Explorer Article

Are years of upstream oil and gas underinvestment and under-exploration finally catching up with the world? Is the hope of avoiding a climate catastrophe now a lost cause? Can the global energy industry deliver adequate, affordable energy to meet the world’s future needs? Is the word in an energy crisis? Annually at midyear, a number of organizations publish overviews of the global energy picture. Based on those reports, there is good news. And bad news.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Mention energy from the Middle East and most people automatically think of crude oil production. But today, geopolitics and supply challenges have put an increased focus on global natural gas resources. Consequently, energy developments in the Middle East are shifting toward natural gas production and export, driven by an increasing international appetite for gas supply and questions about longer-term oil demand. Right now, the bottom line is that natural gas looks like a long-term growth industry and crude oil doesn’t.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently exploring the delta front of Jezero Crater on Mars. It has traveled 7.4 miles and drilled twelve core samples. For Katie Stack Morgan, geologist and deputy project scientist for the Perseverance Mars rover, the first close-up image of layered rocks at the base of Jezero Crater’s ancient river delta grabbed her imagination. “These are the layered rocks that we came for!” she said.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Question: If the science of predicting the risks and mitigation of induced seismicity, figuratively speaking, was a glass of hydraulic fracturing injection fluid, would it be half full or half empty? The answer is . . . yes. One on hand, geoscientists are getting better about predicting the when and where of seismicity; on the other, there is a lot more seismicity in a lot more places that have to be predicted.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

As geoscientists try to determine their future roles in the oil and gas industry as well as in the energy transition, some discover that there is a solid bridge between the two in a doctoral research and training program in the United Kingdom. GeoNetZero is part of the UK’s Centre for Doctoral Training program, led by professor John Underhill and established in 2014 to help train geoscientists through a partnership of universities and industry for today’s energy challenges.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

Peter Odell was a pioneer figure in petroleum economics. His ideas and analyses were highly influential in his own time and are still worth studying today. Many people came to know of Odell through his best-selling “Oil and World Power: A Geographical Interpretation.” What strikes the reader of this and other works by Odell is the author’s cross-disciplinary approach to the oil and gas industry, integrating economic analyses with geopolitics, history, maps and geography. His publications were relatable to geologists as well. The issues he addressed, in different forms, are still with us.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The 2022 Imperial Barrel Award competition included several important changes this year – combining the U.S. sections and Canada Region into a single group, adding a sustainability component to the scoring, and holding the entire competition virtually. Though the online contest limited valuable in-person interaction, connecting virtually provided new opportunities for participants, including participation in the IBA Video Spotlight Series. Sudeep Kanungo, the IBA Committee’s social media chair, said he was impressed by the quality of the participants who competed in 2022.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

India plans to reopen more than 100 coal mines and restart some idled coal-fired power plants. India is the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, but the recent power crunch caused so much disruption to the country’s industries that the government was pressured to ramp up the coal industry in an effort to help meet demand.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

