September 2007 Explorer

Vol. 28, No. 9 September 2007

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On the cover: For our annual Geophysical Review, two photos that capture the world of today’s seismic crews. The camels standing in a line by their cables were snapped in Algeria; the vaguely similar trucks were on duty near Bakersfield, Calif. Photos by Global Geophysical Services. ‘Climate’ Cools With Revised Statements Think again: Starting your own successful company is rarely 6 By WILLARD “WILL”GREEN Environmental Geoscience journal and limited to having a good idea. Entrepreneurship requires more. What’s the easiest way to enter a possibly the EXPLORER. heated argument with your co-worker, Provide technical content in the Working for a living, big time: Geophysical crews all over 12 neighbor or perhaps even your spouse? forms of technical programs at meetings, the world are keeping real busy these days. Just start talking about the range of special publications and DEG journal possible reasons for the climate changes articles. we have recorded in the past century. Recommend Don’t feel bad if you haven’t grasped the uses and benefits 18 In my memory no subject has drawn updates for AAPG’s of – you’re not such heated discussion (e-mail, for position paper to geophysical tools in unconventional plays current times) since the long-settled the Executive alone. But here’s something you need to know. issue of continental drift. Committee. AAPG members debated the Monitor an Seismic. Cables. You can’t have one without the other, right? probable causes for climate changes by ongoing AAPG 24 e-mail and Web discussion for almost Web forum on Not exactly. Get ready for the “cableless world” – and realize two years. The Executive Committee global climate that seismic tools of the future are having an impact now. recognized that a number of members change and were not in agreement with our existing potential solutions. The considerable hype about the action climate change position paper. Then- Determine Canadian oil sands 30 president Lee Billingsley appointed a topics for FAQs and just keeps escalating – with good reason. very talented seven-member ad-hoc Green write the discussion committee chaired by Jay Gregg in with references. When is drilling for oil and finding water a good thing? If you January 2007 with the charge of writing a Members will be notified when the 34 proposed climate change statement. Web forum is open. said “never,” consider the Texas geologists who discovered We all owe that committee a vote of getting into hot water isn’t always bad. thanks for their many hours of *** deliberation. The proposed statement was posted The DPA Governmental Affairs AAPG’s Distinguished Lecture program wants to cover the 44 on our Web site and open for comments Committee has written and the Executive world with talks that are serious, challenging and, sometimes, for 30 days. We received 93 responses Committee has approved, with relatively just plain fun. that ranged from one end of the opinion minor editing, statements addressing 13 spectrum to the other, with a number in other issues. These statements are titled: the middle ground. Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Sudden impact: The Barnett Shale play is generating wealth 46 With the member comments in mind, Resources that goes far beyond the immediate oil industry. the DPA Governmental Affairs Committee Hydraulic Fracturing (Carl Smith, chair) and Lee Billingsley Preservation of Geological and wrote a revised Climate Change Geophysical Data Meet America’s top geologist: AAPG member Mark Myers 50 Statement. This statement, with minor National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska talks about being director of the U.S. Geological Survey. changes by the EC, was approved in Access mid-July and posted on the Web site on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge July 20, and printed in the August Access EXPLORER. United States National Energy What a process! I invite each of you Supply to log on and read the statement. Tax Reform Geophysical Corner www.Update 54 64 Natural Gas Supply Concerns Washington Watch 55 Membership and Certification 67 *** Reformation of the Endangered Species Act Foundation Update 58 Readers’ Forum 68 But that’s not the end. Reformation of the Clean Water The EC also approved a new Act-Wetlands Access In Memory 59 Classified Ads 69 standing committee called the Global Offshore OCS Access Climate Change Solutions Committee. Research and Development Needs Regions and Sections 60 Director’s Corner 70 The committee will be composed of 12 Oil and Gas Workforce Needs in members recommended to the president the 21st Century Professional News Briefs DEG Column 63 70 – three from each of the three Divisions, – Meetings of Note 63 with the chair from the Division of All of these recently revised Environmental Geosciences – and three statements can` be found on the AAPG recommended by the EC. Web site. To access the statements, click The committee should be in place by on “AAPG Short Cuts” at the top of the the end of September. home page, then on “AAPG Statements” AAPG Headquarters – 1-800-364-2274 (U.S. & Canada only), others 1-918-584-2555 The committee’s main charge is to from the pull down menu. The Executive Communications Director Correspondents Advertising Coordinator promote and facilitate various fields of Committee will review all statements at Larry Nation David Brown Brenda Merideth geologic study that relate to global least every three years. e-mail: [email protected] Louise S. Durham P.O. Box 979 climate change and potential solutions. Barry Friedman Tulsa, Okla. 74101 Means of accomplishing the charge Buona sera. Managing Editor Ken Milam telephone: (918) 560-2647 (mission statement) are: Vern Stefanic (U.S. and Canada only: Communicate timely information on e-mail: [email protected] Graphics/Production 1-800-288-7636) the topic to members and the public. Rusty Johnson (Note:The above number is for The communication forums will ideally be Editorial Assistant e-mail: [email protected] advertising purposes only.) the AAPG Web site, DEG’s Susie Moore fax: (918) 560-2636 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] AAPG Eyes Cape Town in 2008 Vol. 28, No. 9 The AAPG EXPLORER (ISSN 0195-2986) is published monthly for members. Published at AAPG headquarters, 1444 S. Boulder Ave., P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101, (918) 584-2555. e-mail address: [email protected] Periodicals postage paid at Tulsa, Okla., and at additional mailing offices. Printed in the U.S.A. AAPG will return to Africa for the 2008 Organizers are planning for a wide- Note to members: $6 of annual dues pays for one year’s subscription to the EXPLORER. Airmail service for members: International Conference and Exhibition, ranging technical program, field trips to $45. Subscription rates for non-members: $63 for 12 issues; add $67 for airmail service. Advertising rates: Contact Brenda Merideth, AAPG headquarters. Subscriptions: Contact Veta McCoy, AAPG headquarters. Unsolicited with the announcement of the Oct. 26-29 world-class deepwater sediment sites manuscripts, photographs and videos must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope to ensure return. meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. and other activities that will take The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) does not endorse or recommend any products or services The theme is “African Energy – advantage of South Africa’s culture and that may be cited, used or discussed in AAPG publications or in presentations at events associated with AAPG. Global Impact.” The general chair is geology. Copyright 2007 by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. Sipho Mkhize, and the vice chair is Jeff Other details – including abstract Aldrich. Both are with PetroSA. deadline information – will be highlighted POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to AAPG EXPLORER, P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101. AAPG last held its international in an ad in the October EXPLORER, and Canada Publication Number 40046336. meeting in Africa in 2002, in Cairo, ongoing updates will be available on Canadian returns to: Station A, P.O. Box 54, Windsor, Ontario N9A 6J5 e-mail: [email protected] Egypt. www.aapg.org. J

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‘Know Thyself’ – and Don’t Trip Stepping Out? Step Out Smartly

By DAVID BROWN company is going to be built around a bottom line – and watching out for those EXPLORER Correspondent new technology. that could threaten it, he advised. You’ve finally decided to go Start-ups can become infatuated with “What are the new technologies out independent, to start your own a specific technology but lose sight of there that will impact my business? What business. profitable results. can help me or what can hurt me?” And the best thing is, you “At the end of the day, technology is Ireland said. have a great idea. nice – but it’s only important to the While investment money might be That could be your first degree it can create value,” Ireland bountiful today, the oil industry is famous mistake. warned. for its highly leveraged operations. “Evidence pretty strongly An entrepreneur will do Companies may take on far too much suggests that entrepreneurs will better to monitor emerging debt or financial obligation in good spot an idea and fail to test that technologies, choosing times, then struggle or fail in a downturn. idea. An idea is not the same as those that benefit the “The more leveraged you become, an opportunity,” said R. Duane the more constrained the firm is. That Ireland. can be a huge, gargantuan risk that can “That can really be an issue drag down a venture,” Ireland said. when an industry is doing well,” It’s also one more pressure on a new he noted, “such as the oil business owner or operator, who might and gas industry is today.” panic with a load of debt hanging Ireland serves as professor overhead. and head of the Department “Too much leverage representing too of Management in the Mays much risk,” he said, “can cause Business School at Texas entrepreneurs to make decisions too A&M University. quickly.” In addition to writing numerous First, Look in a Mirror … papers and books on management and G. Warfield “Skip” Hobbs is business start-ups, managing partner of Ammonite Ireland is co-author of Resources in New Canaan, Conn. His the textbook company contracts with about 25 Entrepreneurship: independent geologists and other Successfully consultants. Launching New Hobbs said the consulting geologist Ventures (second should start with the saying, “Know edition, 2007; thyself.” Prentice Hall). Maybe your See Entrepreneurs, page 8

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up, oil prices crashed and Hobbs had to Entrepreneurs find a new direction. He began advising institutional investors with billions tied up from page 6 in problematic oil and gas portfolios. “In the 1980s I developed a tremendous business in workouts with “Step one is, examine your skill set. these institutions,” he said. “I found a What are you good at? What are you not niche where there was nobody in the good at? Do you want to be a Northeast, from Boston to Washington, consultant, or do you want to be an offering that kind of geotechnical- independent who generates prospects? financial expertise. “The other important thing is to “The message is, ‘Research the prepare a business plan,” he said. ‘What market. Find a niche,’” he noted. is my timeline here?’ It takes much Working with other experts can open longer to establish yourself than most new business opportunities: “If you have people anticipate.” Ireland Hobbs Beaumont multi-talents, fine. If you don’t, team up,” A geologist going independent Hobbs said. should have the full support of his or her Teaming up with consultants in family and at least two years of working “Identify where the trends are and put Affairs, said he decided to start his own Houston has helped him stay centered capital in the bank, Hobbs advised. yourself there,” he added. “Be on the business in 1980, a boom time for the in the oil patch, all the way from It also helps to have a specialty. leading edge. That’s what the market is industry. He teamed up with Gareth Connecticut. “You have to be an expert in looking for, not old ideas in old areas.” Roberts, now president of Denbury “You can do it from anywhere,” something until you get established,” he Hobbs, an AAPG member and former Resources Inc. Hobbs observed. “I have a virtual said. president of the Division of Professional But two years later their funding dried company. There are three of us working on a project right now. One of us is in Calgary, one of us is in Houston and I’m here. And the client is somewhere else.”

Virtual and Reality

The idea of “core competency” leads many start-ups to outsource all other functions. It’s possible to build a virtual oil company – but be careful, Ireland cautioned. “The more we outsource, the less is in our control,” he said. “That’s a real risk. The more control we lose, the greater our dependency on those to whom we have given that control. “Your firm never wants to outsource to another firm what it can do exceptionally well,” he added. “Sometimes entrepreneurial firms don’t understand what it is they do well.” Ireland said three problems for the entrepreneur account for the failure of many new businesses: Not fully understanding the market’s needs. Not recognizing the difference between cash flow and sales/income. Not being able to cope with the sheer magnitude of stress involved. That stress shows up in a number of different ways and comes from several different directions. One challenge is the number of roles a new business owner must fill. “One second I’m talking to a banker about capital,” Ireland said, “the next minute I’m talking to someone in the field who has a serious production problem.” A world of opportunities, Also, moving from management in a large company to ownership in a start- revealed. up means giving up the company support network – even the support that used to come from above. Imagine the ingenuity it would take to create and and services makes us the provider of choice “There is no one else to turn to,” conduct seismic data acquisition programs in even when you need 2D/3D seismic data acquired Ireland noted. “I’m the boss. It’s me.” the most difficult-to-access areas of the world, from and/or processed from land, Transition Zones or Great Expectations British Columbia to Bangladesh. Imagine the depth shallow water regions anywhere on earth. With 20 of expertise necessary to identify and quantify experienced seismic crews who excel at transporting Edward A. “Ted” Beaumont started a business as a consulting geologist – “It potential opportunities, cost-efficiently apply and operating sophisticated man- and heli-portable was something I always wanted to do,” innovative technologies and techniques, while over- equipment in areas that would otherwise be inac- he said – then watched the price of oil coming the challenges posed by severe topography, cessible, we can go wherever your opportunities dip toward $8 a barrel in 1996. “I kept going but I was thinking, ‘What ocean currents, tides or extreme weather. Now imagine lead you. And bring back the seismic data that am I doing? Am I crazy?’” Beaumont it all being available at a single company, Geokinetics: reveal those that are worth developing. Count on recalled. a global leader dedicated to responding to your Geokinetics for whatever it takes to reveal the true “A lot of guys who were like me who were consultants are no longer immediate needs and achieving your strategic goals. potential of your next energy opportunity, no matter consultants. There are a few who have Our expanding array of specialists, methodology where in the world it may be. hung in there anyway,” he added. Beaumont, recently elected AAPG secretary, said things are “incredibly Ingenuity. Expanding. Worldwide. www.geokinetics.com better” today. But it’s still not easy for an independent. “We’re in an upswing, not a boom. People are still discriminating on what they want to take and what they’ll drill. They don’t want to drill wildcats,” he said.

See Niche, page 10

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a well drilled. All those other things don’t Niche matter until you can get the well drilled,” Candidates’ Profiles Now Online he said. from page 8 Ireland compared the operational Biographies and individual information The candidate slate is: choices for an entrepreneur to the for the 2008-09 slate of AAPG officer difference between exploration and candidates are now available online at President-Elect To get established, a consulting exploitation. the AAPG Web site. Ë John C. Lorenz, Geoflight LLC, geologist has to develop a reputation for Some exploration has to get done in The biographies and responses to the Edgewood, N.M. specialized expertise, Beaumont noted. order for exploitation to take place down topic “Why I Chose to be a Candidate for Ë Ronald A. Nelson, Broken N That can be in a geographical area or a the line. AAPG Office” also will be inserted in an Consulting, Cat Spring, Texas. technical area. And the entrepreneur must deal with upcoming EXPLORER. “If it’s seismic interpretation, that’s “that constant tension between doing The president-elect winner will serve Vice President-Sections good. If it’s log interpretation, it’s good. things today to produce profit, yet as AAPG president in 2009-10. The terms Ë David H. Hawk, Energy Analysis and Find an area you can be a specialist in,” knowing the things I’m doing today are for both vice president-sections and Answers/Consultant, Boise, Idaho. he said. not what I will need to be doing treasurer are two years. Ë W.C. “Rusty” Riese, BP Americas, The solo geologist also needs the tomorrow,” he said. Ballots will be available in spring 2008. Katy, Texas. patience and determination to see a In addition to the stress of operations, A complete list of AAPG rules and project to completion, according to an entrepreneur has to secure the guidelines governing the campaign – for Treasurer Beaumont. money and the people to make a candidates and supporters – can be Ë Edith C. Allison, U.S. Department of “It’s not like there’s a smooth company successful. That can be a found online at www.aapg.org/business/ Energy, Washington, D.C. transition from when you get an idea to problem in the oil industry today, when candidates/rules.cfm. Ë Kay L. Pitts, Aera Energy LLC, when the well is drilled. It sort of goes in capable and experienced people are in Bakersfield, Calif. J spurts,” he observed. short supply. “The bottom line is, you’ve got to get “I would make certain that I have commitments from the human capital that’s needed to make the business work,” Ireland said.

Staying Alive

In choosing a business path, an entrepreneur should play to his or her own strengths, Ireland agreed. “The probability of entrepreneurial success increases when you are engaging in a business that’s grounded in a skill set in which you are deeply involved,” he said. And an entrepreneur has to be prepared for the two most traumatic things that can happen to a business. The first is failure. The second is a great deal of success. The challenge of success, of managing a rapidly growing company, has confounded more than its share of aspiring entrepreneurs. “There are so many entrepreneurs that can grow the business to a certain level, but lack the skills to take it to the next level,” Ireland said. Finally, the independent geologist has to be prepared to go on for many years when success seems just out of reach. In three words: Hang in there. “It takes persistence. My kids laugh at me for my sayings, but ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,’” Hobbs said. “Some people get lucky right off the bat. That could happen,” Beaumont commented, “but most people I’ve talked to were doing it for a long time before the luck hit.” J Ecuador School Joins List of AAPG Student Chapters

AAPG Student Chapter membership recently increased with the first student membership from Ecuador. The international chapter, Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral, was added in August, bringing the Student Chapter total to 160 (80 domestic, 80 international). Membership in the Student Chapter program was largely domestic in the early days after the program’s inception, but recent statistics are showing the results of global outreach. “It shows the growth in international membership,” said Mike Mlynek, AAPG member services assistant manager, “and that AAPG truly is an international organization.” To find out how you can have a Student Chapter on your campus visit www.aapg.org/member/student. – SUSIE MOORE

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Seismic Backlog Channels Count, Along With Crews

By LOUISE S. DURHAM Historical Monthly Crew Counts EXPLORER Correspondent Commodity prices continue to hold Western Hemisphere fairly steady, and the industry is running 160 on all cylinders, so it comes as no U.S. Canada Latin America surprise that seismic crews are working 140

diligently worldwide. 120 In fact, the July 15 issue of World Geophysical News (WGN) notes working 100 crews on the global scale tally 277 compared to 260 one year ago. 80

Existing crews number 375, so 98 60 remained available as of the published date. 40 The breakdown of activity worldwide shows the heaviest concentration in the 20 United States, which hosts 25 percent of 0 the active crews. JMS JMSJMSJMS JMS JMSJMS JMS JMSJMS JMS JMSJMSJMS JMS JMSJ Running a close second to the 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 World Share of Geophysical Activity domestic crew count is Africa (21 Canada 2% Middle East 5% percent), which is followed by: Historical Monthly Crew Counts Europe 7% Europe, Africa, Middle East CIS: 15 percent. Far East: 14 percent. 80 Latin America: 15 percent. Europe Africa Middle East United States 25% 70 Latin America Europe: 7 percent. 10%

Middle East: 5 percent. 60 Canada: 2 percent. Far East 14%

50 Africa 21% WGN breaks the global numbers down further into 212 crews working 40 CIS 15% onshore and 65 offshore. On the domestic scene, Texas boasts 30 the most activity, with 26 crews working Data for charts provided by IHS 20 and none available. Where the action is: A quick look at

10 today’s geophysical world.

See , page 14 0 Activity 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

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“In 1977, there were 944 seismic crews Activity working in North America alone,” White said. from page 12 “Today, it’s more like 80 – but if you look at the channel count, you have an increase of 2,000 percent in the number of channels, so the amount of channels on a crew far exceeds that Full Speed Ahead of years past.” The seismic contractors may not be openly A caveat: There are crew counts, and there popping corks on the bubbly, but they’re plenty are crew counts. happy. Today, it’s more about “channel count” – The backlog is strong as ever at onshore and which has increased dramatically from years. shallow water player Geokinetics, according to In fact, it’s imperative to look at both channel White. He noted they’re seeing a steady flow of count and crew count to fully understand where bids coming in worldwide. the industry really is today, according to Jim Enthusiasm is rife most everywhere. White, executive vice president of Geokinetics “We’re going full throttle shooting spec data (an amalgam of the former Trace Energy, Quantum, Grant Geophysical and GDC). See Loyalty, page 16

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3-D vs. 2-D Survey Summary United States Crew Counts World Region Crew Counts*

Loyalty from page 14

as we did last year,” said Steve Mitchell, vice president and division manager at Fairfield Industries. “Our plans are to maintain the existing levels on our spec data base as well as the increased activity in the nodal market, which has us going strong as ever – in fact, we’re extremely pleased with the interest and activity in the nodal market. “We see this continuing into the foreseeable future,” Mitchell noted, “but we always keep an eye on commodity prices.”

