Daniel Morales

Petroleum Geology Fundamentals

Module 3: Exploring for Oil
“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same”
Colin R. Davis

When we talk about exploring for oil this involves a lot of items, from identifying types of
traps, to information for exploration and production. We already know that traps can be
structural (anticlines, salt domes, faults, etc.) or stratigraphic (pinchout of the rock,
unconformity, reefs, among others). In the last years, exploring for oil also have into account
unconventional resources, which are those that cannot be recovered using conventional
methods, usually due to low permeability and other factors.
Like Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge itself is power”, and in exploring for oil is the same.
Information is necessary to know how much oil is in the subsurface, where is it and how is
going to be developed the production process through time.
The information for exploration covers regional studies at big scale with base maps and
remote sensing, surface geochemical, seismic and gravity surveys. Information on existing
wells is also used to make better prospection, with petrophysic analysis, well logs and cores.
The latter are a key piece in exploration for oil, because they are used to calibrate
petrophysical and geochemical data.
By other side, information for production is related with pressures, decline curves, water
production, water chemistry and production logs. This information is used to complete or
monitor wells, to look tracks production of oil, water and gas over the life of a well. Decline
curve analysis allows for economic modeling and Estimation of Ultimate Recover (EUR).
One of the most important data is water chemistry, because formation water salinities are
needed for formation water resistivity, a variable used to predict water saturation; also,
formation water can negatively impact production if build-up occurs inside production tubing.
Water chemistry is essential for contamination monitoring.
Conclusion:

In this module, we took a look to what exploring for oil consist. While exploration stage is
running, the degree of certainty grows, because target gets more accurate when exploration
pass from regional studies to more detailed analysis. That is, integration of different types
of information is the best way to have a good idea of the prospectivity of the study area.
If we want to have a successful production stage, we need to have a good monitoring
system, because with monitoring we obtain production logs, pressures, decline curves and
water properties, which can be used to improve the way extraction is running.
In Colombia, due to social problems and disinformation, exploration is still an “enemy” of
people in some parts of the country, because they think oil industry could contaminate water
and take the environment to a bad state. As a colombian geoscientist, I am committed to
helping change that mentality of people, for the development of my country.