Rich Petroleum Source Rocks
An inventory of petroleum source rocks in the World’s major sedimentary basins show that six geological intervals in Earth’s history generated over 90% of the World’s conventional oil and gas…
Worldwide
Devastating Results
With few discoveries of note in 2015, we continue to use more hydrocarbons than we find. 2015 was a big disappointment for explorationists. Only two decent discoveries and, even worse, exploration…
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…
An Overlooked Petroleum System
Is it possible to generate hydrocarbons over the oceanic crust? In petroleum exploration, the concept of hydrocarbon generation on the continental crust is completely accepted. However, modelling exercises demonstrate that,…
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…
Supercomputers for Beginners – Part II
Energy companies need ever larger computers. This article is the second of three articles giving an introduction to supercomputers . Here, we look at the design of parallel software. Beta:…
The Road to OPEC 1960
Holding 77% of world’s proven oil reserves and delivering 41% of production, OPEC has a powerful place in our world. Here we review how OPEC began and rose to its…
Back to Source Rocks: Part I
The science and analytical techniques to investigate petroleum source rocks have been developed over the past four decades. Understanding the geology and geochemistry of source rocks is crucial to petroleum…
Building Africa’s Oil and Gas Future
Commercial and organisational reforms together with sound advice and networks are needed to move Africa forward in the present challenging environment. Africa’s continental oil and gas game flourished on long-term trend…
Converting Discoveries Into Production
A key challenge for the E&P industry over the few next years will be to mature the discoveries made during the last five years, and convert them into commercial fields.…
The Ross Sea, Antarctica
Remoteness and extreme weather, coupled with increasing environmental concerns, mean that only about 200 visitors reach the Ross Sea each year – but once there they are rewarded with spectacular…
The Lifeblood of the Industry
There is a lot of depressing news out there. Shell, Marathon, Anadarko, Husky Energy, Chesapeake… just a few of the O&G companies which posted poor third quarter results. Virtually every day an exploration or service company announces layoffs, and…