Explorer Article

November’s midterm elections in the United States brought a split decision and gave the country a divided Congress. The potential effect of the vote on the oil and gas industry and U.S. energy policy is also a toss-up, according to some analysts.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Is the United States about to get a tax on carbon emissions? Advocates of carbon pricing seem optimistic, even confident, that the U.S. Congress will legislate a carbon fee or some other form of emissions restriction. And this comes with surprisingly little public discussion of the issue.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The world is awash in oil at the moment, but with chronic underinvestment in exploration coupled with global energy demand steadily rising, the stage may be set for an oil price spike in the years to come, according to some analysts. Others, on the other hand, predict that improved production methods and project efficiency will go a long way toward meeting supply demands with existing reserves.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Enhanced Oil Recovery with CO2 is an important market, but sometimes there is a problem with securing CO2 supplies. Welcome to an interview with Gerald Blount, whose company has a new CO2 EOR solution. Gerald participated in AAPG’s U-Pitch at URTeC, which promotes and helps commercialize innovations and new technologies.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer President’s Column

“When you think about the future of energy in the year 2025, seven years from now, I see ______?” This was one of the digital interactive questions asked at the Energy Transitions Forum in Amsterdam last month. The answers from a room of energy professionals were telling: diversity, renewables, energy, change, hybrid, oil, gas. The Forum addressed how companies and geoscientists can broaden their roles for energy transitions that can include a lower-carbon future.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Geoscientists have a special obligation. We are the historians of Earth’s past, much as medical researchers have a responsibility regarding the understanding and honest communication of the functions of the human body and lawyers to understand and correctly interpret the law. Many of the tools we have established in our search for oil and gas, from plate tectonics to seismic stratigraphy, to study of paleoenvironments and paleontology, are being applied to understanding the geologic past in ways that document climate change.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Deep learning for predicting behaviors is becoming indispensable in the oil industry. Understanding the fundamentals and having a hands-on experience with hacking Python code in order to predict reservoir flow was the experience provided by the first AAPG-Halliburton Hackathon, which took place July 19 in Houston. Led by the AAPG’s Deep Learning Technical Interest Group (TIG) and Halliburton, the event attracted more than 120 registrants who were primarily geoscientists, engineers, and data scientists who worked together in teams that competed against each other and were judged by a panel of experts. The hackathon was powered by the OpenEarth® Community and supported by a team of Halliburton experts in Python software, code, ideation, and strategy – as well as by domain experts and judges from the Deep Learning TIG.

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

While some of you know my past as a sedimentary geologist interested in reservoir dynamics and improved recovery, both in industry and later as a college professor, about 23 years ago I became hooked on the history of oilfield waste and its impact in the United States. I have dedicated myself to finding and saving as much publicly available documentation as possible on the history.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Director’s Corner

It’s unusual for an article in the EXPLORER to create an online firestorm. But as you can see, if you’ve paged through this issue to the Readers’ Forum, or followed the back and forth on Twitter or reviewed the comments submitted on the EXPLORER webpage, that’s what occurred in response to an article by veteran correspondent Ken Milam entitled, “Are There Benefits to Climate Change?” in last month’s issue.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer President’s Column

Sustainable development was a key theme throughout AAPG’s inaugural Energy Opportunities Conference held Aug. 22-23 in Cartagena, Colombia. This high-profile event convened 202 industry executives and government officials representing 94 organizations and 21 countries.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Hot Items

Explorer Historical Highlights

The Paris Basin offers times of both discoveries and failures, from its first well drilled near Normandy in the 1920s to today. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Nihal Darraj, carbon capture and storage researcher at Imperial College, London shares barriers to CCUS commercialization, including costs, technology, permitting and more. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Director’s Corner

Perhaps you did a double take pulling the April issue of EXPLORER from the mailbox. What is this? If you joined AAPG in the last 40 years, you’ve only known EXPLORER in its long-standing tabloid format. It worked well for many years as our advertisers – particularly seismic companies – loved the large format and the ability to display their data on a sweeping canvas. For readers, it was a little more awkward.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Carbon capture and sequestration reduces emissions, but it cannot work past cost barriers without the revenue opportunities provided by utilization and storage. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Headquarters Contacts

Susan Nash
Susan Nash Director, Innovation and Emerging Science and Technology, AAPG +1 405 314 7730