An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Geoscience for Managers & Commercial Teams
Geoscience for Managers and Commercial Teams
Secure your spot now!
Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 2,500
Starting From
23 Aug 2027
Home Geology and Geoscience Geoscience for Managers & Commercial Teams
Geoscience for Managers & Commercial Teams
Have Questions ?
Geoscience for Managers & Commercial Teams - GG-MGR-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG-MGR-PEA27 | 23 - 27 Aug 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
2500 |
Need this for a group? We deliver the same course in-house — face-to-face at your location or online — tailored to your assets and team level. Contact info@peassociations.com
Boost your team's skills and your budget! Enjoy group discounts for collaborative learning. Send an inquiry to info@peassociations.com.
Geoscience for Managers & Commercial Teams
This training covers subsurface geoscience for managers and commercial staff. It works through the petroleum system and how accumulations form, reservoir properties and what controls production, the data types and what each can and cannot resolve, volumes and reserves and their meaning, uncertainty and what ranges indicate, field development concepts, the subsurface work programme and its deliverables, the questions that test a technical case and the recognition of weak subsurface arguments.
Description
Managers and commercial staff approve subsurface work, fund wells, negotiate deals based on technical evaluations and present subsurface cases to boards and investors, generally without a technical background. The practical requirement is not to become a geoscientist but to understand what the technical work establishes, what the numbers mean, where the genuine uncertainties lie and which questions reveal whether a case is sound.
This training provides that understanding. The petroleum system and how accumulations form are established first, covering source, reservoir, trap, seal and timing in plain terms. Reservoir properties and what controls production follow, covering porosity, permeability and the reasons wells produce at the rates they do. The data types and what each resolves are then developed, covering seismic, wells, cores and tests and the limits of each. Volumes and reserves and their meaning follow, covering the classification system and what each category commits to. Uncertainty and what ranges indicate are then addressed. Field development concepts follow. The subsurface work programme and its deliverables are then developed. The training closes with the questions that test a technical case.
Seismic shows structure, not hydrocarbons, and that distinction explains most exploration failures. A seismic survey images the geometry of the rock layers, which reveals the shape of a potential trap, and a seismic amplitude anomaly may indicate the presence of gas. What seismic cannot do is confirm that a trap contains hydrocarbons, that the reservoir has adequate quality, or that the seal holds. Prospects with excellent seismic definition fail regularly because of charge, reservoir quality or seal, and a case resting on structural definition alone has addressed one element of five.
Reserves categories are commitments, not confidence levels. Proved reserves require a development project, approved and funded, with reasonable certainty of recovery; probable and possible are progressively less certain. Contingent resources are discovered volumes with no committed project, and prospective resources are undrilled. The categories determine what may be disclosed, what banks will lend against and what an auditor will accept. A volume quoted without its category is uninformative, and a large resource figure may consist almost entirely of the least certain classes.
A single number from a subsurface team is a warning sign. The subsurface is known from sparse data, so any volume, rate or recovery estimate carries a range, and a team presenting one number without one has either not assessed the uncertainty or has suppressed it. The useful questions are what the range is, what drives its width, and whether the recommendation changes across it. A team that cannot answer those has not finished the work.
Finally, the most revealing question is what would change the answer. A sound technical case can state what observation would falsify it: a well result, a pressure measurement, a seismic feature. A case that cannot be falsified by any conceivable observation is not a technical argument but an assertion. Asking this question costs nothing, is immediately diagnostic, and distinguishes a team that has tested its own conclusions from one that has assembled support for a preferred answer.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Explain how hydrocarbon accumulations form and what can go wrong
- Describe reservoir properties and what controls well productivity
- Identify what each data type can and cannot establish
- Interpret volume and reserves classifications and their meaning
- Interpret uncertainty ranges and what their width indicates
- Compare field development concepts and their drivers
- Understand the subsurface work programme and its deliverables
- Ask the questions that test a subsurface technical case
- Recognise weak or unsupported subsurface arguments
- Engage effectively with subsurface teams
The training works through real subsurface cases presented as they would be to a management audience. Participants interrogate the cases, identify what is established and what is assumed, and compare their assessment against the eventual outcomes. Both sound and weak technical cases are presented, and participants work out which is which from the questions they ask.
