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Geomechanics and Fracture Analysis

Explorer Article

Can the oil and gas industry ever speak with one voice on climate action? Can majors, national oil companies, leading independents and energy trade associations ever get on the same page when it comes to climate change? And critically, is climate policy turning into a no-win exercise for the oil industry? The American Petroleum Institute and other industry associations are now adopting a revised climate policy approach, partly based on growing public pressure in support of climate action.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy, or IMAGE ’21, the integrated annual convention of AAPG and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in conjunction with the Society for Sedimentary Geology, is all set for its inaugural event to be held online and in-person in Denver, Colo., Sept. 26 to Oct. 1. This gathering of the industry’s top thinkers, leaders and innovators boasts an impressive schedule of special sessions, workshops, field trips and other offerings to expand geoscience and professional skills.

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

I am excited and honored to serve as president of the Energy Minerals Division for the 2021-2022 term. The EMD covers many different energy resources, providing our Members with information and learning opportunities related to those resources. Because of the diverse array of subjects covered by the Division, we are positioned to play a key role within AAPG as the energy transition/revolution continues, and we all navigate the seemingly ever-changing energy landscape.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Regions and Sections

AAPG Pacific Section thrilled attendees with a stunning interactive Google Earth-based virtual field trip. Imagine being able to experience the stunning and intricate layered geology of the Monterey Formation through a Google Earth high-resolution, interactive program. Richard Behl, geology professor at California State University at Long Beach, likes to take geologists into the field, walking through the cool surf and sunny climate. At the Pacific Section virtual conference in late June, Behl offered up what he described as a “Monterey Formation Bucket List” of beach outcrop stops traversing more than 500 miles along the California coast from Crystal Cove and up to Bowling Ball Beach near Point Arena. That was only the start of the multiday technical program that was both innovative and technically enriching.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The future for a petroleum geoscientist might seem more uncertain these days as the transition to cleaner energy begins. Fewer students have their ambitions set on oil and gas careers and industry professionals are beginning to question how their knowledge and skills will fit into a world of new energies. But, as many observers have noted, oil and gas will continue to play a key role in fueling the energy system for decades to come. As well as being needed to explore, geoscientists will be the bedrock for many emerging roles prompted by the transition because of their expertise in the subsurface.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Energy developer Nacero Inc. recently announced plans to build the world’s first natural gas-to-gasoline plant that will operate entirely on renewable energy. The approximately $7 billion plant, which will be located just outside of Odessa, Texas, will use the abundant natural gas resources in the Permian Basin and ultimately produce 115,000 barrels of gasoline a day for markets in Texas and the Southwest. It will be the nation’s first natural gas-to-gasoline manufacturing facility, according to Nacero, with two others planned by the company in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

OPEC+ and the United Arab Emirates appear to have settled their spat over production levels for now, but the “prisoner’s dilemma” of the current oil market remains, and that could have long- term ramifications for the industry.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy, or IMAGE ’21, the integrated annual event of AAPG and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in conjunction with the Society for Sedimentary Geology, is all set to be held online and in Denver, Colo., Sept. 26 to Oct. 1. The event will bring together many of the greatest minds and leaders from multiple disciplines of the geosciences sector, which includes an impressive lineup of keynote speakers that include IHS Markit’s Daniel Yergin, Kirsten Siebach of the Mars Perseverance mission and Kirk Johnson of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

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

The petroleum industry has changed and is under attack. Many want to stop production of carbon-based fuels. There is a logic to this if we look to the future. We need to sustain energy production and fill the holes in the current alternative energy industries like solar, wind turbines, geothermal and advanced batteries. This does not mean oil industry jobs will be eliminated. They will just change.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

When introducing his American Jobs Plan, President Biden promised it would invest “in America in a way we have not invested since we built the interstate highways and won the Space Race.” To put that investment in perspective, the interstate highway system, encompassing 47,000 miles of roads, cost $500 billion in today’s dollars, adjusting for inflation; the Apollo Program, about $194 billion. The price of the American Jobs Plan: $2.3 trillion. Included is significant investment proposed for the energy sector, which includes expanding clean energy sector tax credits, offering block grants and increasing government purchasing power to aid the new renewable sector.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Monday, 27 May Wednesday, 29 May 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

In order to support the energy transition, optimizing exploration and production from complex stratigraphic-diagenetic conventional and unconventional plays remains highly important. At the same time, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) poses new technological challenges that will impact both the industry and academia for decades to come. This 2nd edition will present reviews and discuss technology developments in geological process-based forward modeling achieved during the last 2 years. New perspectives for future technology developments and implementation in industry workflows will be discussed and with the additional focus on CO₂ storage and other sustainability-related applications, the scope of the workshop will be considerably extended.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 12 November 2020, 5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.

