10 July, 2018

Latin America & Caribbean Region Report May-June 2018

By Emily Llinás
 

Lots of activity in the Latin America and Caribbean Region, from VPG visits to Student and YP Chapters to IBA.

Advance the science of geology
Visiting Geoscientist Program (VGP)
  • 02 May – Juan Carlos Llinás delivered two lectures at Unisinos University in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil: "Turbidites and the Deepwater Depositional System: Examples from the Sinú Offshore Basin, Colombia" and "Jurassic Microbial Reefs and the Proximal Ramp Depositional Environment, NE Gulf of Mexico, USA. 20 students and 2 professors attended.
  • 03 May – Juan Llinás delivered the talk "Turbidites and the Deepwater Depositional System: Examples from the Sinú Offshore Basin, Colombia," at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. 46 students attended.
  • 03 May – Claudia Rassi delivered the talk "My Journey and Adventures during a Career in Petroleum Geology," at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. 56 students attended
  • 03 May – Antonio Velasquez delivered the talk "From Structural to Quantitative Seismic Interpretation" at the Universidad Central de Ecuador in Quito. 100 students attended
  • 03 May – Victor Vega delivered the lecture "Petroleum Super Basins from a South American perspective," 25 students and YPs attended (students represented the La Plata University and the University of Buenos Aires)
  • 04 May – Antonio Velasquez delivered the talk "From Structural to Quantitative Seismic Interpretation" at the Universidad de Guayaquil, Ecuador. 70 students attended.
  • 08 May – Flavio Feijo delivered the lecture "Sergipe and Santos Basin" at the Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Brazil. 80 students attended.
  • 15 May – Juan Pablo Lovecchio delivered a lecture "Sedimentary Basins of Offshore Argentina," at the University of Comahue, Argentina. 25 students attended.
  • 19 May – Claudia Dueñas delivered the lecture "Reservoir Characterization in hydrocarbons fields using seismic" at Universidad de Manizales, Colombia. 51 students attended.
  • 25 May- Victor Vega delivered the lecture "Super Basins and their Importance for Latin American Exploration" at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City. 50 students attended.
  • 01 June – Xavier Moonan delivered the lecture "Unlocking the Potential of The Basal Sands, Paria Sub-Basin, Trinidad & Tobago" at Anton de Kom Universiteit van Suriname. 25 students attended.
  • 01 June – Xavier Moonan delivered a field trip "Transect of the Guiana Basin to Shield" in Suriname. 20 students attended.
  • 02 June – Ricardo Vargas delivered the lecture "Introduction to Integrated 3D Reservoir Modeling" at Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina, Valledupar, Colombia.  34 students attended
  • 07 June – Elvira Gomez delivered the talk "Exploration of Unconventional Reservoirs in Frontier Areas" in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Attendees included 70 YPs and students from the following universities: Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Universidad de Aquino Bolivia SA, Universidad Autonoma Rene Moreno and Escuela Militar de Ingenieria
  • 08 June – Cesar Ardiles delivered the lecture "Exploración Petrolera En Aguas Profundas En El Noroeste De Peru" at Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad, Cusco, Peru. 80 students attended.
  • 13 June – Flavio Feijo delivered the lecture "Petroleum Geology" at Universidade de Campinas in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 20 students atended.
  • 19 June – Jul Roldan delivered the lecture "Reservoir Characterization with 3D Geological model construction and geological uncertainty" at Universidad Nacional de Piura, Peru. 30 students attended.
Promote the use of technology
Geoscience Technology Workshops 
  • Awaiting Petrobras sponsorship payment and ABGP surplus payment to finalize accounting for GTW Brazil 2017, held in August 2017
  • Victor Vega talked with Petrobras and ABGP about holding another GTW in Brazil in May or June 2019
  • Working with Staatsolie and volunteers to organize GTW Suriname, November 2019
