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 Article

A March announcement that the U.S. Geological Survey had identified undiscovered oil reserves 18 times the amount originally thought in a certain location and three times the amount of natural gas there likely caused many a Pavlovian response. Whetted appetites may have dried a bit with the realization of the potentially lucrative site’s location: northern Afghanistan.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The next big thing? The Suriname Basin is proving itself an appealing target for exploration efforts.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer A Look Back Column

Perhaps a review of the past may make us better geologists in the future.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Cairo 2002: The program is set and final preparations are being made for Cairo 2002, AAPG's next international conference.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Scott W. Tinker could be the industry's leading forward-thinker on oil and gas research.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Static data archives can be brought to life by dynamically modeling the geological processes behind it.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

A dream fulfilled ... Exploring for Oil and Gas Traps is the final volume of the AAPG Treatise of Petroleum Geology series. A project that started in 1985 comes to completion with this book.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Oil and gas seeps have provided resources that have been recorded everywhere. Their importance led to a symposium, field trip and workshop on this topic at this year's AAPG Pacific Section meeting. Drawing earth scientists from across the United States and around the world, it served as a forum for the development of a plan for the global analysis of fluid seeps.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 30 June 2020, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

Visiting Geoscientist Juan Pablo Lovecchio reviews general aspects of rifting, rifts and passive margin formation and evolution through time, as well as elements of petroleum system development.

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.

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Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

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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Request a visit from Ameed Ghori!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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