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HGS RESERVES ESTIMATION COURSES

Release Date: 7 December 2004

Source: HGS Continuing Education Committee

Sign up now for the December 15thHGS Short Course "Petroleum Reserves — Avoiding Write-downs"

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and SEC regulations affect the way your company estimates and reports reserves — do you know how?
These issues are so important that the HGS Continuing Education Committee has scheduled a series of one-day courses titled "Petroleum Reserves - Avoiding Write-downs"Part 1: "An Overview of Reserve Definitions and Reporting Requirements," December 15, 2004 at Noble Energy''s office in Houston. Taught by John Hodgin and Thomas Wagenhofer of Ryder-Scott, it is the foundation course for the next two segments. The registration form and additional information are on the HGS Website. You must register by 4:30pm Friday, December 10th to be assured of a copy of the hand-outs.
Part 2: An Overview of Recommended Geological Practices," January 20, 2005 at the Shell Auditorium. The instructor will be Daniel J. Tearpock, Subsurface Consultants & Associates, L.L.C.
Part 3: "An Overview of Recommended Engineering Practices" is not yet scheduled, but will be held in the April, 2005 time frame.
Register today for Part 1 to hold your seat. The pre-registration discount expires December 10th!

Pricing

Before December 10

After December 10

Members

$80

$95

Non-Members

$105

$120

Student Members

$60

$75

Student Non-Members

$85

$100
The membership discount is being extended to all members of HGS, GSH, API Houston, HAPL, SIPES Houston, SPE Gulf Coast Section, SPEE Houston, and SPWLA Gulf Coast. HGS members can register on-line. Members of the other societies should e-mail or mail the registration form to the HGS Office.
Please let all of your collegues know about these timely courses and we hope to see you there next week!
Cheryl DesforgesChairperson (newly appointed)HGS Continuing Education Committee
PS: Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this or any other HGS Continuing Education Committee activities.

Published Tuesday, December 7th, 2004

HGS NEWSLETTER -- DECEMBER, 2004

Release Date: 3 December 2004

Source: HGS

Houston Geological Society NewsletterDecember, 2004

HGS Activities

December 9th. NeoGeos Social. Come and join us for some holiday cheer at The Gingerman in Rice Village (5607 Morningside Drive), all HGS members welcome. 5:30 pm.

December 13th. HGS International/North American/General Dinner: Dr. Lesli J. Wood (UT BEG) speaks on "Quantitative Seismic Geomorphology of Clastic Reservoirs and Systems." Westchase Hilton. 5:30pm.

December 15th. HGS Continuing Education Course: Petroleum Reserves--Avoiding Writedowns: Part 1. Reserve definitions and reporting requirements. Taught by John Hodgin and Thomas Wagenhofer. This is the first of a three-part mini-series and should be excellent. 7:30am to 4:00pm at Noble Energy.

Other Notes

The Texas Board of Geological Registration is currently formulating rules requiring mandatory Continuing Education credits to maintain your Texas Geologist registration. The Board has requested comments from the public and registered geoscientists. HGS plans to assist with a public commentary meeting with the Texas Board in Houston in mid-January. Be sure to check the HGS Website for date and time (to be posted when available) and make your opinion known, either in person or by email to the Texas Board.

Bulletin Correction: The listing for the December 21st Environmental and Engineering Dinner in the Bulletin is incorrect. The dinner will take place January 18th. Speaker: John Larson, "Depositional Environment Characterization for Effective Remediation."

December 16th. SIPES Luncheon. Petroleum Club. 11:15am. Topic: "The Coming Domestic Oil and Gas Boom." Speaker: Allen Gilmer, Chairman, Drillinginfo Inc.

December 24th. The HGS/GSH office will be closed for Christmas on Friday.

Tell us what you think about the contents of the HGS Newsletter. Too long? Too short? Need more frequent reminders? Let the Website Committee know.

Happy Holidays!

Published Thursday, December 2nd , 2004

NEW HGS MEMBERS IN 2004-2005

Release Date: 19 November 2004

Source: HGS

The following new members joined the HGS effective November 1, 2004.
ACTIVE MEMBERS
Richard Aurisano
Hal Bertram
Lee Billingsley
Kenneth Blondeau
Michael Burnaman
John Carr
Wesley Combs
Carris Covarrubias
Edgardo Covarrubias
Donald Crider
Kevin Eastham
William Gibbs, Jr.
Ian Gordon
Robert Hough
Mark Jones
Joseph Kruger
Michael Ledet
Rachel Masters
Brenda McCaleb
Mo Meghani
Norbert Ndofor
Ashipa Oluwaseun
S. Parker
Krishna Pokhriyal
Joseph Ponder
Brian Pregger
Thomas Zimmerman
Chris Hill
Dennis Jordan
John Killinger
James Rine
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Mike Cunningham, Jr.
STUDENTS
Joshua Kull
There were no new members admitted in October, 2004.
The following new members joined the HGS effective September 1, 2004.
ACTIVE MEMBERS

Allen Britton
Ron Casso
Irfan Cibaj
Jerry Drake
Fred DuPont
Michael Garner
Larry Gilmore
Bryan Gottfried
Freia Henery
Joni Johnson
Damon Jordan
William Kanes
Susan Lockhart
Astrid Makowitz
Peter McCarty
Bruce McPherson
Thomas Miles
Alan Morgan
Drew Popovich
Ian Roberts
Albert Schultz
Joseph Smith
Suhas Talukdar
Steve Tavernier
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Johnny Holifield
Kelly Shea
John Vance
STUDENT MEMBER
Gbolagade Olalere
The following new members joined the HGS effective August 1, 2004.
ACTIVE MEMBERS
Mohd Ansari
Thomas Cloud
Dan Parker
John Spang
Mark West
Mark Evans
Thomas Miller
Randall Hunt
Thomas Klopf
Lisa Ashabranner
Bryan Sexton
Jeff Kraus
Alison McCutcheon
Rasoul Sorkhabi
Markus Lagmanson
Peter Purrazzella
Cindy Gillespie
Lisa Goggins
Mary Barrett
Ralph Steen
Don Hurtubise
Daniel Means
Eric Erigha
Robert Kerian
David Reimers
Ronald Stokes
Celine Wise
Valen Ott
Bradford Prather
Cecil Cossé
David Smith
Michael Harris
James Blankenship
Stephen Luthy
Mohammed Kidwai
Mike Schlorholtz
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Nancy Kamp
Steven Campbell
STUDENT MEMBERS
Seyed Kariminia
Elias Carciente
Jarrad Berg
Dawn Standridge
Amit Kumar Bhokare
Alex Merecka

