May, 2001
HGS Meetings

HGS Dinner Meeting

"Key Patterns of Corporate Organization and Culture Influencing Exploration Performance"

Abstract:

Recent independent studies document that companies managing petroleum exploration using (1) integrated geotechnical prospect and play assessment; (2) systematic probabilistic risk analysis; and (3) venture selection through centrally coordinated portfolio management clearly outperform companies that do not. This has naturally prompted great interest in sophisticated mathematical and software tools and systems that enable routine application of portfolio theory, real options theory, and decision analysis.

To be effective, however, such advanced management tools must rely on objective geotechnical input -- that is, the estimates of key geotechnical parameters must be free of bias. Outperforming companies reduce bias through disciplined linkage of integrated geotechnical work, probabilistic risk analysis, and applied learning from post-drill well reviews. Then they select those ventures which optimize portfolio performance, consistent with acceptable risk. But the primary problem remains the input -- not the tools -- and firm, consistent process implementation is essential, reinforced by positive incentives.

Analysis of many active E and P companies indicates that organizational and cultural patterns of underperforming firms encourage biased geotechnical input, and discourage centrally coordinated portfolio management. Subjectivity, intuition, salesmanship, and geopolitics flourish in the absence of consistent probabilistic procedures, thus promoting persistent motivational bias, mostly as prospect overestimation. Objective and consistent assessment of predictive performance is neither required nor evaluated. Decentralization of exploration decision-making into autonomous business units necessarily reduces the selective power of portfolios, and allows inferior projects from some business units to replace superior projects from others. Incentives often work at cross-purposes to efficient portfolio performance and correct corporate goals. The result is general underperformance relative to centrally coordinated E&P firms.

Companies who purposefully undertake to improve persistent exploration underperformance should anticipate (and encourage) substantial changes to both their organizational structure as well as their prevailing professional culture, if they are to succeed.

Biographical Sketch:

PETER R. ROSE (BS, MA, PhD, Geology, University of Texas at Austin) is a certified petroleum geologist who was Staff Geologist with Shell Oil Company; Chief, Oil and Gas Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey; and Chief Geologist and Director of Frontier Exploration for Energy Reserves Group, Inc. [now BHP Petroleum (Americas), Inc.]. In 1980, he established his own independent oil and gas consulting firm, Telegraph Exploration, Inc. His clients include most major U.S. companies and many prominent independents as well as many international firms and state oil companies. Dr. Rose has explored for oil and gas in most North American geological provinces and has published and lectured widely on U.S. resource assessment, basin analysis, play development, prospect evaluation, and risk and uncertainty in exploration. He has taught extensively at the professional level and was a 1985/1986 AAPG Distinguished Lecturer. Since 1989 he has been deeply involved in design and implementation of comprehensive exploration risk analysis systems for executive management of many major oil companies, operating in both the Domestic and International theaters. His courses emphasize the link between geoscience and making money in the business of petroleum exploration. Dr. Rose was 1996/97 President of AAPG’s Division of Professional Affairs, and received the coveted Parker Memorial Medal from the American Institute of Professional Geologists in 1998. He is the Managing Partner in a newly established consulting firm, Rose & Associates, LLP (R&A).

GARY P. CITRON (BS, Geology, State University of New York at Buffalo; MS Geology, Cornell University; Ph.D., Geology and Geophysics, Cornell University) joined Telegraph in February 1999 after 19 years with Amoco. He is a certified Petroleum Geologist who worked at Amoco as a geophysicist, supervisor, manager, planner and consultant. In his last assignment, with Amoco’s Prospect Quality Team, he worked with exploration teams worldwide for four years, helping them assess prospect component ranges and associated chance factors. Dr. Citron has developed expertise in consensus-building in risk assessments and performance tracking. He also coordinated the yearly post appraisal of the exploration drilling program, which helped develop, disseminate and institutionalize learning throughout the exploration department. Prior to that, he coached Amoco’s managers on planning, exploration performance measurement and work process issues. He has worked most of the U.S. domestic trends as an explorer and manager, with special emphasis on the Gulf of Mexico. In 1999 he was selected by the AAPG to serve in their Visiting Geologist Program. While at Amoco Dr. Citron actively mentored younger geoscientists on prospect measurement and assessment. He is a Partner in Rose & Associates, LLP (R&A).

