The Application of Airborne Geophysics for Water Exploration

Bill Brown and Flemming Effersø

…Airborne electromagnetic methods (AEM) have been widely used for more than 60 years by the oil and mineral industries as a primary exploration method. In the last 30 years, water resource management challenges have prompted the application of AEM methods to basin- or watershed-scale mapping (e.g. Abraham et al., 2012;…

Hydrogeophysical Investigations of Earthen Dams – Two California Case Studies

Bethany L. Burton, Paul A. Bedrosian, Burke J. Minsley, Scott Ikard, Michael H. Powers

…Excessive groundwater seepage can be a common engineering concern with earthen dams. The application of geophysical methods, whether for characterization or for long-term monitoring, to help inform mitigation strategies is becoming a more common addition to these investigations. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed geophysical investigations at several earthen…

Integrating Airborne Electromagnetic and Gamma Log Data for Regional Aquifer Mapping: Montney Play Area, NE British Columbia

Melvyn Best, Vic Levson, Carlos Salas

…The Peace region of NE British Columbia is an important agricultural area. It also contains significant gas reserves in the Montney natural gas play area. Agriculture and gas production require considerable volumes of water. There are also communities and First Nations within the region that require potable water for domestic…

CSEG 2018/2019 Executive Election

CSEG Executive Committee

…Ron Newman President Elect, CSEG 2016 Ron Newman has over 40 years of exploration and development experience and contributes a rare combination of technical and management experience. He has applied this knowledge base to co-found four TSE listed companies: Courage Energy Ltd., Geophysical Microcomputer Applications (International) Ltd., Winstar Resources Ltd.…

In Memoriam of Barry Korchinski

Neil Rutherford and Barry Johnson

…December 19, 1945 Hafford, Saskatchewan – September 23, 2017 Calgary, Alberta Barry attended the University of Saskatchewan enrolled in Engineering and in third year, Barry got a summer job at Shell Oil in Calgary as a Reservoir Engineer Trainee. He graduated with a BSc in Engineering Physics in 1967. In…

Executive Message

…I’d like to bounce some ideas around, none original, as a way of starting a conversation about how the CSEG provides value to Canada’s petroleum industry and other stakeholders. We intuitively know its benefits as a professional society, but how do we benefit, how does the industry and other stakeholders…

Chief Editor’s Message

…Life has changed quite a bit for me in the last 28 years – did I think I would be the Chief Editor of the CSEG RECORDER back then? Probably not. As to writing articles or giving presentations, I doubt it even passed my mind. The truth is I was…

Science Break: Fireworks

…This past summer saw thousands of fireworks displays across Canada as we celebrated 150 years of Confederation. I’m sure few of us really understand how fireworks work, so this article will educate and prepare us for 2067, although if not dead by then I’ll certainly be deaf and blind. The…

Tracing the Industry

…On the Move... Sue Carr would like to share that she has accepted a role as Solutions Manager, Subsurface Consulting with Katalyst Data Management, and may be reached at sue.carr@katalystdm.com or at 403.718.6223. Katalyst offers iGlass (online subsurface geophysical and geological storage solutions), SeismicZone (online seismic brokerage and data management…

The Final Shakeout Phase of the 2014 Energy Bear Market is Now Underway – What Happens from There?

Josef Schachter

…Many factors have an impact on the energy market and the market for hydrocarbons in particular. As well as addressing the current factors at the time of the DoodleTrain Luncheon the following items will be addressed and analyzed. Why were people forecasting WTI at US$55/b in their models in 2017…

Introduction to October Focus: Intro to Seismic Processing

Rob Holt

…Despite providing operators with critical information used on a daily basis for exploration and production activities, the oilfield service sector has borne the brunt of the current prolonged oil price downturn. I encourage readers of the RECORDER to support our seismic service providers (partners) as much as possible during these…

6D Interpolation of Seismic Data – Rationale, Practice and FAQs

Mark Ng and Dan Negut

…For many reasons, such as acquisition limitations, economic constraints, and merging data of various shooting parameters from different vintages, seismic data needs to be regularized, upsampled, reconstructed and interpolated. Furthermore, a common deliverable of interpolation is regularized prestack data which will improve many state-ofthe- art inversion processes and migration imaging.…

A Well-Guided Processing Approach

Regan Kennedy, Josh Curtis, Greg Staples and Kristof De Meersman

…In any processing flow countless parameter choices are made, including which processes to apply, what order to apply them in, and how to parametrize them. In seismic processing, many different but sound choices can all produce similar images. These similar images may not be geologically equivalent when examining all products…

Geologically Constrained Anisotropic Depth Imaging in the Central Burma Basin, Onshore Myanmar

Rob Vestrum, Christophe Gonguet and Tim MacArthur

…Understanding the local structural styles and sedimentary sequence is key to constraining depth-migration velocity models in structured onshore seismic data. Judicious application of geologic constraints in the model building resulted in compelling imaging improvements on 2D seismic in this structurally complex area. Introduction The exploration setting is along the foothills…

Seismic Reprocessing for Improved Imaging in the Permian Basin

Rob Holt

…Why consider reprocessing seismic data? Seismic data enables us to visualize the subsurface in three dimensions with sufficient vertical resolution to identify all but the thinnest of our oil and gas reservoirs. Using seismic data, interpreters map changes in reservoir depth, thickness and character between well locations, and identify the…

Sonic Velocities and Depth Conversion

Robert Pickering

…The current method(s) of converting seismic time data to depth are methods created to work-around the lack of access to an adequate volume of velocity data. Access to sonic velocities provides the opportunity to move all variables of the depth equation into the depth domain where mathematically and geologically correct…

CSEG Distinguished Lecture Tour 2016/2017

Laurie Weston Bellman

…It dawned on me about two months after accepting this role as the 12th CSEG Distinguished Lecturer that, aside from being an honour to be chosen, it might be a significant commitment. Dr. Don Lawton (2016/2017 CDL Committee Chair and 2013 CSEG Distinguished Lecturer) had sent out 30-plus emails, copying…

Chief Editor’s Message

…We are well into Autumn, now. I’m writing it as the day-length cycle is just starting to plunge towards the winter solstice. Laurie Weston Bellman has finished her CSEG Distinguished Lecture Tour. We hope your Thanksgiving weekend was filled with friends, family, and good cheer. Pretty soon, little fairytale creatures,…

CAGC Column

…Recently, the six upstream trade associations (CAGC, CAPP, CEPA, CAODC, EPAC and PSAC) submitted the following written submission to the Alberta Cannabis Secretariat: The Government of Canada is committed to legalizing the recreational use of cannabis, by amending the Criminal Code which is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal…

Tracing the Industry

…On the Move... Gavin Elsley would like his friends and colleagues know that he may now be reached at International Frontier Resources at gelsley@internationalfrontier.com. Shaun Ali is pleased to announce that he has started with Obsidian Energy, and may be reached at the following phone number 403-777-2558 or via email…