GTW Bolivia 2018: Optimizing Exploration and Production in Thrust Belts and Foreland Basins  
  • 6-8 June, Hotel Los Tajibos, Santa Cruz de la Sierra
  • Workshop featured 22 oral presentations, 20 poster presentations, and 7 exhibitor stands
  • Speakers included Minister of Energy Luis Alberto Sánchez and YPFB Corporation President Oscar Barriga
  • The workshop's 180 participants represented 16 countries and 54 companies
  • Currently finalizing event accounting and income for the LAC Region
GTW Mexico 2019: Unlocking Mexico's Offshore Potential
  • 6-7 March, Mexico City 
  • Secured sponsorship from Chevron
  • Working with AMGP to define session themes, chairs, speakers and sponsors
AAPG Hedberg Conference: Geology of Middle America – The Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan, Caribbean, Grenada and Tobago Basins and Their Margins
  • 2-5 July, Sigüenza, Spain
  • Education Director Xavier Moonan is contributing to the program committee organizing the conference addressing the geology of the area from the southern onshore of North America to the northern onshore of S America, including the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas Platform, Yucatán, Caribbean (Colombia, Venezuela), Grenada and Tobago basins and adjacent Atlantic
Latin America & Caribbean Energy Opportunities Conference, Exhibition & B2B Session
  • 22-23 August 2018, Hilton Cartagena Hotel & Convention Center, Cartagena, Colombia
  • Confirmed sponsorships from ANH, Ecopetrol, Shell, Chevron, Oxy, Repsol, Spectrum, Frontera, ExxonMobil Colombia
  • Confirmed exhibitors: ANH, Spectrum, Staatsolie, ION, SWITCH Energy Alliance; received inquiries from other organizations
  • Invited 20 agencies to participate in the private National Regulatory Agency Meeting to be held 21 August
  • Conference themes include:
    • Regulatory Framework for the 21st Century (panel discussion with Regulatory Agencies)
    • The Future Energy Matrix
    • Empowering Communities & Protecting the Environment
    • Best Practices for Unconventional Exploration & Production
    • Challenges & Opportunities for Offshore Exploration
    • Latin America Investment Outlook & Legal Framework
    • Connecting Industry & Government (panel discussion with industry associations/trade groups)
    • New Technologies & New Analytics
Short Courses
  • Offering three short courses prior to Mexican Petroleum Congress in Acapulco in September 2018
  • Approached by the ACGGP to provide short courses during the 100 Years of the Petroleum Industry event in Bogotá in October
SPE/AAPG Workshop – Optimizing Geosciences and Engineering to Maximize Colombia's Offshore Potential
  • 17-18 October, Bogotá
  • Working with SPE Colombia Section to convene technical program committee and define agenda
  • Receiving programmatic and financial support from Ecopetrol
  • Talking with other companies about presentations and sponsorships
  • Event will be managed by the SPE Colombia Section, with AAPG receiving 30% of net profits
ICE Buenos Aires 2019: Expanding frontiers and unlocking resources for future generations
  • Tuesday – Friday, 27‐30 August 2019, Hilton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center
  • Received $100,000 sponsorship commitment from YPF
  • Finalizing contract with Hilton Buenos Aires
  • Negotiating contract with BaUniline to provide general contractor services and sales support
  • Developed event logo, which features the AAGGP logo (first time that an affiliated society logo appears in the official ICE logo)
  • Developing landing page for AAPG website, http://buenosaires2019.iceevent.org
Serve AAPG members throughout the Region
Region website & social media as of 30 June
 Region Participation at the Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) in Salt Lake City, Utah, 20-23 May 2018
  • Orestes Orrego, Hans Krause, Flavio Feijo, Pedro Alarcon and Gustavo Carstens represented LACR at the House of Delegates Meeting
  • At the Annual AAPG Awards Ceremony Hans Krause, LACR Delegate and Region Member from Caracas, Venezuela received the Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award. Susan Morrice, of Founder and President and Belize Natural Energy, received the Norman H. Foster Outstanding Explorer award.
