From the President
Welcome to the first issue of the 2018-19 EMD Newsletter. The last EMD Newsletter was published in 2010 when it was decided to try a new format to distribute information through the modernized EMD website and quarterly email blasts. The website is now well established as a resource documenting EMD’s activities and reports, however the frequency of regular email communications since 2010 has been sporadic. The purpose of reinstituting the newsletter is to help improve member engagement by formalizing a standardized format for the quarterly email blasts.
Mid-Year Leadership Meeting
The 2018 Mid-Year Leadership Meeting concluded on December 10 via teleconference. This was a continuation of the Nov. 19 meeting to take up new business items that were not discussed during the prior meeting. This was the first of the planned quarterly leadership meetings for fiscal year 2018-19. President Wayne Camp introduced the new officers: Edith Wilson (president-elect), Robert Coskey (vice president) and David Barnes (secretary), and outlined three main goals for the year: 1) member engagement, 2) servant leadership and 3) intersociety cooperation. See also August Explorer EMD Division Column, https://explorer.aapg.org/story/articleid/49022/emds-plans-for-the-futurePublications.
Minutes of the meeting are being prepared by David Barnes, and will be posted soon on the EMD website https://www.aapg.org/divisions/emd/reports/mid-year-leadership-meeting.
The third quarter leadership meeting will be scheduled in February.
EMD Bylaws Revision
With the elimination of membership dues in 2010, the position of treasurer was discontinued at the expiration of Steven Schammel’s term in 2017. Eliminating the treasurer position requires a revision of EMD Bylaws. The Executive Committee has begun a review of the EMD president’s recommended revisions that were also discussed during the mid-year meeting. The recommended revisions are based on a document prepared by an ad hoc committee and reviewed by AAPG in 2011, but were never implemented. The 2018 amended Bylaws will require a vote by EMD members that will be scheduled following review by AAPG headquarters staff.
Commodity Reports
During the EMD annual meeting held in conjunction with the Salt Lake City AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition last May, it was decided to no longer require mid-year Commodity Committee reports in addition to the annual reports. It was felt that this change would help reduce the burden of preparing reports and allow for more time for the committees to promote other activities and to cover other items during official leadership meetings. The annual reports will continue to be produced by the various Commodity committees and made available on the EMD website.
Region and Section Councilors
The Region and Section Councilors perform a critical role by assisting EMD in its mission to promote the geology of unconventional oil and gas and alternate energy resources by supporting AAPG Region and Section meetings and other activities. President-elect Edith Wilson is working with the Region and Section leadership to identify new leaders to fill existing councilor vacancies. This quarter we welcome Africa Region councilor Oladipo “Dipo” Falade and Rocky Mountain Section councilor Mike Bingle-Davis.
Intersociety Cooperation
The American Geophysical Union recently wrapped up their fall meeting, which was held in Washington, D.C., Dec. 10-14 https://fallmeeting.agu.org/2018/welcome/. AAPG sponsored a booth attended by AAPG president, Denise Cox, and other AAPG staff to promote our role as geologists in providing solutions for a sustainable energy future. President-elect Edith Wilson represented EMD and gave an oral presentation.
Earlier this year, EMD proposed a joint session with the Geological Society of America (GSA) Energy Geology Division http://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/GSA/, titled “Niobrara: Outcrop to Foreland” to highlight the regional importance of the Cretaceous Niobrara Formation as an unconventional oil and gas supply for the 2019 Joint Section Meeting to be held in Manhattan, Kan., March 25-27 http://geosociety.org/GSA/Events/Section_Meetings/GSA/Sections/sc/2019mtg/home.aspx. Although only three abstracts were submitted, I am encouraged that this will be the start of continued cooperation with the GSA Energy Geology Division to promote the geology of unconventional oil and gas resources.
I am also organizing a technical session, “The Origin and Impact of Organic Matter in Unconventional Reservoirs” for the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Gussow Conference, Oct. 15-17, in Banff, Canada https://www.cspg.org/CSPG/Conferences/Gussow/Event_Overview.aspx?WebsiteKey=05774a5e-8ef1-49a2-ba4a-1adae6671cad&hkey=86ee5216-851f-4856-994d-99fc0da359f5.
EMD has also been asked by the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) to help organize a research conference for the 2020 International Sedimentary Geosciences Congress that will be held in Flagstaff, Ariz., https://www.sepm.org/SEPM2020.
