EXPLORER

2 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG Vol. 36, No. 10 October 2015 EXPLORER PRESIDENT’SCOLUMN Publication Model Challenged by Digital Access BY MIKE SWEET, AAPG ELECTED EDITOR

(From AAPG President John Hogg: fields, where much of the research is Once again I’m offering my column funded by public money. space to a member of the AAPG The bottom line: In the world of This is aggravated more by reduced Executive Committee for a report on library budgets. activities and trends in their respective scientific publication, our model of selling While we have enacted an Open area. This month we turn the spotlight on papers to non-members is threatened by Access policy that is compliant with U.K. AAPG publications, with a message from law, most of our researchers are funded our Elected Editor, Mike Sweet.) the Open Access movement. with industry money, and few authors have used this option to date. GSA is cientific publishing is undergoing SWEET going completely Open Access with major changes driven by the shift to its journals, at significant cost to their Sdigital publication – and the digital – and selling papers to non-subscribers the Open Access movement. society. revolution will continue to change the way is a significant source of revenue for This publication model – where the It remains to be seen if the market that AAPG disseminates our science. AAPG publications, which helps to offset authors pay publication costs and the will force other journals, including the A look at the BULLETIN circa 2000 losses in other areas (such as books; publishers give digital contests away for BULLETIN, down this route. would show a scientific journal published more on that later). free – started in part as a reaction to the in a form and on a media (paper) The bottom line: In the world of large profits made by for-profit publishers * * * that was essentially identical to the scientific publication, our model of selling like Springer and Elsevier from selling first scientific journals of the mid-17th papers to non-members is threatened by subscription to journals in biomedical While the BULLETIN has benefited century. Move forward 15 years and the from digital technology and is reaching BULLETIN, for most of our members, is an ever-larger audience, books sales distributed and accessed online. were dropping even before the current oil Over the next three years we plan to price crash. upgrade this delivery system to use an While we have published over 200 app, which will allow subscribers to read books, CDs and map titles, most only the BULLETIN on their smartphones or sell 200-500 copies – and our total sales tablets. In a digital format we have the are dominated by a few very popular opportunity to publish more elaborate textbooks. For example, Basic Well Log color images at no cost to the author – Analysis has sold over 12,000 copies in and in the future we can include video the last 10 years alone. and animation. The technology exists to do small While digital delivery opens the door print runs and print additional books on to more interactive presentations of demand. Undoubtedly, more of our books geologic data, it also comes with new in the future will come out digitally or use challenges. As with other media (books, on-demand printing, which will allow us video and music) free sharing of content to break even on smaller print runs. becomes easy, and there is constant We also are starting to sell papers pressure from the consumers to receive from our books digitally through content for free or at a nominal cost. AAPG President John Hogg (center) and AAPG Executive Director David Curtiss (right) speak Geoscience World. However, given Of course, a significant portion of with a group of YPs at the recent International Conference and Exhibition (ICE) in Melbourne, current trends, it’s an open question if the cost of publication of any journal is Australia. A full report on ICE will be included in the November EXPLORER. there will continue to be a market for the

related to the pre-print editing and layout Memoir series in the future. EXPLORER

STAFF TABLEofCONTENTS REGULARDEPARTMENTS Managing Editor AAPG members Mark Zoback and An acquisition of some unfamiliar ProTracks...... 4 Vern Stefanic 06 F. Rall Walsh separate myth from fact 24 geology in the Woodforth SCOOP email: [email protected] regarding induced seismicity. shale play meant one exploration Historical Highlights...... 34 had to get creative in their use of Assistant Managing Editor Geophysical Corner...... 40 Brian Ervin Traditionally ignored, the azimuthal geosteering. dimension enables more information email: [email protected] 12 Historical Highlights...... 44 to be squeezed out of 3-D seismic. Going global: A recent Communications Project Specialist 26 multimillion-dollar purchase put Policy Watch...... 46 Susie Moore No surprise: Experts weigh-in on email: [email protected] one geophysical company in 14 the current state of the industry, possession of one of the world’s Foundation Update...... 50 Graphics/Production and the geophysical business is largest multi-client seismic data Matt Randolph struggling just like everyone else. libraries. Professional News Briefs...... 52 ­­email: [email protected] Mexico’s recent opening to foreign In Memory...... 52 Advertising Coordinator In part 2 of our series on Mars oil investors has created a huge exploration, AAPG member and Steve Praytor 20 30 Classified Ads...... 53 P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101 demand for 2-D seismic data on the former NASA astronaut Jim Reilly regional geology. Phone: (918) 560-2647 – fax: (918) 560-2636 offers a down-to-Earth approach to Director’s Corner...... 54 (U.S. and Canada only: 1-800-288-7636) reaching the Red Planet. (Note: The above number is for advertising purposes only.) Divisions Report (DPA)...... 54 email: [email protected]

CORRESPONDENTS ON THE COVER: Castle Geyser at Yellowstone National David Brown Park in Wyoming. Geophysicists recently Louise S. Durham discovered an enormous reservoir of Kristi Eaton magma beneath Yellowstone, which is Barry Friedman somewhat symbolic of the enormous Ken Milam Heather Saucier reserves of invention and innovation within Scan this for the the geophysical industry. For the story on mobile version of the Yellowstone, see page 16. For the stories current web Explorer. Photo courtesy of PGS on geophysical innovation, look throughout. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia user “Flicka.” The AAPG EXPLORER (ISSN 0195-2986) is published monthly for members by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1444 S. Boulder Ave., P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101-3604, Left: PGS’s Ramform Atlas shoots (918) 584-2555. e-mail address: [email protected]. Periodicals Postage Paid at Tulsa, OK and at additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to AAPG EXPLORER, P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, Okla. 74101. Canada Publication Agreement Number 40063731 Return undeliverable Canadian address to: Station A, P.O. Box 54 • Windsor, ON N9A 6J5 • E-mail: [email protected] offshore 3-D seismic using towed streamers. Advertising rates: Contact Steve Praytor, AAPG headquarters. Subscriptions: Contact Veta McCoy, AAPG headquarters. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and videos must be For an overview on the current state of the accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope to ensure return. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) does not endorse or recommend any products or services geophysical industry, see page 14. that may be cited, used or discussed in AAPG publications or in presentations at events associated with AAPG. Copyright 2015 by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. Note to members: $6 of annual dues pays for one year’s subscription to the EXPLORER. Airmail service for members: $55. Subscription rates for non-members: $75 for 12

Vol. 36, No. 10 Vol. issues; add $72 for airmail service.

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 3 EXPLORER PROTRACKS It’s the End of YPs as We Know It and We Feel Fine By JONATHAN ALLEN and MEREDITH FABER, AAPG Young Professionals Committee Co-Chairs

he summer may be winding first AAPG SIG this August. We down, but things are just are looking forward to exploring Theating up for the AAPG “Now, all members this new avenue the association Young Professionals (YPs). has recently created. There is We had an awesome time at interested in the YP mission now a dedicated space within ACE in Denver this past June the Association from which with impressive turnouts at both and its initiatives have a to progress the mission and the YP Meet and Greet and venue in which to participate.” vision of the large and growing the YP networking reception in population of young professional downtown Denver. Both events ALLEN FABER AAPG Members. were graciously sponsored by The current Young Noble Energy and we thank them meeting came from the House of Delegates. The First SIG Professionals Membership for their ongoing support of YP initiatives! The HoD approved an amendment to the Committee will comprise the Feedback from attendees at both events AAPG Bylaws that formally adopted the The Young Professionals are very governing body of the new YP SIG was overwhelmingly positive. creation of special interest groups (SIGs) excited to share that the Executive with representatives from each Section The biggest YP-related news of the and technical interest groups (TIGs). Committee approved the YPs as the and Region. The goals of the YP SIG will also remain the same as the currently operating Young Professionals Membership Committee. The YP SIG will: u Foster a challenging and successful career in the energy industry for recent graduates and early-career earth scientists. u Build an understanding of the value of a lasting relationship between AAPG and young professional members. u Encourage earth scientists to progress to full Member status. The YP SIG will continue to provide the services that have been established by the YP Committee, including the YP Meet and Greet (held at ACE, ICE and Section/Region meetings), field trips, short courses, networking events and community outreach/volunteer events.

Benefits of Being a SIG

The value of the YP SIG is the ability to have a defined population of AAPG members interested in the activities of young professionals. One of the major difficulties the YPs have had in recent years has been the inability to adequately identify YPs within the current membership structure. In order to reach what we felt was our targeted demographic, we have been defining YPs as “members under the age of 39.” This is the group who receives all of the YP-oriented communication from AAPG. Of course, it’s reasonable to assume that some members receiving these communications do not define themselves as YP’s and are not interested in the YP’s. Additionally, we are missing people who might be very interested in the YPs but are excluded based on our defined age limit. Now, all members interested in the YP mission and its initiatives have a venue in which to participate: the YP SIG. The YPs now have the ability to better target our audience, provide focused communication and have a pool of interested individuals to call upon as volunteers for various positions within AAPG and other associated Sectional/ Regional groups: the members of the YP SIG. Any member of the Association can become part of the YP SIG and benefit from services and programs we provide. We hope all who are interested will join the first SIG of AAPG and help our Association grow! Be on the lookout for communication

on how to join the YP SIG coming soon. EXPLORER

4 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 5 Geophysical EXPLORER review Mid-Continent Section meeting Dispelling Myths About Seismicity By DAVID BROWN, EXPLORER Correspondent recently published study of pressure spreads away from injection Oklahoma earthquake activity wells over time, it can be difficult to Acontradicts some popular beliefs “As soon as we plotted the right determine which well or wells have about man-made seismic events. triggered events. The effects could be The paper, authored by AAPG data, (the connection between cumulative. members F. Rall Walsh III and award- “One of the features of Oklahoma is winning geoscientist Mark Zoback, injection wells and earthquakes) that often we can’t identify the ‘one well.’ appeared in June in “Science jumped out at us.” You might have 100 or 200 wells within Advances,” an open-access journal an hour or an hour-and-a-half’s drive of published by the American Association WALSH each other,” Walsh said. for the Advancement of Science. Walsh is a fifth-year doctoral basement. can’t account for the huge amount of Where the Action Is student at Stanford University. “Faults that are mechanically active energy released by an earthquake. Zoback is professor of geophysics in today are hydrologically conductive,” Finding: Walsh and Zoback make The Stanford study of induced Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy and Walsh noted. it clear that increased pore pressure seismicity in Oklahoma took more Environmental Science, and the 2015 According to the study, there’s no is simply a trigger for the release of than two years to complete, according recipient of AAPG’s Robert R. Berg doubt that wastewater from oil and gas already-existing forces. to Walsh. He said it began with an Outstanding Research Award. activities is directly tied to Oklahoma’s “In the context of induced seismicity, examination of microseismicity – Walsh will discuss their study in upsurge in earthquakes. the largest earthquake that might be intentionally caused small quakes like the presentation “Oklahoma’s Recent triggered is determined by pre-existing those resulting from hydraulic fracturing. Earthquakes and Saltwater Disposal” Belief: Oklahoma’s induced geologic conditions, not the magnitude of “That was sort of our jumping off at the AAPG Mid-Continent Section earthquakes are mainly caused by the the perturbation of pore pressure,” they point. We started looking at Oklahoma Meeting, Oct. 4-6 in Tulsa. results of hydraulic fracturing. wrote. simply because that’s where the most Their research findings counter some Finding: Flow-back water from earthquakes are,” he explained. widely held beliefs about Oklahoma’s hydrofracturing contributes only Belief: Induced earthquakes can Oklahoma averaged fewer than two recent history of quakes. a fraction of Oklahoma’s injected be mitigated or stopped by reducing earthquakes of magnitude 3 (M3) or wastewater. Almost all of the injected injected volumes in the nearby injection greater per year between the beginning Belief: Earthquakes originate at such water in the earthquake study areas was well or wells. of modern seismic recording in 1974 great depth, they can’t be caused by produced water. Finding: “It is likely that even if and 2008. By 2013, the number of M3 wastewater injection. This is a relatively new idea – that the injection from many wells were to stop or larger quakes had increased to more Finding: Saltwater disposal in great majority of injected saline water in immediately, seismicity would continue than 100, and by 2014 to more than 500. Oklahoma, primarily injection into Oklahoma is produced water. as pressure continues to spread out from Six areas of the state were selected the Arbuckle Group, increases pore past injection,” Walsh and Zoback wrote. for the Stanford study, each 5,000 square pressure, spreads away from injection Belief: The small amount of energy Oklahoma has a very large number of kilometers and each seismically active. wells over time and eventually triggers used in hydraulic fracturing and other wastewater injection wells, often closely slip on critically stressed faults in completion and production operations clustered. Because increased pore See Seismicity, page 10

6 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 7 Geophysical EXPLORER review Seismicity Events Rise in Oklahoma By KEN MILAM, EXPLORER Correspondent

mberlee Darold has never felt an study at the upcoming Mid-Continent earthquake, but she has some Section meeting in a session called Afeelings about the rate at which they “Seismicity Rates in Oklahoma: A Look at have increased in Oklahoma. the Seismicity Increase of 2014.” “Certainly it’s exciting – also overwhelming, perplexing and frustrating,” A Record-Setting Year she said. A research seismologist with the “Thus far (as of Aug. 10, 2015), we, Oklahoma Geological Survey, Darold has the OGS, have located 634 earthquakes been studying the increase in seismicity of a magnitude 3.0 or greater. In 2014 we that has attracted the attention of scientists located 585 earthquakes of a magnitude 3.0 around the globe. or greater,” she said. She will present the results of a recent The state’s seismicity rate for 2014 was greater than any previous year, including those that already had seen a significant increase. “Overall the seismicity rate in 2013 was 70 times greater than the background seismicity rate observed in Oklahoma prior to 2008. While unlikely, this rate could have been potentially explained by natural variations in earthquake rates from naturally occurring swarms. The current seismicity rate is now about 600 times greater than the background seismicity rate mentioned above,” Darold said. “We at the Oklahoma Geological Survey believe the rates and trends in seismicity are very unlikely to represent a naturally occurring process,” she said. “Most likely, waste water injection wells are the cause for the increase,” she said. In 40 of the state’s 77 counties, 5,417 earthquakes were reported during the year. Of those, 967 were reported as felt to the OGS or USGS and 585 were of a local magnitude of 3.0 or greater, the report states. In 2013, 284 earthquakes were reported as felt. In 2012, the number felt was 75. The number felt was around 100 in each of the two previous years, an apparent increase from earlier years, according to the OGS. Speaking on a cellphone from the field, where she was checking on some of the agency’s network of about 40 seismometers, she said: “Nowhere else in the world sees the concentration that Oklahoma is seeing. There’s no comparison,” Darold said.

Potential Causes

The increased activity correlates with the areas of two major oil plays, the Mississippi Lime play and the Hunton dewatering play, she said. Darold said that about 70 percent of the wastewater is being injected into the Arbuckle, which lies directly above the basement rock. The increased pore pressure decreases the effective stress in the basement rock and, she said, “Basically, you’re pushing that fault to failure.” The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) has been working with disposal operators in areas of most interest, and more than 50 disposal wells found to touch the basement have plugged back their depths to the Arbuckle. Others have cut their volumes, according to various news reports. Darold said it is too early to tell if mitigation efforts are working. “Statistically speaking, there is no clear sign that seismicity is decreasing,” she said. She would not speculate on how long it would take to know if mitigation efforts are effective.

