Pre-Convention Short Course 1

AAPG Pacific Section (PSAAPG) and Division of Environmental Geosciences (DEG)

Principles of Geologic Carbon Sequestration

Date: Saturday, 21 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Location: Convention Center
Instructors: Hannes E. Leetaru, Scott Frailey and Sallie Greenberg (Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, Illinois), Marcia L. Couëslan (Schlumberger Carbon Services, Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Mike Bruno (Terralog Technologies, Monrovia, California)
Fee: Professionals $250; Students $125 (limited)
Includes: Course notes and refreshments
Limit: 40 people

Carbon sequestration is an emerging field that is becoming a business opportunity for petroleum companies. This workshop reviews the basics of site selection and characterization for carbon sequestration projects. The workshop will discuss the importance of different types of geophysical data and geologic well control for initial site selection and later monitoring and verification of the CO2 plume with a focus on deep saline reservoir sequestration. In addition, the workshop will show how enhanced oil recovery is intimately involved with the business of carbon sequestration.

Topics discussed will include the process of site selection, site characterization, reservoir modeling, geophysical monitoring and verification, permitting and outreach.

Workshop elements:

• Sequestration: an emerging industry
• Site selection and reservoir characterization
• CO2 trapping mechanisms and caprock considerations
• CO2 plume migration (reservoir modeling)
• CO2 enhanced oil recovery and CO2 storage
• Application and development of tools for sequestration projects
• Geophysical and subsurface well monitoring
• Verification of the CO2 plume
• Saline reservoir sequestration
• Regulatory framework and the new class VI U.S. EPA rules
• Effective communication and outreach
• California sequestration project update

Pre-Convention Short Course 2  SOLD OUT

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Shale Gas Reservoir Assessment — An Integrated Approach

Dates: Saturday, 21 April–Sunday, 22 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Location: Convention Center
Instructors: Christopher D. Laughrey and Chad Hartman (Weatherford Labs, Golden, Colorado) and Pat Lasswell (Weatherford Labs, Houston, Texas)
Fee: AAPG Members $995 (Increases to $1,095 after 23 March); Nonmembers $1,095 (Increases to $1,195 after 23 March); AAPG Student Members $115 (limited)
Includes: Course notes and refreshments
Limit: 50 people
Content: 1.5 CEU or 15 PDH

The class is particularly appropriate for professionals who are new to shale-gas reservoirs and for specialists in one area who want to acquire general knowledge of other aspects of shale-gas science and technology.

By the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• Apply the principals of petroleum systems analysis to the exploration phase of shale-gas reservoir prospect evaluation.
• Plan and execute a shale-gas core acquisition and analytical program.
• Understand the methods of petrophysical characterization of shale-gas reservoirs.

This course is a practical and applied introduction to laboratory techniques routinely employed in shale-gas reservoir assessment and their relationship to some of the other tools used in the industry. Class emphasis is on explaining which analytical techniques can best address specific questions, what caveats must be kept in mind when employing these tools, what are the strengths and limitations of laboratory analyses in shale-gas assessment, and how to interpret conflicting data from different analyses.

Theory is kept to a minimum and selected practical exercises will help participants learn to review laboratory data, recognize problems with the data, and to cultivate a feel for interpreting laboratory data and integrating these interpretations with other geological and engineering information.

Pre-Convention Short Course 3 CANCELED

AAPG Pacific Section (PSAAPG) and San Joaquin Geological Society (SJGS)

Psychological and Geologic Interpretation

Dates: Saturday, 21 April–Sunday, 22 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Location: Convention Center
Instructors: Edward Donaldson and Mark A. Sykes (ExxonMobil, Houston, Texas)
Fee: Professionals $240; Students $120 (limited)
Includes: Course notes and refreshments
Limit: 30 people

One of the most important tasks a petroleum geologist undertakes is to recognize and incorporate uncertainty concepts into their geologic interpretations and estimates of volumetric parameters. This is crucial because the first requirement for sound decision making is an accurate and unbiased evaluation of potential hydrocarbon volumes.

