Title: "Lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico"

Maxium 40 people ONLY

Presented by:

In oil and gas exploration the greatest competition is often associated with the acquisition of the lease or resource.  Onshore or offshore the concepts are similar, develop your “play” or geologic concept to find and develop hydrocarbons, and then locate and acquire your leases. Onshore this is done on both public and private lands.  However, in the offshore waters, state and federal governments control the leases.  This short course will provide an overview of the offshore leasing process to compliment the onshore process familiar to many students in the intermountain west.

Twice a year, the United States Government holds a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico to encourage the discovery of new oil and gas fields and to increase domestic production.  Oil companies compete aggressively to have the opportunity to drill the most attractive of these exploration opportunities.

In order to help management decide how much to invest in available blocks, oil company geophysicists and geologists conduct technical analyses to better understand the size of the targets and the “riskiness” of each drilling opportunity. 

This course will illustrate how Shell’s understanding of the Mars Field (one of the largest in the Gulf) evolved from the time before it was drilled, to when it was fully developed.

After a brief introduction to geological risk, the attendees will next be invited to review three “undrilled” prospects in the Gulf of Mexico, to form their own technical views, and to participate in a simulated lease sale.

Four teams will compete against each other and will see the ultimate results of their technical and “business” decisions.

This will provide and excellent opportunity to improve your understanding of what really happens in offshore exploration and development and, more importantly, will give you a chance to outdo your peers in the race to be “the most successful up and coming oil and gas company”.