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Petrophysics and Well Logs

Learn! Blog

How many times have you kicked yourself because you made decisions without really having time to get all the expert opinions? When could your team have been better – both in determining where to explore and how to complete a well?

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Latin America Blog

Share your knowledge and learn from others at this multidisciplinary workshop to be held in Lima, Peru on 15-16 October 2015. Presentation proposals are due 30 August 2015. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

When the AAPG/AAPG Foundation initiated the Imperial Barrel Award, there was a sense that participating students would take the unique experience with them and pay it forward. Which brings us to AAPG member Elizabeth Hajek, assistant professor for Penn State University.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

When it comes to providing students “real-world” experience in the classroom, some schools stand out more than others. Consider the University of Kansas, where one interdisciplinary course teams geoscience and petroleum engineering students to analyze live data from partnering oil companies.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The AAPG Education Department has expanded its range of offerings, including several new themed workshops and forum events.

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

Despite the slashed travel and professional development budgets owing to the ongoing downturn, and the distance from global E&P and industry research hubs, New Zealand’s first Geosciences Technology Workshop drew vibrant attendance from a wide range of countries.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Focusing on rocks, learning from others and implementing new technologies were the keys to success identified during a talk on “Evolution of Unconventional Oil Plays from Early Innovations to Future Challenges,” at the DPA luncheon held during the recent AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in Denver.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

With the recent surge in new techniques and technology, as well as new plays put into production, a tremendous opportunity exists in both U.S. and international reservoirs to apply lessons learned to existing reservoirs in order to economically increase production and recoverable reserves.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

With the recent surge in new techniques and technology, as well as new plays put into production, a tremendous opportunity exists in both U.S. and international reservoirs to apply lessons learned to existing reservoirs in order to economically increase production and recoverable reserves.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Latin America Blog

The AAPG Latin America Region and the Geological Society of Peru invite participation in “Increasing the Recovery Factor in Mature Oil and Gas Fields,” a Geosciences Technology Workshop (GTW) to be held October 15-16 in Lima, Peru.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Muscat, Oman
Sunday, 5 April 2026, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

This one-day advanced course delivers a focused and highly practical framework for interpreting structural styles in the Middle East, combined with the unique advantage of applying Generative AI (GenAI) to elevate geological understanding and decision-making. Built for geoscientists working in exploration, development, or basin modeling, the course emphasizes practical techniques, hands-on interpretation, and modern tools that increase accuracy, speed, and confidence in structural workflows. We begin with a foundational module designed to unify all participants, regardless of background, around the principles of fault mechanics and structural style recognition. Participants will revisit faulting fundamentals, mechanical stratigraphy, and structural style classification. The goal is to align interpretation techniques with geological processes, and to establish a shared vocabulary for the day. An introduction to GenAI highlights its role in managing structural ambiguity and enhancing workflows, helping geoscientists clarify options when data is incomplete or conflicting. Normal Faulting Through a sequence of focused exercises, participants explore fault segmentation, growth history, and interpretation in extensional domains. This segment reinforces practical skills in identifying and validating fault geometries in map and section views. GenAI is introduced as a scenario-building tool: participants will use it to explore structural uncertainty, generate alternative models, and compare extensional interpretations, all using fragmented or incomplete datasets, not as a seismic interpreter but as a powerful thought partner. Strike-Slip and Transtension This module targets the complexity of strike-slip and transtensional systems. Participants learn to distinguish pure strike-slip geometries from transtensional overprints, assess compartmentalization, and model realistic deformation patterns. Interpretation exercises develop structural reasoning in map and cross-sectional views. GenAI is applied here to integrate multi-source inputs, such as field data, analogs, and internal reports, to support rapid synthesis and generate testable structural concepts. Salt Tectonics The final segment introduces key diagnostic features of salt-related deformation: welds, reactive and passive diapirs, and halokinetic sequences. Exercises train participants to recognize salt-influenced geometries and link them to broader structural evolution. GenAI then supports pattern recognition and memory mining, leveraging archived knowledge from prior studies, case histories, and analog reports to help geoscientists build and validate interpretations faster and with more confidence. What makes this course different? This is not a theoretical seminar. It’s a learning accelerator, where foundational concepts are applied in realistic interpretation settings, then extended with state-of-the-art GenAI capabilities. You’ll not only sharpen your structural reasoning, but learn how to delegate time-consuming tasks, like synthesizing legacy reports, generating alternative scenarios, or exploring interpretation options, to an intelligent AI partner. By the end of the day, participants will: Recognize and differentiate key fault styles with confidence Improve fault interpretation quality and geological risk assessment Use GenAI to test structural scenarios and extract insight from fragmented or incomplete datasets Accelerate their ability to interpret, communicate, and make decisions in structurally complex plays This course equips you with what matters most today: deep geological understanding, elevated by the best of modern AI. Who Should Attend and Why This course is ideal for both new hires and experienced geoscientists working across exploration, development, and reservoir modeling. Its exercise-driven format ensures that participants with diverse backgrounds, geologists, geophysicists, geomodelers, can engage, learn, and apply. While some familiarity with geosciences is beneficial, prior structural geology training is not required. What makes this course indispensable is its ability to bridge theory and practice: participants will gain a clear understanding of how rocks deform over time, how fault geometries evolve, and how these structures influence seismic interpretation, mapping, and static/dynamic modeling. By integrating real case studies and GenAI-enhanced workflows, the course delivers practical tools to improve subsurface outcomes and build models that match project maturity and business objectives. Main Objective This course delivers the structural geology foundations every geoscientist needs to confidently interpret faults and build or validate static models. Derived from decades of project reviews, interpretation support, and applied field experience, these “must-know” concepts include fault mechanics, growth, segmentation, and structural style recognition, relevant to both exploration and production settings. Participants will strengthen their ability to recognize deformation styles, interpret fault geometries in map and section view, assess mechanical stratigraphy and reactivation risk, and QC interpretations with confidence. Throughout the course, GenAI is introduced not as a software tool, but as a workflow enhancer, used to reduce ambiguity, test structural hypotheses, and extract insight from fragmented datasets or legacy documentation. This empowers geoscientists to think more clearly, work more efficiently, and improve the geological soundness of their models. Key Points Date: 5th April,2026 Venue: Crowne Plaza Hotel, OCEC Registration Fee: $590 Registration Deadline: 22nd February,2026 *Registration will be opening shortly Instructors Pascal Richard PRgeology Jan Witte Falcon-Geoconsulting

