22 July, 2019

Latin America & Caribbean Region Report June 2019

 

In June 2019, AAPG and ABGP organized a successful workshop in Brazil, student and YP Chapters organized multiple activities, and AAPG LACR volunteers promoted upcoming events at the Mexican Petroleum Congress.

Student-Professional Networking reception at GTW Brazil in Rio de Janeiro

Special Items
LACR 2019 Elections
  • Elections for FY2019-2021 Officers and seven of ten region delegate slots were held in mid-June
  • Individuals elected will join the team led by 2019-2021 President Elvira Pureza Gómez and Immediate Past-President Pedro Alarcón Medina
  • All positions had a single candidate participating; LACR voting members voted yes or no on the ballot
  • Officers Elected (two-year term: 2019-2021)
    • Federico Seminario, Pluspetrol, Lima, Peru
    • Xavier Moonan, Touchstone Exploration, Fyzabad, Trinidad & Tobago
    • Juan Pablo Lovecchio, YPF, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Region Delegates to the AAPG House of Delegates (three-year term: 2019-22)
    • Jhonny Casas, POES International, Caracas, Venezuela
    • Flavio Feijó, Independent, Porto Alegre, Brazil
    • Clyde Griffith, Staatsolie, Paramaribo, Suriname
    • Varendra Rambaran, BHP Independent, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
    • Silvia Santos Grapain, Mexican Petroleum Institute, Mexico City, Mexico
    • Ricardo Vargas, Perenco, Bogota, Colombia
    • Antonio Velásquez, Ecopetrol, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
  • Victoria Ferreyra, Schlumberger, Buenos Aires Argentina was appointed to complete the year remaining on Juan Pablo Lovecchio’s delegate term
Advance the science of geology
Visiting Geoscientist Program (VGP)
  • 8 June – Ricardo Vargas delivered the talks "AAPG Introduction" and "Petrel Workshop: Introduction to integrated 3D Reservoir Modeling" at the University of Pamplona in Colombia. 35 students attended.
  • 9 June – Carolina Garcia delivered the talk "Introduction to risk management and land use planning" at the University of Pamplona in Colombia. 35 students attended.
  • 12 June – Carolina Garcia delivered the course "Disaster's risk management and its application in energy projects" at the National University of Colombia, in Bogota, Colombia. 23 students attended.
Earth Science Week

Trinidad & Tobago

  • 1 June – Kandace Persad presented the STEM Session: “Introduction to Stratigraphy and Structural Geology” to students of St. Anthony’s College, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Fifteen (15) students ages 12-16 attended.
  • 8 June – Shenille Samlal and Charis Mungal presented the STEM Session: “Introduction to Stratigraphy and Structural Geology” to students of St. Benedict’s College, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. Nineteen (19) students ages 13-15 attended.
  • 15 June – Nykesi Omokughegbe and Kiel Blondell presented the STEM Session: “Fundamentals of Petroleum Exploration” to students of St. Anthony’s College, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Fifteen (15) students ages 12-16 attended.
  • 22 June – Nykesi Omokughegbe and Adele Harrypersad presented the STEM Session: “Fundamentals of Petroleum Exploration” to students of St. Benedict’s College, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. Nineteen (19) students ages 13-15 attended.
