Oman – beneath the surface
Much has been written, including in this magazine, about the fantastic outcrop geology of Oman, the wonderful exposure, the preservation of salt at surface in the arid climate, and the…
Geology & Geophysics
Uncertainty – the most important result of basin modelling
I have long wanted to write about uncertainties in basin modelling. Despite their general acknowledgement, they are commonly underestimated due to various biases and psychological pressures. Explorationists sometimes live in…
The cream of the outcrop
This panorama shows an Upper Miocene succession, la Rambla de Lanujar, in the Betic Cordillera, featuring in one of our field trips to Tabernas, Almería, Spain. Apart from being a…
Peat: So hot right now
“The offshore wind sector is still very much a geotechnical exercise”, I was told recently by someone with knowledge on the matter. “But that model is due an update.” Despite…
The geological record of a highly eruptive part of North Sea history
The Kveikje discovery in the Norwegian North Sea was proven with a play-opening well in 2022, discovering a significant hydrocarbon accumulation in shallow Eocene-aged remobilised sands and injectites. These strata…
Riedel shears as kinematic indicators
In the previous article in this series, we discussed that Riedel shears are commonly the first set of subsidiary faults we see prior to the breakthrough of a master fault.…
The rise of production geology
Before anything, let’s clear the water: Production geology is not a cross-over between the cinema industry and our good ol’ geology. Production geology refers to unravelling the geological intricacies in…
Using seismic velocity to derisk oil exploration
In a recent GEO EXPRO article, we developed a field-based approach to identify natural gas prospects directly from seismic surveys. The gas fields are straight up. If the p-wave velocities…
How careful core description and detailed biostratigraphic analysis can delineate sub-seismic reservoir zones in a highly mud-prone system
This study was undertaken by PetroStrat in collaboration with Stratum AS (QEMSCAN), Barnwell Parker Geoscience Limited (seismic interpretation) and HM Research Associates (heavy mineral provenance analysis). Together, we have completed…
Shallow clastic targets and electro-magnetic surveys – a good match
“The most interesting test for our technology is the upcoming drilling campaign near the Wisting discovery in the Barents Sea”, said Martin Hansen, Daniel Baltar and Friedrich Roth from EMGS…
The forgotten value of (seismic) tapes
“I’m probably the only tape machine specialist left in northwest Europe”, says Egil Simones from ET Works when we meet at the EAGE Conference in Oslo this week. Egil is…
Heat flow as a basin model calibration? Not really
Many exploration geologists who work in data-lean basins or who do not have access to well data turn to published heat flow data as a calibration for basin models. More…