See Rising Numbers, page 10 8 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 9 EXPLORER fewer than 100 monthly injected volumes, efforts currently under way,” she said. Seismicity out of 1.5 million, had to be adjusted. Rising Numbers Increased seismicity has been noted from page 6 Walsh said the data corrections from page 8 in other regions associated with petroleum might not have been perfect, “but we or geothermal activities, but none to the convinced ourselves that we did it well While most of the temblors have been extent experienced in Oklahoma, she said. Just three of those areas included enough to clearly see the overall picture.” relatively weak, a 5.6 earthquake was Knowledge gleaned from the Sooner 71 percent of the greater than M3 And when they analyzed the injection recorded in 2011. The last time anything state experience could prove useful earthquakes ever recorded in Oklahoma. well data and locations in conjunction close to that magnitude occurred in elsewhere. Getting good data for the study with the earthquake data, the connection Oklahoma was a 5.2 quake in 1952. “Geology does not stop at the state proved challenging, Walsh noted. Some between the two was obvious. “Both caused damage, but luckily no line,” she said. injection wells were duplicated in state “As soon as we plotted the right data,” lives were lost,” Darold said. The increased seismicity – and the reports, some weren’t reported and some Walsh said, “it jumped out at us.” “As seismologists, we can’t predict attention it is getting – is broadening had obvious entry errors. Lags in the earthquakes. We need more knowledge, researchers’ knowledge base. reporting system made data timeliness Water, Water Everywhere but we assume we could see another 5.5,” “Honestly, we’re learning a lot about the less than ideal. she said. faults from the seismicity we are seeing,” “There’s a delay between when Under the assumptions in the study, “We at the OGS are not a regulatory Darold said. the injection happens and when it’s water used in hydrofracturing in the six agency; we are a state agency for “It’s not exactly an ‘upside,’ but it aggregated and reported,” Walsh said. areas accounted for a small portion of research and public service. Examining the is showing us a lot about the faults in “That was one of the bigger issues we the injected saltwater. Total injected seismicity rates will give us, the OCC and Oklahoma – and it’s a great research brought up.” flowback approached 20 percent in only

operators insight to the effects of mitigation playground for people all over the world.” EXPLORER Fortunately, the percentage of errors one of the study areas. was small and the study report said Oklahoma includes several plays that produce significant water, including an extensive dewatering project in the Hunton Reservoir, Walsh noted. “There are plays like the Mississippi Lime where there’s high water cut from the beginning because you’re producing from a paleo reef,” he said. “In the Hunton play, dewatering is an entirely different process from hydraulic fracturing.” While just a subset of faults in crystalline basement are potentially active, the Oklahoma study areas include stressed faults that have a history of non- negligible seismicity, Walsh and Zoback found. “In the context of critically stressed crust, small perturbations of fluid pressure have the potential to initiate slip on pre-existing faults that are already close to frictional failure. The stresses on the faults are the result of natural geologic processes – the same process that results in naturally occurring seismicity in other intraplate areas,” they wrote. “We understand that the size of the earthquake is going to depend on the size of the fault and the stresses on the fault, which depend on its slip history,” Walsh said. Further studies could help pinpoint the specifics of induced seismicity in Oklahoma, according to Walsh. He said geoscientists and petroleum engineers have reached a high degree of expertise in generating relevant models. “The limiting factor isn’t their ability and knowledge,” he said. “Really, the limiting factor is having the right kind of data.”

Shared Responsibility

Researchers at Stanford are working to identify the critically stressed active faults in Oklahoma, “to empower the operators,” Walsh said. He believes future earthquake activity could be minimized without halting injection operations – for instance, by injecting wastewater back into producing formations instead of the Arbuckle. “One of the things we have said is that injecting into the producing formation is one of the biggest no-brainer ways to continue the injections,” Walsh said. But the study findings aren’t comforting to those who believe Oklahoma’s earthquake activity can be stopped simply by reducing injections at a few wells. Surrounding or nearby wells also might be contributing to the stress perturbations. “Now,” Walsh said, “you need to worry about what the people around you are

doing.” EXPLORER 10 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 11 Geophysical EXPLORER review Adding value with azimuthal attributes Leveraging the ‘Hidden Dimension’ 3-D Seismic By HEATHER SAUCIER, EXPLORER Correspondent any in the 3-D seismic business energy arrives in a sinusoidal pattern, are familiar with the offset with a fast direction (early arrival time) Mdimension in seismic data and a slow direction (delayed arrival because they work with pre-stack offset time), he explained. gathers on a routine basis. Fewer, Correcting for both VTI and HTI however, recognize the other important anisotropy produces flat gathers in both dimension located in these offset traces: offset and azimuth, resulting in sharper the azimuthal dimension. images even at far-angular offsets. While the seismic industry has Clearer seismic data produces more traditionally ignored the azimuthal accurate traditional rock properties – dimension, it is now beginning to ultimately resulting in better production recognize this important consideration in models, which positively impact field seismic data processing. development strategies and result in Calling the azimuthal dimension the lower costs, he said. “hidden dimension” in 3-D seismic data, Not solving for both VTI and HTI Bill McLain, vice president of Seismic anisotropy essentially means that Processing at Global Geophysical valuable pieces of information are being Services said that if recognized and left on the table and that distortions will properly processed for, far-angle, wide- continue to skew seismic data. azimuth data will respond with more “We have lots of anecdotal feedback accurate offset amplitudes and rock Map view of the magnitude of azimuthal anisotropy (colors) co-rendered with fault probability from clients in the Marcellus, Eagle Ford property attributes. (black lines) over an 80 square-mile area of the Eagle Ford in south Texas. Warmer colors such and Niobrara unconventional plays where It can also provide new azimuthal as red, orange and yellow represent higher levels of azimuthal anisotropy. pattern drilling hits one of these HTI attributes that serve as proxies for anisotropy anomalies, and production differential horizontal pressure, fractures fundamentally contains more information Even if oil hovers around $38 a barrel, just spikes,” McLain said. and even fluid types. This improved set than narrow-azimuth data typical of older the cost of acquiring wide-azimuth data of offset and azimuthal attributes, when cabled systems.” remains beneficial to a field development A Patented Approach combined using a multi-variant statistical Advances in seismic processing, operation, McLain said. approach, can lead to improved including regularization strategies and “The added cost for this additional In 2005, Weinman Geoscience, which production prediction models. solving for seismic anisotropy, also play data is quite small compared to the uplift was acquired by Global Geophysical in And, the ability to better predict a critical role in leveraging 3-D seismic in the accuracy of the 3-D seismic to 2008, became the first service company production – especially sweet and data. So does the methodology in predict production and how this accuracy to incorporate HTI anisotropy into its sour spots – allows for strategic well combining traditional rock properties, impacts well placement and completion imaging algorithm. After successfully placement and completion strategies, such as ductile-brittleness, with azimuthal strategies,” he said. solving a strong anisotropy imaging which will lower field development costs variations in amplitude and velocity, problem in Cook Inlet, Alaska this over time. which reveals valuable information about Anatomy of Anisotropy technology received a patent in 2007, Operators are already adopting fractures, overpressure and fluids, and McLain said. elements of this production prediction ultimately leads to a more accurate There are two types of anisotropy The approach seeks to quantify at attribute approach by geo-steering production prediction attribute and new typically found in seismic data: vertical each image point (i.e., common mid- through the production prediction volume field development strategies, McLain transverse Isotropy (VTI anisotropy), point, time sample) within the seismic and skipping certain stage completions, said. and horizontal transverse Isotropy (HTI volume the two attributes that describe which has led to increased production at Wide-azimuth data acquisition greatly anisotropy). root mean square (rms) HTI anisotropy: lower cost, McLain said. enhances the predictive ability and VTI anisotropy is caused by vertical Vfast azimuth, or the direction of He made his case for “squeezing accuracy of the resulting 3-D seismic versus horizontal velocity differences in anisotropy, and the ellipticity factor, or the more information from 3-D seismic data. Once one can accurately predict the subsurface, and it distorts reflection magnitude of anisotropy. data” at the Landmark Innovation Forum hydrocarbon production numbers, then arrival times in seismic data with earlier The algorithm measures HTI and Expo in Houston in August. In a the processes of well placement and than expected times, especially in the far- anisotropy by systematically imaging presentation titled, “Leveraging 3-D stage completions become much more angular offsets. This type of anisotropy is the data using different combinations of Seismic for Lower Field Development cost effective, versus pattern drilling and best seen on offset gathers and is usually HTI parameters and then determining Costs,” he took audience members well completions, McLain said. referred to as the “hockey-stick” effect, which azimuth/factor pair maximizes down a highly technical path toward the “This new strategy increases overall McLain said. stack power at each output image point, proverbial pot of gold. production of the well and lowers the HTI anisotropy is caused by horizontal McLain said. “Everybody,” he said, “needs to start cost of the well at the same time,” he variations in velocity in the subsurface Because ranges of likely HTI thinking about the hidden dimension in said. “More production and lower costs and manifests itself as small timing parameters are systematically scanned, seismic data.” mean improved efficiency and may allow distortions in 3-D seismic data, especially the approach has become known as certain field development economics on the far-angular offsets. However, it “Migration Scanning Analysis,” and it Evolution of 3-D Seismic to work even at these lower oil and gas is best seen on shot-receiver azimuthal uniquely incorporates the anisotropy into prices.” image gathers, in which the reflected the HTI analysis itself, he added. For the past decade or more, 3-D “Several service providers are now seismic data has been used to locate creating reservoir anisotropy properties,” sweet spots in unconventional reservoirs. McLain added. “But Global is winning Yet, how the data is acquired, processed validation studies where we tie our and interpreted can have an enormous interval anisotropy attributes to well impact on success, McLain said. control that has either FMI or cross- The secret lies in acquiring far-angle, dipole sonic information, which gives wide-azimuth data. This richer type of us confidence that we are doing things seismic data captures more information correctly.” at each sub-surface image point than Ultimately it is production prediction would otherwise be captured during that validates the azimuthal attributes seismic data acquisition. best, McLain added. “In the past, this type of data was “When we add the HTI azimuthal difficult and costly to acquire because attributes into the multi-variate statistical of the limitations of cabled recording analysis to predict production, the systems,” McLain said. “Yet, today’s correlation coefficient of actual autonomous nodal recording systems production versus predicted production are much more flexible and have nearly always goes up,” he said. “This tells us unlimited scalability – making wide- that azimuthal attributes derived from azimuth data much easier to acquire far-angle, wide-azimuth data are adding at little or no additional cost. “It has value to the process of production Offset amplitude inversion of the Fort Peck 3-D seismic data showing the rock property helped to generate better images and prediction, and that sweet and sour spots attributes density and shear-wave velocity, extracted at and around the Bakken interval.

new attributes” he added, because it are more accurately being identified.” EXPLORER 12 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 13 Geophysical EXPLORER review Surprising no one ... Downturn Hammers Geophysical Industry, Too By LOUISE S. DURHAM, EXPLORER Correspondent

n the current oil market, much ink has going to start going by the wayside.” do 3-D but don’t have much budget,” been devoted to operators pulling And, in fact, it’s already happening. Fleure said, “so this way they get 3-D at a Iback on drilling activity and selling Certain operating companies lower cost.” off assets, including prime pieces of continue to announce cutbacks, and He emphasized that this is an property. they are accompanied by some of their effort being used at Global, and not But what about the geophysical side geophysical brethren. necessarily an industry trend. of the business? ION Geophysical, an established firm Seismic surveys and data, for outside of Houston, is a recent casualty, Workforce, Technological Impacts instance, are crucial to exploration. announcing a 25-percent reduction in its But when exploration slows and workforce. WHITE MARTIN Of course, current market conditions actually halts in some places, explorers Tom Fleure, senior vice president are particularly challenging for anyone aren’t expected to ink pricey seismic of geophysical technology at Global software as opposed to hardware. trying to start their careers in the contracts and other services. At best, Geophysical Services, shared some But, there’s a problem when it comes geophysical industry, and in the oil and they’ll bring all of their bargaining skills to of his observations about the current to bringing in and retaining the needed gas industry in general. the negotiating table in an attempt to get tumultuous times. software developers. “Newcomers coming in to see it more for less. “Some of our clients are going through “We’re competing with other deteriorate are not apt to weather this There has been some buzz about how a lot, even the big guys,” he said. industries, and these guys are hard to storm,” White predicted. “It will be a the downturn is actually a good thing, “From a contractor’s point of view, get,” Fleure noted. “Others see what’s wake-up call for young guys who say giving everyone in the oil industry time to business is down at least a half and happening to our industry, and there are they don’t want to go through this. Many regroup and focus more on cutting costs, maybe as much as 70 to 80 percent from other industries they can go to.” of the veterans are leaving, too. ramping up R&D and becoming more a couple of years ago,” he noted. Global concentrates on the surface “We’ve done a poor job of managing efficient overall. rather than downhole. Fleure explained supply and demand, so the oil This is nonsense, according to Research and Development that microseismic tends to dominate companies win and get stuff cheaper and industry veteran Jim White, president of their conversations with clients today, take advantage,” he said. Houston-based ARKeX. “From a technology point of view, it particularly with regard to microseismic “The one thing, maybe, new blood “We (industry) are barely keeping the doesn’t mean you stop working on new data’s contributions to shale plays. might bring to the equation is the outlook lights on,” he noted with dismay. “The stuff,” Fleure commented. “We’re still Among other areas of expertise, to deviate from the norm and change notion that we benefit from a refocused going forward with our own R&D and Global pushes the access-constrained our approach to doing business by not downturn is a farce.” engineering.” targets, using roads and trails for bringing more capacity into the equation “In this business, you’re dead if you vibroseis rather than offroads, which can and going back to the same old things,” Not Your Father’s Downturn stop, because all will go by you when this be problematic. Think of the West, for he noted optimistically. turns around,” he added. example, where the BLM controls offroad When asked about new technology, “This time is different,” White Software and algorithms take access. which will continue to be a must-have, emphasized. “I’ve never seen it happen manpower, but not huge capital The resulting 3-D is chaotic, or White predicted that much of it will quite so dramatically as this go-around. investments, so Fleure predicts pseudo-random, and it’s price-driven. We’re in a position where companies are companies will spend available funds on “We have a lot of clients who want to See Upbeat Prediction, page 22

14 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 15 Geophysical EXPLORER review Massive Magma Reservoir Discovered Beneath Yellowstone By KEN MILAM, EXPLORER Correspondent

he discovery and imaging of a u Previous research has shown the mammoth magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone hotspot plume rises from Tthe Yellowstone supervolcano is a a depth of at least 440 miles within the capstone to decades of research, said Earth’s mantle. Some researchers suspect geophysicist Robert B. Smith. it originates 1,800 miles deep at Earth’s Smith should know – he’s been core. studying the Yellowstone system for 55 The plume rises from the depths years. northwest of Yellowstone. The plume Scientists have long known of a conduit is roughly 50 miles wide as it smaller magma chamber, but the new rises through the Earth’s mantle and then chamber – 4.4 times larger – helps spreads out “like a pancake” as it hits the answer the questions about the volcanic uppermost mantle about 40 miles deep. system. Earlier Utah studies indicated the “It’s the first time plume head was 300 miles wide. The new we’ve completed study suggests it may be smaller, but the a whole 3-D image data aren’t good enough to know for sure. completely through the crust,” Smith said. u Hot and partly molten rock rises Smith, researcher in dikes from the top of the plume at and professor 40 miles’ depth up to the bottom of the emeritus at the 11,200-cubic-mile magma reservoir, University of Utah, about 28 miles deep. The top of the newly is a co-author of a SMITH discovered blob-shaped magma reservoir paper discussing the is about 12 miles deep, Huang said. study, published earlier this year in the Map of the seismic stations used in this study and the P-wave velocity cross-section locations The reservoir measures 30 miles journal, Science. in the Yellowstone area. northwest to southeast and 44 miles The study utilized seismic tomography southwest to northeast. from years of earthquake data to create “We now have a new working model” and horizontal cracks, known as dikes “Having this lower magma body images similar to a CT scan of the earth, for Yellowstone and other volcanic and sills, or as blobs, the authors said. resolved the missing link of how the he said. systems, Smith said. They still believe such cracks move hot plume connects to the magma chamber The magma chamber and reservoirs rock from the plume head to the magma in the upper crust,” co-author Fan-Chi Lin The Largest Risk are filled with hot, mostly solid rock like reservoir and from there to the shallow said. a sponge, Smith said, with molten rock magma chamber. While the discovery garnered filling the pockets. The new study employed a technique u The 2,500-cubic-mile upper magma headlines because of public fascination The upper chamber is about 2 percent developed by Huang to combine seismic chamber sits beneath Yellowstone’s with the supervolcano, Smith said melt while the upper chamber is about information from local quakes detected 40-by-25-mile caldera, or giant crater. the study doesn’t change the risk 9 percent melt. That matches earlier in Utah, Idaho, the Teton Range and Farrell said it is shaped “like a gigantic assessment of a catastrophic eruption: 1 predictions, according to the authors. Yellowstone by the University of Utah frying pan” about three to nine miles in 700,000 in any given year. Smith said the study is the result Seismograph Stations with data from beneath the surface, with a “handle” “That’s pretty small,” he said. of advances in methodology and new more distant quakes detected by the rising to the northeast. But it also shed light on a more data gathered over years by several National Science Foundation-funded The chamber is about 19 miles from immediate hazard, he said. cooperating entities. EarthScope array, which was used to northwest to southeast and 55 miles “People don’t appreciate the largest A seismic array 200 and 300 map the underground structure of the southwest to northeast. The handle is the risk: earthquakes,” he said. “Earthquakes kilometers wide uses data from about lower 48 states. shallowest, longest part of the chamber occur in and around these big faults with 60 stations, with installation begun in The Utah seismic network has that extends 10 miles northeast of the a frequency that is much higher. They 1983, he said. In that time, seismic data closely spaced seismometers that are caldera. are a much higher risk and higher hazard has been gathered from some 45,000 better at imaging the shallower crust Scientists once thought the shallow than volcanoes. Yellowstone quakes. beneath Yellowstone, while EarthScope’s magma chamber was 1,000 cubic “A 7.3 earthquake in Yellowstone in “It’s high-quality data collected in real seismometers are better at making miles. But at science meetings and in a 1959 killed 28 people,” he said. “There’s time at the University of Utah,” he said. images of deeper structures. published paper this past year, Farrell been no volcanic eruption in 70,000 “We provide the data and the public has and Smith showed the chamber was 2.5 years.” access to it immediately.” The Yellowstone System times bigger than once thought. That has Thomas A. Drean, AAPG member and Before the new discovery, researchers not changed in the new study. director of the Wyoming State Geological had envisioned partly molten rock As the authors explained, this is how Survey, agreed. moving upward from the Yellowstone the new study depicts the Yellowstone Discovery of the magma reservoir “The reason we monitor in Wyoming hotspot plume via a series of vertical system, from bottom to top: below the magma chamber solves a and monitor Yellowstone is not only longstanding mystery: Why Yellowstone’s curiosity. The biggest issue for us is soil and geothermal features emit more public health and safety and associated carbon dioxide than can be explained by geological hazards,” Drean said. gases from the magma chamber. “The biggest takeaway (in the study) Farrell said a deeper magma reservoir for people, and yes, a nice addition for had been hypothesized because of the us, is that it has not increased the risk or excess carbon dioxide, which comes hazard probability,” Drean said. from molten and partly molten rock. Smith said the next step is integrating A New Working Model global positioning system data with GPS array paralleling the seismic. The newly found reservoir lies 12 to He added that the reservoir discovery 28 miles below the supervolcano. In a is gratifying, combining years of data University of Utah press release, co-author collection and putting together computer Jamie Farrell said the hot rock in it could programs and instrumentation from many fill the Grand Canyon 11.2 times over. people and agencies. “For the first time, we have imaged He said at least 30 graduate students the continuous volcanic plumbing have done theses based on the system under Yellowstone,” said Yellowstone research. first author Hsin-Hua Huang, also a “It’s a long record and it really paid off postdoctoral researcher in geology and in this paper,” he said. geophysics. “That includes the upper Now 76, Smith said he began studying crustal magma chamber we have seen Yellowstone “just out of high school.” previously plus a lower crustal magma He maintains a full schedule of reservoir that has never been imaged research, lecturing and field trips and still before and that connects the upper finds Yellowstone fascinating. chamber to the Yellowstone hotspot “There’s a new discovery every year,” Depth slices of the Yellowstone tomographic P-wave model. plume below.” he said. “That’s what keeps me going.” EXPLORER 16 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

