This document provides guidance on three challenges for an oil exploration simulation: 1) Initial screening - Submit coordinates for 3 basin centres for up to 100 credibility points. 2) Prospecting - Select 3 licensing blocks and well commitments based on environmental, geological, and seismic data for up to 300 credibility points. 3) Exploration - Partner by farming out licenses, drill exploration wells, appraise discoveries, and sell blocks to maximize value for up to 300 credibility points.

1. OilSim Bitesize Guide
Challenge 1 - Initial Screening
1 Available data: Survey Tab - buy and view gravimetric and magnetic surveys under the survey tab
2 Research: compare surveys and calculate centre of 3 basins. E.g. in the gravimetric survey, look for the
east, west, north, and south extremes of the continuous areas of red and yellow colours.
3 Decision: Submit 3 sets of coordinates for the geographical basin centres (e.g. C17; R35) under Task
Form ion the Homepage
4 Evaluation: you get up to 100 credibility points (CP) for calculating the 3 centres, but only after the
deadline has passed
Challenge 2 - Prospecting
1 Available data: Survey Tab - Buy and study Environmentally sensitive area map. Licences will not be
awarded for blocks containing a environmentally sensitive area and no KPs awarded if you choose one.
2 Available data: Survey Tab - Buy and study common risk maps (CRS) for each geological layer. Compare
and decide which blocks contain the highest probability that geological traps contain oil and gas,
indicated with green colours in each of the 3 geological layers. The 3 layers are (from bottom up): 1
Cretaceous, 2 Paleocene, and 3 Eocene)
3 Available data: Survey Tab - Acquire 2D seismic survey batches for the blocks that are of greatest
interest. Buy processed and interpreted Rows or Columns of data for a designated area. BUY BATCHES
OF DATA – ONE BLOCK AT A TIME. Look for blocks that have at least 5 visible geological traps. Cross
check that the bumps or fault line traps also appear on the column or row which intersects the row or
column being reviewed. Beware of possible fault line leakages that are likely if the top of the reservoir
rock is higher than the top of the cap rock on the other side of the fault.
4 Available data: Block Tab - Review the water depth in each block. Scroll towards the bottom. Hover the
mouse over each cell to see the depth. It is more expensive to drill in deep waters, and it costs more to
develop and operate.
5 Research: Within the time constraints, look at all the available data and find out which blocks are the
best and how many wells you need to drill to reach all the prospects. Also, try to assess what the other
teams are going to bid for.
6 Decision: Under Task form on the homepage, submit 3 licensing blocks and specify how many
exploration wells you commit to drill for each one.
7 Evaluation: After the license bid deadline has passed, you will get awarded one block only. The team
that commits to the most wells will be awarded the block. (If two teams bid the same no. of wells, the
team with the most CP (from challenge 1) will get it.)
If you bid for more wells than needed for that block, your bid is void. If you do not get any of the blocks
that you bid for, you will get a random block with no well commitment.
You get up to 300 CP for submitting the best 3 blocks (as defined by green colours in the CRS and at least
5 prospects in the 2D seismic)
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2. Challenge 3a - Partnering
1 Available data: Survey Tab - Buy and review the 3D seismic interpretations for each of the 3 geological
horizons in your block.
2 Research: Prepare you negotiation tactics. Send or show your 3D data to other teams that you are
interested in partnering with. Ask to review the 3D data for their blocks. (To send 3D seismic-press F5
before trying to send)
3 Decision: License tab - send farm-in offers to teams you are ready to do business with. Minimum bid is
$100,000 per 1%. Accept or reject farm-in offers you have received. Incoming bids can be seen in the
Financing box, and outgoing bids can be seen in the Investing box. Current ownership shares can be
seen in the license tab. Make sure you send the Farm-In offer to the right team – more than one team
can already have a share of the licence.
4 Evaluation: When you have farmed-out (sold) at least 20% of your license, you will be allowed to start
drilling. You have to pay your proportional amount of your partner’s expenses in the blocks you farm-in
to, as well as receiving a proportionate amount of value from any finds. The operator of the block takes
all the decision regarding drilling, development, and operation of the block.
Challenge 3b - Exploration Drilling
1 Available data: Block Tab - review water depth and use the printed Drilling Guides to plot the location of
the prospects in the 3D data
2 Drill one exploration well into each prospect in your block to see if they contain any oil or gas.
3 Decision: Choose the cheapest available rig that is suitable for the water depth in your block. All teams
compete for the same rigs.
4 Decision: Choose a service provider for each of 5 categories. Service provider choice is determined by
quality rating and price. Low quality service providers have higher risk of delaying your drilling
operations giving higher overall costs.
5 Decision: Buy the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for your block. This will reveal seabed
restrictions or shallow gas that will increase cost of drilling.
6 Decision: Choose the locations to drill in the Eocene (top), Paleocene (middle), and Cretaceous (bottom)
layers by clicking on the chosen cell on the block matrix. You do not have to drill to all layers - press
Next instead of clicking on a position. You can deviate one cell between each layer
7 Decision: Choose “oil spill control” - it costs 5% extra, but dramatically reduces probability of an oil spill
or gas blowout which costs $5m + normal drilling costs.
8 Evaluation: If oil or gas found, you will get the reservoir characterization for that discovery. The Volume
range is of most interest - with the lower number being Proven/P90 and the higher possible/P10
volumes. The proven volume is used to calculate the license value calculation.
9 Decision: If make a discovery, you should Test the well, by ticking the box, and your reservoir data range
narrows, with the Proven reserves increasing. The cost is 10 days with the same rig and providers.
10 Decision: Survey Tab - When you have drilled a well, you can reprocess the 3D seismic for free to
provide additional reservoir data about each prospect.
11 Evaluation: Block tab - you can see the ranges of all discoveries to help you choose which prospect(s)
have the highest potential of proven reserves and determine where to continue Appraisal drilling.
Drilling should continue until either the value of the block becomes positive, or you can see that it is not
going to get positive.
12 Decision: Sell to BigOil. When you have drilled the committed wells, you can sell your license to BigOil
and get money and credibility points. You can get up to 100 CP per block (max 4 blocks) and you get max
points if you drill into all prospects, prove 50% of the possible volume in all reservoirs, and buy all 3D.
13 Maximize your Value: Try to get the optimal value out of each block you operate and each block you
invest in. When the simulation stops, the value is evaluated and you can get up to 200 CP for that.
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