  • 65 people attended the Latin America & Caribbean Region Meeting and Reception at the Hilton Hotel
  • The University of Buenos Aires team participated in the Global Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) Competition and received $1000 to take back to the university to fund future IBA participation 
 LACR Leadership
  • Ana María Goncalves, Venezuelan native working for YPFB Chaco in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia elected for Region Delegate (2018-2021); will start term 1 July 2018
  • Jaime Checa resigned as Region President-Elect for 2017-2019; Elvira Pureza Gómez, current Region Delegate (2017-2019) of Nexen CNOOC, elected to complete the term and to serve as Region President in 2019-2021; will be the first woman to serve as LACR Region President 
  • Ricardo Vargas, of Perenco, Bogotá, Colombia, elected to complete Region Delegates term through June 2019
Promote awareness of AAPG
Affiliated Societies
  • Geological Society of Peru invited AAPG President Charles Sternbach to speak at the INGEPET Conference in Lima in October
  • Working to formalize joint agreement with the Argentine Petroleum and Gas Institute (IAPG) for mutual promotion of 2018 and 2019 CONEXPLO events and AAPG ICE 2019
  • AAGGP-AAPG will have a joint stand at the 10th Hydrocarbon Exploration and Development Congress (CONEXPLO) in Mendoza in November. AAPG & AAGGP can use the stand to promote ICE Buenos Aires 2019. In exchange, the societies can offer IAPG a complimentary stand at ICE.   
Partnerships
  • Steering Committee approved creating a LACR Corporate Advisory Board which could provide strategic and tactical guidance to leadership and help to provide ongoing support for education and workforce development initiatives 
  • Victor Vega to be first LACR CAB Chair/President; need to work to define member roles and responsibilities
  • Chevron Africa and Latin America signed donation agreement to provide $75,000 in sponsorship for AAPG LACR activities in 2018
Develop the next generation of geoscientists
Imperial Barrel Award
  • The LACR winning team from Universidad de Buenos Aires traveled to Salt Lake City to represent the Region in the Finals.
 2018 Student-Young Professional Leadership Summit
  • 24-26 August in Bogotá 
  • Launched event website and seeking sponsorship
  • Confirmed sponsors – Chevron, AAPG LACR, AAPG YP Committee 
  • Confirmed international speakers include Scott Tinker, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, and Denise Cox, AAPG President, 2018-2019
 Student Chapters
  • 2 April- UFRuralRJ, Brazil participated in the techinical visit to the Halliburton's Technology Center promoted by UFRJ AAPG Student Chapter. 2 students attended. 
  • 4 April - UNMSM, Peru, held the activity "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: Principles and Petrophysical Applications" by Eng. Angel Meso. 12 students attended.  
  • 3, 4 and 12 April - UNMSM, Peru, held the activity "First Meeting of Young Researchers in Geosciences San Marcos 2018" organized by the Student Chapters of UNMSM. 60 students and 13 professionals attended. 
  • 7 and 14 April - Unal Bog, Colombia held the Short Course "Chemostratigraphy" By: Ph.D Juan Carlos Silva. 17 Students of the National University of Colombia, 7 young professionals and 6 professionals participated. 
  • 10 April - Unal Bog, Colombia held the activity "Lunch and Learn: Geopolítica petrolera cómo será la industria petrolera en el 2050" By: Ivan Dario Olaya López. 28 Students of the National University of Colombia and 2 professionals participated. 
  • 20 April – the National Univesrity of of Comahue in Neuquen organized a talk by Mario Schiuma. Chapter members raised funds to finance speaker travel and lodging.
  • 23 April - UNMSM, Peru, held the activity "Introduction to the Interpretation of Electric Well Logs" by Eng. Angel Meso. 13 students attended.
  • 24 April - Unal Bog, Colombia held the activity "Estableciendo un vínculo entre la tectono-estratigrafía del Cretácico a Eoceno en el Cinturón de San Jacinto del NW de Colombia, y la colisión y subducción de bajo ángulo del "plateau" del Caribe" by Ph.D Candidate Alejandro Mora. 
