps and Reservoirs
Whether a fault seals or leaks can decide whether a structure holds a column of a few metres or several hundred. Structural geology answers that question and many others about where hydrocarbons can be held and how they will move once a field is on production. Delegates work through stress, strain and rock failure, then through the structural families met in petroleum basins: extensional fault systems, inversion structures, fold and thrust belts, strike slip zones and salt tectonics. Fault seal analysis using shale gouge ratio and juxtaposition diagrams follows, along with fracture characterisation and its effect on permeability. Section balancing and restoration are used to test whether an interpretation is geometrically possible. Delegates leave able to classify trap geometry, assess fault seal capacity and recognise how faults and fractures will compartmentalise a reservoir.
Course objectives
- Explain stress, strain and failure criteria in sedimentary rocks
- Classify structural traps by tectonic setting
- Interpret extensional, compressional, strike slip and salt related structures
- Construct juxtaposition diagrams and calculate shale gouge ratio
- Assess fault seal capacity and likely column heights
- Characterise natural fractures and predict their influence on flow
- Restore and balance cross sections to validate interpretations
Who should attend
- Structural and exploration geologists
- Seismic interpreters
- Development geologists assessing compartmentalisation
- Reservoir engineers dealing with faulted fields
- Geomodellers building fault frameworks
Course outline
- 01Stress, strain and rock failure
- 02Extensional systems and rift structures
- 03Compressional folds and thrusts
- 04Strike slip and inversion
- 05Salt tectonics
- 06Fault seal analysis
- 07Natural fractures in reservoirs
- 08Section balancing and restoration
- 09Compartmentalisation and production impact
Scheduled sessions
| Dates | Venue | Format | Price | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 February 2027 | Online | Online | R8,500 per delegate | |
| 15 to 19 February 2027 | Nairobi, Kenya | Classroom | USD 1,325 per delegate | |
| 15 to 19 March 2027 | Windhoek, Namibia | Classroom | R19,950 per delegate |
Structural Geology of Traps and Reservoirs
From R8,500