Not wishing to split hairs over which is the world’s first oil well, the majority of oil historians recognize the drilling of the Drake Well as the birth of the modern petroleum industry. What is not so well known is that some seven miles southeast of the Drake Well, in Pithole Creek, lie the remains of a city that came out of nowhere as a new town, enjoyed great splendor, then disappeared in a few years. It is the legendary Pithole City in Venango County of northwestern Pennsylvania.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Global events of recent years have driven the oil and gas industry to make major changes to its workforce and operations, and the professional and scientific associations that serve the industry have had to evolve and adapt to accommodate those changes, particularly with regard to the programs they offer. The Imperial Barrel Award competition is no exception. An AAPG staple since 2007 and one of the Association’s most prestigious and visible programs, the IBA has undergone multiple changes during the past two years.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Short Course
Palermo, Italy
Tuesday, 23 April 2024, 2:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Or maybe open to explore new opportunities within your company? Or perhaps you ready for a complete transformation but you don’t know how to take the first steps? If the answer is YES for any of these questions, join this 3-hour workshop during which you will become more... Aware on where you are and what is holding you back to take your next step in your career. Clear on where do you aspire, what are your opportunities, and who will support your journey. Courageous how to take your next steps. We will be using some fun design-thinking tools and carbonate-related metaphors to explore and plan. All you need is your open, playful mind, your notebook and pen or pencil. Speakers Anita É. Csoma, SEED Anita É. Csoma, Ph.D. is a leadership innovator, business leader, and forever geoscientist with almost two decades of experience working in European and North American Energy Companies such as MOLGroup, ConocoPhillips, and Shell International E&P. Anita has been fortunate to experience working in world-class research teams, designing and building interdisciplinary teams, developing, managing, and implementing portfolio of projects across multiple organizations, and transforming large organizations to support business needs. Her leadership philosophy has always been: “Lead the People, not the Numbers” resulting in high-performing and engaged individuals, teams, and organizations with superior business results. Anita É., Csoma, Ph.D. | LinkedIn In 2023 Anita startedScale.Up Foundations LLCto support innovative companies and organizations in their scale-up process to expedite growth, andLeading Barefoot, to inspire and teach as many people as possible to think unconventional and achieve beyond their dream. She is a faculty member of SEED (School for Executive Education and Development) in Budapest, Hungary, where she is teaching various leadership courses, amongst which she designed and actively teaching an Aspiring Women Leaders program for female leaders and rising talents. Focus Programs - Aspiring Women Leaders • SEED Executive School (seed-uni.com) Anita continues her passion and support for geoscience and the energy industry through her role as President-Elect for AAPG Europe. Pricing Fee: Included in registration Room Assignment TBD Attendee Limit: Min 8 – Max 20

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Palermo, Italy
Thursday, 25 April 2024, 8:00 a.m.–9:00 a.m.

This one-day field trip will provide an introduction to a Miocene-Pliocene succession of southern Sicily, which includes outcrops of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), as well as the Messinian-Zanclean GSSP (Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Point) and Zanclean stratotype. The MSC sedimentary record consists of an evaporitic-carbonate unit at the base (the Basal Limestone), overlain the Lower Gypsum unit, in turn overlain by the Upper Gypsum unit, and sealed by transgressive chalk deposits of the Trubi Fm. The Lower Gypsum unit (massive gypsum with cm-sized selenite crystals) will be visited along the beach of Siculiana Marina (about 15 km NW of Agrigento). Next, we will visit near Capo Rossello (about 10 km NW of Agrigento) an outcrop of the Upper Gypsum unit consisting of clay-gypsum cycles and overlain by the Trubi Fm. The latter, at Scala dei Turchi beach, consists of chalk deposits arranged in a spectacular thick succession (~120 m thick) interpreted as astronomically-controlled depositional cycles. The uppermost interval of the MSC sedimentary record, including the Messinian-Zanclean GSSP, will be observed along the beach of Eraclea Minoa located about 20 km NW of Capo Rossello. Pricing Fee: €50 Attendee Limit: Min 15 - Max 50 People Registration Deadline: 11 April 2024 Field Trip Rendezvous Point Hotel nH Palermo Field Trip Leaders Antonio Caruso University of Palermo Attilio Sulli University of Palermo

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Palermo, Italy
Sunday, 21 April 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

