Explorer Emphasis Article

The newest tool in the geophysical kit may have been born a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Researchers at Canada’s University of British Columbia are using cosmic ray muon measurements to reveal high-density underground deposits.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

It wasn’t so long ago that geologists and geophysicists each labored in their own separate universe, so to speak, with little or no direct interaction. In the mid-to-late 1990s, 3-D seismic grew to prominence as a kind of end-all, be-all in the E&P realm, soon creating a synergy between these professions that is considered to be routine today. (PLEASE USE ‘3-D geologic modeling’ FROM ‘FINAL ARTICLES’ FOR THE ONLINE VERSION.)

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

A geoscience company some have billed as “Silicon Valley meets the oil patch” has undertaken a study over the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. Airborne geophysical datasets newly acquired by NEOS GeoSolutions were combined with existing seismic, well, and public domain datasets to better understand the potential of the Marcellus resource play in a roughly 2,500 square-mile area of investigation.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Colombian geophysicist Jaime Checa, the current president of AAPG Affiliated Society Asociación Colombiana de Geólogos y Geofísicos del Petróleo (ACGGP), is dedicating his presidency, and much of his free time, to combating misinformation related to seismic acquisition in Colombia.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

It might be a well-worn saying, but it fits perfectly in today’s industry environment: When the exploration business sneezes, the seismic business gets the flu. Seismic acquisition companies have financial aches and pains this year because of a reduction in capital expenditures for oil and gas exploration work, especially by international oil companies.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The exploration expeditions in Alaska beginning in the late 1800s trump most other places in the world: The nuances of geology and geophysics required to find oil and gas in America’s last frontier tell the technical side of the journey, but mix in a history of Native Americans and Russians leading explorers to oil seeps, Hollywood investors, sled dog exploration teams, and rigs disassembled and transported by air for the first time – and science inevitably becomes a bit of lore.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Recent announcements have positioned the Springer Shale as a potentially prolific producer at 12,500 ft depth, with Continental Resource’s initial tests producing more than 2,000 barrels per day.The Springer, which is a Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary zone formation has been an important oil and gas producer in both southern Oklahoma and in the Anadarko Basin.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

The Granite Wash of the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma and Texas has been a remarkable challenge with prolific results for operators who have solved the mystery of a highly complex play. With up to 18 producing zones, extreme compartmentalization, and pressures that can be challenging, all phases of exploration, drilling, and production require special knowledge.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

Saharan fields Hassi Messaoud (10 Gb reserves, discovered in 1956) and Hassi R’Mel (100 Tcf gas plus 2.4 Gb condensate reserves, discovered in 1957) are by far the largest oil field and the largest gas field in Africa

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

The purpose of this article is to describe a workflow for discriminating limestones and dolomites, and to map the lateral extent of dolomite reservoir rocks that have a thickness below the seismic resolution.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tuesday, 18 February Wednesday, 19 February 2025, 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Join us for AAPG Orphan, Abandoned, Idle and Marginal Wells Conference 2025. This workshop will focus on orphan, abandoned, idle, and marginal wells and the business opportunities and technology associated with plugging and repurposing wells, reducing methane emissions, protecting water supplies, and extending the lives of marginal wells.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Houston, Texas
Saturday, 1 February 2025, 8:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Everyone in Houston lives within a few miles of a bayou. Some people think of them as permanent, but the bayous are constantly changing, especially during high water events like Hurricane Harvey. This trip is a 2.5 mile walk down a section of Buffalo Bayou where we will look at the archives of past storms and discuss what to do for future storms.

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

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)
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

Around 170 million years ago, the Gulf of Mexico basin flooded catastrophically, and the pre-existing landscape, which had been a very rugged, arid, semi-desert world, was drowned beneath an inland sea of salt water. The drowned landscape was then buried under kilometers of salt, perfectly preserving the older topography. Now, with high-quality 3D seismic data, the salt appears as a transparent layer, and the details of the drowned world can be seen in exquisite detail, providing a unique snapshot of the world on the eve of the flooding event. We can map out hills and valleys, and a system of river gullies and a large, meandering river system. These rivers in turn fed into a deep central lake, whose surface was about 750m below global sea level. This new knowledge also reveals how the Louann Salt was deposited. In contrast to published models, the salt was deposited in a deep water, hypersaline sea. We can estimate the rate of deposition, and it was very fast; we believe that the entire thickness of several kilometers of salt was laid down in a few tens of thousands of years, making it possibly the fastest sustained deposition seen so far in the geological record.

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Request a visit from Frank Peel!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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