  • 27 April - AKUS, Suriname, held the activity "ALV meeting". 12 students attended. 
  • 02 May - UNISINOS, Brazil, organized the "2st Cycle of Lectures" in commemoration of the month of the geologist, with the participation of Emily Llinás (AAPG)  talking about  "Did you know? AAPG resources for students " Dr.  Juan Llinás (AAPG VGP, Ecopetrol)  talking about "Jurassic microbial corals and the depositional environment of the proximal ramp, NE Gulf of Mexico, USA" and "Turbiditos and the depositional system of deep waters, examples of the Sinu Basin, offshore Colombia", and MsC. Rosália Barili (IPR - PUC/RS) talking about  "Performance of the Institute of Petroleum and Natural Resources",  Dr. Rodrigo Guerra (ITT Fossil - UNISINOS) talking about    "Scientific Expeditions of the IODP and how the Micropaleontology contributed to the knowledge of the geological history " and MsC José Oliveira (UNISINOS) talking about "Structural Analysis and Geology of fractured carbonate reservoirs". 60 people attended.  
  • 2 May - UCV, Venezuela, held the activity "Soft skills" by Giovannina Ragusa (Manager Schlumberger). 18 students attended. 
  • 03 May – UFRGS, Brazil, held the activity "Evolução Estratigráfico-Arquitetural em Ambientes de Águas Profundas" by Tiago Agne de Oliveira (Petrobras). 20 students attended. 
  • 4 May - UFSC, Brazil, held the talk "Did You Know?: AAPG Opportunities for Students" by Emily Smith Llinás. 46 students attended. 
  • 4 May - UFSC, Brazil, held the talk "Unconventional Hydrocarbon Reservoirs" by Raul Rechden. 46 students attended.
  • 4 and 5 May - UFRJ, Brazil, went for a field trip to northeast of Rio de Janeiro in order to study depositional enviroments, this field trip was funded by the L. Austin Weeks Grant received last year. 4 members attended. 
  • 07 May - UFS, Brazil, held the activity "Welcome to the freshmen". 20 students attended. 
  • 9 May - UCV, Venezuela, held the activity   " location of buried industrial services ". By: Amundaray geotechnical engineering, C.A. 35 students attended. 
  • 9 May - UFRJ, Brazil, received new partipants to integrate the chapter, including graduate and undergraduate students. 8 participants joined.
  • 11 May - UFRJ, Brazil, brought the lecture "Os desafios da Pré-sal Petróleo (PPSA): Contratos partilha, Unitização e Comercialização do óleo da União" help by Augusto Telles from PPSA. 40 people attended.
  • 11 May - UNI, Peru, held the conference "Energy trends that develop globally" by Eduardo Berendson.  39 students attended. 
  • 14-18 May - UFS, Brazil, held the activity "Geophycin - using the qgis as a tool for the preparation of maps of pre and post geological field" by João Paulo Hora. 15 students attended. 
  • 15 May - UNCOMA, Argentina, held the VGP talk "Argentine Offshore Basins" by geologist Juan Lovecchio. 52 attendees. 
  • 15 May - UFPR, Brazil, held the activity "Turbidites from passive margins and foreland basins" by  Dr. Pierre Muzzi (Petrobras). 25 students attended.
  • 16 May - UNISINOS, Brazil, organized the lecture "Imperial Barrel Award (IBA): Opportunities and challenges for the next teams" given by: Jaqueline Diniz, Mateus Vargas, Vinicius Londero and Henrique Serrat (IBA team 2018). 36 people attended. 
  • 16 May - UFRuralRJ, Brazil earned the support of the company Geologix in order to accomplish the II Rural Oil & Gas. 
  • 16,17, 23 and 24 May - UNIPAMPA, Brazil, held the short-course "Virtual Outcrop Models applied to Structural and Stratigraphic Analysis" taught by the PhD. Felipe Gaudagnin. 15 students attended. 
  • 17 May - UVS, Suriname, held the activity "Fundraising: funding for the fieldtrip of 1st of june". 21 students.
  • 17 May - UVS, Suriname, held the activity "Fundraising: funding for the fieldtrip of 1st of June". 21 students attended. 
  • 19 May - UFS, Brazil, participated in the field trip "First field visit of chapter members to start the proposed project for the use of Grant 2018". 3 students attended. 