Leaders of the Pack

Contractors have their work cut out for them when it comes to holding onto experienced crew members during these times of personnel shortages in the industry. It helps to maintain rigorous in- house training programs, which is becoming a trend among the companies. “We have a tremendous in-house training program, and we’ve been able to maintain our own crew members,” Mitchell said. “Our competitors are all doing this, too, so people don’t take crews away.” Global Geophysical Services, which is launching 4-5 new crews a year, has its own special way of attracting and holding onto crew members. It’s all about owning a piece of the company. Global has private equity and cash investors, but the employees own a large piece of the firm and control the board of directors. “There’s a fixed pie out there in terms of the number of seasoned professionals,” said Richard Degner, president of Global. “As an industry, we’re competing for the experienced seasoned ones. “We’ve been able to muster a disproportionately large amount of interest from those available folks in our industry to join our firm,” Degner said, “because of our ownership structure.” This breeds loyalty, which can be a powerful tool. “Every crew has 20 to 30 seismic professionals, and when those folks own a piece of the action, it affects their behavior in a wonderful way in terms of organizational performance,” Degner noted. “They care an extra amount because they have ownership in it – it’s their company.” J

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SEPTEMBER 2007 18 Trick Is to Get Correct – and Enough – Data Tools Take Unconventional Turns

By DAVID BROWN EXPLORER Correspondent The use of geophysical tools has become common in exploiting unconventional resources. Today, operators can assess play areas and fracture systems with: Multi-component 3-D seismic. Microseismic monitoring to image the results of fracture stimulation using downhole or surface located geophones. Tiltmeter readings to detect small changes over time caused by subsurface activity. Unfortunately, geoscientists have the University of Texas at Austin and fallen behind in understanding the uses heads up a geophysics lab studying and benefits of geophysical tools in multicomponent seismic applications. unconventional plays. He’s also editor of and frequent And that includes geophysicists. contributor to the EXPLORER’s popular “One thing that’s interesting to me as “Geophysical Corner.” a geophysicist is that the geophysical Graphics courtesy of MicroSeismic Inc. Three-component (3C) seismic uses community is just catching up. It’s new Oblique view of the microseismic events associated with the first four stages of a geophones that have three orthogonal technology that’s really been driven in the seven stage Fort Worth Basin frac job. Each color represents a different stage. sensors that enable detection of both past by engineers,” said Shawn Maxwell, compressional (P) waves and shear (S) chief geophysicist in Calgary, Canada, waves, as well as the direction of for Pinnacle Technologies Inc. resource play caused rupturing into a multi-component seismic. propagation. The petroleum geologist can natural fracture system. That system “We look at unconventional resources, Nine-component (9C) seismic contribute essential interpretation when communicated with a water-bearing which tend to be fracture-dominated requires that three orthogonal source these tools image the subsurface. zone. Consequently, the fraced wells systems, from the viewpoint of both vectors be created at each source Petrophysics, geomechanics and began to water up. P-wave and shear waves,” he said. “You station; yields a three-by-three matrix of stratigraphy all come into play. Solid knowledge of the geological really have to use multi-component orientation combinations; and captures “If we see a hydraulic fracture hitting a setting can contribute to understanding seismic to do an optimal analysis of all possible S-wave modes. barrier that might be associated with a both natural and induced fractures in an unconventional resources.” “There are certain rock properties fault, then the geologists tend to get unconventional resource. where shear waves shine and do things more involved in interpreting those Many operators already use 3-D The Cost of Value that P-waves just won’t do,” Hardage aspects,” Maxwell said. seismic for initial evaluation. Bob said. “Fracture-dominated systems are In one well-known example, hydraulic Hardage said he “preaches to anybody Hardage is a senior research scientist fracing of wells in an unconventional who will listen” about the advantages of with the Bureau of Economic Geology at See Unconventionals, page 20

AnswersWhileDrilling.com

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important, companies often assign a Unconventionals “More and more we’re seeing geologist as well as a completion engineer to a microseismic project, from page 18 geological requirements in which according to Neale. “The real underlying issue is that the you have to understand stratigraphy. geological understanding of what one of those things.” microseismic is actually telling you is Analyzing the geophysical aspects of It’s really difficult to dismiss the critical, maybe even more so than the unconventional resources begins with a engineering side,” he said. good petrophysical model, according to advantages you get from multi- “I think that’s the piece that’s missing Hardage. right now,” he added. “There’s not “It requires very careful rock physics component seismic.” enough geological, geomechanical input Hardage modeling,” he said. “What we’re really into what we’re seeing.” trying to model is to get our hands on have to understand both P and S seismic in Houston. enough data to understand the stratigraphy,” he said. “It’s really difficult But the geoscientist’s input into Tiltmeters’ Precision reflectivity of all P- and S-wave models.” to dismiss the advantages you get from interpretation is essential because “what Hardage estimated that 3C seismic multi-component seismic.” really makes these plays work is Tiltmeter fracture mapping in provides about 50 percent more understanding the geomechanics of the unconventional resources also has information than traditional seismic, and Needed: Geological Input surrounding rock and how the gained wide acceptance by the industry. 9C seismic about twice as much. completions strategy interacts with the “We’re seeing a large uptake of the Because of the higher cost of 3-D/9C The hottest current topic in rock,” he noted. technology,” Maxwell said. “People have seismic, however, operators may choose geophysics related to unconventional “For instance, there are certain kinds started to look at coalbed methane 3-D/3C. resources is probably microseismic of rocks that produce a louder acoustic recently to try to figure out how to best “What we’re trying to do in our monitoring. ‘bang’ than others when fractured,” he stimulate the fracture set in a coal.” research is to develop the technology Microseismic is sometimes called said. Most tiltmeters today work on the that will bring down the cost a little bit,” “passive seismic” because it does not The petroleum geologist can explain same principle as a carpenter’s level or he said. capture data from a specifically provided microseismic results in terms of rock bubble-level, with extremely precise Operators also should consider sound or energy pulse. Instead, it relies properties and the geological setting. measurement by electrodes. reprocessing and reinterpreting relevant, on natural or secondary energy sources. Neale described variances in Tiltmeters downhole and on the existing seismic, such as vertical seismic (See “Low Frequency, But High microseismic in adjacent wells that surface can be used to measure the tilt profile (VSP) data. Hopes,” June 2007 EXPLORER.) required a geological explanation. induced by hydraulic fracturing. “VSP technology is quite valuable,” Hydraulic fracturing produces micro- “Stacked fluvial tight gas sands, “I don’t know if heavy oil counts as an Hardage continued. “VSP data have seisms, or mini-earthquakes, around the where there is almost no correlation unconventional, but we also do a lot of been acquired with 3C geophones for well bore and to distances of 1,500 feet between wells, even when they are close work in that area,” Maxwell said. many years. You can use VSP to get a or more. The location of these events can together, creates complex and “In these thermal deposits, we quite beautiful picture of fracture orientation. be determined using downhole 3C unpredictable fracture patterns as the often put an array of tiltmeters on surface “I find out again and again people geophones to detect discreet acoustic induced fracs follow three dimensional and look at the surface uplift. As you have very valuable VSP data without wave arrivals, or by “beam forming” pathways within the sand bodies” he inject steam even at relatively large even knowing the data are in the (stacking) the output from a surface- explained. depths, the rock is heated up and company archives,” he added. located 1C geophone array. “In the Delaware Basin, we may see expands and you get the surface rise,” Structural plays might not require the In unconventional resources, very high amplitude events in one well he noted. detailed seismic information needed for “microseismic is right now predominantly and very low amplitude events in the Tiltmetering can be used for hydraulic stratigraphic plays, but unconventional used for fracture monitoring. It has been other. There can be significant changes fracture imaging even at depths of resource plays tend to be stratigraphic in viewed primarily as a tool for completions in rock properties even (when wells are) 10,000 feet, according to Maxwell. nature, Hardage noted. and reservoir engineers,” said Chris within thousands of feet of each other,” “When you’re creating a hydraulic “More and more we’re seeing Neale, vice president of business he said. geological requirements in which you development for MicroSeismic Inc. Because interpretation is so See Downhole, page 22

SEPTEMBER 2007 21

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“Where the real value of this is in the future is in using microseismic as a reservoir monitoring tool.”

Neale azimuth of the fracture that’s being Downhole created. You also can determine, for instance, if you are creating a vertical from page 20 fracture as opposed to a horizontal fracture,” he added. fracture you’re pushing the rock to create Hydraulic fracture imaging can be the void space for that fracture, and the used on every well in an unconventional tiltmeters are so precise you can pick up play, or the operator may decide to map the very small associated surface uplift,” only selected wells. he said. “In the Barnett it seems to be going Frac monitoring of a deep Delaware Basin well. The stimulation design allowed for “If you’re fracturing a shale, the more toward mapping every well. In good containment of the frac within the Barnett Shale. tiltmeters can be used to determine the other areas, some clients like to use it on test pilots (wells) to figure out what’s happening and to get the frac design down,” Maxwell said.

‘A Very New Science’

With either microseismic or tiltmeter, a time-series of images can be produced to show the spread of fracturing. Downhole geophones are used for essentially real-time imaging in microseismic. “We typically produce a little ‘movie’ of the fracture with time, and it’s surprising how much complexity there is in the creation of the fracture,” Maxwell said. A major concern in current fracture imaging is how to broaden the application of the technology to more of the nearly 25,000 wells fractured in the United States every year. Downhole monitoring traditionally has required an observation wellbore with 2,000 feet of the stimulated well. New plays typically have a limited number of older wells that can serve this purpose. In response, several service companies are developing stimulated- well geophone arrays for downhole monitoring. Also, surface-based monitoring obviates the need for an observation well if surface access is available. The other consideration is cost, with fracture imaging jobs usually ranging from $75,000 to over $300,000, depending on complexity and location. “Longer term, the microseismic service providers must find methods of data acquisition that will reduce overall cost, allowing for a broader application of the monitoring technology,” Neale said. Applications in heavier oil deposits and methane hydrates represent a new frontier for unconventional resource geophysics. Hardage’s lab already is looking at mapping hydrates offshore. “You’re not going to be able to turn your back on it,” he said. “When Mother Nature makes these hydrates, the gas molecules are compacted so closely that the energy density is 42 percent of LNG,” he noted. For microseismic, the next big step might be in continuous, “passive listening,” 4-D reservoir applications, according to Neale. “Where the real value of this is in the future is in using microseismic as a reservoir monitoring tool,” he observed. “Fracture monitoring is accepted and relatively well understood,” he said. “Long-term microseismic reservoir monitoring has the potential to produce much higher increases in added reserves, but it’s a very new science that will require a true multi-disciplinary approach.” J

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SEPTEMBER 2007 24 A Wireless Future? Cables Can Tangle Seismic Plans

By LOUISE S. DURHAM EXPLORER Correspondent It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. We’re talking land seismic acquisition, a challenging task for the first seismic crews who ventured into the field early in the last century, and one that remains challenging today. To conduct surveys, seismic crew members traipse around in some plenty treacherous and unwelcoming territory, e.g. dense jungles, hot deserts with their infamous sandstorms, bayous and swamps teeming with unfriendly varmints, freezing winds in mountainous areas – you get the picture. The survey effort becomes even more Photo courtesy daunting given the need to transport That was then ... of Chevron heavy cables and other equipment into such hostile areas, move this gear around during the shooting program and maintain it in working order. Yet after the dearth of seismic data demand only a few years back – especially onshore – complaints are few and far between. The welcome high activity level is only part of the good news. The equipment manufacturing companies have begun to introduce more efficient, lightweight acquisition ... and this is now. Seismic crews in the 1930s faced systems that are easier to operate and to remote locations that meant difficult work. Today, maintain. geophysical crews can rely on plenty of technological In fact, “cableless” has become the advances (right); however, the wave of the future (no pun operative word, with some folks intended) may be found in cable-free land nodes (above), where a single channel P-wave sensor provides See Future, page 26 continuous recording from a single point receiver station. Photos courtesy of Fairfield Industries

SEPTEMBER 2007 25

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Seismic Channel Count 2007 to 2025 300,000

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0 2007 2014 2016 2022 2025

Data from Robert Heath, “Let It Flow, Flow of Ideas, Hydrocarbons and Business” The information age on steroids: Seismic channel count growth projected into the future – from 5,000+ channels to nearly 300,000 channels. Some forecasters have even predicted 1,000,000 channel count crews.

shooting both the sensors and Future cables/connectors for leakage and continuity problems. These components from page 24 can all be damaged by a variety of sources, both natural and cultural.

predicting the next generation systems Paying the Price will be even more progressive, i.e., completely cable-free – think self The bottom line is that cables, contained, autonomous nodes, which sensors and such can eat a big hole in already have proven successful in the budget for a seismic shoot – directly acquiring data in deepwater in terms of actual dollar outlay and environments, such as the BP-operated indirectly via inefficiency. Atlantis Field in the Gulf of Mexico. Freed presented some estimated “Land seismic exploration today is costs for a sample survey where a 4,000 entering a transitional period similar to channel land crew might easily spend as 20-something years ago when recording much as $1.75 million for new cables methods began the migration from 2-D to and sensors and then incur annual 3-D surveys,” said Scott Labaume, estimated maintenance costs between director of sales and marketing at $200,000 and $400,000 to maintain Fairfield Industries. these components in operational “We’re on the cusp of a shift from condition. orthogonal line and swath surveys to Over a three-year period that includes freeform nodal surveys.” initial costs along with maintenance and replacement costs, crew expenditures Concepts vs. the Real World could reach amounts that range from $4.1 to $4.7 million for cables, Labaume noted the modus operandi connectors and sensors alone. for today’s seismic industry is for survey After three or so years of use, the 95 subsalt wells. $2,000,000 in research. design, systems and software to cables and sensors likely would have to One invaluable database. accommodate grid geometries, which be replaced. Even if they’re not call for parallel lines of equally spaced damaged by the forces of nature or by receivers deployed in geometric arrays critters (including the human kind), The best way to avoid the unpredictability of drilling alongside another geometric array of pinhole leaks can develop over time parallel lines of equally spaced sources. creating leakage and degrading the below salt is to have firsthand knowledge before you start. Of course, reality has a way of seismic signal. intruding in the best laid plans. The spread cables alone for fielding a And now you do. Thanks to the data and best practices “Where the real world meets the 4,050 channel crew with a station artificial Euclidian geometry of the spacing of 110 feet (plus 10 percent) developed from our Subsalt Joint Industry Project, the surveys, we use innovative operational would stretch out 490,050 feet, or 92 techniques and intricate software miles, according to Freed. He noted this subsalt environment is more predictable and the potential routines to ‘correct’ the differences doesn’t include any cross line cables between our ideal survey and the real that many systems would require. for discovering the Gulf of Mexico’s largest field is much world it encounters,” said Dennis Freed, It is noteworthy that survey costs are technical marketing manager at Fairfield. governed in large part by survey improved. Be part of the success curve. Learn more at our “What has evolved from this form of location, as well as by any unusual or seismic acquisition is an array of unique aspects of a shoot. two-day workshop in October by joining our project today. available systems requiring an analog cable to connect multiple external Who Needs Cables? Go to www.knowsys.com/services/jip.aspx to find out how. sensors to a remote unit in order for that unit to amplify, filter and digitize the The quest to eliminate or, at the very acquired analog signal,” Freed said. least, reduce the number of cables used “Then there’s an external cable and often in land surveys already has resulted in a series of connectors used to transfer availability of an increasing array of the analog signals sensed by the cableless systems, e.g., Ultra from external sensors to each remote unit. Ascend Geo, FireFly from I-O, UnITE “Many systems also require an from Sercel. external cable to transmit the acquired These cableless systems do not digitized seismic data to a central require cables to interconnect the More knowledge. Fewer surprises. recorder,” Freed added, “and some individual acquisition modules. However, systems use this same external cable to they do have cables to interconnect one provide power to the remote units.” piece of equipment to another and/or www.knowsys.com This complex configuration can create use a string of geophones as their one giant continuous headache for the sensors, according to Freed. Houston London Perth seismic crew. Autonomous nodes, on the other

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weight, resulting in more flexibility to No Cables “The wave of the future is cableless place the detectors – especially important in rugged terrain, from page 26 systems, whether minimal cables like environmental hot spots and urban locales – plus the lighter gear will be much easier to move around. hand, are self-contained sensors (the some of the systems available today, or sensing element typically is a Quality Control geophone) with batteries and a highly no cables.” accurate clock, making these systems Taking the relatively simple and entirely cable-free. inexpensive cable-free node-type route “We’ve tried to get away from cables to acquisition creates a step change not on land a number of times,” said Mark or no cables.” channels – the trend line is solid. only in the number of units that can be Foster, land seismic R&D program A major driving force in the move “I don’t believe we’re going to have deployed but also in the quality of the manager at BP. “Today, there are a away from cables centers on the ever- 100,000 channels connected with data acquired, according to Foster. number of minimal-cable systems out increasing number of recording cable,” Monk added. “It won’t be For those folks who may balk at the there, and they all have their place. I channels used in seismic surveys. manageable. idea of deploying a node-type system think the technology is reliable enough “If you look at how many recording “Most systems out there now will be because they must wait to see the data today, we can get rid of cables.” channels we typically use on a land capable of operating with 100,000 after retrieval of the unit rather than Dave Monk, director of geophysics at acquisition system, the trend is it’s channels,” Monk added, “but no one viewing it in real time – such as with Apache, concurs. doubled every three and a half years,” has built 100,000 channels of any some of the high tech cableless systems “The wave of the future is cableless Monk said. “On a land program today, system yet.” on the market – Foster has some systems, whether minimal cables like you may have 20,000 channels, so in six Reducing or eliminating cable reassuring words. some of the systems available today, to seven years you’re looking at 100,000 spreads leads to reduced equipment “When you have a small, lightweight set of equipment that’s very flexible and inexpensive (compared to cable), you can deploy the units in such large numbers,” he said. “I believe we’re getting to a state where the level of technology is such that these systems can be reliable enough and deployed in such quantity that even if you get a small percentage of failures the redundancy makes up for that. “The advantage of going to this relatively inexpensive, almost disposable type of cable-free system is that each channel will be relatively low cost,” Foster noted. “We want to be able to deploy huge numbers of these that allow us to either go in to an exploration type environment very efficiently,” he said, “or acquire very high density – both in offset and azimuth – in the production environment.” A big issue with node systems centers on how long the nodes can be live, according to Foster. He noted this is a combination of battery life and managing the power the systems draw on the battery. Freed succinctly summarized Fairfield’s view of the next generation land seismic data acquisition system: Fully self-contained node units (free from any external connectors or cables). Must meet or exceed the analog specifications of current systems. Capable of remaining independently on site where initially deployed until time to be retrieved by crew – troubleshooting would be a chore of the past. Must be capable of not less than 288 continuous hours of independent autonomous operation. Must have highest possible reliability with a failure rate of equal to or less than 1.5 percent during a single deployment (for a 10,000 channel system, this would require a reliability rate of less than six unit failures per day.) Coupling of the node to the earth must meet or exceed the coupling capabilities of a current geophone. J Chesapeake Provides Funds for High School Chair of Geophysics A $500,000 contribution by Chesapeake Energy Corp. has funded a “chair of geophysics” at an Oklahoma City public high school, the first endowed faculty chair at a public high school in the state. The Chesapeake Geophysics Chair was established at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential public high school for academically gifted math and science students. J

SEPTEMBER 2007 29

SEPTEMBER 2007 30 Coal’s Cousin Attracting Players Price Puts Oil Sands in Spotlight

By LOUISE S. DURHAM EXPLORER Correspondent The considerable hype about the Canadian oil sands action just keeps escalating – and with good reason. It’s understandable given what’s there, just waiting to be recovered by the operators. We’re talking 174 billion barrels of reserves, qualifying this resource as second only to Saudi Arabia in the ranks of global oil reserves. Not surprisingly, companies worldwide are scrambling to get a piece of the action. according to Brad Bellows, The latest big-name entry into this hot spokesperson for Suncor. play is Marathon Oil Corp., which But this is no ordinary resource, and recently announced that it’s acquiring economic recovery on a large scale is Calgary-based Western Oil Sands. possible only when oil is bringing in a A short list of the many other notable minimum of $40 per barrel, according to players includes: some industry analysts. Statoil, which purchased Canada’s The thick, heavy oil found in the oil North American Oil Sands Corp. sands is actually bitumen, which Shell Canada and Royal Dutch essentially is a semi-solid hydrocarbon Shell, which purchased Calgary-based so viscous it might best be dubbed a BlackRock Ventures. first cousin to coal. It is recovered either Total, which purchased Deer Creek. by pit mining or by underground in-situ China National Petroleum Corp., Photo courtesy of Conquest Seismic Services (in-place) techniques. which recently acquired rights to explore Canada’s oil sands continue to be a major play, and geophysical crews are helping to “About a fifth of the resource is in the oil sands. define and exploit the potential. Typical deployment there uses a single vibrator per recoverable by mining because it’s close source point to eliminate source array and meet high spatial resolution needs. to the surface,” said Greg Stringham, Counting the Costs CAPP vice president. “The cutoff is 200 feet, so above that it’s economical to Canada’s oil sands are found in the kilometers. The Canadian Association of Oil sands activity actually dates back remove the dirt, put it into an adjacent province of Alberta, where they occur in Petroleum Producers (CAPP) noted that many years – back when $70-plus oil pit and then reclaim it afterwards. three principal areas – the Athabasca, in 2005 industry investment in the was unheard-of. Suncor Energy, in fact, “If it’s greater than 200 feet – where Peace River and Cold Lake regions – Alberta oil sands reached approximately pioneered the world’s first commercially and encompass about 140,200 square $10 billion. successful oil sands operation in 1967, continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2007 31 continued from previous page Turning ‘Cold Molasses’ Into Gold 80 percent of the resource is – then you can recover it through more conventional By LOUISE S. DURHAM be heated or diluted with lighter are broken up by crushers and sent to drilling techniques known as in-situ,” EXPLORER Correspondent hydrocarbons before it can even flow an extraction plant where the bitumen is Stringham said. “At the current The all-out action in Canada’s oil through pipelines, according to the separated out to be moved to the production level, the split is pretty close sands shows no sign of abating. ADOE. upgrading facility. Following the to 50-50. But oil sands are a whole different upgrading procedure, the bitumen “In-situ technology is relatively new, breed of cat from other types of oil The Process ultimately is converted into diesel fuel even though some has been around deposits, and recovering the oil and and synthetic crude, which is since 1964,” he noted. “But in-situ is just converting it into something of value to Canada’s oil sands, which are transported by pipeline to refineries to starting to take off, so more oil is coming meet consumer and industrial needs is located in the province of Alberta, be converted into a number of from mining right now.” no ordinary oil field operation. account for one of the two largest products, including gasoline, jet fuel The Canadian oil sands, often sources of bitumen in the world, and home heating oils. SAGD: Drilling Two-by-Two referred to as tar sands, are actually according to the ADOE. The other is In-situ recovery techniques are used deposits of bitumen, which is a thick, Venezuela. where the sands are buried deeper Canada’s largest in-situ bitumen gooey type of crude oil – it’s been Depending on depth of the resource, than 200 feet, which applies to about recovery project is found at Cold Lake, compared to cold molasses at room either open pit mining or in-situ (in- 80 percent of the resource, according according to the Alberta Department of temperature. place) techniques are used to recover to Greg Stringham, vice president of the Energy. The sands are heated using Considerable upgrading is required the bitumen. To produce one barrel of Canadian Association of Petroleum steam injection to bring the bitumen to before it can be refined to produce a oil via mining, two tons of oil sands Producers. the surface where it’s diluted with useable fuel. must be dug out, moved and The in-situ methods include cyclic condensate to be shipped via pipeline. The Alberta Department of Energy processed and then returned to the steam stimulation and steam-assisted- Longtime oil sands player EnCana (ADOE) defines bitumen in the open pit for reclamation. gravity-drainage, which entail thermal has been honing its skills with the now- technical sense as a “tar-like mixture of Equipment such as cranes and injection via vertical or horizontal wells, commonplace in-situ technique known petroleum hydrocarbons with a density dump trucks that are required for the solvent injection and CO2 methods, as steam-assisted-gravity-drainage greater than 960 kilograms per cubic mining procedure are bigger than big. depending on the in-situ techniques (SAGD) for a number of years – and has meter; light crude oil, by comparison, In fact, the huge trucks that transport being used. some substantial production to show has a density as low as 793 kilograms the sand to be processed reportedly The bitumen separation occurs in for it. per cubic meter.” weigh in at 360 tons when empty. the ground, so it’s sent directly to the “Our two prime projects are Foster In fact, the heavy, viscous oil must Once the oil sands are mined, they upgrading facility by pipeline. J Creek and Christina Lake,” said Alan Boras, manager of media relations at is injected into the upper well to warm Venezuela who have extensive expertise done on frozen ground,” said Gary EnCana. “From these, we produce in the the bitumen and make it less viscous so in that country’s high profile heavy oil James, director of marketing and neighborhood of 50,000 to 60,000 it can drain to the lower production action. business development at Conquest barrels a day on a gross basis. wellbore. Seismic Services. “This is because most “Foster Creek was a pilot project Boras noted that research and Seismic Activity of the surface in the oil sands is what dating back to 1997 and became development into SAGD in Alberta dates they call muskeg, which is like a swamp. commercial in 2001,” Boras said. “So back to the 1980s with government and As might be expected in such a hot It’s a swampy, mossy surface that’s thick essentially we’ve been working on industry cooperative arrangements. play, the geophysical companies are a but wet, so most of the work is in the steam-assisted-gravity-drainage for a The two EnCana fields are located to visible presence in the oil sands action. frozen winter.” decade.” the south of the remote town of Fort For the most part, however, there’s Conquest had six crews working in The SAGD process entails drilling McMurray. This now-bustling community only a narrow window of time when the oil sands last winter season. James horizontal wells in pairs, parallel to one has become a magnet for oil workers seismic data acquisition is possible. another and about 17 feet apart. Steam worldwide, including folks from “Typically, oil sands work must be See Oil Sands, next page

