Latin America & Caribbean Region Report March 2019

Advance the science of geology

Visiting Geoscientist Program (VGP)

• 13 March – Juan Carlos Llinás delivered the talk "Turbidites and the Deepwater Depositional System -Examples of the Sinú Offshore Basin, Colombia" at Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay. 18 students, 2 faculty members and 2 external persons attended.
• 14 March – Juan Carlos Llinás delivered the talk "Turbidites and the Deepwater Depositional System -Examples of the Sinú Offshore Basin, Colombia" at IAPG (Argentine Institute of Oil and Gas) for the University of Buenos Aires and National University of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 14 students and 5 external persons attended.
• 28 March – Eduardo A. Berendson delivered the talk "Soft Skill sets for Geoscientists in International Markets" at National University of San Marcos and National University of Engineering, Lima, Peru. 30 students and 1 faculty member attended.

Earth Science Week

Trinidad & Tobago

• 9 March – STEM Session: Complete Subsurface Mapping Project. South based students integrated all they have learnt and correlated wells, picked reservoir tops, produced contoured structure maps, petrophysical calculations and oil volumetrics. Presented by Amrit Cooblal, Krystal Ramdin & Therese Steele. 25 students attended.
• 16 March – STEM Session: Petroleum Engineering. North based students learnt about all the different aspects of drilling a well, from spud to completion, and were also provided with a look at Trinidad's Natural Gas Industry, its importance, and the key players in the industry. They also took part in exercises calculating flow rate and the necessity of flow assurance. Presented by Zain Ramsingh (AAPG YPTT Treasurer) & Aidan Rajpaul (DeNovo Energy). 25 students attended.
• 23 March – STEM Session: Petroleum Geology Final Review. South based students were given a final recap and were quizzed on all they learnt in this term about petroleum geology and the industry workflow. Presented by Amrit Cooblal & Krystal Ramdin. 25 students attended.

Promote the use of technology

GTW Mexico 2019: Unlocking Mexico’s Offshore Potential*

• 6-7 March, Hotel Marquis Reforma, Mexico City
• Workshop statistics:
  • 148 participants representing 52 companies, 4 universities and 8 countries
  • 17 presentations and 10 posters from 14 organizations
  • Technical themes included: Understanding Mexico’s Offshore Basins; Exploration, Appraisal and Development for both Deep Water and Shallow Water; Enabling Technologies for Offshore Operations and Tools & Technologies to Optimize Exploration and Production
• Event included two panel discussionsPotential and Challenges for Unconventional Exploration in Mexico and Best Practices and Lessons Learned in Today’s Mexican Petroleum Industry
• Sponsors: Chevron, BHGE, BHP Billiton, Spectrum, Gaffney, Cline & Associates, Schlumberger Western Geco, Ecopetrol and Talos
• Overall feedback was positive; many participants were satisfied with the program and expressed interest in attending a future event/workshop in Mexico City

Deep Exploration in the Bolivian’s Sub-Andean: Lessons Learned and Vision for the Future

• Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 28-29 March 2019
• Workshop organized in conjunction with YPFB Corporation and the Ministry of Hydrocarbons of the Plurinational Republic of Bolivia
• Workshop statistics:
  • 91 participants representing 22 companies and organizations and 8 countries
  • 22 presentations from 13 organizations
  • Technical themes included: Structural Geology Applied to Deep Exploration; Techniques to Improve Geological & Geophysical Data; Integrating Data to Reduce Geologic Risk and Lessons Learned and Vision for Future Exploration
• Sponsors: YPFB, Repsol, BGP, Schlumberger
• Overall, feedback has very positive, many participants expressed their satisfaction about the technical program and would like to have some other topics addressed in future events in Bolivia

GTW Brazil 2019: Solutions for Appraisal and Development of Onshore and Offshore Fields

