An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Unconventional Resource Assessment & Valuation
Type Curves, Resources and Play Valuation
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Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 3,500
Starting From
19 Apr 2027
Home Geology and Geoscience Unconventional Resource Assessment & Valuation
Unconventional Resource Assessment & Valuation
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Unconventional Resource Assessment & Valuation - GG-UNCVAL-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG-UNCVAL-PEA27 | 19 - 23 Apr 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
3500 |
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Unconventional Resource Assessment & Valuation
This training covers resource assessment and valuation in unconventional plays. It works through resource definitions for continuous accumulations, in-place volume estimation, type curve construction and validation, decline analysis and estimated ultimate recovery, well count and spacing assumptions, parent-child effects on recovery, reserves booking requirements, economics and valuation and the assessment of unconventional acquisition opportunities.
Description
Valuing an unconventional position reduces to three numbers: how many wells can be drilled, what each one will recover and what each one costs. All three are contested. The well count depends on spacing assumptions that have changed repeatedly as plays matured; the recovery per well depends on type curves extrapolated from short production histories by methods that systematically disagree; and the interference between wells reduces both. Getting these numbers right, with their uncertainty, is the whole of unconventional valuation.
This training covers the assessment and valuation chain. Resource definitions for continuous accumulations are established first, covering how the standard classification systems treat unconventional resources. In-place volume estimation follows. Type curve construction and validation are then developed in detail, covering well grouping, normalisation, averaging methods and the common errors. Decline analysis and estimated ultimate recovery follow, covering Arps and the modified methods developed for unconventional wells, the terminal decline problem and the sensitivity of the recovery estimate to the extrapolation method. Well count and spacing assumptions are then addressed. Parent-child effects on recovery follow. Reserves booking requirements are then developed. Economics and valuation follow. The training closes with acquisition assessment.
Hyperbolic decline extrapolated without a terminal limit gives an infinite recovery. The Arps hyperbolic equation with a b-factor above one does not converge: integrated to infinite time it produces unbounded cumulative production. Unconventional wells commonly fit b-factors above one over their early history, so the extrapolation must be truncated, either by imposing a terminal exponential decline or by using a method that converges. The choice of terminal decline rate and switch time can change the estimated ultimate recovery by a large margin, and it is an assumption rather than a measurement.
Type curves built from averaged production are biased, usually upwards. If wells are averaged at each month of production, wells that were shut in, that failed early or that were never completed drop out of the later months, so the average at month forty is calculated from the surviving wells only. This survivorship effect inflates the late-life average and therefore the recovery. Building type curves with all wells carried forward, including zeros for inactive wells, gives a lower and more honest answer. The difference between the two methods on the same data set is routinely significant.
Spacing assumptions have moved in both directions and the history is instructive. Early unconventional development assumed wide spacing; then operators tightened spacing substantially to maximise drainage; then interference and parent-child damage led many back towards wider spacing. The well count in a valuation is therefore an assumption that has repeatedly proved wrong in both directions, and a valuation that applies a single spacing with confidence is overstating its precision. Testing the valuation across a spacing range, and understanding how recovery per well changes with spacing, is the appropriate treatment.
Finally, downspacing does not add value if it only accelerates. Drilling more wells in the same rock recovers the hydrocarbon faster and, past a point, recovers very little additional volume, because each well drains part of what its neighbours would have drained. The value of additional wells is then the time value of earlier production less the capital cost, which can easily be negative. Distinguishing incremental recovery from acceleration requires comparing the recovery per well against spacing, which the production data in a developed play can support.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Apply resource definitions and classification to continuous accumulations
- Estimate hydrocarbon in place in unconventional reservoirs
- Construct type curves and avoid survivorship bias
- Validate type curves against the underlying well population
- Apply decline analysis methods and recognise their assumptions
- Estimate ultimate recovery and quantify its method dependence
- Assess well count and spacing assumptions and their history
- Quantify parent-child interference effects on recovery
- Apply reserves booking requirements to unconventional resources
- Value unconventional positions and assess acquisition opportunities
The training works on production data sets from developed unconventional plays. Participants build type curves by different methods and compare the results, run decline analyses with different extrapolation assumptions and measure the spread in recovery, and analyse recovery against spacing to separate acceleration from incremental recovery. Valuations are built and defended against a panel.
