Tracing the Industry

ON THE MOVE...

Sandor Bezdan has moved to OMV, an Austrian oil company. He can be reached at +43 (1) 40 440-23266 or sandor.bezdan@omv.com. He hopes to see many Canadian colleagues at the next EAGE meeting in Vienna. He hopes to see many Geo-X and other Canadian colleagues at the next EAGE meeting in Vienna. You can reach Sandor at sandor.bezdan@omv.com.

Kim Nevada wants people to know that she has started a new position in Sales and Marketing at Pulse Seismic. Her new numbers and email are: (403) 531-0201 Direct Line (403) 968-5026 Cell Email: kim.nevada@pulseseismic.com.

Dave Levesque would like friends, colleagues, and clients to know that he has joined Cyries Energy as an Interpretation Geophysicist. Prior to joining Cyries, Dave worked as a Processing Geophysicist for nearly twenty years. Dave would like to thank all of his clients and co-workers over the past two decades for the opportunity to work with/for some truly interesting and intelligent people. He can be reached at dlevesque@cyries.com, or at 403.232.4169.

Paradigm Geophysical Canada Ltd. is pleased to welcome Cinnamon Bond as Account Manager, Integrated Services. Paradigm is a leading provider of geoscience software solutions, services, technical support and training to oil and gas exploration and production companies worldwide. To find out more about Paradigm’s Integrated Services and for all of your Marine and Land processing needs, Cinnamon can be reached at 403-571-1594 (office), 403-969-3530 (cell) or alternatively at cbond@paradigmgeo.com. She looks forward to hearing from you!

It is with great pleasure that CGG welcomes Jason Choo in our Calgary center. After obtaining a B. Sc. in Geophysics at the University of Calgary, Jason has worked both in Calgary and abroad in various capacities. Most recently, Jason was Vice President at Paradigm Geophysical Canada. CGG has been offering leading edge seismic processing services in Calgary since 1967 and Jason brings more than 20 years of processing experience and problem solving expertise to our already strong teams in Calgary. Jason can be reached at 266- 1011 or jchoo@cgg.com.

Owen Peters, Geophysical Technician, joined the geophysical consulting team at Boyd Petrosearch on December 15, 2005 to provide workstation and modeling support to the geophysical team. Owen’s background includes customer support experience for IHS Energy and Divestco. He can be reached at 543-5372.

Boyd PetroSearch would like to announce that Roger Edgecombe, P. Geo., joined our geophysical consulting team on October 24, 2005 to help out primarily on the potash interpretation side of the consulting business. Roger brings many years of mining and oil and gas field geophysical experience to Boyd PetroSearch. He can be reached at 543-5365.

Marilyn Mawdsley would like to announce that she has joined Flagship Energy.

Kathy Pawluk, Geophysical Service Incorporated’s new corporate counsel, brings to the table a combination of expertise in the areas of law, business, and the broader community. As a lawyer, with a Masters in Internet EBusiness law, her legal roles have encompassed serving with public companies in various senior corporate officer roles, inhouse counsel, and also as an independent consultant. She has received international corporate management recognition awards and achievement awards. As a director on the Board for the Chamber of Commerce she is involved with advocacy and policy on issues impacting the business community from a municipal, provincial and federal stance. As an educator she teaches law at the University of Calgary, DeVry Institute of Technology, and the University of Phoenix. She has p resented at national and international conferences on General Risk Assessment Areas, Internet E-Business challenges, Privacy and Global International Policy Development. Personally, she has a 12-year-old daughter who is going on 40... and has three and half goldfish. She loves to hike, bike and blade and get out into the mountains when she can. You can reach Kathy at 514-6261 or kpawluk@geophysicalservice.com.