Reducing uncertainty is a worthy, but secondary, objective. Not only is the information upon which geologists make such judgments imperfect, incomplete and potentially biased, but the pernicious effects of certain human factors can amplify bias and create unreliable results, often with ranges of uncertainty, if expressed at all, being too narrow.

A wide variety of human factors which influence such judgments have been revealed over recent years by applying psychological research techniques to geologic interpretation issues. Examples of such cognitive biases include anchoring, overconfidence and the extensive use of heuristics and intuition.

Pre-Convention Short Course 4 SOLD OUT

Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM)

Sequence Stratigraphy for Graduate Students

Dates: Saturday, 21 April–Sunday, 22 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Long Beach
Instructors: Vitor Abreu, Jack Neal, David Cleveland and Jay Kalbas (ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston, Texas)
Fee: $25 (Graduate Students only)
Includes: SEPM Concepts in Sed. & Paleo. #9, refreshments and lunch
Limit: 50 people

This course is designed to teach graduate students the principles, concepts and methods of sequence stratigraphy. Sequence stratigraphy is an informal chronostratigraphic methodology that uses stratal surfaces to subdivide the stratigraphic record. This methodology allows the identification of coeval facies, documents the time-transgressive nature of classic lithostratigraphic units and provides geoscientists with an additional way to analyze and subdivide the stratigraphic record.

Using exercises that utilize outcrop, core, well log and seismic data, the course provides a hands-on experience to learning sequence stratigraphy. The exercises include classic case studies from which many sequence stratigraphic concepts were originally developed.

The main objectives of the course are to review:

• Basic concepts and terminology of sequence stratigraphy.
• The stratigraphic building blocks of depositional sequences.
• Recognition criteria for the identification of depositional sequences and their components in outcrops, cores, well logs and seismic.
• The application of sequence stratigraphy in non-marine, shallow marine and submarine depositional settings.

The objective of the class is to acquaint participants to the battery of cognitive biases and traps that may affect their geological interpretations, and to suggest possible mitigations. This will be achieved by presenting tangible examples from everyday life and then applying the same concepts to the geologic realm.

Pre-Convention Short Course 5

Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM)

Analyzing Facies Patterns of Modern Carbonate Sands and Their Potential as Analogs for HC Reservoirs

Dates: Saturday, 21 April–Sunday, 22 April
Times: Saturday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. and Sunday, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Long Beach
Instructors: Paul (“Mitch”) Harris (Chevron Energy Technology, San Ramon, California), James Ellis (Ellis GeoSpatial, Walnut Creek, California), and Sam Purkis (National Coral Reef Institute, Nova Southeastern University, Dania Beach, Florida)
Fee: Professionals $300; Students $50 (limited)
Includes: Course notes, refreshments, GIS software and SEPM CW22; SC53; SC54
Limit: 50 people
Content: 14 PDH, 1.4 CEU

Processed satellite images, derived bathymetry (Digital Elevation Models), and interpretation maps for several modern carbonate sand bodies, mostly from the Bahamas, are organized into a GIS and form the basis for the short course. Goals are to develop morphometric data that will hopefully stimulate further studies of modern carbonate sands and enhance the potential of the modern deposits as analogs for hydrocarbon reservoirs. Each carbonate sand body is subdivided based on common sandbar patterns and analyzed for size and spatial patterns.

Objectives of the short course are:

• To overview the geological setting of each study area.
• Present details of the workflow for image processing, building the GIS, creating a bathymetric DEM, and delineating the sand bodies and sand bars.
• Discuss detailed results of the sand body interrogation including statistical methods and comparison of results to previous work.
• Present examples of moving the geospatial data from a high-end GIS into lower cost and more readily available viewers, i.e., GeoPDF, GoogleEarth, animation, and ArcExplorer.