HGS Environmental / Engineering Dinner Meeting

"TRRP-The First Year"

Abstract:

The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) promulgated the Texas Risk Reduction Program (TRRP) rule for implementation on May 1, 2000, to standardize the remediation process for use by all of the agency’s cleanup programs. The TNRCC committed to develop guidance on a broad range of topics to aid implementation of the new rule. This presentation will provide a status report on guidance development and an evaluation of the utilization of the TRRP rule during its first full year of implementation.

Biographical Sketch:

Paul S. Lewis is a technical specialist in the Technical Support Section of the Remediation Division and along with other section staff is currently developing training and guidance for the Texas Risk Reduction Program Rule. He was the team leader for development of the Risk Reduction Rules of 1993 and contributed to the writing of the TRRP rule. Mr. Lewis has been with the TNRCC since 1979.

Museum of Health and Medical Sciences Meeting

"The Dimensions of Brachiosaurus"

HGS Emerging Technologies Dinner Meeting

"Benefits of Integrating Seismic and Petrophysical Data"

Abstract:

INTRODUCTION

One of the major problems that exists in current exploration and production projects is the successful prediction of reservoir quality (specifically permeability) in inter-well areas. This presentation focuses on the integration of pore geometry data (from direct image analysis of rock samples) with wireline logs in key wells and extrapolation to seismic data in order to improve the accuracy of field-wide and regional permeability prediction. This is of particular importance both offshore (deep Gulf of Mexico) and onshore (Wilcox, Vicksburg etc), geological provinces in which porosity and permeability are often not fundamentally related.

INTEGRATION FOR RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION

It is important for Exploration & Production companies to take full advantage of all available data when undertaking reservoir description, evaluation and characterization (Figure 1) . One of the problems that still exists is how to integrate seismic data and petrophysics. The past several decades have witnessed important advances in this regard, such as seismic-based lithology determination and the gross identification of porous versus non-porous zones. The problem with such porosity-based seismic solutions is that producibility is often more a function of permeability than of porosity.

Whether we are interpreting wireline logs, thin sections, seismic data or production rates and pressures, we have one thing in common: the rocks. Even though all of our measurements are at vastly different scales and utilize many different forms of measurement techniques, they are all measurements that include some aspect of the rock. It therefore follows that if we are going to integrate disparate data sets correctly, the integration must be done in a manner that is consistent with petrophysical theory.

PORE GEOMETRY

The methodology presented here is based on the unifying concept of pore geometry as a fundamental control on both petrophysics and geophysics. The petrophysical properties controlled by pore geometry influence compressional and shear wave velocity data that form the basis of seismology. Pore geometry influences the characteristics of both the compressional and shear waves (Davies and Young, 2001). For example, resistance to shear is a function of grain packing and the type and degree of grain cementation. Loosely packed, uncemented rocks obviously have different shear characteristics than tightly packed uncemented rocks. Clay cemented sandstones will respond differently to shear than silica cemented sandstones. Packing and cementation are aspects of rock diagenesis that obviously affect the size, shape and arrangement of the pores in the rock (pore geometry) and are fundamental controls on permeability and porosity.

Rock-based integration requires viewing the goal of each discipline (including geology, geophysics, and petrophysics) as the accurate description and characterization of the rocks. Thus thorough rock characterization is an essential precursor to the data integration in our methodology. For example, minor changes in depositional environment can result in significant changes in mineralogy, lithology and texture which affect the pore geometry. Diagenesis commonly operates within a frame-work established at the time of deposition: thus changes in packing and cementation (pore geometry) can relate to changes in depositional environment. Thus a knowledge of depositional environment and diagenesis is important to reservoir characterization. The depositional/diagenetic environment interpretation is then related to sequence stratigraphic concepts. An understanding of sequence stratigraphy provides macro-scale controls on rock distribution that can often be seen at the seismic scale.

PETROPHYSICAL INTEGRATION

In many reservoirs and geological provinces, it is not possible to predict, with any degree of accuracy, permeability from a knowledge of porosity alone (Figure 2) . Thus prediction of sufficient hydrocarbon-charged porosity does not necessarily imply that the rock will produce. Although porosity and permeability are independent in a global sense, there exists a close relationship between porosity and permeability within rocks with specified pore geometry (Rock Type). Thus permeability varies as a function of both porosity and Rock Type in both sandstone and carbonate reservoirs (Calhoun, 1960: Davies et al., 1999). Because porosity and permeability are closely related within each Rock Type, permeability can be predicted from a knowledge of both porosity and Rock Type (Figure 2) .

