E&P NOTE
Paleogene lacustrine tight shale oil system, Huanghua subbasin, Bohai Bay Basin: Sweet spot delineation, production breakthrough, and implications, by Xianzheng Zhao, Xiugang Pu, Fengming Jin, Guoping Bai, Zhannan Shi, Delu Xie, and Xiaoping Liu. The Huanghua subbasin in the Bohai Bay Basin of China has recorded significant breakthroughs in shale oil production in its Paleogene lacustrine systems. Drawing from a rich database, this study aimed at documenting the salient geological and geochemical properties of the shale play, describing the sweet spot delineation procedures, discussing the main factors controlling well performance, and stating key implications.

ARTICLES
Characterization of oils and potential source rocks in the Marietta Basin, Oklahoma and Texas, by R. Paul Philp, Richard J. Brito, and Dallas Cook. The Marietta Basin, although of similar age and containing many of the same formations that are present in the Anadarko Basin, has received relatively little attention, and limited geochemical data have been published on the Woodford Shale and Viola Limestone in the Marietta Basin. This study focuses on the geochemical characterization of a Woodford core and 19 produced oils from the Marietta Basin.

Water-rock interactions with constraints of diffusion and their implications for mesodiagenesis in adjacent sandstone and mudstone, by Guanghui Yuan, Yingchang Cao, Jon Gluyas, Zihao Jin, Lulu Liu, Keyu Liu, and Yanzhong Wang. Diffusion is an important (or the dominant) mass transport mechanism for transfer of water-soluble solutes between adjacent sandstones and mudstones during the mesodiagenetic stage. Numerical simulations of water-rock interactions with constraints of diffusion were conducted in three different types of interbedded mudstone-standstone (MS) systems.

Volumetric effects of decompression following natural hydraulic fracturing in shale during expulsion of hydrocarbons: The case of the Baltic Basin (northern Poland), by Marek Jarosi nski, Kinga Bobek, and Pawel Poprawa. The lower Paleozoic shale sequence of the Baltic Basin in northern Poland provides an excellent laboratory for the investigation of natural hydraulic fracturing associated with hydrocarbon (HC) expulsion from source rock to its overburden. The study integrates structural and geomechanical analysis and HC generation modeling to determine fractures and HC volumes, as well as pressure evolution during natural hydraulic fracturing.

Automatic facies classification using convolutional neural network for three-dimensional outcrop data: Application to the outcrop of the mass-transport deposit, by Ryusei Sato, Kazuki Kikuchi, and Hajime Naruse. Recent advancements in three-dimensional (3-D) facies modeling of out-crops have enabled their prompt reconstruction through drone photogram-metry. Challenges persist in identifying facies within the digital models of large-scale outcrops. To address this issue, this study proposes a method for automatically recognizing outcrop facies, using a convolutional neural network model applied to a 3-D point cloud of an outcrop.