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Muscat, Oman
Thursday, 9 April Friday, 10 April 2026, 7:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.

The Jabal Akhdar in the Central Oman Mountains forms a ~90 km × 60 km dome. The core of this dome consists of Cryogenian to Ediacaran siliciclastics and carbonates, including source rocks. These rocks are separated from the overlying rocks by a spectacularly exposed angular unconformity. The rocks above this unconformity are Permo-Mesozoic shelf carbonates of the Arabian passive margin. The rocks below the unconformity are folded twice, while those above show no such folding. During the Late Cretaceous, Arabia was overthrust by the Samail Ophiolite and Hawasina deep-sea sedimentary rocks. Final doming occurred during the late Eocene to early Miocene. The Jabal Akhdar Dome is a textbook example of stratigraphy and structural geology development from the Cryogenian to the present. Furthermore, findings from the dome can be used as a natural laboratory and serve as an analogue for the hydrocarbon-bearing sequences in interior Oman. The two-day field trip will start at the Saiq Plateau where we will examine Cryogenian Snowball-Earth diamictites with cap carbonates, blended within the scenic landscape of Jabal Akhdar. The second day will start at a breath-taking vista point at Wadi Bani Awf. From there we will descend into the core of the Jabal Akhdar and explore the structural style of the Cryogenian and younger succession. Field Trip Information: Date: 9th – 10th April 2026 Time: 7:30am – 7pm Field Trip fee: $550 Registration Deadline: 5th March 2026 (*registration will be opening shortly) Fees Include: 1 night accommodation in a hotel Guided hiking tour through rose farms and ancient villages in Jebel Akhdar (2–3 hours) Traditional Omani lunch hosted at a local home BBQ dinner in a scenic open area at Jebel Akhdar All transportation (4x4s) Field Trip Leaders Andreas Scharf GUtech Oman Ivan Callegari GUtech Oman Wilfried Bauer GUtech Oman

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Muscat, Oman
Monday, 6 April Wednesday, 8 April 2026, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

The AAPG Structural Styles of the Middle East is back! This exciting and highly anticipated Geoscience Technology Workshop will take place from 6 – 8 April 2026, in Muscat, Oman. This workshop aims to explore the diverse structural styles resulting from the different deformation phases on the tectonostratigraphic framework of the Arabian Plate and adjacent regions.  