SEPTEMBER 2007 32

that’s important.” Oil Sands Heliportable survey projects provide a way to circumvent the frozen ground from previous page requirement – but they’re more costly. In fact, Conquest will kick off a heliportable job early in the fall because said they’re optimistic for the same this the client needs the data early on. season and maybe still one more. “To do this, the ground must be high For oil sands work, the company enough,” James said. “You can’t be makes the most of its Envio-Vibe (a mini- down in a wet bog.” vibrator), which is designed for high production and high resolution seismic Full Speed Ahead prospecting in an environmentally sensitive manner. It’s particularly Participants in the current frenetic oil applicable for low impact, shallow target sands action don’t envision a slowdown. exploration. “We anticipate an increase in oil “The oil sands play is a shallow play sands activity industry-wide,” said requiring high spatial resolution,” James Boras. He noted that price is a major said. “Our crews are providing the ability contributor (whether positive or to get higher spatial resolution with negative) to the growth pattern of this shorter distances between receiver Photos courtesy of EnCana activity. points and source points. An aerial view of the Foster Creek’s heavy oil in-situ oil sands SAGD (steam-assisted “We’ve had a confluence of “We’ve found that where we can use gravity-drainage) operations. advancing technology, which has the mini-vibes, we can provide that at a continued to make the operations more lower cost than having to do dynamite,” efficient, alongside rising prices,” he James said, “because we don’t have to said, “in order to access this drill holes and load dynamite. Also, we unconventional resource.” get earlier access, because with a hole Stringham is equally optimistic. for dynamite you need very hard frozen “What we’re seeing is this will grow ground, but with the vibrators we can go from about 1.3 million barrels a day now, in earlier – with a narrow time window, up to three and a half or four million barrels a day by 2020,” he said. “It’s one of the strongest growing areas in the world. “While we have the second largest resources in the world,” Stringham said, “we’re only about the eighth largest producer in the world. And between ourselves and the United States, we’re kind of the very few who are non-OPEC members. “We hope with this growth that we’ll see between now and 2017, that we’ll probably be up with the United States as being maybe the third largest producer A closer view of operations at the Christina Lake heavy oil operation in Canada; (left) an insulated pipe and emergency shut-down in the world, after Saudi Arabia and valve for the field’s SAGD operation in northeast Alberta, which is constantly being checked (right) for potential snags. Russia.” J

SEPTEMBER 2007 33

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New Future for Depleted Wells Bypassed Thermal Energy Has Value

Editor’s note: Richard Erdlac will Potential Texas present two talks on geothermal potential geothermal at the Gulf Coast Association of resource areas Geological Societies’ annual meeting, (based on J. which will be held Oct. 21-23 in Corpus Valenza data). Christi, Texas. Both papers will be presented on Tuesday, Oct. 23. They are: “A New Future for Deep Depleted Wells – Geothermal Energy from Sedimentary Basins,” at 2:45 p.m. “Resource Assessment Status Report on Geothermal Energy Within Deep Sedimentary Basins in Texas,” at 3:15 p.m. His co-authors are Linda heat energy giant boasting thousands of Armour, Robert Lee, Susan Snyder, Mike exajoules to be used for power Sorensen, Mike Matteucci and Jordan generation, according to AAPG member Horton. Richard Erdlac, director of geothermal research and commercialization at By LOUISE S. DURHAM Energy America Geothermal in Midland, EXPLORER Correspondent Texas. Tapping into formation water rather To put this in perspective: One than hydrocarbons when drilling a well is exajoule per year, as defined in a report guaranteed to disappoint even the most released by Lawrence Berkeley stoic prospector – but, perhaps, Laboratory scientists, is equivalent to unnecessarily. 470,000 barrels of oil per day. In fact, a water “discovery” has the potential to open the door to a whole new The Price is Right? opportunity in sedimentary basins in many areas – including the state of Texas. It is noteworthy that investigations to Many thousands of wells already evaluate Texas heat reserves and drilled in the Lone Star state are deep resource value suggest that a Texas enough to encounter temperatures more geothermal industry could rival the than 250 degrees F, and sometimes existing Texas oil and gas industry in exceeding 400 degrees F, at varying economic value, Erdlac noted. depths and in different geographic areas. “I looked at some of the work done in The extremely hot brine existing at these depths essentially is a sleeping See Texas Geothermal, page 38

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enter them to produce hot water and then Texas Geothermal extract the heat to generate power. “For the oil and gas industry to from page 36 continue treating hot water as waste is equivalent to flaring natural gas as once was the custom in the industry,” Erdlac the ‘70s (via the U.S. Department of said. “No one wanted it, and now it has Energy) and looked at the potential value.” amount of resource being talked about He noted it’s the same thing with back then,” Erdlac said. “When I started thermal energy, but thermal has a doing the numbers, assuming a value of distinctive plus in that it’s renewable – you the resource at a little over five cents a extract the water, and additional kilowatt hour, I was getting billions of quantities move into the formation. dollars on a yearly basis, consistently Also, the deeper the water resides in year after year. the earth, the hotter it gets. “When I did this, oil was $43 a barrel and gas a little over $5 per Mcf, and Some Like It Hot that’s obviously changed,” Erdlac added. “But oil and gas in Texas is getting less It’s common to think of geothermal and less in volume each year, even if the energy in terms of steam, but the price goes up.” resource isn’t always in vapor form. When Plot of the Trans-Pecos “Rim Rock” temperature-depth (t-d) data (orange circles) on top Just as operators often re-enter producing extremely hot water, a variety of Delaware-Val Verde Basin (DVVB) data. Graph is plotted in Celsius versus meters. abandoned wells to go after new oil and of processes can be used to extract the gas zones, they could just as well re- heat at the surface. It is noteworthy that sedimentary basins are oil and gas country, and the geothermal industry is unaccustomed to dealing with these types of systems. Yet focusing only on traditional geothermal areas limits the future growth of this resource. Partnering with oil and gas companies would bring expertise and data that standalone geothermal operators would have to develop internally at their own expense. Joining together also would benefit the oil and gas concern, which likely could produce what ordinarily would be uneconomic amounts of hydrocarbons, with the geothermal side of the operation providing the needed economic boost to make the project viable. Erdlac noted that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a study early this year acknowledging the huge potential for geothermal energy, which can be compared to fossil fuels when it comes to power generation capacity. “Once a power plant gets going, it’s going for long periods of time,” Erdlac noted. “It has a high capacity factor – that may mean it’s in operation maybe 98 percent of the year and going 24/7. “Geothermal has a 90, 95, 98 percent capacity factor – it’s on par with nuclear, natural gas, coal-fired power plants.” Erdlac is convinced that the time has come to actively pursue this power source in Texas. “There’s a huge amount of thermal energy in Texas,” he noted, “and the oil and gas industry has tapped into it and said, ‘Well, we can’t use it.’ “The thing is, it’s still there and being replenished over time, so it’s very advantageous to go after it.” J

Geothermal Posters Invited Interested in geothermal energy? A poster session on the subject has been proposed for the next AAPG Annual Convention in San Antonio, which will be held April 20-23. The session will be chaired by Richard Erdlac, director of geothermal research and commercialization at Energy America Geothermal in Midland, Texas, and Dave Blackwell, of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Organizers are waiting to see the results of the meeting’s call for papers before releasing additional session details. Abstracts for the San Antonio meeting should be submitted online at www.aapg.org/sanantonio, and are due Sept. 27. J

SEPTEMBER 2007 39 The best way to get experience is to actually have one. AAPG’s 2nd Annual Fall Education Conference Houston, September 10-14, 2007 Exploration in Stratigraphic Traps

Courses will include: • Sequence Stratigraphy for Petroleum Exploration • Deep-Water Sands—Integrated Stratigraphic Analysis • Carbonate Depositional Systems, Diagenesis and Porosity Development • Quick Guide to Carbonate Well Log Analysis • Seismic Imaging of Carbonate Reservoirs • Seismic Interpretation in the Exploration Domain • Understanding Seismic Anisotropy in Exploration and Exploitation ' 6HLVPLF $WWULEXWHV IRU 3URVSHFW ,GHQWLÀFDWLRQ DQG 5HVHUYRLU &KDUDFWHUL]DWLRQ • AVO/Seismic Lithology • Evaluating Seals & Pay • Risk Analysis in Stratigraphic Traps • Geochemical Exploration for Strat Traps

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SEPTEMBER 2007 40

‘You’re Never Going to Find a Perfect Site’ Yucca Still A Pending Waste Tomb

By KEN MILAM endorsed the project, Stuckless said EXPLORER Correspondent years of research indicates nuclear waste It’s been eons in the making, features stored at the site never would be a cast of thousands and cost in the transported accidentally to the surface or billions. into the water table. It is Yucca Mountain, the proposed geologic repository in Nevada for high- History level radioactive waste. Few would argue that, geologically, it A series of large volcanic eruptions is among the most studied pieces of real formed Yucca Mountain 11 million to 15 estate on the planet. million years ago, Stuckless said. It Much of the most significant research consists of layers of ignibrite, or welded from the last 20 years has been gathered tuff and semi-welded and non-welded in The Geology and Climatology of Yucca tuff. The repository zone is densely Mountain and Vicinity, Southern Nevada welded tuff 1,000 feet below the surface and California, published this spring by and 1,000 feet above the water table, the Geological Society of America. Stuckless said. The study was conducted by the U.S. Bounded by two normal faults, the Photos courtesy of Department of Energy Geological Survey and U.S. Department formation tilts to the east. Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, looking west, with volcanic cones in background and of Energy National Laboratories. It covers “If anything, being in a unsaturated Solitario Canyon in the foreground. the mountain’s tectonic setting and zone was an advantage,” he said, Yucca Mountain is a ridge line in detailed structural geology and “because the waste has to be retrievable south-central Nevada, about 100 miles Tonopah stratigraphy, plus the climate history and for 300 years.” northwest of Las Vegas. It is in a remote potential climate change that could affect It’s also supposed to remain safely desert area on federally protected land the site’s ability to keep radioactive waste entombed for up to a million years, NEVADA inside the secure boundaries of the Yucca safely contained. according to the legislation dealing with Mountain Nevada Test Site. Site Alamo While the ultimate decision of whether the site. Nevada The proposed facility lies 1,000 feet the repository ever becomes reality rests Chances of seismic or volcanic Test below the surface and 1,000 feet above Site in the political realm, the proposal is disruption of the region are considered Beatty the water table. The main tunnel is U- Death sound geologically, said John Stuckless, extremely unlikely, researchers say. Valley Indian shaped, five miles long and 25 feet wide. Amargosa Springs who co-edited the book with Robert A. That leaves as the main concern the Valley Alcoves branching from the tunnel are Levich. Stuckless has worked on the cracks and fissures that could provide a CALIFORNIA used to stage experiments. Waste would Las USGS Yucca Mountain Project since pathway for radioactive waste to find its Pahrump be stored in smaller tunnels Vegas 1986. way into the water table. perpendicular to the main tunnel, which More than $7 billion has been spent “You’re never going to find a ‘perfect’ To address those concerns, the are yet to be drilled. so far on the project. Total cost is site,” Stuckless said, but “from an earth mountain has been scrutinized at Waste would be sealed in multilayer expected to range from $50 billion to science perspective,” the plan will work, stainless steel and nickel alloy containers $100 billion. he said. covered by titanium drip shields. 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A whole lotta’ (test) shaking going on: Specialized trucks vibrate the ground to simulate natural seismic activity at Yucca Mountain. World Seeking Waste Solutions BY LARRY NATION reprocessing radioactive waste and AAPG Communications Director reprocessing at La Hague and at the There currently are no facilities for Marcoule facility on the Rhone River near permanent disposal of high-level the southern city of Orange. radioactive waste, according to the Spent nuclear fuel and high-level World Nuclear Association (WNA), and radioactive waste are shipped by rail nuclear countries are wrestling with the within France; trucks carry the materials conundrum. over short distances. Five ships Since decay is the only way transport the material inter-coastally. radioactive wastes finally become Spent nuclear fuel arrives at La Hague harmless – and that can take hundreds by train in specially designed rail cars, of thousands of years – the wastes must as railway traffic. be stored in a way that provides A 15-year study that culminated in a adequate protection for very long times. 2006 report called for more study in the Presently in the United States, spent Bure area for a permanent high-level fuel is being stored in large water-cooled waste geologic disposal site, with a pools and dry storage casks at nuclear decision by 2015 and commissioning by power plants. Also, U.S. defense-related 2025. transuranic radioactive waste is stored In 2002, France stored 978,000 cubic about 3,000 feet deep in a bedded salt- meters of waste. In 2020, the annual deposit located in the Chihuahuan amount is expected to be 1.9 million Desert, outside Carlsbad, N.M. cubic meters, according to the Existing high-level wastes from Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique. reprocessing are presently stored at West Valley, N.Y.; Hanford, Wash.; Idaho Belgium, Germany, the Falls, Idaho; and Savannah River, S.C. Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan also Liquid high-level wastes are stored in send, or have sent in the past, spent large underground tanks of either nuclear fuel to France or to Sellafield in stainless steel or carbon steel, the United Kingdom for reprocessing. depending on whether they are acid or The recovered materials are returned to alkaline. the owner and the separated wastes are Some of the liquid waste has been vitrified, sealed into stainless steel solidified into glass, ceramic slag, salt canisters and either stored or returned. cake and sludge. Eventually they too will go to geological disposal. *** Sweden has centralized spent fuel Here is a roundup of other countries’ storage near Oskarshamn and will plans: encapsulate spent fuel there for geological disposal by about 2015. Russia’s policy is to close the fuel Sweden currently is carrying out cycle as far as possible and utilize additional research to reach a decision recycled uranium, and eventually also to between the Östhammar and use plutonium in mixed oxide, or MOX Oskarshamm sites for a permanent fuel, an alternative to low enriched disposal solution. uranium fuel used in the light water reactors. Finland, which formerly sent its The WNA reports that its waste to Russia for handling, has two achievements in doing this are limited. long-term disposal sites for lower-level At present the used fuel is stored waste and is constructing a third. At the (mostly at reactor sites) and not end of 2004, the sites held 5,400 cubic reprocessed. No waste repository is yet meters of waste. available, though site selection is proceeding in granite on the Kola In Canada, the Nuclear Waste Peninsula. Management Organization said earlier this year that a final repository probably In Europe some spent fuel is would be in Ontario, Quebec, New generally stored at reactor sites, similarly Brunswick or Saskatchewan, and host awaiting disposal, according to the localities would need to volunteer for the WNA. role. France has more than 30 years of The search for a site was expected to experience transporting and begin in 2009. J

SEPTEMBER 2007 43

waste to the central depository from more Yucca than 120 local storage sites around the nation. from page 40 With the emphasis on storage rather than disposal, the nuclear industry may resolutions up to 1-to-250, Stuckless begin recycling the waste. said. “I predict that within 20 years, it will be “Every fracture larger than a meter a natural resource again,” Campbell has been recorded,” he said. “We have a said. 750,000-year record of history on one “Transportation on highways will be a fault.” concern, but so much engineering has Findings presented in the book are gone into the containers the risk is the results of “fairly standard geological minimal,” Campbell said. techniques,” Stuckless said. “We’ll see a period of well-meaning “The larger problem is that we’ve people lying across roads (to block never really studied unsaturated zones ... shipments), but that will pass,” he said. what happens there,” he added. If any waste did leak from its man- A second volume, expected to be made and geological tomb, the hazard ready by year’s end, focuses on would be slight, he said. hydrology and geochemistry and will “Even if it did get out somehow, you’d include more of the new technologies fence off the area for 680 years,” In 1997, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Visualization Group collaborated applied to the study. Campbell added, “but it wouldn’t float in with scientists from LBNL's earth sciences division to create a visualization showing the air like Chernobyl.” J the Yucca Mountain storage facility. This visualization integrates divergent types of How ’Bout This Weather? data, and will be used to ask "what if" questions pertaining to site water flow.

If the geological premise for the project is sound, what other factors could conceivably pose risks? Climate change is one possibility that has been researched. The region has experienced much wetter climates in the past, and could again, but most of the geologic research indicates slight chance of nuclear waste seeping into the water table. Climatology examined in the book’s final chapter does little to weaken the case for Yucca Mountain as a storage facility, but could be significant in terms of the global warming debate, said Mike Campbell, chairman of AAPG’s Energy Minerals Division’s Uranium Committee. While many believe man’s influence on global climate would be short-lived, some researchers postulate that the burning of fossil fuels could have profound effects arching over geological time periods, Campbell said. Astronomical and orbital predictions support the notion that Earth already should be entering its next ice age. Some of the Yucca Mountain researchers, however, say it is possible that humans’ impact on climate could last up to 50,000 years and delay the glacial maximum for 100,000 years, he said. Such predictions may heat up the global warming debate, but climate change should have little effect on the geology of Yucca Mountain. “I believe the plan is a good one,” Campbell said, “especially after reading this material.”

