Articles
Fractured Reservoir Characterization using AVAZ on the Pinedale Anticline, Wyoming
Dave Russum
Resource assessments have generally attempted to estimate the total resource in an area or formation. This approach can provide very large numbers that are misleading for both industry experts and the general public. This paper proposes a new, simple method to assess resources that recognizes that not all resources are…
A Perspective on the Evolution of Processing Seismic Primaries and Multiples for a Complex Multidime
Arthur Weglein
Seismic reflection events are typically catalogued as primary or multiple depending on whether the arriving energy at the receiver has in its history experienced one or more upward reflections, respectively. We can trace the evolution of progress and effectiveness in seismic processing by following the physics used to describe what…
A Tomostatics Primer
Mike Perz
First arrival turning ray tomography is enjoying increasing popularity as a tool for deriving both weathering statics and near-surface velocity models for depth imaging. This tutorial-style article focuses on the former of these two applications, the so-called “tomostatics” algorithm.
... Playing with Fire: Trim Statics and Noise Alignment
Chuck Ursenbach and John C. Bancroft
The danger of noise alignment in trim statics is reviewed and illustrated. Such noise alignment is then quantified through numerical studies to obtain a clearer understanding of this phenomenon. The results are used to quantify an allowable range of trim statics for a given acquisition geometry, and to develop tests…
“Is There an Impending World Oil Shortage?”
Michael J. Economides
In 1859, right after the now famous Colonel Drake well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and because of shortages of the illuminant camphene, shortages caused by the Civil War, the price of oil shot to $15 per barrel which in today’s dollars would be over $1,000. By autumn of 1861,…
APEGGA/CSEG Synergies
Ron Tenove
Ron Tenove heads the largest professional association in Alberta. He has a clear understanding of the realities of today and a strong vision of where the professions are heading and how to get there. With total membership now exceeding 38,000, APEGGA faces many challenges from our changing professions and new… A Quick Tour of University Geophysics Websites
Brief overview of Canadian university websites on the subject of geophysics.
... Geophysics Research at the University of Calgary
Helen Isaac and Larry Lines
The Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Calgary began its geophysical life in 1967, when Dr. Peter Gretener joined the department. A geophysics major was first offered in 1970 and the first Ph.D was awarded to Art Sweet in 1972. The department now has high enrolments at…
Research in Geophysics at the University of Alberta
Douglas R. Schmitt
The wide variety of research in Geophysics at the University of Alberta includes both applied and more fundamental studies. The core faculty of solid earth Geophysicists are in the Physics Department but workers are also scattered throughout other departments and faculties. There have been many changes at the University of…
Geophysics Research at Colorado School of Mines
Terry Young
When some people first hear of the Colorado School of Mines, they are not sure whether it is “Mines” or “Minds”. For many, the reference to “Mines” conjures up a limited image of what this institution must be about. It may be a surprise, then, to learn that “Mines”, aboard…
Recent Advances in Application of AVO to Carbonate Reservoirs
Yongyi Li, Bill Goodway and Jonathan Downton
Carbonates make up about half of the sedimentary rock in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB), ranging from Cambrian to early Jurassic in geologic age, in which large oil and gas reserves exist in the Devonian and Early Carboniferous formations. Middle and Upper Devonian carbonate rocks alone have a known…
Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD): A New Oil Production Technology for Heavy Oil and Bitumens
T.N. Nasr
The capacity of world heavy oil and oil sands has been estimated to be as much as that of the world’s total discovered light and medium crude oils in place. Over 90% of the world’s heavy oil and oil sands are deposited in Canada and Venezuela. Up to 90% of…
The Athabasca Oil Sands Project
Neil Camarta
When Shell Canada produces its first barrel of synthetic crude from the Oil Sands sometime next year, it will join a very small group of companies. If a ‘club’ for synthetic crude producers existed, Shell’s efforts would have earned its membership by virtue of decades of work, billions of dollars,…
Focusing Oil and Gas Exploration in Eastern Yemen by Using Satellite Images and Elevation Data along
Richard Harris, Mark Cooper, Ian Shook
Landsat images and a digital elevation model covering the central and southern portions of the Masilah Basin in the Republic of Yemen have been used to enhance the mapping of poorly imaged structural features. An absence of recent post-rift sediments within the study area allowed Mesozoic and Cenozoic extensional features…
Tectonic Evolution of the San Jacinto Fold Belt, NW Colombia
Miryam Caro and Deborah Spratt
The San Jacinto Fold Belt is interpreted to be an inverted rift or graben on the northwestern continental margin of South America. Tectonic evolution of the San Jacinto Fold Belt from Cretaceous to present is complex and related to the development of the Caribbean Plate and its interaction with the…
Geologic and Engineering Aspects of Naturally Fractured Reservoirs
Roberto Aguilera
I am convinced significant volumes of hydrocarbons reside in naturally fractured reservoirs – particularly in fields abandoned because of improper testing and evaluation or because the wells did not intersect the fractures.1 Rules of thumb and naturally fractured reservoirs do not mix well. What appears to work in one might…
Running Out of Gas? The need for more and better exploration
Dave Russum
... Modern Depth Migration Methods: Promise and Challenges for Canadian Basins
Samual H. Gray and James Sun
... Aeromagnetic Anomalies from the South-Central Alberta Foothills
Christian I. Abaco and Don C. Lawton
High-resolution aeromagnetic (HRAM) data from the south-central Alberta Foothills were processed to enhance near-surface sources of magnetic anomalies and suppress regional gradients. The processed HRAM anomalies are not related to the topography and are induced by the magnetic properties of the rock units underlying the survey area. Siliciclastic strata dominate…
Resistivity and Seismic Visualization Techniques to Plot Subsurface Environmental Geology
Alan Coode, Grant Nimeck, Mike Pesowski, Ron Larson, Andrew Karvonen and Moir D. Haug
Initial drilling and Time Domain Electro-Magnetic (TDEM) geophysical surveying (Geonics EM-47) indicated the presence of a sandy buried channel below till in Western Canada. Additional geophysical surveys used both resistivity measurements and seismic visualization techniques to explore the near surface lithology. The resistivity surveys (Komex International Ltd.) gave definitive images…