• Rio de Janeiro, 13-14 June 2019
• Working with session chairs to select presentations for oral and poster sessions
• Session Themes:
  • Alternative solutions for field clusters
  • EOR/IOR solutions for mature fields
  • Value of information in appraisal activities
  • Use of technology in complex reservoirs
• Poster Session Theme: Tools & technology to optimize exploration and production

GTW Suriname 2019: Recent Discoveries and Exploration and Development Opportunities in the Guiana Basin:

• Paramaribo, 5-7 November 2019
• Working to select session chairs and presenters
• Session Themes:
  • Tectonic Setting and Prospectivity in the Guiana Basin
  • Recent discoveries in Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana
  • Best practices for Development in Emerging Basins
  • Data, Tools and Technology to Optimize Offshore Operations
  • Beyond Guiana: Offshore Exploration Updates from throughout the Region
  • Government-Industry-Community: Collaborative Strategies for Emerging Hydrocarbon Economies

AAPG Hedberg Research Conference: Geology and Hydrocarbon Potential of the Circum-Gulf of México Pre-Salt Section

• Mexico City,4-6 February 2020
• Technical committee working actively to develop program
• Developing marketing materials and selecting a venue

ICE Buenos Aires 2019:Expanding Frontiers and Unlocking Resources for Future Generations*

• 27‐30 August 2019, Hilton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center
• Program selection held in Buenos Aires 14-15 March; chose 30 presentations to be included in oral and poster sessions
• Actively soliciting sponsors and exhibitors
• Technical Program and Registration Announcement to be released in mid-April
• Online registration opens April 15
• Working with team of editors in the US and Argentina to promote AAPG Memoir 120 focusing on Vaca Muerta; investigating options to print locally in order to have publication ready in time for the conference

Serve AAPG members throughout the Region

Region website & social media as of 3 April 2019

• Facebook page has 1738 followers (increased 0.5%)
• Twitter account has 638 followers (increased 1.4%)
• LinkedIn account has 888 followers (increased 4.3%)

Promote awareness of AAPG

Corporate Advisory Board

• Steering Committee approved creating aLACR Corporate Advisory Board which could provide strategic and tactical guidance to leadership and help to provide ongoing support for education and workforce development initiatives

Bolivia Partnership

• While in Santa Cruz de la Sierra for Bolivia workshop, signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Bolivian Ministry of Hydrocarbons to AAPG to promote technical and educational activities in Bolivia
• Working with the Ministry and YPFB Corporation on their presence at ICE Buenos Aires

Develop the next generation of geoscientists

Imperial Barrel Award*

• IBA LACR sponsors: Chevron ($15,000 USD), Shell ($10,000 USD)
• In-kind sponsors: Petrobras (semifinals venue), Schlumberger (Petrel licenses for Brazil teams)
• Virtual round competition with 21 teams from 8 countries held on March 1
• Teams were divided into four groups, with one winner selected from each group

Group A

• University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) – group winner
• National University of Córdoba (Argentina)
• Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Bolivia)
• Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (Peru)
• National University of San Agustin (Peru)
• Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (Peru)

Judges: Cleveland Jones, Gerson Terra, and Igor Viegas (all from Brazil)

Group B

• Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)
• State University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) – group winner
• Federal University of Sergipe (Brazil)
• Universidade Federal do Paraná (Brazil)
• Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil)

Judges:Andrea Ortiz (Colombia),Alvaro H. Montoya (Colombia), and
Ronnie Ameerali (USA)

Group C

• Anton de Kom University of Suriname (Suriname)
• University of the West Indies (Trinidad & Tobago)
• Instituto Politecnico Nacional (Mexico)
• Universidad Central de Venezuela (Venezuela) – group winner
• Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezuela)

Judges:Javier Subia (Brazil), andHernan Antolinez (Colombia)

Group D

• Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia)
• Universidad de los Andes(Colombia)
• Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico)
• EAFIT(Colombia)
• Universidad Industrial de Santander(Colombia) – group winner

Judges:Rene Enrique Manceda (Argentina), and Martín Oviedo (Perú)

