Explorer Division Column EMD

I am excited and honored to serve as president of the Energy Minerals Division for the 2021-2022 term. The EMD covers many different energy resources, providing our Members with information and learning opportunities related to those resources. Because of the diverse array of subjects covered by the Division, we are positioned to play a key role within AAPG as the energy transition/revolution continues, and we all navigate the seemingly ever-changing energy landscape.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Regions and Sections

AAPG Pacific Section thrilled attendees with a stunning interactive Google Earth-based virtual field trip. Imagine being able to experience the stunning and intricate layered geology of the Monterey Formation through a Google Earth high-resolution, interactive program. Richard Behl, geology professor at California State University at Long Beach, likes to take geologists into the field, walking through the cool surf and sunny climate. At the Pacific Section virtual conference in late June, Behl offered up what he described as a “Monterey Formation Bucket List” of beach outcrop stops traversing more than 500 miles along the California coast from Crystal Cove and up to Bowling Ball Beach near Point Arena. That was only the start of the multiday technical program that was both innovative and technically enriching.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The future for a petroleum geoscientist might seem more uncertain these days as the transition to cleaner energy begins. Fewer students have their ambitions set on oil and gas careers and industry professionals are beginning to question how their knowledge and skills will fit into a world of new energies. But, as many observers have noted, oil and gas will continue to play a key role in fueling the energy system for decades to come. As well as being needed to explore, geoscientists will be the bedrock for many emerging roles prompted by the transition because of their expertise in the subsurface.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Energy developer Nacero Inc. recently announced plans to build the world’s first natural gas-to-gasoline plant that will operate entirely on renewable energy. The approximately $7 billion plant, which will be located just outside of Odessa, Texas, will use the abundant natural gas resources in the Permian Basin and ultimately produce 115,000 barrels of gasoline a day for markets in Texas and the Southwest. It will be the nation’s first natural gas-to-gasoline manufacturing facility, according to Nacero, with two others planned by the company in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

OPEC+ and the United Arab Emirates appear to have settled their spat over production levels for now, but the “prisoner’s dilemma” of the current oil market remains, and that could have long- term ramifications for the industry.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy, or IMAGE ’21, the integrated annual event of AAPG and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in conjunction with the Society for Sedimentary Geology, is all set to be held online and in Denver, Colo., Sept. 26 to Oct. 1. The event will bring together many of the greatest minds and leaders from multiple disciplines of the geosciences sector, which includes an impressive lineup of keynote speakers that include IHS Markit’s Daniel Yergin, Kirsten Siebach of the Mars Perseverance mission and Kirk Johnson of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

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

The petroleum industry has changed and is under attack. Many want to stop production of carbon-based fuels. There is a logic to this if we look to the future. We need to sustain energy production and fill the holes in the current alternative energy industries like solar, wind turbines, geothermal and advanced batteries. This does not mean oil industry jobs will be eliminated. They will just change.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

When introducing his American Jobs Plan, President Biden promised it would invest “in America in a way we have not invested since we built the interstate highways and won the Space Race.” To put that investment in perspective, the interstate highway system, encompassing 47,000 miles of roads, cost $500 billion in today’s dollars, adjusting for inflation; the Apollo Program, about $194 billion. The price of the American Jobs Plan: $2.3 trillion. Included is significant investment proposed for the energy sector, which includes expanding clean energy sector tax credits, offering block grants and increasing government purchasing power to aid the new renewable sector.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Increasing global concern about climate change and its impact on the environment and society has led to a variety of strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and find places to store it. Many companies are hard at work to perfect methods of carbon capture, use, and storage. Franek Hasiuk, associate scientist at Kansas Geological Survey, said CCUS is the best technology available to reduce emissions produced by the global economy. Hasiuk is part of a team of scientists working on the Integrated Midcontinent Stacked Carbon Storage Hub, a project to investigate subsurface geology in southwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska and demonstrate the viability of injecting CO₂ into underground rock layers.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Unconventional resource development has a remarkable history, combining breakthroughs and advances in both technology and geoscience. The pace of progress might have slowed in recent years, but that history is still being written.

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)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 12 April 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

This seminar focuses on the role geoscience leaders and mentors play in retaining top talent.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online Certificate Course
Tuesday, 1 January 2013, 12:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m.

Wind Energy Basics is an online course that enables participants to review, analyze, and evaluate opportunities in the rapidly expanding market for wind energy.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 13 August 2020, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Geologic interpretations are the basis of most exploration workflows, whether building a 3-D framework, a geocellular model, or modeling HC basins and estimating HC reserves. All these workflows rely on the most realistic and accurate interpretation in order to produce high-confidence results. Join us to hear from Catalina Luneburg, founder and director of TerraEx Group and specialist in the validation of HC basins and structural geology modeling.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Thursday, 8 October 2020, 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

Join us as Doug Peacock discusses how changes in oil price impact reserves in theory, and with practical industry examples. Presentation will be via Zoom on Thursday 8 October 15:00 SGT (UTC+8) Singapore time zone

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 30 August 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

The entire Middle Pennsylvanian–to–top Precambrian basement (500 m) interval was cored in early 2011 in the BEREXCO Wellington KGS #1-32 well in Wellington Field, Sumner County, KS.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Monday, 8 June 2020, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

A geophysicist with extensive worldwide experience in exploration, appraisal and development settings gained at BG group, Alan Foum will talk about future energy demand modelling in terms of oil, gas and electricity including renewables with his presentation 'Petroleum Perspectives, Past Present and Future'

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 9 February 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

Projects in several shales will be discussed, including Marcellus, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Fayetteville, Montney, and Barnett, as will several seismically-detectable drivers for success including lithofacies, stress, pre-existing fractures, and pore pressure.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 14 July 2020, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

The Santos Basin is an excellent example of how much oil is kept in remote sites, just waiting to be found by bold explorationists with the will and resources needed to find them. Join Flávio Feijó to for a presentation of the history and potential for future discoveries in the Santos Basin Webinar will be presented via Zoom on Tuesday 14 July 2020 at 11am CDT (UMT-6). Register Now at Zoom

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 12 July 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

This presentation will look at well placement vertically in the pay, well azimuth and well trajectory with explanations of how geology and post-depositional effects can make the difference between a successful well and a failure.

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)
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

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)

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