Program Set for Inaugural URTeC

The technical program has been set for the inaugural Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC), a joint venture that will bring together for the first time the key disciplines and technologies engaged in the development of North American unconventional resource plays.

URTeC, sponsored by AAPG, the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, will be held Aug. 12-14 in Denver.

The technical program, now available online, boasts papers from petroleum engineers, geologists, geophysicists and other professionals dealing with innovations, best practices and experiences in integrated approaches for North American unconventional resource plays.

The event has been designed to fill the unique need for a peer-reviewed, science-based unconventional resources conference that will take an asset team approach to development of unconventional resource plays – similar to how oil and gas professionals work in today’s market.

URTeC also is designed to:

• Create a premier forum for technical exchange between vendors and users.
• Identify and solve E&P problems.
• Raise the competency of all petroleum professionals.
• Elevate the image of petroleum professionals and the societies in all communities

The technical program includes 20 themes applicable to unconventional resources and appeals to engineers, geologists and geophysicists, including:

• Unconventional Project Development.
• Unconventional Reservoir Characterization.
• Unconventional Shale Plays.
• Unconventional Tight Oil and Tight Gas.
• Unconventional Coal Seam/Bed Methane.
• Other Unconventional Reservoirs.
• Formation Evaluation of Unconventional Reservoirs.
• Fracture Characterization.
• Lateral Well Characterization.
• Flow Mechanics in Tight Reservoirs.
• Laboratory Methodologies.
• Reservoir Monitoring.
• Organic Geochemistry.
• Well Performance Prediction.
• Fluid Behaviors.
• Drilling Optimization.
• Completion Optimization.
• Geomechanics.
• Three-D Seismic Applications.
• Health, Safety and Environmental Issues.

The three technical program co-chairs are AAPG Honorary Member and past president Steve Sonnenberg, with the Colorado School of Mines; AAPG member Ken Beeney, with Devon Energy; and Luis Baez, with BG Group.

“The combined power of these three leading scientific organizations means URTeC has the potential to be the most substantial inter-society collaboration since the Offshore Technology Conference began in the 1960s,” they write.

Online registration will be available April 1.