HomeScience

Science

Explorer Historical Highlights

The presence of petroleum in Peru has been known for several centuries from the numerous oil seeps and outcrops of heavy black asphalt located in the Talara coastal region. Ages before the Spanish presence, the natives prepared the pitch for mummifying their dead, for waterproofing boats and as fuel for light. The earliest Spanish explorers used the pitch from these seeps to caulk their boats and tar their ropes. Finally, in 1869, the La Brea-Pariñas oilfield was discovered by cable-tool drilling, making it one of the first oil production fields in the world.

Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Latin America Blog

Want to be a part of AAPG’s first technical workshop in Bolivia? Register by 7 May, and save US $100.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Middle East Blog

Featuring oral and poster presentations and breakout sessions, this two-day event will include well-known speakers and timely topics! Check it out now!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Innovative graduate programs prepare students to be flexible professionals who possess strong technical backgrounds, as well as the ability to think critically from a number of disciplinary perspectives. Welcome to an interview with Richard Chuchla, Director of the Energy and Earth Resources graduate program at the University of Texas.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Middle East Blog

The second edition of the AAPG 'Carbonate Reservoirs of the Middle East & Their Future Challenges” GTW took place on 30 January – 1 February 2018 at the Crowne Plaza Yas Island Hotel, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. We received 155 attendees from 32 different companies and 14 different countries. This two-day workshop consisted of technical presentations, core display and poster presentations, followed by a third day offering two optional field trips.

Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The books have closed on the successful 2017 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree. The 2017 program offered scouts two different settings to learn about geology. A team comprised primarily of AAPG Member geologists volunteered their time to lead the geology program at the event.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

When Ted Kernan started his online platform WellLogData, he was trying to fix a problem he had long encountered as a geologist: how to best view and interpret a large number of image logs for onshore U.S. basins. Most software, he noted, is made for offshore fields, where wells are in the hundreds. Onshore there is data for millions of wells.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

With ICE in one of the most iconic European capitals, the organization committee wanted to shape an ambitious field trip program that would look beyond the British Isles. Against all odds dictated by the unfavorable state of the industry, three field trips accompanied from start to end the success of ICE in London.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Division Column EMD

When considering the future of our industry, innovation and new technologies are always discussed. It might be splitting hairs but I believe that having a “view” toward the future could be more important.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer President’s Column

Many years ago, I was on the undergraduate Columbia College eight man rowing team in New York. As I think back fondly on those college days, I realize that I learned a lot from my crew team experience on guiding and leading people. I learned that “leadership” is doing the right things, while “management” is doing things the right way. AAPG needs both.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Climate change is not only happening in the atmosphere but also in the anthroposphere; in some ways the former could drive or exacerbate the latter, with extreme weather excursions and extreme excursions from societal norms occurring all over the earth. Accomplishing geoscience for a common goal – whether that is for successful business activities, resource assessment for public planning, mitigating the impacts of geological hazards, or for the sheer love of furthering knowledge and understanding – can and should be done by a workforce that is equitably developed and supported. Difficulty arises when the value of institutional programs to increase equity and diversity is not realized.

Show more

Request a visit from Sherilyn Williams-Stroud!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Local sea-level changes are not simply a function of global ocean volumes but also the interactions between the solid Earth, the Earth’s gravitational field and the loading and unloading of ice sheets. Contrasting behaviors between Antarctica and Scotland highlight how important the geologic structure beneath the former ice sheets is in determining the interactions between ice sheets and relative sea levels.

Request a visit from Alex Simms!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

For well over a century there have been conflicting indications of the strength of the crust and of faults and what controls them.  Much of our ignorance comes quite naturally from the general inaccessibility of the crust to measurement--in contrast with our understanding of the atmosphere, which is much more accessible to observation as well as more rapidly changing.  Crustal strength is best understood in deforming sedimentary basins where the petroleum industry has made great contributions, particularly in deforming petroleum basins because of the practical need to predict. In this talk we take a broad look at key issues in crustal strength and deformation and what we can learn from boreholes, earthquakes, active fault systems, and toy models.

Show more

Request a visit from John Suppe!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Engineering of wind farms, development of carbon sequestration projects in shelfal waters, the proliferation of communication cables that connect the world, all of these things suggest that it is time to re-examine what we know about shelf processes both updip-to-downdip and along shoreline, and the influence of shelf processes on erosion and transport of sediments.

Request a visit from Lesli Wood!

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.

Show more

Request a visit from Jennifer Wilcox!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Subsurface risk and uncertainty are recognized as very important considerations in petroleum geoscience. And even when volume estimates are relatively accurate, the reservoir characteristics that determine well placement and performance can remain highly uncertain. In analyzing results and work practices, three aspects of uncertainty are reviewed here.

Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

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

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

Paleozoic North America has experienced multiple mountain building events, from Ordovician to Permian, on all margins of the continent. These have had a profound effect on the resulting complex basins and their associated petroleum systems. Subsequent uplift, erosion and overprinting of these ancient systems impedes the direct observation of their tectonic history. However, the basin sedimentary records are more complete, and provide additional insights into the timing and style of the mountain building events. In this study, we employ ~90 1D basin models, ~30 inverse flexural models, isopachs, and paleogeographic maps to better understand the Paleozoic history of North America.

Show more

Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Fossil hominin footprints offer a unique and immediate snapshot of our ancestors' lives, capturing their ecological, environmental, and behavioral contexts over remarkably short time scales. This presentation delves into the discovery and analysis of over 400 human footprints from Engare Sero, Tanzania, located on the southern shore of Lake Natron.

Request a visit from Cynthia Liutkus-Pierce!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Related Interests