March 2011

Last month I had the pleasure to hear DPA President Dan Tearpock’s ethics talk to the Houston Geological Society.

Science is the heartbeat of AAPG. It is the key for innovation in our industry, and AAPG is dedicated to finding new scientific developments and related new technologies.

Since the time of my last EXPLORER column in December, the petroleum industry has experienced many changes.

Seismic attributes are particularly effective for extracting subtle geologic features from relatively noise-free seismic data. However, seismic data are usually contaminated by both random and coherent noise, even when the data have been migrated reasonably well and are multiple-free.

One month after the tragic loss of the Deepwater Horizon drill rig in the Gulf of Mexico, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

Historical Highlight: The Miri Field was discovered in 1910 in northwest Borneo and one year later it produced 1,950 barrels of oil. 

Canada’s unconventional resources continue to excite the imaginations of geoscientists, as Canadian companies – with operators and investors from North America, India and Southeast Asia – are doggedly working to unlock the country’s unconventional resource play potential.

Houston independent oilman Jack C. Threet, who as then-AAPG Foundation chairman helped design the current initiative to increase funding for key existing and numerous new programs, has been named the recipient of this year’s L. Austin Weeks Memorial Medal.