Annual Report 2007: FY July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007
Energy Minerals Division
The Energy Minerals Division (EMD) strives to be the premier organization for professional development in the technical fields of coal, coalbed methane, energy economics and technology, gas hydrates, gas shales, geospatial information and remote sensing, geothermal, oil sands, oil shale, and uranium. EMD provides benefits to AAPG members through publications and sponsored activities at professional meetings. Basic information on technical fields is in the public area of the EMD Web site.
EMD increased its membership by 63 members last year. As of June 1, 2007, EMD had a total of 1,353 members. Fund balance at the end of Q3 FY2007 was $170,180, an increase of $12,341. Publication sales as of Q3 FY2007 were $2,286, mostly from the Coal Atlas. Dues income for EMD last year (FY2006) was $21,595. Projection of annual dues for FY2007 is $22,475–a 4% increase.
EMD officers met in Dallas on August 25, 2006 for an All-Division workshop to refine mission statements and set major goals. EMD’s mission is to advance the science and technology of energy minerals in an environmentally safe manner.
EMD’s major goals for 2006–2007 were:
- Enhance the EMD Web site for each commodity section: play overviews, commodity/committee reports, workshops, presentations, abstracts/ publications, calendar, references/Web links, meetings, and technical fields information.
- Increase EMD’s visibility by offering more sponsored activities.
- Advance EMD-sponsored publications.
EMD Web site Chair Creties Jenkins created new guidelines for standardizing report content and posted material by committee chairs and councilors. Significant new material was added to the Members Only section of the Web site. An informative slide set introducing EMD, by Southwest Section Councilor Jeffrey Levine, and slide sets of EMD-sponsored luncheon talks were posted in the Outreach section. EMD sessions at the 2006 International AAPG Convention at Perth included geothermal/alternative energy, coalbed methane, oil from coal, and CO2 sequestration. EMD officers gave presentations at the GCAGS meeting in Lafayette, Louisiana, the Eastern Section meeting in Buffalo, New York, and the Southwest Section meeting in Wichita Falls, Texas. Gulf Coast Councilor Mike Wiley arranged a session on uranium at the 2007 GCAGS meeting in Corpus Christi, Texas. Stephen M. Testa was the EMD vice chair for the 2007 AAPG Annual Convention in Long Beach, California, with EMD-sponsored sessions on shale gas, coal (with DEG), heavy oil, and alternative energy. Vince Matthews presented China and India’s Ravenous Appetite for Natural Resources - Their Potential Impact on Colorado at the EMD luncheon, sponsored by Nahama Natural Gas, Signal Hill Petroleum, and Trio Petroleum.
EMD Vice Chair Donna Balin, Technical Chair Mike Wiley, and Field Trip/Workshop Coordinator Amy Sullivan arranged 18 EMD-sponsored or co-sponsored sessions, four forums, three short courses and two field trips for the 2008 AAPG Annual Convention in San Antonio. EMD also is sponsoring a coalbed methane workshop and sessions on coal, coalbed methane, gas hydrates, and oil shale at the 2008 AAPG International Convention in Cape Town. Laura Wray is the EMD vice chair for the 2009 AAPG Annual convention in Denver.
The EMD/DEG Publication, Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Geological Media-State of the Art, is scheduled for Annual Report 1741 completion in 2007. Matthias Grobe is EMD committee chairman for the publication, supported by a $20,000 grant from the Bureau of Economic Geology and a $15,000 grant from the AAPG Foundation. Progress continued on the second edition of the Atlas of Coal Geology (AAPG Studies in Geology 45), co-sponsored by The Society for Organic Petrology. Alexander Papp is the EMD editor, and the AAPG Foundation provided a $6,000 grant. Progress continued on Gas Hydrates: Energy Resource Potential and Associated Geologic Hazards, edited by Art Johnson and Tim Collett. The volume is supported by a $12,000 grant from the AAPG Foundation and is scheduled for completion in 2008.
Work continued on the CD-ROM publication Geospatial Technology Applications for Exploration and Production of Petroleum with Samuel Limerick editor. EMD continued to co-sponsor the scientific quarterly journal Natural Resources Research. Douglas Peters served as EMD editor. In late 2007, EMD plans to publish a series of comprehensive energy mineral commodity reports in Natural Resources Research with EMD past President Peter Warwick serving as editor. EMD columns on clean coal, gas shales, EMD activities at the 2007 AAPG annual convention, and uranium appeared in respective issues of August 2006, November 2006, February 2007, and May 2007 AAPG Explorer.
EMD was a sponsor for the 2007 Southwest Section meeting in Wichita Falls, and approved an annual increase of up to $2,000 for the Energy Minerals Grant scholarship fund. EMD expanded its international presence by appointing Barry Goldstein as the new Councilor for the Asia/Pacific Region, Abelardo Sánchez Araiza for Latin America, and John Dolson for Europe. EMD also initiated work on a comprehensive geospatial database of all energy mineral technical fields.