36 to be honored at Denver meeting
Downey Named Powers Medalist
Marlan W. Downey, who had led two major international oil companies, served as an administrator and professor in academe and is an AAPG past president, has been named the recipient of the Sidney Powers Award, the Association’s highest honor.
Downey had a 30-year career with Shell Oil in management and research, retiring as president of Pecten (Shell) International in 1987. After a brief retirement, during which he founded Roxanna Oil, he joined Atlantic Richfield and served for seven years as president of Arco International.
After retiring from Arco in 1996, he became Bartell Professor of Geoscience at the University of Oklahoma, and chief scientist at the Sarkeys Energy Center. He stepped down in 2002 and remains CEO of Roxanna.
He was awarded AAPG Honorary Membership in 2007 and was the recipient of the Robert H. Dott Sr. Memorial Award in 2003 and served as AAPG president in 2000-01.
Downey also is an AAPG Foundation Trustee Associate as well as Member of the Foundation Corporation and has been honored as “A Living Legend in the Oil and Gas Business” by the Houston Geological Society.
Joining him at the top of the awardees list is M. Ray Thomasson, with Thomasson Partner Associates in Denver and a past AAPG president, who is this year’s recipient of the Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award.
AAPG awards, nominated by the Advisory Council and approved by the Executive Committee, are presented annually to recognize individuals for service to the profession, the science, the Association and the public.
Downey and his fellow honorees will be recognized at the opening session of the 2009 AAPG Annual Convention, which will be held June 7-10 in Denver.
Interviews with Downey and Thomasson will be published in a future EXPLORER, and biographies and citations of all award winners will be included in a future BULLETIN.
Those award winners approved by the Executive Committee and who will be honored along with Downey and Thomasson in Denver are:
Honorary Member Award
Presented to members who have distinguished themselves by their accomplishments and through their service to the profession of petroleum geology and to AAPG.
- Elizabeth B. Campen, Campen Consultants, Billings, Mont.
- John G. Kaldi, Australian School of Petroleum, Adelaide, Australia.
- J. Michael Party, Wagner & Brown, Midland, Texas.
- Peter A. Ziegler, Petroleum Exploration Consulting Services, Binningen, Switzerland.
Outstanding Explorer Award
Presented to members in recognition of distinguished and outstanding achievement in exploration for petroleum or mineral resources, with an intended emphasis on recent discovery.
- Michael S. Johnson, consultant, Denver, honored for his achievement in originating the concept that led to the Parshall Field discovery in North Dakota – and opening the current much publicized and highly successful Bakken Shale play.
Robert R. Berg
Outstanding Research Award
AAPG’s newest award, presented to honor a singular achievement in petroleum geoscience research.
- Bradford E. Prather, Shell International, Houston, honored for his work in deepwater siliciclastic systems, furthering our understanding of slope and base of slope systems.
Distinguished Service Award
Presented to those who have distinguished themselves in singular and beneficial long-term service to AAPG.
- Alistair R. Brown, consultant, Allen, Texas.
- Larry L. Jones, Spartan Petroleum, Houston.
- Mike J. Lakin, Envoi, London, England.
- Dalton F. Lockman, Plains Exploration & Production, Bakersfield, Calif.
- Kenneth M. Mallon, consultant, Houston.
- Randi S. Martinsen, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo.
- Robert C. Mummery, Almandine Resources, Calgary, Canada.
- John E. Ritter, Occidental Petroleum, Houston.
- Stephen L. Shaw, Firstview Resources, Midland, Texas.
- Jack H. West, consultant, Bakersfield, Calif.
Grover E. Murray
Distinguished Educator Award
Presented for distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education, both at the university level and toward education of the general public.
- J. Frederick Read, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va.
- Finn Surlyk, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Special Award
Presented to individuals and organizations whose area of work may not qualify for one of the existing awards, but is worthy of Association recognition.
- Alexei E. Kontorovich, Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysiscs, Novosibirsk, Russia. One of the most influential, honored and recognized geologists living in Russia, Kontorovich has had a profound impact on the mapping and assessment of oil and gas reserves in most Russian basins.
- Akif Ali Narimanov, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Public Service Award
Presented to recognize contributions of AAPG members to public affairs – and intended to encourage such activities.
- Owen R. Hopkins, Suemar Exploration, Corpus Christi, Texas, for promoting geosciences in the public and at schools, including his efforts to have a U.S. Geological Survey Time and Terrain Map of the United States mounted prominently in south Texas schools.
Pioneer Award
Presented to long-standing members who have contributed to the Association and who have made meaningful contributions to the science of geology.
- James D. Lowell, consultant, Denver. A 52-year member of AAPG, Lowell has specialized as an expert in structural geology on domestic and international projects that include the North Sea, South America, Southeast Asia, Trinidad, Somalia, the Middle East, Europe and Alaska.
Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author(s) of the best AAPG BULLETIN article published each calendar year.
- Joe Cartwright, Mads Huuse and Andrew Aplin, for “Seal Bypass Systems,” which appeared in the August 2007 BULLETIN. Cartwright and Huuse are with 3DLab, School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom, and Aplin is with NRG, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom.
Robert H. Dott Sr.
Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author/editor of the best special publication dealing with geology published by the Association.
- Tor H. Nilsen, Roger D. Shew, Gary S. Steffens and Joseph R.J. Studlick, for Studies 56, Atlas of Deepwater Outcrops. The late Tor Nilsen was a consultant, former U.S. Geological Survey geologist and a legendary instructor for AAPG; Shew is with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and consulting geologist, Wilmington, N.C.; Steffens is with Shell International E&P Inc., Houston; and Studlick is with Maersk Oil America Inc., Houston.
J.C. “Cam” Sproule
Memorial Award
Presented to recognize and reward younger authors of papers applicable to petroleum geology.
- David R. Pyles, for the paper “Multiscale Stratigraphic Analysis of a Structurally Confined Submarine Fan: Carboniferous Ross Sandstone, Ireland.” Pyles is with the Chevron Center of Research Excellence, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo.
George C. Matson Award
Presented to honor and reward the best oral presentation at the AAPG Annual Convention in San Antonio.
- Mark Knackstedt, for the paper “Carbonate Petrophysical Parameters Derived from 3-D Images.” Knackstedt is with the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Knackstedt’s co-authors are Mahyar Madadi, Christoph Arns, Gregor Baechle and Gregor Eberli. The paper was part of the session on “New Directions in Carbonate Reservoir Characterization.”
Jules Braunstein Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best poster presentation at the 2008 AAPG Annual Convention in San Antonio.
- Tim Dooley, Michael Hudec and Martin Jackson, for the poster “Dismembered Sutures Formed During Asymmetric Salt-Sheet Collision.” All are with Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin.