Applied Petroleum Geology

The job profiles and requirements for geoscientists working in the energy business are undergoing profound changes driven by the need for decarbonization. There is considerable uncertainty, giving rise to several questions: what skills are required from geoscientists in this emerging energy world? What is expecting geoscience graduates in an applied geology environment? How is digitalization changing the future work environment? With all those uncertainties there is one certainty: classical geological skills, combined with subsurface geological methods and technologies developed over many decades in the petroleum industry, will play a continuous and even growing role in the energy transition.


This five-day seminar will cover the application of geoscience concepts to subsurface energy solutions from a business perspective. The methods and techniques discussed in this course are equally applicable and required for exploration as well as the rapidly emerging energy transition solutions like deep geothermal, hydrogen storage and carbon capture and storage. The primary objective of the course is to highlight the role and the responsibility of geoscientists in subsurface projects ranging from hydrocarbon exploration and development to low carbon energy solutions. Students will get an impression how scientific concepts and methods in sedimentology, structural geology and geochemistry are applied in a typical work environment, illustrating how geoscience drives commercial decisions. New and emerging technologies and geoscience trends will continuously be highlighted. Since state-of-the-art subsurface projects are always a team effort, students will also be familiarized with the interface to other disciplines like reservoir engineering, drilling engineering and commercial evaluation. This course is highly interactive: an important element will be “real-life” case histories and strategy games where teams are requested to solve geoscience problems in a typical industry environment.

Students will acquire knowledge on the basic principles of play-based exploration and the basic concepts of risk management in exploration. The course will also provide a basic understanding of the impact of geological modeling on reserves and resources, the prediction of fluid flow in the reservoir and the resulting infrastructure decisions. Students will be prepared for working in an interdisciplinary industry environment by touching on success factors and pitfalls of effective teamwork as well as an introduction to project management principles and selected useful tools to evaluate decisions.


The course will be offered as part of the Bremen Sustainability Certificate initiative.

Exploration case history on a typical continental margin environment

Completion of the case history using techniques acquired during the course

Projektarbeitsbericht

- Rose, Peter (2001): Risk Analysis and Management of Petroleum Exploration Ventures (AAPG Methods in Exploration No. 12)
- Tearpock, D.J. and Bischke, R.E. (2020): Applied Three-Dimensional Subsurface Geological Mapping: With Structural Methods (Pearson)

1st SWS: Role of geoscientists in the E&P industry
2nd SWS: Hydrocarbon demand/supply and climate change
3rd SWS: Introduction to play based exploration
4th SWS: Uncertainty and risk analysis in exploration
5th SWS: Resources, reserves and field development
6th SWS: Introduction to project management
7th SWS: Principles of effective team work
8th SWS: Practical training
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