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Explorer Emphasis Article

As so much in the oil and gas industry relies on expert interpretation over unstructured data and understanding of elaborate geological concepts, tracking the production and consumption of conceptual knowledge and information is crucial. Systems need to be developed that can capture these interpretative trails in order to meet the needs of exploration. IBM’s Hyperknowledge Trails may just be that system.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Coherence and curvature are iconic attributes now commonly available on most interpretation workstations that help characterize small- and large-scale faults, large fractures, pinch-outs, buried channels, reef edges and unconformities. The quality of both these attributes, among other factors, relies on accurate estimates of volumetric dip. Coherence, amplitude gradients and GLCM texture attributes should be computed along structural dip, while curvature is computed from volumetric estimates of structural dip. Due to differences in both resolution and sensitivity to coherent noise, different frequency components might exhibit different dip. Such awareness has led to the development of multispectral coherence that makes use of summation of covariance matrices of individual spectral components, rather than just the covariance matrix computed from broadband seismic data.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

History is repeating itself today as low oil prices force collaboration between OPEC and non-OPEC producers. An historical analysis of the real global price of oil shows that OPEC will push up prices when the value of oil drops, as in 1995, or work with non-OPEC countries to defend a value floor, as in 1999 and in 2016 until the present. This value floor is defined by times when OPEC advocated abandoning the U.S. dollar as a basis for pricing oil, or when OPEC and non-OPEC countries collaborated.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Considering that success or failure of unconventional exploration is largely dependent on drilling horizontal wells in the right area and fracturing efficiently, and considering also that geomechanical modeling facilitates these processes, it is easy to see that when industry professionals have a better perspective of the subsurface mechanics, the better chance they have for increased production. That is the point of geomechanical modeling: safer drilling and increased production.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Geologists will soon have a set of software tools that can automatically correlate hundreds of stratigraphic tops that will encompass thousands of well logs. The new approach – a software Python package, ChronoLog – will potentially change how such compilations are done.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

In a world that has seen rock-bottom oil prices, a sharp decline in energy demand, constrained funding for oil and gas and a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the future for unconventional resources looks – Challenging. Although, not too bad. That might seem counter-intuitive, but many analysts say the outlook for unconventionals remains positive even as the oil industry goes through a period of struggle and woe.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

They might have to invent a new designation for the Anadarko Basin: “super-super basin.” An extraordinarily deep basin, it towers far above the standard definition of a Super Basin – a basin containing multiple reservoirs and source rocks with cumulative production of at least 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, and future production potential of more than 5 billion boe. The Anadarko has all that and more.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Fossils and microfossils can be used to determine information about evaporites as well as carbonates and clastics. This is an area that is growing in importance. Join Susan Nash for an interview with Gil Machado, Ph.D. from the University of Lisbon who discusses salt biostratigraphy and its new usefulness.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Asia Pacific Blog

AAPG Asia Pacific is proud to announce the first two sessions of AAPG Asia Pacific Presents, a collection of online presentations being offered free of charge.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) and CCUS (Carbon Capture Use and Storage) are playing an increasingly important role in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Geologists are contributing in several vital ways. Welcome to an interview with Mike Raines, who talks to us today about his experience with carbon capture, use, and storage, and also his view of recent trends and opportunities.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) seismic-reflection surveys provide one of the most important data types for understanding subsurface depositional systems. Quantitative analysis is commonly restricted to geophysical interpretation of elastic properties of rocks in the subsurface. Wide availability of 3D seismic-reflection data and integration provide opportunities for quantitative analysis of subsurface stratigraphic sequences. Here, we integrate traditional seismic-stratigraphic interpretation with quantitative geomorphologic analysis and numerical modeling to explore new insights into submarine-channel evolution.

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Request a visit from Jacob Covault!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

The Earth is not a fragile place, but our place on the Earth is very fragile. Geoscience offers a pathway to understand how the Earth has evolved and the role of biological life forms in that evolution.

Request a visit from Lesli Wood!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

While there are many habitats that are associated with the deposition of organic-rich marine and lacustrine source rocks, one important pathway is linked to the onset of increased basin subsidence associated with major tectonic events. A key aspect is that this subsidence is spatially variable, with the uplift of basin flanks contemporaneous with the foundering of the basin center, resulting in a steeper basin profile.

Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

The Energy sector is a changing business environment. Throughout the 20th century fluctuations of oil supply and demand produced changes in the barrel price that pushed the growth or shrinkage of the industry. In this 21st century, new challenges such as diversification of the energy mix, boosting gas demand, require the exploration of critical minerals and development of new technologies as well.

Request a visit from Fernanda Raggio!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Why H₂ is generated in subsurface? Which are the reactions and the promising geological setting? Example in countries where H₂ have already been found: Australia, Brazil. Kinetic reactions: i.e., Is the natural H₂ renewable? What we don't know yet about this resource and about the H₂ systems (generation/transport/accumulation). Overview of the current landscape (subsurface law, permitting, E&P activity)

Request a visit from Isabelle Moretti!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

This presentation is a survey of subsurface machine learning concepts that have been formulated for unconventional asset development, described in the literature, and subsequently patented. Operators that utilize similar subsurface machine learning workflows and other data modelling techniques enjoy a competitive advantage at optimizing the development of unconventional plays.

Request a visit from Shane Prochnow!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

President Biden has laid out a bold and ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050.  The pathway to that target includes cutting total greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them entirely from the nation’s electricity sector by 2035. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will play an important role in the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by reducing the environmental impacts of fossil energy production and use – and helping decarbonize other hard-to abate sectors.

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Request a visit from Jennifer Wilcox!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Physics is an essential component of geophysics but there is much that physics cannot know or address. 

Request a visit from John Castagna!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

Production from unconventional petroleum reservoirs includes petroleum from shale, coal, tight-sand and oil-sand. These reservoirs contain enormous quantities of oil and natural gas but pose a technology challenge to both geoscientists and engineers to produce economically on a commercial scale. These reservoirs store large volumes and are widely distributed at different stratigraphic levels and basin types, offering long-term potential for energy supply. Most of these reservoirs are low permeability and porosity that need enhancement with hydraulic fracture stimulation to maximize fluid drainage. Production from these reservoirs is increasing with continued advancement in geological characterization techniques and technology for well drilling, logging, and completion with drainage enhancement. Currently, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Egypt, USA, and Venezuela are producing natural gas from low permeability reservoirs: tight-sand, shale, and coal (CBM). Canada, Russia, USA, and Venezuela are producing heavy oil from oilsand. USA is leading the development of techniques for exploring, and technology for exploiting unconventional gas resources, which can help to develop potential gas-bearing shales of Thailand. The main focus is on source-reservoir-seal shale petroleum plays. In these tight rocks petroleum resides in the micro-pores as well as adsorbed on and in the organics. Shale has very low matrix permeability (nano-darcies) and has highly layered formations with differences in vertical and horizontal properties, vertically non-homogeneous and horizontally anisotropic with complicate natural fractures. Understanding the rocks is critical in selecting fluid drainage enhancement mechanisms; rock properties such as where shale is clay or silica rich, clay types and maturation , kerogen type and maturation, permeability, porosity, and saturation. Most of these plays require horizontal development with large numbers of wells that require an understanding of formation structure, setting and reservoir character and its lateral extension. The quality of shale-gas resources depend on thickness of net pay (>100 m), adequate porosity (>2%), high reservoir pressure (ideally overpressure), high thermal maturity (>1.5% Ro), high organic richness (>2% TOC), low in clay (<50%), high in brittle minerals (quartz, carbonates, feldspars), and favourable in-situ stress. During the past decade, unconventional shale and tight-sand gas plays have become an important supply of natural gas in the US, and now in shale oil as well. As a consequence, interest to assess and explore these plays is rapidly spreading worldwide. The high production potential of shale petroleum resources has contributed to a comparably favourable outlook for increased future petroleum supplies globally. Application of 2D and 3D seismic for defining reservoirs and micro seismic for monitoring fracturing, measuring rock properties downhole (borehole imaging) and in laboratory (mineralogy, porosity, permeability), horizontal drilling (downhole GPS), and hydraulic fracture stimulation (cross-linked gel, slick-water, nitrogen or nitrogen foam) is key in improving production from these huge resources with low productivity factors.

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Request a visit from Ameed Ghori!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

In comparison with the known boundary conditions that promote salt deformation and flow in sedimentary basins, the processes involved with the mobilization of clay-rich detrital sediments are far less well established. This talk will use seismic examples in different tectonic settings to document the variety of shale geometries that can be formed under brittle and ductile deformations.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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