Subjects to be discussed include recent advances in air- and space-borne remote sensing technology relevant to mapping facies distributions in modern carbonate depositional systems. Bring your laptops to load the SEPM digital publications, GeoPDFs, GoogleEarth files and animations. Demonstration CDs of ESRI ArcGIS software (60-day trial license for Windows) will be available to load onto your laptop so you can interactively work with the GIS databases for Caicos, Exumas, Schooners, and TOTO during the workshop and after you return to your office. We will show a diversity of geostatistical tools that can be developed using computational GIS and how they are applicable for the modeling of petroleum reservoirs.

Pre-Convention Short Course 6 SOLD OUT

Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM)

Seismic Geomorphology and Seismic Stratigraphy: Extracting Geologic Insights from 3-D Seismic Data

Date: Sunday, 22 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Long Beach
Instructors: Henry Posamentier (Chevron, Houston, Texas)
Fee: Professionals $175; Students $50 (limited)
Includes: Course notes with CD and refreshments
Limit: 50 people
Content: 8 PDH; 0.8 CEU

This course is designed to enhance interpretation skill sets with regard to geologic interpretation of seismic data. The overall objective is to present methods for reducing risk with regard to prediction of lithology, reservoir compartmentalization and stratigraphic trapping potential in exploration and production.

Specifically, the participant will be shown:

• Workflows designed to facilitate extraction of stratigraphic insights from 3-D seismic data.
• Techniques for 3-D seismic geomorphologic/ stratigraphic analyses
• Numerous examples of various depositional systems in various depositional settings.

The application of seismic geomorphology and seismic stratigraphy to exploration and field development is a natural consequence of the advent of high-quality and increasingly more affordable and widespread 3-D seismic data currently available. Integrating analyses of plan view (geomorphologic) and section view (stratigraphic) images can significantly enhance predictions of the spatial and temporal distribution of subsurface lithology (reservoir, source, and seal), compartmentalization, and stratigraphic trapping capabilities, as well as enhanced understanding of process sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy.

Participants in the course will be exposed to seismic geomorphologic/stratigraphic workflows, which involve:

• Initial reconnaissance through 3-D volumes using various slicing techniques using a variety of different seismic attribute volumes including full stack reflection amplitudes, near and far stacked amplitude volumes, and coherence volumes, as well as opacity rendering.
• Focus on features of geologic interest and further investigate through a combination of detailed slicing, interval attributes, horizon picking and amplitude extraction, horizon illumination, etc.
• Comprehensive integration of seismic geomorphologic analyses with seismic stratigraphic analyses, whereby the plan view is integrated with the section view to ensure a consistent interpretation.

Pre-Convention Short Course 7

Pacific Section SEPM (PSSEPM) and Coast Geological Society (CGS)

Upstream/Downstream Geochemistry-Chemometrics: From Identifying Petroleum Systems to Monitoring EOR

Date: Sunday, 22 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Location: Convention Center
Instructors: Ken Peters (Schlumberger Information Solutions, Mill Valley, California) and Brian Rohrback (Informetrix, Inc, Bothell, Washington)
Fee: Professionals $130; Students $65 (limited)
Includes: Course notes and refreshments
Limit: 30 people

Geochemical measurements of gas, oil and water are powerful tools for upstream and downstream applications. However, their value may not be fully realized when dealing with large numbers of samples and variables. This course describes the critical link between geochemistry and chemometrics that provides solutions to key upstream/downstream problems, such as oil-source rock correlation to establish petroleum systems, prediction of fluid properties and realtime monitoring of enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

For example, sensors installed at production wellheads can monitor the progress of EOR by collecting many measurements on many samples. Such multivariate data can be interpreted using one or two variables at a time, but to work efficiently and reliably, we must process all of the data simultaneously.

Chemometrics extracts information from multivariate data for: Process understanding — explore patterns of association in data; continuous quality assessment — track properties of materials; discrete quality assessment — multivariate classification models.