Roger McClary is pleased to announce his move to Precision Seismic Processing, a division of GSI, as a Data Processor. He brings eight years of industry experience to GSI. Roger began his career at Kelman Seismic Processing as the Paper Folding & Filming Guy when his mother told him to do so. Shortly thereafter he moved to the position of geophysical technician under Mr. Rick Steel’s tutelage. After another year he moved into data processing. In said position he developed an honest love for processing. This led him to the University of Calgary, where he pursued a degree in mathematics. He continues his development of new Radon transform theory and its applications. Roger can be reached at Phone: (403)215- 2720 or rmcclary@geophysicalservice.com.

Norex Exploration Services Inc., and Conquest Seismic Services are pleased to announce that Gary James, formerly of the ARAM division of Geo-X Systems Ltd., has joined Norex as Director of Marketing and Business Development. Gary brings 24 years of international marketing and seismic experience to this position. Gary is excited to be working with the Norex/ Conquest team as they continue to grow and meet the needs of the geophysical exploration markets in Canada and the USA. Gary can be contacted at +1 403-216-5929 or by email at gjames@conquestseismic.com.

Moving up in the world...

iSAFE Imaging is pleased to announce that Elgin Guiao has been promoted to Vice President, Operations. Elgin has been with iSAFE Imaging since inception directing the operations and marketing for the company. Elgin will assume additional responsibilities to ensure that the quality of our services is maintained across all the iSAFE Operations Centers. iSAFE Imaging is a leader in document imaging and tape transcription services. Please contact Elgin at 403-265-7972 or visit www.isafeimaging.com for more information.

Dr. Brian Russell has been appointed as an adjunct professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Calgary. He will remain in his position as Vice-President of Hampson-Russell while participating in many activities of CREWES and the Department. Brian has served as President of both the CSEG and the SEG, as chairman of The Leading Edge editorial board, and have received many awards and honors. A CREWES alumnus, he received his Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of Calgary.

New Degrees...

All universities that would like to send announcements about their recent graduates are welcome. Give your graduates and university some well deserved publicity and acknowledgement. CS

The following are recent recipients of degrees from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Calgary. Abstracts and complete theses for the former CREWES (Consortium for Research in Elastic Wave Exploration Seismology) students (Ye, Jessica and Natalia and Karen) are available in pdf format at www.crewes.org.

Ye Zheng, PhD, March 2006, Seismic Azimuthal Anisotropy and Fracture Analysis from PP Reflection Data.

Jessica Maria Jaramillo Sarasty, MSc December, 2005, Interpretation of well-log, VSP, seismic streamer, and OBS data at the White Rose oilfield, offshore Newfoundland.

Natalia Soubotcheva, MSc. March 2006, Seismic Monitoring of Heavy Oil Reservoirs: Rock Physics and Finite Element Modeling.

Karen Pengelly, MSc. November 2005, Multicomponent Processing and Interpretation of Seismic Data from the Jackfish Heavy Oil Field, Alberta.

Brooke Berard, MSc. March, 2006, Rapid Multioffset Ground Penetrating Radar Data – Acquisition, Processing, and Interpretation in Diverse Archaeological Contexts.

Whatever happened to...?

I received the following update from Neil Janssen (Ex Veritas, Paradigm) – CS

I have left the wintery confines of Calgary for the sun and fun of the Okanagan. I am living in Kelowna for two years now and am involved in alternative energy HVAC systems. Basically, we use thermal solar collectors, heat pumps, geothermal ground loops and heat recovery techniques to make hot water cheaper than gas or electric boilers. We focus on commercial buildings, both new and retrofit, specializing in hotels, resorts and multi-residential condos. Here is also a summary attachment as one of the projects is a 500 unit condo building in Calgary! The basic premise is that we can reduce a building’s heating and cooling cost by about 50% while making it environmentally friendly. I’m green now! Gas companies hate me. Thanks for tracking me down I always will need Stampede party partners – Neil

The Stork has visited...

Mika Danielle was born Monday, March 6, 6:50 pm. 5lbs-12oz. Mom (Yvonne) and Mika are very healthy and Dad (David Germscheid, Devon Canada) is hangin’ in there! Actually, Dad is walking on air!

How I got invoveld in Geophysics...