Further On Down the Road

Over the decades since it was first proposed, the Yucca Mountain study “has kept a lot of people employed – thousands,” Stuckless said. When USGS suggested the former nuclear testing site in 1976, it already had been the subject of 900 man-years of study, he said. Besides geoscientists, the project involves a large engineering component, biospheric researchers and others, he said. As an example of how much study has been devoted to the site, Stuckless noted that one chapter in the book lists more than 100 references going back some 20 years. The prime contractor for the project, Bechtel SAIC, a consortium of government contractors, Bechtel Corp. and Science Applications International Corp., employs 1,300 people. The DOE is expected to submit an application for a license to operate the facility next year. March 31, 2017, is the target date for opening the facility and when it would begin accepting waste. If the project opens, utilities and defense facilities would begin shipping

SEPTEMBER 2007 44

Engelder Giles Johnson Johnston Karner Olson Peacock Skelton Some Serious, Some Fun Diverse Topics Spice DL Season

By VERN STEFANIC geological societies to current information, geophysics at the University of Calgary, “Rudist Evolution, Ecology and EXPLORER Managing Editor research and thinking. Canada. Environments.” New faces, new topics, continuation of Last season’s domestic speakers His topic is “Anisotropic Depth Imaging “The Episodic History of Cretaceous a new program and new energy. appeared at 60 universities and societies, and Interpretation in Thrust-Belt Carbonate Platforms: An Aptian Case That’s the word about this year’s AAPG reaching about 3,200 people. The Exploration.” Study.” Distinguished Lecture program, the international speakers made 44 stops in In keeping with the annually alternating Association’s flagship initiative for the Middle East, eastern/central Asia and logistical responsibilities for the intersociety Ë The J. Ben Carsey Distinguished spreading the latest in science, technology Asia/Pacific, reaching about 1,850 people. lecturer, Lawton’s tour will be coordinated Lecturer – A domestic tour, provided by and professional information. This year’s program offers speakers by AAPG. contributions from J. Ben Carsey Jr. of This year’s DL program, funded in part from both industry and academia, with And as also in past years, support for Houston, to establish a named lecturer in by the AAPG Foundation, will offer 14 topics that range from timely subjects like several specific tours comes directly from memory of his father, who served as AAPG lecturers – nine domestic and five geologic-based evidence of climate the AAPG Foundation’s Distinguished president in 1967-68. international. It is the largest slate of change, to Canadian oil sands, to Lecture Fund. They are: This year’s Carsey lecturer is Garry speakers in the program’s history. fractured reservoir characterization. Karner, senior research associate, new And in addition to those tours, AAPG Among the new topics this year: Ë The Allan P. Bennison Distinguished play concepts, for ExxonMobil Upstream this year offers an expanded Distinguished Hippos in London and “craquelure in Lecturer – An international lecturer who Research Co., Houston. He’ll tour eastern Instructor slate, featuring two instructors – masterpieces of the Louvre.” Really. makes a U.S. tour, funded by contributions North America in late November and early one domestic and one international (see Something familiar about this year’s from the late Allan Bennison, a long-time December, and western North America in story, page 45). lineup is the continuation of the intersociety Tulsa geologist. late March and early April, offering two It’s all part of a concentrated effort to lecturer effort – a cooperative program that This year’s Bennison lecturer will be topics: make information and expertise available presents an opportunity for cross- Peter Skelton, reader in palaeobiology at “Depth-Dependent Lithospheric to as many geoscience groups as discipline lectures. the Open University, London, England. Extension: Supporting Evidence, Structural possible, around the world. This year’s AAPG/SEG Intersociety He’ll tour the western part of North and Depositional Characteristics, and AAPG’s DL program was developed to Lecturer, sixth in the series, is on the America in early December and eastern General Applicability.” expose students, young geologists, international roster: AAPG member Don North America in mid-March, offering two college faculty members and members of Lawton, holder of the chair in exploration topics: continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2007 45

Instructor Program Expands for Second Season One for Domestic Audiences, One for International AAPG’s Distinguished Instructor He is with ExxonMobil Exploration in His topic is “Sequence-Stratigraphic program, entering its second season, Houston. Analysis of Shales: Key to Paleoclimate will expand to two instructors – one for His international itinerary to date Archives, Subsurface Fluid Flow and domestic groups, and one for includes: Hydrocarbon Source, Reservoir and international. Nov. 9-10 – Associacao Brasileira Seal.” The Distinguished Instructor program de Geologos de Petroleo, Rio de His course will be “a hands-on is intended to complement the Janeiro, Brazil. workshop on the expression and Distinguished Lecture series. DI Nov. 13-14 – Geological Society of correlation of depositional sequences in instructors, who serve two-year stints in Peru, Lima. seismic, well-log, core and outcrop data the program, offer half-day, full-day Nov. 16-17 – Geological Society of using Paleozoic, Mesozoic and and/or two-day short courses as Abreu Bohacs Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Cenozoic examples.” opposed to one-hour lectures. Their itinerary is based on requests Ë Vitor Abreu, last year’s inaugural Ë Kevin M. Bohacs, senior For information on the Distinguished received at headquarters in Tulsa. instructor, is back for a second year, hydrocarbon systems analyst for Instructor program – or to request an This year’s instructors are: offering a course on “Sequence ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co., instructor – contact Karen Dotts, at Stratigraphy for Petroleum Exploration.” Houston, is the domestic instructor. [email protected]. J continued from previous page

“Accuracy of Eustatic Amplitude Estimates: Challenges in Flexurally Backstripping Continental Margins.”

Ë The Haas-Pratt Distinguished Lecturer – A domestic tour provided by contributions from the late Merrill W. Haas, in honor of famed geologist (and Haas’ mentor) Wallace Pratt. The funding is granted for emphasis on a specific case history application of geology in a discovery. This year’s Haas-Pratt lecture will be given by Mike Peacock, exploration/development geoscience manager, Imperial Oil, Calgary, Canada. He’ll tour western North America in late November and early December, and eastern North America in February. His lecture is titled “Athabasca Oil Sands: Understanding the Oil Sands from the Regional Scale to the Project Scale – A Case History.” Ë The Roy M. Huffington Distinguished Lecturer – An international tour provided by contributions form the Huffington family in honor of the oilman-geologist. The Huffington lecturer – whose current tour of Australia and New Zealand ends in September – is Peter McCabe, with CSIRO in Sydney, Australia. He has offered three topics: “Distribution of the World’s Oil and Gas Source Rocks in Space and Time – Perspectives for Exploration in Frontier Basins.” “World Oil and Gas Resources – How Much is Left and Where Will It Be Found?” ! “Deltaic Systems and Super-Systems " #$ – Controls on Petroleum Accumulation.”

This year’s list of domestic Distinguished Lecturers also includes: % & Ë Mike Blum, a professor in the department of geology and geophysics at % ' Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. His tour of eastern North America will be Sept. 17-28, and his western North ()* American tour will be in late February and ! & early March. ! He offers two talks: & “Subsidence and Sea-Level "# $ # Changes Along the Northern Gulf of % ! Mexico: Response of Mississippi River to & % the Last Glacial Cycle, and the Flexural Ups and Downs of Mississippi Delta.” ! “Signatures of Climate and Sea-Level Change in the Gulf of Mexico River Systems Over the Last Glacial-Interglacial Cycle: A Source-to-Sink View Ups and Downs of Mississippi Delta.”

Ë Terry Engelder, a professor at ' % Pennsylvania State University, University $ ( ( Park, Pa. He’ll offer two talks: ###! !

See Lecturers, page 62

SEPTEMBER 2007 46

Barnett Shale Primary Production Area

Barnett Shale Known Boundaries

Claylay MMontagueu CCooke

Jack Wise DentDenton Young

Tar rant DDallas Paloo Pintoo Parker

Hood JohnsonJ Ellis Erath SSoSomerervellrrvell HiHill Bosque Submission deadline Comanchhe Hammiilton September 27 TEXAS

Graphics courtesy of the Perryman Group Locals Reaping Benefits Hot Barnett Play Creating Wealth According to the 2007 Annual Convention survey of attendees, the number one reason geoscientists By LOUISE S. DURHAM continue to expand the play to the south attend is to aquire answers, ideas and to address EXPLORER Correspondent and west, with varying results, meaning the The Barnett Shale natural gas play has real action remains in the general Fort specific needs from the technical sessions. become so prolific it appears to have taken Worth Basin region – in fact, 14 counties in on a life of its own. north and central Texas hosted 99 percent Indeed, there’s speculation aplenty it of the drilling in 2006. Plan now to be one of the experts who contribute may become even bigger than the Overall, Perryman noted, thousands of to the world-class technical program in San Antonio. generations-old, giant Hugoton gas field in wells are producing hundreds of billions of Kansas. cubic feet of natural gas annually from the What’s especially unique about the Barnett. Submit your abstract now! Barnett play is that a major piece of the action is in a highly urbanized area. In fact, Drill Here! Drill Here! there are close to 500 wells within the Fort www.aapg.org/sanantonio Worth city limits, and predictions are this Given the urban nature of the bulk of the number will double by 2010, according to activity, it is noteworthy that an array of noted economist M. Ray Perryman, CEO of area chambers of commerce joined with a The Perryman Group (TPG), a Waco, sizeable number of industry participants to Texas-based economic and research host a recent Barnett Shale Expo in Fort analysis company. Worth. The objective of the free event was If this prompts you to envision a drilling to involve and educate the public rig stationed at each street corner in concerning the numerous aspects of the downtown Fort Worth as well as smack- play. Abstracts are subject to review and acceptance by the Technical Program Committee. dab in the middle of a homeowner’s Both the citizenry and the local flowerbeds, forget it. government bodies are reaping Thanks to horizontal drilling technology, humongous benefits from the Barnett, wells can be drilled at a considerable according to a recently completed study distance from the target reservoir with the conducted by TPG and commissioned by unseen horizontal leg traversing the the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. subsurface to the pinpointed location to Perryman presented the results at the tap into the natural gas. Expo. An added plus: Multiple wellbores can The numbers are eye-popping enough be drilled from a single pad, further that even a hard-core NIMBY (not in my reducing the footprint. backyard) might be convinced to rethink About 177 companies have operations in the Barnett Shale, and operators continued on next page

Charitable Contributions to the Fort Worth Area by Survey Respondents – 2001-2006 $3,000

$2,500

rs $2,000

$1,500

$1,000 Thou sa nd s o f D olla

$500

$0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Note: Selected companies include: XTO Energy Inc., Quicksilver Resources Inc., Dale Operating Company, EnCana Oil & Gas (USA), and Chesapeake Operating Inc.

SEPTEMBER 2007 47 continued from previous page The Current Annual Impact of Exploration, Drilling, and Operations The Current Annual Impact of All Major Sources of Stimulus Associated before voicing the usual emphatic “No!” to in the Barnett Shale on Business Activity with the Barnett Shale on Business Activity oil and gas drilling in certain other domestic areas, despite their potential to $11.256 $16.821 yield badly needed “homegrown” Total Expenditures Total Expenditures hydrocarbon supplies. $9.487 $13.676 When summing all major categories of stimulus associated with the Barnett Shale, $3.740 $6.395 the result is a whopping $5.164 billion in Gross Product Gross Product $3.110 $5.164 annual output and about 55,385 Texas Texas permanent jobs, according to Perryman. Barnett Shale Region Barnett Shale Region Not surprisingly, the bulk of the impacts $2.038 $3.802 stemming from the Barnett activity are Personal Income Personal Income $1.706 Permanent $3.101 Permanent spawned by exploration and drilling. Jobs Jobs Perryman noted the typical annual impact 65,953 - Texas 33,539 - Texas $1.704 of activity over the next 10 years is $0.770 55,385 - Barnett Shale Region Retail Sales 28,493 - Barnett Shale Region Retail Sales expected to include more than $7 billion in $0.725 $1.524 output and 64,375 jobs in the Barnett Shale region. $0 $2 $4 $6 $8 $10 $12 $14 $0 $2 $4 $6 $8 $10 $12 $14 $16 $18 $20 The projected average annual impact Billions of 2006 Dollars Billions of 2006 Dollars of Barnett activity overall may well be more Source: The Perryman Group than 108,000 jobs and $10.4 billion in output per year through 2015, according to Perryman. Given that many industry observers predict activity in the play will continue for another 20 to 30 years, or even much longer, the math tends to become mind-boggling.

A Populist Play

It is noteworthy that this play is not a scenario where the rich get richer, and all others must continue making do as always. In fact, the fallout in terms of financial impact and improved quality of life reaches citizens across the socioeconomic spectrum. Myriad factors make this possible: Property taxes paid on oil and gas properties and enhanced retail sales and real estate development are the two primary sources of income impacting local taxing entities. Cities, school districts and others receive royalties and bonus payments. Severance taxes collected by the state of Texas in 2006 tallied $165.4 million. Permitting and other fees are paid to local governing bodies. Other kinds of levies include hotel/motel occupancy taxes. Companies involved in exploration and development in the Barnett are donating millions of dollars to local charities. Varying organizations have benefited outright from the play, including: The American Cancer Society – sold mineral rights to donated land for about $5 million. Area Girl Scouts – leased mineral rights to drill beneath a summer camp. A local church – received a signing bonus of $21,000 to allow drilling under its property.

Affordable Tradeoffs?

Perryman noted TPG estimated the overall direct and indirect fiscal contribution (excluding royalty and lease payments to public entities) of Barnett Shale activity totaled about $718.6 million in 2006. This included $490.9 million in state revenues and $227.7 million to local governments. The aggregate amount is expected to exceed $1 billion per annum in the future. Not surprisingly, this financial bonanza comes with some trade offs – after all, drilling activity is accompanied by its own considerable baggage, so to speak. Increased truck traffic, noise and water usage go hand-in-hand with oil and gas drilling, and the Barnett is no exception – and these issues can pose particular challenges when the action occurs in urban areas. Perryman reported, however, these downside elements are, in most instances, being dealt with to minimize any lasting effects. J

SEPTEMBER 2007 48 Barnett Shale Play Can Be Complex

Bubble map showing log Their Success Doesn’t Ensure Yours 10 of six-month normalized cumulative production in Barnett wells By LOUISE S. DURHAM (Editor’s note: Randy LaFollette across the North Texas EXPLORER Correspondent will present the paper “The Barnett Operators big and small continue to Barnett play. Production Shale Play of North Texas – Points to grab attention for their efforts in the results vary by many fold, Ponder in 2007,” on Oct. 9 at the high-profile Barnett Shale play in the and production variation Rocky Mountain Section’s annual Fort Worth Basin. from well to well is often meeting in Songbird, Utah. Sometimes overlooked in all the significant. LaFollette’s talk is part of the EMD Barnett buzz, however, is the fact that session on “Shale Gas Secrets – myriad crucial operations are required Lessons from Other North American to turn the operators’ drilling targets into Shale Gas Plays.”) actual wells and – ideally – successful Graphics courtesy producers. of Randy LaFollette It’s not easy. This play has a lengthy track record for experimentation, success and also failure, among the 6,500-plus vertical, deviated or horizontal tests or producers drilled since the initial Mitchell Energy well in 1981, according to Randy LaFollette, manager of geoscience technology at Houston-based BJ Services. “From the standpoint of a service company, we’re trying to sort through what the issues are, what really drives production results in the Barnett – there’s no simple, one-size-fits-all recipe for success,” LaFollette said. “There’s a certain basic reservoir quality that’s there in terms of gas-in- place and deliverability – and these are two hugely different things,” he noted. “The hard part is to try to deconvolve the effects of reservoir quality from the effects of stimulation treatment – and from everything that happens from the time the drill bit penetrates the top of the formation to present day. “There are many fuzzy relationships, many non-linear relationships involved,” LaFollette noted, “so it becomes much more complex than trying to sort out what works and what doesn’t on a spreadsheet. “We’ve been in the Barnett for a long time,” he said, “and it’s an ongoing study.”

New Technologies Emerging

Barnett production patterns analyzed using GIS methods show clear evidence of sweet and not-so-sweet spots, according to LaFollette. He also noted GIS has opened eyes in the engineering community where the engineers have been posting more stimulation treatment data on maps along with production results and continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2007 49

Left: The best continued from previous page vertical Barnett wells tend to be clustered into fairly small parts reservoir quality information when of the play available. geographically. BJ currently is studying the combo of Outside these areas, GIS with other data mining techniques, Barnett gas e.g., automated computer algorithms or production from neural network technology. vertical wells Slick water fracs and horizontal decreases markedly, drilling have been key to the Barnett with few exceptions. play’s success overall. Going forward, a couple of other Right: Comparison technologies that have the potential to with vertical wells become increasingly beneficial are (left) demonstrates simultaneous fracturing of horizontal the impact of wells (simo-fracs) and ultra-lightweight horizontal well proppants. technology on expanding the The basic blueprint for simo-fracs Barnett play out of entails taking two horizontal wells that the main area of are in close proximity and roughly vertical well parallel to one another and then fracing successes. each at once. Simo-fracs initially entailed dual fracs, one in each of the two closely spaced horizontals. Today, however, there are tri- fracs (often dubbed trifectas) and even quad-fracs being applied. “Given such low matrix permeability of the shale reservoir, a gas molecule in the lifetime of a well may only be able to move through the matrix on the order of feet,” LaFollette said. “You need to provide very closely spaced fracs to have a very nearby, high permeability pathway for the gas molecule to migrate Driven by data. and move into the wellbore.” The theory behind simo-fracs is they may increase the density of the hydraulic fracture network, or increase the amount of surface area being Built on science. created from the frac job, LaFollette noted. “You can envision it to be like a sheet of auto glass and smacking it with a hammer,” he said. “It cracks in a complex fashion, and this is probably what hydraulic fractures in the Barnett look like.”

Regarding the value of ultra- lightweight proppants in the Barnett, the jury is still out. “When they first came out, they weren’t capable of handling some of the frac pressures in the Barnett,” LaFollette said. “It’s not known if the ultra-lightweights are going to take off and prove beneficial in the Barnett because we’re just getting to the point with the strength of the ultra-light-weights where they can handle the Barnett closure stress range.” J RMS Meeting Set in Snowbird “Exploration, Discovery, Success” is the theme for this year’s Rocky Schlumberger Geomechanics Mountain Section annual meeting – a “Rocky Mountain Rendezvous” – set The right geomechanics plan is driven by all available data to identify, Oct. 6-9 at Snowbird, Utah. In addition to the exhibits hall and predict, and prevent costly events. It is built on a well-defined, fit-for-purpose technical program featuring the best mechanical earth model that optimizes your reservoir and brings value to the in Rocky Mountain science, technology and recent exploration asset throughout the life of the field. developments, the meeting offers: A public forum on “Energy Schlumberger has been a leading provider of integrated geomechanics Development on Public Lands.” technology and services for more than 30 years, with an extensive track Prospect booths and interview record of successful projects worldwide. For more information on our case rooms. An All Convention Luncheon on studies around the world go to www.slb.com/geomechanics. Monday, Oct. 8, featuring Charles B. “Chuck” Stanley, executive vice www.slb.com/geomechanics president of Questar Corp., on “Natural Gas in the Rockies – The Challenges and Opportunities of Resource Development on Public Lands.” To register or for more information, go online to www.utahgeology. org/rms-aapg.htm. © 2007 Schlumberger 07-DC-051

SEPTEMBER 2007 50

Meet Mark Myers USGS Head Faces the Challenges By BARRY FRIEDMAN “The USGS is a scientific research stranger to the work EXPLORER Correspondent of the USGS and U.S. Geological Survey Director Mark always held its work Myers, an AAPG member who was organization that provides information to in the highest nominated by President Bush and esteem, both in confirmed by the Senate in 2006, heads decision-makers at all levels of government terms of the breadth up an entity that has more than 10,000 and scope of the scientists, technicians and support staff. so they can address and resolve complex science and the The Survey, which has a budget of unbiased more than $1 billion, is located in nearly natural resource problems.” information it 400 offices in every state and in several provided. foreign countries and partners with 2,000 I had been agencies of state, local and tribal Myers involved in joint field government, the academic community, with the American Institute of Professional scientific independence, while research projects with USGS scientists on other federal allies, non-governmental Geologists and a licensed geologist with underscoring the independence of the the North Slope and Cook Inlet regions of organizations, and the private sector. the State of Alaska. USGS. Alaska. As a resource manager in Alaska, Myers’ predecessor was Charles G. And it was during his time as director “It’s incredibly important that the I often faced a balancing act in trying to “Chip” Groat, now director of the Center of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas that he science is unbiased, that it is peer reconcile both sides of issues. USGS data for International Energy and Environmental received some notoriety for resigning his reviewed and objective,” he said. “That’s was critical in the decision-making Policy at the University of Texas at Austin position when he thought a gas pipeline the way it needs to be so the Survey can process and an invaluable resource and is president of the AAPG Division of deal that then-Gov. Frank Murkowski was deliver objective information.” because of its objectivity and reliability. Environmental Geosciences. pushing would short-change the state. The EXPLORER asked Myers recently The USGS is known for its field While he wouldn’t talk about it for this for his take on a range of issues, from You’ve been a member of AAPG since investigations, direct observations of interview, he said in his resignation letter, research to funding to the tricky areas of 1979; what do you think should be the natural science processes and “Staying in this position would require me politics and science. While careful not to ideal relationship between the USGS and phenomena, and monitoring and data to compromise my values as to what is address the contentious issue of whether AAPG? How can each organization best collection. right, both legally and ethically, and what or not the work of scientists has been help the other? Before coming to the Survey, Myers is in the interests of the state. I cannot muffled or distorted by the Bush Yes, I have been a member since served as survey chief for field programs continue as director and watch silently as Administration on issues that run counter 1979, serving as a member of their House in the MacKenzie Delta (Arco, 1985), and the state’s interests are undermined by to its political objectives, he does affirm of Delegates prior to joining USGS. I hold Alaska’s Cook Inlet (State of Alaska/USGS, creating barriers for the new oil and gas the independence of both the USGS and AAPG in the highest regard and value 1997) and North Slope (Arco, 1999). He participants that are so vital to the his commitment to it. their mission to foster scientific research, also served as sedimentologist for 13 economic future of our state.” advance the science of geology, and other North Slope field programs. It is a testament to his ability to build EXPLORER: Why (how?) did your promote new technology. It is a premier Past president and board member of coalitions that Murkowski supported his joining the USGS come about? Had you geoscience organization that not only the Alaska Geological Society, Myers is an appointment to the USGS. worked closely with the USGS during your provides wonderful opportunities for AAPG certified petroleum geologist as In his confirmation hearings, Myers time in Alaska? well as a certified professional geologist addressed the sensitive subject of MYERS: As a state geologist, I was no continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2007 51 continued from previous page coming decade that defines challenges And of course, ultimately, Congress will within these areas and opportunities have the final say on USGS’s budget. current and future geoscientists, but it also where USGS science can serve the helps to educate the general public on nation’s pressing needs; unites all of our USGS data is often cited as various issues related to energy resources. capabilities; takes advantage of our experts, geological and otherwise, wrestle We have a synergistic relationship – strengths and our unique position as non- with the question of “peak oil.”What is your both organizations bring a national and regulatory federal science agency with position on “peak oil?” international perspective to the critical national scale and responsibilities; and will The USGS doesn’t take a position on issues around energy. help us to focus our science capabilities this issue. The strength of USGS is its ability to to meet the challenges of the 21st century. There is certainly a need to better provide unbiased technically accurate understand the true endowment of information on energy resources, As the new head of the USGS, you will conventional and unconventional particularly with respect to quantifying be in charge of funding for various resources to understand when and where undiscovered resources on a regional, projects. Where will you be receiving your peaks might occur, but one needs to take national and international scale. input to make those decisions? How does a number of things into consideration We have a long-standing tradition for that process work? when discussing or projecting peak oil, developing methodologies of doing As director it’s my responsibility to such as economics, markets, natural and international assessments for ensure that the USGS stays fiscally and transportation and energy efficiency. undiscovered and technically recoverable scientifically healthy. I work very closely resources. with my executive leadership team, closely with other Department of the What role can you and the Survey program managers and senior scientists Interior and administration officials to play? You once worked for Arco; can you from across the organization to define ensure that our goals and science The USGS role is in understanding and compare/contrast the experiences of priority areas and opportunities to serve planning are complimentary and in working in the private sector vs. the nation’s pressing needs. I also work support of their mission and goals. See Myers, next page government? There are similarities in large organizations whether they are government or private sector. However, the goal in the private sector is to bring profit back to the shareholders, while in government our goal is to serve the Focusing on Gas? public. To be successful, a large scientific organization such as the USGS must employ advanced technology as well as have a strong research component. The USGS is a scientific research organization that provides information to decision- makers at all levels of government so they can address and resolve complex natural resource problems. Additionally, as a federal research agency with a non-advocacy role, USGS processes require a level of transparency and peer review of science different than that of a large corporation.

