October 2010

BP’s Macondo well has been plugged using top-kill techniques, and the oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico is dissipating faster than many had predicted. The oil flow has stopped and the well has been sealed. This is very good news.

At the AAPG Leadership Days in August, the major theme was, “What would AAPG look like in 2035?”

How time flies when one is having fun! I am into the first three months of my DPA presidency and things are really hopping.

This month we continue our look at 3-D seismic design.

As oil spilled from the Macondo well into the Gulf of Mexico in the days following the Deepwater Horizon drill rig explosion, the White House scrambled to respond. President Obama ordered the Department of the Interior to conduct a safety review of offshore operations and report back within 30 days. In the interim, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the department would not issue new deepwater drilling permits.

Canada’s Horn River Basin has been described as significantly larger than the Barnett shale area in Texas, which currently produces three billion cubic feet per day. Third-party estimates predict the Horn River area could hold 50-100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, making it the hottest resource play in North America.

The AAPG Foundation provides vital funding to the Association in support of educational opportunities plus the dissemination of knowledge and information on key aspects of geosciences and petroleum geology around the globe.