“Characterisation of Asian Reservoirs” was the topic for Thailand’s first AAPG Geosciences Technology Workshop, held March 31-April 1 in the country’s capital city of Bangkok.
Despite the impact of low oil prices on professional development budgets, abundant local layoffs and the distance from global E&P companies and industry research centers, the event attracted 102 participants from 12 countries within and beyond the Asia Pacific Region. Most attendees were industry professionals (including consultants), with the balance from academic and research organizations. Though most of the attendees were from the Bangkok professional community, there was also a healthy contingent of Chinese professionals, who added significant diversity to the talks as they discussed fractured reservoirs, carbonates and older rocks.
A couple of comments from the attendees:
Jaume Vendrell, Principal Development Geophysicist, Ophir Thailand : Thanks for organising a very interesting and well-thought-out event.
Rob Ross,Managing Director, Qeye Labs, Australia : It was an excellent workshop
The program was divided into five half-day sessions, focusing on clastic reservoirs (three sessions), non-clastic (carbonate and fractured reservoirs, one session) and low-permeability reservoirs (one session). A keynote paper was presented by Christopher Morley (Chiang Mai University), titled, “Origins, Descriptions and Prediction of Complex Fault Patterns in the Cenozoic Rifts of Thailand.” The paper dealt with understanding outcrop analogues and their tectonic history in order to better understand the fracture systems in the hydrocarbon reservoirs of Thailand.
Twelve posters by students and practicing professionals were on display throughout the event, and time was allowed during coffee breaks and before and after the oral sessions to interact and discuss. Healthy discussions could be witnessed around the posters throughout the workshop.
After each oral session there was a 30-minute discussion time, during which abundant questions from the audience were asked and key points made by presenters were elaborated upon and clarified.
The Best Paper prize was awarded to Jaume Vendrell-Roc, for “Thailand’s First Ocean Bottom Seismic Survey Offers a Renewed Look at the Tectonics and Geology of the Bualuang Field.” It was co-authored by Hans Girling, Suwisa Koysamran and Roger White, all from Ophir Energy.
The Best Poster prize was won by Reybi Waren, for “Syn-Rift Lacustrine Axial Delta Reservoir Quality and Its Distribution: New Insight from Sumpur Delta in Singkarak Lake, West Sumatra, Indonesia.” His co-authors were Endo Finaldhi, Iqbal Fardiansyah, Enry Horas Sihombing, Fazil Fitris,Habash Semimbar, Satia Graha, Abdullah Faisal Talib and Willy Rhauda Paksi, all from the Indonesian Association of Geologists (IAGI)-Riau Chapter, Indonesia.
The success of this workshop in the face of regional and local layoffs and curtailment of professional development investment within the industry was a testament to an effective organising committee, ably supported by AAPG Asia Pacific Region programs manager Adrienne Pereira. Feedback from the attendees was overwhelmingly positive.
The workshop format and topic were effective in bringing together industry and academia, giving industry scientists an up to date awareness of research topics, while enabling a clearer appreciation of applications in petroleum exploration and development for academic researchers.
AAPG Asia Pacific is deeply grateful to our sponsors, the committee and all delegates for making this first GTW event in Thailand a resounding success.