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Explorer Article

“Basins to Barrels” will be the theme of the annual meeting of the Eastern Section of AAPG, which will be held Sept. 25-27 at the Lexington Convention Center complex in Lexington, Ky.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Given the high profile of U.S. shale production, it’s easy to forget this phenomenon kicked off a mere decade ago, give or take. As the number of shale oil and gas plays proliferated, so did the naysayers. The negative predictions focused on the well-known rapid decline in production that occurs once these wells go online. Instead of an early death, the ensuing boom upset the world order in oil production.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Basins around the world hold identified potential for unconventional resource development and a combination of exploration, assessment and evaluation seems certain to uncover other favorable plays.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

One of AAPG’s newest volumes was released just in time for the 2016 Annual Convention and Exhibition. “The Eagle Ford Shale: A Renaissance in U.S. Oil Production” continues the memoir series as Memoir 110. The volume describes the evolution in geologic understanding that quickly transformed a world-class source rock into a world-class reservoir, which produced 1.7 million barrels of oil per day.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Come for the GTW 'Making Money with Mature Fields', and stay for a short course; either 'The Petroleum Geochemistry Toolkit for Petroleum Exploration and Development' or 'Carbonate Depositional Systems'.  All three will explore new and innovative technologies and ideas to lend increased business opportunities now and into the future.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Improving recoverable reserves and optimizing the production from mature fields often involves waterfloods, which can reach the end of their effectiveness, with still a great deal of oil left behind in the reservoir. New techniques and technologies can be used to revitalize the reservoir and get the oil flowing again from the same waterflood. Welcome to an interview with Geoffrey Thyne and Teresa Nealon who discuss the technique of optimizing wettability to recover oil from mature fields.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

Coiled tubing drilling is an area where geologists and engineers must work together very closely, because an understanding of the formation is absolutely vital when planning wells drilled in tight gas sands, unconventionals, and in re-entries.  New developments in coiled tubing have made it possible to economically drill and produce often overlooked zones and re-entry drilling. Welcome to an interview with Richard Stevens, an expert in the area of coiled tubing drilling, who discusses the drilling technique and the importance of teams that include engineers and geologists.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

New products can revitalize under-performing wells in mature fields. However, it is important to understand precisely why the well is not producing and to select the treatment that will work for the unique conditions of the well. Welcome to an interview with Olivia Carey, who has committed herself to finding new solutions for wells in need of revitalization. She discusses the products, candidate wells, and increased production using new products. 

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Registration is now open for the 4th annual Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) to be held Aug. 1-3 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

After a four-decade career as an exploration geologist, Dick Stoneburner will receive AAPG’s Norman H. Foster Outstanding Explorer Award. The award is given in recognition of distinguished and outstanding achievement in exploration by AAPG members who have shown a “consistent pattern of exploratory success.”

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Houston, Texas
Tuesday, 10 December Wednesday, 11 December 2024, 8:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.

Join us for an AI and analytics workshop that focuses specifically on subsurface energy, and provides the needed knowledge, tools, and insights.  Opportunities are emerging, and those who have the tools, skills, and knowledge will be at the forefront   Specifically, the conference will bring together AI and Machine Learning and a wide range of data issues in the form of technical presentations, probing panel discussions and poster sessions.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Houston, Texas
Saturday, 1 February 2025, 8:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Everyone in Houston lives within a few miles of a bayou. Some people think of them as permanent, but the bayous are constantly changing, especially during high water events like Hurricane Harvey. This trip is a 2.5 mile walk down a section of Buffalo Bayou where we will look at the archives of past storms and discuss what to do for future storms.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

Production from unconventional petroleum reservoirs includes petroleum from shale, coal, tight-sand and oil-sand. These reservoirs contain enormous quantities of oil and natural gas but pose a technology challenge to both geoscientists and engineers to produce economically on a commercial scale. These reservoirs store large volumes and are widely distributed at different stratigraphic levels and basin types, offering long-term potential for energy supply. Most of these reservoirs are low permeability and porosity that need enhancement with hydraulic fracture stimulation to maximize fluid drainage. Production from these reservoirs is increasing with continued advancement in geological characterization techniques and technology for well drilling, logging, and completion with drainage enhancement. Currently, Australia, Argentina, Canada, Egypt, USA, and Venezuela are producing natural gas from low permeability reservoirs: tight-sand, shale, and coal (CBM). Canada, Russia, USA, and Venezuela are producing heavy oil from oilsand. USA is leading the development of techniques for exploring, and technology for exploiting unconventional gas resources, which can help to develop potential gas-bearing shales of Thailand. The main focus is on source-reservoir-seal shale petroleum plays. In these tight rocks petroleum resides in the micro-pores as well as adsorbed on and in the organics. Shale has very low matrix permeability (nano-darcies) and has highly layered formations with differences in vertical and horizontal properties, vertically non-homogeneous and horizontally anisotropic with complicate natural fractures. Understanding the rocks is critical in selecting fluid drainage enhancement mechanisms; rock properties such as where shale is clay or silica rich, clay types and maturation , kerogen type and maturation, permeability, porosity, and saturation. Most of these plays require horizontal development with large numbers of wells that require an understanding of formation structure, setting and reservoir character and its lateral extension. The quality of shale-gas resources depend on thickness of net pay (>100 m), adequate porosity (>2%), high reservoir pressure (ideally overpressure), high thermal maturity (>1.5% Ro), high organic richness (>2% TOC), low in clay (<50%), high in brittle minerals (quartz, carbonates, feldspars), and favourable in-situ stress. During the past decade, unconventional shale and tight-sand gas plays have become an important supply of natural gas in the US, and now in shale oil as well. As a consequence, interest to assess and explore these plays is rapidly spreading worldwide. The high production potential of shale petroleum resources has contributed to a comparably favourable outlook for increased future petroleum supplies globally. Application of 2D and 3D seismic for defining reservoirs and micro seismic for monitoring fracturing, measuring rock properties downhole (borehole imaging) and in laboratory (mineralogy, porosity, permeability), horizontal drilling (downhole GPS), and hydraulic fracture stimulation (cross-linked gel, slick-water, nitrogen or nitrogen foam) is key in improving production from these huge resources with low productivity factors.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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