Issue 2

Vol. 12

This edition of GEO ExPro Magazine focuses on North America and the Digital Oilfield.

Download PDF

Columns

5 Editorial

6 Market Update

8 Update

14 Licensing Opportunities

16 A Minute to Read

30 GEO Tourism: The Magnificent Southern Canadian Rockies

46 Recent Advances in Technology: Gas Hydrates II

54 GEO Profile: Duncan Clarke

76 History of Oil: East Texas Field – The Great Black Giant

82 What I Do: The Exploration Country Manager

84 GEO Cities: Dazzling Dallas

86 Exploration Update

88 GEO Media: Sons of Wichita

90 Q&A: The Role of Consultancy

92 Hot Spot: Kurdistan Iraq

94 Global Resource Management

Features

20 GEO Science Explained: Puzzling Salt Structures

26 Industry Issues: The Digital Oilfield – Managing People Transition

36 Seismic Foldout: Offshore Senegal: New Play Concepts Revealed

42 Exploration: Oil Exploration in the Canadian Beaufort

50 Industry Issues: Invest or Panic?

58 Seismic Foldout: Tectonic Fabric of North America Uncovered

64 GEO Science Explained: Resolving Uncertainty – The Importance of Mud Logging

68 Geology: Vast Potential – Mexico’s Offshore Ronda Uno

72 Technology Explained: Reducing Risk Offshore

Articles

Collaboration is the Future

Australian-based Searcher Seismic and Chinese BGP consolidate their relationship. In the present rather straightened times, many people in the oil and gas industry believe that collaboration, even across continents, is the way Read More

The Role Of Consultancy in the Exploration Industry

Why and when do we need to use consultants? Philip Angell, Managing Director of Dubai-based consulting firm Vision Project Services DMCC, explains. We are the piece of the puzzle that Read More

Why Norway?

For more than ten years, Norway has attracted small- and intermediate-sized companies because of favourable geological and fiscal conditions. An uplift in the tax system may now reduce the majors’ Read More

Money Really Isn’t Everything

The story of the infamous Koch brothers is both riveting and cringe-inducing, a painful confirmation of everything your mother told you about the evils of money, its power to destroy Read More

Offshore Senegal: Sud Profond 3D Illustrates Potential

Recent discoveries indicate the potential of the Sud Profond Offshore Senegal Region. Dolphin Multi-Client’s long offset 3D seismic survey was acquired in early 2012, and covers 3,611 km2 of the offshore Read More

Time to Invest or to Panic?

As everyone knows, the oil price has plummeted in recent months. Spiraling ever downwards alongside it has been the value of E&P stocks and shares – but is this correlation Read More

All Bad News?

Winners and losers as the oil price slump continues. Is the precipitous drop in oil prices we have seen in recent months all bad news? Certainly not for consumers, who Read More

Vast Hydrocarbon Potential: Mexico’s Offshore Ronda Uno

An insight into some highlights of the offshore hydrocarbon potential available in almost virgin exploration territory. The Mexican Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) announced its first ever licensing round (Ronda Uno) in Read More

Resolving Uncertainty: The Importance of Mud Logging

Mud logging is vital for rig safety and gives the first indication of the potential success of a well, but its role is not well known or understood, especially by Read More

Riding the Waves

Welcome back to the rollercoaster! I have worked in this industry for nearly forty years and in that time, like so many of you, I have seen it ride the Read More

Puzzling Salt Structures

Detailed salt modeling has unraveled the development of a mystifying collection of structures that are a key element in the eastern Gulf of Mexico petroleum system. Seismic mapping near recent Read More

Big D

Dazzling Dallas rose up from the north Texas plains as a technical and financial center for the oil industry following the 1930 discovery of the supergiant East Texas oil field. Read More

Reducing Risk in Offshore Planning and Development

Ultrahigh resolution 3D seismic methods not only bridge the gap in continuity between the shallow subsurface and seafloor, but also the gap in communication between geoscientists and engineers. Responsible development Read More

The Exploration Country Manager

Mfon Udofia, Shell’s Exploration Manager for Algeria, gives us a few insights into the role and the skills and experience it requires. “This is a really exciting job, and one Read More

The Digital Oilfield: Managing People Transition

Why has people transition proved so difficult in oil and gas projects? It is well established that successful digital oilfield deployment projects require careful attention to ‘People’, ‘Process’ and ‘Technology’. Read More

The Magnificent Southern Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rocky Mountains rise majestically from the interior plains of Alberta, and the mechanisms which formed them are well illustrated on the scenic drive from Calgary to Banff and Read More

What is a Digital Oil Field?

Something of a ‘buzz’ phrase – but what do we mean by ‘the Digital Oil Field’? ‘Digital Oil Field’; ‘Integrated Operations’; ‘Smart Fields’; ‘Intelligent Oil Field’: all phrases that sum Read More

The global energy sector from a subsurface perspective