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OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 19 Geophysical EXPLORER review Filling Mexico’s 2-D Seismic Gap By HEATHER SAUCIER, EXPLORER Correspondent

ust after Mexico announced it under a microscope.” would open to international oil and While Mexico is making available 3-D Jgas investors after 76 years of seismic data for potential investors, Gresko nationalization, exciting exploration plays said most geologists want to study data believed to exist on the Mexican side of from 2-D seismic to high-grade areas before the Perdido Fold Belt and in the Bay of spending a greater amount of money to take Campeche salt basin became of great a closer look. interest to third-party investors. Mexico began its first round of bidding Advantages of 2-D Seismic last December with one major disadvantage to the bidders: an almost complete lack Using seismic streamers that are 12 of seismic data to investigate the detailed kilometers long, ION has generated a regional geology of Mexico. widely spaced and deeply imaged “grid” “Until recently, that bends and curves through significant there has been no features in the Gulf of Mexico. seismic data available “In order to get the best picture, you for companies shoot a line perpendicular to the structure or outside of Pemex,” feature you are looking at, so the lines curve said AAPG member when the geology underneath has moved in Mark Gresko, former a different direction,” Gresko said. “It ends director of geology up looking not very grid-like but more like a and geophysics at ION spider’s web.” Geophysical, speaking Long cables allow a geoscientist to GRESKO of the country’s The seismic survey, formally called the Gulf of Mexico.” “see” deeper into a basin. During the national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos. YucatanSPAN by ION, was made available Fast-track, pre-stack time migrated MexicoSPAN project, ION captured 18 “Mexico is a frontier basin for everyone to companies looking to understand the (PSTM) data has already been delivered to seconds of “listening” – as opposed to except Pemex,” he said. regional geology in the southern Gulf of the underwriters. Final PSTM and pre-stack the more typical 6, 8 or 10 seconds of Anticipating Mexico’s announcement, Mexico. depth migrated data will be delivered in the recording. ION executives partnered with the University ION followed that effort with the shooting first quarter of 2016. “The longer you listen, the deeper you of Texas Institute for Geophysics, which of an extensive 2-D seismic program The MexicoSPAN program, which hear, and the deeper you can image,” conducted a scientific 2-D seismic survey of totaling more than 22,000 line-kilometers completed acquisition in September, Gresko said, explaining that ION’s data the southern Gulf of Mexico approximately throughout the southern Gulf of Mexico. coincides with Mexico’s first bidding round reaches depths up to 40 kilometers. 30 years ago, and began reprocessing the When combined with the company’s and offers operators broad-based insight “That’s much deeper than you would data at a fast and furious pace – completing existing data from its YucatanSPAN, into Mexico’s geology in the Gulf, Gresko vertically drill a well,” he said. “But it the process at the end of 2014. GulfSPAN and FloridaSPAN packages, the said. gives you a full picture of the sediments “ION had insight into the opening of new data from MexicoSPAN will deliver what “2-D seismic data provides the big and underlying rocks within the Mexico,” Gresko said. “It worked out well for ION announced recently as “the industry’s picture that tells you about the whole them in the short term.” only complete, basin-wide regional view of basin,” he said. “3-D is looking at things See Deeper Data, page 22

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(IAGC), but there may be a long wait now welcoming new operators. Deeper Data Upbeat Prediction until they’re realized. Given the severity of the current from page 20 from page14 “IAGC is focused on the overall global down cycle, the industry may look quite energy demand long term,” said recently different before long. basement of the basin.” originate at the universities with funding installed IAGC president Nikki Martin. “One way to look at it is that it’s like a Geologists reply on 2-D seismic for by the industry. Martin is the first female to cleansing,” White said. knowledge such as a basin’s age and “For now, the challenge is to be appointed to this role in the “It will promote discussions for history, the types of rocks it contains, faults, focus on what will bring immediate organization’s 44-year history. consolidation, and to me that’s a good folds, stratigraphic features and deep returns,” he said. “The last thing we “It’s estimated that by 2040, 80 thing, ” he asserted. “It will be a chance crustal images. need to be doing is looking for growth percent of global energy demand to right the ship and hopefully prepare The seismic is shot using wide spacing, opportunities.” will come from oil and gas,” she said. for the next one, so it won’t hurt as primarily 10 to 25 kilometers between lines. “Meeting energy demands is long term, much. We need to right-size the amount However, if an important structure is noted, Predictions and that can’t be driven by last year, this of supply for the current demand.” then more closely spaced lines are shot. year or next year’s oil prices.” And demand for geophysics is sure Two areas where more detailed As to the future, companies with good A telling comment about the situation to increase, according to Martin. geophysical data was gathered by ION are balance sheets are the ones who will make today came when Martin mentioned that, “You can’t have successful E&P the Perdido Fold Belt and the Campeche it through, as will the companies with their for the first time in a long time, there is without the geophysical industry,” she salt basin, Gresko said. own equipment, according to White. not one 3-D survey operating in the U.S. said. “So it will remain a critical part of “These are places where we know There are some upbeat predictions Gulf of Mexico, which some might find to exploration and development of global high-quality exploration prospects exist so emanating from the International be a tad unsettling, even though there is oil and natural gas resources for many we put more dense lines there,” he said. “A

Association of Geophysical Contractors some activity closer to Mexico, which is years to come.” EXPLORER lot of companies have a specific interest in the Perdido area and areas in the south in the Bay of Campeche. While Pemex has drilled a handful of wells in the Perdido fold belt, it has not explored very much in the Campeche salt basin. The geology there is very difficult and complex, but it’s very prospective. It looks interesting from an exploration point of view.” Companies that choose to acquire 2-D seismic data and subsequently want to know more about a particular area can request that close-space 2-D seismic be shot, or they can acquire 3-D seismic data, which is now available at Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH). “Mexico has put together data packages,” Gresko said, “but they lack the initial 2-D data that companies need to make their own interpretations and decisions.”

Back to Economics

Oil has been proven to be in Mexico. However, the lagging question continues to be how economical it is to produce. “The hydrocarbon system is there,” Gresko said. “The price of oil is key.” On the U.S. deepwater side of the Gulf, there are existing production facilities that make future U.S. discoveries economically viable. However, if new prospective areas are found on the Mexican side, the discoveries must be large enough to support the cost of new infrastructure to move the hydrocarbons to market. “The United States has been involved in expensive deepwater drilling, but the costs are coming down because of more efficient drilling and development processes,” Gresko said. “Producing oil on the Mexican side at $40 a barrel will be challenging. I would think that if prices increase to $60 or $70 a barrel, things will become economical on the Mexican side.” However, even if operators have to wait out the current price of oil, 2-D seismic imaging spanning the entire Gulf of Mexico could assist operators on the U.S. side, Gresko said. By correlating key U.S. well data with the 2-D Mexican seismic lines, new information about U.S. geology might be revealed. For example, the carbonate reefs of the southern Gulf of Mexico could have similarities to those near Florida, Gresko said. If carbonate plays in Mexico are successful, the same could hold true on the U.S. side. The key to everything begins with 2-D seismic data. “It gives you the big picture,” Gresko said. “And, when you look at a basin as a whole it helps piece the basin history together. Then you’ll make better business decisions as to where to focus your

exploration activity and investments.” EXPLORER 22 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 23 Geophysical EXPLORER review Geosteering For Well Placement Efficiency By LOUISE S. DURHAM, EXPLORER Correspondent

o be successful in the oil industry, the reserves potential is And in the oil patch, the clock is Shannon Lemke and her producers often need more than estimated to be always ticking loudly. colleagues at Vitruvian Exploration intelligence and talent. They need the 558 MMboe. “We had six months between closing T will present “Integration of courage to take risks. The acquisition the acquisition and getting the first rig to geosteering and drilling data for Look at The Woodlands-based Vitruvian included about 350 figure out as much as we could about well placement efficiency in the Exploration II LLC, for example. producing vertical wells. drilling in the (principally late Devonian- SCOOP horizontal Woodford play” The company acquired about 38,500 The real challenge lay age) Woodford,” said Vitruvian staff at the 2015 AAPG Mid-Continent contiguous acres in the Woodford South ahead, though. geologist Shannon Lemke. Section Meeting in Tulsa this month, Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) “The acquisition included interest and Oct. 4-6 at the downtown Hyatt shale play in December 2012. Steep Learning Curve data in 27 horizontal Woodford wells drilled Regency Hotel. The leased area is in the highly LEMKE by three different operators,” she noted. concentrated liquids-rich window of the This is unconventional “The data includes both MWD, gamma play, according to Vitruvian president reservoir rock, which generally demands that Vitruvian had no horizontal drilling ray data and also the surveys for each and CEO Richard Lane. He noted the horizontal drilling technology in order to experience in the deep Anadarko basin, horizontal well drilled.” SCOOP area has excellent reservoir rock, reach its production potential. although its staff members had gained Using 40 type logs, the Vitruvian team so it comes as no surprise when he says The proverbial fly in the ointment was expertise in laterals elsewhere. developed a stratigraphic correlation across the basin so they could split up the Woodford into nine different units. Prior to embarking on their own drilling program, the geoscience team used this framework to build a geosteering database and analyze which Woodford intervals were being targeted by other operators.

Multi-Purpose Geosteering

Although commonly viewed as a means to keep the drill bit on course while traversing the laterals, geosteering also can be used for regional evaluation and optimization of specific target intervals when embarking on a play. Vitruvian uses a geosteering program from Stoner engineering called SES. “Using a type log, a survey and gamma ray data, we’re able to geosteer each of the wells and determine at any point along the wellbore what part of our stratigraphic framework those wells fit into,” Lemke said. In other words, by utilizing collected data and the software program, post-drill geosteering can be used to determine exactly where a well landed no matter the operator. “This is what we had to do with the data to get ready to drill our own wells, understanding where all of the offset operators are targeting the Woodford,” Lemke said. Beginning in mid-2014, rate of penetration (ROP) data were integrated with the geosteering data as a means to identify and target Woodford zones of high reservoir quality having more favorable ROP. “We can see zones that clearly drill faster than others and see how our ROP averages in our wells versus the competition,” Lemke noted. “If it’s not sufficient, we can tell the drilling department and give them the data.” Oklahoma is especially attractive for operators given that owning any interest in a section means you’re in a well when it’s drilled. Even minuscule land ownership means the company owns a piece of the action. “We get all the data in every well we participate in, no matter how small our interest,” Lemke emphasized. Even though actually buying the data via participation, the price tag tends to pale in comparison to the value. When queried as to the wisdom of running four rigs currently, Lemke noted they are hedged for now. Since Vitruvian began its SCOOP activity, it already has completed 25 company-operated Woodford wells and continues assimilating knowledge on how best to optimize each new well in this area where differences are the rule rather

than the exception. EXPLORER 24 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

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Graphics courtesy of Spectrum ASA Data Purchase ‘Changes Game’ By KEN MILAM, EXPLORER Correspondent

imes may be tough for seismic items. No employees from Fugro will be companies, but not all companies are transferred to Spectrum as part of the deal. Twaiting for the current storm to pass. Eng said the two libraries “entirely Spectrum ASA recently moved to gain complement each other” with minimal a greater global footprint by purchasing overlap, and the data is accessible Fugro’s 2-D seismic library – a move immediately. Spectrum CEO Rune Eng called a “game Data quality is of ever-increasing changer” for the multi-client seismic importance in the industry, he said. imaging company. “Many believe that our industry is The new library exceeds three million currently experiencing one of the worst kilometers of 2-D multi-client seismic data. downturns in its history, if not the worst,” “Strategically, this was important for Eng said. “This is especially evident if you (our) growth with increased geographical reflect on the overcapacity of vessels in the footprint of data coverage and greater industry and the anticipated period of lower interaction with oil companies,” Eng said. demand for seismic services. The transaction “ranks us as number 5 “We, as a whole, must adapt through in the world in terms of the size of our 3-D ever-higher efficiencies and lower unit seismic library,” he said, “with a strong costs,” he said. presence in Australia and Norway. For Spectrum, the new position “Spectrum is now a natural speaking “facilitates unique volume deals with key partner in most sedimentary basins around clients, attracts more interest with global the world.” exploration super majors and provides The purchase price was $115 million unique opportunities to national oil on a cash and debt-free basis, and was companies who are seeking investments funded by a combination of bank debt and abroad,” Eng said. a guaranteed share issue, according to a And the Spectrum CEO sees more company statement. expansion ahead. Spectrum agreed to acquire three “It is our goal to continue to expand its subsidiaries of Fugro holding the Fugro global reach and the volume of data that multi-client data library, as well as certain we can offer to our clients,” he said. “We U.S. multi-client library assets. will continue to work with them to help them The scope of the transaction includes develop the next generation exploration hot

the entire Fugro multi-client library, with spots.” EXPLORER the exception of certain non-transferrable

Overview of the North American portion of Fugro’s multi-client library.