This portion of the Tracing the Industry column is where people share how they became involved in this strange industry. Geophysics seems to be an “accidental” profession. Not many seem to start out with the goal of becoming a geophysicist. Each month I like to have someone trace their pathway into geophysics. If you would like to share your story, please let me know! CS

Marion Hanna

I grew up in the deep south of New Orleans, Louisiana. My hometown is fine example of geology forming, eroding and reforming all within a lifetime. And The Big Easy’s latest kiss by Katrina has certainly destroyed her but she’s not yet re-formed. Who said our lives are a mere portion of geological time?

The Sweet ole’ Mississippi River, that drains more than half of the North American continent, was in our backyard. It shaped my life as well as the land. Watching the river sediment being dredged and diverted then watching the river put the sediment right back again was lesson in the power of such a mighty river. I believe I fell in love with depositional systems then. How could you not want to understand Mother Nature and what she can do if you go fishing, boating, and hunting all through the back bayous and marshes? All these environments interplayed with one another. I had great teachers, my Dad, my cousin Yvonne (the other scientist in my family), my Uncle Norman and the mighty Mississippi.

Oozing my toes through deep, black, gooey mud, making mud pies, digging little channels in the mud under a leaky outside faucet were the norm as a kid but I had no idea I loved geology. I was beginning to understand I loved science, though. Some summers, we would go to the Pensacola Beach for vacation w h e re the beaches are almost pure white and you need sunglasses just to hang out on the beach. I fell in love again, this time with coastal environments. I would place a small shell into the sand and watch the tide move it and rework it. I created blocks on small streams as they flowed onto the beach and watched the water and sediment redistribute to compensate for lack of accumulation space. I was impressed by the difference of the beach as compared to the lagoons. What an amazing thing to watch. I was also the kid that came home from vacation in the Rockies with 10 kilograms of rocks just cause I’d never seen such beautiful rocks. I still never knew that I loved geology. I still have some of those rocks.

I went through high school testing as many of the sciences as I could. I did the required courses such as biology, chemistry in high school but I wanted more. My high school sent me to programs in pharmacology and nuclear physics at local universities trying to entice students into the sciences. Neither met my fancy but they were interesting. We even had a geologist come talk to us about going into geology but I wasn’t listening at the time. He was too much of geek and I was a high school senior for crying out loud. I decided on continuing to learn science after high school. I’d had enough of the book stuff and wanted to learn something new- the science of young men, and I tried to squeeze in time to study too. Yeah right! College, Phase 1 was okay but uncommitted on my part.

That led me into going out on my own, after being encouraged by my parents. Apparently, my new science was bothering them. Being on your own at an early age with a low wage income and bills to pay is a great wake up call to hurry up and get back to college. I ran as fast as I could into College – Phase 2.

Since I had taken so many courses in science during high school, I decided that it was time to get serious and stop playing around with my degree program. Forget science, I thought. I needed a real job. I was doing bookkeeping, as one of my low paying jobs and it was easy. Math was easy but that was only convenient, or so I thought. I decided I was going to be an accountant. Off I went into the land of debits, credits, accounts receivables, return on investment, economics and… it was different to say the least. I was moving along and then my advisor said I had 8 hours of science to take. Hallelujah! Hmmm. Now, what to choose?… I wanted to enjoy it, learn something new and still do well. I took Physical Geology and the lab. Wow! They had rocks too and better ones than I did. And the guy I had married (Yes – I learned my new science very well. Still married to him) loved geology too. This couldn’t be better. My first geology professor, Dr. Lou Fernandez, was by far the best teacher I believe I have ever had. I hadn’t had a science course for a few years so I sat in the front row absorbing like a sponge and thinking to myself, “yeah, I’ve seen that.” Dr. Fernandez was often complimentary about my enthusiasm for the coursework. He was reeling me in like a red snapper on a big,fat shrimp. He mentioned one day that since I was good in math, I should go into geophysics. Forget accounting. Yeah right, I thought again. You can’t have a good job doing geophysics or could you? But I started to love the concept of imaging the subsurface. Next semester was more accounts payables, business law and Historical Geology. My teacher was Dr. Jules Braunstien of Shell fame. Not only did these people have cool rocks, go on great travels, but they had fossils too! This was too much. Next Dr. Braunstien was encouraging me to consider geophysics. He said he worked for Shell and had traveled the world. This was just too good to be true. I could do what I love, travel around to fascinating places and make a living doing it? Awesome! I changed my major to Geology and Geophysics. My family was confused but that was not unexpected.

