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Explorer Article By David Brown

Where Is the Industry Going to Get Its Capital?

'Attracting investment capital looked like a challenge for the oil and gas industry heading into this year, as investors put increased emphasis on profitability and steady returns. At first that situation appeared to be an emerging problem. Then prices fell off a cliff, with damaging results for exploration funding. The worldwide spread of the coronavirus gutted oil demand while a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia left both sides threatening to increase crude production. OPEC+ eventually reached a compromise on cutting output, but most analysts felt it was too little, too late, putting oil and gas in a money crunch. '

Added on 01 May, 2020

Events Blog By Grant Smith

Part of AAPG’s GeoAnalytics Credentialing Program, this two-day online AAPG Short Course, Excel-Based Random Forest Machine Learning Algorithms: Programming and Application 2.0, is set to take place 28–29 April 2020 for web-based participation only.

Added on 21 April, 2020

Learn! Blog By Susan Nash

Interview with Andy James, Bluware. Innovators in Analytics Technology Series.

Dramatic improvements in operational efficiency are possible, thanks to advances in software and new applications of analytics. Welcome to an interview with Andy James, chief product officer at Bluware. Andy talks to us today about what Bluware has accomplished, but also what will be necessary for the future.

Added on 07 April, 2020

Asia Pacific Blog By C.N. Raghavendra Gupta

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies India organises Field Trip in conjunction with Crust20

A report on a field trip taken by the UPES AAPG Student Chapter on 1 February 2020 along the Raipur - Maldevta Section of the eastern Doon Valley

Added on 05 April, 2020

Learn! Blog By Susan Nash

Teaching Geology in the Time of COVID-19: How to Transition to Online Learning

As geoscientists, we have a deep appreciation of the rocks themselves, whether they are in the field or in the lab. We also know that the one constant in geological history is change, and those changes can be both gradual and almost instantaneous (think Chicxulub). Now, COVID-19 is challenging educators to force face-to-face learning environments, including classrooms, laboratories, and field courses to move online. Here is a quick summary of best practices and lessons learned when it comes to transitioning from face-to-face to online learning.

Added on 01 April, 2020

Explorer Division Column DPA By John Jordan

The Painful Impact of Anti-Oil and Gas Policies

It has been said that wise people surround themselves with the smartest people they can find and then listen to them. I am always looking for opportunities to learn something about the future of oil and gas from people in other disciplines. In late February, with that thought in mind, I attended a luncheon hosted by the Unites States Association for Energy Economics at the Federal Reserve building in Houston.

Added on 01 April, 2020

Explorer President’s Column By Mike Party

When Black Swans Come in Flocks

What a difference a month makes. I discussed black swan events in last month’s President’s Column. Let me tell you, the AAPG and the oil industry just got hit with three black swan events all at once: the coronavirus, the stock market’s major drop and the oil price plunge. While the drop in the stock market and the drop in demand for oil have a direct tie to the coronavirus, the unwinding of OPEC+ has added to the oil price drop. Understandably, the events of this past month have caused an increased amount of anxiety for many people.

Added on 01 April, 2020

Explorer Article By Lyn George

Rocky Mountain Section of AAPG Announces Presentation Awards

The Rocky Mountain Section of AAPG is pleased to announce the winners of its Presentation Awards for the section’s 2019 Annual Conference which was held in Cheyenne, Wyo. The Presentation Awards are given to those who present the best technical papers at the annual meeting. Authors gave more than 125 oral and poster presentations on the geology of the Rocky Mountain region at the Cheyenne meeting. Judging on technical merit and presentation determined the winners.

Added on 01 April, 2020

Explorer Geophysical Corner By Ritesh Sharma,Satinder Chopra

The Importance of Fracture Toughness

Shale resource plays are associated with low permeability, so hydraulic fracturing is required for their stimulation and production. In order to enhance the flow of fluids with hydraulic fracturing, it is vital to understand the stress field distribution. The efficiency and effectiveness of a hydraulic fracture stimulation are predicated on adequate horizontal well placement in the subsurface. For that purpose, the horizontal wells are usually drilled in the direction of minimal horizontal stress so that hydraulic fracturing takes place in the direction of maximal stress that ensures better reservoir contact and production, which also depends on how a complex fracture network is created by induced fractures.