Promote the use of technology
GTW Brazil 2019: Solutions for Appraisal and Development of Onshore and Offshore Fields
Student-Professional Networking reception at GTW Brazil in Rio de Janeiro
Student-Professional Networking reception at GTW Brazil in Rio de Janeiro
  • Rio de Janeiro, 13-14 June 2019
  • Workshop statistics:
    • 75 participants representing 18 companies, 3 associations, 1 university and 7 countries
    • 14 oral and 4 posters presentations from 12 organizations; also panel discussion with brief presentations and discussion from 3 organizations
    • Technical themes included: EOR/IOR Solutions for Mature Fields, Value of Information in Appraisal Activities, Use of Technology in Complex Reservoirs and Tools & Technologies to Optimize Exploration and Production
    • Panel discussion: Field Clusters as an Alternative Solution for Economical Development
  • Sponsors: Ecopetrol, Shell, Total, ExxonMobil, Spectrum, Enauta and Murphy Oil
  • Overall, feedback was positive; participants were satisfied with the program and with the roundtable discussions, and expressed interest in attending a future event/workshop in Rio de Janeiro
ICE Buenos Aires 2019: Expanding Frontiers and Unlocking Resources for Future Generations
  • 27‐30 August 2019, Hilton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center
  • Finalizing content for Technical Program and registration announcement to be sent in printed and digital form throughout the world in mid-June
  • Opened registration for conference, field trips and short courses
  • Actively soliciting sponsors and exhibitors. 13 6m2 spots left to sell in the exhibition.
GTW Suriname 2019: Recent Discoveries and Exploration and Development Opportunities in the Guiana Basin
  • Paramaribo, 5-7 November 2019
  • Call for abstracts open through 28 June
  • Confirmed sponsorships from Staatsolie, Apache, Kosmos, Halliburton, Tullow; several other companies expressed interest
  • Session Themes:
    • Tectonic Setting and Prospectivity in the Guiana Basin
    • Recent Exploration in Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana
    • Maximizing Resource Potential in Emerging Basins
    • Enhancing Exploration and Development through Integration and Data Management
    • Beyond Guiana: Emerging Plays, Prospects and Discoveries throughout the Caribbean
    • Government-Industry-Community: Collaborative Strategies for Emerging Hydrocarbon Economies
Geology and Hydrocarbon Potential of the Circum-Gulf of Mexico Pre-salt Section
  • Mexico City, 4-6 February 2020
  • Technical committee working actively to develop program
  • Launched website, developed marketing materials
  • Call for abstracts open through 15 September
Colombia Workshop 2020
  • April 2020 – Bogota or Barranquilla
  • Tentative title - Challenges and Opportunities for Exploration and Development of Southern Caribbean Frontier Basins
  • Forming organizing committee and meeting with stakeholders to determine topics. date and venue
Energy Opportunities Conference, Exhibition and B2B Session
  • Mexico City, 23-25 September 2020
  • Launched Energy Opportunities 2020 at Mexican Petroleum Congress in León in June
  • Visited Camino Real Hotel in Polanco for site visit; currently negotiating contract with hotel
  • Met with embassies in Mexico City to discuss their participation in the exhibition
  • Discussed institutional support with Pemex, CNH and the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP)
Serve AAPG members throughout the Region
Region website & social media as of 4 July 2019
  • Facebook page has 1843 followers (increased 2.8%)
  • Twitter account has 663 followers (increased 0.5%)
  • LinkedIn account has 986 followers (increased 3.0%)
Develop the next generation of geoscientists
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
  • Participants elected according to their nominations, and working on their travel details
  • Working to finalize the program, budget and venue
Ready to Work (RTW) Program
  • Committees working in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia to develop programs for recent graduates being trained to work in the energy industry
  • The initiative is supported by the FY2019 Region budget, additionally, in Brazil, through sponsorship provided by ExxonMobil, and in Colombia through sponsorship provided by ACGGP
  • Program dates:
    • Colombia: 27 May – 1 June
    • Brazil: 27 May-7 June
    • Bolivia: 6-13 July
Bolivia
  • Made preparations for the program. Held committee meetings to define milestones and steps to follow. Developed preliminary program and sent letters to speakers.
Brazil
  • Program Held 27 May – 7 June
  • Held Ready to Work kick off at the UERJ Seismostratigraphy Laboratory in Brazil. Guilherme Sowek, RTW coordinator, and YP Chapter members Thamila Bastos and Hyalla Queiroz organized the opening ceremony.
