AAPG Student Chapter Talk

Dr Chris Wibberley, TOTAL E&P, will give a talk titled "Structural Trap and Seal Evaluation: from Conventional to Hydrodynamic Plays".

Abstract

This presentation aims firstly to cover the basic classic techniques for structural evaluation of seals and traps but will quickly advance to less conventional ideas and methods for more ambitious, hydrodynamic plays. The contexts of application are both exploration & appraisal projects in terms of prospect evaluation, and also reservoir projects for field development planning. We will discuss how approaches have classically been very different for these two worlds, from large-scale geological and petroleum systems approaches on the one hand to reservoir-scale geology and engineering on the other, but how the same physical concepts of dynamics flows and reasoning can be applied over a wide range of space / time-scales for both kinds of project. The presentation rounds off by considering implications for structural seal evaluation in HSE studies such as injection projects for optimising production or CO₂ storage.

Biography

Chris Wibberley is a senior geologist and technical advisor at Total E&P, specializing in structural geology, hydrodynamics and seals. After studying geology at Oxford (B.A. degree with Hons, 1991) and Leeds (Ph.D. in basement tectonics, 1995), he held research positions at Montpellier, Kyoto and Cambridge (CASP). He obtained his senior research habilitation as a university lecturer in Nice – Sophia Antipolis before moving to Total in 2007.