Participants will obtain a comprehensive understanding of key aspects that need to be studied to optimally develop offshore petroleum discoveries, from appraisal through to development planning and leading up to sanction. The course also covers management aspects, including uncertainty and risk.

Specifically, participants would:

1. Understand the type of development geoscience studies required to plan the development and exploitation of an offshore petroleum discovery.
2. Understand the type of subsurface engineering studies required to plan the development and exploitation of an offshore petroleum discovery.
3. Understand the importance of working as an integrated team, including interfaces with facilities engineering and commercial areas.
4. Become familiar with methodologies, techniques and tools required to carry out subsurface studies.
5. Learn how to quality check core laboratory data (RCA and SCAL) and to analyse such data for input to various subsurface studies.

This VILT course will benefit subsurface team members involved in field development studies or individuals who are planning to join an integrated team involved in planning for an offshore development. The VILT course will also be relevant for project managers and managers.

Trainer 1

Your expert course leader is a consultant specialising in reservoir engineering, field development planning and petroleum management. He has worked for 40 years in the petroleum industry, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Project Director for AED Oil and East Puffin (2007-09) for the Puffin offshore development, Timor Sea.

Prior to his current role, he worked for 16 years for BHP Billiton, most recently as Chief Reservoir Engineer for their worldwide petroleum operations. Other positions with BHP Billiton involved mainly technical and project management, and general management positions. He was the project manager (feasibility) for two FPSO projects, the Skua and Griffin area fields, offshore Australia. He was also the Technical Manager for the Dai Hung project, offshore Vietnam where first oil was achieved in just 18 months from sanction. Before that time, he worked for Shell International (8 years) in the Netherlands, including two years as Senior Lecturer Reservoir Engineering at Shell’s training centre and in Australia, seconded to Woodside Energy, involved in Australia’s largest capital project (at the time), the Northwest Shelf Gas development. He started his career in Calgary, Canada, first with Hudson’s Bay Oil and Gas and then with the US consulting company Scientific Software Corporation.

The trainer holds a BSc degree in Physics from the University of British Columbia and an MS degree in Nuclear Engineering from Stanford University. He has been an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, including Director for the Asia-Pacific region (1996-98) and as a member of the Board. He was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer during 2001-02 and a PESA Distinguished Lecturer during 2002. He has lectured at many institutions and was a visiting professor at Stanford University in 2000. He has published over 40 papers on both technical and managerial topics.

His professional interests are in optimal planning and project management of offshore petroleum discoveries. His primary research interests are in the area of special core analysis and the development of predictive models for reservoir characterisation. He also teaches at the University of Western Australia and at Ho Chi Minh University of Technology.

Trainer 2

Your other expert course leader is currently an independent consultant and trainer after 37 years in the upstream petroleum industry. His previous roles included Chief Geologist for GALP Energy, Consultant/ Head of Exploration for Qatar Petroleum, Technical/ Asset Manager for SASOL, and various technical and technical management roles in BHP Billiton Petroleum and Chevron.

He managed/ executed many projects in diverse locations: West Grimes gas field development – California; Port Arguello heavy oil development – offshore California; exploration & development projects – Nigeria; Tengiz field early development, Korolev appraisal – Kazakhstan; Nkossa field development, Moho/ Bilondo exploration – offshore Congo; PNG divestment, Bayu-Undan LNG development – Australia; Ohanet acquisition, appraisal & development – Algeria; Pande development, Pande/ Temane gas plant expansion & near field exploration – Mozambique; Pre-Khuff (HP/HT) exploration, multiple blocks & operators – Qatar; Coral/ Mamba appraisal – Mozambique; Blocks 14/32 exploration & development – Angola; exploration & appraisal – onshore & offshore Brazil.

He has an MSc in Geophysics from Stanford, an MBA from St. Mary’s College of California, and a BSc in Geology (Honors) from Western Illinois University. He is a member of SEG, AAPG, SPE, PESGB, and PESA and is a Fellow of the Energy Institute (UK).

His professional interests centre around deploying this extensive and international experience base to add value to future projects via training and consultancy, and to provide the leadership needed to execute, deliver, and ensure profitability of new projects.

To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized “One to One” coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster.
Request for further information about post training coaching support and fees applicable for this.