Publications

Explorer Foundation Update By Vern Stefanic

One Year Later: Humanitarian Efforts for Ukrainian Geologists

The first-year results are in, and the results are good – in terms of immediate success, certainly, but also in what they mean for the future. Nearly 70 Ukrainian geoscientists – unexpected refugees due to war in their homeland – received a foothold in their professional transitions this past year, thanks largely to the AAPG Foundation. The Foundation’s support, in turn, was provided because one AAPG member saw not just a need but also a way to provide humanitarian and professional aid to these distressed geoscientists – a concept that meshed perfectly with the Foundation’s mission.

Added on 01 May, 2023

Explorer Director’s Corner By David Curtiss

AAPG Invests in Emerging Leaders

Think back to how you first decided to become a geoscientist. Odds are good that it was because of an interaction with someone who you admired and who encouraged you to consider it. That was certainly my experience as a freshman political science major, taking geology to satisfy my general education laboratory science requirement. “What are you going to do with a political science degree?” my professor asked when I finished that first semester. “You should take historical geology next semester.” And that, as they say, was that.

Added on 01 April, 2023

Explorer Historical Highlights By Gustavo Coronel

Finding Oil and Making Friends

The decade of the 1960s was both hectic and productive in the international petroleum industry. During those years, I worked for three oil and gas companies: Shell; the state-owned Corporacion Venezolana de Petróleo, or CVP; and Philips Petroleum Corporation. The geographical locations were diverse: surface exploration in western Venezuela; the Maracaibo oilfields and Caracas; The Hague, in the Netherlands; Balikpapan, Indonesia; Bartlesville, Okla.; and Lafayette, La. One of my most fruitful experiences took place in Maracaibo, when I had the opportunity to work with a four-man team from the Institut Français du Pétrole, known as IFP – the French Petroleum Institute. They had been sent to Venezuela to conduct regional geological studies in support of the newly created CVP.

Added on 01 April, 2023

Explorer Article By David Brown

Offshore Investment Sees Massive Revival

Over the next two years, led by the Middle East and South America, a resurgent offshore sector is poised to reach its highest level of activity in more than a decade. That’s right: the Middle East. With so much happening around the world, the energy industry will need to play catch-up to prepare for future growth.

Added on 01 April, 2023

Explorer Historical Highlights By Rasoul Sorkhabi

Steineke of Arabia

Working in arduous desert conditions and leading a team of explorers in the 1930s and ‘40s from the company that would come to be Aramco, Max Steineke put Saudi Arabia on the world petroleum map. A definitive, book-length biography of Steineke is yet to be written, but what follows outlines his career and contributions to petroleum geology and exploration during a period and in places far from the comforts, facilities and technologies enjoyed today. And yet, his exploration output from a single basin remains unparalleled, and his story offers valuable insights.

Added on 01 March, 2023

Explorer Article By Gonzalo Zamora

Can Native Hydrogen Be Part of the Energy Transition?

In the race to find the best mix of clean fuel sources, many oil companies are reinventing themselves more broadly as “energy companies” and including geothermal energy, hydropower, solar and wind farms among other sources in their projects. In this context, hydrogen has recently become very important for most energy companies worldwide and offers significant potential to enable the transition to a clean, net-zero-emissions world economy.

Added on 01 March, 2023

Explorer Historical Highlights By Dan Plazak

When Doodlebugs Ruled the Earth

The idea of an oil-finding instrument was not new. Water dowsers were common throughout the United States and among most people of European descent worldwide, and they were quickly adapted to looking for oil. Soon after the Drake well in 1859, people started working on inventions to detect oil by geophysical methods.

Added on 01 February, 2023

Explorer Emphasis Article By David Brown

Clean Energy Opportunity Adds to Super Basins Appeal

Energy super basins grabbed the attention of the oil and gas industry during the past five years, with good reason. Now a period of re-evaluation has kicked in. Producers are looking beyond total resource potential to apply other criteria, including economic, environmental and regulatory considerations. Those yardsticks could help identify which basins will dominate energy production in the decades ahead.

Added on 01 February, 2023

Explorer Director’s Corner By David Curtiss

The Linchpin of the Energy Transition

Last month the world’s political and industrial leaders gathered in Egypt for COP27. This annual event convened by the United Nations is an opportunity to engage in dialogue on the topic of climate change and to discuss a coordinated global response. If you’ve been paying attention for any length of time, you know that the topic of climate change and meetings like COP divide AAPG members. An individual member may or may not agree with the proposed policies or the concerns expressed at COP. But for many of our members worldwide, the topic of climate change and its impact on our industry and profession is existential – it has or will directly impact their careers and ability to practice their profession. That is why we must discuss this topic.

Added on 01 December, 2022

Explorer Foundation Update By Vern Stefanic

Foundation Trustees Join Ukrainian Relief Efforts

A Poland-based effort to provide online professional development opportunities for Ukrainian geoscientists has received an important boost from the AAPG Foundation. Foundation Trustees, meeting in mid-November, approved a $9,000 grant to the Polish Geological Society that will fund two educational courses designed to help Ukrainian colleagues in a practical way as they continue to adapt to the war in their homeland.

Added on 01 December, 2022

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