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Business and Economics

Explorer Emphasis Article

A strategy gaining force to reduce risk and improve decision-making in recent years is “integration,” the practice of combining disparate teams to complete single projects. Integrated teams are increasingly common in the energy sector, where single business units include geologists, geophysicists, petrophysicists, engineers and other professionals who work on a common project.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The world is awash in oil at the moment, but with chronic underinvestment in exploration coupled with global energy demand steadily rising, the stage may be set for an oil price spike in the years to come, according to some analysts. Others, on the other hand, predict that improved production methods and project efficiency will go a long way toward meeting supply demands with existing reserves.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Division Column DPA

In early August, we learned that a Texas Sunset Review Board had recommended the elimination of the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists. Our local AAPG-affiliated societies quickly organized an information campaign and defense for the TBPG. This shows the importance of strong, well organized local affiliates. This situation also raises several questions about the professional status of geologists in our society and how we view ourselves.

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

The continent of Africa has beguiled geologists for centuries. Its varied and beautiful landforms and geological features, its mineral and energy resources, its cultural heritage – it’s the birthplace of our species – all combine to form a rich experience of sights and sounds, aromas and flavors. Once you’ve been to Africa, you want to go back. And that’s why, after 10 years, we’re heading back to Africa next month – back to Cape Town, for the 2018 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Bolivia’s role as a South American gas market supplier was a key theme at the Geosciences Technology Workshop Bolivia 2018, AAPG’s first technical workshop in the country. High-profile guests drew national attention, and local media outlets covering the GTW described Bolivia as “playing in the big leagues.”

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The date is important – Aug. 11, 2014. That was the day Mexican President Peña Nieto signed a package of laws designed to attract and encourage foreign investment into the country’s oil, gas and electrical grids. With the reform codified, the country was open for business and companies like Shell, Total, BP, Petronas Repsol and BHP rushed in.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Oil companies made huge cuts in their exploration budgets during the 2015-17 industry downturn, canceling or postponing up to $1 trillion overall in scheduled and planned projects. At the same time, success rates for international exploration dropped to 50-year lows. The outlook for future reserves has stumbled, if not tumbled.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Middle East Blog

AAPG, EAGE and the Technical Program Committee for the Shale Gas Evolution Symposium are pleased to invite you to submit a poster abstract for the upcoming event which is being held Under the Patronage of His Excellency Shaikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, Minister of Oil, Kingdom of Bahrain, AAPG.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Deep learning for predicting behaviors is becoming indispensable in the oil industry. Understanding the fundamentals and having a hands-on experience with hacking Python code in order to predict reservoir flow was the experience provided by the first AAPG-Halliburton Hackathon, which took place July 19 in Houston. Led by the AAPG’s Deep Learning Technical Interest Group (TIG) and Halliburton, the event attracted more than 120 registrants who were primarily geoscientists, engineers, and data scientists who worked together in teams that competed against each other and were judged by a panel of experts. The hackathon was powered by the OpenEarth® Community and supported by a team of Halliburton experts in Python software, code, ideation, and strategy – as well as by domain experts and judges from the Deep Learning TIG.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Division Column DEG

While some of you know my past as a sedimentary geologist interested in reservoir dynamics and improved recovery, both in industry and later as a college professor, about 23 years ago I became hooked on the history of oilfield waste and its impact in the United States. I have dedicated myself to finding and saving as much publicly available documentation as possible on the history.

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)
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)
DL Abstract

As oil and gas exploration and production occur in deeper basins and more complex geologic settings, accurate characterization and modeling of reservoirs to improve estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) prediction, optimize well placement and maximize recovery become paramount. Existing technologies for reservoir characterization and modeling have proven inadequate for delivering detailed 3D predictions of reservoir architecture, connectivity and rock quality at scales that impact subsurface flow patterns and reservoir performance. Because of the gap between the geophysical and geologic data available (seismic, well logs, cores) and the data needed to model rock heterogeneities at the reservoir scale, constraints from external analog systems are needed. Existing stratigraphic concepts and deposition models are mostly empirical and seldom provide quantitative constraints on fine-scale reservoir heterogeneity. Current reservoir modeling tools are challenged to accurately replicate complex, nonstationary, rock heterogeneity patterns that control connectivity, such as shale layers that serve as flow baffles and barriers.

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Request a visit from Tao Sun!

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)
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)
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)
VG Abstract

The Betic hinterland, in the westernmost Mediterranean, constitutes a unique example of a stack of metamorphic units. Using a three-dimensional model for the crustal structure of the Betics-Rif area this talk will address the role of crustal flow simultaneously to upper-crustal low-angle faulting in the origin and evolution of the topography.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

Production from unconventional petroleum reservoirs includes petroleum from shale, coal, tight-sand and oil-sand. These reservoirs contain enormous quantities of oil and natural gas but pose a technology challenge to both geoscientists and engineers to produce economically on a commercial scale. These reservoirs store large volumes and are widely distributed at different stratigraphic levels and basin types, offering long-term potential for energy supply. Most of these reservoirs are low permeability and porosity that need enhancement with hydraulic fracture stimulation to maximize fluid drainage. Production from these reservoirs is increasing with continued advancement in geological characterization techniques and technology for well drilling, logging, and completion with drainage enhancement. Currently, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Egypt, USA, and Venezuela are producing natural gas from low permeability reservoirs: tight-sand, shale, and coal (CBM). Canada, Russia, USA, and Venezuela are producing heavy oil from oilsand. USA is leading the development of techniques for exploring, and technology for exploiting unconventional gas resources, which can help to develop potential gas-bearing shales of Thailand. The main focus is on source-reservoir-seal shale petroleum plays. In these tight rocks petroleum resides in the micro-pores as well as adsorbed on and in the organics. Shale has very low matrix permeability (nano-darcies) and has highly layered formations with differences in vertical and horizontal properties, vertically non-homogeneous and horizontally anisotropic with complicate natural fractures. Understanding the rocks is critical in selecting fluid drainage enhancement mechanisms; rock properties such as where shale is clay or silica rich, clay types and maturation , kerogen type and maturation, permeability, porosity, and saturation. Most of these plays require horizontal development with large numbers of wells that require an understanding of formation structure, setting and reservoir character and its lateral extension. The quality of shale-gas resources depend on thickness of net pay (>100 m), adequate porosity (>2%), high reservoir pressure (ideally overpressure), high thermal maturity (>1.5% Ro), high organic richness (>2% TOC), low in clay (<50%), high in brittle minerals (quartz, carbonates, feldspars), and favourable in-situ stress. During the past decade, unconventional shale and tight-sand gas plays have become an important supply of natural gas in the US, and now in shale oil as well. As a consequence, interest to assess and explore these plays is rapidly spreading worldwide. The high production potential of shale petroleum resources has contributed to a comparably favourable outlook for increased future petroleum supplies globally. Application of 2D and 3D seismic for defining reservoirs and micro seismic for monitoring fracturing, measuring rock properties downhole (borehole imaging) and in laboratory (mineralogy, porosity, permeability), horizontal drilling (downhole GPS), and hydraulic fracture stimulation (cross-linked gel, slick-water, nitrogen or nitrogen foam) is key in improving production from these huge resources with low productivity factors.

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Request a visit from Ameed Ghori!

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)
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)

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