HGS EVENTS UPDATE -- NOVEMBER, 2004

Release Date: 10 November 2004

Source: HGS

HGS Events UpdateNovember, 2004

The pre-registration deadlines are fast approaching for some excellent HGS technical programs:

Thursday: Dr. Roy Dokka from LSU is shows results from analysis of 100+ years of Gulf Coast geodetic survey data. His data shows that coastal subsidence is regional, deep-seated and long-term, directly contrary to the popular idea that all subsidence is related to petroleum or groundwater withdrawal. This should be a fascinating, dynamic talk, and one that has enormous social, economic and regulatory implications. Nov. 11, Petroleum Club. Preregistration for this joint HGS/HEC luncheon is closed, but walk-ins are welcome.

Note: The Petroleum Club luncheon will end promptly at 1 pm to accommodate people planning to attend Michel Halbouty''s funeral at St. Martin''s Episcopal Church, Sage & Woodway, 2 pm.

Monday: HGS International Expl. Dinner will be held Nov 15 at the U.H. Hilton. Dr. Celal Sengör from Istanbul Tech presents the R. E. Sherriff lecture "The Geology of the Middle East" as part of the U.H. Geology Dept.''s mini-conference honoring Kevin Burke. HGS members are also invited to attend the technical mini-conference all day Monday. Pre-register by Nov 12 at the U of H Website, not with the HGS.
Tuesday: At the HGS Northsiders Lunch Nov 16, Dave Peace speaks on "Using controlled source electro-magnetics (CSEM) for petroleum exploration" at Anadarko Tower. Pre-register by Nov 15 at the HGS Website. Also note the buffet price is only $20 for pre-registrants -- it was listed incorrectly in the Bulletin.
Tuesday: HGS Env & Eng Dinner Nov 16 features Steven Musick from TCEQ showing an "Overview of groundwater management in Texas" at the Guadalajara Hacienda. Pre-register by Nov. 15 at the HGS Website.

Thanks, and see you at the meetings!
Kara Bennett
HGS Vice President
kcb@texas.net
832-452-3747

Tell us what you think about the contents of the HGS Update. Too long? Too short? Need more frequent reminders? Let the Website Committee know.

Published Wednesday, November 10th, 2004

HGS INTERNATIONALISTS NEWSLETTER -- NOVEMBER, 2004

Release Date: 10 November 2004

Source: HGS

HGS Internationalists NewsletterNovember, 2004

This month’s International Explorationists Dinner meeting will be held at the Hilton on UH Campus instead of usual place. This is the annual R. E Sheriff lecture, jointly organized by HGS International Group, UH Geoscience Department and UH Geoscience Department Alumni Assoc. It is also the closing event of the weekend-long Burke Conference at UH.
Program: Monday November 15 at UH Hilton:
5:30 p.m. - Social Hour/UH Student Poster Session
6:30 p.m. - Dinner
7:30 p.m. - Lecture – Dr. CELAL SENGÖR,
"The Geology of the Middle East"

Plan to see the current programs and research at UH, meet the students and faculty, hear a great lecture by an eminent speaker and enjoy dinner prepared by the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management.

Reserve online at UH website: (deadline Friday November 12). Online reservations at UH Geoscience Website only (Not at HGS Website nor the HGS Office)

If you have any questions about the conference or if problem problems arise while registering, please e-mail Leanne McGinty, or call her at (713) 743-3402

Location:
University of Houston Hilton Hotel, 4800 Calhoun, Houston, Texas 77204
Map to UH Hilton

Additional References:

If you have other questions, please contact:Al Danforth by e-mail, or call (713) 502-2766

Published November 10th, 2004

&

HGS VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH -- NOVEMBER, 2004

Release Date: 10 November 2004

Source: HGS

Elsa Kapitan-White -- Associate Editor, HGS BulletinHGS Volunteer of the Month for November, 2004
Elsa Kapitan-White is the November recipient of the Volunteer of the Month Award. Elsa has been a leading member of the Bulletin Editorial Board since 1995 and is currently Associate Editor of the HGS Bulletin.
Elsa reviews seemingly every word that goes into the Bulletin and always finds things that need to be corrected or at least questioned. As she goes through the articles she often makes suggestions to the Editor for key parts of the article that can be highlighted in the "pull quote" that appears in every article to attract the reader''s interest. She does all this typically in one day.
Elsa received a BS in geology from Centenary College in Shreveport, LA and an MS in geology at Texas A&M University. She became an editor while working at the Ocean Drilling Program in College Station, TX. She has since been a technical editor for numerous publications including journals and books.
She joined the HGS Bulletin Committee at the invitation of Gail Bergan, who was the 1995-1996 Editor. Elsa also served as the Chair and Technical Chair for the Division of Environmental Geosciences when the AAPG Convention was held in Houston in March, 2002.
The HGS is fortunate to have had Elsa Kapitan-White as a devoted volunteer for the past nine years. Her professional attention to detail has made a profound impact on the quality of the Bulletin. She has provided an enormous assistance to the many HGS Bulletin editors and the Society is most grateful for her contributions.
Elsa is a Technical Editor for Schlumberger Oilfield Communications - Marketing.

