PNG 440WFormation Evaluation
Formation Evaluation covers the characterization of oil and gas reservoir formations and methods for quantifying the volume of hydrocarbon resources therein. The course focuses on the petrophysical interpretation of wireline logs to meet these objectives, and also covers the operation and underlying physical principles of those tools. Topics covered include: the basic procedure of open hole logging, calculation of a geothermal gradient, understanding raster and digital well log files, quick look interpretation, reservoir volumetrics, understanding the physics of and cultivating the ability to interpret data from the traditional logging suite (gamma ray, spontaneous potential, resistivity devices, density, neutron, and sonic logs), coring, wireline formation testing, nuclear magnetic resonance logging, and interpretation in unconventional reservoirs. Best practices and limitations of the various well log tools are also discussed. Students are expected to perform complex engineering calculations using raw field data gathered from these tools, both from raster and digital well log files. As a "writing across the curriculum" course, students develop their technical writing skills through homework assignments that present their analyses in written reports.
Prerequisites
None listed in the catalog.
Where it sits in degree plans
Suggested plans most often put it in Year 3 · Fall (1 program).
Required in (1)
- Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, B.S.
One of the options in (1)
- Subsurface Energy Engineering, Minor
Courses that list PNG 440W as a prerequisite (1)
- PNG 490 Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Capstone Design