Luncheons
To add a ticketed luncheon event to your existing registration, please contact Registration.
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Phone: +1 781 821 6732 (Monday–Friday, 08:00 – 17:00) (EDT)
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Fax: +1 781 821 6720
Featured Speaker Luncheon:
The Oil and Gas Industry: Fairly Dragged Through the Mud?
Date: Monday, 24 October
Time: 12:35 – 13:55
Location: Milano Convention Centre, Level 0, Spaces 3+4
Fee: US $50 + 20% VAT
Speaker: Professor Richard J. Davies, Durham Energy Institute, Durham University, Science Labs
To make measured judgements about the cost and environmental impact of different types of energy supply, including oil and gas, national governments, NGOs, industry and publics require a rigorous evidence base. This short talk reviews the role of academia as a potential independent source of expertise and analysis for interpreting complex datasets. We review two well known case studies.
The first is the research into the trigger for the 2006 Indonesian mud volcano which remains active and has caused 13,000 people to lose their homes and 13 fatalities. It could have been caused by an earthquake or a blowout of a petroleum exploration well. Durham University (UK) led an international team which looked at data from both the drilling and the earthquake and through thorough peer-reviewed research and working with the media ensured that a balanced debate was held. The conclusion of most of this work was that drilling caused the blowout and this has received significant press attention. This is a case of the spotlight correctly being aimed at the oil and gas industry and specifically drilling operations.
The second case study on the potential contamination of aquifers with gas, due to shale gas operations in Pennsylvania, USA, we argue this is a case of an injustice against specific gas exploration activities. Here we review the link between fracking and aquifer contamination, concluding that it is erroneous as the main dataset used to argue for a causal link can be explained in several different ways. Again the results attracted significant press attention. The media has generally extracted a subset of the conclusions with the obvious headline ‘fracking causes aquifer contamination’.
Unfortunately some recent publications have had major press coverage, but their results are highly questionable. Despite this we propose that academia should have a major role to play in looking at the impact of oil and gas exploration and outlining the state of the science and triggering clear and rigorous debate. But with this comes responsibility and raises several questions. For example who will fund this important research? There probably needs to be a clear distance between industry and the research itself in order to make the independence of the research sacrosanct.
DPA Luncheon: The Challenge of Energy Security
Date: Tuesday, 25 October
Time: 12:35–13:55
Location: Milano Convention Centre, Level 0, Spaces 3+4
Fee: US $50 +20% VAT
Speaker: Tony Hayward, Former Chief Executive Officer, BP
The recent upheaval in the Middle East has led to widespread predictions of a global energy crisis while the tsunami disaster in Japan and the subsequent difficulties at the Fukushima nuclear plant have stimulated debate about the future of the nuclear power industry. Tony Hayward discusses the key factors to deliver energy security in a turbulent world.
Hayward studied geology at Aston University in Birmingham and completed a PhD at Edinburgh University.
He was Group Chief Executive of BP from 2007 to 2010 having joined BP in 1982 as a rig geologist in the North Sea. Following a series of technical and commercial roles in Europe, Asia and South America, he returned to London in 1997 as a member of the Upstream Executive Committee. He became Group Treasurer in 2000, Chief Executive for BP’s upstream activities and member of the Main Board of BP in 2003.
Tony is a co-founder of Vallares plc. In September 2011 Vallares announced that it planned to merge with Genel Energy International. On completion of the deal Tony will become the CEO of the new company to be called Genel Energy plc. He is a Senior Independent Director of Glencore International AG, a Partner of AEA Investors and a Member of the Advisory Board of Numis. Tony is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh, Aston University and the University of Birmingham.
Exhibitor-Sponsored Luncheon
Date: Wednesday, 26 October
Time: 12:35–13:55
Location: Level 0, Exhibition Hall
Fee: Included with conference registration
Attendees are invited to lunch — courtesy of the exhibitors. Complimentary lunch for all attendees and registered guests will be available in the Exhibition Hall on Wednesday. Take advantage of this opportunity to converse with exhibitors in a relaxed atmosphere while enjoying an informal lunch. AAPG wishes to thank the exhibitors for their generous sponsorship of this event.
Special Lunchtime Lectures
After enjoying complimentary lunch and visiting with exhibitors in the Exhibition Hall on Wednesday, enjoy one or both of the following special lectures.
Granular Matters
Date: Wednesday, 26 October
Time: 12:55–13:25
Location: Milano Convention Centre, Level 0, Spaces 3+4
Fee: Included with conference registration
Speaker: Michael Welland, Author and Geoscientist
We encounter sand, both professionally and personally, in a wide variety of contexts, some helpful, some frustrating. Common to all are the unique and often bizarre behaviours of sand as the quintessential granular material. Some of the more extraordinary results of research physics today continue to reveal how little we actually know about this seemingly mundane material and granular behaviour is the topic of fundamental work in research laboratories around the world. Much of the physics of granular materials links directly to geological phenomena — grain transport by fluids and so on — and raises the question of the benefit to earth scientists developing a familiarity with some of the revelations of this apparently esoteric area of scientific research.
Drilling into the Heart of a Volcano: Campi Flegrei, Southern Italy
Date: Wednesday, 26 October
Time: 13:25–13:55
Location: Milano Convention Centre, Level 0, Spaces 3+4
Fee: Included with conference registration
Speaker: Juergen Thurow, University College London
Campi Flegrei is the birthplace of myth and legend; it is also one of the most dangerous
volcanoes on Earth. Identified by the ancients as an entrance to Hades, Campi Flegrei is a volcanic field, 12 km across, that has been the site of eruptions for at least 50,000 years. Bordering the west of Naples, in southern Italy, it is dominated structurally by a caldera, formed by a collapse of the crust during the escape of 40 km3 of magma in a single eruption 15,600 years ago. The district has since been the site of at least 56 eruptions, ranging in size from about 1-2 km3 (just smaller than the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius, 30 km away, that destroyed Pompei and Herculaneum) to a few hundredths of a cubic kilometre. The last eruption occurred in 1538, since then the population of Campi Flegrei has grown to some 1.5 million.
In addition to eruptions, the caldera has undergone vertical movements (both uplift and subsidence) of tens of meters for at least 5,000 years. Most recently, the inner 100 km2 of the district have been subject to episodes of major unrest, in 1968-72 and 1982-84, which together have produced a net maximum uplift of 3 m. The uplifts were centered about 1 km east of the old port of Pozzuoli and ended 430 years of subsidence. In both cases, concern about an eruption triggered the evacuation of as many as 40,000 people from the Pozzuoli district.
The uplifts were produced by increases in pressure in the crust at depths of about 3 km. Because the 1538 eruption was preceded by a century of similar uplift, a major concern is that the volcano might be preparing for a new episode of volcanic activity. To investigate conditions in the zone of deformation, a 4-km borehole is scheduled to be drilled into the caldera during 2011. Sponsored by the International Continental Drilling Programme, the new borehole will complement a drilling program for geothermal energy, conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s by eni.
The new borehole will also be used to seek deposits from at least six explosive eruptions with volumes of several hundreds of km3 that are known to have occurred immediately north of Campi Flegrei during the past 250,000 years. Unfortunately, material from most of these super-eruptions is poorly exposed on land, so that the new borehole offers a unique opportunity to sample the deposits and to evaluate their regional impact on the environment, as well as their potential influence on global climate.