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Build type curves without survivorship bias
- State the method dependence of recovery estimates
- Test valuations across spacing assumptions
- Separate acceleration from incremental recovery
- Account for interference in development plans
- Improve the quality of unconventional valuations
Participants will:
- Construct and validate type curves
- Run decline analysis competently
- Quantify recovery uncertainty
- Assess spacing and well count assumptions
- Value unconventional positions
- Review acquisition opportunities critically
- Reservoir engineers in unconventional assets
- Geoscientists assessing unconventional resources
- Planning and portfolio staff
- Reserves and assurance staff
- Commercial and business development staff
- Analysts evaluating unconventional positions
- Technical staff supporting acquisition work
Module 1 - Resource Definitions
- Resource classification systems
- Continuous accumulation treatment
- Prospective and contingent resources
- Reserves categories
- Technically against commercially recoverable
- Undeveloped location classification
- Proved undeveloped requirements
- Resource maturation through development
- Definitions applied to unconventional plays
- Common classification errors
- Disclosure requirements
Module 2 - In-Place Volume Estimation
- Volumetric calculation for continuous accumulations
- Area and thickness determination
- Porosity and saturation inputs
- Free and adsorbed hydrocarbon
- Hydrocarbon in place per unit area
- Protocol dependence of input data
- Uncertainty in in-place volumes
- Mapping in-place volume across a play
- Recovery factor estimation
- Recovery factors observed in plays
- In-place volume against recovery relationship
- Limitations of volumetric approaches
Module 3 - Type Curve Construction
- Type curve purpose and use
- Well grouping criteria
- Grouping by area, vintage and completion
- Normalisation before averaging
- Averaging methods: mean, median, aggregate
- Survivorship bias and its magnitude
- Carrying inactive wells forward
- Time zero alignment
- Early time data and flowback
- Probabilistic type curves
- P10, P50 and P90 type curves
- Type curve validation methods
Module 4 - Decline Analysis
- Arps decline equations
- Exponential, hyperbolic and harmonic forms
- b-factor determination and its range
- Non-convergence of hyperbolic decline
- Terminal decline imposition
- Switch time and terminal rate selection
- Modified hyperbolic methods
- Stretched exponential methods
- Duong method
- Power law exponential method
- Comparison of methods on the same data
- Method dependence of recovery estimates
Module 5 - Rate Transient and Physical Methods
- Flow regimes in unconventional wells
- Linear flow and its diagnosis
- Boundary dominated flow onset
- Rate transient analysis methods
- Square root of time plots
- Contacted volume estimation
- Fracture half length estimation
- Matrix permeability estimation
- Physics based forecasting
- Comparison against empirical decline
- Data requirements for rate transient analysis
- When physical methods are preferable
Module 6 - Spacing, Well Count and Interference
- Spacing assumption history in plays
- Drainage area estimation
- Well count per section calculation
- Vertical stacking and multiple benches
- Recovery per well against spacing
- Incremental recovery against acceleration
- Parent-child interference mechanisms
- Child well performance degradation
- Parent well damage from frac hits
- Quantifying interference from production data
- Optimal spacing determination
- Spacing sensitivity in valuations
Module 7 - Reserves and Assurance
- Reserves booking requirements
- Reasonable certainty standard
- Analogue well support for bookings
- Proved undeveloped location limits
- Five year development rule
- Technical documentation requirements
- Third party audit expectations
- Reserves revisions and their causes
- Performance revisions in unconventional plays
- Assurance of type curves
- Common audit findings
- Maintaining booking support
Module 8 - Economics, Valuation and Acquisitions
- Well level economics
- Capital and operating cost inputs
- Breakeven price calculation
- Net present value per well
- Development schedule and its effect
- Rig and completion capacity constraints
- Position level valuation
- Risked and unrisked inventory
- Acreage valuation per unit area
- Acquisition screening and due diligence
- Red flags in unconventional valuations
- Presenting a valuation with its uncertainty
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.