  • 7 June – Lunch meeting promoted during the RTW and closing ceremony with participants, some teachers and organizers of the event in Rio de Janeiro.
Colombia
    • Program Held 27 May – 1 June
    • Program involved 6 days of technical and practical sessions explaining the processes involved in the petroleum industry, going from exploration-production to transportation, petrochemistry and trading, including soft skills.
    • 30 last-year students and young professionals participated in the program
    • 25 instructors delivered program content
    • 1 June – program ended with a Soft Skills Workshop, at National University of Colombia
Student Chapters
  • 3 June – UCV, Venezuela. Held the activity "Importance of membership in a UCV AAPG Student Chapter" by members of AAPG UCV Student Chapter Ana Jaramillo (President), Gabriel Wilkinson (Secretary) and Carlos Parra (Treasurer). 27 student attended.
  • 3-6 June – IPN, Mexico. Participated in Knowledge Tournament GeoQuiz and represented Mexico into EAGE Annual Conference 2019, London, UK. 6 IPN members attended.
  • 3-5 June – IPN, Mexico. Held, in cooperation with EAGE IPN Student Chapter, the course "The technique of the Spectral H/V Coefficient" by the Specialist Aristoteles Jaramillo Rivero, GeoExplora. 35 students attended.
  • 5 June – UP, Colombia. Held the activity: "Installation and approach to Petrel Software”, by the AAPG UP team. 22 Students attended.
  • 6-7 June – UFRGS, Brazil. Held the activity "Well Petrophysical" by Dr. Marcus Berao Ade - UERJ. 15 students attended.
  • 6 June – Suriname Student Chapter. Held a teambuilding activity where the new members could get to know the student chapter members through sport activities and board games. 16 people attended
  • 7 June – UNICAMP, Brazil. Held the activity “Imperial Barrel Award: what is it and the benefits of being part of the team” by Ulisses Correia. 5 students attended.
  • 8 June – UP, Colombia. Attended the conference “AAPG Introduction” by Ricardo Vargas (VGP). 27 students and 4 professional attended
  • 8 June – UP, Colombia. Held the Workshop "Petrel Workshop: Introduction to integrated 3D Reservoir Modelling” by Ricardo Vargas (VGP). 29 students and 4 professional attended.
  • 8 and 15 June – UNAL Bogotá, Colombia. Held the course "Introduction to the construction of 2D-3D models from balanced geological sections in compressive systems" by Daniel Bello. 27 students attended.
  • 09 June – UP, Colombia. Held the course “Introduction to risk management and land use planning" by Carolina García (VGP). 35 Students attended.
  • 10 June – UNIPAMPA, Brazil. Participation in the 33° Book Fair of Caçapava do Sul with an interactive SandBox, 20 students attended.
  • 11 June – UFS, Brazil. Held the activity "Beginning of the Blood Donation Campaign 2019".
  • 13 June – UNISINOS, Brazil. Held the course “Introduction to geological modelling through software” by Vanessa Engelke. During the following months there will be more days of course to learn how to handle the software.
  • 13-14 June – UFRRJ, Brazil. Participated in “GTW Brazil 2019: Solutions for Appraisal and Development of Onshore and Offshore Fields”. 1 student attended.
  • 13-14 June – UERJ, Brazil. Participation in “GTW Brazil 2019: Solutions for Appraisal and Development of Onshore and Offshore Fields”. 7 student members attended.
  • June 14 – UPARANA, Brazil. Participation in “GTW Brazil 2019: Solutions for Appraisal and Development of Onshore and Offshore Fields”. Our treasurer, Renata Zanella, attended.
  • 14 June – UNICAMP, Brazil. Participated in the technical visit to Petrobras Center for Sedimentological and Stratigraphic Studies “Rodi Ávila Medeiros”, Santos, São Paulo. 6 students attended.
  • June 17 – UdelaR, Uruguay. Held an informative talk by Chapter Co-advisor Msc. Bruno Conti, in which he told us about his experiences during his attendance to the ICE. 4 students attended.
