HomeScience Discipline Business and Economics

Business and Economics

Explorer Division Column DEG

Quick, name three nuclear power plants. What word describes them? If you are like most of the North American or European public, the names that come to mind would be “Fukushima,” “Chernobyl” and maybe “Three Mile Island.” According to Gallup, the most common term used to describe nuclear energy is “dangerous.” Ask the same public to name three oil or gas fields and the most common terms associated with them might be “Macondo,” “Exxon Valdez” and “Garland.”

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

What aspects of petroleum geology and our industry will remain the same in the next 10 years? How might you and I use this knowledge to add value and position ourselves for a successful future?

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

This is my last column as your president. It has been an honor to have the membership elect me and put your trust in my abilities to run our organization in our 99th year. History may show my presidency to have been during the worst downturn in the industry in a hundred years, but for me, I would not have changed anything.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The 2016 Halbouty Lecture series presentation by Tim Dodson, executive vice president of Statoil ASA, will focus on Statoil’s high impact Bay du Nord discovery in the deepwater Flemish Pass Basin in 2013.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

After a four-decade career as an exploration geologist, Dick Stoneburner will receive AAPG’s Norman H. Foster Outstanding Explorer Award. The award is given in recognition of distinguished and outstanding achievement in exploration by AAPG members who have shown a “consistent pattern of exploratory success.”

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The current downturn in the oil and gas industry slammed into parts of the United States like a locomotive. For many oil and gas-producing states, the impact was immediate and substantial. But for U.S. cities hit by the industry’s troubles, it’s been more of a slow-motion train wreck.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

'More of the same” is the gist of the annual AAPG salary survey, which is to say, with a couple of notable exceptions, there have been few changes in salaries since last year’s survey, owing to the ongoing downturn in the industry. But, there might be signs – however faint – that the job market is on the verge of some important, long-term changes.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

“No Money Down Revitalization” is a great deal. First, the operator who is really hurting in this low price environment does not have to put up any initial capital. Second, the service provider is able to charge a slightly higher price to account for the financing and the additional guidance. Finally, geologists and engineers are able to be paid for locating candidates, developing workflows, and overseeing the match-making out of the increase production.

Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

The goal of this two-day workshop is to proactively create opportunities yourself and your company in a low price environment. You will learn how to bring value propositions to operators. Revitalize reservoirs for less than the cost of plugging and abandoning, paid for by increased production. Rethink reservoirs and push paradigm shifts that will result in breakthroughs.  We will discuss how to use these times to pilot new products and technologies and thus position innovative companies to boom when conditions improve. This event is for engineers, geologists, geophysicists, land professionals, and entrepreneurs. *Please see our discounted rates for unemployed geoscientists, students and young professionals

Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Policy Watch

At AAPG’s 2016 Congressional Visits Days on March 15 and 16, AAPG members participated in 27 meetings with members of Congress and executive branch agencies that research or regulate oil and natural gas activities.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Palermo, Italy
Thursday, 25 April 2024, 8:00 a.m.–9:00 a.m.

This one-day field trip will provide an introduction to a Miocene-Pliocene succession of southern Sicily, which includes outcrops of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), as well as the Messinian-Zanclean GSSP (Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Point) and Zanclean stratotype. The MSC sedimentary record consists of an evaporitic-carbonate unit at the base (the Basal Limestone), overlain the Lower Gypsum unit, in turn overlain by the Upper Gypsum unit, and sealed by transgressive chalk deposits of the Trubi Fm. The Lower Gypsum unit (massive gypsum with cm-sized selenite crystals) will be visited along the beach of Siculiana Marina (about 15 km NW of Agrigento). Next, we will visit near Capo Rossello (about 10 km NW of Agrigento) an outcrop of the Upper Gypsum unit consisting of clay-gypsum cycles and overlain by the Trubi Fm. The latter, at Scala dei Turchi beach, consists of chalk deposits arranged in a spectacular thick succession (~120 m thick) interpreted as astronomically-controlled depositional cycles. The uppermost interval of the MSC sedimentary record, including the Messinian-Zanclean GSSP, will be observed along the beach of Eraclea Minoa located about 20 km NW of Capo Rossello. Pricing Fee: €50 Attendee Limit: Min 15 - Max 50 People Registration Deadline: 11 April 2024 Field Trip Rendezvous Point Hotel nH Palermo Field Trip Leaders Antonio Caruso University of Palermo Attilio Sulli University of Palermo

Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Palermo, Italy
Sunday, 21 April 2024, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

This one-day field trip will focus on Mesozoic (Jurassic to Cretaceous) carbonates outcropping in the fold and thrust belt of western Sicily and equivalent to the aquifer complex of the Sciacca Geothermal Field located in the southwestern part of the island. Participants will have the opportunity to visit in the first stop a spectacular “drowned” carbonate-platform succession at Mt. Maranfusa located in an inactive quarry about 50 km SW of Palermo. The succession consists of Lower Jurassic peritidal cycles overlain by Middle Jurassic to Cretaceous pelagic limestone (e.g. ammonitic limestone, “chalk”) and marked by an unconformity with locally hardground. Syn-depositional Mesozoic tectonic is characterized by neptunian dykes and normal faults, whereas reverse faults, strike-slip faults, and joints are related to subsequent Cenozoic deformation. In the second stop, at Mt. San Calogero, adjacent to the picturesque coastal town of Sciacca (about 100 km south of Palermo), we will visit the surface expression of an extensive karst system linked to uprising geothermal fluids. Furthermore, we will discuss main characteristics of the Sciacca Geothermal Field and its connection to deep mantle-derived fluids. Outcrop data will be integrated with both 2D seismic lines and exploration well logs showing the stratigraphy and structure of the deep aquifer. Given the presence of faults and joints in the outcrops, this field trip can provide the participants with valuable insights into naturally fractured reservoirs at the sub-seismic scale. Pricing Fee: €50 Attendee Limit: Min15 - Max 45 People Registration Deadline: 11 April 2024 Field Trip Leaders Gianni Mallarino MOL Group Attilio Sulli University of Palermo

Show more
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Banff, Canada
Saturday, 11 May 2024, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

Time: 8:00am - 5:00pm Fee: $300 AAPG members $350 Nonmembers $200 Academic/AAPG Emeritus Members $50 discount for workshop registrants Fee Includes: Transportation Insurance Field guide Entrance fee to Banff National Park Registration available during workshop registration This field trip will focus on the structural geology of the foothills and Front Ranges of Banff. Participants will be able to view excellent field examples of structures very similar to the producing oil and gas fields in the foothills to the west of Calgary and to learn about the complexities of sub-seismic-scale deformation. The field trip starts with an introduction to the interaction between thrust front with foreland basins and the interaction of basement trends with thrust belt geometries and (conventional) hydrocarbon fields. During the 1-day trip participants will follow a dip transect from the undeformed foreland basin, the eastern edge of the foothills marked by the triangle zone, the Front Ranges boundary and end at the Main Ranges west of Banff. Field Trip Itinerary Depart from Calgary – 8:00 a.m. Stop 1: Cochrane Retreat Road Overlook Trip overview and introduction; safety and logistics comments; interaction of thrust front with foreland basin; interaction of basement trends with thrust belt geometry and (conventional) hydrocarbon field distribution; appreciation of scale for subsurface play fairway. Stop 2: Scott Lake Stop 3: The Stony Nakoda Tim’s Classic stop, with historical importance for understanding the thrust belt and thrust geometry. Part 1 of displacement gradient on a large thrust. Most importantly, toilet stop after all the Tim’s coffee and driving. Review of Mt Yamnuska from a different perspective; preview of drive through McConnell damage zone and change in HW stratigraphy.. Stop 4: Lac des Arcs Imbricate thrust sheets in the Front Ranges and Banff Formation. Stop 5: Canmore T-junction Observe complexities of sub-seismic-scale deformation in mechanically layered rocks in the footwall of a large thrust Stop 6: Canmore strike view of the Rundle thrust Exposed strike view analogous to a cut-away of a giant conventional Foothills hydrocarbon field such as Turner Valley. Cross faults within the thrust sheet offset potential reservoir units at sub-seismic scale. Cross faults are arguably part of a regional trend associated with deeper, basement-rooted NE-SW structures. Stop 7: Mt Norquay Overlook Stop 8: Bow Falls Fracture systems in the Vega Siltstone Mbr of the Triassic Sulphur Mtn Fm. This outcrop of Vega Member siltstone of the Sulphur Mtn Fm is considered equivalent to upper Montney Fm. We will focus on the outcrop adjacent to the steps up to the Falls overlook.

Show more
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.

Show more
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.

Show more

Request a visit from Sherilyn Williams-Stroud!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Related Interests

See Also ...