In our methodology, pore geometry is measured directly in small rock samples using a scanning electron microscope that is specially equipped for image analysis (Davies et al., 1999). This allows for the identification of Rock Types in intervals with conventional or sidewall cores (Figure 2) . Neural Network Models are used to identify Rock Types and to predict porosity and permeability using only combinations of wireline log responses. This allows for field-wide extrapolation of Rock Type-derived data (specifically permeability) to all non-cored intervals and wells. Equations are developed that relate Rock Types to the sonic and shear data. These relationships are used as the basis for integration of the petrophysical and seismic data allowing for inter-well predictions of the distribution of reservoir quality for exploration and development projects.

SEISMIC PETROPHYSICS

The S and P impedance data is determined using the entire pre-stack seismic data set after careful pre-processing and migration to preserve AVO effects. This results in lithology and fluid volumes for the entire seismic section. The lithology and porosity interpreted from the seismic data are then presented as a series of cross sections or block diagrams.

Because a relationship has been developed between permeability, porosity, Rock Type, Vp and Vs, the seismic data can now be used to create permeability and Rock Type volume for the seismic sections (Figure 3) . Because the seismic data yields both porosity and Rock Type, permeability can be predicted in the interval(s) of interest using the algorithms developed earlier in the workflow. Values of permeability can be assigned to individual grid cells on the basis of inter-well seismic data.

CONCLUSIONS

Inter-well and regional predictions of reservoir quality can be based on quantitative integration of petrophysical and seismic data (“Seismic Petrophysics”). The methodology presented here allows seismic data to be used to predict reservoir permeability based on integration of seismic data and data regarding the detailed pore geometry of the reservoir intervals. This approach is extremely useful in difficult environments (offshore, deep water)and in field development projects.

REFERENCES CITED

Davies, D. K. and Young, R. A, 2001, The benefits of integrating seismic and petrophysical data, Proceedings, SW Section, AAPG, Dallas, 10-13 March, p. 1-12.

Calhoun, J. C., 1960, Fundamentals of reservoir engineering: Norman, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 426p.

Davies, D. K., Vessell, R. K., and Auman, J, B., 1999, Improved prediction of reservoir behavior through integration of quantitative geological and petrophysical data: SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering, v. 2, p. 149-160.

Biographical Sketch:

David K. Davies holds BS, PhD and DSc degrees in Geology from the University of Wales, Swansea, and an MS degree in Geology from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. He is President of GeoSystems LLP (formerly David K. Davies and Associates Inc), an international service and consulting company that specializes in all aspects of reservoir description, evaluation and characterization. Davies is a Levorsen Award winner of the AAPG and Distinguished Lecturer of the SPE and SPWLA.

Roger A. Young holds a BS in physics from Clarkson College of Technology, Potsdam, New York, and an MS in reservoir engineering from the University of Houston. He is the Chief Technical Officer of eSeis Inc, a service company that specializes in seismic petrophysics using prestack seismic data.

HGS International Dinner Meeting

"Cuba: An Overview of its Geology, Hydrocarbon Systems and Petroleum Industy"

View Figures

Vendors and Posters

Abstract:

Cuba is a portion of the Great Arc of the Caribbean that obliquely collided with and was sutured onto the North American plate during the Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary. As such it contains both a long-travelled, allochthonous magmatic arc component as well as an autochthonous Florida-Bahamas Platform passive margin component, which have been tectonically intermingled in a complex fashion.

The pre-Mesozoic history of Cuba remains enigmatic, but the existence of Grenville-age (~1 Ga) gneisses in the Santa Clara belt indicates that at least this small piece of Cuba had a Precambrian continental origin and was probably derived from some part of North America (Laurentia) other than the basement underlying Florida (Pan-African, Gondwana-affinity). Conceivably, these Grenville-age rocks could have been torn off the Mexico/Chortis part of Laurentia as the Great Arc migrated into the gap between North and South America during Cretaceous (Kevin Burke, personal communication).