HGS NEWSLETTER -- NOVEMBER, 2004

Release Date: 3 November 2004

Source: HGS

Houston Geological Society Newsletter
November, 2004
Notices and Reminders

HGS Activities Coming Up

Wednesday, November 3rd. Career Management Seminar sponsored by the HGS NeoGeos. Carrabbas at 3115 Kirby, 5:50pm. All HGS members are welcome.

Monday, November 8th. HGS Dinner at the Westchase Hilton: Dr. Bill Almon (Chevron/Texaco) speaks on Deep Marine Seal Quantification and Prediction.

Thursday, November 11th. Joint HGS/HEC/SPE Luncheon: Dr. Roy Dokka (LSU) presents geodetic data analyses that suggest extensive regional subsidence in the Gulf Coast over the next 50 years will have catastrophic results. We expect a sellout crowd, so register today on the SPE-GCS Website. 11:15, Petroleum Club.

Monday, November 15th. International Explorationists Dinner: Dr. Celal Sengör (Istambul University) presents the Geology of the Middle East at the UH Sheriff Dinner. To be held at the University of Houston Hilton Hotel at 5:30pm.

Tuesday, November 16th. Northsiders Luncheon: Dave Peacy (Schlumberger)speaks on Controlled Source Magnetics for Hydrocarbon Exploration.

Tuesday, November 16th. Environmental and Engineering Dinner: Steve Musick (TCEQ) speaks on Groundwater Management in Texas.

Thursday, November 18th. NeoGeos Social. The Prolotariat, 903 Richmond. 5:30.

HGS Continuing Education Schedule

The HGS Continuing Education Committee has scheduled three important courses in the months ahead. December and January will see the first two courses of a three-part mini-series called "Petroleum Reserves -- Avoiding Write-downs." The date and speakers for part three are pending.
The third of the scheduled courses will be in February and cover the integration of seismic and petrophysical data.

Other Notes

Friday, November 5th. Dr. Bob Bakker will speak at 6:30pm Friday at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Jurassic CSI: Dinosaurian Life & Death. $15 for Museum members, $18 for all others. Purchase tickets on the HMNS Website.
Thursday, November 18th. SIPES Luncheon. Petroleum Club. 11:15am.
The HGS/GSH office will be closed for Thanksgiving on both Thursday and Friday, November 25th and 26th.
Tell us what you think about the contents of the HGS Newsletter. Too long? Too short? Need more frequent reminders? Let the Website Committee know.

Published Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004

WEBSITE USER GROUPS. WHAT ARE THEY?

Release Date: 19 October 2004

Source: Dave Crane, Webmaster

User Groups. What are they?The HGS Website has a feature called "User Groups." These are essentially interest-group mailing lists that you can sign up for. There is a list of available User Groups on the HGS Website. That location also shows you which User Groups you are in. You must be logged in to see that page.Not many of these User Groups are in active use, but those that are active have been quite useful. The Committee: International Explorationists Group is a good example. Over 400 people, both members and non-members of the HGS, have signed up to receive announcements from this committee. When that committee has a meeting scheduled or wants to publicize an event like PESGB or APPEX, we can send a special email to everyone on their list at the request of the committee chairman. We can also provide that committee with the mailing address and other details on their members. As a bonus Calendar Events can be associated with User Groups and committee descriptions can be tied to their future events. See the example of the Executive Committee at http://www.hgs.org/en/committees/display.asp?committeeid=56Most of our monthly E-mail Newsletters go to the User Group called Newsletters, but we can be more selective by using the HGS User Group (current and past members of the HGS) or the Active Members User Group (current members only.) We have never needed to send something to people interested in AAPG news, but there is such a User Group if you care to sign up for it. Note that you don''t have to be a member of any of these societies or committees to sign up -- they simply indicate an interest on your part. You won''t be able to sign up for Active Members but, generally speaking, most groups are open to everyone.The latest addition to our User Groups is Texas Geologist Licensing. We intend to use it for special announcements of interest to licensed geologists and anyone interested in licensing issues. Keep your interest profile up to date. Go to the User Groups list periodically and update your preferences. If you are a Committee chairman or responsible for a related organization, contact the HGS Webmaster for more information on how you can make use of User Groups.

TECTONIC SETTING OF THE WORLD'S GIANT OIL AND GAS FIELDS

Release Date: 19 October 2004

Source: HGS Bulletin

Tectonic Settingof the World’s Giant Oil and Gas Fields
A talk given 19 October, 2004 at the HGS Northsiders Committee dinner.
Abstract
The world’s 877 giant oil and gas fields are those with 500 million bbl of ultimately recoverable oil or gas equivalent. Remarkably, almost all of these 877 giant fields, which by some estimates account for 67% of the world’s petroleum reserves, cluster in 27 regions, or about 30%, of the earth’s land surface (Figure 1). In this talk, I present maps showing the location of all 877 giants located on tectonic and sedimentary basin maps of these 27 key regions. I classify the tectonic setting of the giants in these regions using six simplified classes of the tectonic setting for basins in these regions: (1) continental passive margins fronting major ocean basins (304 giants); (2) continental rifts and overlying sag or ‘‘steer’s head’’ basins (271 giants); (3) collisional margins produced by terminal collision between two continents (173 giants); (4) collisional margins produced by continental collision related to terrane accretion, arc collision, and/or shallow subduction (71 giants); (5) strike-slip margins (50 giants); and (6) subduction margins not affected by major arc or continental collisions (8 giants). For giant fields with multiphase histories, I attempt the difficult task of discriminating the single tectonic event/setting I consider to have the most profound effect on hydrocarbon formation, migration, and trapping. My main classification criterion is the basin style dominating at the most typical stratigraphic and structural level of giant accumulations.

