Principles of Petroleum Engineering

Every decision in petroleum engineering carries weight. Whether a well flows safely, how much of a reservoir's oil and gas is recovered, and whether a development earns its investment all depend on engineers who can reason quantitatively about fluids moving through rock far below the surface.
Yet the subject is often learned in fragments: reservoir behavior in one course, drilling in another, production in a third, economics at the end. Equations arrive without the reasoning that connects them, correlations are used without their limits, and units are left to chance. The result is knowledge that can be recited but not confidently applied.
Principles of Petroleum Engineering closes that gap. Its fourteen chapters follow the life cycle of a hydrocarbon reservoir, from the way oil and gas form and accumulate, through formation evaluation, drilling, completion and production, to recovery, reserves and project economics. Every chapter builds from first principles, names its assumptions and carries units through each calculation.

Inside, you will:

• Understand rock and fluid behavior: porosity, permeability, capillary pressure, wettability, phase behavior and the fluid property correlations used in everyday reservoir calculations.
• Read the subsurface: interpret the standard open-hole log suite, estimate water saturation and net pay, and integrate log and core data.
• Plan and complete wells: wellbore pressures, the pore-pressure and fracture-gradient window, casing, drilling fluids, directional drilling, well control, cementing, perforating and sand control.
• Analyze production: locate a well's operating point with inflow and outflow performance methods, diagnose common problems and compare the main artificial lift systems.
• Interpret reservoir performance: read drawdown and buildup tests with semi-log and derivative plots, and estimate reserves with volumetric, material balance and decline curve methods.
• Evaluate recovery and value: assess waterflooding, thermal, miscible and chemical recovery, shale and heavy oil development, and weigh projects with discounted cash flow and decision analysis.