Explorer Article

After years of 'wheeling and dealing' international oil companies are finally beginning to sink exploratory wells in the Caspian Sea. Could the 'exploratory well of 1999' meet that prediction? The next two years should prove it.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Excitement grows as international companies jockey for position in the world's hottest play -- West Africa's deep water field.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

The basement fault block pattern started last month continues. This month the author attempts to substantiate the claim that many oil and gas fields are controlled by basement. Some geologists may concede that the evidence for underlying basement control is convincing.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

About five years ago a leader in horizontal drilling teamed with the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy and Technology Center and GRI in a $10 million research project. Their goal: Evaluate the technological and economic feasibility of drilling horizontal wells in fractured, but very-low permeability sandstone three miles below the sage brush flats of southwestern Wyoming. Today the team can now point to an unqualified success with the UPR Rock Island 4-H horizontal well.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

The phenomenon of paleo-OWCs may be more widespread than previously thought and could, in fact, be responsible for some previously unexplained exploration failures.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Avery Island sits atop the highest of five salt domes in southern Louisiana. Tourists not only find wildlife and beautiful scenery but salt, Tabasco® Sauce and a producing oil and gas field.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Oil is produced from the Manderson Field, in Wyoming's Big Horn County, from a fracture system with possible significant lateral connectivity -- so characterizing the fractures in this field is of great importance.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Deep water play in the Gulf of Mexico keeps getting deeper and hotter. A look at some discoveries in 5-6,000 feet of water shows how they may propel the industry into the Gulf.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Exploration in the deep water Gulf of Mexico may be even better than the success of drilling on the Gulf shelf. The deep offshore Gulf has more remaining, recoverable resources than the shoreward provinces. Recent discoveries seem sure to increase resource projections for the Gulf.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

In the past decade AAPG's Distinguished Lecture program has become a global effort. The 1999-2000 speaker season, fully support by the AAPG Foundation to keep the costs low, is combining with SEG for the first jointly sponsored Distinguished Lecturer.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Hot Items

Explorer Article

It isn’t news to anyone that prediction is difficult, especially when it’s the future (as a great man once said). Uncertainty and unpredictability are just a part of the job of tracking and predicting the future supply and demand of energy. That being the case, when energy analysts say that the current level of uncertainty is particularly high, it might be easy to dismiss it as a “dog bites man” story. It isn’t.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Advancements in processing and imaging techniques have continued over the last several decades, which have gradually improved the quality of the processed surface seismic data. When the quality of the existing seismic data is not adequate to perform an interpretation task reasonably, then the interpreter looks for other options. Is it feasible to acquire a new survey? In the absence of an improved survey, will reprocessing of seismic data be a good option?

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

A new type of buoyancy model can be used to understand the source of residual oil zones, both thick and thin, to help determine the likelihood that economically viable recoverable oil resides in transition zones of imbibition reservoirs. Application of a buoyancy and breech model will fill a void in reservoir characterization. It will help distinguish between TZs and ROZs, the first of which allows application of primary and secondary (waterflooding) oil recovery methods and the second of which requires more difficult CO2-enhanced oil recovery projects.

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American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Director’s Corner

Perhaps you did a double take pulling the April issue of EXPLORER from the mailbox. What is this? If you joined AAPG in the last 40 years, you’ve only known EXPLORER in its long-standing tabloid format. It worked well for many years as our advertisers – particularly seismic companies – loved the large format and the ability to display their data on a sweeping canvas. For readers, it was a little more awkward.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Historical Highlights

The Casablanca oil field, discovered in 1975 and located on the Mediterranean shelf edge, has been greatly significant in the world’s offshore oil industry activity, besides being by far the biggest oil field in Spain.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Headquarters Contacts

Susan Nash
Susan Nash Director, Innovation and Emerging Science and Technology, AAPG +1 405 314 7730