Abstracts

• 50731 Characteristics of Sandy Hyperpycnite Deposits on the Shallow, Southern Margin of Eocene Lake Uinta, the Green River Formation of Northeastern Utah Gravity flows play an important role in distributing clastic sediments into lacustrine basins at the front of fluvial-deltaic systems due to the tendency of sediment-laden rivers to plunge along the bottoms of lower-density lake waters. Fluvial derived underflows can be relatively long lived, perhaps on the scale of weeks, and distribute substantial volumes of sand far into the profundal zone of lacustrine systems that are otherwise characterized by chemical sediments and clay and silt sized clastics. This paper examines the properties of these sandy hyperpycnites in the Eocene Lake Uinta (Green River Formation) of the Uinta Basin in Northeastern Utah using outcrop, core, and wellbore data. These deposits are of particular interest due to the developing tight oil play which exploits them using horizontal wellbores. Facies typical of gravity flows display recurring sedimentary structures that represent different flow conditions. A typical bed consists of well sorted, fine and very fine grained sandstone with a flat base that may include clay chips (rip-ups) within massive or low angle cross beds, with planar beds often overlying them. These are overlain by thick beds of climbing ripples with individual ripple trains reaching over two feet in thickness. Climbing ripples are a consistent characteristic of these deposits, occurring even when other sedimentary structures typical of these beds are absent. In proximal areas supercritical climbing ripples can comprise the bulk of the deposit, with subcritical climbing ripples being more common in distal portions of the flow. Thin planar sands and interbedded silts and claystone top out the deposit, with the entire gravity flow ranging from less than a foot to over 15 feet in thickness. Soft-sediment deformation is common, particularly in the basal portions of the deposit, with typically including ball and pillow, flame structures, and convolute bedding. Hyperpicnal sandstone lobes of up to a mile in width and several miles in length have been mapped using well data. Individual lobes branch off larger feeder channels, forming larger fans and fan complexes. These extensive, well sorted sandstone complexes are unlikely to originate in surge-like gravity flows, instead probably represent seasonal sediment-laden fluvial underflows. Characteristics of Sandy Hyperpycnite Deposits on the Shallow, Southern Margin of Eocene Lake Uinta, the Green River Formation of Northeastern Utah
  Characteristics of Sandy Hyperpycnite Deposits on the Shallow, Southern Margin of Eocene Lake Uinta, the Green River Formation of Northeastern Utah
• 19031 Exploration in the Cretaceous Foreland Basin: Work Where You Play The world famous stratigraphy in the Cretaceous Foreland Basin of the North American Rockies has been producing commercial quantities of oil and gas for 150 years and will likely still be targeted by explorers 150 years from now. There are few better places for a geologist to work with beautiful exposures of important reservoir rocks often only miles from locations where the same rocks are being targeted by the drill bit. Many geologists find themselves visiting the area to do field work and staying for vacation. This talk addresses basin classification, the origin of the Cretaceous Foreland Basin and explores stratigraphic trends common to this type of basin. We then will discuss petroleum systems contained within the greater basin and what controls prospectivity, finishing up with an example of a developing exploration play. Exploration in the Cretaceous Foreland Basin: Work Where You Play
  Exploration in the Cretaceous Foreland Basin: Work Where You Play
• 19035 Finding Value in Old Oil and Gas Fields The easiest place to find petroleum deposits are where they have been found before, and nowhere is that old adage more true than in the continental U.S. Often oil and gas operators recover a very small fraction of the original volume of petroleum in place, which are written off because they cannot be economically produced. This talk compares vintage development techniques with today’s technology to examine how these changes may offer a smart geologist opportunities in the search for new reserves. We will then discuss the Trail Field in SW Wyoming as a case study of successful discovery of major new reserves in a very old field. Finding Value in Old Oil and Gas Fields
  Finding Value in Old Oil and Gas Fields
