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Explorer Division Column EMD

It’s a green energy world we currently live and work in, and regardless of the merits of coal, uranium, geothermal, gas shales – and the list goes on – what we have learned over the years, and notably over the past few years, is that environmental concerns can determine, more often than not, whether our profession and industry is successful or not.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Back to the future: New technology, new techniques and new visions have turned Alaska’s venerable Cook Inlet into a place of new exploration possibilities.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

It's an unconventional success story of a New Yorker and a Californian 're-winning' in Wewoka. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Hydrocarbon exploration and production in challenging frontier areas unquestionably are destined to play an increasingly larger role in the global energy mix.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

 The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with European geoscience organizations, is assessing resource potential from continuous-type gas and oil accumulations in the fine-grained rocks of Europe.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Globe trotting: A small independent company based in Denver is proving you don’t have to be a super-sized mega-firm to succeed in the international arena.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Perception vs. reality: Any opinions that the energy industry is old school are definitely old hat – high-tech advances are being encouraged and embraced by 21st century geoscientists.

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

While energy demand in the developed world seems somewhat stabilized, energy demand from emerging economies in the Asia Pacific Region increases year after year.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

Despite the fact that exploration in the Mahakam Delta started more than 40 years ago, with large discoveries made in the mid-1970s, plans are being considered to develop and redevelop several gas fields of the area.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Policy Watch

Sitting at his Oval Office desk on Aug. 2, President Obama signed into law the compromise agreed to by the House of Representatives and Senate to lift the nation’s debt ceiling and trim federal spending.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tuesday, 18 February Wednesday, 19 February 2025, 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Join us for AAPG Orphan, Abandoned, Idle and Marginal Wells Conference 2025. This workshop will focus on orphan, abandoned, idle, and marginal wells and the business opportunities and technology associated with plugging and repurposing wells, reducing methane emissions, protecting water supplies, and extending the lives of marginal wells.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Houston, Texas
Tuesday, 10 December Wednesday, 11 December 2024, 7:00 a.m.–6:00 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.

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)
Short Course
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Thursday, 20 February 2025, 7:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

This introduction to methane monitoring, measurement, and quantification is for all those who would like to understand the requirements and regulations regarding methane emissions and to be able to design a measurement and monitoring solution, complete with the appropriate types of technologies, techniques, and safety protocols.

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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