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WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 29 EXPLORER Getting real about the Red Planet A Down-to-Earth Approach to Mars Exploration By BRIAN ERVIN, EXPLORER Assistant Managing Editor

he notion of terraforming and colonizing Mars has graduated Tfrom the realm of wildly imaginative science fiction into the realm of real- world possibility, but “possibility” and “practical reality” currently remain – literally – worlds apart. In the August EXPLORER article, “How to Create a New Home of the Red Planet,” AAPG Astrogeology Committee members Bruce Cutright and William Ambrose explained how the planet Mars could be terraformed into a new home for humanity, following the plan outlined All photos courtesy of NASA by aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin and NASA planetary scientist Christopher NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of the sun setting at the close of the mission’s 956th Martian day (April 15, 2015) from the McKay, which Ambrose and Cutright rover’s location in Gale Crater. It illustrates just how alien an environment Mars would be for colonists from Earth. presented recently at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in Denver. those of the highly publicized experiments in self-contained twilight,” he explained. “The brightest part That plan involves crashing comets and controversial non-profit environments, like the University of your day would be evening lighting that onto the surface, putting giant parabolic organization Mars One, which of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 and we would have here.” reflectors in orbit and pumping aims to establish a permanent the Johnson Space Center’s He also noted that anyone traveling greenhouse gases into the sparse colony on Mars through a series enclosed mission area, but to Mars would have to come to terms atmosphere of Mars – all in an effort to of one-way trips by 2027. none have been self-sustaining, with the fact that they wouldn’t hear raise the temperature and atmospheric This is according to AAPG Reilly explained. the sound of rain, the sound of birds pressure to something closer to Earth’s member James F. Reilly who, “None of them have been singing, or see green trees and grass conditions. as a NASA astronaut with really full up where you’re for several long years, which would take REILLY But is that plan feasible with today’s multiple shuttle missions and growing your food, you’re also more of a psychological toll than many technology? space walks under his belt, knows about growing the plants that will regenerate might realize. “Sort of the answer to your question is, the planning and preparation needed for the oxygen in the environment for the “You’re going to be gone from home ‘Yes, but … ’” Ambrose said. such an undertaking. crew, the completely enclosed water for somewhere around three years, and “We certainly understand how we Reilly also presented at the recent filtration systems that are going to be you’ve got to figure out how we’re going could do it – the energy that it would take ACE in Denver. required,” he said. “There are pieces of to accomplish that ability to give them to find the right-sized comet and bring it Simply getting to Mars, he said, is that, of course, in the International Space sort of the Star Trek ‘holodeck’ experience into a grazing-type orbit, so the impact a significant enough challenge in itself Station, but nowhere have we actually so that they can ‘come home’ at least for energy would be minimized,” he said. – and not just because of the practical done end-to-end, full up, completely 30 minutes or so,” said Reilly. “The things “The actual rocket engine to do that limits of the available propulsion enclosed environments that would be the that you don’t even think about, that we is under development,” he continued. technology. We also lack the capability equivalent to what we would have to have take for granted, are the things we would “Realistically, it would have to be for the kind of indefinitely sustainable, in order to go to Mars.” probably miss the most.” something like the nuclear thermal self-contained artificial environment There’s also the psychological health rocket engines or the nuclear-electric needed even to visit Mars, much less of the astronauts to consider. Running Start rocket engines that have been tested, remain there. “Photosensitivity would be a big issue that we know we could build them if we “The current estimates are that we’re for folks,” Reilly said. Mars might be the next logical giant had the will. going to have to recycle about 97 percent “One of the misperceptions about leap for mankind, but it’s going to take “So, the answer is, ‘Certainly. We can of everything we’re going to be using and Mars comes from the imagery we get quite a few smaller steps first to get a do that.’ We don’t happen to have those doing on the way there, while we’re on the back. If you were to look at, say, the Rover running start for that leap. engines sitting in a warehouse now, surface and, of course, coming back,” imagery, they’ve been not only color- “We’re not quite there yet. We’re but we certainly have the plans and the Reilly said. balanced, but also given a brightness working on it. In fact, a number of major capability of doing that,” Ambrose added. “And we don’t really do that kind of that would reflect what we would see here projects on the International Space Station recycling in any aspect of our lives here in daylight on the surface of the Earth. are to look at how we would actually get Getting Realistic on the ground, or even in space for that The actual fact of the matter is that Mars there and survive,” Reilly said. matter,” he added. “We actually have a is only receiving half the solar energy, in In addition, he said work continues on Obviously, turning Mars into a new fairly high consumable rate, even on the terms of light, that we get here. Earth toward creating the self-contained, Earth is still a few decades off – but so International Space Station.” “So living on the surface of Mars would are slightly less ambitious goals, like There have been numerous be very much like living in permanent See Practice, page 32

An elongated crater called “Spirit of St. Louis,” with a rock spire in it, dominates this scene from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. In this version of the image, the landscape is presented in false color to make differences in surface materials more easily visible. 30 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 31 EXPLORER and benefits that can be used here on the Practice ground.” from page 30 “The spinoffs that everybody talks about from the Apollo program – the computer self-sustaining environments needed to systems every one of us uses now, the colonize Mars. life-support and human health technology “Let’s pursue that. If you want to pursue a and health monitoring that came out of Mars One-type objective, let’s see if we can the Apollo program – those are the things make that work for that period of time here that have benefited everyone, not just the on the ground,” he said. astronauts that have to go to the moon,” Also, along with being a worthwhile Ambrose added. “(AAPG Honorary object of exploration for its own sake, member) Harrison Schmitt’s discovery of Earth’s moon makes for a pretty good helium-3 and quantification of titanium and “practice Mars,” if we can muster the other resources on the moon – that doesn’t public interest to return. just stand as an independent discovery. “The moon is the perfect laboratory That stands as a huge reservoir of energy for that, particularly looking at the ability that we, the human species, will be able to put people in a completely enclosed to exploit in the future through helium-3 and regenerable environment but have deuterium fusion reactions.” them close enough so that if you have The benefits would be inestimable, while a crop failure or something unforeseen the price of not doing it would be calamitous happens, you’re only two or three days for the human race. away from getting them spare parts, or if “What if we choose not to explore? What the absolute worst happens, getting back if we as geologists and engineers choose home,” Reilly said. This view from the mast camera on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows a site where two not to explore?” Cutright asked. “It’s a His hope and expectation is that lunar different types of bedrock meet on lower Mount Sharp. failure of nerve were we to choose not to exploration in the next few years – and do that, and it comes back to the most Martian exploration in the next 50 – will “Of course, it’s paid for itself many times basic every day life of every human: Shall begin to see a model similar to that of over in all the things we have done up to this we choose to have a declining standard of Antarctica, which has had a permanent point in space exploration,” he continued, living? Shall we choose to have a declining research presence since the 1940s, “but it’s hard to recognize that on the front quality of life? Because that’s what the cycling teams in and out in four- to six- end, so governments have to go to the choice is. month increments. populace to fund the projects.” “We wax philosophical, but these “When it comes to putting a However, if we can clear the are truly, very much at-home practical permanent human presence on the technological hurdles necessary to get questions that we as members of AAPG surface,” Reilly said, “I think that under humans to Mars, the benefits will go far need to talk about and need to promote,” the current spending profiles that people AMBROSE CUTRIGHT beyond having a new planet to inhabit. he added. “All people aren’t going to seem to be looking at, we’re 30-50 years It would help to renew the planet we resonate with the idea of going to terraform out.” decision-makers, and the people who vote already have. Mars, but when you bring it back to ‘Shall A New World for them, have the will to do it. For instance, if scientists and engineers we choose not to improve our quality of “The benefits are somewhat diffuse,” can crack the code on self-contained, life? Shall we choose not to educate our And if 30-50 years seems like a long Reilly said. “In other words, it’s hard to sustainable artificial environments to serve children?’ Those are the choices that really time, consider this: That’s the fast-track, advertise ‘this is what it’s going to be worth as interplanetary and Martian habitats, Reilly underlie this whole idea of choosing to

and even that will be possible only if the to society in the future.’ said, “there’ll be literally hundreds of spinoffs expand and prosper as a species.” EXPLORER

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WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 33 Historical Highlights is an ongoing EXPLORER series that celebrates the “eureka” moments of petroleum geology, the rise of key concepts, the discoveries that made a difference, the perseverance and ingenuity of our colleagues – and/or their luck! – through stories that emphasize the anecdotes, the good yarns and the human interest side of our E&P profession. If you have such a story – and who doesn’t? – and you’d like to EXPLORER share it with your fellow AAPG members, contact Hans Krause at [email protected]. HISTORICALHIGHLIGHTS How the Jusepin Deep Field Was Discovered – And Lost By BOB ERLICH

he discovery and untimely loss of the considered to have been a failure, as Jusepin Deep Field in Venezuela is only two contracts were signed. The Ta story of creativity, perseverance, lack of prospectivity in the assets being technical excellence and emotion – which offered by PDVSA and restriction of are qualities we as geoscientists like to the contractors to currently producing feel we bring to our jobs every day. horizons was insufficient incentive for As with any such story, a technical foreign operators to take the financial risk. description of the process of how this PDVSA then decided to immediately discovery was made would involve details launch the second marginal fields bid like how the seismic data was eventually round, which took place in March 1993 processed to reveal a previously unseen (see figure 3). Again, Amoco Venezuela structure, or how structural geologic did not bid, even though this time the analysis was utilized to build a seamless, technical team recommended bids on risk-reducing model. several blocks. If the story focused only on the Despite of our no-bid status, Amoco technical work, though, the personal Venezuela underwent another growth aspects would be left out; specifically, the spurt. During that period from late 1991 sense of accomplishment and satisfaction to early 1994 Amoco re-opened an office that comes from getting the geology Map courtesy of Peter Mullin; in Caracas and the Houston/Caracas- right and of validating one’s technical data from DrillingInfo. based teams expanded to include 21 Inset map from Guevara capabilities in real time. professionals. With that in mind here’s an acount of Figure 1 – Jusepin Block, discovery wells, and surrounding fields. By the time we began preparations for how the dedication of the Total Venezuela the Second Marginal Fields bid round we and Amoco Venezuela technical teams AAPG member Bob Erlich is president and CEO of PanAtlantic finally had the organizational capability paid off, and how they got the geology Exploration. He’s held a number of senior technical and to handle the demands of the bid rounds and geophysics right to find a major oil executive positions during his more than three decade career and our multiple technical cooperation field when no one else believed it existed. with major multi-national and small independent oil and agreements. Although our staff and gas companies such as Amoco, Burlington Resources, BP, activities in the country increased, there Gradual Progress Petrolifera and Hess. His assignments included work in Trinidad, were no guarantees we would find a Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Suriname, Brazil, Costa successful “anchor project,” and my future The groundbreaking discovery of Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, the United in eastern Venezuela was also about to the super-giant El Furrial Field in 1986 Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China. change. prompted the entire oil industry to vie for ERLICH For some time I had been trying to the chance to become involved in this new convince Hans Krause (Intevep’s E&P play. Many companies tried to position meeting our Lagoven counterparts led a and the late Aldo Boccardo, who was a manager) to approve joint study proposals themselves with Petroleos de Venezuela joint field program in eastern Venezuela, very well respected Venezuelan geologist on various geologic problems of mutual (PDVSA) to become the “partner of during which the “Lagovitos” made a point and longtime PDVSA employee. interest. His response, regardless of choice,” and offered to work with the of wearing their Total baseball caps in the We began joint field studies with the proposal, was that the work already PDVSA affiliates on various technical field (figure 2). It was their way of sending Lagoven and Maraven in eastern and had been done during the BP-PDVSA service agreements. a clear and not too subtle message that western Venezuela, respectively, and by countrywide sequence stratigraphic study. Joint PDVSA-IOC projects focused we were not the only company trying to 1991 we believed we were ready for the After nearly two years of having my on various problems considered critical make an impression. first licensing round. proposals turned down, I decided that by PDVSA’s technical leadership, By 1990 our efforts had begun to pay The first marginal fields bid round Amoco should move forward on its own, such as depth processing of seismic off. Amoco Venezuela had positioned itself was announced in 1992 (figure 3) and so I left my position in eastern Venezuela data, sequence stratigraphy and well with senior PDVSA management to several of us spent two weeks at the Hotel to work on those projects in exclusively biostratigraphy. take part in an expanded set of technical Tamanaco in Caracas going through the western Venezuela. Amoco was no exception, and through cooperation agreements with the various PDVSA data rooms. Unfortunately, the My exit from eastern Venezuela meant personal and business contacts gradually affiliate companies (Lagoven, Corpoven blocks appeared to have little upside and that I would not directly participate in what began to develop a relationship with El and Maraven). were commercially unattractive, so we did would become the most important event Furrial operator Lagoven in the field of At that point, Amoco Venezuela not recommend bidding at the time. for Amoco in Venezuela. One of the three seismic depth imaging and processing. formally consisted of me (geoscience), All our efforts and work seemed to blocks we really liked in the second bid At the same time, Total had established Jon Blickwede (geoscience), Roger Neal fizzle out in an instant, and at first it looked round was the Jusepin Block (figure 1) – a similar relationship with Lagoven, and (engineering) and Alex Weisselberg like Amoco would fail in Venezuela. not for the old shallow field production, but was already working on joint projects in (negotiations). Our expanded set of for the deep potential. The existing 2-D the El Furrial play area (figure 1). projects very quickly led to a staff increase The “Risk Police” and an Anchor Point seismic suggested that a large, Furrial- In that highly competitive atmosphere that included several permanent and type thrust anticline might be present prior to “La Apertura” (“The Opening” consulting members, including Antenor Fortunately for us, and for the under the existing shallow field (figure 4). of the Venezuelan oil industry to private Aleman, Ralph Baker, Ron Nelson, Bob international industry in general, the first When Total captured the block we were investment), I became a charter member Marksteiner, the late George Kronman, marginal fields bid round was widely very disappointed but not completely of the new Amoco Venezuela and in surprised, knowing Total had been early 1989 took part in some of the first working on the play with Lagoven since at meetings and work sessions with Lagoven least 1989. in Caracas. That initial team included Bob Jean-Paul Barbot, at that time Marksteiner and the late Nelson Briceño, lead exploration geologist for Total in who presented Amoco’s depth seismic Venezuela, had seen the potential for interpretation of the Furrial-1 drill line, a new undrilled structure at depth and Wendy Hale-Erlich, Steve Barrett and pushed his management to bid on the myself. block. Jean-Paul recently described to me We all saw that meeting as a test how this happened: of Amoco’s technical capabilities and “The Jusepin block attracted my knowledge base. attention because I had worked previously The primary focus of that first project on the blocks to the south with the famous was to see how well Amoco could model El Furrial discoveries. Looking at the data lateral velocity variations within the provided by PDVSA I had the impression Carapita Formation, and by all accounts that another fold could be present north the work was well received. Steve and I of El Furrial within (the) Jusepin block. Of also presented some work we had done course it was not very easy to see and on regional tectonics and stratigraphic was more interpretative than being able

correlations between Venezuela and Photo courtesty of Bob Erlich to spot it on the poor seismic dataset. Trinidad. Especially since the seismic lines had All of our efforts were focused on Figure 2 – Amoco-Lagoven joint field team in Eastern Venezuela, 1989. Front: Wendy Hale- technical problems that had direct Erlich (left) and the late Berta Contreras; standing, from left: Rolf Juerges, Steve Barrett, relevance to the Furrial play. Following the Eduardo Alvarez and the late Marco Odehnal. See Risk Police, page 36 34 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 35 EXPLORER “Total decided then to farm out part of Risk Police its interest and I was asked to organize from page 34 that too. We contacted at the beginning only three companies and Amoco was one of them. I remember that I went to been acquired in different vintages with Houston to present the block to Amoco, different orientations and crossings in to Roger Sels and a woman geophysicist the southern part of the block where I (Ann Nevero). They seemed to like it and suspected the undrilled fold could be.” Amoco made a very quick offer to Total. “Total took (the) Jusepin block in this I had a big fight with my management round with a two-fold commitment: first, because I wanted to retain at least 60 a small redevelopment project for the percent to keep the majority but I lost this Nodosaria turbiditic sands (we did not want fight and Amoco took 45-50 percent.” to touch the old La Pica Field, which has too As I told Jean-Paul after the fact, I was many wells and looked rather dangerous), elated that he’d lost that fight with his and second, an exploration program with management! reprocessing, new 2-D acquisition and two I recall that Roger Sels, Ann Nevero wells. So, far as I remember our proposal and Ron Nelson led the recommendation was not the highest in economical terms but to the Prospect Quality Team (PQT), which was judged more adequate and technically was headed at the time by Tony Benson better by PDVSA so that we finally won the and known affectionately as the “Risk block.” Police.” Being cognizant that Total, BP and Triton had only just discovered the super- giant Cusiana field in a similar geologic setting (albeit in Colombia), the PQT approved the recommendation to enter the block and Amoco finally had its “anchor point” in Venezuela. The two companies worked together on the technical program, which consisted of reprocessing the existing 2-D seismic and the acquisition of new 2-D. By early 1995 the deeper target was adequately imaged and it was time to recommend a well.