  • 18 June – UFS, Brazil. Held the activity "More Geology: Astromineralogy" by Fernando Xerxes. 2 members and 10 students attended.
  • 19-22 June – IPN, Mexico. Participated during the Mexican Petroleum Congress 2019 (CMP) at AAPG exhibition stand, in León, Guanajuato.6 IPN members attended.
  • 21 June – Suriname Student Chapter. Had the chance to promote the AAPG Student Chapter during the UWI Master Courses information day in the IGSR-building on the university complex. 15 people attended.
  • 2 2 June – Suriname Student Chapter. Hosted and attended a talk by lecturers of UWI (Dr. Oshaine Blake & Dr. Ryan Ramsook), titled “Geomechanics – Industrial Applications; Insight into Geomechanics Research and Innovation in the Caribbean”. 10 people attended
  • 24-28 June – IPN, Mexico. Held in cooperation with EAGE IPN SC, the course "1st Seismic Interpretation" by the Specialist Federico Salas, CGG, in ITC, Villahermosa, Tabasco. 30 students attended.
  • 25 June – UFS, Brazil. Held the activity "Opening the Selection Process of AAPG UFS Student Chapter 2019.2".
  • 26 June – UFRRJ, Brazil. Held the activity “Convocatory”. 18 students attended.
  • 27 June – UFS, Brazil. Participated in the activity "Coffee in PROGEOLOGY" by Luciana Schneider. 1 official member and 30 people attended.
  • 27 June – UFS, Brazil, received the grant "L. Austin Weeks Graduation Grant Program worth $500"
  • 28 June – UFRRJ, Brazil. Participated in “Brazil Offshore 2019”. 10 students attended.
  • 28 June – UERJ, Brazil. Participation on “Brazil Offshore 2019”. 3 UERJ AAPG student members attended.
YP Chapters
Argentina
  • 10 June – Eng. Fernando Tuero, President of VYP Consultores SA, presented “Waterflooding 2.0 secondary recovery techniques”, at IAPG - Argentine Institute of Oil and Gas in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 8 participants attended.
  • Chapter members supporting development of Student and YP programs at ICE Buenos Aires. The Conference will include a Student-YP Roundtable focusing on career challenges and opportunities in the energy industry.
Bolivia
  • 13 June - Daniel Peña, presented "Review of the oil system of the Mapi - Mashira - Sagari sector (Camisea thrust belt) - Southern part of the Ucayali basin - Peru" as part of the XIII Session “Cycle of Geoscientific Talks”, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. 35 Students, YPs and professionals attended.
Brazil
  • 27 May to 7 June – Chapter held Ready to Work Program. (See Ready to Work Section)
  • 2 June - Field trip to Pedra Bonita in Rio de Janeiro. 6 attendees.
  • 12 June - The Semestral bulletin of YP Brazil was published on the website.
  • 13 June - Two young professionals participated in a reception promoted by AAPG to share information and experience with other professionals and some SPE leaders in Rio de Janeiro.
  • 14 June - During the GTW Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, 5 young professionals participated in AAPG Leadership Meeting and Reception in Rio de Janeiro to discuss and share activities with other professionals from Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad & Tobago.
  • 18 June - One professional from AAPG YP participated in SPE Brazil Subsea Symposium: Unleashing the Potential of Subsea 4.0 in Rio de Janeiro.
  • 19 June - A YP member, published "A day in the laboratory", where she shared some of the main activities of her Masters with "Garotas STEM" project. It was published in all of the social media of the project. This project will make a partnership with YP Brazil.
Colombia
  • 27 May to 1 June – Chapter held Ready to Work Program. (See Ready to Work Section)
  • 2 June - Field Trip to Girardot Sub-basin, 30 young professionals and students participated.