In thinking about becoming USGS director, what kind of preparation did you experience prior to being nominated for the post? I actually spent very little time preparing. Even though the process of nomination is a long one, the initial interview stage was very short. For a job that is so broad – such as this – it’s just kind of “come as you are.” I did do a lot of soul searching – thinking about whether I was the best person for this job and could serve this country well. I wanted to make sure that I made a positive contribution to the organization. I also had conversations with my family to get their feelings on such a move, as it would certainly be a significant change in lifestyle moving from Alaska to Washington, D.C.

How are you defining your duties/role as director of the USGS? In my mind the duties or role of the director is very clear – to be a leader in moving the organization forward and better positioning the organization for the future as well as ensuring that the USGS Now there is a better method for identifying gas and measuring gas saturation in cased continues to live up to its promise of holes.Baker Atlasisproud to introduce the GasView SM service, a high-resolution measure- providing sound science for citizens and ment and analysis service that produces an exceptionally clear picture of reservoir gas. decision makers. Using Baker Atlas’ RPMSM pulsed neutron system, the GasView service can be used to What are your top priorities for yourself, measure reservoir gas in virtually any well. Applications range from identifying by-passed and for the Survey? My top priorities are to chart a course pay in wellsnearing abandonment to openhole log replacement for new wells. for USGS where it can thrive in the future. We have a long history of providing Contact your Baker Atlas representative today to learn how the GasView service can help unbiased scientific research and you produce more gaswith greater efficiency. information to decision makers, and I believe that need will only increase as our nation continues to address issues related to climate change, natural hazards, energy resources, water quality and availability, human health and ecosystem conservation. In an effort to focus on societal For more information, visit our© website 2007 www.bakerhughes.com Baker Hughes Incorporated. The BEST Choice challenges related to those areas we have crafted a USGS Science Strategy for the

SEPTEMBER 2007 52

arena, how would you describe morale at information on energy resources, both Myers the USGS? Does it feel it has the support domestic and internationally. One of our and faith of Congress and the current strengths is our ability to provide from previous page administration? unbiased, peer-reviewed information and Overall I believe the morale of make it broadly available to everyone. assessing geologically based energy employees is good. Our employees are resources, both conventional and among the most talented and dedicated What is the best thing that government unconventional, characterizing those professionals to be found in any can do to enhance and invigorate the resources and understanding where they organization. They are very proud of their scientific work that USGS does? occur globally. outstanding history of public service and The high quality scientific research that scientific advances. USGS conducts can’t be done in the What challenges do you face While we have been faced with short-term, but requires long-term with/because of the current USGS declining budgets over the past several continuity. We need to look into the future budget? years, the USGS continues to be a leader now and start planning from both a We need to be able to prioritize our in collecting, monitoring, analyzing and budgetary and work force perspective. science activities and ensure that we are providing scientific information and The key to any successful organization providing science that is relevant to the understanding about our nation’s is its work force, and we must ensure we needs of the nation. landscape, natural resources and the have the ability to hire the best and the We also need to continue enhancing natural hazards that threaten us. brightest in order to continue to conduct our collaboration and partnership efforts the high quality scientific research with others in order to enhance the use Do you see the USGS’s expertise and needed to address the societal issues of and value of our science. perceptions of the U.S. and global energy the future. picture as making an impact? USGS has an aging work force and Myers in a geologist’s setting. In light of the budgetary and political The USGS provides critical science recruitment is a challenge for us. We need to have the ability to work collaboratively with other geoscience organizations such as the American Geological Institute and AAPG to educate and recruit future scientists.

The USGS is, in a sense, where the AUSTRALIA’SAUSTRALIA’S country goes for its earth science education. What do you think is the most important scientific horizon out there and, by the same token, the least understood? There is hardly a field of science today MOSTMOST AMBITIOUS AMBITIOUS that does not have exciting and enormously promising research areas. Just by way of example: Research at the USGS involving OILOIL AND AND GAS GAS seismic imaging, tomography, interferometry, laser altimetry and GPS positioning is helping to interpret structure and dynamic processes from deep within Earth to its surface. PROGRAMPROGRAM NEEDS NEEDS PCR-based DNA fingerprinting is helping to understand and, in some cases, restore genetically diverse habitats. THE WORLD’S Satellite, broadband transmission of THE WORLD’S real-time discharge from our nationwide stream gage network is allowing our scientists to develop mapping methods that deliver on-line flood maps – including MOSTMOST CAPABLE CAPABLE time of arrival, depth and extent of flooding – before a storm hits. The new areas of fruitful study in the earth sciences is near limitless. However, because Earth itself is made up of GEOSCIENTISTSGEOSCIENTISTS countless interconnected and dynamic systems, it requires a kind of broad focus to begin to understand it. As I see it, the ability to look for and find linkages, to establish relevant connections is the important scientific horizon out there and, by the same token, the least understood by way of the required research need and level of complexity. Debates engendered by issues over a range from global climate change, water availability and quality, species and habitat preservation or energy resources availability, must be informed by a “systems” approach and Exploration & Field Development Geoscientists understanding. This is not an easy task, for, historically, Santos is an Australian-based oil and gas exploration development programs and you’ll be involved in high- science disciplines have extended a and production company pursuing an ambitious growth impact projects from start to finish. great deal of knowledge through division strategy that provides exciting opportunities to advance and abstraction. “Isolation and Santos has a strong business position to deliver abstraction” is still an important way by your career. growth, with an extensive Asian footprint and exciting which most disciplines extend their If you’re a highly motivated geologist or geophysicist opportunities in Indonesia,Vietnam, India and Kyrgyzstan. knowledge, but they have their limitations. And over the next five years we expect to drill 1000 oil Recent research in earth systems has with superior capabilities in exploration or field shown, quite poignantly, that when one development who would like to be an integral part wells in central Australia. tries to pick out anything by itself, it is of our international oil and gas program, you could be Working in Adelaide means you’ll be able to enjoy a found “hitched” to everything else. just who we’re looking for. To be involved in cutting-edge science rewarding career, a state-of-the-art new workplace and today requires viewing Earth as a Successful candidates will benefit from working with an enviable lifestyle. synergistic physical system of interrelated a medium-sized company where you are recognised Take the next step in your phenomena, governed by complex for your technical and leadership skills. You will make processes involving the geosphere, career and apply online at Santos atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. decisions that shape Santos’ exploration and field www.santos.com It centers on relevant interactions of chemical, physical, biological and continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2007 53 continued from previous page How does the future look for the USGS? Myers Set as Luncheon Speaker dynamical processes that extend over a The future of USGS looks very huge range of spatial scales from micron promising, as the need for our scientific to planetary size, and over time scales of data and information and understanding For Mid-Continent Annual Convention milliseconds to billions of years. have never been greater. Our strength lies Mark Myers, director of the U.S. participation, first with no registration The Earth system approach is the in our ability to bring a multidisciplinary Geological Survey, will be the All- fees, and second via a job fair for critical framework and important scientific approach to tackling some of the Convention Luncheon speaker for this students, which will be held on Monday horizon from which to pose disciplinary challenges this nation faces in the future. year’s annual convention of the AAPG and Tuesday, Sept. 10-11. and interdisciplinary questions in We are optimistic that our Strategic Mid-Continent Section. Other meeting activities will include: relationship to the important needs of Science plan – our 10-year science vision The meeting will be Sept. 8-11 at the A field trip to the “Oread Group in humankind. – will enhance our ability to conduct Airport Hilton Hotel and Convention Eastern Kansas.” interdisciplinary and interagency research Center in Wichita, Kan. The theme is A field trip to a “Kansas Under a new USGS policy, a USGS and result in USGS making significant “New Ideas – More Oil and Gas.” Underground Salt Museum.” employee must submit scientific contributions toward helping the economy Exploring that theme will be 52 A short course on “3-D for documents for a peer review before remain strong and the environment papers and 15 posters that reflect the Geologists.” publication – a review that may involve healthy, while helping to retain the present state-of-art developments on Myers, an AAPG member, is scientists either inside or outside the quality of life in the United States. J everything from shale gas to multi- Alaska’s former state geologist and agency and must consider what the component 4-D seismic in sandstone head of Alaska’s Geological Survey. He directive calls, “potential high visibility For the complete text reservoirs. They will be complemented is the 14th director for the USGS since products or policy-sensitive issues.” Your of the Myers’ interview, by a sold-out exhibits area. its inception in 1879. opinion? visit the AAPG Web New this year for the Mid-Continent For registration or more information, Peer review is not new. In fact, it is the site. is an emphasis on student go online to www.aapg.org. J bedrock of processes in any credible science organization, as it ensures scientific conclusions or findings are robust, independent and objective. The USGS has had such processes in place for many years. As with any science enterprise, policies are periodically reviewed and updated to keep pace with changes in the organization. Our recently revised policy has been developed by scientists and science managers – not political appointees. Research supervisors are charged with ensuring all USGS scientists have addressed peer comments and are in compliance with USGS policies and those of the federal government. The new policy standardizes the peer review processes between our various AWORLD OF GOOD disciplines. This standardization was necessary for the interdisciplinary science publications that are increasingly more critical to furthering scientific understanding of complex systems.

In the past year, when you consider the debate over tsunami prediction and preparedness, global warming and avian influenza, to name a few examples, give the USGS a report card on how it handled those and other challenges. The USGS has been a major contributor to understanding the issues you’ve mentioned here as well as many others. USGS has an extensive and well- regarded history in studying climate change and its impacts. Many within the climate science community rely on our unique ability to provide essential ground-truthing across multiple scientific disciplines in a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales. Many of our scientists are conducting monitoring and research that provide AMERICA IS BLESSED WITH A WEALTH OF NEW AND PROLIFIC ONSHORE NATURAL insight to global climate change issues such as the monitoring of: Streamflow and ground-water levels GAS FIELDS. AS THE NATION’S #1 DRILLER OF CLEAN-BURNING NATURAL GAS WELLS, in order to access drought, flooding and water use. Thawing permafrost in the sub-arctic CHESAPEAKE TAKES PRIDE IN PROTECTING AIR QUALITY AND PRESERVING THE LAND and arctic regions of Alaska. Migration of plant communities proliferation of invasive species in response to climate change. WHERE WE DRILL. THAT’S OUR MISSION IN AMERICA TODAY AND THE PROMISE WE Changes in snowpack and stream runoff. Retreat of alpine glaciers. MAKE TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. IT’S HOW CHESAPEAKE DOES THE NATION A WORLD Coastal wetland change related to subsidence and sea-level rise. The interplay between land use, land-cover change and climate. OF GOOD. IT’S HOW WE ALL WIN. The changing distribution of and impact of human and animal diseases. We are engaged with other scientists from around the world through international committees and working groups such as the International Panel on Climate Change to address the scientific issues related to global climate change. We also have been a key player in the monitoring and surveillance of avian influenza in wild migratory birds.

SEPTEMBER 2007 54

Figure 2 – Seismic sections along profile AA’ (left) and profile BB’ (right) shown on the Figure 1 – Map of a targeted thin Caddo sandstone drilling target developed from an map in figure 1. The top of the Caddo interval is identified on each profile. The circled interpretation of well logs. area on each section shows where the sandstone trend crosses the line of profile. No Reflection Signal Can Be Good (The Geophysical Corner is a regular drilling target, even though the average reflection is robust because a thin low-amplitude, southwest-to-northeast column in the EXPLORER, edited by thickness is only five meters (16 feet). carbonate layer extends across this response labeled channel-fill response Bob A. Hardage, senior research At this location, the Caddo is local area and creates a significant range on the color bar identifies the scientist at the Bureau of Economic interpreted to have been deposited in a P-wave impedance contrast with the targeted incised channel that downcut Geology, the University of Texas at deltaic environment that had a low overlying shale. Inside each circled through the thin carbonate layer and Austin. This month’s column deals with accommodation space. Incised area, the Caddo reflection is absent, or then infilled with sand. reflection signals.) channels similar in size and shape to minimal, because there is no significant This no-reflection trend is the drilling the trend shown in this map are P-wave impedance contrast between target. therefore not unexpected features. the sandstone that infilled the erosional By BOB HARDAGE Two profiles (AA’ and BB’) are shown channel and its sealing shale. *** As seismic interpreters, most of us – that traverse the sandstone trend and To position a well that will penetrate including the author – have developed connect key calibration wells. Seismic this particular sand, an interpreter has The wells shown in these figures the mindset that robust reflection events responses along these profiles are to adopt the attitude that “no reflection were drilled before the 3-D seismic data are what we first try to associate with exhibited in figure 2. The interpreted signal is good.” were acquired. drilling targets. Caddo horizon is shown on the seismic To illustrate this principle, the Note the situation for the BYTS14 For thin-bed units, reflection sections; the circled area on each average reflection trough amplitude and BYTS11 wells. BYTS14 touched the amplitude increases as net pay profile identifies the intersection with the calculated in a narrow 30-ms window edge of the incised channel and increases within the target interval. Thin- sandstone trend. immediately below the top of the Caddo produced; BYTS11 was an ever-so- bed interpreters conclude that “strong Outside the circled areas, the Caddo horizon is displayed as figure 3. The close near miss (figures 2 and 3). J reflection events are good.” In a sand-shale sequence, gas reservoirs produce P-wave bright spots. In this type of geology, interpreters focus on the boldest reflection signals to define drilling targets. Depending on the nature of the seismic impedance contrasts in the type of geology that is being interpreted, there are exceptions to these two examples that drilling targets are associated with reasonably prominent reflection events. However, the association between robust reflection responses and drilling targets is successfully applied across many prospects and in several depositional environments. In this article, we look at the opposite principle and describe a drilling target for which the correct mindset is: “Drill where there is no reflection signal.”

***

The target in this example is a thin Caddo sandstone positioned at the top of the Bend Conglomerate interval in the Fort Worth Basin. Distribution of the sandstone is shown in map view in figure 1. This map, based on the interpretation of well logs acquired in the labeled wells, indicates that the sandstone is distributed along a southwest-to-northeast channel-like trend. Local operators consider this Figure 3 – Map of average negative amplitude in a thin 30-ms window immediately below the Caddo horizon defined in figure 2. particular sandstone to be an attractive The trend of weak reflection signal, labeled Channel-fill response range, is the drilling target.

SEPTEMBER 2007 55

GEO-DC Events Have Int’l Impact By DON JUCKETT future energy source. This month’s column is a summary of Questions from the audience focused Questions from the audience focused outcomes of events that AAPG members predominately on the science and the have participated in that relate to the on the science and the need to continue to need to continue to research to more efforts of the GEO-DC office. Most of the fully understand the climate science and activities have an element of “global” or research to more fully understand the understanding of the global endowment “international” import as well as a U.S. of fossil resources. domestic slant. climate science. NCSL – In early August AAPG Work Force Legislation – At this sponsored a booth at the National writing, the Senate, just ahead of the and in the Arctic. the audience probed the state of Conference of State Legislators in August recess, passed and sent to the The DOE presenter provided an knowledge regarding possible geo- Boston. It was the first broad scale president for his signature the legislation overview of the work carried out on the hazard impacts, geologic existence and opportunity for presentation of AAPG’s responding to work force and North Slope of Alaska in drilling and stability of offshore hydrate deposits updated statements on OCS access, competitiveness needs arising from the recovering hydrate charged cores for and prospects for recovering the National Academy of Science study scientific examination. Questions from natural gas bound in hydrates as a See Washington, page 57 “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.” The legislation, comprising almost 500 pages of specific mandates for education and competitiveness initiatives is being hailed as a piece of landmark legislation that will focus broadly on science education. Included in the final language was Section 5005, titled “Hydrocarbon Science Education,” that includes mandates for the work force associated with petroleum geology and engineering. An analysis of its provisions will appear in a future column.

Reserves Conference – The published outcomes of the AAPG/SPE International Multidisciplinary Reserves Conference will be completed by the time this column is published. The analysis of the responses from the exit questionnaire prepared by SPE suggests that the participants deemed the conference a resounding success. Each of the conference participants will receive a CD containing the presentation material and the text of presentations. We anticipate that the same material will be available on AAPG’s Web site. The participating organizations will make recommendations related to future activities focused on gaining acceptance by the industry, regulatory community, the national oil companies and ministries, and the financial community.

U.S. Geological Survey Congressional Briefing – AAPG sponsored, hosted and moderated a briefing for about 55 congressional staff and reporters on climate change and the energy. Three scientists from the USGS and the Department of Energy presented on various aspects of global fossil energy supplies, natural gas hydrates research and climate research. The focus of the climate research presentation highlighted the need to understand the implications of climate change in the context of making sound policy decisions that potentially have wide reaching social and economic implications. The presentations on fossil resources highlighted the present and future dependence of the global economy on the use of oil, natural gas and coal as primary energy sources. The presentation also highlighted the state of global resource assessments for oil and natural gas being carried out by the USGS, and the ongoing efforts to complete the assessments of the major Arctic basins – the largest remaining un- assessed basins in the global endowment. The briefing on gas hydrates focused on the joint international work under way to obtain better assessments of the geographic extent of hydrates offshore

SEPTEMBER 2007 56

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+1 918 560-9430 for a free 30-day trial or try us out at http://payperview.datapages.com/ More science than you can shake a pick at.

SEPTEMBER 2007 57 Starts Sept. 10 Education Conference Slated for Houston

There’s still time to sign-up for an AVO: Seismic Lithology (Mike Graul AAPG education event that has become and Fred Hilterman). a can’t-miss opportunity to sharpen your Evaluating Seals and Pay (William skills and knowledge. Almon). The AAPG-SEG Fall Education Risk Analysis in Stratigraphic Traps Conference, built on the theme (Jim MacKay and Robert Otis). “stratigraphic traps,” will be held Sept. Geochemical Exploration for 10-14 at the Norris Conference Center in Stratigraphic Traps and Other Subtle Houston. Traps: Methods and Case Histories The conference will offer 12 subjects (Deet Schumacher). in four concurrent sessions: education To enroll, or for more information, call tools, carbonates, deepwater clastics (888) 338-3387; or go online to and seismic evaluation. www.aapg.org/fallconference/. J Courses may be purchased individually, and the five-day badges can be transferred to a colleague to take advantage of the classes. Those classes are: Sequence Stratigraphy for Petroleum Exploration (taught by AAPG Distinguished Lecturer Vitor Abreu). Deepwater Sands, Integrated BECAUSE, WHEN SHE GOES Stratigraphic Analysis – A Workshop Using Multiple Data Sets (John Armentrout). AWAY TO COLLEGE, YOU’RE Carbonate Depositional Systems, Diagenesis and Porosity Development (Art Saller). Quick Guide to Carbonate Well Log GOING TO BE THERE FOR HER. Analysis (George Asquith). Seismic Imaging of Carbonate Reservoirs (Rick Sarg). Seismic Interpretation in the Exploration Domain (Don Herron and Tim Smith). Understanding Seismic Anisotropy in Exploration and Exploitation (Leon Thomsen). 3-D Seismic Attributes for Prospect Identification and Reservoir Characterization (Kurt Marfurt).

Washington from page 55 work force, climate, energy security, research and development needs, data preservation and other issues of interest to members. The revised and new statements can be accessed on the AAPG Web site at http://dpa.aapg.org/gac/index.cfm. This conference provided a great opportunity for AAPG to engage state legislative officials and staff and provide those individuals with access to AAPG science-based publications and experts.

