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Biden Handed Major Legal Defeat in Attempt to Restrict Oil, Gas Drilling in Gulf of Mexico - 25 September, 2023 07:30 AM

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Explorer Historical Highlights By Gustavo Coronel

Finding Oil and Making Friends

The decade of the 1960s was both hectic and productive in the international petroleum industry. During those years, I worked for three oil and gas companies: Shell; the state-owned Corporacion Venezolana de Petróleo, or CVP; and Philips Petroleum Corporation. The geographical locations were diverse: surface exploration in western Venezuela; the Maracaibo oilfields and Caracas; The Hague, in the Netherlands; Balikpapan, Indonesia; Bartlesville, Okla.; and Lafayette, La. One of my most fruitful experiences took place in Maracaibo, when I had the opportunity to work with a four-man team from the Institut Français du Pétrole, known as IFP – the French Petroleum Institute. They had been sent to Venezuela to conduct regional geological studies in support of the newly created CVP.

Added on 01 April, 2023

Explorer Article By David Brown

Energy Investment in 2023 Tracks with Transition

Large institutions and asset managers are diversifying away from traditional oil and gas projects, sometimes driven by climate concerns, but their investments haven’t fallen far afield. Those organizations think in terms of billions of dollars when evaluating a potential investment sector. And so far, they haven’t hesitated to invest in energy. What has changed, and what keeps changing, is where they put those investment dollars. It’s an energy-investment transition that parallels today’s ongoing energy transition.

Added on 01 February, 2023

Explorer Article By Heather Saucier

Revisiting the Fundamentals

With the price of oil hovering well over $100 a barrel, some in the industry are exploring ways to revisit conventional oilfields using technology that emerged during the unconventional oil boom, with a goal of earning a rapid return on investment while prices remain favorable.

Added on 01 July, 2022

Explorer Historical Highlights By Leaman D. Harris

The Life and Times of an Oilfield

The small town of Cunningham, Kansas lies about 65 miles straight west of Wichita on U.S. Highway 54. It was incorporated in 1887 as a commercial center for farmers and ranchers in that part of south-central Kansas. Hard winter wheat was the main cash crop, while herds of beef and dairy cattle were a close second source of income. This activity characterized the culture of Cunningham into the early years of the 20th century. That is, until a new industry was introduced to Kansas when, in 1915, oil was discovered in the El Dorado field northeast of Wichita.

Added on 01 June, 2022

Explorer Article By Ken Milam

Evolving Understanding of Salt Diapirs is Critical to Oil Exploration

Salt tectonics may be “an outlier in this country’s university training in structural geology,” but geologists entering the petroleum industry will almost certainly find themselves dealing with the topic, explained Mark G. Rowan of Rowan Consulting in Boulder, Colo. A growing understanding of how they form – especially since the 1980s – has been helpful in increasing their importance to exploration and production. Rowan discussed “Salt Diapirs – What Are They, How Do They Form and What is Their Role in Hydrocarbon Exploration?” at the recent Visiting Geoscientist Program Super Session organized by AAPG and the AAPG Foundation.

Added on 01 April, 2021

Explorer Article By Ken Milam

‘Significant New Play Potential' in West Louisiana Shelf

Management with the Dynamic Group of Houston are convinced after four years of study that they have identified significant new play potential deep on the west Louisiana shelf, a province largely regarded by industry as mature for exploration. “Most of our industry thinks the U.S. shelf is in late life, and the only remaining opportunities are for low-risk, low volume exploitation targets,” said Rob Pascoe, managing director and chief geologist. “We believe that may not be the whole story. Our studies describe a large-scale new play, with the potential to be liquids rich and high value.” He said new technology and geological insights are the key.

Added on 01 March, 2021

Explorer Historical Highlights By Jeff A Spencer

Who Was That Roughneck?

Winthrop Rockefeller was the grandson of John D. Rockefeller and the fifth of six children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The eldest Rockefeller organized and incorporated the Standard Oil Company in 1870. By the early 1880s, Standard Oil had a near-monopoly of the U.S. petroleum industry. At his retirement, Rockefeller was said to be worth $1.5 billion – the richest man in the world. He was also considered the world’s greatest philanthropist, giving more than $500 million to educational, scientific and religious institutions. Determined to learn the family’s oil business “from the ground up,” Winthrop worked at Standard Oil of New Jersey’s Bayonne refinery for a few weeks in June and July of 1933.

Added on 01 January, 2021

Explorer Article By Heather Saucier

Seeking the 'Goldilocks Window' of the Austin Chalk

'Sourced in part by the Eagle Ford Group, the Austin Chalk has been a hot spot for operators on and off for a century. The rise of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing brought a renewed interest in the formation, which has produced new discoveries in Texas and Louisiana. Yet in parts of the Austin Chalk, extracting oil and gas can be extremely tricky. Several years ago, the Carbonate Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory at the University of Texas began a project to analyze approximately 40 cores from the Austin Chalk – the first group to do so. '

Added on 01 August, 2020

Explorer Foundation Update By Jensen Angelloz

Announcing the 2020 IBA Finals Winners

Call it unprecedented, call it exciting and unpredictable, call it historic – and you’re right each time. The 2020 Imperial Barrel Award global finals competition was one for the record books – for the first time ever, the entire competition, impacted by the global pandemic that threatened to end it before it began, was held virtually in early June, adding a new chapter in the program’s illustrious history. Indeed, this year’s competition had many firsts – a global pandemic, an entirely virtual competition and the introduction of the IBA Exploration Leadership Series.

Added on 01 July, 2020

Explorer Article By David Brown

Gulf of Mexico Still a Standout for Super Basin Exploration

Super basins around the world offer plentiful opportunities for exploration and development, even with the temporarily reduced financial outlook of the oil industry. Ask explorationists to pick a favorite in today’s environment and the popular choice is almost a cheat. The Gulf of Mexico isn’t just a super basin. It’s a huge expanse of prospects and possibilities, of proven resources and potential reserves. An onshore, near-shore, offshore and deepwater exploration province that is really a vast collection of basins and geological features.

Added on 01 July, 2020

Online e-Symposium

Thursday, 12 July 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

Shale Wells: Making the Engineering Fit What Geology Offers

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.

Added on 11 December, 2013

Online e-Symposium

Thursday, 9 February 2012, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

Seismic Reservoir Characterization of U.S. Shales: An Update

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.

Added on 11 December, 2013

Online e-Symposium

Thursday, 20 August 2009, 12:00 a.m.–12:00 a.m.

Geothermal Energy in the Oil Field: Developments and Opportunities

This e-symposium covers advances in geothermal energy, integration with petroleum operations, and lessons learned in recent cases.

Added on 02 December, 2013

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Director, Bureau of Economic Geology and State Geologist of Texas

The Jackson School of Geosciences (JSG) at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) seeks a new Director for the Bureau of Economic Geology (Bureau), the oldest (1909) and second largest (~250 FTE) organized research unit at UT (https://www.beg.utexas.edu/ ). The role of the Director is multifaceted, serving as the chief executive of this dynamic geoscience research unit, which is also the State Geological Survey of Texas. The Director is the State Geologist of Texas.

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Director, Bureau of Economic Geology and State Geologist of Texas

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