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Explorer Division Column DEG

Carbon capture utilization and storage was labeled “a gold rush” by Bloomberg Businessweek in January. Much of it is driven by the 45Q carbon capture and storage tax credit that has significantly changed the economic outlook for CCUS. Injection of CO2 into the subsurface has been used for tertiary oil recovery efforts in the Permian Basin of New Mexico and West Texas since the 1970s. However, the permanent storage of CO2, especially in saline reservoirs, is a relatively new enterprise.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer President’s Column

“When aspiration and reality collide, in my experience reality wins every time,” said Jeff Miller, chairman, president and CEO of Halliburton, last month at the inaugural Middle East Oil, Gas and Geosciences Show (MEOS GEO) in Bahrain. He made the remark in the context of a CEO discussion about the industry and its response to the energy transition. The truth of his observation is much broader. As AAPG identifies and prepares new ways to serve its members and attract new members for decades to come, it’s important for us to understand the facts, as best we can. If our strategy is to succeed, it must be based on reality. One reality we face in the United States and Europe is dwindling enrollments in the geosciences, and the jobs these graduates are getting are rapidly changing.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Pete Rose, a renowned and highly active member of AAPG and the wider petroleum industry, passed away on Dec. 19, 2022. He was 87 years old. “The recent passing of Dr. Peter Rose was a shock to many AAPG members,” said past AAPG President Patrick J.F. Gratton.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

Working in arduous desert conditions and leading a team of explorers in the 1930s and ‘40s from the company that would come to be Aramco, Max Steineke put Saudi Arabia on the world petroleum map. A definitive, book-length biography of Steineke is yet to be written, but what follows outlines his career and contributions to petroleum geology and exploration during a period and in places far from the comforts, facilities and technologies enjoyed today. And yet, his exploration output from a single basin remains unparalleled, and his story offers valuable insights.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Considering climate change impact mitigation, the world’s need for raw materials, new ways of addressing energy needs and management of water resources — not to mention its own internal “crew change” — the geoscience community now faces a uniquely tumultuous time. How, in the coming decades, will the industry meet these often insurmountable, conflicting challenges? Is it even ready? Perhaps, most fundamentally and philosophically, what will the profession look like in the years to come as it tries to do all that?

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

In the race to find the best mix of clean fuel sources, many oil companies are reinventing themselves more broadly as “energy companies” and including geothermal energy, hydropower, solar and wind farms among other sources in their projects. In this context, hydrogen has recently become very important for most energy companies worldwide and offers significant potential to enable the transition to a clean, net-zero-emissions world economy.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The need for helium is growing and supplies in the United States are dwindling, creating an economic opportunity for geoscientists whose knowledge and skills are ideal for this niche industry. In Arizona, known for its helium-rich formations, a growing number of companies are leasing land and drilling for the gas.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Colombia’s 60-year internal conflict impacts a great part of the South American nation, but the most devastating effects have occurred in rural communities and outlying populations that, in addition to violence, are plagued by geographical and social isolation, deficiencies in educational and health care and inattention from the government authorities. Ironically, many of these areas are geological environments ripe for oil and gas exploration and mining. Challenges like these caught the attention of Carlos Ortega, an exploration geologist who co-founded ACGGP’s Regional Pedagogy Program to serve as a bridge between communities and industry.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

As the energy industry broadens, thanks to new technologies and new interest in emerging areas such as hydrogen, energy storage, expanded CCUS, geothermal, there is an increasing need for harmonization of policies, regulations, and coordination. Welcome to an interview with Nikki Martin, President of the EnerGeo Alliance, dedicated to developing a strategic approach in all the quickly changing areas.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Director’s Corner

I attended Pete Rose’s memorial service in Austin, Texas. There, along with his family, friends and several AAPG past presidents and other leaders, we remembered a man who had a significant influence on many and left a legacy to our industry. As we filed to our seats in the sanctuary, we each received a small pamphlet of Rose’s Rules – maxims that Pete compiled and that were meaningful to him – and No. 78 stood out to me.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Sunday, 3 March 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Trip Leaders Saeed Tofaif, Saudi Aramco Mohammed Sadah, Saudi Aramco Pre-Workshop Field Trip Date: 3 March Registration Deadline: 4 February Attendee Limit: 12-Min. / 25-Max. --> Fee: $200 Note:To register for the field trip please select the field trip option while completing your registration for the workshop The Hadrukh Formation of eastern Saudi Arabia was deposited in early Miocene in tidal, restricted lagoon and sabkha settings with fresh water incursions. Deposition in these non-marine, semi-arid coastal plains resulted deposition of varying lithologies in short lateral extent. This field trip to Hadrukh Formation outcrops in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia offers observation of internal stratigraphy of the Hadrukh Formation and lithological changes in the lateral extent, which is a key component in defining stratigraphic traps in the subsurface.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Short Course
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Thursday, 29 February 2024, 7:30 a.m.–8:30 a.m.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Short Course
Fort Worth, Texas
Thursday, 18 January 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Instructor: Jon Rotzien First 100 Registrants will also receive a copy of The Explorer’s Mindset: Lessons in Leadership in the Applied Geosciences and Energy Industry Short Course to be offered Jan. 18 and 19

