An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Technical Assurance & Peer Review for Subsurface
Technical Assurance and Subsurface Peer Review
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Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 3,500
Starting From
30 Aug 2027
Home Geology and Geoscience Technical Assurance & Peer Review for Subsurface
Technical Assurance & Peer Review for Subsurface
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Technical Assurance & Peer Review for Subsurface - GG-PEER-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG-PEER-PEA27 | 30 Aug - 03 Sep 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
3500 |
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Technical Assurance & Peer Review for Subsurface
This training covers technical assurance and peer review of subsurface work. It works through assurance purpose and levels, review types and their selection, reviewer selection and independence, review preparation and material requirements, conducting a review, the technical content of review checklists, finding and reporting issues, review outcomes and their tracking, assurance in a project gate process and the building of an assurance culture.
Description
Technical assurance exists because subsurface errors are expensive and hard to detect from the inside. A team that has worked on a field for two years shares its own assumptions, and the assumption nobody questions is the one most likely to be wrong. An independent review by competent reviewers finds these, and the earlier it happens the cheaper the correction. Done badly, assurance becomes a ritual that consumes time and finds nothing, which is a common outcome and a solvable one.
This training covers assurance as a practice. Assurance purpose and levels are established first, covering what assurance is for and the different depths of review appropriate to different decisions. Review types and their selection follow. Reviewer selection and independence are then developed, since a review by people too close to the work finds little. Review preparation and material requirements follow, covering what the team must supply and when. Conducting a review is then addressed in detail, covering the conduct that produces findings rather than defensiveness. The technical content of review checklists follows, by discipline. Finding and reporting issues are then developed. Review outcomes and their tracking follow. Assurance in a project gate process is addressed. The training closes with assurance culture.
The most valuable question in a review is what the team has not questioned. Every subsurface study rests on assumptions, and the dangerous ones are not the stated uncertainties, which the team has already considered, but the premises accepted so early that they are no longer visible: that the correlation is right, that the contact is where the first well put it, that the analogue field is comparable. An effective reviewer identifies these and asks what evidence supports them, which frequently turns out to be less than anyone realised.
A review conducted as an interrogation produces defence rather than findings. If the team experiences the review as a judgement of their competence, they will defend their work, withhold the uncertainties they are least comfortable with and present the strongest version of their case. If they experience it as help in finding problems before someone else does, they will volunteer their own concerns, which are usually the most valuable input in the room. The reviewer's conduct determines which happens.
Reviews find more when they happen early, and they are usually scheduled late. A review at the point of decision, when the work is complete and the recommendation written, can only confirm or disrupt, and disruption at that point is expensive and resisted. A review at the framing stage, when the approach is being set, costs a day and can redirect the whole study. Organisations that review early find problems cheaply; those that review only at gates find them expensively or not at all.
Finally, findings that are not tracked do not get addressed. A review that produces a list of issues, with no owner, no response and no record of closure, has achieved nothing beyond a conversation. Each finding needs an owner, an agreed response of either action or acceptance with reasons, and a record that the gate decision can refer to. The tracking is administratively dull and it is what separates assurance that changes outcomes from assurance that generates documents.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Define assurance purpose and select the appropriate level of review
- Select review types for different decisions and project stages
- Select reviewers with appropriate competence and independence
- Specify review material and preparation requirements
- Conduct reviews that produce findings rather than defensiveness
- Identify unexamined assumptions in technical work
- Apply discipline specific review checklists
- Write findings that are specific, evidenced and actionable
- Track findings to closure and report to gate decisions
- Build an assurance culture in a technical organisation
The training is review practice on real subsurface studies containing genuine errors. Participants prepare and conduct reviews, both as reviewers and as the team being reviewed, and compare what each review found against the errors actually present. Review conduct is varied between exercises to show its effect on what is found. Findings are written and critiqued for specificity.
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Find technical errors earlier and more cheaply
- Conduct reviews that produce findings rather than ritual
- Select reviewers with real independence
- Review at framing as well as at decision points
- Track findings to closure
- Build a culture where review is valued
Participants will:
- Conduct effective technical reviews
- Identify unexamined assumptions
- Apply discipline review checklists
- Write actionable findings
- Be reviewed constructively
- Contribute to assurance processes
- Senior geoscientists conducting peer reviews
- Technical assurance and discipline authority staff
- Subsurface team leaders
- Reservoir engineers reviewing subsurface work
- Project staff managing gate processes
- Technical staff being reviewed
- Managers responsible for technical quality
Module 1 - Assurance Purpose and Levels
- Why technical assurance exists
- Cost of errors by project stage
- Assurance against approval
- Levels of review and their depth
- Self-check and team review
- Internal peer review
- Independent and external review
- Audit and certification
- Matching level to decision value
- Assurance in a management system
- Proportionality and avoiding excess
- Assurance that finds nothing
Module 2 - Review Types and Timing
- Framing and scoping reviews
- Interim and progress reviews
- Deliverable reviews
- Gate and decision reviews
- Post-well and post-project reviews
- Look-back reviews
- Reserves and resource reviews
- Model and volume reviews
- Review timing and its effect
- Early review value
- Late review constraints
- Scheduling reviews in a project plan
Module 3 - Reviewers and Independence
- Reviewer competence requirements
- Discipline coverage in a review team
- Independence and its degrees
- Reviewers too close to the work
- External reviewers and their value
- Reviewer availability and cost
- Review team size
- Chairing a review
- Conflicts of interest
- Confidentiality arrangements
- Reviewer preparation time
- Building a reviewer pool
Module 4 - Preparation and Material
- Material the team must supply
- Advance distribution requirements
- Study report and its content
- Data and model access
- Assumptions register
- Uncertainty documentation
- Terms of reference for the review
- Questions to be addressed
- Reviewer preparation approach
- Pre-review questions to the team
- Agenda and time allocation
- Logistics and attendance
Module 5 - Conducting the Review
- Opening and setting expectations
- Review conduct and its effect on findings
- Avoiding interrogation
- Inviting the team's own concerns
- Asking what has not been questioned
- Testing key assumptions for evidence
- Following a line of questioning
- Managing dominant participants
- Keeping to the terms of reference
- Recording during the review
- Closing and summarising
- Common conduct failures
Module 6 - Technical Checklists
- Data quality and completeness checks
- Correlation and framework checks
- Structural interpretation checks
- Depth conversion checks
- Petrophysical evaluation checks
- Volumetric calculation checks
- Model construction checks
- Uncertainty treatment checks
- Dynamic consistency checks
- Reserves support checks
- Analogue use checks
- Adapting checklists to the study type
Module 7 - Findings and Outcomes
- Finding specificity requirements
- Evidence for each finding
- Severity classification
- Distinguishing errors from differences of view
- Actionable recommendations
- Findings the team disagrees with
- Review report structure
- Review outcome categories
- Conditional and unconditional endorsement
- Escalation of unresolved issues
- Communicating outcomes
- Feedback to the review team
Module 8 - Tracking, Gates and Culture
- Finding ownership and response
- Action against acceptance with reasons
- Tracking to closure
- Verification of closure
- Reporting to gate decisions
- Assurance input to approval
- Records and auditability
- Measuring assurance effectiveness
- Assurance culture characteristics
- Making review welcome rather than feared
- Recognising teams that surface their own problems
- Learning across projects
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.
