Explorer Emphasis Article

The Gulf of Mexico is not a paradise of exploration. There is hurricanes and deep water depths, but it is available to oil companies around the world. Learn about all of the challenges.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Vertical seismic profile (VSP) has been around for some time as a tool to provide time-to-depth for seismic well-ties.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

When Chevron in September announced a flow test of 6,000 barrels of oil per day from its Jack 2 well -- which tapped the Lower Tertiary age deposits in the Walker Ridge area of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico -- and simultaneously noted potential reserves as high as 15 billion barrels for the region, the mainstream media hype machine kicked into high gear.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

There’s nothing quite like a successful field project to demonstrate the commercial viability of a particular technology. So chalk one up for the recently completed wide-azimuth OBS (ocean bottom sensor) node survey over the BP-operated Atlantis field in the challenging deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The demands of the E&P marketplace are growing -- and with the upstream spread thin, some needs and challenges are being exposed. Much of the excitement in the geophysical industry today stems from the need for, and development of, new technologies and approaches to meet new challenges. Indeed, ordinary 3-D seismic has become just so, well, ordinary in many cases.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Going deeper: All-azimuth illumination using ocean bottom seismic is another step in the ongoing effort to acquire better data in the Gulf of Mexico.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Here, there and everywhere: No matter where you look, this is a period of hot activity for the seismic industry.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

A gift that keeps on giving: The Gulf of Mexico is not only healthy, it continues to be the star of the show for the U.S. petroleum industry.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

It was only a matter of time -- and thanks to computers, the time has arrived for wave equation migration to make a big impact in exploration.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Continued success in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico especially involving the subsalt plays — may depend on how geologists 'see' the situation.

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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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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