NPC Study – The National Petroleum Council has issued its report in response to the Secretary of Energy’s THE GEOCARE BENEFITS TERM LIFE INSURANCE PLAN. PROTECTING YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE...AND YOUR request to conduct a comprehensive PEACE OF MIND. You have dreams for your family’s future. Make sure you have the financial resources study that would examine the future of oil and natural gas out to the year 2030 in to make those dreams a reality, even if you’re not there—help protect your family’s financial security the context of the global energy system. with the GeoCare Benefits Term Life Plan. Apply for up to $750,000 in coverage, at a very affordable I recommend that members take the time to read the 40-page executive group rate. summary published on the NPC Web site, at www.npc.org. The report BE THERE FOR YOUR FAMILY, EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, WITH GEOCARE BENEFITS TERM LIFE PLAN encompasses findings on “peak oil,” work force, geopolitical considerations COVERAGE. CALL 1-800-337-3140 OR VISIT US ONLINE AT WWW.GEOCAREBENEFITS.COM FOR MORE and technology trends. INFORMATION, INCLUDING ELIGIBILITY AND RENEWAL PROVISIONS, EXCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RATES. The full report and associated back up documents, which run to hundreds of GeoCare Benefits Term Life Insurance Plans, P.O. Box 9006, pages of text and graphics, are available on the site as well. J Phoenix, AZ 85068, Email: [email protected]. The Term Life Plan is underwritten by New York Life Insurance Co. (Editor’s note: Don Juckett, head of (51 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10010). All coverage is subject AAPG’s Geoscience and Energy Office to approval by New York Life. in Washington, D.C., can be contacted at [email protected]; 1-703-575-8293.)

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Foundation (General) Michel T. Halbouty Michael M. Adams Memorial Grant Enrique Aguilera-Hernandez Foundation Donors Charles A. and Linda Eric Thomas Allison Sternbach Grant L. Anderson The names that appear here are of those who have made donations Thomas Westley Angerman Bernold M. “Bruno” Hanson Titilope Feyi Ariyo to the AAPG Foundation in the past month – predominately through Memorial Environmental Grant In memory of Ayokunie Oni adding some additional monies on their annual dues statement. Douglas Charles Bleakly Seymour R. Baker Dorothea E. Baldwin To these people, and to those who have generously made James E. Hooks In memory of Rufus J. donations in the past, we sincerely thank you. Memorial Grant LeBlanc Kathryn Hickmon Dando Alex Bambridge With your gifts, the AAPG Foundation will continue its stewardship Mark Alan Dando David Bruce Bannan Rosann F. Hooks A. Greer Barriault for the betterment of the science and the profession of petroleum Richard A.J. Bartlett geology. Frank E. Kottlowski Richard Ted Bartlett Memorial Grant Thomas A. Bay Jr. The AAPG Foundation Trustees G. Randy Keller Jr. In memory of Rufus J. Christopher Arthur Rautman LeBlanc Dixie L. Bear Goldman Sachs Philanthrophy Stephen R. Narr Ziad Beydoun Memorial Award Distinguished Lecture Fund R.E. McAdams Memorial Grant In memory of Ted L. Bear Fund Larry Nation Wafik B. Beydoun Tom L. Armstrong Stuart Duff Kerr Jr. Andrew Bell Gift from Charles and Cathy Stephen Kenneth Newton James Henry Cockings Nigel Edwin A. Johnson William Alexander Bell Williamson Mark D. Nicholson Joseph W. Hakkinen Tim A. Johnson Ken Stanley Memorial Grant Don Gehr Benson Jr. Ernest Gomez Jeanie Marie Odom David Robert Muerdter John Thomas Eggert Mark P. Betts Chirinos Perez Gonzab F. Olusola Olufemi Ogunkoya A.I. Levorsen Memorial Award Volker C. Vahrenkamp Lee Travis Billingsley Alfonso Gonzalez Nobuyuki Ogura Robert Irving Levorsen John Thomas Williams Suzanne Takken Frank D. Bilotti Christopher James Gotcher David M. Orchard Craig Wayne Reynolds Memorial Grant Marc Blaizot Timothy C. Grant Lorenzo Osculati Haas-Pratt Distinguished Frank L. Gouin James Brian Blankenship Scott W. Grasse Edward Allen Paden Grover E. Murray Memorial Lecture Fund Jeremy Boak Patrick John F. Gratton David Brian Patterson Distinguished Educator Award James Manning Ellis Weimer Family Named Grant George Robert Bole Sara Marie Gratton Jonathan L. Payne G. Randy Keller Jr. Maria Haas Abdulkader M. Afifi In memory of James O. Stephen Thomas Grayson Juan Ignacio Pelaez Martha Oliver Withjack Donald Edward Lawson Lewis Mary Ann Gross Monica Alves Pequeno Dean A. McGee In memory of E.L. “Roy” William Howard Bowie John C. Guoynes Mark Edward Petersen J.C. Cam Sproule Distinguished Lecture Fund Heisey Nicholas G.K. Boyd III George A. Hall Peter John Pickford Memorial Award Christopher Howard Bradley Christopher Howard Bradley Walter David Michael Hall Peter Philip Pickup Douglas James Carsted Sherman A. Wengerd Richard Randall Bramlett Neil Wallace Hamilton Lewis Stan Pittman Grants-in-Aid Fund Memorial Grant Darinka Briggs Russell Royden Hamman Ellyn May Ponton Continuing Education Fund Barry Robert Gager Scott P. Cooper In honor of Louis Briggs Jr. James A. Hartman Spencer Scott Quam Alberto Hevia-Almandoz Gerard Julian Genik Janet Sue Brister In memory of Rufus J. LeBlanc Donald James Rae Michael John Coley John Edward Gilcrease W. David Wiman Timothy Scott Brown Philip Thayer Hayes Adriana Raileanu Sr. Robert K. Park Howard Ross Gould Memorial Grant David Gerald Bryant Clyde Leon Hebbron James Lee Reeves In memory of Rufus J. Carlos E. Macellari I. Philip Buch Robert Alexander Hefner IV Fritz W. Reuter Digital Products Fund LeBlanc James George Buchanan Ross W. Hinton James Warner Roach Robert Stephen Agatston Leigh S. House James A. Hartman Tucker Burkhart Roger Emerson Hively Robert Thomas Ryder Paul J. English Mary J. Kraus Student Fund Brian S. Cabote L. Edward Hollingsworth Dayna Jean Salter John Curtis Killinger Naresh Kumar William Otis Williams Timothy Robert Carr Simon Thomas Horan James Oliver Salveson Pascal Schoepfer John Vincent Leone In memory of Richard K. Francis Cheng-Hsing Chang Alfredo Hosie Bernard Robert Sanger John Thomas Williams Matthew J. Pranter O’Connell Steven L. Charbonneau Houston Geological Society William Sassi Donald E. Rehmer Marilyn Taggi Cisar In memory of Rufus J. Steven Schamel Baylor University James Fredrick Swartz K-12 Fund John L. Clanton LeBlanc Thomas M. Schandle John Wayne Shelton James Orland Underwood Larry F. Adamson Robert Todd Clark Dan Allen Hughes Stephen Murray Scott In memory of Jack Blythe John Frank Bookout Jr. Peggy Susie Clements Dudley Joe Hughes Barry Peter Setterfield Colorado School of Mines John Thomas Williams Charles Warren Campbell James C. Cobb Kingdon R. Hughes Ezekiel Olasupo Shadiya Stephen Paul Mitchell Scott E. Caswell James Bruce Coffman Moujahed Ibrahim Husseini John Charles Sherrill Gustavus E. Archie George Thomas Chaney Carlos Eduardo Convers R. Thomas Jacky Joseph Edward Siegmund Indiana University, Memorial Grant Gregory Quentin Doll Gomez Erin Williams Janes Adrian Thomas Smith Bloomington Barry Robert Gager Barry Robert Gager David Richard Cook James Allen Johnston George Taylor Smith Steven Wilford Young Matthew Reed Martin Gerard Cornelius Gaynor Timothy Mark Cordingley James Winston Jones Judith Terry Smith John Edward Gilcrease Douglas Lee Core Richard Anthony Jones Stacy Alan Smith Louisiana State University Gustavus E. Archie William E. Gipson Maurice G. Cox Robert William Karlewicz Dicky Eddy Soedigdjo Thomas Richard Loftin Memorial International Grant In memory of H.W. William W. Crump John Michael Keating Barbara Jeanne B. Solomon Robert Weeden Hollingshead Jr. David Kingsley Curtiss Edward Reed Kennedy John Lee Stout Oklahoma State University In memory of Robert and Karl Gordon Henck Jeff L. Daniels Jeroen Antonius Kenter Dennis Allan Taylor Kenneth O. Daniel Ramona Sneider Janet Marie Heppard George B. Davis III John Curtis Killinger Joy Griffin Thomas Torsten Scholz Philip Duryea Heppard Carolyn S. De Vine Nualjun Kitvarayut Terry L. Thyer Don R. Boyd Memorial Grant Paul Dennis Hess J. Pieter A. Dietvorst Abdul Kohar Donald Allan Twaddle Rice University Charles Julius Franck Julius Homer Johnson Carl H. Dokter Anthony Joseph Kolodziej James Ross Underwood Jr. Mark P. Betts Olav Malvik Douglas Alan Draves Petr Kostelnicek Don A. Urbanec Jeong Pan-Yeong Ike Crumbly – Minorities in Sandra Meyer William F. Dula Jr. Christopher Mark Kravits Barudzija Uros Energy Grant David Gene Rensink Craig Anthony Edmonds William Chris Lachmar John H. Van Amringe Texas A&M University Douglas Charles Bleakly Gene R. Robinson Richard A. Eisenberg Kenneth E. Lake In memory of George Feister Balazs Badics Robert Loren Countryman Erik D. Scott Christopher Frank Elders Kenneth M. Landgren Michael David Van Horn Gary Neil Polasek In honor of Ike Crumbly Donald D. Solter Jr. Franklyn R. Engler Stephen Douglas Levine Lawrence B. Van Ingen Philip Arthur Wilshire Rudy F. Vogt III In memory of George O. Juan Jesus Leyva Arthur M. Van Tyne Herbert G. Davis and Randolph G. White Scott John F. Ligon In honor of Linda Farrar and University of Calgary Shirley A. Davis John Thomas Williams Truett E. Enloe Roy Oliver Lindseth Bill Fisher Harry Roderick Warters Named Grant John Anderson Willott Terence Brent Eschner Laurence Richard Lines Harvey Dale Walker Herbert G. Davis John Cochran Worley Jerome A. Eyer Kevin James Lounsbury William B. Walker Jr. University of California, In honor of Robert D. Gunn Richard E. Faggioli Barbara Luneau William Cruse Ward Berkeley Public Service Fund James C. Farmer Frank Carlye Mabry III Mark Francis Weldon John H. and Colleen Silcox Fred A. and Jean C. Dix James A. Gibbs Garrasino Cesar Fernandez Juliano Magalhaes Macedo Kenneth Joseph Wells Named Grant In memory of Sam J. Cerny Andrea Fildani Thomas Mairs Keith R. Whaley University of Iowa James E. Briggs James J. Flanagan In memory of Charles H. Terry L. White Kenneth Michael Schwartz Jack C. and Catherine I. Threet James W. Flannery Hightower Jr. John Thomas Williams Norman H. Foster Public Service Fund Glenn Fletcher Joe A. Marek Bruce A. Wilson University of Kentucky Memorial Grant Jack C. Threet McLain Jay Forman David F. Martineau John Stephen Wonfor Rudy F. Vogt III Brian Russell Frost Katherine C. Foster Gregory L. Mason Warren George Workman E.F. Reid Scouting Fund In memory of Burdette A. Barry C. McBride Changshu Yang University of Miami, Florida Peter W. Gester Ronald L. Hart Ogle David Wilson McDonald Susan Wygant Young Volker C. Vahrenkamp Memorial Grant Bryan Haws Donald Wayland Frames Courtney McElmoyl Martin Andreas Ziegler Kenneth Clark Gester Jeffrey M. Rayner Scot Innes Fraser Timothy Reed McHargue University of Michigan David R. Spain Michael C. Friederich Clifton Daniel McLellan Awards Fund Volker C. Vahrenkamp Robert K. Goldhammer Larry P. Friend Charles Henri Mercanton Robert Berg Outstanding Memorial Grant Eugene F. Reid Dibblee Fund Gerard Olivier Fries Zenith Samuel Merritt Research Award University of Texas Pierre De La Croix Jeffrey M. Rayner David Leon Garner Ruth Elin Midtbo Changsu Ryu Mark P. Betts Jose Guadalupe Galicia Boyd S. Getz Robert Calvin Milici Christoph Thomas Lehmann Special Publications Fund Marco Antonio Gheno Bruce Allen Miller Best Student Paper University of Wisconsin Win Meizarwin Melvyn Richard Giles Floyd Henry Miller Jr. and Poster Award Fred H. Behnken Merrill W. Haas Christopher Steven Gilliam Steven K. Miller Doru Ionut Florea Memorial Grant L. Austin Weeks Memorial William E. Gipson Philippe Jean Montaggioni Steven George Henry University of Wyoming Maria Haas Fund In memory of Payton V. Kirk Brannen Morgan James Michael Hostetler Donald Edward Lawson In memory of Merrill W. Haas Marta S. Weeks J Anderson Atip Muangsuwan Awirut Sirimongkolkitti II In honor of Robert J. Weimer John Patrick Gold Ricky Douglas Mullins Andrejs Karlis Svalbe

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The story of Marta goals high,” she said at *** Bookout received an Sutton Weeks’ dedicated the time, “and that this be AAPG Special Award in and ongoing support of the a prelude to new horizons Marta Weeks’ gift 1990 for “excellence in AAPG Foundation has and even greater wasn’t the only act of exploration leadership.” added a new chapter. achievements.” generosity shown toward Mrs. Weeks, widow of Her late husband was AAPG Foundation-backed *** Lewis Austin Weeks and a the son of Lewis Weeks, a education activities. renaissance woman in her successful geologist who John Bookout, retired In other Foundation own right, has given was credited with president of Shell Oil now news, another new member $500,000 to the developing Australia’s residing in Houston, has has been added to the Foundation’s L. Austin Bass Strait and who began provided a gift of $50,000 Foundation Trustee Weeks Memorial Fund. the family’s legacy of to be used in support of Associates. He is: Rick Fritz, executive philanthropy. It was a K-12 education – Ë William D. Armstrong, director of both AAPG and bequest from Lewis Weeks specifically for a teacher Armstrong Oil and Gas, the AAPG Foundation, said that in 1975 allowed training program that will Denver. that the money most likely building of the Weeks involve a variety of earth His joining brings the will be used in support of Weeks Tower at AAPG sciences, including Trustee Associates group educational outreach headquarters in Tulsa. exploration for petroleum. Bookout total to 265. J programs funded by the Foundation. Mrs. Weeks, an ordained Episcopal priest who resides in Miami, Fla., is a strong believer in education and supports various programs in the sciences and humanities. This past June she provided the funding for an AAPG Digital Products University Subscription at Columbia University in New York City, in memory of her late husband, Lewis Austin Weeks, who died in February 2005. It was the fifth school to benefit from Weeks’ support of the DPUS program since December 2005. The others are the University of Wisconsin (Madison), the University of Miami (Florida), the University of Utah and Beloit College. And it was just a little over a year ago that Weeks announced an undesignated $10 million bequest to the Foundation – the largest gift ever received by AAPG. “The hope is that the gift is an impetus for the Foundation to set its

Gary Burrell Babcock, 69 Littleton, Colo., June 15, 2007 Robert Bourne Harrington, 80 Midland, Texas, May 23, 2007 Charles Henry Hightower Jr., 72 Lafayette, La., May 25, 2007 Philip A. Mundt, 79 Lago Vista, Texas, May 6, 2007

(Editor’s note: “In Memory” listings are based on information received from the AAPG membership department.)

SEPTEMBER 2007 60

Field Trips Offer Geology of Greece

(Editor’s note: Regions and Sections *** is a regular column in the EXPLORER offering news for and about AAPG’s six All AAPG Regions are encouraged to international Regions and six domestic explore this concept of locally organized Sections. field trips and to propose field trip ideas News items, press releases and other and opportunities to the organizing information should be submitted to the committee of any AAPG conference or EXPLORER/Regions and Sections, P.O. event. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101. Contact: Region leaders will benefit by staying Carol McGowen, AAPG’s Regions and in close communication with the Sections manager, at 1-918-560-9403; or conference organizing committee, as the e-mail to [email protected].) final approval of proposed field trips falls within the purview of this committee. BY CAROL McGOWEN Regions and Sections Manager *** The AAPG European Region will conduct five field trips for the upcoming The Athens organizing committee European Region Energy Conference relied on strong support and and Exhibition, which will be held Nov. sponsorship from a local Greek 18-21 in Athens, Greece. business, Hellenic Petroleum SA. Three pre-conference trips and two Adding to the local flavor and input, post-conference trips are planned in Hellenic petroleum geologist Nikolas geologically and historically rich areas – Roussos, along with Mary Ford, and in keeping with the conference University of Nancy, France, serve as theme and unique to Greece, the field field trip co-chairs. Both Ph.D. geologists trips will “Challenge Our Myths” by Photo courtesy of Vlasta Dvorakova have extensive experience in Greece – leading participants to sites where The beautiful temple at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Cape Sounio offers a chance to Nikolas in petroleum geology and Mary geology, history and ancient Greek experience exceptionally slender Doric columns – and a panoramic view of the Greek in structural geology. culture coincide. coast that ranks among the best in the world. Together they selected the field trips to Participants can choose to explore: highlight aspects of well-known geology The structural geology of Western *** By taking responsibility to identify as well as cultural Greek heritage – and Greece. field trip opportunities, along with they have prepared the field trip guide The Corinth rift and its giant Gilbert According to Vlasta Dvorakova, the handling the field trip pricing and the books and will lead the tours. deltas. meeting’s technical program chair as bulk of the marketing, the Region will Transportation to each site is by bus, The carbonate reservoirs and well as the European Region generate revenue for future activities. followed by short walks to the field evaporites of Zante Island and the Ionian secretary/treasurer, key to the success of Responsible for planning and outcrops. Sea. the field trips is the collaboration promoting the field trips, the Region will The geology and ancient culture between European Region volunteers, benefit and retain any potential revenue along the Corinth Canal. local business sponsorship and support from the field trips (and bear Ancient silver mines. from AAPG Convention Department staff. responsibility for any financial loss). continued on next page

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continued from previous page south side due to rapid uplift and deep incision by rivers. The clastic rift succession includes a series of spectacular giant Gilbert-type fan deltas Those trips are: that are used as analogs for reservoirs in 1. The Silver Mines of Ancient Athens the North Sea and elsewhere. – The silver mines of the ancient city- state of Athens are located in the 4. Carbonate Reservoir Types and southeast part of the Attic peninsula, in Evaporite Exposures on Zante Island, the hilly Lavrion district 50 kilometers Ionian Sea – A three-day field trip to southeast of Athens. Classical literature Zante Island, Ionian Sea, where and well-preserved remnants of ancient Herodotus first described the existing oil mining and processing plants, testify to seeps in the 4th century B.C., will tour a the scale of the industry and its carbonate platform with several discrete importance for the rise of Athens to units that form potential reservoir rocks imperial power. in Western Greece. The field trip includes stops at mines The chalky cliffs are reminiscent of in the Lavrion Technological Cultural the Dover or Yorkshire Wolds Chalk in Park and the Poseidon Temple at Cape England. Sounion. Field trip locations for the Athens meeting (see 5. Structural Geology of Western – This field 2. Geology and Ancient Culture of story for trip details). Greece’s Fold and Thrust Belt Corinth, Along the Corinth Canal – This trip provides an overview of the geology one-day field trip in the area of Corinth, of the External Hellenides thrust-fold 70 kilometers from Athens, will visit the belt. Field trip participants will examine Corinth Canal, the fortress of outcrops of the Poseidonian marls as Akrocorinthos and the Epidavros ancient Sign Up Now, Save Big $$$ well as the upper Cretaceous to Eocene theatre. fractured limestone, which constitutes The field itinerary includes crossing Time is running out on your chance that include 228 oral papers in five the main reservoir rock of the Ionian the canal by boat to view the longest to save hundreds of dollars on your concurrent sessions and 120 full-day zone. Oil seepages will be observed in geological section at a global scale in a registration fee for the AAPG European posters – plus a full-fledged exhibits different stratigraphic levels. geologically recent and tectonically Region Energy Conference and hall and a host of social events to Furthermore, a structural model for active environment. The canal Exhibition in Athens, Greece. guarantee a memorable experience for the evolution of this area, where deep excavation revealed faulted Pliocene Register by the first “early bird” everyone. subsurface structures are present, will and Quaternary marine and terrestrial deadline of Sept. 19 and save up to The meeting’s theme is “Challenge be discussed in comparison with sediments that testify several cycles of $275 off the onsite member registration Our Myths,” which will include three regional seismic sections. marine regression and transgression. fee. main areas: Regional, Technical and a The Isthmus area cut by the canal is a The historic conference – the first Management Forum on “Energy Supply Visits to several archaeological sites typical horst formed by extensional joint venture meeting between AAPG and Demand Perspective on Current also are planned, including the Oracle of faulting that has been active since the and the AAPG European Region – will Dynamics.” Delphi, the site revered throughout the Pleistocene. be held Nov. 18-21 at the Megaron The official technical program and Greek world as the site of the Athens International Conference Centre registration announcement is available “omphalos” stone, thought to be the 3. The Corinth Rift and its Giant in the heart of Athens. online at www.aapg.org/athens. center of the earth and the universe. Gilbert Deltas – The Gulf of Corinth is The meeting will feature a For now, remember that time is Field trip registration is open and one of the fastest opening rifts in the challenging and engaging technical money – register by Sept. 19 to save a additional details can be found at world. The rift’s tilted fault blocks are program – 348 technical presentations lot of both. J www.aapg.org/athens/fieldtrips. J exceptionally well exposed on the Gulf’s