Added on 01 April, 2020

Explorer Historical Highlights By Joshua Rosenfeld

Paleogene Drawdown of the Gulf of Mexico?

It all started in 2002, when Unocal revealed that its Trident-1 well had found 400 meters of 70-percent net Lower Wilcox Formation sand in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, about 400 kilometers beyond the contemporaneous shelf break offshore south Texas. Art Berman and I gazed at a GOM activity map and pondered how that amount of sand could have been deposited so far out into the basin. Our working hypothesis was that this sand deposit was due to a drop in base level, but we also knew that the worldwide sea level was not in decline at that time. A log of the nearby Shell Great White well shows that this sand deposition began suddenly and ended suddenly. This was also puzzling, since we were trained to expect gradational coarsening-upward bedding during regression and fining-upward during transgression, rather than the sharp contacts we were seeing. Sudden avulsion of a major river in a deltaic environment could produce something like this, but how could it happen far beyond the shelf edge?

Added on 01 April, 2020

Workshop

Houston, Texas

Thursday, 6 June – Friday, 7 June 2024, 8:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Geothermal, Lithium, Hydrogen: New Energy from Subsurface Fluids Conference

For the first time, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Geothermal Rising are bringing together geothermal, critical minerals and gases to explore the connections between them, either in the formation of the reservoirs or reserves, or in exploring for, evaluating, and producing them. Specifically, the conference will bring together geothermal, lithium, geologic hydrogen, helium, iodine, and more in the form of technical presentations, probing panel discussions, poster sessions, and more.

Added on 12 March, 2024

DL Abstract By John Suppe

Probing What Makes the Crust Strong (or Weak): Insight from Boreholes, Earthquakes, Active Fault Systems, and Toy Models

For well over a century there have been conflicting indications of the strength of the crust and of faults and what controls them. Much of our ignorance comes quite naturally from the general inaccessibility of the crust to measurement--in contrast with our understanding of the atmosphere, which is much more accessible to observation as well as more rapidly changing. Crustal strength is best understood in deforming sedimentary basins where the petroleum industry has made great contributions, particularly in deforming petroleum basins because of the practical need to predict. In this talk we take a broad look at key issues in crustal strength and deformation and what we can learn from boreholes, earthquakes, active fault systems, and toy models.

Request a visit from John Suppe!

Added on 14 September, 2023

DL Abstract By Kurt W. Rudolph

Tectonic Controls on Source Rock Deposition

While there are many habitats that are associated with the deposition of organic-rich marine and lacustrine source rocks, one important pathway is linked to the onset of increased basin subsidence associated with major tectonic events. A key aspect is that this subsidence is spatially variable, with the uplift of basin flanks contemporaneous with the foundering of the basin center, resulting in a steeper basin profile.

Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

Added on 14 September, 2023

DL Abstract By John Castagna

Beyond Physics in Geophysics

Physics is an essential component of geophysics but there is much that physics cannot know or address.

Request a visit from John Castagna!

Added on 14 September, 2023

DL Abstract By Shane Prochnow

Subsurface Machine Learning Approaches at Hydrocarbon Recovery and Resource Forecasting for Unconventional Reservoir Systems

This presentation is a survey of subsurface machine learning concepts that have been formulated for unconventional asset development, described in the literature, and subsequently patented. Operators that utilize similar subsurface machine learning workflows and other data modelling techniques enjoy a competitive advantage at optimizing the development of unconventional plays.

Request a visit from Shane Prochnow!

