Location: Building 5, room 5220

The Petroleum System concept is 45 years old and describes the dynamics of hydrocarbon generation and migration in an evolving structural setting and taking into account rock properties changes through geological times. It is largely used in exploration to assess risks and volumes for oil & gas plays, leads and prospects.

25 years ago the first 3D Basin Modeling software aimed at simulating Petroleum Systems were developed by the industry and rapidly became a standard in the explorations tool-sets.

Following an introduction to the above subjects, practical basin modeling experiences on the Arabian Plate basins will be addressed.  Purpose is also to highlight the limitations of numerical simulations either by the uncertainties of input data, lack of calibration data, simplified complex processes or lack of implementation of processes. Examples will cover both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon habitats ranging from geochemical anomalies to geomechanics.

About Dr. Pierre Van Laer:
Dr. Pierre Van Laer obtained a PhD in Geology (TOTAL Grant) focusing on microbial carbonates from the University of Liege, Belgium. He worked for two years at IGN in satellite image analysis and followed evening course in Computer Sciences at the University of Brussels.

From 1990 he worked for ENI, Milano, Italy and  later for SHELL, Rijswijk, The Netherlands, where he developed 3D Basin Modeling and Stratigraphic Forward Modeling software. He participated in numerous Petroleum System Studies, teaching basin modeling and disseminating new technologies to the operational units and joint ventures of both companies.

In 2002, he joined Saudi Aramco where he worked in exploration covering all basins of Saudi Arabia with source rock characterization studies, basin models and geochemistry. He was part-time reviewer in the prospects and leads  team, and made a total gas resource appraisal which included the early assessment of the unconventional “shale gas” in the Kingdom. 

In 2010 he went to ADCO conventional exploration team and was cross-posted to ADNOC to initiate the unconventional shale gas & oil resource assessment, it's exploration and appraisal.