The early Mesozoic to Recent geological history of Cuba, which is most relevant to the hydrocarbon systems, can be divided into three main tectonic phases: extensional/passive margin, collisional, and transcurrent/extensional. The extensional/passive margin phase affected only the autochthonous (Florida-Bahamas platform) portion of Cuba and began in the Triassic and/or Early to Middle Jurassic, associated with the rifting and breakup of Pangaea. Compression began to affect Cuba during the Late Cretaceous as a result of the northeastward migration of the Cuban magmatic arc. The Cuban fold and thrust belt and adjacent foreland basin formed during the Campanian-early Tertiary when the Cuban arc obliquely collided with the southern margin of the North American continent. Terminal collision probably took place during latest Paleocene-early Eocene (Bralower and Iturralde-Vinent, 1997) and caused the obduction of volcanic arc-related rocks and ophiolites over the passive margin carbonates and evaporites of the Florida-Bahamas platform. Following the cessation of collision in the early Tertiary, a sinistral transcurrent fault system (Cayman Trough) developed to the south of Cuba and the Yucatan Basin; this transcurrent fault system has persisted to the present day and forms a portion of the boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. Contemporaneous with the early development of the transcurrent plate boundary, crustal collapse led to extensional structures being superimposed on the hinterland of the Cuban orogen. In addition, some of the collisional-phase structures have been further modified by salt diapirism, especially in northwestern Cuba (Jamison and Podruski, 2000).

In 1508, the Spanish mariner Sebastián Ocampo found what he called a "liquid bitumen" in the area of Bahía de la Habana, which he used as a caulking material when he careened his ships. This is the earliest known use of petroleum by old-world colonists in the Americas (Pardo, 1992). Petroleum production in Cuba dates from 1881 when light oil production was established from Motembo Field in the central part of the island. Cuba currently produces an all-time record of approximately 50,000 bo/d of predominantly heavy crude and 55 MMcf/d of associated natural gas, mainly from a series of fields along a relatively small, 100km stretch of the northern coastline of Habana-Matanzas Provinces. This limited geographical area of oil and gas production has more to do with ease of logistics and proximity to the main market (Havana) than to prospectivity. The largest of the currently-producing fields is Varadero Field (Tavares, 1999), with an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil in-place. Most of the present-day production comes from fractured Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous carbonate reservoirs (originally part of the Florida-Bahamas platform) in structural traps of the north Cuban deformed belt. Relatively minor production has also been established from fractured serpentinites and other basement rocks. The major hydrocarbon source rocks are probably Upper Jurassic and/or Lower Cretaceous in age. With the application of modern drilling and completion techniques since Cuba opened its E&P sector to foreign participation in the 1990s, recently-drilled wells commonly have sustained production rates above 1,000 bo/d, with some wells reaching 3,000 bo/d. Despite these successes, current production still only meets around 30% of Cuba’s domestic demand. There are, however, indications that production and reserves could be significantly greater in the future. Cuba may well attain energy self-sufficiency within the current decade, and could even become a significant exporter of crude oil and natural gas.

While U.S. oil companies are barred from doing business in Cuba by the U.S. Government, a number of Canadian independents have been aggressively filling the niche; in addition, significant players from Europe and other parts of Latin America have recently entered the Cuban E&P scene. Acreage is currently available for exploration both onshore and offshore by direct negotiation with the national oil company Cubapetróleo (CUPET), as well as via several farm-in opportunities.

Most recently, the entire 110,000 sq km Cuban sector of the Gulf of Mexico was subdivided into blocks and made available for licensing, and is deemed to have significant hydrocarbon exploration potential in a variety of trends (Hernández-Pérez and Blickwede, 2000). In this mostly deepwater area, the offshore extension of the productive Cuban fold and thrust belt and its associated foreland basin remains undrilled and constitutes a possible major petroleum province of the future. Additional potential is foreseen in traps and reservoir facies associated with Florida and Campeche Escarpments and around the flanks of basement high "knolls." Oil recovered from DSDP Site 535, in the central portion of the Cuban sector of the Gulf, confirms the existence of thermally-mature, viable oil source rocks in this frontier exploration area.