Figure 1. Global distribution of 877 giant oil fields plotted on standard Mercator projection of topographic-bathymetric map of the world generated from satellite gravity data (the satellite’s low orbit prevents generation of data in the Arctic region). Yellow boxes indicate regions of concentrated giant oil fields presented in this talk. Outlines of giant fields are color-coded by tectonic setting according to the map key in the bottom left corner. Sources for the identification of giant fields are also given in the key, along with the five largest oil and gas giant fields discovered in the 1990s.
Continental passive margins fronting major ocean basins form the dominant tectonic setting, which includes 35% of the world’s giant fields. Continental rifts and overlying sag basins, especially failed rifts at the edges or interiors of continents, form the second most common tectonic setting, which includes 31% of the world’s giant fields. Terminal collision belts between two continents and associated foreland basins form the third setting, with 20% of the world’s giant fields. Other setting classes — including foreland basins at collision margins related to terrane accretion, arc collision, and/or shallow subduction; basins in strike-slip margins; and basins in subduction margins — are relatively insignificant, with 14% or less of the total basin population. This tabulation indicates the importance of extensional settings formed during the early and late stages of oceanic opening for giant accumulations: the rift and passive categories combined account for two-thirds, or 66%, of all 877 giants. This result differs significantly from previously published giant classifications in which collisional settings form the dominant tectonic setting for oil giants.
I propose the following possibilities to explain the dominance of extensional rift and passive margin settings over all other tectonic settings: (1) localization of high quality source rocks in lacustrine and restricted marine settings during the early rift stage; (2) effectiveness of the sag or passive margin section above rifts to either act as reservoirs for hydrocarbons generated in the rift section and/or to seal hydrocarbons generated in the underlying rift section; and (3) tectonic stability following early rifting that allows hydrocarbon sources and reservoirs to remain undisturbed by subsequent tectonic events acting on distant plate boundaries.
Trends in the discovery of giants in the period from 1990 to 2000 that I consider likely to continue into the 21st century include: (1) the discovery of fields in deep-water basinal settings along passive margins such as Brazil, west Africa, and the Gulf of Mexico associated with nodes of high-quality source-rock areas and stratigraphic traps located using three-dimensional seismic reflection data; (2) continued discoveries of giants in known areas, including expansion of the Persian Gulf hydrocarbon province to the south into Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula and north into Iraq; expansion of the West Siberian Basin in the Arctic offshore area; radial expansion of the Illizi Basin of Algeria; (3) continued discoveries in Southeast Asia, where Cenozoic rift, passive margin, andstrike-slip environments all coexist around the South China Sea or in the largely submerged Sunda continent; (4) along-strike expansion of elongate foreland trends in the Rocky Mountains, northern South America, the southern Andes, the Ural–Timan-Pechora and Barents Sea, and the North Slope and; (5) expansion of discoveries in the Black Sea–Caspian region associated with closure and burial of northern Tethyal passive margin or arc-related basins.
Despite the association of giant fields with Cenozoic or Mesozoic plate edges (especially failed rifts trending at high angles to continental margins), the possibility always exists for further discovery of ‘‘lockbox-type’’ giants associated with now cratonic interior, but previous Paleozoic or Precambrian plate edges, as exemplified by known Paleozoic and Precambrian hydrocarbon giant clusters in the Permian Basin in the United States, the Illizi Basin of Algeria, and the Siberian Platform.
Speaker Biography
Dr. Paul Mann has worked at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics for twenty-one years and is currently a senior research scientist there. He received a BA in geology from Oberlin College in 1978 and a PhD in geology from the State University of New York at Albany in 1983 where his dissertation field areas included Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. At the University of Texas, Mann focused field studies in the circum-Caribbean region where he was primary supervisor to fourteen UT graduate students, two post-doctoral researchers, and was co-chief scientist on three marine surveys. He is presently co-leader of a industry-supported synthesis of the tectonics and petroleum geology of the Trinidad area. He has also conducted field work in Kamchatka, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea and was co-chief scientist for two marine surveys of the Solomon Islands. He has edited or co-edited five published volumes on regional geology and

HGS VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH -- OCTOBER, 2004

Release Date: 11 October 2004

Source: HGS Bulletin, October, 2004

Bill Anderson
HGS Library Committee Chair

Bill Anderson is the new chair of the Library Committee, having served as a member of the committee last year. The Library Committee works with the collections of geology documents donated by HGS to the Houston Public Library many years ago. “The collection contains some one-of-a-kind driller’s logs and other hard-to-find geologic data,” says Bill. “There are also some rare papers from the personal collections of early Texas geologists.” These materials are all available for use by the public, but they are likely to be of most interest to those in the professional geology community.

Anderson hopes to increase the visibility of this committee by highlighting the materials in the collections, and also by promoting a partnership between HGS, Houston Public Library, and the Bureau’s Houston Core Facility to make some parts of the collection available as scanned images. Watch the HGS Bulletin and the HGS Website for news about the activities of the Library Committee.

Bill joined HGS in the mid-1970’s soon after he finished graduate work at UT Austin and joined Phillips Petroleum in Houston. In the late 1980’s, he edited the HGS Membership Directory for 2 years. Bill worked for Phillips for 25 years, including a 7-year stint with the company’s minerals group, exploring for uranium, then base and precious metals in the western U.S. and Canada. He now works for Access Sciences Corporation, a records management consulting firm providing services and technology to help clients manage critical electronic and paper information resources.