• 50732 Fluvial Prophecy: How Stream Piracy Will Destroy Towns in South Central Montana Gravity flows play an important role in distributing clastic sediments into lacustrine basins at the front of fluvial-deltaic systems due to the tendency of sediment-laden rivers to plunge along the bottoms of lower-density lake waters. Fluvial derived underflows can be relatively long lived, perhaps on the scale of weeks, and distribute substantial volumes of sand far into the profundal zone of lacustrine systems that are otherwise characterized by chemical sediments and clay and silt sized clastics. This paper examines the properties of these sandy hyperpycnites in the Eocene Lake Uinta (Green River Formation) of the Uinta Basin in Northeastern Utah using outcrop, core, and wellbore data. These deposits are of particular interest due to the developing tight oil play which exploits them using horizontal wellbores. Facies typical of gravity flows display recurring sedimentary structures that represent different flow conditions. A typical bed consists of well sorted, fine and very fine grained sandstone with a flat base that may include clay chips (rip-ups) within massive or low angle cross beds, with planar beds often overlying them. These are overlain by thick beds of climbing ripples with individual ripple trains reaching over two feet in thickness. Climbing ripples are a consistent characteristic of these deposits, occurring even when other sedimentary structures typical of these beds are absent. In proximal areas supercritical climbing ripples can comprise the bulk of the deposit, with subcritical climbing ripples being more common in distal portions of the flow. Thin planar sands and interbedded silts and claystone top out the deposit, with the entire gravity flow ranging from less than a foot to over 15 feet in thickness. Soft-sediment deformation is common, particularly in the basal portions of the deposit, with typically including ball and pillow, flame structures, and convolute bedding. Hyperpicnal sandstone lobes of up to a mile in width and several miles in length have been mapped using well data. Individual lobes branch off larger feeder channels, forming larger fans and fan complexes. These extensive, well sorted sandstone complexes are unlikely to originate in surge-like gravity flows, instead probably represent seasonal sediment-laden fluvial underflows. Fluvial Prophecy: How Stream Piracy Will Destroy Towns in South Central Montana
  Fluvial Prophecy: How Stream Piracy Will Destroy Towns in South Central Montana
• 50730 Migrated Oil Plays: Unconventional Oil and Gas Development is So Much More than Just Shale The energy renaissance in the United States is often described in a single word in the media: shale. As in “drilling for shale gas” or “shale oil development in North Dakota.” Modern unconventional development techniques have made oil and gas production profitable from so many more play types than just self-sourced shales. In this talk we will explore how classical petroleum concepts such as petroleum migration, buoyancy and capillary forces can be combined with unconventional drilling and completions to discover and produce large volumes of oil and gas from non-shale lithologies. Marginal Bakken and Green River plays will be used as case studies to demonstrate these concepts. Migrated Oil Plays: Unconventional Oil and Gas Development is So Much More than Just Shale
  Migrated Oil Plays: Unconventional Oil and Gas Development is So Much More than Just Shale
• 50729 Pitfalls in Geological Mapping Within Unconventional Oil and Gas Plays Historically geologists have identified oil and gas prospects by mapping a conventional reservoir's water saturation (Sw), porosity (Phi) and thickness (H). These three measurements proved to be reliable predictors of reservoir productivity and could be integrated into a single calculation, the SoPhiH map. In conventional plays, a SoPhiH map can be used to quickly identify sweet spots. In tight oil plays, however, SoPHiH maps can mislead operators as to where the highest yielding reservoirs are due to the complex nature of unconventional reservoirs and the necessity to hydraulically stimulate the rock. One example is the first bench of the upper Three Forks in the Williston Basin, where core helium porosities and water saturations, when averaged over the entire reservoir interval, are relatively consistent over large areas. Since averaged Sw and Phi do not change significantly, areas with the greatest reservoir thickness calculate the highest SoPhiH. Operators have targeted areas with the thickest first bench but unfortunately, the zones with the highest calculated SoPhiH ultimately proved to have some of the poorest production. This is due in part to the variability of different lithologies within the Three Forks and associated effective porosity and permeability. Careful identification and separation of lithologies and facies within the first bench and measurements of reservoir properties such as capillary pressure and brittleness within each facies are critical in identifying potential sweet spots. Unconventional production is impacted by many factors that are not included in SoPhiH maps and these maps should be used with care. Pitfalls in Geological Mapping Within Unconventional Oil and Gas Plays
