Bulletin of the Volume LVI Issue No. 4 South Texas Geological Society December, 2015 On The Cover Contents 3 STGS Member Photos, Wilford Lee Index of Advertisers ………….…….......... Stapp’s photo is larger to pay President’s Message ………...……............ 5 tribute, he started the STGS Memorial to Bill St. John……………..….. 4 Bulletin in 1962. Memorial to Wilford Stapp …………....... 7 December Lunch Meeting Notice: Featured Article: December lunch meeting is substituted South Texas Geological Society Member 13 with the Annual Industry Christmas Directory Party on Thursday, December 3th, 2015. From 6:30 to 11pm at the Petroleum Club. See inserted meeting notice within. Visit our webpage: www.STGS.org The South Texas Geological Society Bulletin is published monthly from September through May by the South Texas Geological Society, P.O. Box 17805, San Antonio, Texas, 78217. Phone: 210- 822-9092. Copyright 2015 by the South Texas Geological Society. All rights reserved. Subscriptions: Subscriptions to this publication is included in the membership dues (annual renewal). Subscription price for non-members is $80.00, single copy is $10.00. Advertising: Advertising accepted any time. Please contact the South Texas Geological Society Advertising Chair for additional information, Allison Craig, [email protected]. South Texas Geological Society December 2015 1 Bulletin of the South Texas Geological Society 2016 - President & Webmaster Tim McGovern, Geological Consultant 361-537-3572 [email protected] 2015 Past President (2014-15) Harry ‘Bud’ Holzman, Jr., Thunder 210-698-6629 [email protected] Exploration President Elect Ted Flanigan, Independent 210-310-3135 [email protected] (2016-17) Vice President David Clay, Ames Energy, LLC. 210-824-3100 [email protected] Ext. 22 Secretary Alan Dutton, UTSA 210-458-5746 [email protected] Secretarial Services Doreen Brooner, Professional Secretarial Svcs 210-822-9092 [email protected] Treasurer Terry Virtue, Independent 830-632-7744 [email protected] Officers & Committees & Committees Officers Bulletin Editor Chelsea McGovern, AWP Operating 210-820-2081 [email protected] Company Advertising Chair Allison Craig, Weatherford 210-307-9122 [email protected] Nominating Chair John Long, Independent 210-276-0318 [email protected] Programs Committee Bonnie Weise, Geological Consultant 210-402-0957 [email protected] Lunch Meeting Reservation Connie Mechler, AWP Operating Company 210-820-2081 [email protected] Continuing Education Alf Hawkins, Hawkins Remote Sensing & 210-829-5530 [email protected] Exploration Field Trips Tom Fett, Independent Consultant 830-612-2929 [email protected] Community Outreach/Youth Katie Urbis, Silverback Exploration 817-694-8404 [email protected] Service Academic Liaison Glen S. Tanck, Palo Alto College 210-921-5483 [email protected] Christmas Party Margaret R. Perales-Graham, MPG 210-828-4666 [email protected] Petroleum Accountants Gibbons, Vogel & Company 210-826-4347 Executive Committee Mark Brown, Kaler Energy Corp. 210-824-1361 [email protected] Ken Helm, Hurd Enterprises, Ltd. 210-829-2234 [email protected] Scholarship Committee Debbie Dorsett, Hurd Enterprises, Ltd. 210-829-2222 [email protected] Ken Helm, Hurd Enterprises, Ltd. 210-829-2234 [email protected] Ben Boyer, Hurd Enterprises, Ltd. 210-829-2269 [email protected] Mark E. Thompson, Independent 210-415-3508 [email protected] Tim McGovern, Geological Consultant 361-537-3572 [email protected] Jones-Amsbury Grant Mark E. Thompson, Independent 210-415-3508 [email protected] AAPG Delegates Bonnie Weise, Geological Consultant 210-402-0957 [email protected] Mike Younger, Blackbrush Energy 210-568-1792 [email protected] Tim McGovern, Geological Consultant 361-537-3572 [email protected] (Alternate) John Casiano, Abraxas Petroleum 210-757-9853 [email protected] 2 December 2015 South Texas Geological Society Bulletin of the South Texas Geological Society 2016 Advertiser Page - Activa Resources 8 To Our Advertisers: 2015 Ageron Energy 10 On Behalf of the South Texas Blackbrush Oil & Gas 38 Geological Society, we would like to take this opportunity to CGG Outside Cover thank each and every one of you Advertising Index Index Advertising Core Lab 40 for your contributions to the bulletin. Without your support, EOG Resources 9 we could not provide our GeoSteering 8 members with such a high quality Geotech Logging Services 39 publication. Global Geophysical Services 10 Thank you very much! Halliburton 40 To Our Members and Readers: Killam Companies 12 Please recognize and extend your McGovco 39 appreciation to the various McGovern Geological Consulting 11 bulletin advertisers by either using Metano Energy 12 their services or recommending MJ Systems 11 them to others whenever possible. Paleo Control, Inc. 39 Petrophysics 39 If you are interested in having an Pioneer Drilling Company 6 Ad Space, please contact: Sage Energy 6 Allison Craig Society of Petroleum Engineers STGS