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Improve the quality of challenge to subsurface cases
- Interpret volume and reserves figures correctly
- Recognise suppressed uncertainty in technical presentations
- Fund subsurface work that addresses decision relevant questions
- Improve communication between technical and commercial functions
- Reduce decisions taken on inadequately tested technical cases
Participants will:
- Understand how accumulations form and fail
- Interpret subsurface numbers and their categories
- Recognise what data can and cannot establish
- Test technical cases with effective questions
- Identify weak subsurface arguments
- Work confidently with technical teams
- Managers without a subsurface background
- Commercial and business development staff
- Finance and planning staff
- Legal and contracts staff
- Investor relations and communications staff
- Board members and advisors
- Non-technical staff working with subsurface teams
Module 1 - How Accumulations Form
- Sedimentary basins and their formation
- Source rocks and organic matter
- Burial, heating and generation
- Migration from source to trap
- Reservoir rocks and their origin
- Traps and their types
- Seals and their function
- Timing and its importance
- Why prospects fail
- Relative frequency of each failure mode
- Oil against gas accumulations
- What makes a basin prospective
Module 2 - Reservoirs and Production
- Porosity and what it means
- Permeability and why it matters more
- What controls reservoir quality
- Fluid types and their properties
- Pressure and its role
- Drive mechanisms
- Why wells produce at the rates they do
- Recovery factor and its range
- Water and gas production
- Decline and field life
- Enhanced recovery in outline
- Unconventional reservoirs and how they differ
Module 3 - Data and What It Shows
- Seismic data and what it images
- What seismic cannot establish
- Amplitude anomalies and their ambiguity
- Well logs and what they measure
- Core and its unique value
- Formation pressure measurements
- Well tests and what they prove
- Production data
- Cost of each data type
- Resolution and its limits
- Why more data does not always help
- Data gaps and their consequences
Module 4 - Volumes and Reserves
- In place against recoverable volumes
- The volumetric calculation in outline
- Reserves definitions and categories
- Proved, probable and possible
- Contingent resources
- Prospective resources
- Classification and project maturity
- Disclosure and audit requirements
- Reserves revisions and their causes
- What a large resource figure may consist of
- Questions to ask about a volume
- Common misuse of resource figures
Module 5 - Uncertainty
- Why the subsurface is uncertain
- Ranges and what they mean
- P90, P50 and P10 conventions
- What the width of a range indicates
- Chance of success and its meaning
- Geological against commercial success
- Industry calibration and overconfidence
- Single numbers as a warning sign
- Which uncertainty is decision relevant
- Value of information in outline
- Reducible and irreducible uncertainty
- Questions to ask about uncertainty
Module 6 - Development Concepts
- Development concept options
- Onshore and offshore concepts
- Platform, subsea and tie-back options
- Well count and its drivers
- Drilling and completion cost drivers
- Facility sizing decisions
- Phased development
- Pressure maintenance and injection
- Concept selection drivers
- Minimum economic field size
- Subsurface input to concept selection
- Why concepts change during a project
Module 7 - The Subsurface Work Programme
- Subsurface disciplines and their roles
- Exploration workflow and deliverables
- Appraisal workflow and deliverables
- Development planning deliverables
- Reservoir management activities
- Study scopes and their duration
- Reservoir models and what they do
- Cost of subsurface work
- Scoping work to the decision
- Over-specified studies
- Technical assurance and peer review
- What to ask for and when
Module 8 - Testing a Technical Case
- Questions that test a subsurface case
- What is the range and what drives it
- What would change the answer
- What is the weakest element
- What evidence supports the key assumption
- What alternatives were considered
- What does the analogue data say
- Who has reviewed this independently
- Signs of a weak case
- Advocacy presented as analysis
- Unfalsifiable arguments
- Supporting good technical work
Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.
Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions
All course bookings made through PEA are strictly non-refundable. By registering for a course, you acknowledge and accept that all fees are payable in full and are not subject to refund under any circumstances, including changes in personal or professional commitments or partial attendance.
PEA reserves the right to make reasonable adjustments to course content, trainers, or schedules where necessary, without entitling delegates to a refund. Comprehensive details of each course — including objectives, target audience, and content — are clearly outlined before enrolment, and it is the responsibility of the delegate to ensure the course's suitability prior to booking.
For any inquiries related to cancellations or bookings, please contact our support team, who will be happy to assist you.