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SEPTEMBER 2007 62 Abstracts Due Sept. 27 For Annual Meeting The abstract Sedimentology deadline month has and Stratigraphy. arrived for the next Reservoir AAPG Annual Characterization and Convention and Modeling. Exhibition, which will Hydrocarbon MULTIPLE HIRES IN CLIMATE SYSTEMS SCIENCE be held April 20-23 in Systems and Basin San Antonio. Analysis. The Jackson School is building a premier education and research program in Climate System Science. Specifically, New and We seek scientists at the forefront of their disciplines attracted to challenging areas of scholarship abstracts must be Expanded Plays in that require collaboration across disciplines and programs. We seek the expertise required to address submitted online by North American and fundamental questions associated with a changing Earth system, including: Sept. 27. Global Basins. • What processes control the rates of change and variability of the climate system, including It’s also time for exhibitors to reserve Geospatial Technology and the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, land surface, and biosphere? your place in what promises to be a Astrogeology. large and exciting exhibits hall. Environmental Concerns Related to • Can we improve our ability to anticipate these changes and determine the potential This year’s convention theme is Resource Development. impacts on society? “Deliver the Conventional; Pursue the Alternative Energy. Unconventional,” and members of the Shaping Our Industry: People and Over the next three years, we will hire six or more faculty and scientists who complement our growing hosting South Texas Geological Society Policy. strengths. We will hire individuals who will enable us to build a comprehensive climate program and are preparing a program that addresses Student Presentations. who will make fundamental advances in our understanding of the climate system. These areas the challenges of unconventional plays – For either exhibition space details include, but are not limited to: including shale gas, oil shale and contact Steph Benton at 1-918-560- • Improved modeling of the Earth system, specifically including ice sheets, the global coalbed methane. 2696; or e-mail to [email protected]. carbon cycle, and interaction between the components of the Earth system The convention’s technical program, For sponsorship opportunity details which will involve forums as well as the contact Randa Reeder-Briggs at 1-918- • Enhanced observation of the Earth system, including remote sensing of Earth-surface usual paper and poster sessions, will be 560-2660; or e-mail [email protected]. processes and components built around 12 areas. They are: To submit your abstract go online to • Greater capability to utilize geologic archives to understand climate change, including Hydrocarbons from Shale and Coal. www.aapg.org – and remember to do it paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, and paleobiology Deepwater Slope to Basin Systems. by the Sept. 27 deadline. J • Improved ability to link climate and hydrology, particularly at the basin-to-continent scale Structural Geology. • Increased strengths in atmospheric dynamics and physical oceanography • Increased ability to understand variability and quantify uncertainties, including statistical climatology Alton Brown Wins Levorsen Award • Greater capability to address societal impacts and vulnerability, including adaptation and mitigation For Southwest Section Presentation

We encourage applications from innovative scientists in other areas that are related to climate system Alton A. Brown, of Richardson, “Exploration Concepts for Slope science. Opportunities exist at any level, can include cluster hires, and can be within or in combination Texas, has won the A.I. Levorsen Stratigraphic Traps in Carbonate Strata: with any Jackson School Unit—the Department of Geological Sciences, the Bureau of Economic Memorial Award for presenting the best Lessons From McKittrick Canyon, Geology, or the Institute for Geophysics. The schedule of appointment is also negotiable. paper at the Southwest Section’s Guadalupe Mountains.” annual meeting. He’ll be recognized at the next The meeting was held earlier this Southwest Section annual meeting, set year in Wichita Falls, Texas. Feb. 24-27 in Abilene, Texas. Brown’s winning paper was titled

“A Geologist’s Guide to Explaining Lecturers Natural Fracture Phenomena with Fracture from page 45 Mechanics.” The other international lecturers are:

“Craquelure in Masterpieces of the Ë Jose Luis Massaferro, exploration Louvre (Paris, France) as Analogue Models adviser, Repsol/YPF Exploration and for Development of Joints in Fractured Production, Madrid (Spain) and Buenos Reservoirs.” Aires (Argentina) offices. NEW HIRES IN GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION “Acadian-Alleghanian Orogenesis as His talk is titled “Three-Dimensional Revealed by Fracturing Within the Seismic Imaging of Carbonate Reservoirs The Jackson School of Geosciences seeks individuals attracted to the challenge of geoscience education Appalachian Foreland.” and Systems.” at the university level. As leaders in geoscience pedagogy, candidates should excel as teachers and developers of courses set in field, laboratory, and lecture environments. The new hires may also Ë Katherine Giles, a professor at New Ë Larry C. Peterson, associate dean contribute to the Jackson School's commitment to educate the wider community of the public and Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M. and professor of marine geology and K-12 pre-college students. She offers two talks: geophysics, Rosenstiel School of Marine “Tracking the Migration of Salt Diapirs and Atmospheric Science, University of We encourage applications from those with proven records of teaching and related experience at the Using Halokinetic Sequence Stratigraphy.” Miami. college level. Candidates are expected to hold a PhD degree in the geosciences or a closely related field. “Complex Feed Back Loops His talk is titled “Past Climate Clues from Additional credentials may include experience in securing external funding, and a record of publications Controlling Heterozoan Reef Development Anoxic Basin Sediments: Cariaco Basin related to geoscience education. on Salt Diapirs, La Popa Basin, Mexico.” (Venezuela) as a Tropical Climate Type Section.” Opportunities exist for appointments as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Adjunct Faculty, or tenure-track Faculty, Ë , vice president of depending upon credentials and interests. Appointments will be primarily within the Department of Kirk Johnson research and collections, Denver Museum Ë , lecturer and associate Geological Sciences, but may include affiliations with the Jackson School’s main research units, the John J. Walsh of Nature and Science, Denver. professor, Fault Analysis Group school of Bureau of Economic Geology or the Institute for Geophysics. The schedule of appointment is negotiable. His talk is titled “Crocodiles in geological sciences, University College, Greenland and Hippos in London: A Fossil- Dublin, Ireland. He offers two talks: Fueled Tour of Past and Future Climates.” “The Growth of Fault Systems on Ph.D. is minimum requirement for application. Send inquiries and applications (cover letter, CV, list of Different Time Scales: Reconciling the publications, list of references, statements of teaching and/or research interests) to: Randal Okumura, Ë David Johnston, senior geophysical Long-Term Growth and Earthquake Office of the Dean / Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin / PO Box B, adviser, 4-D seismic applications, Behavior of Normal Faults.” University Station / Austin, TX 78713 or [email protected]. ExxonMobil Exploration Co., Houston. “The Structure, Content and Growth of His talk is titled “Four-D Seismic in the Fault Zones Within Sedimentary For more information on the school and its hiring program visit us online at www.jsg.utexas.edu/hiring. Deepwater – Challenges and Rewards.” Sequences.” THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN IS AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Ë Jon Olson, associate professor, For more information on the tours or the department of petroleum and geostystems program contact Karen Dotts in the engineering, the University of Texas at education department at AAPG Austin. He offers two talks: headquarters ([email protected]); go to the “Fractured Reservoir Characterization: AAPG Distinguished Lecture Web pages; From Diagenesis and Fracture Mechanics and watch for monthly updates in the CHANGING THE WORLD OF GEOSCIENCES to Reservoir Permeability.” EXPLORER. J

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Dave Barrett, to executive vice Tom Eggert, to chief geologist, Ernie Mancini has been selected by exploration new ventures, Chevron, president, Stephens Production Co., Occidental, Bogotá, Colombia. Previously the University of Alabama to receive the Houston. Houston. Previously senior geophysicist, senior geological adviser, Occidental, Blackmon-Moody Outstanding Professor The Houston Exploration Co., Houston. Houston. Award, a lifetime achievement honor, for Philip Teas, to vice president- 2007. Mancini, the immediate past AAPG exploration, Black Gold Energy, Jakarta, Justin Bellamy, to Permian growth G.P.Ganesan, to adviser-geology, editor, is at the University of Alabama, Indonesia. Previously geologist, Chevron, coordinator, Pioneer Natural Resources, Cairn Energy India, Gurgaon, India. Tuscaloosa, Ala. Jakarta, Indonesia. Irving, Texas. Previously senior geologist, Previously chief geologist, Oil and Natural Pioneer Natural Resources, Denver. Gas Corp., Dehradun, India. Roger R. Maxwell, to senior geologist, Douglas E. Thomas, to consultant, Waha Oil, Tripoli, Libya. Previously senior Searsmont, Maine. Previously geophysical Christopher H. Bradley, to senior Jim Granath, to independent geologist, Justiss Oil, Jena, La. consultant, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, geologist, Vanco Energy, Houston. consultant, Denver. Previously principal Saudi Arabia. Previously senior staff geologist, Anadarko structural geologist, Midland Valley, Mark Millard, to geologist, Pioneer Petroleum, The Woodlands, Texas. Golden, Colo. Natural Resources, Las Colinas, Texas. (Editor’s note: “Professional News Previously graduate student, Baylor Briefs” includes items about members’ Michael D. Burnett, to chief executive John Hooper, to chief executive officer, University, Waco, Texas. career moves and the honors they officer, TameCAT, Norman, Okla. TameCAT, Norman, Okla. Previously receive. To be included, please send Previously associate, Fusion Petroleum general manager, Fusion Petroleum Kazuo Nakayama, to managing information in the above format to Technologies, Norman, Okla. Technologies, Norman, Okla. executive officer, JAPEX, Tokyo, Japan. Professional News Briefs, c/o AAPG Previously with JGI, Tokyo, Japan. EXPLORER, P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. Paul D. Ching has retired as vice Jeffrey Levine, to chief technology 74101; or fax, 918-560-2636; or e-mail, president–technical, E&P research and officer, WellDog, Laramie, Wyo. Previously Vaughn Robison, to exploration new [email protected]; or submit directly from development, Shell. Ching is currently self-employed, Richardson, Texas. ventures adviser, Chevron, Bangkok, the AAPG Web site, living in Dallas. Thailand. Previously area manager-global www.aapg.org/explorer/pnb_forms.cfm.)

(* Denotes new or changed listing.) Universal City, Calif. * Nov. 11-14, Society of Petroleum SPE), annual meeting, Dubai, U.A.E. Engineers, annual meeting, Anaheim, Calif. 2007 U.S. Meetings Oct. 6-9, Rocky Mountain Section, annual 2008 U.S. Meetings meeting, Snowbird, Utah. Sept. 9-11, Mid-Continent Section, annual Feb. 7-8, NAPE-North American Prospect meeting, Wichita, Kan. Oct. 9-14, AAPG Foundation Trustee 2007 International Meetings EXPO-AAPL, annual event, Houston. Associates, annual meeting, Maui, Hawaii. Sept. 16-18, Eastern Section, AAPG, * Oct. 30-Nov. 1, Asia Pacific Oil and Gas April 20-23, AAPG Annual Convention, annual meeting, Lexington, Ky. Oct. 21-23, Gulf Coast Association of Conference (SPE), Jakarta, Indonesia. San Antonio. Geological Societies, annual meeting, Sept. 23-28, Society of Exploration Corpus Christi, Texas. Nov. 18-21, AAPG European Region, Feb. 24-27, Southwest Section, AAPG, Geophysicists, annual meeting, San Antonio. Athens, Greece. annual meeting, Abilene, Texas. Oct. 28-31, Geological Society of Sept. 23-29, Association of Environmental America, annual meeting, Denver. Dec. 4-6, International Petroleum March 29-April 2, AAPG Pacific Section, and Engineering Geologists, annual meeting, Technology Conference (AAPG, EAGE, SEG, annual meeting, Bakersfield, Calif. J

AAPG and AAPG European Region Energy Conference and Exhibition 18-21 November • Athens, Greece

Discover new plays, best practices and the latest technologies for successful exploration and development in the Circum-Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa regions: • 348 plenaries, oral sessions and posters • Sessions on carbonate and clastic reservoirs, structural geology and heavy oil • Hot spots including the North Sea, Russia, the Caspian, Black Sea and West Africa • Exhibition highlighting comprehensive products and services • 10 pre- and post-conference courses and field trips • 'Mythic' presentations at both the Opening Ceremony and Featured Speaker Luncheon

Online registration is open! Register at www.aapg.org/athens by 19 September and save $140 or more. On-site and online registration will be open throughout the conference and exhibition.

Take advantage of special hotel rates through 15 October (see website for details)

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New Design Makes ‘Looks’ Simple

By JANET BRISTER unique demands, the page simply has course, on the user’s computer screen streamlined into an expanding navigation Web Site Editor been improved – much like a diamond in and choice of default font size. tool. For the casual viewer, the AAPG home the rough? – by compression. (Yes, you have a choice in that; check When you move your mouse over a page looks new – but don’t be fooled. This “compression” enabled us to bring your “View” menu.) topic listed, it expands to links within that After weeks of research into other together all 100-plus links from the Immediately, you’ll notice that the long topic. popular Web sites and experimentation previous design into one screen view for navigation bar on the left side of the page that incorporated our members’ own most browser’s windows – depending, of that many of you may remember has been continued on next page

What Should You be Doing With Geochemistry?

• Assessing charge risk • Predicting charge type and volumes • Predicting fluid properties • Characterizing unconventional resource plays • Identifying missed pay • Assessing reservoir continuity • Allocating commingled production

www.oiltracers.com USA 214-584-9169

SEPTEMBER 2007 65 continued from previous page in their entirety for a closer read. In these cases we have provided a PDF of the Also, that topic is a link to a home page material on each of the screen views. Eastern Section Annual Meeting that should clarify what you can expect to This way you don’t have to print each find in that area. screen, which will save you time and Set for Sept. 16-18 in Lexington paper. “Winning the Energy Trifecta” is the recovery and unconventional reservoir Less is More theme for this year’s annual meeting of analysis. Patience …. the AAPG Eastern Section, which will A “Devonian Shalebration,” which As you proceed to the secondary be held Sept. 16-18 in Lexington, Ky. is a special display of Devonian pages you’ll notice the left navigation bar Not all pages are converted to this The meeting, set at the Lexington organic-rich shale cores from the changes to a tool that focuses on that format as we are in the process of making Convention Center, offers a two-day Appalachian, Illinois and Michigan topic. this change, so you may still run into the technical program, workshops and a basins. For example, in the “About AAPG” area, previous design occasionally. For this we variety of field trips to view geologically A tour of Mammoth Cave, the not only do you learn about membership ask your patience – and thank you in significant areas of Kentucky. world’s longest known cave system, within AAPG but you’ll find in its navigation advance. The meeting theme, organizers said, and a coal geology trip to southeastern tool all sorts of membership-related links. Please continue to provide us feedback “reflects the triple challenges faced by Kentucky. This includes a pay dues link, recruit of all types. Some have already begun to the energy industry in exploring, Participation in a teachers’ information, Section and Region as well as weigh-in with their observations and the developing and sustaining energy workshop will also be available at the AAPG Foundation links. results are already being incorporated. resources.” Falls of the Ohio State Park near The idea here is to keep pages shorter, By the time the transition is complete Meeting highlights will include: Louisville. quicker and easier to navigate. we expect you to find your AAPG Web site Training courses for Geographix™ For registration or more information, Web studies have shown that people to be a tool you can continue to depend and Petra™ geological software. go to www.esaapg07.org. J don’t read Web pages. They scan them. upon. Workshops on CO2 enhanced oil In making this transition we are catering Good browsing! J to that habit – and that should result in return visits from all types of surfers.

It’s Everywhere

On the top of every page is a breadcrumb trail of how you probably arrived at the page. This empowers you to “back out” of that spot or simply return to the AAPG home page. Under the breadcrumb trail and header you’ll find bands of links focusing on two audiences: members (gold) and the general public (gray). The gold bar will help members find contact information, online services and assist the student membership. Of course, the gray bar is for both members and the public, but it mainly should help site visitors quickly find educational courses and offerings, meeting information, books and publications for purchase as well as our major magazines. As usual, the drop-down site short cuts menu remains available on every page, so at any time you may jump to any other point within the site. Also, notice the footer at the bottom of each page. Here you’ll see the means to contact AAPG through the “Talk to Us” form, or find contacts for your staff and leadership. Plus, there are the site search tools, calendar and links or gateways to other sites of help to our membership. The RSS feed remains available as well.

More or less

Many extremely long pages remain in need of being broken up into smaller screen views. However, as you stumble across the shorter screen sets, such as the Constitution and Bylaws, watch for a PDF of that screen set’s material. We’ve been told that there are some topics that many of you may want to print

SEPTEMBER 2007 66

PETROLEUM GEOSCIENCE COLLABORATION CONFERENCE 21st - 22nd November 2007 The Geological Society, Burlington House, London

CALL FOR PAPERS DEADLINE: 31st August 2007 This international conference presents state-of-the-art collaborative industry-academia research and addresses a range of geoscience topics. The conference aims to provide a forum for postgraduate research students to present their current work to potential future employers, whether directly affiliated with an industry sponsor or not. In turn, this conference Convenors: provides an excellent opportunity for industry to inspire and meet the latest postgraduate Bernie Vining output from academia from across the UK and internationally. The conference is aimed at (Gaffney Cline Associates) attracting a wide audience from the geoscience community engaged in academia-industry collaborative research. Adam Law (Equipoise) Suggested themes include but are not limited to: Chris Jackson Petrophysics, reservoir geology and geological modelling (Imperial University) Clastic and carbonate sedimentology and stratigraphy Richard Davies Structural geology and basin evolution (Durham University) Application of seismic Interpretation in geological analysis Methods and impact of knowledge transfer between Academia and Industry Dorthe Hansen (Manchester university) Seismic Interpretation workshop Andrew McAndrew A one-day seismic interpretation workshop (affiliated with the British Sedimentological (Imperial University) Research Group - BSRG) will be held at Imperial College the day before the conference on Howard Johnson the 20th of November. Please email Chris Jackson ( [email protected] ) for (British Geological Survey) further information. Jerry Chessell 500 words abstracts are to be submitted to (PESGB) [email protected] by 31st August 2007. Steve Veal For further details please contact Francesca Chapman, Events Co-ordinator: (PESGB) +44 (0)20 7432 0980 or e-mail: [email protected] Elkie Lonnkivst (Univ. Bristol) Alick Leslie (BGS)

At the forefront of petroleum geoscience www.geolsoc.org.uk/petroleum

THREE CHALLENGING PAPERS ON THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY THE PACIFIC SECTION OF AAPG ______

The Big Bend Segment of the San Andreas Fault: A Region Dominated by Lateral Shortening Rather than by Strike Slip by Robert H. Paschall

Excerpts: Between 1962 and 1997, nine authors and co-authors ascribed right lateral displacements on the San Andreas fault in its combined Big Bend and Southwestern Segments of 16, 116, 150, 210, 260, and 1000 kilometers. The time of initial displacement was assigned variously to four periods from Oligocene to Pleistocene. In no cases were earlier published opinions cited.

Thomas Dibblee, California’s famed field geologist, said: “From field relations outlined above, it is evident that dextral displacement on the San Andreas fault zone within the late Miocene to Pleistocene sedimentary dill of the Imperial basin does not exceed 16 kilometers.” ______

A Tale of Two Eocene Sands and My Life with the San Andreas Fault by Henry Walrond Excerpts: Waltham Canyon west of Coalinga is the obvious site of the strait that connected the San Joaquin basin to the Pacific Ocean. There is no evidence of offset of the depocenter of Pliocene sediments that lie unconformably on marine Lower Miocene where the strait crosses the San Andreas fault.

