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Explorer Article By Heather Saucier

The History and the Future of Discovery Thinking

More than 20 years ago, Charles Sternbach found himself on the edge of his seat in a conference room where a handful of geologists were sharing fascinating stories about their discoveries, once thought to be out of reach. And, he walked away knowing one thing: These stories, and many more, must continue to be told. And so began his mission to keep them alive and to keep them coming in a forum he would eventually bring to AAPG called Discovery Thinking.

Added on 01 July, 2019

Explorer Article By Emily Llinás

Making the Case for Exploration

During these times of global economic uncertainty, political turmoil and climate change discussions, some, both inside and outside the energy industry, question the value of investing in oil and gas exploration. At the same time, new discoveries, technological advances and collaborative partnerships make exploration more exciting than ever. ExxonMobil Exploration Company President Stephen Greenlee addressed these parallel perspectives during “The Future of Oil and Gas Exploration,” the annual Michel T. Halbouty Lecture he delivered at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in San Antonio in May.

Added on 01 July, 2019

Explorer Historical Highlights By Thomas Ambrose

Danger, Challenges and Luck in the Putumayo-Napo Basins

I landed in Bogota in June 1963 for employment with Texpet Colombia. Exploration of the asymmetrical Putumayo sub-Andean Basin had begun in the 1940s when Texpet sent exploration geologists to document any surface outcrops, but the area was still too remote for further exploration. Ten years later, Texpet drilled some two dozen core wells without finding oil. Then, in 1962, exploration picked up and the company moved a houseboat from the Amazon up the Rio Putumayo to a site upstream from the small, remote river town of Puerto Asis.

Added on 01 June, 2019

Explorer Division Column EMD By Wayne K. Camp

New Developments in the EMD

Our councilors fulfill an important role by coordinating activities between the Executive Committee and the local sections and regions. For example, EMD has been working with the Latin America & Caribbean Region to develop technical sessions for the AAPG 2019 International Conference and Exhibition that will be held in Buenos Aries, Argentina, Aug. 27-30.

Added on 01 May, 2019

Explorer Geophysical Corner By Jim Howell,Ritesh Sharma,Satinder Chopra

Integration of Multibeam Bathymetry and Backscatter Data with 2-D Seismic Data

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most prolific oil and gas basins in the world. Understandably, the region is also home to many deeply buried mature source rocks and migration pathways to the surface, which result in petroleum seepage on the seafloor. The emerging mineral-rich fluids invite microbes, mollusks and clam to feed on them, and these communities located around the seep locations form hard surfaces and appear to be different from the surrounding seafloor. Such hard surfaces are acoustically reflective and thus are detected by the technology available today.

Added on 01 May, 2019

Explorer Historical Highlights By Arnaldo Salazar

Manny Trillo: A Major League Hero from the Oilfields of Venezuela

With the 2019 Major League Baseball season now under way, a story about a baseball all-star from an oil field town is at bat.

Added on 01 May, 2019

Explorer Article By Barry Friedman

'Part of the DNA'

When this year’s Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award winner Bernard Christian Duval was younger, he dreamed of becoming a pilot – preferably a fighter pilot, but then discovered he was colorblind; thus, he had to give up his first love. His second love worked out all right, though. Duval, who started his career in 1968 and spent most of it at Total, discovered geology during a summer internship in Morocco, and while he soon realized that geologists, too, need to see color, he discovered there are ways to compensate, to adjust, to find other ways around the obstacles – an adaptation that has served him well throughout his career.

Added on 01 May, 2019

Explorer Article By David Brown

When Will Oil Exploration Recover?

Call it an exploration recovery. Call it a rebound. But it feels like the oil and gas industry is returning to health in fits and starts. That could be because the patient was sicker than we realize. Any measure of how far exploration has come back should take into consideration how far back it started.

Added on 01 May, 2019

Bulletin Article

Biochronology, paleoenvironments, and stratigraphic sequences of the late Albian–middle Eocene fore-arc Vizcaino basin, western Baja California, Mexico

The Vizcaino fore-arc basin accumulated approximately 4 km (∼13,000 ft) of upper Albian–middle Eocene siliciclastic marine sedimentary rocks derived from the Peninsular Ranges in Baja California. Data from eight exploratory wells document the micropaleontological content and lithological characteristics of these rocks.

Added on 22 April, 2019

Bulletin Article By Ian Norton,Michael Hudec

Upper Jurassic structure and evolution of the Yucatán and Campeche subbasins, southern Gulf of Mexico

The Isthmian salt basin in the southern Gulf of Mexico can be divided into the Yucatán and Campeche subbasins, separated by a base-salt high near the nose of the Yucatán platform.

Added on 22 April, 2019

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Northern Rocky Mountain Geological Highway Map - Download

Added on 21 April, 2009

Book

Anomalies: Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology 1917-2017

Robbie Rice Gries

Added on 16 March, 2018

Book

Memoir 113: Giant Fields of the Decade 2000-2010

Edited by R. K. Merrill and C. A. Sternbach

Added on 01 September, 2017

Digital Download

Texas Geological Highway Map - Download

Added on 21 April, 2009

Book Reviews

Book Review

Memoir 111: 3-D Structural Interpretation: Earth, Mind, and Machine

This volume sets out to understand more about the convergence of geology, 3-D thinking, and software, which collectively provide the basis for truly effective interpretation strategies. Product #1280. Price: Member $74/List $148.

Added on 01 December, 2017

Book Review

Memoir 121: Integrated Geology of Unconventionals: The Case of the Vaca Muerta Play, Argentina

This Memoir presents a chapter on each main geological discipline involved in unconventional plays, and provides five case studies describing the workflow to obtain production. The ultimate goal of this Memoir is to contribute to the comprehension of unconventional plays by sharing the rich outcomes of our “socio-scientific” experiment of coopetition.

Added on 04 September, 2020

Book Review

Atlas of Natural and Induced Fractures in Core

This volume is an ultimate resource for reading the story and history of fractures in rocks from core. It is a “must-have” volume for all who have, or wish to have, an intimate knowledge of the rocks they work with from a fracture point of view. (Product #1300. Member price $150 / List price $150.)

Added on 01 September, 2018

Book Review

Memoir 98: The Great American Carbonate Bank–The Geology and Economic Resources of the Cambrian-Ordovician Sauk Megasequence of Laurentia

Comprised of 48 chapters, this Memoir covers the biostratigraphy, ichnology, stratigraphy, depositional facies, diagenesis, and petroleum and mineral resources of the GACB. Product #787. Price: Member $184/List $304.

Added on 01 February, 2018

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