College–Phase 2 was interrupted a few times with the births of our sons and sometimes the inability to pay for tuition. After baby boy #2, Dr. Fernandez, my first geology professor called me at home and asked me, “Are you done?” I answered, “What do you mean?” He said, “ I mean having babies. I have a geophysics scholarship in my hands and it has your name all over it. You ready to come back to school and finish?” I was thrilled and a little worried. College, marriage, kids and low paying jobs! How was I going to handle all that? Yep, there were classes that required nighttime lab work and little boys drawing on university chalkboards. My kids even went to physics lectures a few times but fortunately my professor had five sons and he was delighted but sometimes annoyed also. My kids were part of my college studies and were well known on campus. I had wonderful professors and great study partners that were tremendously supportive. One study group consisted of a math student, a mechanical engineering student and myself. We called ourselves the 3 M’s (Marian, Mark and Morris) and together was how we got through all our math and physics courses. I would bore them with things I had learned in my geophysics courses and they would smile as I talked about my new love. Needless to say, when I finally walked across that stage at graduation, that same first geology professor had become the Dean of Science and was waiting for me at the other side with open arms. This was the man that merely suggested geophysics since I was good at math.

I started my first job at Amoco one month after graduation in New Orleans and I continued to learn about even more science. My first year was as a processing geophysicist and it included a regimen of courses with industry legends such as Dr. Leon Thomsen and more brilliant people than I can name. We applied, tested, developed all sorts of practical geophysics and it was fascinating. I was in awe. Our group’s specialty was AVO processing and steep dip imaging in the Gulf of Mexico. My next assignment was as an interpreting geophysicist spanning a career of production, development, exploitation and exploration. What a playground for a geophysicist? Through my 18 years I have worked in different basins for different companies with all sorts of different people. I have met wonderful people from all over the world and helped to collectively achieve results that are still producing and some that are still in development. I have never ceased to be amazed by geophysics and the people that are in it. I was in awe then and I still am. It is still one of my loves.

Giving back...

Many people in the geophysical community are involved in volunteer work outside of our community. The Recorder committee would like to give our members an opportunity to give us more detail on charity they support with their volunteer efforts. If the demand warrants, we can make this a separate regular feature. Send us a short story about your charity involvement. We received this from Dave Derbecker who is with BP in Houston. CS

I received an email from Jason Noble a few months ago enquiring about any volunteer experiences I may have had beyond our Calgary community. I’ve had a few opportunities to get involved with relief efforts. Those helping out benefit as much as the people being helped.

I spent nine days in Nicaragua with Samaritans Purse setting up mobile medical clinics. They were in remote communities where people had no access to medical care. The pictures below illustrate the housing and transportation challenges they have. Families lined up for many hours to see our nurses and Doctors.

My second trip was to Caracas, Venezuela. This city has a large number of abandoned and runaway children living on the streets with no chance of assistance. An organization called “Niño’s de La Luz” runs an orphanage for boys who are willing to leave the streets and live in a community where they can go to school and be supported and encouraged. This operation is supported strictly by donation. I was part of a construction team that spent nine days build a new school house and dorm for these children.

I’m currently living in Houston and in August our neighbours in New Orleans experienced a hurricane that devastated their community. Several hundred thousand people came to Houston for temporary housing and assistance. Most of my family took part in staffing a Red Cross shelter in our community. It was a great community service for everyone involved and an excellent opportunity for our children to empathise with the evacuees.