References:

Bralower, T.J., and Iturralde-Vinent, M.A., 1997, Micropaleontological dating of the collision between the North American plate and the Greater Antilles arc in western Cuba, Palaios, Vol. 12, pp. 133-150.

Hernández-Pérez, G., and Blickwede, J.F., 2000, Cuba deepwater opportunities described in southeastern Gulf of Mexico: Oil & Gas Journal, Vol. 98.50 (11 December 2000).

Jamison, W.R., and Podruski, J.A., 2000, Tectonic history of western Cuba, AAPG Bull., Vol. 84, n. 13.

Pardo, G., 1992, The geology and petroleum prospects of Cuba, Petroconsultants/IHS Energy Group, 556 p

. Tavares, D., 1999, Principales características geológicas del campo Varadero, Cuba, y de su yacimiento de petróleo extrapesado, Oil & Gas Journal Latinoamérica, Vol. 9, n. 5, pp. 28-42.

Biographical Sketch:

Jon Frederic Blickwede is currently regional manager, Mexico, Central America and Caribbean for the IHS Energy Group. He earned a B.S. degree in geology from Tufts University in 1977 and an M.S. in earth sciences from the University of New Orleans in 1981. From 1981 through 1996, he worked as a petroleum geologist for Amoco Production Co. in New Orleans and Houston, and as Exploration Coordinator for Amoco Venezuela in Caracas. Since leaving Amoco, he has served as Manager of Geoscience at The Andrews Group International, providing E&P-related technical consulting for Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), as well as his recent positions at Petroconsultants/IHS Energy in Geneva, Switzerland and Houston, Texas. He is a member of the AAPG, Houston Geological Society, Asociación Mexicana de Geólogos Petroleros, Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, and the Geological Society of Trinidad & Tobago. Among other professional honors, Blickwede was the 1988 recipient of the AAPG Matson Award for his paper on the Perdido Foldbelt of the deepwater western Gulf of Mexico.

Posters and Vendors

POSTER #1:

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY AND TECTONICS IN LA HABANA-MATANZAS REGION OF WESTERN CUBA
Podruski, James A., Alturas Resources Ltd., Calgary, Canada
Jamison, William R., The Upper Crust Inc., Calgary, Canada
Jones, Brian A., Excel Geophysics Inc., Calgary, Canada

POSTER #2:

NPA will illustrate recent satellite studies both on- and off-shore, including Landsat TM structural interpretation and the extent of offshore seepage studies around Cuba derived from satellite radar. The poster shows examples of the various types of seepage slicks found in the area and neighboring parts of the Gulf of Mexico. by Nigel Press, Chairman, NPA Satellite Mapping

POSTER #3

BOOK SHOWING: "Arc of the Sun" , the excellent book by Giovani Flores will be available to view or purchase. Giovani relates his experiences of the early days of oil exploration in Cuba in this autobiography of his life as a petroleum geologist. The book is out of print but a few copies are being made available to our members.

VENDOR #1

IHS Energy Group will exhibit a suite of software tools and databases that cover the spectrum in International Exploration. From Detailed Economic and Geologic Technical Studies, to Daily updated E&P Activity reports and maps, to Fiscal Terms, to Political Risk, to Environmental Terms, to E&P Statistics, to detailed historical Well, Field, Reservoir, Basin, Midstream Infrastructure and Contract Analysis in over 200 countries around the world. We've got it all.
CONTACT: Perry R. Johannson, Senior Account Manager
IHS Energy Group, 5333 Westheimer, Suite 100, Houston, TX, 77056
Tel: 713-840-8282 x577, Fax: 713-599-9111
email: perry.johannson@ihsenergy.com ,
website: www.ihsenergy.com

NeoGeos Dinner Meeting

"Gological Architecture and Reservoir Characteristics of Fine-Grained and Course-Grained Turbidite Systems."

Abstract:

Exploration and production of oil and gas from deepwater turbidite systems is of high interest to most companies. Several models have been developed, emphasizing the architecture and several aspects of reservoir characterization. Application of a non-suitable model can result in dry holes, bypassed oil, and other frustrations. Of all general models available the most important ones are the coarse-grained and the fine-grained turbidite systems.