Jack Clare, who engaged in extensive field and subsurface work, concluded that thick Lower and Middle Miocene sediments in the Caliente and Temblor ranges, juxtaposed across the San Andreas fault, show no indication of significant strike-slip displacement. ______

Send orders to: Chairman, Publications Committee Pacific Section AAPG P.O. Box 1072, Bakersfield CA 93302

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The following candidates have Canada submitted applications for membership Brown, David Ernest, Canada-Nova Nigeria in the Association and, below, Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Halifax Agunwoke, Godwin Oguguah, Chevron, Certification certification by the Division of (J.R. Hogg, G.D. Wach, G. W. Hobbs) Lagos (V.A. Onyia, A.O. Ekun, K.A. The following are candidates for Professional Affairs. This does not Fabiyi) certification by the Division of constitute election nor certification, but Germany Professional Affairs. places the names before the Lampe, Carolyn, Integrated Exploration Pakistan membership at large. Systems (IES), Cologne (K.E. Peters, Aziz, Mohammed Zahid, BP Pakistan Any information bearing on the L.B. Magoon, J. Wielens) Exploration & Production, Islamabad Petroleum Geologist qualifications of these candidates should (M.A. Hussain, M. Wasimuddin, A. be sent promptly to the Executive Malaysia Pervez) Louisiana Committee, P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. Kalukal, Francis Advent, Schlumberger Voorhies, Coerte A. Jr., consultant, 74101. Oilfield Support Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Saudi Arabia Lafayette (reinstatement) (Names of sponsors are placed in (S.M. Hansen, T. Basu, J.O. Lagraba P.); Liner, Christopher Lee, Saudi Aramco, parentheses. Reinstatements indicated Malim, Edna P., Schlumberger, Kuala Dhahran (R.T. Liner, J.W. Tucker, H.W. Texas do not require sponsors.) Lumpur (S.M. Hansen, J. Lagraba, Z. Mueller) Hartz, David M., Scotia Waterous, Membership applications are Safarkhanlou) Houston (C. Noll, F. BiFano, G. available at www.aapg.org, or by United Arab Emirates DePaul) contacting headquarters in Tulsa. Netherlands Ifeonu, Ifeanyichukwu Erasmus, Dubai Rijkers, Richard, Gaz de France, Petroleum, Dubai (D.A. Roxar, A.A. Zoetermeer (H. Graven, W.H. Asyee, Carim, O.C. Iwobi) For Active Membership R.A.G. Markgraaf)

Alabama Cromwell, David William, Energen Recruiting New Members – Easy and Rewarding Resources, Birmingham (W.R. Green, D.L. Windle Jr., B.K. Cunningham) It’s called the “RRR program:” Recruit. Participation in the program is easy: Just Reward. Retain. sign your name in the recruiter’s block on an Colorado And its all about making AAPG the best Active application form and give it to a Watson, Jack E., Enduring Resources, Conifer (reinstate) geoscience assocation in the world. colleague who is not an Active AAPG member. Here’s an easy way to help AAPG: Each new member that you recruit is worth Recruit a new member. points for you in the “RRR program.” Texas Here’s another easy way: Ask a former The more members you recruit, the more Anderson, James Patrick, Shell EPW-U, member to rejoin. points you get; the more points you get, the The Woodlands (reinstate); Combs, Here’s the easiest yet: Just talk about better AAPG becomes. It’s a win-win situation Deanna Marie, Encore Acquisition, Fort Worth (S. Sabatka, R. Stillwell, B. why you’re a member of the world’s largest for all. geoscience association. Details and more information on the RRR Johnson); Edwards, Simon L., Dominion E&P, Cypress (T.J. Jones, R.F. Carroll, Nothing works quite as well as personal program can be found online at contact when it comes to attracting new members to AAPG. www.aapg.org/recruit/. G.B. Martinez); McBride, Douglas Lester, Morning Star Consultants, Kingwood (D. AAPG’s membership program was created to emphasize the You can have wonderful rewards, and you can help AAPG Tearpock, H. Miller, R. Harrell) importance of one-on-one recruiting and to recognize and become even better. reward the members who work toward this achievement. Just start talking. J

SEPTEMBER 2007 68

Deepwater Outcrops ENERGY-RELATED GEOPHYSICS - OPEN RANK Regarding your story on the upcoming Editor’s note: Letters to the editor release of the AAPG deepwater atlas should include your name and The Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming (August EXPLORER): This is a very nice address and should be mailed to invites applications for a faculty position in the Department and in the newly work by the AAPG. The “Atlas of Readers’ Forum, c/o AAPG EXPLORER, P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, created School of Energy Resources (SER) at the University of Wyoming, an Deepwater Outcrops” will be useful for all those who are involved in the petroleum Okla. 74101, or fax (918) 560-2636; institute dedicated to energy-related teaching and research in support of State, industry. or e-mail to [email protected]. Letters national, and international energy-related activities. This appointment may be Companies all over are looking toward may be edited or held due to space made at any rank. The position can begin as soon as January 1, 2008. the deepwater petroleum resources, restrictions. We seek an individual who will establish a well-recognized, externally which are posing challenges to the industry because of their inaccessibility McElmo field was initially developed by IXQGHG UHVHDUFK SURJUDP LQ JHRSK\VLFV ZLWK D SUHIHUHQFH WRZDUG UHÀHF- and the complexity of their mode of Shell with partners Mobil and Mountain WLRQ VHLVPRORJ\ SHWURSK\VLFV RU SRWHQWLDO ¿HOGV DV DSSOLHG WR HQHUJ\UHODWHG occurrence and host of the petroleum Fuel. The promise was that CO2 would be research. Applicants should complement and/or expand on departmental system. Gaining an understanding from tied to the price of West Texas strengths in geophysics, structure geology and tectonics, sedimentology, and/ the study of these diverse deepwater Intermediate at $28 to equal CO2 at outcrop data will help to effectively design $1/MCF. or crustal studies. We seek a person with the ability to cooperate productively exploration programs. Today, the price is far less. There is no with other SER faculty in geology and geophysics, mathematics, chemical and This compendium definitely will be credible reason why. Production in SHWUROHXP HQJLQHHULQJ HFRQRPLFV DQG RWKHU HQHUJ\UHODWHG ¿HOGV 7KH VXF- useful to the petroleum industry, which is existing San Andreas wells in west Texas cessful candidate will be involved in the undergraduate and graduate teaching struggling with the challenge of reserves has reportedly doubled – even tripled – depletion, smaller reserves and with CO2 injection. mission of the Department of Geology and Geophysics. The SER is an ambi- inadequate technology efficiency and Carbon dioxide is found in a number of tious, state-funded institute that seeks innovative researchers working on new their resolution. places, occasionally associated with DSSURDFKHV DW WKH IRUHIURQW RI WKH H[SDQGLQJ ¿HOGV LQ HQHUJ\ UHVHDUFK ,QIRU- Vinay K. Sahay helium, an extremely valuable by- Chandrapur, India product. When I worked as a mudlogger mation about the School of Energy Resources is available at uwyo.edu/SER. the pH of drilling fluids dropped Additional information on the Department Geology and Geophysics can be (Editor’s note: AAPG Studies in drastically while in the presence of carbon obtained at http://home.gg.uwyo.edu/. Geology #56 The Atlas of Deep-Water dioxide. CO2 detectors were not much Applications should include a statement of research and teaching interests Outcrops will be available in late help, as the mud neutralized the gas. But September through the AAPG Bookstore.) if I suspected CO2 I was usually able to and accomplishments, curriculum vitae, and the names and contact informa- identify potential zones just by looking at tion for three individuals who can provide letters of evaluation. Review of CO 2 Sequestration nearby scout ticket DST results and well completed applications will begin October 1, 2007; however, applications will Much ado about carbon dioxide logs suggesting a non-flammable gas EH DFFHSWHG XQWLO WKH SRVLWLRQ LV ¿OOHG 6HQG DQ HOHFWURQLF FRS\ RI \RXU DSSOLFD- centers on sequestering excess power was present. plant emissions in underground storage Off the top of my head I can think of at tion to: Ms. Carol Pribyl at [email protected]; if you have additional applica- or into existing depleting oil fields. Only least three areas where carbon dioxide tion materials to send, please direct them to the Geophysics Search Committee, passing mention is made of natural CO2 appeared to have been present in wells I Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, 1000 East being produced. logged or examined. And if the price was University Avenue, Dept. 3006, Laramie, WY 82071-2000. The 20 TCF McElmo Dome wasn’t right, it would be worth exploring. even named in your July article on the If so much as 80 percent of the oil in 7KH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI :\RPLQJ LV DQ HTXDO RSSRUWXQLW\DI¿UPDWLYH DFWLRQ subject (“Corralling CO2 A Win-Win for place still remains in old fields, it looks like employer. Oil,” July EXPLORER). that carbon dioxide is badly undervalued Perhaps my personal stake in that field by the market and sequestration might colors my perspective but, frankly, we not provide the volumes that could be have far more depleted oil fields that used. could benefit from CO2 injection than we Terrel Shields have CO2 to inject. Speculation about the Siloam Springs, Ark. potential leakage of carbon dioxide should be easily assessed by examining (Editor’s note: A follow-up article in the the engineering aspects of fields like August EXPLORER, “CO 2 Answers Are McElmo or Sheep Mountain. As Elusive as CO2,” page 14, addressed Why not explore for carbon dioxide? some of the points raised by Mr. Perhaps price is one problem. The Shields.) J

energy areas we deal with most DEG directly, are included in the considerations. from page 70 Our credibility in this area will be strong, for we are an energy Washington-directed efforts. As geoscience organization and we are Congress and the executive agencies recognized for expertise in energy consider legislation and programs that systems. deal with water resource priorities, DEG’s track record in dealing with AAPG-based input to ensure that water systems adds to our portfolio of energy needs, especially related to the capabilities. J

SEPTEMBER 2007 69

Personnel Office listed on this announcement PRIOR ********************** POSITION AVAILABLE TO THE CLOSING DATE for assistance. Contact MISCELLANEOUS Jennifer Farrell at 303-236-9566 or [email protected]. Humble Geochemical Services, A Weatherford U.S. Geological Survey Mendenhall The OARS system can be accessed at Company, is seeking to fill two positions in their Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program http://www.usgs.gov/ohr/oars/. The announcement Humble, TX office. The Senior Geochemist position SAMPLES TO RENT number is: CR-2007-0587. The salary range is requires the candidate be an organic geochemist The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) invites $46,597-60,574, depending upon qualifications. and have a minimum of 10 years experience. The International Sample Library @ Midland – applications for the Mendenhall Postdoctoral The closing date is October 26, 2007. ideal candidate has experience writing detailed formerly Midland Sample Library. Established in Research Fellowship Program for Fiscal Year U.S. citizenship is required. USGS is an Equal technical reports on conventional or unconventional 1947. Have 164,000 wells with 1,183,000,000 well 2009. The Mendenhall Program provides Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. petroleum systems. Basin modeling experience a samples and cores stored in 17 buildings from 26 opportunities to conduct research in association with plus. The Electro-Mechanical Engineer position states, Mexico, Canada and offshore Australia. We selected members of the USGS professional requires a minimum of 5 years experience and the also have a geological supply inventory. staff. Through this Program the USGS will acquire ******************** candidate must have analytical instrumentation current expertise in science to assist in experience. It is a senior engineering position doing Phone: (432) 682-2682 Fax: (432) 682-2718 implementation of the science strategy of its U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) design, development, and manufacturing assistance programs. Fiscal Year 2009 begins in October 2008. Positions Available of analytical instrumentation used in the petroleum Opportunities for research are available in a wide Research Geologist industry. Email confidential resume with cover letter range of topics. The postdoctoral fellowships are 2- to [email protected]. No phone calls The USGS, Central Region Energy Resources year appointments. The closing date for applications accepted. Team, is soliciting interest from qualified individuals is November 9, 2007. Appointments will start for two positions of Research Energy Geologists in October 2008 or later, depending on availability of ******************** Lakewood, Colorado. These positions will conduct funds. A description of the program, research fundamental geologic research to evaluate and opportunities, and the application process are Growing Dallas based independent oil and gas characterize the geologic framework and available at http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc. The company with large acreage position looking for occurrence of a variety of geologic energy U.S. Geological Survey is an equal opportunity both an Exploration Manager and a Senior Geologist resources, including conventional and employer. with 15+ years experience generating oil and gas unconventional oil and gas, coal, and uranium. The prospects in either the West Texas Permian Basin or unconventional oil and gas applications may include ******************** in East Texas. Successful track record required. oil shale, oil sands, basin-centered gas, shale gas, Experience using Petra and Kingdom software is and coalbed methane. Candidates must be able to helpful. Excellent medical and retirement benefits U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) work as part of a multidisciplinary team of CLASSIFIED ADS Position Available with competitive compensation package including geologists, geochemists, geophysics, and bonus and equity incentives. Send resume with Geologist engineers. Excellent skills in writing and oral references to RGBA, 12750 Merit Drive, Suite 990, You can reach about 30,000 presentation of scientific findings are also required. Dallas, TX 75251-1210. All replies confidential petroleum geologists at the lowest The USGS, Central Region Energy Resources Applications (resume and application questions) per-reader cost in the world with a Team, is soliciting interest from qualified individuals for this vacancy must be received on-line via the USGS Online Automated Recruitment System classified ad in the EXPLORER. for a position of Energy Geologist in Lakewood, Ads are at the rate of $2.10 per Colorado. This position will provide technical (OARS) BEFORE midnight Eastern Time FOR SALE support to geologic studies of sedimentary basins in (Washington, D.C. time) on the closing date of this word, minimum charge of $42. support of national and worldwide energy resource announcement. If you fail to submit a complete And, for an additional $50, your ad online resume, you will not be considered for this assessments. Candidates must be able to work as Mudlogging units with easy to learn software. position. Requests for extensions will not be can appear on the classified part of a multidisciplinary team of geologists, Very reliable, full featured, portable units. Contact granted. If applying online poses a hardship for you, . geochemists, geophysics, and engineers. Excellent Automated Mudlogging Systems section on the AAPG Web site you must speak to someone in the Servicing skills in writing and oral presentation of scientific (303) 794-7470 www.mudlogger.com Your ad can reach more people findings are also required. Personnel Office listed on this announcement PRIOR than ever before. TO THE CLOSING DATE for assistance. Contact Applications (resume and application questions) ******************** Just write out your ad and send for this vacancy must be received on-line via the Jennifer Farrell at 303-236-9566 or [email protected]. The OARS system can be accessed at it to us. We will call you with the USGS Online Automated Recruitment System Rare and out-of-print books and http://www.usgs.gov/ohr/oars/. The announcement BOOKS. (OARS) BEFORE midnight Eastern Time periodicals on geology and related sciences. Large word count and cost. You can then number is: CR-2007-0589. The salary range is (Washington, D.C. time) on the closing date of this stock on all phases of the oil industry, domestic and arrange prepayment. Ads received $67,572-$87,847 depending upon qualifications. announcement. If you fail to submit a complete foreign covering geology, history, engineering, The closing date is October 26, 2007. by the first of the month will appear online resume, you will not be considered for this logging, geophysics, etc. Catalogs available. The U.S. citizenship is required. USGS is an Equal in the subsequent edition. position. Requests for extensions will not be Hannum Company. Box 1505-B, Ardmore, OK Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. granted. If applying online poses a hardship for you, 73402. [email protected] you must speak to someone in the Servicing

Associate or Full Professor, Petroleum Geology As part of a large expansion of its petroleum geoscience teaching and research activities, the Department of Geoscience at the University of Calgary is seeking a petroleum geologist with significant industry experience. At this time, the department invites applications for a full-time tenure track position at the associate or full professor level to begin July 1, 2008. Candidates require a PhD in a petroleum-related discipline of Geology. Appointments at the Associate Professor or Full Professor level will be considered for qualified candidates. Industry experience is essential for this position.The department requires industry experience and expertise for the successful delivery of the Bachelor of Science with a concentration in Petroleum Geology. Inclusion of material on the evaluation of hydrocarbon reservoirs is looked at as critical to in the success of this program and will help vault the program above others nationally and internationally.The successful applicant is expected to develop new curriculum in this area, undertake graduate student supervision, and develop a strong research program. Successful research candidates will join other members of the department in collaborative research and in pursuing the development of strong ties with the petroleum industry through the initiatives of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) and the Geoscience Professional Development Centre (GPDC). Further information about the Department, ISEEE, and GPDC is available at www.ucalgary.ca/geoscience. Applications will be reviewed as received. Selection of candidates is targeted for December 2007, however the position will remain open until a successful candidate is found. Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, list of publications, statement of research interests and teaching philosophy, and arrange to have three reference letters forwarded to: Dr. D. Eaton, Head Department of Geoscience University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4 Canada Email: [email protected] Fax: (403) 284-0074 All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. The University of Calgary respects, appreciates and encourages diversity. To see all University of Calgary academic positions, please visit: www.ucalgary.ca/hr/careers.

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Putting the Best of Science Online

By RICK FRITZ pages are downloaded, and this year Once again we are Search & Discovery will have at least 10 approaching the time Upcoming AAPG Meetings million “hits” (bits of data presented), so of the year when you are in good company. AAPG, its Sections, Mid-Continent Section GCAGS Although AAPG’s Search & Discovery Regions and sister Sept. 8-11, Wichita, Kan. Oct. 21-23, Corpus Christi, Texas is growing both in content and users, societies start their there are still many presentations that annual technical Eastern Section Europe Region/AAPG can be placed on this site. program Sept. 16-18, Lexington, Ky. Nov. 18-21, Athens, Greece Each year we ask presenters for presentations at permission to use their oral and poster meetings and Rocky Mountain Section Southwest Section presentations. Each year we ask conferences. Oct. 6-9, Snowbird, Utah Feb. 20-27, 2008, Abilene, Texas convention presenters for permission to Each year you Fritz use their oral and poster presentations have the opportunity on Search & Discovery. to hear some excellent talks and learn was missed by other, more formal you will see a list of current articles. It’s easy to say yes, so please from great minds at poster sessions and publication media. Note the articles that start with a “PS” consider submitting your talk for posting other educational opportunities (see It’s earned its place as an important superscript are poster sessions from this when asked. box). part of AAPG’s technical publications year’s AAPG Annual Convention in Long Besides the annual Section meetings, mix – and the numbers show that Beach. How often have you seen a *** the upcoming regional meeting in members approve. poster at a meeting and wish you could Athens Nov. 18-21 promises some review it later? Now you can! One of the defining facets of AAPG’s excellent presentations. Of course, San *** I encourage you to scan through the mission statement is dissemination of Antonio next spring will be a premier many posters on the site. information. If you have a talk or poster event for AAPG. (See related stories on I encourage you right now, as you are One of the first poster sessions listed you would like to send to the Search & page 60 and 63.) reading my column, to go to is on the Covenant Field discovery, Discovery editorial board, please Unfortunately, most of this information www.aapg.org (if a computer is not presented by Tom Chidsey and others. contact site editor John Shelton at is not published except in abstract form. available please use your visualization This is a good poster on a key [email protected]. Fortunately, AAPG has established a techniques for now). discovery, and I encourage you to take a If you have seen an excellent mechanism to capture many of these First, please check out the new look. presentation you would like to presentations through our Datapages AAPG home page. Janet Brister, AAPG’s There also are numerous articles that recommend, please let us know and we program and e-magazine Search & Web site editor, has done a great job of start with an “AV” superscript. These are will ask the author or authors. Discovery redesigning the home page. Most oral sessions that you can listen to and We live in an exciting time of access. (www.searchanddiscovery.net). members are finding it easier to watch the corresponding PowerPoint AAPG is committed to making sure that The Search and Discovery navigate and use. Please let us know presentation. you, our members, have information you e-magazine is the brainchild of what you think about the new design. There are several excellent talks. One can use at work and use in the members John Shelton, Ted Beaumont On the lower right hand side of the of my favorite talks is by John D. Grace development of your professional career. and Ron Hart. Ten years ago they AAPG homepage you will find a small on plays in the Gulf of Mexico. All you realized that AAPG was capturing only blue box that says “Search & have to do is click and listen. The about 10 percent of the output of its Discovery.” Please note that this little PowerPoint will move automatically with paper and poster presenters. blue box already has been “clicked” the presentation. Search & Discovery provides a place 650,000 times this calendar year! Finally, I recommend you take time to to rapidly publish abstracts, luncheon When you click on the Search & browse the Search & Discovery site and talks, classic company reports and Discovery blue box now you will see its familiarize yourself with its many much of the miscellaneous material that main page. If you click on “New Articles” offerings. Each year over four million DEG Offers Experience and Expertise Energy and Water Need to Mix By CHARLES G. “Chip” GROAT The energy sector is dependent on relevant expertise hence credibility. The DEG President water throughout its range of same discussion is appropriate for the It is not unusual to hear the activities. water supply area. pronouncement from a speaker at a The largest uses are non- How can we bring our meeting or conference dealing with consumptive, principally in cooling understandings of exploration, resources that while energy supply is on thermoelectric facilities or generating production, the subsurface and the everyone’s mind, water supply is lurking hydroelectric power. Recent concerns energy resources being developed into as the greatest resource challenge about the use of fresh water for position to inform discussions of water facing much of the hydraulic fracturing of Barnett Shale needs for energy and the importance of world’s population. reservoirs in Texas and its impact on having this need adequately It is a fact that, for supplies available for other uses, and represented in debates about who gets many people, about the amount of water required to available water supplies? obtaining adequate produce corn-based ethanol, are How can we bring the tools we use to supplies of potable examples of the expanding breadth of understand the subsurface and fluids water for domestic energy-related water supply issues. found there to better understand our use or water for As we move toward increased use The Division of Environmental least understood water resource, crops is a first-order of unconventional fossil fuels we will Geosciences has devoted many pages groundwater? concern with energy see water issues emerge, or re- of its journal Environmental Geosciences Just as climate change science supply not even on emerge, as they have with coalbed to energy-related water issues, primarily provides AAPG and DEG with the their radar. methane and with the prospect of oil in the water quality area. DEG- opportunity to broaden the scope and It also is true that shale development. sponsored technical sessions at annual relevance of our expertise, the water Groat there is scarcely a As oil and gas fields mature and and sectional AAPG meetings have and energy scene provides the part of the developed world where produce more water, we need to similarly dealt with these matters. opportunity for us to add a dimension issues of adequate quantities of water explore its use for energy-related and As quantity issues become more beyond those afforded by the traditional for all the competing uses are not other purposes. The injection of widespread and prominent, both the water organizations that have limited emerging to rival the traditional focus on carbon dioxide into saline aquifers to AAPG divisions and the parent interest in the energy aspects. the quality of supplies. Growing cities sequester it is currently raising organization have increasing motivation compete with agriculture and dry areas questions about possible migration to bring our expertise to bear. Members *** seek to move water to them from wetter into fresh groundwater, possibly of both DEG and EMD have relevant ones, creating winners and losers, and affecting porosity and permeability capabilities. Increased activity in the energy-water intensifying political debates. through chemical reactions. Part of the discussion of AAPG’s role area has important implications for our in climate change centered around what *** *** we have and don’t have in the way of See DEG, page 68

SEPTEMBER 2007 71

SEPTEMBER 2007 72

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