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Palermo, Italy
Monday, 22 April Wednesday, 24 April 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

This Symposium marks a collaborative event that brings together AAPG Europe and AAPG Middle East, with a central focus on carbonates and mixed carbonate systems worldwide, while highlighting their significance within these two regions. The primary objectives are an overview of controls that govern the evolution of these systems in time and space and the characterization and prediction of their properties across scales.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Monday, 27 May Wednesday, 29 May 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

In order to support the energy transition, optimizing exploration and production from complex stratigraphic-diagenetic conventional and unconventional plays remains highly important. At the same time, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) poses new technological challenges that will impact both the industry and academia for decades to come. This 2nd edition will present reviews and discuss technology developments in geological process-based forward modeling achieved during the last 2 years. New perspectives for future technology developments and implementation in industry workflows will be discussed and with the additional focus on CO₂ storage and other sustainability-related applications, the scope of the workshop will be considerably extended.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday, 30 January Wednesday, 31 January 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

AAPG and EAGE have teamed up to deliver the upcoming New Discoveries in Mature Basins workshop to be held from 30-31 January, 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Save the date! Registration to open soon.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Monday, 4 March Wednesday, 6 March 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Join us for the 4th Edition of: "Stratigraphic Traps of the Middle East" workshop. The workshop will be hosted by AAPG in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia 4-6 March 2024.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Paramaribo, Suriname
Wednesday, 17 January Thursday, 18 January 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Plan now to attend an interactive in-person workshop with industry leaders, government representatives and technical experts working in the Guyana-Suriname Basin.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 23 July 2009, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

As commodity prices have dropped, many shale plays have become uneconomical as statistical plays and have increasingly become recognized as geological plays demanding new insights from data.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 23 April 2015, 2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

Recent laboratory studies have revealed previously unknown behaviors in shale gas which unlock secrets of permeability and sweet spots in shale gas reservoirs. The presentation presents the findings and also goes into detail about how the new information can be applied in order to potentially improve recovery in reservoirs.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Wednesday, 20 May 2020, 7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Join us for 'Matching Capabilities and Capacity With Current and Emerging Demand Areas; Building a Business Plan That Reflects the Realities of Opportunities'. Webinar will be presented via Zoom 7pm - 8:30pm CDT, 20 May 2020. During this webinar we will discuss: Matching technologies and companies Keys to Building a Resilient Early-Stage Business Multi-Industry Technology: Robotics as a Service

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 9 December 2010, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

The Mississippian-Devonian Bakken Petroleum System of the Williston Basin is characterized by low-porosity and permeability reservoirs, organic-rich source rocks, and regional hydrocarbon charge.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 4 June 2020, 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

Salt welds form due to salt thinning by mechanical (e.g., salt-flow) and/or chemical (e.g., salt-dissolution) processes. This webinar explores how we use 3-D seismic reflection, borehole, and biostratigraphic data to constrain the thickness and composition of salt welds, and to test the predictions of analytical models for salt welding.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 23 June 2020, 2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

Visiting Geoscientist Mauricio Guizada provides an overview of general structural geology of the Andes, with a focus on the Central Andes. His talk covers topics related to onshore exploration, G&G methods in exploration and risk analysis. Join Mauricio Guizada via Zoom on June 23 at 4pm CDT.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Wednesday, 15 July 2020, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

On July 15th, Raffaele Di Cuia and other members ouf the committee for our upcoming Workshop 'Structural Styles and Hydrocarbon Prospectivity in Fold Thrust Belt Settings: A Global Perspective' will be joining the Let's Connect webinar. The call for abstracts for this workshop, to be held in November in Barcelona is open until July 30th. Join this webinar and learn more about how to tackle the issues of Thrust Belt Settings! Register for the webinar and learn more about the face to face GTW!

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Wednesday, 26 August 2020, 7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Join us for 'Critical Minerals and Next Generation Batteries, Part II' where we will discuss an overview of battery tech and critical materials, new trends in energy storage, new opportunities in local energy generation and storage, lithium, rare earths and more. Webinar will be presented via Zoom 7pm -8:30pm CDT, 26 August 2020.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 3 December 2020, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Patawarta Diapir, approximately 2-6km2 located in the Central Flinders Ranges, South Australia, has been interpreted as a single allochthonous salt sheet containing Tonian-aged igneous and layered evaporite sedimentary intrasalt inclusions derived from the Callanna Group. In this webinar, Rachelle Kernen describes the diapir as five primarily silty limestone inclusions (0.5-2km2), re-interpreted as Ediacaran-aged Wonoka Formation and Patsy Hill member of the Bonney Sandstone (Wilpena Group). Webinar presented Thursday 3 December 2020 at 11:00 SGT (GMT+8) Singapore time

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Wednesday, 31 March 2021, 7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Join us for 'Pivoting 2021: Risk and Recovery in 2021'. Panelists discuss how they now approach risk assessment and opportunity evaluation after the dramatic changes due to economic stresses (crises) and a global pandemic. Webinar will be presented via Zoom 7pm - 8:30pm CDT, 31 March 2021.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

President Biden has laid out a bold and ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050.  The pathway to that target includes cutting total greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them entirely from the nation’s electricity sector by 2035. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management will play an important role in the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by reducing the environmental impacts of fossil energy production and use – and helping decarbonize other hard-to abate sectors.