A “Leap of Faith” Roger Sels led the technical team back to the PQT, now run by Peter Carragher with Gary Citron contributing, for the final review. As Roger tells it: “Probably the two key indicators of a prospective structure between El Furrial and Orocual were: a dry hole in the Carapita above Jusepin Deep where our stratigraphic correlations indicated a possible structural high (this well had a Naricual objective but never got there due to drilling problems); completion of dip oriented, balanced cross sections and a tie of strike-oriented sections showing a viable structural geometry between the two mega-structures.” Jean-Paul was asked to return to Houston to participate in the PQT review; having an “outsider” participate in Amoco’s internal risk process was not something I had ever seen before, but it paid off. Peter Carragher later told me that he and Gary felt that trap definition/ structural closure in a strike direction was the key risk, as could be imagined in such a complex area. That first well, J-476X as it was known (figure 4), was then approved by Worldwide Exploration Vice President Scott Urban, and a spud date of September 1995 was finalized. We didn’t have long to wait for an answer as to whether or not our “leap of faith” was successful. In early February 1996 the J-476X reached a total depth of 5,620 meters (18,437 feet) and tested 14,200 bopd of 33-35 degree API oil from two zones in the Naricual. It was a resounding success and everyone associated with the project and the team felt great. Management again began to staff up and Amoco filled out the Houston and Caracas technical teams as we awaited yet another marginal fields bid round (number three). Later that September the appraisal well, J-479X, successfully appraised the Jusepin Deep structure and tested 8,050 bopd. For the remaining initial members of the team – Alex Weisselberg, Roger Neal

See Vindication, page 38 36 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 37 EXPLORER suffered a setback to its aspirations in the Vindication country when the company failed to win from page 36 a single block in the third marginal fields bid round (late 1997). This failure had far-reaching implications, as large staff and I – it was a vindication of our belief increases in Houston and Caracas had in the original mission and our faith in the been based on the false notion that “Of process. course we would win at least one block!” The celebration was brief, since much Unless we achieved success in our work still needed to be done before the new exploration blocks (Guarapiche and field could be considered a commercial Punta Pescador), we knew that our future success. in Venezuela was at risk. By May 1997, the field was producing 10,000 bopd and 25 mmcfpd but ramped An Ignominious End up to 18,000 bopd by October. The expectation was to increase Although the news outside of Jusepin production to 30,000 bopd by the second was not encouraging for Amoco, success quarter of 1998 as new wells were tied into in the Jusepin Block continued in 1998 the facilities but by September the field as a new structure, Cotoperi (figure 4), had exceeded that milestone and was was confirmed productive. The Cotoperi- Figure 4 – Structure map and interpreted seismic line over the Jusepin and Cotoperi Fields producing 35,000 bopd. 2X tested 34-degree API oil at a rate of showing the J-476X and COT-2X discovery wells (Villamizar, 2011); see fgure 3 for base map. Unfortunately, by then Amoco had 7,650 bopd and everything seemed to be working as planned. Unfortunately, in August 1998 and after a string of successes and spectacular growth, the Venezuela team was stunned by the announcement that BP would acquire Amoco in a then unimaginable all- stock deal worth $48.2 billion. We quickly realized that the “merger” would decimate the Amoco Venezuela team, as BP already had its own teams working in Caracas. The announcement was preceded by the news that the Guarapiche-1X well would be plugged and abandoned, and was followed in short order by the failure of the Morocoto-1X well to find commercial hydrocarbons (it found gas), thus condemning our exploration blocks. The rest, as they say, is history. By the end of January 1999, most of the Amoco Venezuela team had left the company and those who remained were absorbed into BP Venezuela’s operations. The election of Hugo Chavez as Venezuela’s next president and his subsequent purge of existing senior management within PDVSA following the strikes in 2002 made it clear that the country would take a big step backward, and away from its former goals of boosting production and increasing foreign investment in the hydrocarbons sector. Foreign operators scaled back their investments accordingly as talk of delinquent tax payments, royalty increases and compulsory strategic associations were communicated from Caracas. The foreign operators were soon told that they would either accept the new strategic associations, in which PDVSA had majority ownership and control of the assets, or be expropriated. Total and other operators resisted as long as possible, but in April 2006, Jusepin Deep was seized by the government, effectively ending independent operations for the partners. A year later Total and BP agreed to split proportionally a $250 million “compensation payment” from the government, a sum that was far below the estimated $1 billion asset value the reserves were worth at the time. This ignominious end to the Jusepin Deep story only represented an end as far as Total and BP (Amoco) were concerned. At the time of the “sale” the field was producing 35,000 bopd and is still producing 6,000 bopd from nine wells as best I can determine. It likely will continue producing for some years to come. However, regardless of how the story ended, the achievements of the people who conceived of and led the discovery of this major oil field in eastern Venezuela cannot be diminished. To them I say bravo

team; you did well. EXPLORER

38 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 39 The Geophysical Corner is a regular column in the EXPLORER, edited by AAPG member Satinder Chopra, chief geophysicist for Arcis Seismic Solutions, Calgary, Canada, and a past AAPG-SEG Joint Distinguished Lecturer. This month’s column EXPLORER deals with the determination of brittleness in shale formations. GEOPHYSICALCORNER Determining Brittleness From Seismic Data By SATINDER CHOPRA and RITESH KUMAR SHARMA

he key elements for shale resource u When the strain produced in a slab of rock’s rigidity. the direction of compression. The ratio of evaluation are the mineral rock is plotted against the applied stress, Besides these, there is another elastic the fractional expansion to the fractional Tcontent – such as clay, quartz the graph shown is straight line, implying constant, (λ), that is commonly employed compression of a rock is referred to as and calcite – the total organic carbon stress is proportional to strain – a result in rock physics and is related to the bulk Poisson’s ratio (ν) – it is a measure of the (TOC) content, the brittleness and known as Hooke’s law. The gradient of modulus. For this reason it is considered rock’s strength, and its values for most some mechanical properties of the the straight line is referred to as Young’s a proxy for incompressibility of the rock rock types range from 0 to 0.5. shale rocks. Geomechanical studies modulus, usually denoted as E. samples. Thus there are different elastic are necessary both for understanding Young’s modulus is a constant for a Both λ and μ are also known as constants (E, ν, 휅, μ, λ) that are used for wellbore environment stability and also given material and is a measure of its Lame’s constants, named after the French characterizing reservoirs. Knowledge of interpreting well log data, by estimating the stiffness. It is measured in Pascals (Pa) mathematician, Gabriel Lamé. any two of them allows the computation of mechanical properties of the subsurface. or pounds per square inch (psi). For the the others. Simply stated, an accurate rocks that we commonly deal with, E turns u When a slab or rock is compressed geomechanical model needs to be out to be a large number, and thus larger in one direction, it tends to expand in the conceived, and its main features are the units such as Mega Pascals (MPa) or other two directions, perpendicular to Continued on next page three principal elements – stresses, pore Mega psi are commonly used. pressure and the rock strength. Availability Similarly, depending on the two other of these parameters define a good types of strain, we talk of two other moduli geomechanical model, which help with of elasticity – namely bulk modulus (휅), the evaluation of wellbore stability, fracture which corresponds to volume strain and is permeability, drilling direction and others. a measure of the rock’s incompressibilty, Highly brittle shale formations fracture and shear modulus (μ), which corresponds better, and thus provide more fracture to shearing strain and is a measure of the pathways for release of the hydrocarbons. The shale’s mineral content can be determined from the XRD analysis, or estimated from the wireline well log curves. Similarly, brittleness and TOC can be estimated from the well log data – but this information is only available at the location of the wells. Figure 1 – Schematic showing application of Brittle versus ductile behavior of rock * * * (a) uniaxial, and (b) triaxial on rock samples. samples as seen on a stress-strain graph. CHOPRA SHARMA In this article we focus on determination of brittleness of shale formations from seismic data – and demonstrate that brittleness is a relative term that has no standardization and needs to be carefully calibrated with the relevant data before it is used for interpretation. Before we go ahead with that description, some common definitions of terms and elastic constants used in the discussion on brittleness are discussed first.

u When a slab of rock is acted upon by a force, it is expected to undergo a change in its dimensions. For simplicity, let us consider the change along the length of the slab. Figure 3 – (a) Static Young’s modulus (YM) values plotted against dynamic YM values. (b) Static Poisson’s ratio (PR) values plotted against The force acting on a unit area of dynamic PR values. The values were derived from vertical and horizontal measurements on Baxter shale core samples and reported in SPE the rock is referred to as stress, and is 115736 by Higgins et al. (2008). We notice that the horizontal static and dynamic YM are greater than the YM values in the vertical direction. The commonly measured in Pascals (Pa) static and dynamic Poisson’s ratio (PR) measure in the horizontal direction are lower than the PR values measured in the vertical direction. Also, or pounds per square inch (psi). The there is a well-defined relationship between the static and dynamic YM values, but not so between the static and dynamic PR values. resultant change in length of the rock or the rock’s deformation in response to the stress is measured as the change in length per unit length, and is called strain. Being a ratio of two lengths, strain has no units. Strain may be of three types, depending upon the change produced in the rock on the application of stress: 3 Longitudinal strain is the change in length per unit length. 3 Volumetric strain is the change in volume per unit volume. 3 Shearing strain is the angle through which a face of the rock sample perpendicular to the fixed face is turned. As a result of the tectonic activities that Earth experiences, subsurface rocks undergo two types of stresses – the stretching or extensional types of stresses, (or tensile stresses, implying the rock is under tension), and the compressive stresses. The strains corresponding to these two types of stresses are referred to as tensile Figure 4 – (a) Crossplot between Poisson’s ration and Young’s modulus attributes for a zone selected to cover the Duvernay, Above Duvernay and and compressive strains respectively. Swan Hills intervals on the log curves. Separate clusters of points are seen on the crossplot. Three clusters are enclosed with polygons and the enclosed points are projected back on to the log curves as shown in (b). The polygons highlight the zones as marked on the crossplot.

40 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER Continued from Figure 5 – Log curves from a well previous page in mid-central Alberta showing the Duvernay interval, overlaying * * * Duvernay carbonate and Swan Hills formations. The highlighted The values of these orange zone is the crossover constants are usually between the sonic and the determined in the laboratory resistivity and could be associated by making two distinct types with high carbon content (track of measurements on rock a). The crossover between the samples. Poisson’s ration and Young’s modulus curves is the highlighted u The first types of yellow zone in track b. Besides the measurements are those Duvernay, the Duvernay carbonate, wherein the rock samples which has a high content of calcite are loaded with known and the Swan Hills zones also stress magnitudes and the are highlighted yellow, which is resulting strain amplitudes expected. Other brittleness index are measured. attributes have been plotted and A typical application of the text may be referred to their stress on a core sample of interpretation. the subsurface rock – and studying how it fails – is called the uniaxial compressive test, where ultrasonic waves are made to travel magnitudes, which could reach 10-2, and A comparison of the plotted static and the two other stresses are zero (figure 1a). through a known length of a rock sample, the strain magnitudes for dynamic wave dynamic Young’s Modulus and Poisson’s Such a test yields the rock’s unconfined and the corresponding travel time is measurements, where they may be of the ratio values are shown in figure 3a and b. compressive strength and can easily give determined from the first arrival of both order of 10-7. Thus the difference between A well-defined relationship between the away along the planes of weakness in the compressional and shear waves. the strain magnitudes could be between static and dynamic Young’s Modulus is core sample. The Young’s modulus and Poisson’s four to six orders of magnitude. noticed – but not with Poisson’s ratio. A more preferred test is the triaxial ratio computed from these velocities and To illustrate this difference, we pick up Such variations, when accounted for, compressive test (figure 1b), wherein density are referred to as dynamic moduli. the measured values of static and dynamic can appropriately characterize the inherent confining stress is applied on the core Such dynamic computations could be Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio stress-strain relationship in the shale. In sample, and then the axial stress is carried out from sonic log data, as well as carried out on Baxter shale (from the 2008 geomechanical studies, while studying applied until it fails. While performing such seismic surveys – and the only difference SPE paper 115736, by Higgins et al.). the influence of in situ stress applications tests, the axial strain is noted as a function between the velocities would be their The Upper Cretaceous Baxter shale on breakouts, enhanced pore pressure or of axial stress and the two are then plotted. measurements at different frequencies, is located in the Vermillion Basin of on the wellbore stability, static moduli are Figure 2 shows such a tensile stress- namely kilohertz for sonic logs and close northwestern Colorado and adjoining used in the calculations. strain curve. to hundred hertz or so for seismic data. Wyoming. Dry gas production has been It therefore becomes mandatory to As mentioned above, Hooke’s law established from more than two dozen calibrate the dynamic moduli (which relates the applied stress to the resultant Staticand Dynamic Moduli wells in the Baxter, with over-pressuring are derived from seismic data) to the strain and postulates that this relationship seen in them. The silt-rich Baxter has static moduli (derived from laboratory is linear. The slope of the linear or straight- The static and dynamic moduli of rocks vitrinite values approaching 2 percent, measurements), before they are used for line stress-strain curve yields the Young’s usually differ from one another – and porosities in the range of 2-6 percent, geomechanical applications. modulus. The temporary change in shape usually the dynamic Young’s modulus is TOC in the range of 1-3 percent and of the rock samples under applied stress greater that the static Young’s modulus. matrix permeabilities of 100 to 1,500 Methods for Brittleness Determination such that it regains its original position In a similar vein, the static Poisson’s nanodarcies. once the stress is removed, is referred to ratio is greater than the dynamic Poisson’s Triaxial core samples were conducted Highly brittle shale formations are more as elastic deformation. ratio. on 20 samples drawn from 150 feet of prone to stimulated fractures – and they However, as the applied stress is While the physical causes for the the 2,000 feet of the Baxter shale that prove to be more productive in terms of continuously increased, the elastic limit difference between the static and dynamic represents the over-pressured portion. release of hydrocarbons. of the rock sample is crossed, so that moduli are not clear, it is believed that the The samples were subjected to in situ These fractures also propagate in the the straight line deviates into a curved discrepancy is due to the fact that in their conditions of the confining stress, and the direction of the minimum stress. segment exhibiting plastic deformation, analysis, rocks do not behave as elastic, measurements were made in the vertical In the shallow zone, as the minimum i.e. rocks undergo permanent deformation homogeneous and isotropic as they are and horizontal directions such that the stress is the overburden stress, the when the applied stress is removed. The assumed to be. stiffness constants in the stiffness tensor stimulated fractures will be horizontal. In curved segment on the stress-strain plot Rocks usually behave as viscoelastic, could be determined and allow accounting the deeper zones the minimum stress shows that the rock sample does not due to many different processes – for transverse isotropy in the shale. direction is horizontal, and thus the immediately regain its original position and including the inter-granular cracks It was found that the static and dynamic stimulated fractures are vertical. needs more time. This is referred to as arising due to the granular nature of Young’s modulus values measured in Quartz and calcite are brittle minerals, viscoelastic behavior of the rock sample. the sedimentary rocks. Such inelastic the horizontal direction were significantly while clay is ductile. Thus higher content If the rock sample is subjected to more mechanisms respond differently to the higher than the Young’s modulus values of the former two makes the shale more stress loading, it could reach its failure static and the dynamic strain amplitudes measured in the vertical direction. The brittle, and more clay content makes it limit, when the rock sample could get and frequency, which is dependent on the measured static and dynamic Poisson’s ductile. ruptured. properties of the rocks. ratio values in the vertical direction are XRD analysis of shale samples may not Depending on their characteristics, One suggestion for this discrepancy slightly larger than the Poisson’s ratio be carried out commonly, but if available rocks are normally classified as either is the large difference in the static strain values in the horizontal direction. is useful. Their estimation from well data brittle or ductile. These two can be is also done by interpretation of the log differentiated based on the amount curves. of plastic deformation that the rock As the presence of TOC enhances undergoes before fracture occurs. the resistivity and reduces the velocity, Figure 2 illustrates that extensive plastic a combination of these two log curves is deformation occurs in the ductile rocks usually used for its estimation. It is also prior to fracture, while brittle rocks show determined by geochemical analysis of little or no plastic deformation before rock samples. fracture. As stated, its estimation from seismic As the area under the curves is a data is desirable. measure of the absorbed energy it can be stated that ductile rocks absorb very u Given the mineral content (volume much energy before getting fractured of mineral) of the shale sample, a simple while brittle rocks absorb less energy prior way to estimate brittleness would be to to being fractured. Young’s modulus or determine the fraction (quartz + calcite)/ Poisson’s ratio calculated from such stress- (quartz + calcite + clay). This fraction is strain or deformational measurements are termed as brittleness index. referred to as static moduli. If dolomite also happens to be present, then it should also be added to both the u The second type of measurements numerator and denominator of the above carried out for the laboratory determination Figure 6 – Horizon slices from (a) Poisson’s ratio, (b) brittleness index, (c) the same display as in fraction. of elastic constants are where velocity is (a) but with the color bar reversed, and (d) brittleness index. The displays depict the average in a used for their calculation. For example, 10ms interval within the Duvernay zone. Apparently, the displays in (b) and (c) look very similar. See Discrepancy, page 42 WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 41 EXPLORER for determination of E, which would require Discrepancy the density data. It is usually difficult to from page 41 determine density from seismic data. Instead, Eρ can be determined which only requires P- and S-impedance, easily u Another way to determine brittleness derived by impedance inversion of seismic index for a shale sample is to make use of data. the elastic constants. 3 Yet another way is to compute the One such proposed method makes use average of the brittle Young’s modulus of the Young’s modulus (E) and Poisson’s component and the brittle Poisson’s ratio ratio (ν). For brittle rocks, high values of component. That is (EB B)/2, where Young’s modulus and low Poisson’s ratio EB= 100(E-Emin)/(Emax-Emin) and