EARTH SCIENCE WEEK OCT. 9-17, 2004

Release Date: 9 October 2004

Source: HGS

National Earth Science WeekOctober 9th through 17th, 2004
"Living on a Restless Earth"
National Earth Science Week is coming up soon so mark your calendars for a great line-up of events during the week of October 9-17. This year’s theme is “Living on a Restless Earth”. The HGS Earth Science Week committee in partnership with our corporate sponsors will be hosting a number of public activities to celebrate earth science awareness.
The HGS Houston Museum of Natural Science Liaison Committee coordinates volunteer activities for Earth Science Week that relate to the museum. Please participate and contribute.
Family Earth Science Festival:Houston Museum of Natural Science……….Saturday October 9, 2004, noon- 5:00pmJoin us for the Family Earth Science Festival at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Weiss Energy Hall, the Paleo Hall and the Cullen Gem and Mineral Hall. The festival will include an energy passport contest, hands-on demonstrations, special presentations and programs by area geoscience and engineering associations. We will have an opening ceremony for Houston’s Earth Science Week in the museum at 1:00pm. Please join us as a visitor or a volunteer, and bring your family and friends to celebrate earth science!
Classroom Connections:Art & Essay Contest……….Saturday, October 9, 2004This year we are inviting 4th and 8th graders from classrooms around Houston to participate in our Art & Essay contests respectively. The theme of these contests will be the national theme “Living on a Restless Earth”. The deadline for submission will be October 4th. First, second, and third prize winners will be selected from each category and will be awarded at the Family Earth Science Festival on October 9th. For more information, please contact Jennifer Burton at Jennifer_burton@anadarko.com
Public Field Trips: The Blue Lagoon rock quarry..........Saturday, October 16, 2004 11:00am-3:00pmWe will be visiting a site rarely accessible to geologists to look at outcrops of the Oligocene Catahoula Formation. Geologists and volunteer rock enthusiasts will be on hand to discuss fluvial sedimentation and the fossil plants preserved there. Please arrive within the time limit and we will have people on the ground to show you a glimpse of our world of over 30 million years ago!. Our sponsors have covered the entrance fee but there is a fee of $2/car for parking, exact change please. Please bring your family and friends. This event will be held rain or shine. This is a scuba diving site but we will not be diving or swimming. Exit 123 off I- 45, north of Huntsville. Go east for 4 miles. Look for orange tape and the HGS Earth Science Week banner.
3D Images of the Earth……….Sunday, October 17, 2004 By reservationSunday offers the indoor adventurer the opportunity to visit the Landmark visualization pod. See the earth in a new way with 3D seismic! We will show you how geoscientists look for interesting geological features that are well below the earth’s surface…kind of like an x-ray views the body beneath the surface of the skin. Please email Neal Immega at n_immega@swbell.net to make a reservation for 1PM, 2PM, 3PM and you will get a return email with a map of how to get to Landmark’s facility. The pod has limited seating per showing so you must RSVP!
Please come out and celebrate with us and help your family and friends appreciate the earth sciences as much as you do. And for those who really want to get their hands dirty, come out and volunteer. We need enthusiastic guides for our family day events and fieldtrips. Please contact Martha McRae (mmcrae1@houston.rr.com) or Jennifer Burton (jennifer_burton@anadarko.com) for more information. For more information on national earth science week celebrations, visithttp://www.earthsciweek.org/

HGS NEWSLETTER -- OCTOBER, 2004

Release Date: 28 September 2004

Source: HGS

Houston Geological Society NewsletterOctober, 2004
Notices and Reminders

HGS Activities Coming Up

Wednesday, September 29th. Rich Green speaks on "Applying Historical Data to Oil and Gas Price Projections" at the HGS General Luncheon at the Petroleum Club.

Rich''s talk was consistently cited by HGS members who heard it at AAPG Dallas as one of the best presentations at the convention. His predictions of oil and gas prices have been spot-on-the-mark for the last decade. It''s long-term good news, and you''ll definitely want to hear it.

The registration deadline for attending this meeting at pre-registration prices is tomorrow, Tuesday at noon, so plan to attend and register now!

Saturday, October 2nd is the joint HGS/GSH Shrimp Peel at Sam Houston Race Park. Time is running out to get your tickets back by mail, so go the the HGS or GSH Websites, register and pay now! Tickets will be available on a space-available basis at the door for folks with no reservations, but the higher price will prevail.
Note: The Shrimp Peel is EARLY this year. Don''t miss out, register now.

Friday, October 8th. NeoGeos Field Trip to Core Labs from 12:30 to 2:30pm. The visit includes a tour of the laboratory and a presentation giving a general overview of the fundamentals of core analysis.

Monday, October 11th. The HGS General Dinner meeting features Abdulkader Afifi of Saudi Aramco, on the topic "Paleozoic Hydrocarbon Habitat in the Arabian Plate." His presentation is part of the AAPG Distinguished Lecture Series and should interest everyone. Westchase Hilton.

Monday, October 18th. Jan Forney''s topic at the HGS International Explorationists Dinner is "Shushufindi Field -- Ecuador''s Giant Revisited." Westchase Hilton.

Tuesday, October 19th. The Northsider''s Dinner features Dr. Paul Mann of UT Austin. "Tectonic Settings of the World''s Giant Oil and Gas Fields." Hotel Sofitel.

Tuesday, October 19th is also the date of the October NeoGeos Social. The NeoGeos Fifth Anniversary Birthday Bash will be held at St. Arnold''s Brewery.

Monday, October 25th. The North American Dinner speaker is Steve Cumella, Williams Production Company. His topic is "Geology of the Basin-Centered Gas Accumulation, Piceance Basin, Colorado." Westchase Hilton.

Wednesday, October 27th is a Joint HGS/GSH Luncheon. Dr. Heloise Lynn, an SEG/AAPG Distinguished Lecturer for 2004 speaks on "Anisotropy, Direction of Fluid Flow and their Associated Seismic Signatures." Petroleum Club.

Other Notes

Earth Science Week is in October. Check the October HGS Calendar, the HGS ESW Committee page, and the HGS Natural Science Liaison Committee page for a list of events and opportunities to volunteer.

October 10th through 12th is the Annual Convention of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS), hosted this year by the South Texas Geological Society. Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio.

The Annual SEG Convention is in Denver this year, October 10th through 15th.

October 17th and 18th is the AAPG/SEG Student Expo this year, matching student to recruiters.

Thursday, October 21st is the SIPES Luncheon. "The Use of Well Logs in Reservoir Characterization," by Dr. Joel Walls.

September 30th is your last chance to pay your 2004-2005 HGS dues before you are dropped from the HGS active membership roles. Unless your dues are paid before October, your name will not appear as an HGS member in the 2004-2005 HGS/GSH Membership Directory to be printed soon. Contact the HGS office if you have any questions about your membership status.