  • 23 May - UCV, Venezuela, held the activity  "everything you need to know about IBA ". By: Raiza Sueiro, Enrique Toridio and Jesus Monsalve (Professors of the UCV). 16 students attended.  
  • 25 May-IPN, Mexico, held the activity " Super Basins and their Importance for the exploration in Latinamerican exploration" by Victor Vega. 50 students attended.
  • 25 May - UNMSM, Peru, held the activity " VII Annual Opening" by Eng. Walther León, Eng. Adán López, Eng. César Ardiles. 55 students attended and 10 professionals attended.
  • 28 and 29 May - UWI and Trinidad and Tobago AAPG Young Professional Chapter, held the short course "Drilling Fluids for Geo-scientists" by Mr Jerome Somai. 30 students and young professionals attended. 
  • 30 May - USB, Venezuela, hosted the conference "Sequential Stratigraphy: Sedimentary Facies, Elements, Hierarchy and Architecture " by Disnahir Pinto. 12 students participated.
  • 30 and 31 April - UNSAAC, Peru, participated in the workshop " Evaluation of Oil Systems" by Kiko Valencia. 40 students attended.
  • 31 May - UVS, Suriname, held the talks in terms of the Visiting Geoscientist Program " Seismic Quantitative Intepretation - Extracting as much information from the 'wiggles' as possible by Mr. Varendra Rambaran & "Unlocking the potential of the Basal Sands, North Coast Marine area, Trinidad: Using regional analogues to push the limits of seismic interpretation by Mr. Xavier Moonan". 35 people attended. 
  • 1 June - UVS, Suriname, held the activity " Fieldwork with the VG Lecturers to the North of Suriname (Braamspunt) and to the Southern part of Suriname (Brokopondo), 18 students.
  • 04-06 June - UFPR, Brazil, held the course "3D Seismic Interpretation". 10 students attended.
  • 6 June - UFRuralRJ, Brazil,  held a lecture in the  School visiting  "CTUR (Technical School of Rural University) Environmental Week". 93 students attended. 
  • 8 June - UNSAAC, Peru, participated in the talk "Exploración Petrolera en Aguas Profundas en el Noroeste de Peru", by Eng. Cesar Ardiles". 80 students atended. 
  • 8 June - UNS, Argentina, held the conference "Gravitatory flows types originated in the continent and their sedimentary deposits in lake and marine basins" by PhD. Carlos Zavala. 80 students, young professionals and professors attended. 
  • 12-14 June- UFRuralRJ, Brazil, held the activity: Second Forum of Petroleum Geology "II Rural Óleo&Gás".  130 participants attended among students, Professors and representatives of the oil industry. 
  • 13 June - UNComa, Argentina, held the lecture "Methodology used in Oil Exploration in Sedimentary Basins in Brasil" by Geologist Mariana Patamia. 20 persons attended.
  • 13 June- UCV, Venezuela, held de activity "Caracterization of the Porous System of Carbonate and Siliciclastic Oligo-Miocene Sequences for the Vela Field, Offshore, Venezuela" by Yolimar Rojas (Geophysical Engineer, Special Degree Work in PDVSA). 17 students attended. 
  • 14 June - UFS, Brazil, held the activity "Social Action – Food Donation" to André Luiz Beneficial Entity (Ebal). 
  • 15 June - UNS, Argentina, held the conference "Organic Geochemistry Fundamentals for Source Rocks Evaluation" by Geologist Pablo Diaz. 70 students and young professionals attended.  
  • 19-21 June - UFRGS, Brazil, held the activity "3D Seismic Interpretation: principles and applications" by Samuel Correa. 04 students attended. 
  • 19-21 June- UFRuralRJ, UERJ, UFRJ, UFRGS and Unicamp, Brazil, participated in BPC (Brazilian Petroleum Conference) as volunteer students.  20 students attended. 
  • 25-29 June - UNComa, Argentina, held the 40 hours duration course  "Evaluation of Age, Transport, Recharge and Mixture of Groundwater by Hydraulic, Geochemistral and Isotopical Methods" by Ph. D. Mónica Blarasin and Ph. D. Adriana Cabrera. Attended by 52 participants among advanced geology and petroleoum engeneering students and professionals from all over South America. 
  • 26 June-  UFRuralRJ, Brazil, held the activity "Technical Visiting to the Ouro Negro Industry". 10 students attended.  
  • 30 June - Hike in collaboration with AAPG Young Professionals to Turure Limestone Waterfall - 12 students and young professionals in attendance. 
YP Chapters 

