Sedimentary Basin Exploration and Hydrocarbon Potential Training Course

Course overview

Every hydrocarbon accumulation is the outcome of a working petroleum system, and every petroleum system lives inside a basin with its own history. This course teaches geoscientists to read that history: how a basin formed and subsided, how sediments filled it, and whether the right ingredients came together in the right order to charge and trap hydrocarbons. It is a course about reasoning from geology to opportunity.

Rather than treating prospects as isolated targets, the material builds an understanding of the system that produces them. Participants learn to test a play the way an exploration team does, weighing source, reservoir, seal, and trap against timing and preservation, and expressing the result as a defensible view of risk instead of a hopeful guess.

Where this fits in exploration workflows

Frontier and near-field exploration both depend on a clear-eyed assessment of the petroleum system before capital is committed. Teams weigh source rock maturity, migration timing, and trap integrity against seismic, gravity, and magnetic evidence, then rank prospects on a consistent basis so that scarce drilling budgets go to the strongest opportunities.

Basin studies also feed everything downstream, from reservoir prediction to development planning, and they lean heavily on the depositional understanding covered in sedimentology and basin analysis for energy exploration. Global producing basin analogues give explorers a reference frame, letting them calibrate a new area against systems whose outcomes are already known.

What you will be able to do afterwards

By the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• Classify a basin as rift, foreland, or passive margin.
• Reconstruct basin architecture using sequence stratigraphy.
• Assess petroleum system elements: source, reservoir, seal, and trap.
• Interpret source rock maturity from TOC and vitrinite reflectance.
• Reason through hydrocarbon generation, migration, and timing.
• Set up 1D, 2D, and 3D petroleum-systems models conceptually.
• Rank plays and prospects with a consistent risk assessment.

Course outline

Unit 1: Introduction to sedimentary basins

• Basin classification: rift, foreland, and passive margin.
• Plate tectonics, subsidence, and accommodation.
• Source and reservoir distribution across basin types.
• Basin history and the working petroleum system.

Unit 2: Stratigraphy and basin architecture

• Sequence stratigraphy and facies analysis in basin fill.
• Systems tracts for reservoir and seal position.
• Stratigraphic correlation using well and seismic data.
• Reading architecture to anticipate lateral facies change.

Unit 3: Petroleum system elements

• Petroleum system elements from source to trap.
• Source rock maturity from TOC and vitrinite reflectance.
• Hydrocarbon generation and migration from kitchen to trap.
• Role of timing and preservation in play success.

Unit 4: Basin modeling and exploration techniques

• Modeling burial and thermal history in 1D, 2D, and 3D.
• Imaging basin structure: seismic, gravity, and magnetic.
• Calibrating models with well data and maturity indicators.
• Turning model output into charge and migration scenarios.

Unit 5: Hydrocarbon potential and case studies

• Assessing play and prospect risk consistently.
• Calibrating new areas with global basin analogues.
• Walking through a basin evaluation from data to ranking.
• Communicating hydrocarbon potential to decision-makers.

How the course is delivered

Sessions combine expert-led discussion with worked examples and documented case studies from real basins around the world. Participants follow guided walkthroughs of interpreted basin datasets and petroleum-system models, then join group exercises that weigh evidence and rank prospects. The approach keeps attention on geological reasoning and how conclusions are defended, not on any particular software tool.

Who should attend

The course is intended for geoscientists and exploration professionals who assess or support hydrocarbon prospectivity.

• Exploration geologists and geophysicists.
• Basin analysts and petroleum-systems specialists.
• New-ventures and portfolio staff evaluating opportunities.
• Technical managers who review play and prospect assessments.

About EuroQuest International Training

Since its founding in 2015, EuroQuest International Training has delivered over 1,000 courses to more than 15,000 participants. The organization is based in Bratislava, Slovakia, and maintains training hubs in Dubai, London, Barcelona, Istanbul, Vienna, Paris, and Geneva, serving professionals throughout the energy and geoscience industries.

Frequently asked questions

Does the course include live basin-modeling software or a laboratory session?

No. The course is discussion and case-study based, so instead of running basin-modeling software live, participants review completed models and interpreted datasets and focus on the geological logic that connects burial history to charge and trap.

How much prior exploration experience do I need?

A basic grounding in geology is enough to begin. The course builds the petroleum-systems framework step by step, so early-career geoscientists and experienced explorers looking to formalize their approach both benefit.

Will we look at real basins or only theory?

Real basins are central to the course. Global producing basin analogues and documented evaluations run through the material, giving participants concrete reference points instead of abstract principles alone.

Related courses

• Petroleum Reservoir Characterization and Modeling
• Advanced Seismic Interpretation and Exploration Technologies
• Geological Exploration and Resource Assessment
• Reservoir Engineering and Enhanced Recovery Techniques

Register for this course

To join this course or arrange a dedicated session for your team, contact EuroQuest International Training and register your interest. We are happy to discuss dates, locations, and content so you can plan attendance with confidence.