Added on 14 September, 2023

VG Abstract By Juan I. Soto

Salt versus Shales in Continental Margins and Orogens

In comparison with the known boundary conditions that promote salt deformation and flow in sedimentary basins, the processes involved with the mobilization of clay-rich detrital sediments are far less well established. This talk will use seismic examples in different tectonic settings to document the variety of shale geometries that can be formed under brittle and ductile deformations.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

Added on 26 June, 2019

DL Abstract By Tao Sun

Integrated Reservoir Characterization and Modeling with Computational Stratigraphy

As oil and gas exploration and production occur in deeper basins and more complex geologic settings, accurate characterization and modeling of reservoirs to improve estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) prediction, optimize well placement and maximize recovery become paramount. Existing technologies for reservoir characterization and modeling have proven inadequate for delivering detailed 3D predictions of reservoir architecture, connectivity and rock quality at scales that impact subsurface flow patterns and reservoir performance. Because of the gap between the geophysical and geologic data available (seismic, well logs, cores) and the data needed to model rock heterogeneities at the reservoir scale, constraints from external analog systems are needed. Existing stratigraphic concepts and deposition models are mostly empirical and seldom provide quantitative constraints on fine-scale reservoir heterogeneity. Current reservoir modeling tools are challenged to accurately replicate complex, nonstationary, rock heterogeneity patterns that control connectivity, such as shale layers that serve as flow baffles and barriers.

Request a visit from Tao Sun!

Added on 20 July, 2022

DL Abstract By Isabelle Moretti

The Natural H₂ Exploration Started: Why, Where and by Who?

Why H₂ is generated in subsurface? Which are the reactions and the promising geological setting? Example in countries where H₂ have already been found: Australia, Brazil. Kinetic reactions: i.e., Is the natural H₂ renewable? What we don't know yet about this resource and about the H₂ systems (generation/transport/accumulation). Overview of the current landscape (subsurface law, permitting, E&P activity)

Request a visit from Isabelle Moretti!

Added on 13 September, 2023

DL Abstract By Jennifer Wilcox

The Role of Carbon Capture in Meeting Net-Zero Carbon Goals

President Biden has laid out a bold and ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050. The pathway to that target includes cutting total greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them entirely from the nation’s electricity sector by 2035. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will play an important role in the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by reducing the environmental impacts of fossil energy production and use – and helping decarbonize other hard-to abate sectors.

Request a visit from Jennifer Wilcox!

Added on 20 July, 2022

VG Abstract By Juan I. Soto

How Orogens Could Collapse Forming Sedimentary Basins: The Case of the Betic-Rif Orogen

The Betic hinterland, in the westernmost Mediterranean, constitutes a unique example of a stack of metamorphic units. Using a three-dimensional model for the crustal structure of the Betics-Rif area this talk will address the role of crustal flow simultaneously to upper-crustal low-angle faulting in the origin and evolution of the topography.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

Added on 26 June, 2019

VG Abstract By Keith Gerdes

Tethyan Carbonates - Linking Tropical Seas and Crashing Plates to Some of the Largest Oil and Gas Fields in the World

The carbonate sequences that were deposited in the now exhumed Tethyan Ocean influence many aspects of our lives today, either by supplying the energy that warms our homes and the fuel that powers our cars or providing the stunning landscapes for both winter and summer vacations. They also represent some of the most intensely studied rock formations in the world and have provided geoscientists with a fascinating insight into the turbulent nature of 250 Million years of Earth’s history. By combining studies from the full range of geoscience disciplines this presentation will trace the development of these carbonate sequences from their initial formation on the margins of large ancient continental masses to their present day locations in and around the Greater Mediterranean and Near East region. The first order control on growth patterns and carbonate platform development by the regional plate-tectonic setting, underlying basin architecture and fluctuations in sea level will be illustrated. The organisms that contribute to sequence development will be revealed to be treasure troves of forensic information. Finally, these rock sequences will be shown to contain all the ingredients necessary to form and retain hydrocarbons and the manner in which major post-depositional tectonic events led to the formation of some of the largest hydrocarbon accumulations in the world will be demonstrated.

Request a visit from Keith Gerdes!

Added on 24 August, 2015

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