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Bitumen/Heavy Oil (Oil Sands)

Learn! Blog

The AAPG course on “Concepts, Models and Case Studies of Dolomitization”  summarizes the major advances and current controversies in dolomite research, and would be great for petroleum geologists who work in any type of carbonate hydrocarbon reservoir, especially those in working in dolomitized reservoirs. Material will be presented through a combination of lectures, case studies and class exercises.  This course is part of AAPG’s upcoming Fundamentals Education Conference, taking place November 9-13, in Houston, TX.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

This course is part of AAPG’s upcoming Fundamentals Education Conference November 9-13, in Houston, TX. Geologists, geophysicists, and engineers seeking techniques for improved subsurface mapping and prediction of lithology distribution within siliciclastic reservoir intervals will find this course useful. The course teaches sequence stratigraphy as a tool for interpreting seismic and borehole data from slope, shelf, coastal, and/or continental deposits. An entry-level understanding of these depositional environments is anticipated.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Middle East Blog

Join us in Abu Dhabi to meet worldwide experts in the oil industry in order to share their knowledge and experiences to identify solutions and the best practices applicable to the challenges to unlock tight reservoirs in the region.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Learn! Blog

AAPG’s Fundamentals Education Conference (FEC) gives you the opportunity to get quality, concentrated continuing education in a short time all in one convenient location. The diverse range of sessions and speakers allows you to mix and match the topics according to your interests and career needs.  

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The 2015 annual AAPG Eastern Section meeting will be held Sept. 20-22 at the Union Station and Crowne Plaza Hotel complex in downtown Indianapolis.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Marita Bradshaw, an AAPG member and retired geologist with Geoscience Australia, has spent her career helping to uncover Australia’s oil and gas potential and is now pleased to see recent large discoveries on the continent and the expansion of the export LNG industry. A symposium will be held in her honor this month at the AAPG-SEG International Convention and Exhibition (ICE) in Melbourne.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Middle East Blog

This three-day workshop aims to provide a forum for professionals from industry, academia and government agencies, who are actively involved in the study of Middle Eastern Source Rocks, to share their advances in source rock related fields, present their experiences and challenges, and demonstrate relevant technologies and solutions.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Africa Blog

Meet Toyin Akinosho of Africa Oil & Gas Report who will speak on 'Deal Flow in a Low Price Regime' at the 2015 APPEX Regional Conference in November at Nice, France. The talk will focus on African acreages and the need for continued investment in exploration acreages despite current oil trends.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Latin America Blog

Share your knowledge and learn from others at this multidisciplinary workshop to be held in Lima, Peru on 15-16 October 2015. Presentation proposals are due 30 August 2015. 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Europe Blog

Meet Nicholas Wade from Menas as he lectures, 'The Potential and Pitfalls of North Africa after Arab Spring', at the 2015 APPEX Regional Conference in November at Nice, France. Learn more how the series of revolutions began a process of change.

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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