This course is divided into four parts:

• Chemometrics overview — basic principles without focus on the math; principal component and regression analysis, class modeling
• Multivariate vs. univariate data processing — statistical process control, inferential modeling
• Spectroscopy/chromatography — chemometrics to predict physicochemical properties
• Case studies

Pre-Convention Short Course 8 SOLD OUT

Pacific Section SEPM (PSSEPM) and Coast Geological Society (CGS)

Monterey Formation Seminar and Core Workshop

Date: Sunday, 22 April
Time: 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Location: California State University Long Beach, Hall of Science, Department of Geological Sciences, 1250 Bellflower Boulevard, Long Beach, California
Instructors: Jon Schwalbach (Aera Energy LLC, Ventura, CA) Rick Behl (California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California), Steve Grayson (Schlumberger, Ventura, California) and Bob Ballog (Eagle Exploration and Production, Newbury Park, California)
Fee: Professionals $175; Students $25 (limited)
Includes: Course notes, refreshments and lunch
Limit: 100 people
Note: Participants are responsible for their own transportation to the California State University Long Beach campus (approx. 7 miles).

The Miocene Monterey Formation has played a key role in California’s oil history, acting as the source rock for many of California’s largest fields and serving as a prolific hydrocarbon reservoir for both onshore and offshore accumulations. These hemipelagic deposits are a product of unique tectonic and paleoceanographic conditions. Biogenic components (siliceous, calcareous and organic matter) are important rock constituents. Facies and reservoir quality are a function of the relative proportions of the biogenic components and the fraction of terrigenous materials, and subsequent silica diagenesis. The Monterey has recently received significant attention as a potential shale resource play because of its significant organic richness and readily fractured lithologies.

We plan relatively short oral presentations to introduce the various topics and core displays and then plenty of time to examine cores and talk to the presenters in a poster format. The cores represent a wide range of depositional environments, facies, and diagenetic grade.

Presentation topics and cores will include:

• Margin setting and depositional environments
• Silica diagenesis
• Reservoir characterization
• Geochemical evaluation
• Advanced well log techniques
• Onshore Diatomite Reservoir (cores)
• Onshore California Monterey Reservoirs (cores)
• Offshore California Monterey Reservoirs (cores)

Post-Convention Short Course 9

Professional Women in Earth Sciences (PROWESS) and Association of Women in Geology (AWG)

Unconventional Workforce Assets: Developing Women Leaders in the Energy Industry

Date: Thursday, 26 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Location: Renaissance Long Beach Hotel
Fee: Professionals $150; Students $50 (limited)
Includes: Continental breakfast, lunch and slides
Limit: 150 people

The industry is evolving and so is our workforce. Tight rocks are not the only unconventional resource that merits investment.  Tap into our diverse workforce. Tomorrow’s leaders are an inexhaustible resource that is ready to be discovered.

Attend the AAPG PROWESS short course to talk to some of the industry’s most recognized professionals, in management and lead technical positions, to get their advice in landing a leadership position that will match your skill set and career goals.  Whether you’re preparing for your first job or considering a mid-career move, attend this short course to hear their career tips and get answers to your career questions.

Morning Keynote Speaker: Julie Mahler, Senior Commercial Advisor, ExxonMobil Upstream Ventures, formerly Global Geoscience Recruiting Manager, confirmed

Afternoon Keynote Speaker:  Marcia McNutt, Director, U.S. Geological Survey – first female Director in 30 year USGS history, confirmed

Roundtable Discussion Leaders:

• Bill Barkhouse, SEG Geo-Mentor; Vice Chair, SEG Foundation Board of Directors
• Denise Butler, Geoscience Lead, Shell
• Denise Cox,  from research to operations with Marathon Oil to VP of Storm Energy and Secretary of AAPG
• Gretchen Gillis, previous AAPG Editor, Aramco
• Julie Mahler, previous head recruiter, now Senior Commercial Advisor, ExxonMobil
• Lee McRae, Exploration Manager,  North American Gas (Onshore) Region, BP America Inc.
• Andrea Reynolds, Staff Geologist, Shell Exploration and Production Company

Morning Session - Breakout Discussion Topics:

• Maximizing the value of your technical skills: suggestions on how to navigate the technical learning curve through training and experience.
• Perfecting your professional image:  developing a corporate brand and not a just a label.
• Developing leadership skills: ways all employees can develop leadership skills and influence without authority.