Annual Convention
Shale Gas and Liquids Commodity Chair Ursula Hammes is serving as vice chair for the 2019 ACE that will be held in San Antonio, May 19-22 https://ace.aapg.org/2019. A total of 343 abstracts were received for the two EMD-sponsored themes on Unconventional Resources and Exploration Frontiers. In addition to the EMD oral and poster sessions, EMD is sponsoring two short courses: 1) Essentials of Unconventional Play Based Exploration, and 2) Applications of Organic Petrography in the North American Shale Petroleum Systems. We will also continue our joint luncheon meeting with the Division of Environmental Geology. President-elect Edith Wilson is already working with AAPG for the 2020 ACE to expand EMD themes to include more alternate energy resource topics.
Website
Vice president Bob Coskey is undertaking the role to update content and continually improve the format functionality the EMD website in coordination with the EMD AAPG headquarters representative Diane Keim and AAPG Web producer Bogdan Michka. Currently working to improve the “Join EMD” link, tracking website activity, updating the EMD membership roll. We are also researching the capability of adding an interactive blog where members can post questions, comments and announcements to the general EMD membership.
Publications
Publications Committee
We welcome Chandler Wilhelm who has recently joined EMD as Publications Committee chair for the remaining 2018-20 term. Chandler is former vice president-Portfolio and Emerging Basins with Shell E&P. He readily answered the call for servant leaders in the November Explorer EMD Division column https://explorer.aapg.org/story/articleid/49845/emd-is-seeking-servant-leaders, and is looking forward to identifying new publication projects for EMD.
Journal Natural Resources Research
EMD publishes a review of our annual commodity reports on odd years in cooperation with the Journal of Natural Resources Research (Springer). The 2017 review article was compiled and edited by EMD member Fran Hein and is now available on our website: https://www.aapg.org/divisions/emd/nrrjournal. Fran will be retiring from her position as editor for the Journal at the end of her term in June 2019. On behalf of the Executive Committee, I would like to thank Fran for her long service with EMD.
History of WMD (1977-2017)
Michael Campbell prepared a summary of the history of EMD in celebration of our 40th anniversary last year. The first of a two-part series was published in the December issue of the Explorer and is reproduced in the Latest News & Articles section of the EMD website. The full report will be posted on the EMD webpage as a future reference. Michael’s reflections are based on his long service as a founding EMD member, president (2010-11) and current chair of the Uranium Committee, and by contributions from other longtime EMD members Ruffin Rackley, Samuel Friedman, Jack Pashin and Brian Cardott https://explorer.aapg.org/story?articleid=50081.
AAPG Memoir 121
A new AAPG Memoir, “Mudstone Diagenesis: Research Perspectives for Shale Hydrocarbon Reservoirs, Seals, and Source Rocks” edited by EMD members Wayne Camp, Neil Fishman, Paul Hackley, Kitty Milliken, Joe Macquaker and Kevin Taylor, is in the final stages of editing for publication mid-year 2019. This book is a follow-up to the joint SEPM-AAPG Hedberg Research Conference on mudstone diagenesis that was held in Santa Fe, N.M., Oct. 16-19, 2016 https://www.sepm.org/CM_Files/ConfSumRpts/2016-Mudstone%20Diagenesis%20Conf%20Summary.pdf.
Meetings
Eastern Section
The Eastern Section held their annual meeting in Pittsburgh last October. Section councilor, Joe Morris, reported over 500 people attended the two-day meeting. Topics included: unconventional shale and tight sand, CO2 storage, offshore North Carolina, Michigan Basin and uranium recovery from Marcellus flow-back water. The 2019 annual October meeting will be in Columbus, Ohio.
2019 URTeC, Denver
The AAPG co-sponsored Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) is moving back to Denver for their sixth annual meeting, July 22-24 https://urtec.org/2019. Abstract submission closed on Dec. 7. EMD members are involved in scoring abstracts and forming sessions. Due to the popularity of this event, URTeC is organizing local meetings in Pittsburgh; Oklahoma City; and Midland, Texas that will compete with AAPG annual Section meetings.
2019 ICE Buenos Aires, Argentina
Region councilor Miguel Nicho-Pacheco and DEG president Mary Barrett are working with the 2019 ICE technical committee to form a session on Energy and the Environment that would address local concerns about shale gas development and geohydrology. Abstract deadline is Feb. 8 for the Aug. 27-30 event https://buenosaires2019.iceevent.org/technical-program/program.
2019 TSOP Bloomington, Ind.
The 36th Annual Meeting of The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP) will be held at the Indiana University in Bloomington, Sept. 7-11, 2019. TSOP is an Associated Society of AAPG. This event is being organized by EMD member Maria Mastalerz https://www.tsop.org/TSOP2019/index.htm.
Member Feedback
The Executive Committee is interested in improving member engagement by providing relevant content through our Web page and email communications. We are here to serve you. Please give us your feedback by contacting me or one of the other officers ().