Machine Learning Applications in

Reservoir Engineering
Course Syllabus
SPR 2020

CLASS TIME TBD

& ROOM:

INSTRUCTOR Qian Sun

Research Engineering, PRRC
Office Hours: Thursday and Friday from 2:00-4:00 pm, 103A Kelly Building
qian.sun@nmt.edu

ONLINE: Canvas Platform

https://nmt.instructure.com

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
PETR 000 Machine Learning Applications in Res Engineering (3): This class first introduces the algorithmic
concepts of the broadly implemented machine learning algorithms including regression, response surface, support
vector machine, neural network, fuzzy logics, etc. (depends on the course progress more ML algorithms could be
included). Based on the fundamental works, applications of the ML algorithms to solve large spectrum of
reservoir engineering problem will be discussed. The student will learn the general protocol of using ML
approaches to develop ML based surrogate models, hybrid optimization scheme, ML-assisted sensitivity analysis
and ML-assisted history matching technologies.
Prerequisite: TBD

DESIRED PREREQUISITES: This course is an advanced petroleum engineering professional course which
requires fundamental knowledges of reservoir engineering concepts. Students should have general ideas regarding
the big picture of the reservoir engineering problems in petroleum industry. The course would require extensive
computer programming and data processing assignments and projects. Students should have basic skills of using
one of the programming languages.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) Developed data processing and skills (2) Capability to structure and
formulate the problem to apply ML algorithms (3) General ideas of the advantages/disadvantages of various
ML algorithms (4) Frequent use of various ML algorithm to process and analyze data (5) Interpolation of the
results generated via the ML algorithms.

CLASS OUTLINE
TOPIC I: Computer programming fundamentals
TOPIC II: General reservoir engineering problem fundamentals
TOPIC III: Classification and regression models-I
TOPIC IV: Classification and regression models-II
TOPIC V: Forward-looking applications
TOPIC VI: Inverse reservoir characterization/History matching applications
TOPIC VII: Inverse project design applications
GRADING
Problem Sets 60%
Computer Projects 40%
Pop quizzes 20% (extra)

Homework assignments are assigned at the end of cluster of lectures and will be submitted via Canvas
platform
Computer Projects will be solved individually which are considered the midterm and final exams for the
course. Specific details and deadlines will be given in a special handout written for this purpose.
Pop quizzes will be assigned in class randomly and the points gained will be counted as extra points for the
final grades (for the D-education students, the quizzes will be assigned via Canvas)

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Academic integrity is defined as the pursuit of scholarly activity free of fraud and deception. No form of
academic dishonesty will be tolerated in this class. You are expected to be fully acquainted with the
academic integrity policies of New Mexico Tech. Plagiarism, cheating, lack of proper citation and
acknowledgement of someone else’s work, knowledge of these without reporting them, and/or any other form
of academic dishonesty will be reported for immediate disciplinary action. In all written work, you must
reference and attribute all your sources, including class material.

TEXTBOOK
The required class notes and tutorials will be delivered in PDF format via Canvas, there is no required textbook.

Recommended Readings:
 Reservoir Engineering Models, Chapter 8, Turgay Ertekin and Luis F. Ayala.
 Data Drive Reservoir Modeling. Shahab D. Mohaghegh
 Artificial Neural Networks in Chemical Engineering, Chapter 6, Angelo Basile, Marjan Alavi and Stefano
Curcio