are desirable. B max min +max ν) Using these constants, the brittleness index can be expressed in a couple of ν =100(ν-νu Based on)/(ν the observation-ν that ways: fracturable zones exhibit low values of 3 One is to simply compute the fraction λρ and moderate values of μρ, another E/ν, which should have high values for estimation for brittleness index has been brittle rocks. suggested and is given as (λ+2μ)/λ. 3 A variation of this method could Figure 7 – Rock physics template showing trends in Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio be the ratio Eρ/ν. This ratio is especially We discuss the comparative space. Lines of constant bulk modulus are shown increasing from red towards cyan. useful when seismic data is being used performance of these different methods first on well log data from the Duvernay formation in Alberta, Canada. The Upper Devonian Duvernay formation is situated within the West Shale Basin in west-central Alberta. The main Duvernay interval is the shale section that shows high values on gamma ray log curves. A thin zone below the Duvernay interval has a high composition of organic-rich lime-mudstone, and is called the Duvernay carbonate zone – it overlies the Middle- to-Upper Devonian Swan Hills Formation, consisting of a broad carbonate platform overlain with large reefs. The main Duvernay interval spans the “dry” gas, “wet” gas and the “oil” windows, but at present more interest is focused on the “wet” gas window, where liquid-rich gas is being produced from horizontal wells with multi-stage fracture completions. In figure 4 a crossplot is shown between E and ν for a zone that encompasses all three zones mentioned above. Separate clusters of points are seen on the crossplot and when enclosed with polygons and projected back on the log curves, these points highlight the individual zones as marked. The cluster of points from the Duvernay zone exhibit low ν and moderate to high values of E, and thus should be exhibiting higher brittleness. In figure 5, log curves from a well are shown in different tracks (a) to (i). In track (a), the sonic and resistivity curves are shown overlaid, and a crossover shaded in orange color in the Duvernay interval is seen. This probably could be the zone associated with high TOC as per Passey’s approach. The Poisson’s ratio (ν) and Young’s modulus (E) curves are shown in tracks (b), and again crossover of curves are seen in the Duvernay interval (blue arrow) as well as Duvernay carbonate zone (green arrow) and Swan Hills interval (red arrow). We will focus on the Duvernay intervalhere, which is the zone of our interest. Brittleness index curves and are shown overlaid in track (c). Notice these curves are similar in that they follow each other and small deviations are seen in the Duvernay interval. Similarly, again brittleness index curves and are shown in track (d) with very small deviations seen in the Duvernay interval. Brittleness curves and are shown in track (e), and these are found to be different. To understand the reason

for this difference, we compute the EB and

νB components separately and compare them with E and ν curves as shown in See Brittleness Index, page 44 42 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 43 EXPLORER In figure 6 we show equivalent horizon Brittleness Index slice displays within the Duvernay Distinguished Lecturers Announced from page 42 interval (averaged over a 10 ms window) for Poisson’s ratio (ν) (figure 6a), For 2015-16 Global Tours brittleness index (figure 6b), and tracks (f) and (g). We notice that while brittleness index (figure 6d). We notice the he lecturers for the AAPG AAPG affiliated geological societies or the E curve appears to be a normalized Poisson’s ratio display shows low values 2015-2016 Global Distinguished university departments. B version of the E curve, the and curves while the brittleness index displays Lecture Program have been Lecturers are sent to AAPG affiliated ν νB T are a reflection of each other. shows high values, within the areas announced. geological societies and geoscience This latter observation also is seen marked with dashed polygons. So far, 11 lecturers are touring departments of universities and when we overlay the and The equivalent Poisson’s ratio displayed throughout North America, Asia, Africa, colleges throughout the world. They are ν brittleness index curves (track h). in figure 6c in reverse color bar looks very the Middle East and Latin America, with selected for their knowledge in various Finally the overlay of and similar to the brittleness index display in more to be announced soon. geoscience topics and are schedule to νB brittleness index curves as shown in track figure 6b – an observation made on the Developed in 1941, the Distinguished tour anywhere from one week to three (i) and they look very similar. two well curves in track (h) of figure 5. Lecture Program continues to be weeks at a time, depending upon their When the different brittleness indicators Brittleness index curves and AAPG’s oldest and most prestigious availability. discussed above are computed from the show similar distribution within the dashed program, offering outstanding lectures Information on this year’s lineup of seismic data using simultaneous or joint polygon on the left, but is different within by speakers who are respected Distinguished Lecturers will be included inversion (for more details on simultaneous the dashed polygon to the right, as well as scientific leaders in their disciplines of in the November EXPLORER and on inversion see the June 2015 EXPLORER), to the left of the display indicated with the petroleum geology. Anyone can attend the AAPG website under the “Career” they also are found to exhibit differences blue arrows.

the lectures, which are hosted by menu. EXPLORER as we notice on the log curves in figure 5. Such difference seen on the different brittleness index curves on these attributes extracted from seismic data are likely to cause confusion while interpreting them. Delving closely into the determination of the brittleness index attributes in terms of elastic moduli, one finds that the upper and the lower limits chosen for, say E and ν are arbitrary. Thus their interpretation will be done only in a relative sense, and could be seen as a drawback. Even otherwise, considering brittleness as a mechanical property of rocks, there are no standardized levels above or below which the rocks could be considered brittle or ductile. Instead of just carrying out such a relative or qualitative interpretation of brittleness, more effort could be devoted to understand the rocks physics of the intervals of interest, which could yield an optimal range of E and ν to be considered in our analysis. For accurate quantification of brittleness, theoretical rock physics templates (including mineralogy, etc.) for the broad intervals of interest can be generated, such that the trends for the lithologies of interest can be studied. With the use of the available well log data, the validity of such templates can be verified for the area of operation. Finally such templates can be used to interpret the brittleness index displays generated simultaneous inversion (for more details on simultaneous inversion, refer again to the June ’15 EXPLORER). In figure 7, we show such a crossplot template between Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus, where lines pertaining to constant bulk modulus are drawn. Rocks with higher quartz content will generally exhibit lower Poisson’s ratio and higher Young’s modulus. With increase in porosity, the bulk modulus decreases and so does Young’s modulus. Similarly, more clayey rocks will have higher Poisson’s ratio and low Young’s modulus. The parameters that we should consider for the possibility of fractures in a shale rock are in situ stress, Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus. By constructing such crossplots for the parameters in the area of interest, it is convenient to determine the range of values that should be expected for the different elastic constants. This information could then be used during interpretation of those elastic constants derived from seismic data. Such exercises prove useful for carrying out quantitative interpretation of

seismic data. EXPLORER

(Editor’s note: The authors thank their employer, Arcis Reservoir Solutions, TGS, in Calgary, Canada, for encouraging this work and for permission to publish.)

44 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 45 Edith Allison, director of AAPG’s Geoscience and Energy Office in Washington, D.C., EXPLORER can be contacted at [email protected]; or by telephone at 1-202-643-6533. POLICYWATCH New Regulations Loom For Industry By EDITH ALLISON, Geoscience and Energy Policy Office Director

burst of new emissions regulations question is what Congress or a new that affect the oil and natural president could do to reverse these rules. A gas industry has cheered the This is not wholly a politicians’ show. What follows is a discussion of options, not environmental community while distressing the opinions or decisions of any particular the industry and opponents of government Every citizen can submit comments candidate. regulation. about planned regulations – and these As the 2016 elections get closer it is The Obama administration is rushing to worth noting that oil and gas, and coal finalize regulations before the Paris climate often affect the final rule. emissions regulations have specific state change meeting and the 2016 election. impacts, and candidates’ positions on the Viewed from the industry perspective, ALLISON regulations could influence the vote: Ohio, the timing of new, costly regulations is an Colorado and Pennsylvania are major oil excessive burden on top of low oil prices. and are open for public comment through sources in the oil and gas industry to find and gas producers and may be competitive Presidential candidates have said little mid-October at www.Regulations.gov and repair leaks, use reduced-emission in the 2016 election. about environmental issues, but many (search EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0685). completions on hydraulically fractured oil senators and representatives have voiced Industry groups have called the rules wells, limit emissions from new and modified 3 Presidential Options. their support or opposition to environmental unnecessary because of industry’s success pneumatic pumps, and limit emissions from A president has two approaches to regulations – and some conservative in voluntarily reducing methane emissions equipment at compressor stations and gas dealing with regulations with which he or candidates propose to eliminate regulations while boosting natural gas production. storage facilities. she disagrees: lax enforcement or a new if they are elected. In addition, upcoming standards to rule-making process. Therefore, it seems like a good time reduce ozone will further reduce methane u Provide recommendations to states on In the past, lax enforcement has led to to look at both the recently proposed emissions. control technologies for use in ozone non- lawsuits by a regulation’s supporters. regulations as well as the options available On the other hand, environmental groups attainment areas and the northeast states An example of political and legal Ping- for a new president or Congress to express concerns that the August rule Ozone Transport Region. Pong with regulations is the EPA 2012 counteract them. will not be adequate to meet the Obama Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS). However, this is not wholly a politicians’ administration’s commitment to cut methane u Clarify some existing permitting The Clean Air Act of 1990 and multiple show. Every citizen can submit comments emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 requirements. lawsuits prompted the rule. The EPA under about planned regulations – and these often to 45 percent from 2005 to 2025. President Bill Clinton’s EPA decided that affect the final rule. In addition, the late November-early u Issue a federal implementation plan MATS regulation was necessary; the EPA December Paris meeting of the United incorporating new emissions standards for under President George W. Bush disagreed. * * * Nations Conference on Climate Change the oil and gas production industry in Indian A court challenge tossed out the Bush may prompt additional emissions regulation Country. administration policy and the regulatory The U.S. Environmental Protection by the Obama administration. process was restarted, although the courts Agency (EPA) draft rules to reduce The proposed methane- and VOC- * * * are still considering some parts of the methane and volatile organic carbon (VOC) emission rules would: regulation. emissions from new and modified oil and Given the strong conservative opposition gas operations were issued in mid-August u Require new and modified emission to EPA emissions regulations, an interesting See Regulations, page 48

46 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 47 EXPLORER restricts the implementation of a law. Regulations For example, H.R. 1030 (and S. 544), from page 46 The current Congress may not have the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015, passed the House in March and has been sufficient votes to override a presidential introduced in the Senate. It would prohibit The second option, a new rule-making the EPA from issuing any regulations process, would be slow and probably veto, which is likely for any attempt to unless all underlying science is publically complicated. weaken environmental regulations. available for independent analysis and reproduction. 3 Congressional Options. The bill would effectively prohibit EPA Congress has many options to reduce air emissions regulations, which are based or delay environmental regulations; few of agencies pay attention to congressional and other environmental protection laws, on research on human exposure to toxics. their options, however, are long lasting – and opinions that may be reflected in future which are the basis for many controversial Some of this research was conducted most will provoke strong opposition. agency appropriations or legislation regulations, and Congress can modify the many years ago and cannot be replicated restricting agency activities. law. In fact, the Clean Air Act was modified because of changes in air quality or lack of u Congressional hearings are an several times, although not in ways that public access to protected personal health opportunity to hear from expert witnesses u Members of Congress can and do would reduce its impact. information. and ask questions that publicize legislators’ lobby the EPA during the development Existing congressional and presidential opinions about a regulation or the regulating of a rule. Legislators may have access to opposition to weakening the Clean Air Act u Congress can withhold funds needed agency. information important to revising draft rules. would preclude weakening these laws. to implement a law; this is a common Congress has no formal role in approach. Under the current fiscal year developing regulations, but regulating u Congress passed the Clean Air Act u Congress can pass legislation that (FY2015) appropriation law the Fish and Wildlife Service is prohibited from listing the sage grouse as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In addition, the House version of the FY 2016 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriation would prohibit the EPA from enforcing a number of regulations, including lowering the ozone standard or requiring states to participate in restricting greenhouse gases emissions. These restrictions only apply to one year but can be reinstated. For example, the House proposes to extend the prohibition on listing the sage grouse as endangered or threatened.

u The Congressional Review Act (1996) allows Congress 60 days to review and overrule new federal regulations by passage of a joint regulation. The congressional resolution would need to be signed by the president or Congress would have to override a presidential veto. This law was successfully used – only once, in 2001 – to rescind a Department of Labor ergonomics regulation. The current Congress may not have sufficient votes to override a presidential veto, which is likely for any attempt to weaken environmental regulations.

* * *

In December 2014 the Obama administration announced plans to tighten ozone limits (from 75 parts per billion, ppb, down to 65-70 ppb). The rules will require states to reduce VOC emissions and have the ancillary impact of reducing methane, which is a greenhouse gas that does not contribute to ozone. At the end of August the proposed regulation went to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the final interagency consultations and review of the regulation’s impacts. Normally the OMB review takes 60 to 90 days, but EPA is under a court order to release the regulation before Oct. 1. EPA estimates that the regulation will yield health benefits of $1 billion-$4 billion annually. However, a study conducted for the National Association of Manufacturers estimates that the regulation will cost the U.S. economy $270 billion a year – and raise the cost of natural gas and electricity. Additional rules to reduce methane emissions in final review by the White House and expected to be released later this year include: u Pipeline safety rules (Department of Transportation). u EPA restrictions on toxic air pollutants from refineries. u Methane venting and flaring restrictions on federal lands (Bureau of Land

Management with EPA). EXPLORER 48 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 49 EXPLORER FOUNDATIONUPDATE Satterfield: A Guiding Force in Geoscience Education By BARRY FRIEDMAN, EXPLORER Correspondent

his year’s AAPG Foundation Professor – and vice versa. of the Year, AAPG member Joseph One of the dynamics for which TSatterfield of Angelo State University, Satterfield, who’s from Baytown, Texas, is had a unique problem when he first arrived most proud is his ability and willingness to at the school. go into the community, talk to high school There wasn’t a geology department – and junior high school science teachers well, not much of one, anyway. about the avenues that are available for “First and foremost, Joe should be students willing to apply themselves – recognized for his efforts in creating the avenues that, unfortunately, are often earth science minor program and the non-existent for poor students in the geosciences major program.” geosciences at other schools. That’s David Bixler, present chair and Satterfield discovered his love of professor of physics at the school in San teaching outdoors while working summers Angelo, Texas, and he maintains that during high school and college at El Rancho without Satterfield, geology at the school is Cima Boy Scout Camp in central Texas. unrecognizable. Ask him about influences and he Satterfield, Bixler continues, was a mentions colleagues Andy Wallace, James guiding force for the school’s overall Ward, Heather Lehto and AAPG member academic environment, including student AAPG Honorary member and Foundation Chairman James A. Gibbs presents the Professor of John Oldow, who advised his doctorate organizations, guest speakers, fundraising the Year award to Joseph Satterfield. research project on Mesozoic structures in and, lastly and perhaps most importantly, a the hinterland of the Cordillera. liaison with the San Angelo’s community of Oldow, he said, opened his eyes on how science teachers. Professor of the Year Nominations Open to think critically, write well and make a good For Satterfield, who received his o you know a college or university u Recognition at the Annual geologic map. doctorate in geology from Rice University, professor who is setting a Convention and Exhibition (ACE) All skills he brought to Angelo State. the recognition is almost embarrassing. Dgold standard in earth science Chairman’s Reception in Calgary, “At ASU,” he said, “we have the “I am lucky to get an award for doing education? Canada next June. opportunity to change lives more than at pretty much what I like to do,” he said, Nominate him or her today for an u An engraved, commemorative many schools.” maintaining that at the outset the school’s opportunity to be acknowledged for his plaque. There’s a good reason for that. needs and his own desires fit nicely. or her efforts. “Hispanic students make up 60 percent “I came to ASU in 2003 with experience The AAPG Foundation Professorial Nominations opened on Oct. 1 and of the San Angelo Independent School and interest in working with undergraduates Award is granted annually to a college will be accepted until Feb. 15, 2016. District enrollment,” he said, though the on research projects. I also had enjoyed or university professor who has To nominate someone or to get more number of Hispanics who graduate with being the sole geologist in a department,” demonstrated outstanding leadership in information about the AAPG Foundation degrees in the geosciences and continue said Satterfield, who also saw an the field of geoscience education. Professorial Award, visit on with is minuscule. opportunity to expand professionally in this The winner will receive: Foundation.AAPG.org/programs/ This Satterfield finds ironic. very unique town. San Angelo is a place u $1,000 cash award. professorial-award.cfm. that is very much a reflection of its university Continued on next page