Afternoon Session – Breakout Discussion Topics:

• Expectations of tomorrow’s leaders: skills needed to effectively lead future employees.
• The business of The Business: information on economics and energy policy affecting your career.
• Second career, second success: tips for maintaining a dynamic geosciences career

Post-Convention Short Course 10

Held in conjunction with Field Trip 18

San Joaquin Geological Society (SJGS)

The Basics of Extensional Faulting — An Introduction to the Volcanic Tableland

Date: Thursday, 26 April
Time: 8:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Location: Renaissance Long Beach Hotel
Instructors: David Ferrill and Alan Morris (Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas)
Fee: Professionals $140; Students $70 (limited)
Includes: Course notes and refreshments
Limit: 40 people

This short course is intended as a primer for the Volcanic Tableland field trip, which departs shortly after the conclusion of the course. We strongly recommend that field trip participants also take this course.

The short course will cover:

• Basics of fault systems and fault topology
• Exercises interpreting faults on structure contour maps of the Volcanic Tableland of increasing data resolution
• Exercises interpreting fault gaps on high-resolution structure contour map of single segmented fault from high-resolution GPS mapping data
• Practical application of fault scaling measures
• Fault gap correlation exercise

Emphasis will be placed on the potential impact of common extensional fault system elements (e.g., relay ramps, intersecting conjugate faults) on reservoir connectivity and trap integrity. Interpreters will benefit from examining excellent examples of fault system architecture.

Post-Convention Short Course 11

Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM)

Deltas: Processes, Stratigraphy and Reservoirs

Dates: Thursday, 26 April–Friday, 27 April
Time: 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Location: Renaissance Long Beach Hotel
Instructors: Rob Wellner and Tao Sun (ExxonMobil, Houston, Texas), John Suter (ConocoPhillips, Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and John Snedden (University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas)
Fee: Professionals $350; Students $75 (limited)
Includes: AAPG Getting Started #5-Deltas, course exercises, reference papers, handouts and refreshments
Limit: 50 people
Content: 16 PDH: 1.6 CEU

Deltas are extremely important depositional systems and often source and contain prolific hydrocarbon accumulations. This short course will use modern, physical experiments, numerical models, outcrop, and subsurface examples to describe the major variables governing the stratigraphic architecture of deltas. Both autogenic and allogenic controlling factors, such as paleogeography, paleoclimate (high-latitude vs. tropical/temperate), sediment supply and lithology (coarse-grained vs. fine-grained), sequence stratigraphy and accommodation (lowstand vs. highstand; shelf phase vs. shelf-margin deltas), and depositional environments (active vs. abandoned, river/wave/ tide-dominance), will be discussed. Inputs and influences on geomodels, including variations in reservoir geometry, continuity and heterogeneity, will be a primary focus.

This workshop includes topical lectures, key cores, and a suite of exercises that integrate core, well logs, experimental flume-tank data, and seismic sections to develop identification and subsurface mapping skills within deltaic settings. Exercises include an experimental delta tank exercise and core exercises from modern (Wax Lake Delta of Louisiana), ancient outcrop (Lower Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone and Upper Cretaceous Panther Tongue Sandstone of central Utah), subsurface fields (Vicksburg), and Quaternary (Lagniappe) and ancient (South Timbalier 26) well log and seismic-based exercises. Participants will gain a full appreciation for the depositional processes associated with all types of deltas, recognition criteria for deltaic facies in the subsurface, insight into typical distributions for these lithofacies, as well as the development of key stratigraphic surfaces that can partition deltaic systems into reservoirs and flow units.