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 12 May 2020, 5:30 p.m.–6:30 p.m.

Both climate change and the most recent coronavirus pandemic have generated multiple impacts on society. Though on the surface the crises appear to be unrelated, they have more similarities than differences. The common elements shared by Covid-19 and climate change promote the development of comprehensive solutions that mitigate both crises simultaneously. This talk examines how actions and strategies developed for the energy transition can help to address the multiple challenges that the world faces today.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Wednesday, 29 November 2023, 9:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.

Join us for November’s AAPG Women's Network 2023 Short-Short Course Series on Wednesday, November 29th from 9-11 am (CT) with Dr. Alicia Kahn to discuss biostratigraphy and micropaleontology, largely as it pertains to oil and gas exploration.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 8 November 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

This talk will present a brief overview of proppants followed by a comprehensive discussion of the major considerations that are driving proppant selection in these plays.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 14 April 2020, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.

La Formación Smackover del Jurásico Superior (Oxfordiano) es una de las productoras de petróleo y gas más prolíficas de la llanura costera del noreste del Golfo de México, depositada en una rampa de carbonato proximal. Este estudio es una caracterización integral del ambiente de depositación de la Formación Smackover basada en datos sísmicos 3D y de pozos en los campos Vocation y Appleton situados en las subcuencas de Conecuh y Manila, en el suroeste de Alabama.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 31 October 2023, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

Mississippian strata in the Ottawa County, Oklahoma, within the Tri-State Mining District, are a well-known hosts to MVT lead and zinc ore deposits. They are also important to our understanding of the geological story of the southern midcontinent. Join us for a virtual float trip down the Spring River in northern Oklahoma. We will explore the Middle Mississippian (Visean; upper Osagean-lower Meramecian) strata of the Boone Group as exposed in roadcuts, quarries, and natural outcroppings across Ottawa County in northeastern Oklahoma.

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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)
Webinar
Virtual Webinar
Tuesday, 5 May 2020, 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.

Sequence stratigraphy is a method for stratigraphic interpretation, pioneered by Vail and colleagues in the mid 70’s, which explains the complex geometries that sediments create as they fill accommodation in response to changes in rates of sedimentation, subsidence, uplift and eustasy. This method was developed based on observations and concepts developed as early as in the 1800’s. Based on this strong scientific foundation, pioneer work from Caster, Sloss, Wheeler, Campbell, and Asquith established the basis for the methodology. These researchers established a new way to correlate stratigraphic units, demonstrating the time-transgressive nature of lithostratigraphic formations.

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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)
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)
Online e-Symposium
Thursday, 26 September 2013, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

The presentation will discuss key reservoir information and how to develop a predictive pressure model.

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

For well over a century there have been conflicting indications of the strength of the crust and of faults and what controls them.  Much of our ignorance comes quite naturally from the general inaccessibility of the crust to measurement--in contrast with our understanding of the atmosphere, which is much more accessible to observation as well as more rapidly changing.  Crustal strength is best understood in deforming sedimentary basins where the petroleum industry has made great contributions, particularly in deforming petroleum basins because of the practical need to predict. In this talk we take a broad look at key issues in crustal strength and deformation and what we can learn from boreholes, earthquakes, active fault systems, and toy models.

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Request a visit from John Suppe!

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)
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

Engineering of wind farms, development of carbon sequestration projects in shelfal waters, the proliferation of communication cables that connect the world, all of these things suggest that it is time to re-examine what we know about shelf processes both updip-to-downdip and along shoreline, and the influence of shelf processes on erosion and transport of sediments.

Request a visit from Lesli Wood!

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

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

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

Paleozoic North America has experienced multiple mountain building events, from Ordovician to Permian, on all margins of the continent. These have had a profound effect on the resulting complex basins and their associated petroleum systems. Subsequent uplift, erosion and overprinting of these ancient systems impedes the direct observation of their tectonic history. However, the basin sedimentary records are more complete, and provide additional insights into the timing and style of the mountain building events. In this study, we employ ~90 1D basin models, ~30 inverse flexural models, isopachs, and paleogeographic maps to better understand the Paleozoic history of North America.

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Request a visit from Kurt W. Rudolph!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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