About this Workshop

Workshop Description

The recent huge discoveries of light oil under thick tabular salt layers in ultra deep waters offshore Brazil has triggered a lot of interest for analogues areas such as ultra deep waters in Angola and elsewhere. The potential for such unconventional reservoirs exist in the Middle East for example in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and in the Red Sea. Thick tabular salt layers below the sea fl oor are self healing and can make perfect seals keeping hydrocarbons trapped underneath over geological times. But what is the potential for oil in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea? Were there adequate source rocks in place to create oil accumulations under the salt? What level of understanding do we have of the geology and petrology of deep layers in the Mediterranean basin and in the Red Sea depression? How can new basin modelling and simulation tools help guide exploration campaigns? Will marine seismic technology be able to image with precision the base of salt and detailed structural features under deep salt layers?

Drilling exploration wells to evaluate and test formations located 6 kilometres below the water line is both extremely challenging and costly. What advances are required to reduce drilling costs by half? For example, can casing drilling technology contribute to achieve this goal?

All these questions and more will be discussed during the workshop.

Who Should Attend?

This workshop caters for geoscientists and petroleum engineers who are interested in learning and contributing to deep sea exploration and development. It focuses on practical applications to the Red Sea sub–salt environments as a theme. The workshop allows for knowledge sharing and networking of professionals working on or interested in Red Sea Exploration and Development.

 

Workshop Guidelines

Format

Two (2) and half days of informal discussions prompted by selected keynote presentations and discussions. Workshops maximise the exchange of ideas among attendees and presenters through brief technical presentations followed by extended Q&A periods. Focused topics attract an informed audience eager to discuss issues critical to advancing both technology and best practices. The majority of the presentations are in the form of case studies, highlighting engineering achievements and lessons learned. In order to stimulate frank discussion, no proceedings are published and the press is not invited to attend.

Documentation

• Proceedings will not be published; therefore, formal papers and handouts are not expected from speakers.
• Work in progress, new ideas, and interesting projects are sought.
• Professionally-prepared visual aids are not required; handwritten view graphs are entirely acceptable.
• Note-taking by participants is encouraged.

Poster Session

The Steering Committee encourages registrations from professionals who are able to prepare and present a poster on a relevant project. For further details kindly contact Nancy Ghali, event manager at nghali@spe.org.

Attendance

Registrations will be accepted on a first-come first-serve basis. The Steering Committee encourages attendance from those who can contribute to the workshop most effectively either in discussions or with posters. A mix of attendees in terms of geographic origin, companies and disciplines will be encouraged.

Workshop Deliverables

• The Steering Committee will appoint a “scribe” to record the discussions and to produce the full workshop report for SPE.
• This report will be circulated to all attendees as the workshop deliverable within 4–6 weeks following the workshop. The copyright of the report is with SPE.
• PowerPoint presentation materials will be posted on a specific SPE URL address after the workshop. Provision of the materials by the speakers will signify their permission for SPE to do so.

Commercialism

In keeping with ATW objectives and the SPE mission, commercialism in posters or presentations will not be permitted. Company logos must be limited to the title slide and used only to indicate the affiliation of the presenter and others involved in the work.

Attendance Certificate

All attendees will receive an attendance certificate attesting to their participation in the workshop. This certificate will be provided in exchange for a completed Workshop Questionnaire.

Continuing Education Units

Attendees at this workshop qualify for SPE Continuing Education Units (CEU) at the rate of 0.1 CEU per hour of the Workshop.

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