50 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER Continued from previous page (an AAPG affiliated society), oil and gas professionals in many areas, and many, “Our community and West Texas overall many interested community members.” is dominantly rural and many students in Was it successful? our region are used to working outside,” he “The biggest hall on campus filled up!” said. Asking a geology professor to name his And for as long as he’s been at ASU, favorite course is like asking a mother to Satterfield felt it important to reach these name her favorite child. students. But Satterfield has an answer. “I have the chance to work with high “Field Geology, GEOL 3600, also known school students (also middle school and as Summer Field Camp,” he responded. elementary) that may not have considered The reason? Not surprisingly, it’s a five- college as an option, and especially week course that includes a three-day trip: geology as an option,” he said. 3 San Angelo to the Guadalupe He is constantly refining the best way to Mountains on the first day. sell the idea, to teach the discipline. He has 3 To far western Nevada the second. narrowed his approach to six steps: 3 A return to San Angelo from the Big u Provide many opportunities to learn Bend region of West Texas on the last day. geology in the field, so that students can “I also very much enjoy teaching experience the process of applying terms structural geology and igneous and and concepts to solving problems with real metamorphic petrology,” he added. rocks. Satterfield for the past nine years has u Emphasize describing what you see at been working on a project that delves into the microscopic scale, hand sample scale, the easternmost Laramide and younger fold outcrop scale or map levels. and faults in the Big Bend Region in Texas. u Sketch, draw, draft and discuss many “I am lucky that we have the freedom cross-sections and geologic maps in the and support from our department and field and in the lab. administration to design and modify new u Get to know students as individuals. programs,” he said. “I am lucky to work in a u Work with a small number of students small program.” on undergraduate research projects. Of that and San Angelo he says, proudly u Provide students with opportunities to yet also modestly, “The big reasons that we learn from professionals in the geosciences are successful is that we focus exclusively – especially AAPG members and those on quality undergraduate education. Our experienced in the Permian basin. program works hard to foster a sense of On that last point, he does bring in community between students and faculty, outside guests and experts. One such to involve many students in undergraduate occasion was his desire to bring Scott research projects and to get students out Tinker’s award-winning energy film “Switch” into the field to work in diverse geologic to San Angelo. settings. “The movie was a chance to bring “We have an unusual opportunity,” he together our students and faculty, San added, “to change lives and improve our

Angelo Geological Society members region.” EXPLORER

Foundation Contributions for August 2015

General Fund Rusty Riese and Sarah Springer Southern Methodist University Eric D. Robinson Gary S. Grinsfelder Patrick A. Ward Kweku-Mensah O. Sagoe Eugene L. Ames III Pedro A. Sanchez Texas Tech University Thurmon M. Andress Jose A. Sanchez Araiza David T. Grace Richard S. Barnett John R. SanFilipo Mark S. Baum Shell Oil Company Foundation Distinguished Lecture Fund Teekayu Benjawan Matching gift/Hilary Brook Jon P. Herber Md Jamil Bin Said Timothy A. Shin J. David Overton Hege M. Nordgard Bolas Jayne L. Sieverding Dudley and Marion Bolyard Michael A. Simms Education Fund In memory of Philip H. Stark Thomas M. Parris Robert T. Sellars Jr. Edward A. Steiner Heijnderik W. Van Gent Gregory L. Cane Brandt O. Temple Robert R. Chanpong Jack M. Thorson Grants-in-Aid Fund Austin J. Cozzens Andrei Tudoran Daniel Creighton Heijnderik W. Van Gent Bernold M. “Bruno” Hanson Memorial Brendan C. Curran Ronald L. Warner Environmental Grant Julia M. Davies Dave A. Wheller David T. Grace John J. Degenhardt Jr. Danielle Woodring J. David Overton Hasan A. Derman Jianli Yang Deborah L. Patterson Truett E. Enloe Robert and Edith Zinn Marcos E. Escobar Edward B. Picou Jr. Named Grant D. Ramsey Fisher Amoruso Special Jeffrey A. Nunn David T. Grace Publications Fund John C. Scheldt Gary S. Grinsfelder Dan M. Cox Brendan C. Curran Tom and Carolyn Hamilton Michael A. Simms Kenneth L. Harkins Jr. Awards Fund Mark Tomasso Rebecca M. Harkins Julia M. Davies Michael T. Whalen Douglas S. Hastings Donald R. Hembre Teacher of the Year Award James E. Hooks Memorial Grant Randall E. Hendrix Daniel R. Burggraf Jr. Robert D. Dennis Michael F. Hoffmann Ridwan A. Oke Jayne L. Sieverding Thomas F. Hull Charlie J. Kosarek Jr. Daniel A. Busch Library Fund John H. and Colleen Silcox Andrew Latham George M. Greene Named Grant Hermann D. Lebit Robert A. Ortalda Kathryn L. Lee Digital Products Fund Arthur W. Leibold Bryn Mawr College James A. Hartman Student Chu-Ching Liu Arthur W. Leibold Leadership Summit Fund James W. Lovekin Chevron Matching Employee Fund Alexander H. MacKay Indiana University, Bloomington Matching gift/Richard Ball Alex Mangl Barry S. Smith Harry Mei Military Veterans David A. Miller Lomonosov Moscow Scholarship Program David S. Muller State University Thornton E. Anderson National Fuel Gas Company Ekaterina Sorokina John and Kae Armentrout Foundation In memory of Clem Bruce Matching gift/Jianli Yang Louisiana State University George W. Burg James A. Norton Jeffrey A. Nunn Stephen M. Scott Jeffrey A. Nunn Paul and Deana Strunk Patrick J. O’Connell Princeton University Michael Oristaglio Ramon A. Gonzalez-Mieres Visiting Geoscientist Fund J. David Overton Jon H. Pedersen Jack C. Pashin San Diego State University Alejandro A. Rangel Robert R. Chanpong The monthly list of AAPG Foundation contributions is based on information provided by the AAPG Foundation office. WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 51 EXPLORER PROFESSIONALnewsBRIEFS

Donna Anderson, to affiliate faculty, Colorado T.A. “Mac” McGilvery, to adjunct professor- School of Mines, Golden, Colo. Previously department of geosciences, University geological adviser (retired), EOG Resources, of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark. Previously Denver. geoscience adviser-technology and projects, Steve Appel, to seismic interpreter, ConocoPhillips, Houston. Schlumberger, Houston. Previously contract David A. Miller, to geologist-reservoir geophysicist, Sequitur Energy, Houston. characterization, Devon Energy, Oklahoma Eleazar Benedetto-Padron, to vice president, City. Previously senior staff geophysicist, EP Ryder Scott Co., Houston. Previously senior Energy, Houston. petroleum geologist, Ryder Scott, Houston. Michael A. Paulson, to vice president Randy Bissell, to geoscience adviser, geology, Custer & Wright Oil and Gas Headington Energy Partners, Corpus Investments, Midland, Texas. Previously Christi, Texas. Previously senior geoscientist, geologist, Cholla Petroleum, Midland, Texas. Headington Oil, Corpus Christi, Texas. Brad Ritts, to managing director, Stanford Robert W. “Bob” Broomhall has retired from Natural Gas Initiative, Stanford University, ExxonMobil Exploration. He will reside in Bend, Stanford, Calif. Previously team leader, Asia- Ore. Pacific new ventures, Chevron, Singapore. Steve Dorobek, to owner, Dorobek Stefano Santoni, to exploration manager, GeoConsulting, Houston. Previously principal Dragon Oil, Dubai, UAE. Previously new geologist, BHP-Billiton, Houston. venture director, TAQA, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Wayne R. Dwyer, has retired as senior staff Valary Schulz, to consulting geologist, geologist, Husky Energy, Calgary, Canada. He Dallas. Previously geologic manager, Cinco resides in Calgary, Canada. Resources, Dallas. David F. Greeley has retired as senior staff Donald A. Soper has retired as manager geologist, BP America, Houston. He resides in computer mapping, Arch Coal, St. Louis. He Houston. will reside in Meridian, Idaho. John Hoffmann, to G&G operations team Tom Tomastik, to senior geologist and leader, Chevron North America Exploration regulatory specialist, ALL Consulting, Tulsa. and Production Company, Houston. Previously Previously geologist 4-retired, Ohio Division Oil West Papua exploration team lead, Chevron & Gas Resources, Columbus, Ohio. Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia. David Weichman, to principal geologist, Nathan Kuhle, to geologist-global exploration ConocoPhillips, Houston. Previously senior new ventures, Chevron, Houston. Previously geomodeler, ConocoPhillips, Brisbane, geologist-Kitimat upstream, Chevron, Calgary, Australia. Canada. INMEMORY AAPG Honorary Hubert A. Elliott Jr., 65 member, award winning Garland, Texas, Nov. 14, 2014 explorer and former William S. Flores, 87 Executive Committee Lafayette, La., Oct. 22, 2014 member John Lockridge James M. Forgotson Jr., 84 died Sept. 7 at his home Norman, Okla., Feb. 1, 2015 in Pebble Beach, Calif. Philip R. Grant Jr., 84 He was 84. Colorado Springs, Colo., Dec. 4, 2014 Lockridge, known as Harold T. Henslee, 90 “Mr. Niobrara,” started Addison, Texas, April 20, 2015 his career with General LOCKRIDGE Edward E. Hickam, 87 Petroleum, a subsidiary Houston, Feb. 19, 2015 of Mobil Oil, and eventually started his own Weber R. Holloway, 89 company, Mountain Petroleum Ltd. There he Dallas, Aug. 27, 2014 established himself as a leading figure in Rocky Kenneth R. Johnson, 90 Mountain oil and gas exploration, applauded Houston, Dec. 31, 2014 and honored as an innovative industry leader Charles F. Kluth, 65 whose work led to the rediscovery and Roxborough, Colo., May 25, 2015 development of shallow gas reserves in the William J. Krummel Jr., 86 Niobrara chalk in eastern Colorado. Lakewood, Colo., July 8, 2015 For AAPG, he served as vice president in John Lockridge, 84 1982-83; was a Distinguished Lecturer; and Pebble Beach, Calif., Sept. 7, 2015 received the A.I. Levorsen, Distinguished William S. Marshall, 83 Service and Norman H. Foster Outstanding Midland, Texas, May 31, 2013 Explorer awards. Thane H. McCulloh, 88 He was made an AAPG Honorary Seattle, June 3, 2015 member in 1987. Raul Mosmann, 73 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Oct. 16, 2014 * * * James H. Morris, 93 Lafayette, La., July 6, 2015 Andrew L. Austin, (Member 1957) Howard M. Orlean, 61 Tomball, Texas, May 2015 Federal Way, Wash., Aug. 11, 2014 Claude B. Anger, 85 William Rabson, 55 Flers, France, Feb. 25, 2015 Houston, Dec. 27, 2014 Roger R. Baekeland, 77 Robert T. Sellars Jr., 81 Calgary, Canada, June 8, 2015 Highlands Ranch, Colo., July 22, 2015 David S. Ball, 54 W. Hoxie Smith, 60 North Richland Hills, Texas, April 15, 2014 Midland, Texas, Jan. 6, 2015 George A. Ball Jr., 84 Lloyd Rex Travis Jr., 92 Galesburg, Ill., Aug. 24, 2015 Katy, Texas, Feb. 15, 2015 Joseph A. Belvedere, 89 Wesley K. Wallace, 64 Wichita Falls, Texas, May 7, 2015 Fairbanks, Alaska, May 10, 2015 Dean M. Bilous, 39 John E. Walters, 89 Calgary, Canada, March 13, 2015 Durango, Colo., March 23, 2015 Peter Buttner, 83 Stanley N. Warburton, 85 Niskayuna, N.Y., April 27, 2015 Lake Charles, La., March 27, 2015 G. Mattney Cole, 73 Robert J. Whitson, 52 Lakewood, Colo., Dec. 18, 2014 Houston, May 23, 2015 Michael E. Conefrey, 64 Winchester, Va., Dec. 22, 2014 (Editor’s note: “In Memory” listings are Clyde B. Cotton, 93 based on information received from the Henderson, Nev., June 9, 2015 AAPG membership department. Age at Robert A. Doak Jr., 87 time of death, when known, is listed. When Trinidad, Colo., May 16, 2015 the member’s date of death is unavailable, Richard A. Edmund, 87 the person’s membership classification and Houston, Jan. 15, 2015 anniversary date are listed.)