Advertising Chair 2015- 39 (Balcones Section) 2016 Thunder Exploration, Inc. 12 [email protected] Valor Exploration 6 Ofc 210-307-9122 Welder Exploration & Production 12 South Texas Geological Society December 2015 3 A Tribute to Bill St. John Bill then hung out his consulting shingle. In 1990 he accepted a request by the World Bank to oversee a project intended to promote the petroleum (July 27, 1932 – October 26, 2015) potential of Ethiopia. He prepared a well-documented report demonstrating Bill St. John, 83, died in Kerrville, Texas on that potential, particularly within the Ogaden Basin bordering Somalia. His October 26, 2015. He was an extraordinary report was quite successful as it led to interest by several companies and geologist, widely respected within the large concessions were subsequently taken by Maxus Energy and Hunt Oil. petroleum industry where he spent most of his Early on, Bill accompanied Maxus personnel on a helicopter overflight of their career. His personal pursuit of a greater concession area. The pilot inadvertently landed in a small town in Somalia. understanding of what makes the world tick All personnel were taken into custody as possible CIA, or even Israeli, spies. was equally important and respected in academia. They were flown to Mogadishu and placed under house arrest before being released eight days later. Meanwhile Bill had signed on as Resident Manager He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Nancy; sons Michael, Tad, Kevin and for Hunt Oil’s concession. Life in Ethiopia included a fair share of interesting Doyle; and stepsons Tim and Christopher Rivali. experiences such as running through a barricade set up by armed bandits, Billy Eugene St. John was born in Wink, Texas in 1932. He graduated from an evacuation due to a rebel insurgency and constant personal and company high school in Wichita Falls and attended Hardin College there but dropped logistical problems. In 1994 Bill took Nancy’s advice, resigned from Hunt Oil out in the middle of his sophomore year to enlist in the Marines in January and returned to the USA. Shortly thereafter, Hunt Oil requested that Bill 1951. He had stateside training and duties until he got bored and requested a return to restore government relations that had seriously deteriorated transfer to Korea where he served as a Forward Observer until the truce of under his successor. By 1995 that had been accomplished and thus ended July 27, 1953 (his 21st birthday present). the Ethiopian saga. Bill returned to his studies in 1954 when he enrolled at The University of By then Bill had a well-deserved reputation as one of the very best analysts Texas, Austin. He graduated with a BS in Geology in June 1958. With the of the prospectivity of relatively untested basins. He was called upon to encouragement of Dr. Bill Muehlberger, Bill remained in school and received work on basins in India, Azerbaijan and a wide range of African countries. He an MA in Geology in June 1960. accepted one long-term assignment with Vanco Energy to study the West African offshore; no small feat in itself. In fact, large scale projects were He worked briefly for the Bureau of Economic Geology in Austin before right down his alley as he was, quite literally, always ready to take on the accepting an offer from Amoseas to work in Libya where his geological world. In his ‘spare’ time in 1984 he created the still popular map acumen and willingness to stand up to whatever came along was typified. Sedimentary Provinces of the World which is also now available in digital One of his first assignments was to do field work alongside a seismograph format from the AAPG. Also in 1984 he was program chair for the Wallace E. crew. They had set up camp in a valley which Bill immediately recognized as Pratt Memorial Conference, Future Petroleum Provinces of the World, the a breached anticline. Bill requested aerial photos, mapped it, measured proceedings of which were published in 1986 as AAPG Memoir 40. Bill sections and prepared a report. The General Manager doubted that a fresh- authored/co-authored two contributions to that volume, on Antarctica and faced new kid could have done that by himself and asked Bill whose work he on giant oil and gas fields. In 1990 Bill was editor of AAPG Studies in Geology had copied. Bill got angry, told the Manager what he thought, what the No. 31, Antarctica as an Exploration Frontier: Hydrocarbon Potential, Geology Manager could do and walked out. Maybe that’s why a few years later he quit and Hazards. By mid-2010 he had authored and self-published the well- and went back to UT to pursue a PhD. His dissertation work was in the Black received Hydrocarbon Potential of the Eastern Africa Offshore. At the time Gap area of the eastern Big Bend, West Texas; again under the guidance of of his death he was working on a Tectonic Map of the World; no small Dr. Muehlberger. undertaking for one person.