Explorer Division Column DPA
By Justin Birdwell
There are many potential changes coming to AAPG and, by association, the Energy Minerals Division, but that doesn’t mean we should be static or complacent. New efforts now will help lay the groundwork for whatever the future holds. Worried EMD won’t exist in the NewOrg? Don’t! Whatever form a combined AAPG-SPE might take, there will certainly be a place for energy geoscientists interested in and working on the energy resources and issues currently addressed under the EMD umbrella. We might be working under a different name, but the need for a forum to discuss the array of resources being studied and developed by energy geoscientists will remain.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 November, 2021
Explorer Article
By Phil Wannamaker,Virginie Maris
The eastern Great Basin of western Utah has long been known as a high heat flow region containing young volcanic rocks and several producing hydrothermal systems. The Utah FORGE Enhanced Geothermal Systems project seeks to advance technology to extract the heat in the huge volumes of hot rock underground, identified or strongly suspected, that do not currently possess adequate permeability. Resolving the underlying mechanisms that have heated such volumes should not only help characterize the magnitude of an individual resource but also create a pathfinder for discovering other systems, both EGS and hydrothermal.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 November, 2021
Explorer President’s Column
By Gretchen Gillis
Listening to “Long Hard Night” as I write prompted me to think about the success of the inaugural IMAGE event in Denver last month. As usual, Dr. Lesli Wood, professor and Weimer chair at the Colorado School of Mines and 2002 J. C. 'Cam' Sproule Memorial Award recipient, contributed to the technical program as author and session co-chair. Also as usual, Lesli, her band, and members of the Jammin’ Geos Special Interest Group took to the stage and entertained a crowd of enthusiastic geoscientists, engineers and dinosaurs.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 November, 2021
Explorer Emphasis Article
By Heather Saucier
As the United States and other developed countries embrace the prospect of transitioning to renewable energy, the need for critical minerals is skyrocketing. Solar plants, wind farms and electric vehicles require more minerals to build than their fossil fuel-based counterparts. For example, a typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, and an onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired plant, according to the International Energy Agency. Addressing the exploding need for critical minerals and how petroleum geoscientists can lead such efforts, members of AAPG’s Energy Minerals Division came together to discuss the future of critical minerals at the International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy conference in Denver.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 November, 2021
Explorer Emphasis Article
By Heather Saucier
At a session entitled, “From Petroleum Industry to Energy Industry: Global Young Professionals’ Perspectives on a Sustainable Future,” at the International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy conference recently held in Denver, speakers representing the World Petroleum Council’s Young Professionals Committee attributed their career decisions to the ongoing need for oil and gas, opportunities to help the industry decarbonize and a growing number of geoscience-related fields that are in need of their skillsets to thrive.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 November, 2021
Explorer Article
By Heather Saucier
Emphasizing that the oil and gas industry will continue to play an important role in supplying energy to the world for years to come, past AAPG President Charles Sternbach shared what he called “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Energy Geoscientists” at the 20th Michel T. Halbouty Lecture at the International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy conference in Denver recently. “We need to be proud of our profession and we need to be proud of what energy and oil and gas do to bring good things to humanity,” said Sternbach.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 November, 2021
Explorer Director’s Corner
By David Curtiss
Lift foot, step. Lift foot, step. Lift foot, step, panting to catch my breath at high altitude under the midday sun. I’d been at this for nearly 12 miles already, one increasingly unsteady foot in front of the other, the pressure of a headache building. Sweat ran into my eyes as I lifted my head searching for the end of this path. The unending series of switchbacks winding their way up a steep scree slope was not spirit-lifting. Somewhere up there was the summit of Pikes Peak.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 October, 2021
Explorer President’s Column
By Gretchen Gillis
Listening to “A Change Is Gonna Come” as I write prompted me to think about change. For some of us, change is not a comfortable thought because we focus on how change affects our sense of self, or we fixate on the potential loss of comfortable routines and familiar circumstances. For others, change is the stuff of life because it promises something new and exciting. For AAPG, change is inevitable as we prepare to serve future generations of petroleum geologists and geoscientists in closely related fields like environmental geology, geothermal energy and the burgeoning hydrogen industry.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 October, 2021
Explorer President’s Column
By Gretchen Gillis
Listening to “Togetherness (K’a jo se)” as I write prompted me to think about community. AAPG has been a pillar of the scientific community for more than 100 years, with a lengthy history of collaboration and rewarding relationships that extend beyond the Association. Like the rise to international success of Nigerian musician King Sunny Adé, AAPG has grown beyond its American roots to serve a global community of energy geoscientists as well as professionals working in adjacent functions like data science, carbon capture, use and sequestration, and various engineering disciplines.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 September, 2021
Explorer Director’s Corner
By David Curtiss
The moment is almost here – the time for all applied geoscientists to converge on Denver for the inaugural International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy. More about this great new event in a minute. Yes, we’re still in the age of COVID and the delta variant is giving all of us pause as we consider how best to interact personally and professionally. But I’m pleased to share that I’m writing this column having just returned from my third in-person industry event in a four-week time period.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Added on 01 September, 2021