52 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG CLASSIFIED ADS You can reach about 37,000 petroleum geologists at the lowest per-reader cost in the world with a classified ad in the EXPLORER. Ads are at the rate of $2.90 per word, minimum charge of $60. And, for an additional $50, your ad can appear on the classified section on the AAPG web site. Your ad can reach more people than ever before. Just write out your ad and send it to us. We will call you with the word count and cost. You can then arrange prepayment. Ads received by the first of the month will appear in the subsequent edition. EXPLORER POSITIONS WANTED collaboration with industry, we have a suite of 3D hazards, climate change, and remote sensing. is a perennial contender on “best place to live” seismic and microseismic data volumes that are Additional information about our department can be rankings. Visit http://www.ou.edu/content/dam/ STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY OR used for teaching, algorithm calibration, seismic found on our web site: http://eas.unl.edu. provost/documents/facultyflipbook.pdf and http:// ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY, geomorphological analysis, crustal imaging, and a To apply, go to http://employment.unl.edu, www.ou.edu/publicaffairs/oufacts.html for more TENURED OR TENURE-TRACK, range of open source software for lithospheric-scale requisition # F_150187 and complete the “faculty/ information. UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA research. Information about the administrative form”. Applicants must attach a cover The University of Oklahoma is an Affirmative School and College can be found at mcee.ou.edu. letter, curriculum vitae, statements of research and Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Review of applications will begin September 30, teaching interests, and contact information for at least minorities are encouraged to apply. Protected Sciences invites applications for a full-time tenured 2015, and on-campus interviews will start later 2015. three references via the above website. We will begin veterans and individuals with disabilities are or tenure-track position at the Assistant or Associate The search will continue until the position is filled. to review applications on October 31, 2015, but the encouraged to apply. Professor level in either structural geology or organic The preferred starting date is January 15, 2016, with position will remain open until it is filled. geochemistry. optional starting date of August 15, 2016. Applicants The University of Nebraska is committed to a * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We are seeking an individual with expertise can apply online at jobs.ou.edu and search listings pluralistic campus community through affirmative in the structural geology of sedimentary basins or for the requisition number: 23147 for General action, equal opportunity, work-life balance, and TENURE-TRACK APPLIED with expertise in organic geochemistry applied to Geophysics or 23148 for Applied Geophysics. dual careers. See http://www.unl.edu/equity/notice- GEOSCIENCE, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY problems in petroleum systems. An applicant in Applicants should submit a complete vita/resume, nondiscrimination. the area of structural geology will preferably have statement of research and teaching interests, and For further information, contact Dr. Richard Baylor University is a private Christian university experience in the interpretation of seismic data. The a list of five references who can be contacted, Kettler, Search Committee Chair by email, phone, and a nationally ranked research institution, successful candidate will be actively involved in including phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and or mail at: [email protected], 1-402-472-0882; consistently listed with highest honors among The teaching in the Integrated Petroleum Geosciences mailing addresses. Questions or information requests Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Great Colleges (IPG) program, a rigorous one-year course-based may be addressed to Geophysics Search, at (405) University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 214 Bessey Hall, to Work For.” Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of M.Sc. program that prepares students to work in the 325-3253, or [email protected]. Lincoln NE 68588-0340. Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is modern petroleum industry. The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a the oldest continuously operating university in Texas. Current areas of strength within the University Carnegie-R1 comprehensive public research * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The university provides a vibrant campus community include clastic and carbonate sedimentology, university known for excellence in teaching, for over 15,000 students from all 50 states and geochemistry, hydrology, geomechanics, seismic research, and community engagement, serving the ASSISTANT or ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN more than 80 countries by blending interdisciplinary analysis and petrophysics. The successful candidate educational, cultural, economic and health-care PETROLEUM GEOCHEMISTRY research with an international reputation for will contribute to these strengths by developing an needs of the state, region, and nation. OU enrolls CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND educational excellence and a faculty commitment active research program that includes supervision over 30,000 GEOPHYSICS to teaching and scholarship. Baylor is actively of graduate students, collaborating with other students and has more than 2,700 full-time faculty THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA recruiting new faculty with a strong commitment to faculty members, obtaining external funding, and members in 21 colleges. In 2014, OU became the the classroom and an equally strong commitment to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. The first public institution ever to rank #1 nationally in The University of Oklahoma invites applications discovering new knowledge as we pursue our bold Department is equipped with a variety of outstanding the recruitment of National Merit Scholars, with 311 for a tenure-track position in Petroleum Geochemistry vision, Pro Futuris (www.baylor.edu/profuturis/). analytical facilities, including stable isotope analysis, scholars. The 277-acre Research Campus of OU in at the assistant or associate professor level. The Baylor seeks to fill the following tenure-track radiogenic isotopes and the major and trace element Norman was named the No. 1 research campus in ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics Assistant Professor faculty position within the composition, including the new Canadian Centre for the nation by the Association of Research Parks in has a long and distinguished history in Petroleum Department of Geology with specialization in Isotopic Microanalysis. 2013. Norman is a culturally rich and vibrant town Geochemistry. We are seeking a creative, dynamic Geophysics, Stratigraphy or Structural Geology, Applicants must hold a PhD in either structural with outstanding schools, amenities, and a low cost person to help us move forward into new and beginning in August 2016. Candidates should geology or organic geochemistry and have an of living, and it is a perennial contender on “best exciting areas of petroleum geochemical research, possess an earned doctorate in geophysics or established research program in an academic or place to live” rankings. For more information, visit in particular, with respect to biomarker and stable geology at the time of appointment. Preference will industrial setting in one of these areas. http://www.ou.edu/content/dam/provost/ isotope studies, and an effective teacher who will be given to a candidate with a strong background The search will remain open until filled. For more documents/facultyflipbook.pdf and educate students so they can move into successful in pure or applied research who works with information, including an address for submission of www.ou.edu/publicaffairs/oufacts.html. careers. The successful applicant will hold a Ph.D., subsurface data (e.g., seismic, potential field, well an application, see the official announcement at the The University of Oklahoma is an Affirmative have an academic background in the geosciences, log, rock property, fluid production, or combinations University of Alberta website: http://www.careers. Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women develop an externally funded research program, and of these data types). The successful candidate ualberta.ca/Competition/A107924023/. All qualified and minorities are encouraged to apply. Protected teach undergraduate courses in geology in addition should have the potential to attract external funds candidates are encouraged to apply; however, veterans and individuals with disabilities are to graduate-level courses in petroleum geochemistry. and to build a strong research program that Canadians and permanent residents will be given encouraged to apply. The ConocoPhillips School of Geology and involves both undergraduate and graduate (M.S. priority. Geophysics is housed in the Sarkeys Energy Center. and Ph.D.) students. We seek an individual with a The University of Alberta hires on the basis of * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Petroleum Geochemistry research facilities strong commitment to excellence in teaching at the merit. We are committed to the principle of equity in include wet chemistry laboratories for sample graduate and undergraduate levels. Application employment. We welcome diversity and encourage Assistant Professor, Geophysics preparation and experimentation, all of which are Process: Send letter of interest, including statement applications from all qualified women and men, California State University, Long Beach equipped with fume hoods, chemical and solvent of teaching and research interests, curriculum including persons with disabilities, members of visible storage facilities, microbalances, ovens, water vitae, official transcripts, and the names and minorities, and Aboriginal persons. The Department of Geological Sciences invites purification facilities, etc. Instrumentation is state contact information for three references to: Dr. Jay applications for a tenure track faculty position in of the art, including 7 gas chromatographs, gas Pulliam, Chair, Search Committee, Department of * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Geophysics at the rank of Assistant Professor to chromatography/mass spectrometry instruments Geology, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97354, begin in August 2016. Teaching duties include (a Thermo TSQ 8000 GC/MS/MS and two 5975 Waco, TX 76798-7354 (Tel: 254-710-2361; e-mail: TWO ASSISTANT PROFESSOR Geophysics and related subjects at undergraduate MSD systems), pyrolysis/gas chromatography [email protected]). Applications will POSITIONS IN GEOPHYSICS and graduate (M.S. degree) levels. The area instrumentation and high performance liquid be reviewed beginning in September 2015 and CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND of research should be in applied, shallow-earth chromatographic equipment. Our stable isotope applications will be accepted until the position is GEOPHYSICS geophysics using seismic reflection and other laboratories are equipped with conventional filled. THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA remote sensing techniques. Qualifications include facilities for the off-line combustion, isolation, and Baylor University is a private not-for-profit demonstrated commitment to working successfully purification of gases for stable isotope analysis. university affiliated with the Baptist General The University of Oklahoma invites applications with a diverse student population and demonstrated The laboratory houses 5 stable isotope ratio mass Convention of Texas. As an Affirmative Action/ for two tenure-track positions in Geophysics at the potential for developing and sustaining an spectrometers, including a Thermo Delta V Plus, a Equal Opportunity employer, Baylor is committed to Assistant Professor rank. One position is in General independent, externally funded research program MAT 252, a MAT 253, a Delta Plus XL and a Delta compliance with all applicable anti-discrimination Geophysics and the second in Applied Geophysics. involving students. The full position description and E for bulk and compound specific stable isotope laws, including those regarding age, race, color, We seek dynamic colleagues who will teach and application requirements are available at web.csulb. analyses of organic and inorganic materials via dual sex, national origin, marital status, pregnancy status, supervise geophysics students at all levels, while edu/divisions/aa/personnel/jobs/posting/2316/index. inlet and in continuous flow modes using elemental military service, genetic information, and disability. conducting an aggressive, independent, externally html. Review of applications to begin December 4, analyzers and gas chromatographs interfaced to As a religious educational institution, Baylor is funded research in their field 2015. the instruments. Information about the School and lawfully permitted to consider an applicant’s religion of expertise. The successful candidate should College, the facilities and the entities that it houses as a selection criterion. Baylor encourages women, hold a Ph.D., have a demonstrated research * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * can be found at www.mcee.ou.edu. minorities, veterans and individuals with disabilities record,and an interest in teaching undergraduates Review of applications will begin October to apply. and mentoring graduate students. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EARTH AND 1, 2015. The search will continue until the The General Geophysics applicant should ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES (Hydrogeology/ position is filled. The anticipated start date for MISCELLANEOUS have research interest in fundamental geophysics Groundwater Modeling) the position is August 15, 2016. Applicants can endeavors that include, but not limited to, apply online at jobs.ou.edu and search listings for geodynamics, potential fields, geodesy, numerical Applications are invited for a tenure track position the requisition number: 23149. Applicants will SAMPLES TO RENT modeling, geomechanics or seismology. as Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and be required to submit a vita/resume, statement The Applied Geophysics applicant should have Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Nebraska- of research and teaching interests, and a list of International Sample Library @ Midland – Formerly research interest in collection of geophysical data Lincoln. The successful candidate will be expected five references who can be contacted, including Midland Sample Library. and the interpretation of the subsurface for energy, to participate in teaching and curricular development telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and mailing Established in 1947. Have 164,000 wells with groundwater, mineral, and geothermal exploration. of undergraduate and graduate courses, to advise addresses. Questions or information requests 1,183,000,000 well samples and cores stored in Interest in reservoir characterization and industry and direct graduate students, and to develop a should be addressed to the Chair of the Petroleum 17 buildings from 26 states, Mexico, Canada and experience are also welcome. rigorous research program that is supported by Geochemistry Search Committee, at (405) 325-3253 offshore Australia. We also have a geological supply The ConocoPhillips School of Geology and external funding. It is expected that the research or [email protected]. inventory. Geophysics has a large, vibrant faculty with a broad program will focus on the responses of groundwater The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Carnegie-R1 range of research activities and strong ties to the systems to climate change. Ability to contribute to comprehensive public research university known for Phone: (432) 682-2682 petroleum industry. The student body includes about multidisciplinary water and climate research efforts excellence in teaching, research, and community Fax: (432) 682-2718 200 undergraduates and more than 100 MS and within Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences engagement, serving the educational, cultural, PhD students. The Mewbourne College of Earth & and across the university will be considered as an economic and health-care needs of the state, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Energy possesses extensive software and computing advantage. The candidate should demonstrate region, and nation from three campuses: Norman, labs with PC and Linux platforms networked to our strong potential for research and teaching and must Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City and the SES — more companies CHOOSE SES v5 own dedicated cluster within the OU supercomputer hold a Ph.D. in Geology, Hydrogeology, or a related Schusterman Center in Tulsa. OU enrolls over 30,000 over the other 15+ commercial geosteering software center (OSCER). The College hosts numerous field at the time of appointment. students and has more than 2700 full-time faculty options on the USA market; browse its features/ industrial consortia, a research institute focused on The Department of Earth and Atmospheric members in 21 colleges. In 2014, OU became pricing/evolution online to see why. SES is niche seismic monitoring, and a field campus in Colorado Sciences offers B.S. degrees in Geology and the first public institution ever to rank #1 nationally 3D technical geosteering software TRUSTED by for field courses in geology and geophysics. The Meteorology-Climatology, as well as M.S. and Ph.D. in the recruitment of National Merit Scholars, with geologists everywhere. Free trial, online training, and geophysics group conducts multiple, externally degrees in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Primary 311 scholars. The 277-acre Research Campus in class training available. funded, research, and maintains a comprehensive research areas within the geological sciences Norman was named the No.1 research campus in pool of geophysical equipment including GPR, include hydrogeological sciences, sedimentary the nation by the Association of Research Parks in www.makinhole.com seismic (active and passive), magnetic, and gravity geology, paleontology and paleobiology, petroleum 2013. Norman is a culturally rich and vibrant town Stoner Engineering LLC. instruments, as well as extensive rock physics geosciences, and geobiology. Research in located just outside Oklahoma City. With outstanding characterization laboratories. Through atmospheric sciences is focused on meteorological schools, amenities, and a low cost of living, Norman

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 53 EXPLORER DIRECTOR’SCORNER Geo-DC Benefits All AAPG Members By DAVID CURTISS

s this issue of the EXPLORER Washington’s policy circles to the team. arrives in your mailbox, a group of Until AAPG opened its office GEO-DC’s mission has three principal AAAPG members has just finished elements: another Geosciences Congressional there was no group dedicated to Visits Days in Washington, D.C. improved public understanding u Advise and educate policymakers, During this annual pilgrimage to the government officials and other science U.S. capital, AAPG members gather of the science of finding oil and and policy organizations to help them with members of our sister geoscience natural gas. make better, more informed policy societies to talk to policymakers and decisions. their staff about the importance of the CURTISS geosciences to society. We talk about our u Communicate to AAPG members shared interests as geoscientists – and and professional association, has an blend of both industry and government/ timely and relevant information on policy each group also has a chance to raise office in Washington, D.C. After all, we policy experience that enabled us to and regulatory activity that will affect issues important to its members. aren’t the power brokering lobbyists of successfully launch this initiative. them and their careers. Congressional Visits Days is one of the sort portrayed on “House of Cards.” I joined as deputy director on a part- the activities coordinated and organized That’s true, of course, but the real time basis a few months later while u Provide AAPG members with an by AAPG’s Geoscience and Energy underlying question is: How do non-U.S. working at the Energy & Geoscience opportunity to engage with policymakers, Policy office in Washington, D.C., or as members benefit from GEO-DC? Institute at the University of Utah. My bringing their unique expertise to policy we like to call it, GEO-DC. My response is that, in fact, many policy experience came from my 2001-02 discussions. This December GEO-DC will celebrate AAPG members live and work in the appointment as the American Geological its 10th anniversary. United States. Many more work for Institute’s Congressional Science Fellow, * * * Over the past decade we have been corporations who have operations where I worked on Capitol Hill for now working diligently to help policymakers – in the United States. So policies retired Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. (R-Okla.). Congressional Visit Days, like the in the United States and abroad – better set in Washington, D.C., affect an In late 2007, I moved back to one we’ve just concluded, is a prime understand the role that geoscience, overwhelming number of AAPG Washington and took over as GEO-DC opportunity for you to get involved in specifically petroleum geoscience, plays members, either directly or indirectly. director from Don. policy activities. In recent years we’ve as the foundation of modern society. Finally, the big issues facing our Our current director, Edith Allison, had several of our Canadian members As geologists we take for granted that profession and our industry are global, whose background includes both stints participate, and everyone is welcome to the general public and elected leaders so the messages and approaches we are in industry and then working for the join us. understand the role geoscience plays. developing and testing in Washington, Department of Energy’s fossil energy As petroleum geoscientists it is up But they don’t. D.C., to educate policymakers and the program, as well as a distinguished to us to ensure that policymakers and And while there are many trade public can be used worldwide. career of volunteer service to AAPG, took the public have relevant information associations that represent oil and gas GEO-DC isn’t just for U.S. members; the reins in 2013 and has been working about our profession as they assess and industry interests, until AAPG opened its it’s for all AAPG members. diligently to expand and grow AAPG’s evaluate policy options. office there was no group dedicated to That’s been a hallmark ever since policy activities. AAPG has accepted that challenge, improved public understanding of the founding director Don Juckett opened the Colleen Newman has more recently and I urge you to join us. science of finding oil and natural gas. office in late 2005. Don’s background at joined Edie to help AAPG connect and That’s the niche GEO-DC fills. Phillips Petroleum and then as a member communicate its message. She brings Occasionally I get a question about of the senior executive service at the her legislative and executive branch why AAPG, as an international scientific U.S. Department of Energy were the right experience and expansive network in DIVISIONSREPORT: DPA Spread the Word About DPA-Sponsored Forums By MICHAEL R. CANICH

s I was traveling at 38,000 feet on held in Houston on Oct. 31, 2013, in my way to the AAPG International conjunction with the sponsored “SEC AConvention and Exhibition in This complex facet of our industry Reserve Rules and Unconventional Melbourne, Australia, I read David Resources” short course. McCullough’s “The Wright Brothers.” is becoming increasingly important to This program brought together the Imagine, just 113 years ago, the Wright corporate survival, and we are planning giants of the reserves estimations arena, brothers made the first glider flight, and from geological, engineering, geophysical today I am flying at 500-plus miles per hour. additional forums in the near future. and governmental perspectives. Past It was their diligence and perseverance that President Bob Shoup coordinated the made modern air travel possible. CANICH first forum and Eleazar Benedetto-Padron In the oil and gas industry, the same organized the second, again in Houston, on diligence and perseverance have driven future projects. In addition to the educational and Feb. 26, 2015. us to develop the current technological Charles Sternbach originated and motivational talks, Playmakers provides a This event requires cooperative advances that have led to discoveries chairs this program for both the DPA and great venue for networking between the contributions from the Joint Committee on around the world. AAPG’s Division of the AAPG 100th Anniversary Committee. speakers and participants, which include Reserves Evaluator Training (JCORET) Professional Affairs has developed the In the 14 times this forum has been early, middle and late-career petroleum organizations, and by leading these Discovery Thinking, Playmaker and presented, Paul Weimer, Ed Dolly and geoscientists. efforts our members and audience benefit Reserves forums, which showcase other co-chairs also have contributed from The initial Playmaker Forum was held in greatly from the knowledge and expertise the thought processes that developed around the globe. Houston in 2013, with subsequent forums of the Society of Petroleum Engineers current plays, as well as provide case For more information about Discovery in Houston in 2014; and Midland, Texas; (SPE), Society of Petroleum Evaluation studies of the results. Thinking, visit www.SearchandDiscovery. London, England, and Calgary, Canada, Engineers (SPEE), Society of Exploration Discovery Thinking has been offered as com/SpecialCollections/DiscoveryThinking.html. in 2015. Geophysicists (SEG) and AAPG. This a session at the AAPG Annual Convention The Playmaker Forum – a concept Forums for 2016 are scheduled for complex facet of our industry is becoming and Exhibition since 2008 and at the also developed and championed by Denver and Pittsburgh, with additional increasingly important to corporate survival, International Convention and Exhibition Charles Sternbach – is a compact one- venues currently developing plans and we are planning additional forums in since 2011. This forum highlights the AAPG day forum in which geoscientists share for forums. If you have not attended a the near future. members who have made significant with geoscientists, providing technical Playmakers Forum, please plan to do so in The DPA continues to work to provide geologic discoveries. The speakers for and professional paths to business the near future. scientific, business and professional this forum provide case studies on how success to find and produce energy. For more information, visit support to its members through the they approached a geologic problem and The seminar includes educational www.SearchandDiscovery.com/ sponsored forums described above. with persistence were able to overcome talks, analog discoveries in proven and SpecialCollections/pm.htm. Please join DPA, be part of the effort and significant challenges. The testimonies are emerging plays and a luncheon speaker The Reserves Evaluation Forum help us spread the word about DPA-

inspiring and provide every geologist with who had the vision to pursue and is a relatively new addition to the DPA sponsored forums. EXPLORER food for thought regarding their current and successfully develop a new play. sponsored events, with the first meeting 54 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG EXPLORER

WWW.AAPG.ORG OCTOBER 2015 55 EXPLORER

56 OCTOBER 2015 WWW.AAPG.ORG