Published Monday, September 27th, 2004

SEPTEMBER, 2004 NEOGEOS NEWS

Release Date: 13 September 2004

Source: Natalie Uschner

September NeoGeos Newsletter Thanks to everyone that attended the NeoGeos social last month! We had an excellent brainstorming session, and came up with some excellent ideas for future NeoGeos events such as: Basketball night at the Houston Rockets and a Core labs tour!!!So, this month we have two events for you : 1. First, on Saturday, September 18th, 2004 we will be participating in a Galveston Beach Cleanup. We will meet at Menard Park at 8:30AM and begin the cleanup at 9AM.When : Saturday, September 18, 2004 8:30AM - 12 noon Where : We will meet at Menard Park, 28th and Seawall Blvd. (see MapQuest : http://www.mapquest.com /Menard )How : Drive to the site, we will meet and possibly carpool to our final beach site. We can set up carpooling groups, email me if you are interested.Why : This cleanup gives us a great opportunity to give back to the community, clean our environment, and have a grand ol'' time at the beach!! What to bring : Sunscreen, Light clothes, Work gloves (if you like), Hat, it is recommended to wear close-toed shoes, (but bring sandals too if you like), a towel What is provided : Soft drinks and juice drinks, LUNCH!!! fajitas, hot dogs, burgers and drinks; and for the cleanup - Trash bags, Surgical type gloves to keep your hands cleanWho : Everyone is invited, all family members, significant others, friends, dogs, etc., etc. The more the merrier!!!For more information go to : http://www.glo.state.tx.us/adopt-a-beach/index.html to view information about this beach clean up. Please RSVP to me, Natalie Uschner, by Friday, September 17th at noon to let me know if you are coming. For this event, please email me call me at work (713) 513-2300 x5923, or home at (713)623-8773 to RSVP.
I''ll need to take your phone numbers and names so I can call you in case of a cancellation due to weather :) Also, let me know if you would like to set up a carpool.2. On Thursday, September 30th, 2004 we will have a social at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium from 5:45 PM to.....Everyone is invited, bring significant others, friends, and coworkers, and anyone interested in joining the NeoGeos!!Flying Saucer Draught Emporium705 Main Street Houston Texas 77002 US MapQuest map : http://www.digitalcity.com/houston/bars/venuemap.adp?sbid=97813WHAT''S COMING UP IN OCTOBER???? Check out the HGS Website or October''s HGS Bulletin to see the information about the NeoGeos Birthday Bash on October 19th at SAINT ARNOLD''S BREWERY!
More information to come!!
Natalie

SEPTEMBER, 2004 CALENDAR CORRECTIONS

Release Date: 12 September 2004

Source: HGS

September, 2004HGS Calendar Corrections

Course Date Correction
The September HGS Newsletter that you received Friday incorrectly listed the special course at APPEX on Tuesday, September 14th. The three-day APPEX show starts on the 14th, but the course is on Thursday the 16th as shown on the HGS and AAPG websites.
The corrected Newsletter is posted on the HGS Website. Here is the correct paragraph:
Thursday, September 16, 2004, 1-5 pm. Don''t miss APPEX''s Young Professionals'' course "Packaging and Selling your Prospect" sponsored by HGS/AAPG/SIPES. Steve Brachman shows you how to put together geoscience, land and financial data into a prospect package for management and independents in this practical "How-To" course, designed for anyone who wants to improve their sales packages. As a special benefit, we''ve also arranged free entry into the APPEX show Thursday morning, included your registration fee. George R. Brown Convention Center.

HGS Bulletin Corrections
The September HGS Bulletin centerfold calendar lists the Northsiders meeting on Tuesday, September 21st as a dinner. Page 45 of that Bulletin correctly lists it as a luncheon. The Website shows it correctly as a luncheon and at the new, lower price.
As mentioned in the September HGS Newsletter, the Bulletin reports the wrong date for the North American Dinner. The correct details are:
Monday, September 27th, 2004. The HGS North American Explorationists Dinner topic is "Understanding Growth-Faulted, Intraslope Subbasins and Associated Reservoir Targets." Please Note: The September HGS Bulletin shows the wrong date for this event. It is on the 27th, not the 21st.

Published September 12, 2004

HGS NEWSLETTER -- SEPTEMBER, 2004

Release Date: 10 September 2004

Source: HGS

Houston Geological Society NewsletterSeptember, 2004
Notices and Reminders

HGS Activities This Month

Monday, September 13th, 2004. Mike Moore, BHP Biliton, will speak at the HGS General Dinner on "Play Concepts in an Emerging Major Hydrocarbon Province in Ultra Deep Water Gulf of Mexico." Note: the deadline for reservations falls on friday when an event is held on a monday.

Thursday, September 16, 2004, 1-5 pm. Don't miss APPEX's Young Professionals' course "Packaging and Selling your Prospect" sponsored by HGS/AAPG/SIPES. Steve Brachman shows you how to put together geoscience, land and financial data into a prospect package for management and independents in this practical "How-To" course, designed for anyone who wants to improve their sales packages. As a special benefit, we've also arranged free entry into the APPEX show Thursday morning, included your registration fee. George R. Brown Convention Center.

Sunday, September 19th, 2004. There will be a Volunteer Geologist Certification class at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Sunday, the 19th of September, beginning at 1:30pm. You'll participate in a teaching tour of the three Earth Science halls with fellow HGS members, learn about logistics and "tricks of the trade". HGS members are encouraged to bring their spouses or teenage children -- families who volunteer together have more fun! Please email Sibyl Robertson at the HMNS to make your reservation. Details are posted on the HGS Museum of Science Committee's web page. Join us and get ready for Earth Science Week.

Monday, September 20th, 2004. Sign up now for the HGS Golf Tournament at Kingwood and Deerwood country clubs. Download the details and registration form, fill in your foursome and course choices, and send it to the HGS office with $125 per person before the deadline. Sign up now to assure a spot. Reservations will be acknowledged by telephone call during the week of September 5th-11th. Make checks payable to the HGS Entertainment Fund.

