24-Pet-B3 Petroleum Geology · May 2016
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
National Exams, May 2016 — 98-Pet-B3, Oil and Gas Evaluation and Economics (3 hours, closed book, approved non-programmable calculator only). The exam's own cover page is titled "Oil and Gas Evaluation and Economics" and every question is property valuation / reserves & production economics / DCF-NPV screening content — no geology anywhere.
Reference texts: Thompson & Wright, Oil Property Evaluation; Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook (COGEH), Vol. 1 (Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers, Calgary Chapter); National Instrument 51-101, Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities (Canadian Securities Administrators); SPE/WPC/AAPG/SPEE Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS); Economides & Nolte, Reservoir Stimulation; Ahmed, Reservoir Engineering Handbook.
The exam's own instructions ask for only 7 of the 10 short-answer questions and note the Cash-Flow/Future-Value tables are graded by column; for "choose N of M" exams, every item below is answered in full as a study resource. Questions 1–10 correspond to the exam's printed Short-Answer items 1–10; Questions 11–20 correspond to the printed Multiple-Choice items 1–10; Question 21 is the Future Value table; Question 22 is the Cash Flow table.
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
a. Russia
b. Brasil
c. Australia
d. Japan ← correct
e. Nigeria
Answer: (d) Japan. Japan has essentially no domestic oil or gas production of consequence and imports nearly all of its hydrocarbon energy (historically via LNG and crude tanker imports); it is a net importer, not an exporter. Russia (pipeline gas and crude), Australia (LNG), Brazil (pre-salt offshore crude) and Nigeria (crude and LNG) are all significant net hydrocarbon exporters. Japan's position is a direct consequence of its geology — a small, tectonically active island nation with essentially no sedimentary basins hosting commercial oil or gas accumulations — which is why, despite being one of the world's largest energy consumers and a major LNG-import hub, it has never developed a domestic upstream export industry the way its resource-rich trading partners have.
