Rocky Mountain Section

Instead of using discrete values for properties that influence the volumetric calculation for recoverable reserves from the Middle Bakken, Pronghorn, and Three Forks reservoir rocks in the Williston Basin in North Dakota, an uncertainty-based assessment method was used. Various estimates have been published in the past that attempt to quantify recoverable reserves from the Bakken petroleum system.

For the second time since 2017, the University of Houston has won the coveted Imperial Barrel Award, an annual AAPG-sponsored prospective basin evaluation competition for geoscience graduate students from universities around the world.

Buckminster Fuller, the American designer, inventor and visionary said, “We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” In the Energy Minerals Division of the AAPG, we hear that calling and embrace it. In our 2019-20 fiscal year, we welcome the return of longtime leaders as well as an influx of new ones to our design team.

Necessity may be the mother of invention. But sometimes it’s just all the mosquitos. Leila Donn, a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin studying environmental geoscience, wasn’t necessarily looking for a computer model to help her find the location of ancient Mayan caves last year. Mostly, she just was hot and tired and the work was going slowly.

Collaboration. Scott Singleton, geophysical technology adviser at Independence Resources Management in Houston, wants to underscore that one word. He believes that if there’s a single ingredient to success in unconventional fields – and the one concept from which those in unconventionals have unfortunately moved away – it’s that geologists, geophysicists and engineers have to work together for the benefit of everyone.

A seismic acquisition project that would have taken years not too long ago can now be accomplished in months, thanks to “selective hearing” and other recent advances.

While traveling to various events this summer, I have heard comments that members are glad to see some of the Executive Committee at these events, but wonder why more of the Executive Committee are not present. In years past, the Executive Committee would attend most of the sectional meetings along with the International Conference and Exhibition and Annual Convention and Exhibition.

At the recent URTeC conference, I gave a luncheon talk about the importance of the geology within the Permian Basin as it relates to the unconventional and horizontal plays within the basin. As we move into the “mining stage,” one tends to forget that these plays exist because of the geology. Technology allows us to get the oil out, but the geology put the oil in.

The Unconventional Resources Technology Conference was held this year in Denver, Colo., and once again, it did not disappoint. It was packed with technical presentations and exhibits and it continued to push boundaries and remain as the premier industry event focused on the latest science and technology in exploration and development of unconventional resources.

A collection of more than 50 abstracts for papers concerning 3D structural Geologic Interpretation. Abstracts of papers presented at the AAPG Hedberg Conference in Reno, NV in June, 2013.