  • 14 June - During the GTW Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, 1 young professional participated in AAPG Leadership Meeting and Reception in Rio de Janeiro to discuss and share activities with other professionals from Brazil, Venezuela, and Trinidad & Tobago.
  • 20 June - Executive committee meeting for chapter's re-organization, 10 members attended.
Mexico
  • 19 June – At the Petroleum Mexican Congress (CMP), AAPG volunteers presented about the AAPG and had conversations about the creation of five student chapters in different universities in the country.
  • The preview of the application “TLALI: discovering geology” was also presented for mobile devices with IOS and Android platform. Held in León, Guanajuato, Mexico City. Six representatives of the young professionals and Student chapters of AAPG Mexico attended.
Peru
  • 15 June - M.Sc. Eng. Jul Roldán Guevara, presented "Workshop: Petrophysical Parameters and Estimation of Hydrocarbon Resources" in the framework of programmed courses of the AAPG YP, held at the Faculty of Petroleum of the National University of Engineering (UNI), Lima, Peru. It was attended by 20 people, AAPG YP members, AAPG students and professionals from the chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
Trinidad & Tobago
  • 8 June – Field Trip “Seismic Traverse over the Caroni Basin Area”. Field trip leaders, Xavier Moonan and Georgia Huggin,s took participants through the Caroni Basin area, Caroni, Trinidad and Tobago. Ten 10 persons attended.
  • 28 June – Joint Field Trip with AAPG UWI Student Chapter, Society of Petroleum Engineers Trinidad and Tobago Section and UWI Student Chapter and the Geological Society of Trinidad and Tobago: “Tour of New Horizon Parrylands Facility”. Field trip leaders: Greg Boyles and Chandrika Ramsubag (New Horizon) and Curtis Archie (GSTT). 29 persons attended.
Venezuela
  • 7 June – AAPG YP board meeting to planning activities. Caracas-Venezuela. 3 YP assistants.
  • 11 June – Graduate Professor at Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra Central de Venezuela and AAPG member, Maria del Carmen Gomez, joined the VG program.
  • 12 June – First meeting to prepare the 2020 Geoscientific Event, together with members of the Venezuela society of speleology- FUNVISIS, UPEL, UCV-ICT and USB teachers. Central University of Venezuela-Caracas. Interaction with 7 professional assistants.
  • 13-14 June – GTW Brazil 2019. Yolimar Rojas (AAPG YP Venezuela Secretary) participated and presented her work “Characterization of the Porous System of Oligo-Miocene, Carbonate and Siliciclastic Sequences in La Vela Offshore Field, Venezuela”. Hilton Rio de Janeiro Copacabana– Brazil. Interaction with 75 professionals.
  • 14 June - During the GTW Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, 1 young professional participated in AAPG Leadership Meeting and Reception in Rio de Janeiro to discuss and share activities with other professionals from Brazil, Colombia, and Trinidad & Tobago.
  • 26 June – First meeting to coordinate visits to INTEVEP, AAPG YP- Intevep PDVSA. With manager of department of studies of reservoir. Interaction with 2 professionals
  • 27 June – First YP and Student Chapter meeting and to organize the 2020 Geoscientific Event, Central University of Venezuela. 12 professionals, 4 YP´s and 5 student leaders of UCV/USB/ULA chapters attended
  • 27 June – Second YP and Student Chapter meeting and to organize the 2020 Geoscientific Event, Central University of Venezuela. 16 professionals, 2 YP´s and 4 student leaders of UCV/USB chapters attended.
  • 27 June – First publications on social networks: Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Upcoming Meetings
  • AAPGLAC Steering Committee Meeting: Wednesday, 17 July, 16:00 Bogota/Lima; 17:00 Port of Spain; 18:00 Rio de Janeiro/Buenos Aires
  • AAPGLAC Delegate Meeting, Wednesday, 21 July, 16:00 Bogota/Lima/Houston; 17:00 Port of Spain/Caracas; 18:00 Rio de Janeiro/Buenos Aires/Paramaribo