Explorer Geophysical Corner

Prestack simultaneous impedance inversion was introduced at the turn of this century with the objective of characterization of target rock intervals in terms of elastic properties, which in turn could be associated with petrophysical properties such as porosity, fluid saturation and volume of shale.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

I landed in Bogota in June 1963 for employment with Texpet Colombia. Exploration of the asymmetrical Putumayo sub-Andean Basin had begun in the 1940s when Texpet sent exploration geologists to document any surface outcrops, but the area was still too remote for further exploration. Ten years later, Texpet drilled some two dozen core wells without finding oil. Then, in 1962, exploration picked up and the company moved a houseboat from the Amazon up the Rio Putumayo to a site upstream from the small, remote river town of Puerto Asis.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

The concept of digital transformation in the oil and gas industry gets talked about a lot these days, even though the phrase seems to have little specific meaning. So, will there really be some kind of extensive cyber-transformation of the industry over the next decade? “No,” said Tom Smith, president and CEO of Geophysical Insights in Houston. Instead, it will happen “over the next three years,” he predicted.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Kurt Marfurt is this year’s Robert R. Berg Outstanding Research Award recipient.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most prolific oil and gas basins in the world. Understandably, the region is also home to many deeply buried mature source rocks and migration pathways to the surface, which result in petroleum seepage on the seafloor. The emerging mineral-rich fluids invite microbes, mollusks and clam to feed on them, and these communities located around the seep locations form hard surfaces and appear to be different from the surrounding seafloor. Such hard surfaces are acoustically reflective and thus are detected by the technology available today.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Latin America Blog

The Bucaramanga team wins the region semifinals for the second time in three years.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Latin America Blog

The AAPG workshop Deep Exploration in the Bolivian’s Sub-Andean: Lessons Learned and Vision for the Future, convened 91 attendees representing 9 countries and 22 companies

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

While shale oil and shale gas deliver quick returns and product to markets, it’s the deepwater and other offshore discoveries that yield significant reserve additions and long-lasting production.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

In Oklahoma, seismic reflection data from different areas show distinct, systematic patterns of reflectors within depth intervals dominated by the crystalline basement. It is necessary to better understand the origin and composition of these characteristic layers in the Oklahoma basement, as it will fill a major gap in the understanding of its tectonic and thermal history.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

While oil production has been going strong in Argentina’s Neuquén Basin for the past 100 years, geologists with Shell and YPF say the region’s true hydrocarbon potential has yet to be discovered.

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)
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

Physics is an essential component of geophysics but there is much that physics cannot know or address. 

Request a visit from John Castagna!

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)

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