Argentina 

  • 3 May – the chapter hosted talk given by Victor Vega in Buenos Aires, "Petroleum Super Basins from a South American perspective," 25 students and YPs attended

Colombia

  • 23 May –the chapter hosted a talk given by PhD Carlos Andres Sanchez, "Basic principles about geological time." in order to Understand the importance of trace fossils in determining ages. 7 people attended. 

Peru

  • 21-22 May – the chapter had the Workshop "Stratigraphy Applied to Hydrocarbon Exploration" by Walther León. 16 people attended.

Brazil

  • The chapter renewed the partnership with Schlumberger to supply 3-month licenses for use by Brazilian IBA teams during the 2019 competition
  • The YP organized the talk, "Potential applications of deep learning in Geosciences" at Unisinos University. 20 people attended.

Mexico

  • 25 May –the chapter joined the talk organized by the Student Chapter of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional. "Super Basins and their impact in Latin America" by Victor Vega
  • 25 May – chapter members had a meeting with Victor Vega to discuss about the professional life. 12 attendees.

Bolivia

  • YP chapter members supported the organization of GTW Bolivia and participated actively in the workshop
  • 7 June – chapter members organized an activity with individuals who attended the GTW. Speakers included Susan Nash, AAPG Director of Innovation and Emerging Technology Mayra Vargas, AAPG Volunteer and LACR Events Coordinator and Elvira Gomez, AAPG President Elect. The event was held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. 70 students and YPs attended.
  • Chapter members are working with the students from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz in order to create a student chapter

Trinidad and Tobago

  • May 5 STEM Session #2. Trinity College – Rocks & Minerals: The students learnt how to differentiate between rocks and minerals, the different types of rocks and learnt about the rock cycle. The session was concluded with some fun exercises.
  • May 12 STEM Session #3. Cowen Hamilton – Advanced Sedimentology: The students learnt advanced topics in Sedimentology which included environments of deposition and even an introduction to electric well log interpretation of the sand bodies. The session contained many exercises that of which are practised by a Geologist at a company. Representatives: Amrit Cooblal (AAPG YPTT President) and Shaliza Ali Attendees: 30 people
  • May 19 STEM Session #4. Trinity College - Sedimentology: The students learnt the basics of Sedimentology which focussed on the depositional processes and resulting properties of sedimentary rocks. Porosity and permeability were also introduced as the oil and gas implications of sedimentological processes. Exercises involved students describing sedimentary rock samples and performing porosity calculations. Representatives: Amrit Cooblal (AAPG YPTT President) and Shaliza Ali Attendees: 30 people
  • May 26 STEM Session #5. Cowen Hamilton – Stratigraphy & Structural Geology: The students built on their sedimentology lessons with an introduction into Stratigraphy where they understood the laws of geology. This was followed up with an introduction into Structural Geology with focus on folding. The session contained many exercises that of which are practised by a Geologist at a company which included electric well log correlations and contour structure mapping of a hydrocarbon bearing sand. Representatives: Amrit Cooblal (AAPG YPTT President) and Shaliza Ali Attendees: 30 people
  • May 28-29 Drilling Fluids Short Course. The AAPG YP held a 2 day short course on Drilling Fluids for Geoscientists. Attendees covered the following: • Functions of drilling fluid • Drilling fluids and clay chemistry • Water and oil based muds • Drilling waste control and management • Stuck pipe problems and solutions • HPHT challenges, applications and systems • Deep water drilling • Reservoir Drill-in and Completions fluid • Well clean up and displacement procedures Instructor: Jerome Somai (Drilling Fluid Engineer) Attendees: 30 people
Upcoming Meetings
  • AAPGLAC Leadership Team Meeting: Thursday, 12 July, 17:00 Bogota/Lima/Houston/Mexico City; 18:00 – Caracas/Port of Spain/Santa Cruz; 19:00 Buenos Aires/Paramaribo/Rio de Janeiro; 24:00 London