Events & Courses

After carefully considering the impact of the current COVID-19 outbreaks on the conference, the convening committee have reluctantly decided to postpone the conference until 11 to 12 May 2022. Please see the new event page for any further information.

Carbonate reservoirs constitute some of the most important sources of global oil and gas production. They form the world’s largest oil and gas accumulations, the world’s highest-producing fields, and have some of the longest production histories. Significant new carbonate discoveries continue to be made, and carbonates are also a source of geothermal energy or may be utilised for gas storage.

Successful development of supergiant carbonate reservoirs can result in plateau production that may last for decades, giving high ultimate recovery factors. But carbonate reservoirs can also be some of the most complex in terms of reservoir quality and heterogeneity. 

Many give disappointing ultimate recovery factors and some are deemed uncommercial with current technologies. Fundamental geological understanding, sufficient and appropriate geological and dynamic data, and the construction of effective models are the keys to optimising the exploitation of such reservoirs.

This conference will focus on how lessons learned from more than a century of discovery, appraisal and development of carbonate reservoirs may be applied to emerging discoveries. It will bring together the experiences of diverse operators with the objective of highlighting best practices for the geological characterisation of carbonate reservoirs from appraisal to production.

Potential session themes

• Excess permeability – blessing or curse?
• Pores vs. stratigraphy – what controls dynamic reservoir behaviour?
• Reservoir analogues – how useful are they?
• Static modelling of carbonate reservoirs – how predictive can we be?
• Multiscale/multidisciplinary dynamic reservoir characterisation – how can we integrate geology effectively?
• Improving recovery/revitalising old carbonate fields – adding value through geological understanding

Planned field trips

• The Carboniferous platforms of Derbyshire, led by Pete Gutteridge (Cambridge Carbonates)
• Zechstein carbonates of the north-east of England, led by Geospatial Research Ltd.

Confirmed keynotes

• Mishrif Formation reservoirs of Rumaila Field (BP)
• Pre-salt reservoirs of Lula Field (Petrobras)

Convenors

• Alun Williams (Equinor)
• Andrew Barnett (Shell)
• Anna Matthews (BP)
• Björn Seyfang (Equinor)
• Ian Saikia (ExxonMobil)
• Jo Garland (Cambridge Carbonates)
• Paul Wright (National Museum of Wales and consultant)
• Trevor Burchette (Royal Holloway, University of London and CRG Ltd)

Venue

The Geological Society of London
Burlington House
London
W1J 0BG

Contact

Please contact [email protected] with any enquiries.