This one-day field trip will focus on Mesozoic (Jurassic to Cretaceous) carbonates outcropping in the fold and thrust belt of western Sicily and equivalent to the aquifer complex of the Sciacca Geothermal Field located in the southwestern part of the island. Participants will have the opportunity to visit in the first stop a spectacular “drowned” carbonate-platform succession at Mt. Maranfusa located in an inactive quarry about 50 km SW of Palermo. The succession consists of Lower Jurassic peritidal cycles overlain by Middle Jurassic to Cretaceous pelagic limestone (e.g. ammonitic limestone, “chalk”) and marked by an unconformity with locally hardground. Syn-depositional Mesozoic tectonic is characterized by neptunian dykes and normal faults, whereas reverse faults, strike-slip faults, and joints are related to subsequent Cenozoic deformation. In the second stop, at Mt. San Calogero, adjacent to the picturesque coastal town of Sciacca (about 100 km south of Palermo), we will visit the surface expression of an extensive karst system linked to uprising geothermal fluids. Furthermore, we will discuss main characteristics of the Sciacca Geothermal Field and its connection to deep mantle-derived fluids. Outcrop data will be integrated with both 2D seismic lines and exploration well logs showing the stratigraphy and structure of the deep aquifer. Given the presence of faults and joints in the outcrops, this field trip can provide the participants with valuable insights into naturally fractured reservoirs at the sub-seismic scale. Pricing Fee: €50 Attendee Limit: Min15 - Max 45 People Registration Deadline: 11 April 2024 Field Trip Leaders Gianni Mallarino MOL Group Attilio Sulli University of Palermo

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Krakow, Poland
Monday, 27 May 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

This one day pre-conference field trip will be focused on the Upper Jurassic deposits formed within the southern part of epicontinental basin of the Carpathian foreland.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Krakow, Poland
Thursday, 30 May Friday, 31 May 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Surface seeps of oil and exhalations of methane have been known in the Northern Outer Carpathians for centuries. During this field trip, key localities will be visited, including frontal deformed part of the thrust belt accessible in the world-famous Wieliczka salt mine, and outcrops located within more internal thrust sheets (nappes).

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Palermo, Italy
Monday, 22 April Wednesday, 24 April 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

This Symposium marks a collaborative event that brings together AAPG Europe and AAPG Middle East, with a central focus on carbonates and mixed carbonate systems worldwide, while highlighting their significance within these two regions. The primary objectives are an overview of controls that govern the evolution of these systems in time and space and the characterization and prediction of their properties across scales.

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)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Monday, 9 November 2020, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

Belmont develops Sandy. An AI accelerated platform dedicated to identifying risks and opportunities by fusing subjective human interpretations within an objective digital representation of the world. Sandy can make sense of a large corpus of information, automatically organising the knowledge it contains and making it ready for your daily utilisation to build a solid cognitive foundation of your projects. Discover how in this talk.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Monday, 29 June 2020, 12:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m.

This talk examines what we are missing the use of in terms of waste heat in both the petroleum industry and long abandoned coal industry of the UK, how we might use that heat and what the collateral benefits of heat use would be in terms of sustainability and the circular economy.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 10 March 2022, 2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

The most compelling business challenge facing leaders everywhere is to prepare their company to win in the digital future. This panel discussion will explore how successful companies are navigating the digital landscape, how they generate value and equip their workforce of the future for success.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
London, England
Wednesday, 24 February 2021, 2:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

Since the first explorationists discovered the subsurface potential in Tunisia, the country’s institutions took the role of a partner rather than only a regulator. Today, one of ETAP missions is promoting exploration opportunities in Tunisia through both regional and targeted approaches, including sharing knowledge, high-quality data and best practices. ETAP commits to supporting continued drilling activity in mature areas and encouraging/incentivizing exploitation of new and emerging plays.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
London, England
Monday, 13 July 2020, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

Dr Jem Woods, Imperial College London, will introduce The DECC Global Calculator, an open-source model of the world’s energy, land and food systems that allows you to design your own version of the future up to 2050 and see the implications for the climate.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 28 October 2021, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.

As an industry we’re constantly challenged to improve our business on a worldwide stage. How do we continue improving the safe delivery of high quality, economical wells and production where understanding of social requirements and the license to operate are rapidly changing? Join us for a conversation with a panel of drilling engineers to gain insight to their understanding of how we can meet these challenges and impact well delivery planning processes and outcomes - from clarity on deliverables, process improvements, advances in technology, to building better business models for modern decision making.

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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.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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