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Request a visit from Jennifer Wilcox!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Around 170 million years ago, the Gulf of Mexico basin flooded catastrophically, and the pre-existing landscape, which had been a very rugged, arid, semi-desert world, was drowned beneath an inland sea of salt water. The drowned landscape was then buried under kilometers of salt, perfectly preserving the older topography. Now, with high-quality 3D seismic data, the salt appears as a transparent layer, and the details of the drowned world can be seen in exquisite detail, providing a unique snapshot of the world on the eve of the flooding event. We can map out hills and valleys, and a system of river gullies and a large, meandering river system. These rivers in turn fed into a deep central lake, whose surface was about 750m below global sea level. This new knowledge also reveals how the Louann Salt was deposited. In contrast to published models, the salt was deposited in a deep water, hypersaline sea. We can estimate the rate of deposition, and it was very fast; we believe that the entire thickness of several kilometers of salt was laid down in a few tens of thousands of years, making it possibly the fastest sustained deposition seen so far in the geological record.

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Request a visit from Frank Peel!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

While there are many habitats that are associated with the deposition of organic-rich marine and lacustrine source rocks, one important pathway is linked to the onset of increased basin subsidence associated with major tectonic events. A key aspect is that this subsidence is spatially variable, with the uplift of basin flanks contemporaneous with the foundering of the basin center, resulting in a steeper basin profile.

Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Climate change is not only happening in the atmosphere but also in the anthroposphere; in some ways the former could drive or exacerbate the latter, with extreme weather excursions and extreme excursions from societal norms occurring all over the earth. Accomplishing geoscience for a common goal – whether that is for successful business activities, resource assessment for public planning, mitigating the impacts of geological hazards, or for the sheer love of furthering knowledge and understanding – can and should be done by a workforce that is equitably developed and supported. Difficulty arises when the value of institutional programs to increase equity and diversity is not realized.

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Request a visit from Sherilyn Williams-Stroud!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Why H₂ is generated in subsurface? Which are the reactions and the promising geological setting? Example in countries where H₂ have already been found: Australia, Brazil. Kinetic reactions: i.e., Is the natural H₂ renewable? What we don't know yet about this resource and about the H₂ systems (generation/transport/accumulation). Overview of the current landscape (subsurface law, permitting, E&P activity)

Request a visit from Isabelle Moretti!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

In comparison with the known boundary conditions that promote salt deformation and flow in sedimentary basins, the processes involved with the mobilization of clay-rich detrital sediments are far less well established. This talk will use seismic examples in different tectonic settings to document the variety of shale geometries that can be formed under brittle and ductile deformations.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

This presentation is a survey of subsurface machine learning concepts that have been formulated for unconventional asset development, described in the literature, and subsequently patented. Operators that utilize similar subsurface machine learning workflows and other data modelling techniques enjoy a competitive advantage at optimizing the development of unconventional plays.

Request a visit from Shane Prochnow!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Local sea-level changes are not simply a function of global ocean volumes but also the interactions between the solid Earth, the Earth’s gravitational field and the loading and unloading of ice sheets. Contrasting behaviors between Antarctica and Scotland highlight how important the geologic structure beneath the former ice sheets is in determining the interactions between ice sheets and relative sea levels.

Request a visit from Alex Simms!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

The carbonate sequences that were deposited in the now exhumed Tethyan Ocean influence many aspects of our lives today, either by supplying the energy that warms our homes and the fuel that powers our cars or providing the stunning landscapes for both winter and summer vacations. They also represent some of the most intensely studied rock formations in the world and have provided geoscientists with a fascinating insight into the turbulent nature of 250 Million years of Earth’s history. By combining studies from the full range of geoscience disciplines this presentation will trace the development of these carbonate sequences from their initial formation on the margins of large ancient continental masses to their present day locations in and around the Greater Mediterranean and Near East region. The first order control on growth patterns and carbonate platform development by the regional plate-tectonic setting, underlying basin architecture and fluctuations in sea level will be illustrated. The organisms that contribute to sequence development will be revealed to be treasure troves of forensic information. Finally, these rock sequences will be shown to contain all the ingredients necessary to form and retain hydrocarbons and the manner in which major post-depositional tectonic events led to the formation of some of the largest hydrocarbon accumulations in the world will be demonstrated.

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Request a visit from Keith Gerdes!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) seismic-reflection surveys provide one of the most important data types for understanding subsurface depositional systems. Quantitative analysis is commonly restricted to geophysical interpretation of elastic properties of rocks in the subsurface. Wide availability of 3D seismic-reflection data and integration provide opportunities for quantitative analysis of subsurface stratigraphic sequences. Here, we integrate traditional seismic-stratigraphic interpretation with quantitative geomorphologic analysis and numerical modeling to explore new insights into submarine-channel evolution.

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Request a visit from Jacob Covault!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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