Executive Message

…Fall is upon us, but it feels more like a beautiful summer day as I write this article in mid-September! Kids are back to school and we are all back to work, refreshed and ready to ramp it up for a busy winter season. Our members have been busy with…

CAGC Column

…Obama’s strategy of ‘never do anything anytime soon but always make it seem like something is going to be done imminently’ may in fact finally be paying off only five (5) years into his Presidency. Most recently his threat to attack Syria almost two years into their civil war seems…

Editor’s Note

…“Nothing endures but change” – Heraclitus In its 28 year history the RECORDER magazine has made a significant contribution to the geophysical industry through the merit of the technical/focus articles as well as the articles on social interest. This has greatly benefited the geophysicists who wish to exchange innovative ideas…

Value of Integrated Geophysics

…As a specific scientific discipline, the field of petroleum geomechanics could be classified as being particularly young, especially in contrast with the long history of physics, geology, and geophysics. The science of petroleum geomechanics, which is essentially the study of mechanical rock properties and earth stresses, has long lived in…

Science Break: Steel

…Steel has become such a widely used material that we take it for granted. Approximately 1.3 billion tons of steel is produced annually, in a broad range of forms, to be used for an even broader range of purposes. To do the topic justice would require far more space than…

Through the Eyes of a Student

…Before I begin I would like to introduce myself. I am 22 years old and I have just started the first year of a two-year Exploration Information Technology diploma program at SAIT (Geoscience Technology). Although I have just started the program, I will do my best to discuss how I…

Tracing the Industry

…ON THE MOVE... Dr. Rachel Newrick, President at Racian Ventures Ltd, has returned to Calgary after five years of UK based exploration. In 2008, she travelled to the UK on an expat assignment with Nexen and spent two years working the North Sea before joining Cairn Energy, Edinburgh, for the…

Grapevine

…The 5th Annual CSEG T-Wave Golf Tournament The photo to the right is of Inglewood Golf and Curling Club Friday the morning of June 21st. This is where the 5th Annual CSEG T-Wave Tourney was originally scheduled to take place on June 24th. Yes – looking a wee bit wet.…

Evan Bianco

An Interview with Evan Bianco

…Some say there is an art to seismic interpretation. Art is often described as any work that is difficult for someone else to reproduce. It contains an inherent tie to the creator. In this view, it is more correct to say that seismic interpretation is art. Subsurface geoscience in general,…

Carl Reine

An Interview with Carl Reine

…In general terms, seismic attenuation is the loss of elastic energy contained in a seismic wave, occurring through either anelastic or elastic behaviour. Anelastic loss, or intrinsic attenuation, is a result of the properties of the propagation medium. It causes a fraction of the wave’s energy to be converted into…

Taras Gerya

An Interview with Taras Gerya

…I am a geodynamicist. Geodynamics aims to understand the evolution of the earth’s interior and surface over time. The following simple exercise explores the subject of geodynamics in the context of the availability of data. There are many parallels with modelling systems in exploration geophysics. Let’s imagine an ideally symmetrical…

Evolution of marine acquisition technology after wide azimuth

Nick Moldoveanu

…Seismic exploration in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico was based for many years on the 3D acquisition method and, as a result, significant oil discoveries were made and most of the plays were found below salt or in intrasalt-body basins. The quality of the seismic data acquired in deep-water subsalt…

Introduction to the special section on ‘Seismic Attributes’

Satinder Chopra

…Last month I attended the first joint-society (SEG, AAPG and SPE) technical conference for unconventional resources, named URTeC, held at Denver from August 12-14th. I made a presentation at this conference titled ‘Some current workflows for shale gas reservoir characterization’. The gist of my talk was that there are some…

Seismic Rock Physics of Bright Amplitude Oil Sands – A Case Study

Niranjan C. Nanda and Anil K. Wason

…Abstract Two bright amplitude seismic anomalies, on drilling, tested normal grade oil. However, the association of oil with bright amplitudes in the area, where such seismic signatures are known to be habitually associated with gas, was intriguing and provoked a study of seismic rock physics for the two oil sands.…

Geologic controls on seismic amplitudes

Jarrod Dunne

…“This article was first published in the PESA News Resources magazine of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia in Oct/Nov 2011 and is reprinted with permission”. Introduction Seismic amplitudes (and AVO) can be used to derisk an exploration prospect; to characterise a reservoir; or to enhance production. By now, seismic…

Some current workflows in shale gas reservoir characterization

Satinder Chopra, Ritesh K. Sharma and Kurt J. Marfurt

…Summary With the emergence of the shale gas resources as an important energy source, the characterization of mudrocks has gained significance. To be a good resource, mudrocks need to contain sufficient organic content and respond effectively to hydraulic fracturing. Variations in total organic carbon, as well as brittleness which is…

Rob Stewart, Don Lawton and Gary Margrave (CREWES)

An Interview with Rob Stewart, Don Lawton and Gary Margrave

…Gentlemen, please tell me all about CREWES, including how the idea of its formation was conceived and the motivation for starting it. [Rob]: The geophysics program at the University of Calgary began in the late 1970s and was strengthened substantially with the arrival of Don Lawton in 1979 and Jim…

Presidential Column

…By the time the September RECORDER arrives at your home or office, it will have been something like 11 weeks since the flood. I know of several members who were directly and profoundly affected, and who seem to have had informal assistance in abundance in the immediate aftermath. I was…

Executive Message

…Although this message will be published in the early autumn, I am firmly in the middle of summer vacation as I write this update, and so apologies for a relatively brief message. Considering all the damage resulting from the early summer flooding in the Calgary area, I know many of…

CAGC Column

…The past winter was not as busy as the previous two years in terms of the amount of seismic activity in Canada. With twelve land seismic companies in Canada, and the usual challenges that come with a seasonal industry and its human resources as it relates to peaks and valleys,…