Petroleum Geosciences and Engineering

Searching for and extracting oil and gas require exceptional computer modelling. Seismic processing and interpretation, numeric stimulation of flow in reservoirs and geological modelling of sediment environment and oil migration are amongst the largest application areas for computer utility in today’s world. By choosing Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering, you may specialize within these particular fields.

A common feature for these fields is that you by means of computers can calculate highly complex, physical systems. Only the most powerful computers are capable to manage these large modelling systems, and NTNU's super computer centre which consists of two SGI Origin 3800L computers with a total calculation power of nearly 1 Tflop, is well suited for this purpose.

In addition, the Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics recently installed a ”floor to roof” advanced virtual reality laboratory which we use for visualization of large, complex amounts of data such as seismic and geological data and flow processes in reservoirs.

Within the Petroleum Geosciences and Engineering specialization, you may further specialize within the following profiles:

• Profile – Basin Modelling

Basin modelling deals with the description of the physical processes taking place in a sedimentary basin, including basin formation, sediment transport and sedimentation and subsidence and thermal history. Modelling of hydrocarbon generation and migration are particularly important. Within several of our research areas we cooperate with the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, and SINTEF Petroleum Research.

• Profile – Reservoir Simulation

The planning of oil and gas extraction from petroleum reservoirs is based on enormous amounts of data from geology, seismic, petrophysics, rock type properties and the chemical properties of the reservoir fluids. All these data are fed into a reservoir simulation model that employs the data in large equation systems. By solving these equation systems we may describe the reservoir’s behaviour when using different extraction strategies. Typical problems include estimating extraction by means of water injection compared with gas injection, or the effect of the number of wells on the extraction rate. Reservoir simulation is one of the heaviest computing applications there is. As the data information for reservoirs are attached with uncertainty, statistical uncertainty analyses are also an important element in the calculations.

• Profile – Seismic

Seismic is the most common method for mapping and surveying oil and gas reservoirs. Seismic waves are created by air guns, and these waves are reflected from the interface between different sediment layers under the seabed. Such raw seismic data need major processing before a completed 3D image of the subsurface can be presented. In the processing and visualizing of seismic data, powerful computers are a necessity, both as regards computing power and graphical representation. In recent years, visualization of data in a 3D visualization laboratory has proved useful when interpreting 3D seismic data.