• Group winners who will travel to the in-person semifinals include:
  • Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
  • Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas
• Coordinators worked to finalize budget for travel expenses, select hotel and venue, choose judges and plan logistics for the Regional Semifinal in Rio de Janeiro on April 5
• Region Semifinal winner will advance to Global Finals in San Antonio on 18 May

2019 Student-Young Professional Leadership Summit*

• 30 August – 1 September 2019 in Buenos Aires
• Advertising Summit Sponsorship option in the ICE Buenos Aires 2019 sponsorship brochure
• Confirmed Sponsorships from Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell
• Formed organizing committee; timeline developed for event planning
• Working on the program, budget and venue

Ready to Work Program Pilot

• The FY2019Regionbudget includes funding to expand the Ready to Work Program in other parts of theregion
• Will use best practices and lessons learned from the March-April 2018 Peru Pilot to develop programs in Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia
• Volunteers identified in all three countries to develop technical program and logistics

Student Chapters

• 9 February – UWI Student Chapter, Trinidad & Tobago, participated in the field trip “Anglais Point and the Elusive Lower Cruse Turbidites”. 4 students attended.
• 22 February – UIS, Colombia, held “Ichology in marine and transitional environments”, directed by the geologist Gabriel Mendoza R.
• 1 March – UNAM, Mexico, participated in "Geophysics Day Stands" organized by SAGFI UNAM. More than 40 students attended the chapter’s stand.
• 1 March – UNI, Peru, held the workshop "Introduction to Magnetic Resonance" by José Vásquez. 12 students attended.
• 6 March – IPN, Mexico, in cooperation with YP Mexico held the activity “Discussion Panel: Unconventional Reservoirs”. More than 120 students and professionals attended.
• 8 March – UNICAMP, Brazil, held an activity for International Women’s day, where promoted a conversation wheel and elaboration of posters with reflection and protest phrases about the women’s problematic in the society. 6 students attended.
• 10 March – ESPOL, Ecuador, held the activity “Geoscientific Capsule, Limited Edition – Chapter 5: The Geologist in oil industry”. 596 visualizations on social networks.
• 13 March – UFPR, Brazil, held the presentation “Origin of CO₂in the Pre-Salt” by PhD. Eugênio Vaz dos Santos Neto (Petrobras). 31 people attended.
• 14 March – IPN, Mexico, was the main organizer of the talk “Introduction Chevron Day IPN 2019”. More than 80 students and professors attended.
• 15-17 March – ESPOL, Ecuador, Held the activity “Video recording and production for AAPG Student Chapter YouTube Video Contest”. 15 students and 5 officers attended.
• 19-20 March – UNAM, Mexico, participated in "University Petroleum Encounter Stands" organized by AMGP UNAM. More than 60 students and 10 young professionals attended the chapter’s stand.
• 20 March – UFS, Brazil, participated in the “Videoconference about membership, problems and solutions related to the Student Chapters of Brazil” by Daiane Cardoso. 3 young professionals and 10 student members attended.
• 21 February – UFRGS, Brazil, held a technical visit featuring two presentations, “Analytical Techniques Applied to Characterization of Reservoir Rocks” by Anderson José Maraschin, and “Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and the role of IPR in this whole story” by João Pedro T. Zelinski and Fernando Hamerski. 12 students attended.
• 21 March – UFSC, Brazil, held the activity “Presentation of the AAPG UFSC Student Chapter to the new Geology students” at the Quintas Geológicas event. 30 students attended.
• 22 March – Uruguay, Alejandro Ginares, president of the SC applied to the LACR Leadership Summit 2019.
• 22 March – UNI, Peru, made promotion at a school with the talk “The hydrocarbons industry from the perspective of the geology students” in order to promote the hydrocarbons industry in a sustainable development environment. 2 AAPG UNI members participated.
• 22 March – ESPOL, Ecuador, held the activity “Geoscientific Capsule, Limited Edition – Chapter 6: Importance of Geographic Information Systems”. 478 visualizations on social networks.
• 25 March – Uruguay, the chapter applied to the Austin Weeks Grant.
• 26 March – UFRGS, Brazil, participated in the Distinguished Lecture Program with presentation of the lecture “Re-evaluating the Relationship Between Relative Sea Level and Sediment Distribution Using Numerical Stratigraphic Forward Models” by Ashley Harris. 11 students attended.
• 27-29 March – UNMSM, Peru, held the workshop “Introduction to Seismic Interpretation” by Eng. Edwing Tejada. 30 students and 5 professionals attended.
• 27 March – UFS, Brazil, held the activity “Geology in the School at the Federal Institute of Sergipe with the theme: Analysis of Petroleum Systems”. 4 members and 35 students attended.
• 28 March – IPN, Mexico, in cooperation with EAGE IPN held the activity “Petroleum Conferences Cycle”. 90 students attended.
• 28 March – UNI, Peru, held the conference “Soft skills and skills required for geologists in international employment markets” by Eduardo Berendson. 14 students attended.
• 29 March – UFSC, Brazil, held the activity “AAPG UFSC DAY - A day of lectures on oil geology”. 80 students attended.
• 29 March – UFPR, Brazil, held the presentation “Aspects of in situ deformation of unconsolidated sediments - Examples of the Karoo and Neuquen Sedimentary Basins” delivered by PhD. Carlos M. Monnerat de Oliveira (Petrobras). 64 peopleattended.

