Open Access

Petroleum Exploration

The role of exploration is to provide the information required to exploit the best opportunities presented in the choice of areas, and to manage research operations on the acquired blocks. An oil company may work for several years on a prospective area before an exploration well is spudded and during this period the geological history of the area is studied and the likelihood of hydrocarbons being present quantified.

Exploration is responsible for handling the risk intrinsic in this activity, and this is generally achieved by selection of a range of options in probabilistic and economic terms.

Indeed, exploration is a risk activity and the management of exploration assets and associated operations is a major task for oil companies.

 

The risk cannot be eliminated entirely but can be controlled and reduced adopting appropriate workflow, conceptual and technological innovations.

When it’s been decided to start up with an exploration project in a basin or in a larger area containing several basins, the quantity and quality of available data must be acquired and evaluated – geological data, type of reserves, production of existing fields (if any), etc.

Basin assessment/evaluation is the first step to undertake the study of the area under interest.

Technological development has provided oil companies with Basin Modelling – which is a numerical simulation that allows the temporal reconstruction of the history of a sedimentary basin and the associated evolution of the processes related to the formation of petroleum accumulations.