Monday, September 20th, 2004. The HGS International Explorationists Dinner topic will be the "An Emerging Giant Gas Province: Nile Delta/Mediterranean Offshore, Deep Water, Egypt." Paul Boucher of BP Egypt is the speaker.

Tuesday, September 21th, 2004. The HGS Northsiders Lunch will hear Brian Maxted, Kosmos Energy, speak on "Positioning for Exploration Successin the Petroleum Upstream." The September HGS Bulletin calendar shows this event as a dinner, but it is a luncheon meeting as shown on page 45 of that same Bulletin. Note also that the cost of this event has been reduced since the Bulletin was published. It's now $25 for HGS members with reservations and $30 for all others.

Tuesday, September 21th, 2004. The HGS Environmental and Engineering Dinner topic is "The State of Texas Municipal Setting Designation (MSD) Program."

Monday, September 27th, 2004. The HGS North American Explorationists Dinner topic is "Understanding Growth-Faulted, Intraslope Subbasins and Associated Reservoir Targets." The speaker is Robert Loucks of the BEG in Austin. Please Note: The September HGS Bulletin shows the wrong date for this event. It is on the 27th, not the 21st.

Wednesday, September 29th, 2004. Rich Green speaks on "Applying Historical Data to Oil and Gas Price Projections" at the HGS Luncheon. Rich's talk was one of the best presentations at the recent AAPG Convention in Dallas and his predictions have been spot on the mark for the last decade. It's long-term good news, and you'll want to hear it. Petroleum Club at 11:15am.

Thursday, September 30th, 2004. Don't miss the NeoGeos social at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. 5:45pm.

Other Notes

Saturday, September 11th, 2004. A free seminar on Houston flooding will be held from 9:00am to 3:00pm at Cy-Fair College. The seminar is sponsored by the Engineering, Science & Technology Council of Houston and Harris County Flood Control District. Reservations are not required. For more details, see the HGS September Calendar or download the Flyer

Tuesday, September 14th through Thursday, September 16th, 2004. APPEX 2004, the AAPG Prospect and Property Exposition, co-sponsored by the HGS and SIPES, will be held in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Friday through Sunday, September 24th-26th, 2004 is the Houston Gem, Jewelry, Mineral and Fossil Show at the Humble Convention Center, 9am to 5pm. Three-day tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students, teachers, and seniors. Children unde

NILE DELTA - A GIANT GAS PROVINCE

Release Date: 10 September 2004

Source: HGS

Key Challenges to Realizing Full Potentialin an Emerging Giant Gas Province:Nile Delta/Mediterranean Offshore, Deep water, Egypt
A paper given at the HGS International Explorationists Dinner Meeting on 20 September, 2004.
Authors: Paul J. Boucher, John C. Dolson, Philip D. Heppard, BP Houston and Jerry Siok, BP-Egypt.Abstract: The Nile Delta is an emerging giant gas province with proven reserves of approximately 42 TCF with approximately 50 TCF yet to find.. This resource has more than doubled in the last three years, largely from successful deep-water exploration for Pliocene slope-channel systems. Proven reservoirs vary in age from Oligocene/Early Miocene through Pleistocene. Proven source rocks include Jurassic coals and shales and the Lower Miocene condensed Qantara Formation shales. Additional source rocks may be present in condensed intervals of Cretaceous, Oligocene and Eocene age.Following Tethyan rifting and opening of the Mediterranean in the Jurassic, prominent Cretaceous mixed clastic and carbonate shelf edges aggraded vertically along a steep fault-bounded shelf-slope break. This "hingeline" in northern Egypt exerts the fundamental control on reservoir distribution in Tertiary age strata. In late Eocene time, northern Egypt was tilted toward the Mediterranean during regional uplift associated with the opening of the Gulf of Suez and Red Sea rifts. Drainage systems shed reservoir quality sediments northward in a series of forced regressions. These regressions culminated in be-heading of the youngest deltas by subaerial erosion during the sealevel lowstand associated with the Messinian salinity crisis. Early Pliocene transgressions deposited a thick sealing interval over the low-stand Messinian valley networks. Renewed deltaic deposition began at approximately 3.8 MA. The steep structural hingeline and faulted continental shelf created a large amount of accommodation space with relatively minor progradation of depositional systems. As a result, the primary play consists of slope-channel fairways in all levels. The Plio-Pleistocene systems are the shallowest targets in the basin that hold the majority of proven reserves. Future large reserve growth will come from the pre-Messinian strata.

BP, with partner RWE-DEA recently completed a test of the pre-Messinian slope channel play. The Raven-1 wildcat well was drilled to test an early Miocene slope channel system in the western Nile Delta. The well was drilled in 650 meters of water to a TD 4976 meters TVD. The well tested at a rate of approximately 37.4 million standard cubic feet per day and 740 barrels of condensate per day from lower Miocene channel sands.. The Raven-1 well is being followed by tests of Miocene age strata in the Polaris-1 well.
Nile Delta gas resources lie close to emerging and established markets in the Mediterranean. Challenges to capturing the deeper pre-Messinian prize include:

Establishing favorable economic terms for export and domestic markets.
Reducing drilling costs and optimization of wellbore patterns to develop multiple stacked objectives.
Working in deep water and high pressure environments.
Developing predictive models for pressure regressions in overpressured reservoir fairways.
Recognizing and exploiting "thin-bedded" low resistivity pay.

Biographies:

Paul J. Boucher received a B.S. in Geology in 1990 from Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts and an M.S. in Geophysics from Texas A&M University in1994. At that time Paul joined Amoco in Houston and began working on various projects in support of their operations in Egypt. He moved to Cairo, Egypt in 1998 to work on regional and prospect level mapping projects in the Nile Delta. He joined the BP western Nile Delta team in 2000 and was involved in the discovery of numerous large gas and gas condensate fields on the offshore Nile Delta. His main interests are exploring for hydrocarbons through integrated seismic sequence stratigraphy and petroleum systems analysis. He is currently working in the BP Brazil Deep Water Performance Unit as a senior explorer in the Foz do Amazonas area.