YP Chapters

Argentina

• Chapter members supporting development of Student and YP programs at ICE Buenos Aires

Bolivia

• 6 February – hosted the 8^thsession of the “Geoscientific Talks Cycle.Jimmy Regalado, Senior Geophysicist at YPFB Chaco, presented "IntegratedInterpretationof Geophysical Data of Barinas Este 07G 3D Project" at the YPFB Auditorium in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Attendees:30 in YPFB auditorium & 10 online by Skype transmission in ANH (National Hydrocarbon Agency)
• 15 March – Ninth Session “Cycle of Geoscientific Talks” with Ph. D. Chris Cornelius, CEO CanCambria Energy Corp, who presented “Understanding Super Giant Non-Conventional Petroleum Systems: The Eagle Ford, Montney and Vaca Muerta Plays & Part 2 the "Chaco-Stack" - The size of the prize: Is Bolivia ready to enter the global non-conventional marketplace?”35 students and young professionals attended and 7 other online participants from ANH (National Agency of Hydrocarbons)
• 28 March – Tenth Session “Cycle of Geoscientific Talks” with two talks: Roberto Hernández, GEOMAP-LA.TE. ANDES who presented “High Resolution Stratigraphy in Microbial Carbonates of the Province of Salta Balbuena Supersequence – Salta Group, equivalent to the Mill Fm. of the Bolivian Highlands. Orbital cycles of the planet and its influence on geological processes” and Héctor Alfonso, ECOPETROL, who presented “Seismic Method applied to Hydrocarbon Exploration.”60 students and young professionals attended.
• 27-29 March – YP Chapter Bolivia Committee was involved in the organization of the specialized AAPG Workshop “Deep Exploration in the Bolivian’s Sub-Andean: Lessons Learned and Vision for the Future” in coordination with Ministry of Hydrocarbon and YPFB Corporation. Delegate Ana Goncalves was General Chair. 91 professionals attended the workshop.

