Executive Message

As CSEG Vice President, this year has been a busy one for me. Coming up to speed on the numerous things that the CSEG is involved in is always an eye opener. I attended the annual Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences (CFES) conference in Ottawa, milestone meetings regarding the future direction of the Joint Annual Convention Committee (JACC), the Chief Geophysicists Forum (CGF) once every three months and monthly meetings of: the CSEG executive, the Tri-Society (CSEG, CSPG and CWLS) and the GeoConvention.

The CFES (www.geoscience.ca) meets twice a year and is the umbrella society of all of the earth sciences in Canada. They have tens of thousands of members paying dues through the following societies:

• AGS: Atlantic Geoscience Society – ags.earthsciences.dal.ca
• CAG: Canadian Association of Geographers – cag-acg.ca
• CanQua: Canadian Quaternary Association www.canqua.com
• CCCESD: Council of Chairs of Canadian Earth Science Departments – cccesd.acadiau.ca
• CGS: Canadian Geotechnical Society – cgs.ca
• CIM: Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum – cim.org
• CNC-IAH: Canadian National Chapter of the International Association of Hydrogeologists www.iah.ca
• CPTG: Committee of Provincial and Territorial Geologists – cpgeologists.ca
• CSEG: Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicsts – cseg.ca
• CSPG: Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists – cspg.org
• CWLS: Canadian Well Logging Society – cwls.org
• GAC: Geological Association of Canada – gac.ca
• MAC: Mineralogical Association of Canada – mineralogicalassociation.ca
• PDAC: Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada – pdac.ca

Of primary importance for the CFES this year is the 2020 International Geological Congress. Vancouver, (www.igc 2020.ca) is bidding to be the third Canadian city to host the congress. The bid has received support from more than thirty Canadian and American governmental, academic, industrial and professional organizations. The bid committee will travel to the IGC in Brisbane in August, where the vote will be held. Cities in India and Spain will also bid for the IGC2020.

The JAC Committee has undergone significant change this year with Rob McGrory taking over the chair of the JAC committee.

The three societies (CSEG, CSPG and CWLS) are working closer together than ever, and this looks to continue for the foreseeable future. The momentum of these three societies working together has great technical, economic and networking upside.

The CGF Reserves sub-committee was extremely busy this past year with the reserves document “Geophysical Application – Using Geophysics for Hydrocarbon Reserves and Resources Classification and Assessment “ and the APEGGA practice standard for authenticating documents.

The following is an update from the CGF Chair Marion Hanna

CGF and Reserves work:

Back in 2010 a discussion was held amongst members of the CGF, AAPG/SPE, APEGGA, ASC, ERCB and TSX Ventures about the update to the SEC (Security Exchange Commission in USA) rules to include reliable technology such as geophysics that establishes “reasonable certainty”. Additionally, an update to the Petroleum Resources Management System Application Document (PRMS AD) includes a chapter (Ch. 3) on Seismic Applications as written by the Society of Exploration Geophysicist Oil and Gas Reserves Committee (SEG OGRC). The PRMS AD document was sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), World Petroleum Council (WPC), Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE) and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG).

There were also ongoing plans to update the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook (COGEH) by the copyright owners, the SPEE Calgary Chapter. The update to PRMS AD with inclusion of Seismic Applications led the effort for the Chief Geophysicists Forum (CGF) to network with the SEG OGRC and to borrow shamelessly from their write up with the intent to expand this work including more Canadian examples, international examples and a write-up on micro-seismic. The other intent was to network with the local SPEE Calgary chapter on their desire to receive this document from the CGF for their consideration for a COGEH update. After one year (2011) of the CGF Reserves sub-committee working on the document and getting industry feedback via the CGF webpage on the CSEG website, the CGF are done! The document now resides with the SPEE Calgary chapter and they will keep the CGF abreast of changes to COGEH on the subject of geophysics. Our CGF efforts will eventually contribute to an update on the APEGGA standards document for the Practice Standard for Evaluation of Oil and Gas Reserves for Public Disclosure, published in 2003 which can be found at the following website: http://www.apegga.org/pdf/Guidelines/OilandGasReserves.pdf

More information the on CGF can be found on the CSEG website at: http://www.cseg.ca/about/cgf.cfm including the CGF Reserves document. There are also two Recorder articles about the CGF in the September 2010 and March 2011 issues.

CGF and APEGGA Practice Standard for Authenticating Professional Document:

APEGGA had released a draft update to the above mentioned Practice Standard in early 2011 which raised some concern in the APEGGA membership, as well as some CGF members (who represent their company’s geophysical community). Consequently a survey was sent out to the CGF about the viability of portions of the practice standard along with its implications and the CGF added this topic to their June 2011 meeting agenda. Ken Mitchell spearheaded this effort for the CGF.

APEGGA processes that lead to Practice Standards are intended to provide opportunity for comment by interested parties that result in review and amendment to drafts. The CGF commissioned survey certainly stimulated comment on the subject by individual CGF members. At the June 2011 CSEG Executive meeting, Ken and Marian presented survey results and geophysical community perspective on the matter. A key recommendation to our Executive was to coordinate with CSPG on providing input to APEGGA especially regarding the relevance and mechanics of authentication of geoscience documents. CSEG Executive interaction with the APEGGA process is ongoing but it is apparent from APEGGA Council minutes that the implications of stamping of internal and intermediate geoscience documents needs further consideration.The bottom line on all this information is that the ability to positively influence our industry activities exists and the efforts by the CGF prove this. Way to go!

The Tri-Society meeting is a means for the CSEG, CSPG and CWLS to meet once a month and share updates on relevant intrasociety issues and in particular updates on the planning and progress of the GeoConvention. There is great potential for the JACC and Tri-Society meetings to be combined.

The following is a GeoConvention update from the 2012 Convention Manager Shauna Carson

This May the CSEG is once again partnering with the CSPG and CWLS to bring the annual convention back to the TELUS Convention Centre and ERCB Core Research Centre. From May 14 – 18 GeoConvention 2012: Vision will draw an expected 4,000 delegates to Calgary to enjoy a convention that will be remembered for years to come.

Planning is well underway, with many new developments for delegates to enjoy. With 62 exhibitors and counting, space on the Exhibit Floor is selling quickly, and the 2012 Convention promises to feature another sold-out floor. Ensure your company is represented this year by booking a booth today. The Special Events committee is working on ways to improve the convention networking events for delegates, and is pleased to announce two exciting luncheon speakers for 2012 – on Monday, May 14 Professor Michael Byers will discuss sovereignty issues in the Arctic, and Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire will address delegates on Tuesday, May 15. Tickets for these and other special events will be available when Registration opens on March 1; register online and take advantage of early-bird pricing for the month of March.

Abstract submission for the Technical Program officially closed January 31; session chairs have been actively soliciting papers for this year’s convention, and are looking to build interesting and informative sessions on everything from Sequence Stratigraphy to emerging technologies in Microseismic and Geomodelling. In addition to traditional sessions, this year’s program will also feature integrated sessions as well as a special CSEG session running Thursday, May 17.

Remember to visit www.geoconvention.com for more information on any of the above, and follow the convention on twitter @geoconvention for updates and exclusive prize draws.