Contourites have come of age – both scientifically and economically. These deepwater sedimentary systems, driven by long-slope bottom-current processes, are a fundamental component of many continental margin successions. They are inter-bedded with and interact with down-slope systems, pelagic systems, and deep tidal processes. The contourite play clearly works – now we need to make it a primary target in future deepwater exploration.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 21 February 2013, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

The course will review core data, petrophysical comparisons, rock physics modeling (including pseudo logs and mechanical properties).

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 19 May 2011, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

This e-symposium presents and discusses the results of laboratory tests and research relating to determining shale prospectivity in general, and specifically in the Black Warrior Basin, Alabama.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Wednesday, 9 June 2021, 7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Join us for 'Pivoting 2021: The New Way to Work'. Panelists will discuss the way that work is done, both in operations and support roles, and discuss specific examples of technologies being used, and how they contribute to a safer, more efficient and profitable endeavor. Webinar will be presented via Zoom 7pm - 8:30pm CDT, 9 June 2021.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 28 April 2011, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

The Niobrara Petroleum System of the U.S. Rocky Mountain Region is a major tight petroleum resource play.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 12 July 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

This presentation will look at well placement vertically in the pay, well azimuth and well trajectory with explanations of how geology and post-depositional effects can make the difference between a successful well and a failure.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 2 July 2020, 4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Presented by Kevin C. Hill, Associate Professor, University of Melbourne Gravity modelling of Australia's southern margin reveals that the initial rift with Antarctica was beneath the current Ceduna Delta. A regional, high-quality seismic traverse from the coast to oceanic crust across the Bight Basin has been assembled and interpreted in detail, then balanced, restored, decompacted, and replaced at paleo-water depths. The Late Cretaceous Ceduna Delta developed above a Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous rift basin in three stages punctuated by significant pulses of uplift and erosion across areas >100 km wide and with up to 1 km of erosion. The Cenomanian White Pointer delta prograded into deepening water and hence underwent gravitational collapse. This was terminated in the Santonian when the Antarctic margin was pulled out from below, thus supplying heat to a remnant thicker outer margin crust, causing doming and erosion. Importantly, this established the saucer-shaped geometry of the Ceduna Delta that persisted throughout its development, so that any hydrocarbons generated in the southern half of the basin would have migrated towards this outer margin high. The Tiger Formation was deposited in shallow water in a full rift basin prior to breakup, which was followed by regional thermal subsidence. The Hammerhead delta developed on the newly formed passive margin but was terminated by another pulse of uplift and erosion, perhaps associated with a change in plate motion at the end of the Cretaceous. The finite element modelling of this proposed tectonic evolution will test its validity and predict hydrocarbon generation and migration through time.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 19 August 2010, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

This presentation will show where there are cases of missing sections, but none of them can be attributed to normal faulting.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 14 April 2020, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

La Formación Smackover del Jurásico Superior (Oxfordiano) es una de las productoras de petróleo y gas más prolíficas de la llanura costera del noreste del Golfo de México, depositada en una rampa de carbonato proximal. Este estudio es una caracterización integral del ambiente de depositación de la Formación Smackover basada en datos sísmicos 3D y de pozos en los campos Vocation y Appleton situados en las subcuencas de Conecuh y Manila, en el suroeste de Alabama.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 28 April 2020, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

Em 2011 e 2015, apresentei uma avaliação do potencial de petróleo ainda por descobrir (YTF – Yet to Find) na região brasileira do pré-sal, utilizando uma ferramenta de modelagem de exploração e um método de simulação estocástica (Monte Carlo) para estimar as acumulações potenciais já descobertas e as restantes para ser descobertas. Embora da metodologia robusta usada, é compreensível que, à luz dos novos preços do petróleo, muito mais baixos, a avaliação do óleo YTF possa ser questionada sobre o quão realista poderia ser, num cenário prolongado de preço baixo do petróleo. Em 2016, apresentei essa avaliação, para preços do petróleo abaixo de US$ 50/bbl. Agora, com os preços do petróleo ainda mais baixos que podem representar um novo cenário de redução por mais tempo, volto a revisar as avaliações anteriores. Os resultados são apresentados no contexto de importantes implicações geopolíticas para em regiões do mundo onde os recursos de petróleo e gás provavelmente continuarão viáveis, apesar dos preços baixos do petróleo, e os rearranjos geopolíticos que isso implica.

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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

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)

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