Brazil

• 11 February – Celebration of the International Day of Women in Science on social media.
• 1 March – Daiane Cardoso and Francielly Sá coordinated the virtual round of IBA.
• 13 March – Monthly meeting to discuss the next activities of the YP. 7 attendees.
• 16 March – Priscila organized the trekking to Pedra Bonita in Rio de Janeiro. The visit will be on April 6, during the IBA semifinals.
• 18 March – Meeting to define the texts and images for the YP Brazil Bulletin, with two YPs involved (Priscila and Leticia).
• 20 March – Held the “Did you Know” and “How to Become and Stay Active” presentations, given by Daiane Cardoso and Misael Félix via Skype. 4 young professionals and 10 student members attended, representing 7 Brazilian student chapters.
• 22 March – Meeting to discuss and organize the RTW program. 3 YPs participated (Guilherme Sowek, Priscila and Lizbeth).
• 22 March – Daiane Cardoso was in the process of organizing a “Well Petrophysics”course that will be held at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul with the sponsorship of UFRGS (Pampa) AAPG Student Chapter. The course will be given by Prof. Marcus Berao (UERJ) from 3-7 June.
• 26 March – Daiane Cardoso and Francielly Sá helped to create the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN AAPG Student Chapter, located in Natal.
• 26 March – Lunch meeting to define the RTW Program as a project, with schedule, professors, and disciplines.4 YPs participated (Hyalla Queiroz, Guilherme Spwek, Thamila Bastos, Priscila Amaral).
• 29 March – Developed of YP Brazil's media kit, and sponsorship proposal for the RTW program. 5 YPs involved (Hyalla, Guilherme, Thamila, Carlos and Priscila).
• 29 March – Priscila participated in the “SPE Career Talks” promoted by SPE Brazil section at the IBP (Brazilian Institute of Petroleum)

Colombia

• 15 February – Call to conform new executive committee. A meeting took place in order to renew the staff of the executive committee. The president-elect for LACR region, Elvira Gómez, attended and presented the benefits of belonging to AAPG. All of the positions were filled in this meeting. 30 people attended.
• 7 March – Executive committee meeting to plan and schedule monthly activities and RTW Program. 10 members attended.
• 15 March – Meeting about the RTW Program, including topics as participation requirements, technical program and logistics.7 members of the executive committee attended.
• 21 March – First round of the cycle of conferences “Women in the Industry”, with María del Pilar Marin, who delivered the talk “Petrophysics: tools and applications: the rocks talk through their electric logs”. 32 people attended.
• 28 March – Second round of the cycle of conferences “Women in the Industry” with María Gabriela Castillo, who delivered the talk “Structural Geology for Hydrocarbon Prospection” 14 people attended.
• 30 March – RTW Program meeting to the define and set the technical program.6 members of the executive committee attended.

Mexico

• 7 March – Two members of the chapter participated as volunteers in the GTW Mexico 2019 (Silvia Santos and Idalia Cruz Gómez). 10 Chapter members also attended the Student-Young Professionals Networking Reception that was part of the program of the event.
• 7 March – Together with the IPN Student Chapter, YP Chapter organized the panel discussion “Unconventionals, a perspective from the experience” with specialists in the subject. 120 people attended.
• 14 March – The Olmeca University, at Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, registered the members of their AAPG student chapter and its Faculty Advisor, the engineer Hector Castillo, with the support of Victor Antuna Herrera, educational liaison of YP Mexico.6 people attended the meeting.

Peru

• 28 March – Executive Committee coordination meeting to set new activities.
• 29 March – Meeting held to share AAPG activities and recruit new members. 20 people attended.

Trinidad & Tobago

• 23 March – Field Work Day Trip “Resistivity Survey: Investigating the Los Iros Damage Zone”. Following up the 6.9 earthquake felt on August 21st 2018, when the Los Iros area, southern Trinidad, was severely impacted. A day of field work was planned for volunteers to assist to conduct a resistivity survey to image the subsurface in understanding what has occurred structurally. This trip was sponsored by Touchstone Exploration and led by Xavier Moonan, Ibraheem Ali, Oshaine Blake, Varendra Rambaran & Jason Kanhai. 25 people attended.
• 28 March – Participation at the “Shell Technology Fair” event. The AAPG YPTT promoted AAPG and geosciences through the chapter’s booth and engaged with many students of high schools and universities. 900 students reached.

Upcoming Meetings

• AAPG Region Leadership Team Meeting, Wednesday, 10 April, 16:00 Bog/Lim/Hou/Mex; 17:00 POS; 18:00 Rio