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Wyoming

Explorer Article By Barry Friedman

Alaska’s North Slope Holds ‘Incredible’ Promise, and Controversy

Alaska’s North Slope is the best conventional onshore oil play in the world. That’s according to Bill Armstrong, CEO and president of Armstrong Oil and Gas, Inc. And, he will give no quarter on his belief about how robust the future is for the North Slope’s prospects. In short, Armstrong calls the area “incredible.”

Added on 01 May, 2023

Explorer Historical Highlights By Brent Greenhalgh

Frontier Exploration in the Rocky Mountain West

There are times when national and local forces combine in such a way that the entire hydrocarbon value chain is realized in a frontier area over the course of only a few years. Such was the case for the natural gas fields in southwestern Wyoming over the decades of the 1920s to the ‘40s.

Added on 01 April, 2022

Explorer Article By Heather Saucier

What Does the Cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline Mean?

Desperate to ship crude oil from the oil-rich province of Alberta to the Irving Oil Refinery on Canada’s east coast, Cenovus Energy took the path of least resistance last summer. It sent oil 710 miles through the Trans Mountain Pipeline to its west coast terminal in British Columbia, loaded it on a tanker, and began a 7,500-mile journey – through the Panama Canal – and up the eastern seaboard to New Brunswick. To an outsider, that statement might seem absurd, when the distance between Alberta’s prolific oil sands and the refinery is 2,600 miles – less than a third of the distance traveled by Cenovus. Yet, it was considered a successful transaction, given the fact that there is no pipeline connecting Alberta, the location of the world’s third largest oil reserves, to Canada’s east coast, the location of the country’s largest refinery.

Added on 01 April, 2021

Explorer Article By David Brown

The Cumulative Super Basin of the Rocky Mountains’ Niobrara-Mowry Shale

The world’s super basins have their roots in deep time and their fruits in long-standing, prolific oil and gas production. But that doesn’t mean the industry understands them completely or knows where they all are. One potential super basin complex in the Rocky Mountains area of the United States isn’t even officially named yet. Located mostly in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, bounded to the northeast by the older Williston Basin and to the west by the Sevier thrust belt, it contains numerous, present-day basins including the Powder River, Big Horn, Wind River, Green River, Uinta, Piceance and Denver basins.

Added on 01 January, 2021

Explorer Article By Heather Saucier

'We Need Explorationists for New Minerals'

As companies work toward developing alternative sources for a world with ever-increasing energy demands, energy minerals are moving to the forefront of the conversation. AAPG’s Energy Minerals Division finds itself in the spotlight these days for its work in prospecting alternative energy sources, such as geothermal and hydrates, for commercial use. “We’ve got good momentum right now with interest in alternative energy,” said Ursula Hammes, AAPG Member, EMD president and president at Hammes Energy and Consultants.

Added on 01 December, 2020

Explorer Historical Highlights By JIm Felton,William Barrett

The Big One That Got Away

In 1994, while chairman and CEO of Barrett Resources, I got a call from my good friend Ray Thomasson, who said, “Bill I have a prospect Larry McPeek has worked up in the Wind River Basin that you might find interesting.” I’d worked every feature of geology in Wyoming’s Wind River Basin and was familiar with about every well drilled there during my career, so I frankly considered myself somewhat of an expert on the basin ... The Cave Gulch Prospect was located along the Owl Creek Thrust in a geologically complex area.

Added on 01 March, 2020

Explorer Emphasis Article By Heather Saucier

Basin and Super Basin

As basins such as the Permian have crushed the concept of “peak oil” by doubling past production rates using new ideas and technology, their newly dubbed “super basin” status is inspiring operators on practically every continent to do the same.

Added on 01 January, 2020

Explorer President’s Column By Mike Party

Make Your Life a Diamond

While traveling to various events this summer, I have heard comments that members are glad to see some of the Executive Committee at these events, but wonder why more of the Executive Committee are not present. In years past, the Executive Committee would attend most of the sectional meetings along with the International Conference and Exhibition and Annual Convention and Exhibition.

Added on 01 October, 2019

Explorer President’s Column By Mike Party

The Importance of Geology

At the recent URTeC conference, I gave a luncheon talk about the importance of the geology within the Permian Basin as it relates to the unconventional and horizontal plays within the basin. As we move into the “mining stage,” one tends to forget that these plays exist because of the geology. Technology allows us to get the oil out, but the geology put the oil in.

Added on 01 September, 2019

Bulletin Article By Brian Horsfield,David J. Curry,Heather LaReau,Nicolaj Mahlstedt,Richard Wirth,Yuanjia Han

Factors controlling source and reservoir characteristics in the Niobrara shale oil system, Denver Basin

This paper clarifies the controls of oil retention in the Niobrara Formation, Denver Basin, in the western United States. Sweet spots have been recognized using a total of 98 core samples from 5 wells with maturities covering the oil window.

Added on 22 August, 2019

Online e-Symposium

Friday, 27 March 2009, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

The Many Faces of GIS: Oil and Gas Applications, New Directions, Careers

Join two GIS/geoscience experts Scott Sires and Gerry Bartz as they use information from the Teapot Dome Field in Wyoming (DOE/RMOTC program).

Added on 02 December, 2013

Online e-Symposium

Thursday, 23 July 2009, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

3D Seismic Profiles of U.S. Shale Plays

As commodity prices have dropped, many shale plays have become uneconomical as statistical plays and have increasingly become recognized as geological plays demanding new insights from data.

Added on 02 December, 2013

Online e-Symposium

Thursday, 16 February 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

Seismically Driven Characterization of Unconventional Shale Plays

This presentation describes a proven workflow that uses a standard narrow azimuth 3D seismic, conventional logs, image logs and core data to build five key reservoir properties required for an optimal development of shale plays.

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