Explorer Article
By Emily Llinás
In the 1960s and '70s, many oil companies collectively drilled 50 wells in the Chortis plate, an arrow-shaped, large segment of continental crust projecting into the Western Caribbean from onshore Honduras and Nicaragua, 1,000 kilometers east toward Jamaica. Civil unrest and a deteriorating investment climate in Central America halted offshore exploration in the early 1980s and the area remained largely unnoticed while companies focused on Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. Decades later, the Chortis plate caught the attention of Chris Matchette-Downes, a petroleum geochemist and entrepreneur with a history of finding commercial exploration opportunities in Europe, East Africa and, more recently, the Caribbean.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 May, 2021
Explorer Article
By Ken Milam
Salt tectonics may be “an outlier in this country’s university training in structural geology,” but geologists entering the petroleum industry will almost certainly find themselves dealing with the topic, explained Mark G. Rowan of Rowan Consulting in Boulder, Colo. A growing understanding of how they form – especially since the 1980s – has been helpful in increasing their importance to exploration and production. Rowan discussed “Salt Diapirs – What Are They, How Do They Form and What is Their Role in Hydrocarbon Exploration?” at the recent Visiting Geoscientist Program Super Session organized by AAPG and the AAPG Foundation.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 April, 2021
Explorer Article
By Emily Llinás
The first semester of 2020 brought challenges to organizations and industries across the world. While COVID-19 and the subsequent economic downturn led many companies to shut their doors, the twin crises inspired others to innovate and explore. For operators working offshore Mexico, activities and strategies developed during 2019 and 2020 have positioned them for success in 2021.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 April, 2021
Explorer Article
By Emily Llinás
Last year started with promise for the Colombian offshore industry. Shell EP Offshore Ventures Limited and Ecopetrol, S.A. signed an agreement for Shell to acquire an interest in and operate the Fuerte Sur, Purple Angel and Col-5 blocks located in the southern Colombian Caribbean basin. Noble Energy opened an office in Barranquilla and announced plans to drill a prospect at 8,500 feet on the Col-3 block in the Guajira Basin in northern Colombia. Ecopetrol and Petrobras prepared to mature the 2014 Orca discovery on the Tayrona block, also in Guajira. Then COVID-19 came to the Americas in March 2020, and everything changed.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 March, 2021
Explorer Article
By David Brown
University geoscience programs face a challenging future as the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic – one that could have significant and even dire implications for oil and gas. Educators, mostly outside the United States, are already sounding an alarm.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 March, 2021
Explorer Historical Highlights
By Gustavo Coronel
In February 2011, the court in the small Ecuadorian town of Lago Agrio sentenced Chevron Corporation to pay $9.3 billion to a group of about 30,000 Ecuadorian residents of the Amazonian region where Texaco, later acquired by Chevron, had been producing oil for 26 years. The trial was the stuff of which Hollywood movies are made. This legal saga combined fundamental environmental issues, political intrigue, judicial corruption, corporate greed and cliff-hanging courtroom drama. Above all it unveiled the tragedy of a young and brilliant U.S. lawyer who felt he could obtain big money from a giant oil corporation while becoming a hero for the underdogs of this world.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 February, 2021
Explorer Article
By Heather Saucier
On the island of Nevis in the Caribbean, its 11,000 residents are on the verge of an energy transformation. In about two years, their cost of electricity will no longer fluctuate with market prices, and not even a hurricane will stop it from flowing. In fact, over a 25-year period, residents will save an estimated $100 million in energy costs, based on today’s pricing. How is this possible? It is the result of a strategic conversion to geothermal energy developed by GeoFrame Energy, a newly created partnership between Schlumberger New Energy, AAPG Member Bruce Cutright and business partner Dan Pfeffer. Their goal is to make geothermal energy the most cost-effective and reliable means for providing clean, sustainable power.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 February, 2021
Explorer Emphasis Article
By Emily Llinás
Exploration is the heart of the oil and gas industry, and geologists are the heart of exploration. Paradoxically, though geologists are among those most responsible for finding hydrocarbons, data collected by the Brazilian Association of Petroleum Geologists shows that geologists are less likely than their engineering and economist counterparts to be considered for leadership positions in the business and technology areas of oil and gas companies.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 February, 2021
Explorer Foundation Update
By Jasper Oshun,Kristina Keating,Margaret Lang
Bonanza en los Andes” was a two-year Geoscientists Without Borders-funded project focused on the Andean community of Zurite, Perú. Bonanza was designed around three interconnected themes: a community-based irrigation canal development project, a hydrogeologic investigation of water resources in the understudied Andean puna, and an educational program designed to train students in multidisciplinary research to bridge gaps between science and society.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 February, 2021
Explorer Geophysical Corner
By Heather Bedle,Karen Leopoldino-Oliveira
This study is primarily based on a 3-D seismic dataset that covers 1,107 square kilometers of the deepwater Ceará Basin. For this demonstration, the seismic cube was cropped and extends over an area of 765 square kilometers. It covers part of Premier Oil, Cepsa, Chevron and Ecopetrol exploration blocks, as well as ANP’s blocks of permanent offer. Here we present a broad overview of the seismic geomorphology of the study area aiming at delineating the turbidite channels, as the sands are deposited in the channels and can accumulate the hydrocarbons, which can be exploited for the benefits of the petroleum industry, as well as discuss a pitfall associated with the cropping of seismic data.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 January, 2021