Explorer Director’s Corner

This year you will have a tremendous opportunity to examine a portion of the treasury of knowledge provided by some of the top geoscientists in the world.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

WEB EXCLUSIVE: A comprehensive look at the use of cutting-edge technology in Egypt’s Western Desert – including the application of new seismic, drilling and stimulation operations – helped make AAPG’s first international Geoscience Technical Workshop a big success.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

What’s the story? A “Gallon of Gas”. The first episode in a new series by National Geographic that tells the production story behind natural resources to delivered to the consumer.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Thinking outside the box: One surprise at the recent summer NAPE was a linear driver free-piston engine that can turn watered-out wells into long-life electrical power producers.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Air power? Getting heavy drilling equipment into challenging areas – the Arctic, for example – may be easier thanks to an old idea’s merging with a new concept.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Telling a new story: “Nano-reporters” are the smallest “next big thing” for the energy industry, and what they’re finding has the potential to dramatically impact oil recovery rates. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

It’s not a big thing – except, perhaps, in its world-changing potential: Nanotechnology continues to grow in influence as a powerful tool in oil recovery operations. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Oil and gas finders are enamored with the Williston Basin these days, looking for the next big find in the upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Bakken formation.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

There’s a lot of talk about the need for more natural gas in the energy mix. But there’s a big, unanswered question: How are we going to get the gas?

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Reason to sing? Northern Louisiana’s high-profile, still-fledgling Haynesville shale gas play, despite the challenges facing many operators, is hitting all the right notes.

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.

Show more

Request a visit from Jacob Covault!

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)
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

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

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)
VG Abstract

The Betic hinterland, in the westernmost Mediterranean, constitutes a unique example of a stack of metamorphic units. Using a three-dimensional model for the crustal structure of the Betics-Rif area this talk will address the role of crustal flow simultaneously to upper-crustal low-angle faulting in the origin and evolution of the topography.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

The carbonate sequences that were deposited in the now exhumed Tethyan Ocean influence many aspects of our lives today, either by supplying the energy that warms our homes and the fuel that powers our cars or providing the stunning landscapes for both winter and summer vacations. They also represent some of the most intensely studied rock formations in the world and have provided geoscientists with a fascinating insight into the turbulent nature of 250 Million years of Earth’s history. By combining studies from the full range of geoscience disciplines this presentation will trace the development of these carbonate sequences from their initial formation on the margins of large ancient continental masses to their present day locations in and around the Greater Mediterranean and Near East region. The first order control on growth patterns and carbonate platform development by the regional plate-tectonic setting, underlying basin architecture and fluctuations in sea level will be illustrated. The organisms that contribute to sequence development will be revealed to be treasure troves of forensic information. Finally, these rock sequences will be shown to contain all the ingredients necessary to form and retain hydrocarbons and the manner in which major post-depositional tectonic events led to the formation of some of the largest hydrocarbon accumulations in the world will be demonstrated.

Show more

Request a visit from Keith Gerdes!

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)

Related Interests

See Also ...