  Pitfalls in Geological Mapping Within Unconventional Oil and Gas Plays
• 19033 Putting an Exploration Play Together in the Age of Unconventional Development The world has changed for exploration geologists, with new development tools such as horizontal drilling and large volume hydraulic fracturing available to help mitigate risk. The imperative to identify permeable facies, traps and oil migration pathways have changed to identifying large, in place hydrocarbon volumes, over-pressure cells and lithologies that respond well to hydraulic fracturing. This talk walks through the tools an exploration geologist should have in his analytical and technical toolkit that may not have been as important in the past, such as geochemistry, geomechanics, reservoir and frac modeling, capillary pressure analysis and big-date mapping techniques. We then review two case studies of how profitable unconventional resources were identified and developed using these tools. Putting an Exploration Play Together in the Age of Unconventional Development
  Putting an Exploration Play Together in the Age of Unconventional Development
• 19034 The Absolutely Unique Bakken Petroleum System and the Future of Unconventional Oil Development The Bakken Petroleum System is largely acknowledged as the first large-scale unconventional oil target in the modern U.S. energy renaissance. For nearly twenty years companies have been searching for similar opportunities in other basins with decidedly mixed results. Unfortunately, a number of characteristics that combine to make the Bakken a prolific oil producer also make it unique, including the lack of large scale tectonic deformation, ideal source rocks and maturity over a massive area, laterally consistent stratigraphy, a strong mechanical roof on the system, private ownership of minerals and a collaborative regulatory environment. In this talk we will identify how the lack of even one of these characteristics has prevented many potential prospects from taking off and how developing technology has compensated in some cases to unlock less ideal deposits. A number of prospective plays are identified along with the technical hurdles that must be overcome before they can be developed economically. The Absolutely Unique Bakken Petroleum System and the Future of Unconventional Oil Development
  The Absolutely Unique Bakken Petroleum System and the Future of Unconventional Oil Development
• 19036 The Future of Energy: Why You Can Have a Successful Career as a Geologist in the Oil & Gas Industry A common concern for geology students and departments is the current job market. No one wants to do work for years to become a technical expert in geology only to learn that no one will pay them for that expertise. Fortunately the demand for competent geologists has never been higher and salaries have never been better. By 2021, AGI projects a net deficit of 150,000 geoscientists across North America due to rising demand, rising retirement rates and falling graduation rates. This talk addresses the skewed demographics of geologists, government and industry employment trends, what geological subsets are likely to prosper in the near and long term and how students can best prepare themselves for a career in the geosciences. The Future of Energy: Why You Can Have a Successful Career as a Geologist in the Oil & Gas Industry
  The Future of Energy: Why You Can Have a Successful Career as a Geologist in the Oil & Gas Industry
• 19037 The Uinta Basin: Center of the Geological Universe The Uinta Basin has been the focus of groundbreaking geological research for 150 years, with famous geologists like Powell, Hayden, and King having done early work there and all of the major peaks in the Uinta Mountain Range being named for prominent 19th century geologists. More recently, sequence stratigraphy was largely developed with the help of world class marginal marine outcrops at the basin’s southern boundary. This talk reviews the basin’s long history from Proterozoic assembly through Pleistocene glaciation and how an understanding of the basin’s history and geology helps to mitigate natural disasters, plan for urban growth and provide for best practices in the area’s extractive industries. The Uinta Basin: Center of the Geological Universe
  The Uinta Basin: Center of the Geological Universe
• 19032 What Recruiters Are Looking For (And Why You Should Care) Few careers are as rewarding financially or personally as being a professional geologist, particularly in oil and gas. However, with higher salaries and employment perks come greater expectations and challenges in obtaining a top job. This presentation reviews the basics of writing a resume that catches the attention of a recruiter, how to ace an interview and what students need to know to succeed in an internship. What Recruiters Are Looking For (And Why You Should Care)
  What Recruiters Are Looking For (And Why You Should Care)