Philip D. Heppard is a geologist with BP in Houston, Texas. Philip received his B.S. in geology from Juniata College, Pennsylvania, in 1977 and his M.S. in geology from the University of Akron, Ohio, in 1984. He joined Amoco in 1979 and has worked as a development geologist in the Permian Basin and Trinidad, West Indies. Since 1988 Philip has been a pore pressure expert supporting BP?s worldwide exploration and development efforts, most recently within their Exploration and Production Technology Group. His interest has been the integration of well and seismic data to predict overpressure in the subsurface for well planning and evaluation of seal quality.

POSITIONING FOR EXPLORATION SUCCESS

Release Date: 1 September 2004

Source: HGS Bulletin

This talk was presented at the 21 September, 2004 luncheon of the HGS North Houston Committee.
Positioning for Exploration Successin the Petroleum Upstream
Abstract:As a result of the drop in oil prices during the mid-1980s worldwide exploration activity decreased significantly. Further commodity price drops in the late 1990s compounded this situation as companies in the oil and gas sector saw their valuations reduced and had to respond to shareholder demands for stock price increase through a combination of superior financial returns and long-term resource base growth. Portfolio management (with the divestiture of assets which did not meet internal growth and value hurdles), optimizing operations to reduce costs and minimize expenditures have all been undertaken to maximize value by increasing cash flow, net income and earnings, as well as enhancing metrics. Maximizing reserves to provide options for future production growth was accomplished in two ways: first, inorganically through mergers and acquisitions and/or asset purchases; secondly, organically through exploitation.Exploration conducted during this time primarily involved low risk, step-out drilling. Thus, as a strategy to organically replace and grow reserves and production, exploration has been secondary except for those companies which did not have the optional to grow inorganically due to balance sheet size or leverage. As a consequence reserve replacement from exploration during the last decade has declined considerably and now only accounts for a relatively small proportion of produced oil.Today the industry is in a new era, one of higher commodity prices. Prices have risen due to longer term, below-ground concerns and, additionally, for oil, prevailing above-ground supply threats. This has led to recent shareholder value appreciation. Companies have to continue to focus on returns, maximizing production and minimizing costs and expenditures for short-term value. An inorganic strategy, however, to deliver future value and growth is threatened by today's higher prices (which have inflated acquisition costs) as well as by uplifted operating expense, thereby reducing return and increasing risk and exposure to future lower cycle prices. It will also be affected by an ever-maturing resource base, a limited opportunity set and high competition.For these reasons, as well as current market sentiment of not rewarding growth without value, merger and acquisition transactions have reduced significantly. Some companies may still either take advantage of current prices and sell or wager on future prices and acquire. Some asset trades are likely to continue as portfolios are rationalized rather than liquidated. However, exploitation and low risk exploration is now the principal operating strategy. Notwithstanding, many companies are currently using excess cash flow to pursue stockholder value increase through financial strategies of paying down debt and buying back stock.While companies and their shareholders have benefited recently from the commodity price increase and though overall higher prices may be the future norm, they will no doubt continue their cyclicity. Thus, companies cannot depend solely on future price increases to deliver continued value growth. It will be the companies which are able to progressively increase reserves and production at a competitive unit cost and with high value metrics that will survive and prosper. This performance will be delivered by one or both of two operating strategies. These include further industry consolidation coupled with exploitation and new exploration.To date, however, companies have not re-directed their efforts to focus on value creation and growth through exploration. For many upstream companies exploration still remains a secondary strategy as evidenced by the still-suppressed activity and expenditure indicators. The forthcoming exploration challenge is further compounded by the ever increasing difficulty of our function, as we pursue new petroleum systems, fairways and/or plays. Reserve replacement from exploration during the last decade has declined considerably and now only accounts for a relatively small proporation of produced oil.Unfortunately, exploration is a risk business and, as history has shown, it offers a greater chance of failure than success and more losers than winners. The consistent creation of value through successful exploration with the drill-bit is the aspiration of all but the feat of only a few. As explorers we are obligated to regain the confidence of management and shareholders, re-position exploration as the primary business development strategy and create our own future.The presentation reviews where high volume and value oil may be expected to be found in the future and considers the factors which combine to characterize and differentiate failed exploration, the "accidental" or "occasional" oil finder and the "true" or "serial" one. The speaker addresses the organization and its culture, its people and their behaviors, the technical and business decision-making process, and team and individual roles, together with personal competencies.

You can also download the PowerPoint presentation of Bryan''s talk. Caution: it''s about three megabytes and you will need MS PowerPoint to display it.

Biography:
From 2002-03, Brian Maxted was Senior Vice President of Global Exploration and New Ventures for Amerada Hess Corporation. Under his guidance, the company participated in several finds in the deep water Gulf of Mexico, and made new field wildcat discoveries offshore West Africa. Previously, Mr. Maxted was Senior Vice President, Exploration for Triton Energy Limited and led the team that made the Ceiba Field discovery offshore Equatorial Guinea in 1999 and several follow-up finds. Joining Triton in 1994, Mr. Maxted was seconded as Exploration Manager to Carigali-Triton Operating Company (CTOC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. CTOC, jointly owned by Hess and Petronas Carigali, is the operator of Block A-18 in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area. During his tenure, the company found several multi-TCF gas/condensate fields.Mr. Maxted began his career in 1979 and worked in the UK sector of the North Sea before being assigned in various roles to Egypt, Canada, Colombia and Norway with BP. As Exploration Manager in Colombia during the early 1990s he was involved in the discovery and confirmation of the giant Cusiana-Cupiagua oil fields. Educated in England, Mr. Maxted holds a master's degree in organic geochemistry from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Sheffield.

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