The coarse-grained systems are canyon-fed prograding fans that gradually become thinner and finer in the down-dip direction. The fine-grained systems are delta-fed bypassing fan types with well developed leveed channels and significant depositional lobes or sheet sands on the outer/lower fan. Calculations on the Mississippi Fan and Tanqua Karoo fans in South Africa indicate that 75% or more of all the sand in fine-grained fans is stored in the sheet sands. Just to indicate that coarse-grained turbidite systems are related to active margins and fine-grained ones to passive margins is only partially correct. The terms active and passive margins should not be used to identify turbidite system types.

A general understanding of the types of transport and depositional processes responsible for the distribution and characteristics of the sands and shales is essential. The factors (tectonics, climate, sediment, relative sea level fluctuations) that influence basin setting, transport, deposition and timing interact rather variably with one and another.

The coarse-grained turbidite systems are rather well understood because those deposits are common in outcrop, often adjacent to productive fields. Fine-grained turbidite systems commonly do not outcrop. That makes it very difficult to determine architectural changes in downdip and lateral direction, as well as reservoir continuity. The non-tilted Permian Tanqua Karoo fan systems in South Africa are the only ones known to make it possible to conduct such observations.

Biographical Sketch:

Arnold H. Bouma was born in the Netherlands where he received his B.S. at the University of Groningen (1956) and his M.S. (1959) and Ph.D. (1961) at the University of Utrecht. From 1962 to 1963 he had a Fullbright post-doctoral fellowship at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA. In 1966 the Bouma family immigrated to the USA. Ten years of teaching at Texas A&M University was followed by working 5½ years for the USGS in Menlo Park and Corpus Christi. Not interested to go to Reston to Headquarters he joined Gulf Oil Co., which became Chevron. In 1988 he came to LSU where he received the McCord Chair.

Bouma is interested in marine sediments, emphasizing submarine fans (modern and ancient) and the interaction between shallow and deep water. Many other aspects of geology are of interest, including environmental geology. He has authored/edited/co-edited 11 books, over 180 papers, and many abstracts, reviews and reports. He is active as editor and organizer of research conferences and is a member of several professional organizations, including AAPG, SEPM, IAS, HGS, KNGMG, AAAS and Sigma XI. At present he is President of the SEPM.

HGS Lunch Meeting

"Walking through fractured reservoirs and failed seals"

Abstract:

The talk is an overview of natural rock fracture geology from a "walking through the reservoir" perspective. The material is presented largely from the perspective of fractured reservoir problems but is equally applicable to seal failure by fracturing. Different types of rock fractures, their morphology and geometry, the morphology and geometry of fracture systems, and their fluid-flow behavior will be illustrated with high-quality 35mm slides of rock fractures and fracture systems. Fracturing is a scale-independent phenomenon, so outcrop scale photos accurately represent oil-field sized features. Basic aspects of rock fracture mechanics, image log interpretation, and reservoir development are introduced by showing field photos and then describing and illustrating the industrial application. The slides are from various parts of the world, especially North America, the Andes and Vietnam. Some examples of topics that will be discussed include:

Biographical Sketch:

Alfred Lacazette, 713-503-0543, email: Alfred_Lacazette@NaturalFractures.com, Website: www.NaturalFractures.com , has over fourteen years experience in fractured reservoir analysis and petroleum-related structural geology.

Education:

M.S.- Geology, 1986, University of Kentucky. Advisor: Nicholas Rast. Research: Detailed structural mapping and tectonic studies in the Southern Appalachians.

Ph.D. - Geoscience, 1991, Advisor: Terry Engelder. Research: Natural fractures, fractured reservoirs and mechanical aspects of fluid-rock interaction. Funding provided by Texaco and the Gas Research Institute.

Work history: After completing his doctorate AL worked for five years at Texaco's E&P lab as the company's fractured reservoir specialist. In 1996 he moved to Western Atlas as part of a joint venture that he developed between Texaco and Western Atlas (now Baker Atlas) to develop improved image log interpretation and subsurface fracture analysis software. In addition to the software project, his work at Atlas consisted of R&D in image log quality control, advanced image log technologies, development of algorithms to characterize subsurface fracture populations from borehole data, teaching, definition of geologic data types for a corporate-wide database project, and consulting work. He joined the FracMan group of Golder Associates after Western Atlas was purchased by Baker Hughes. At Golder his work focused on geologic aspects of Discrete Fracture Network reservoir simulation. He is currently is an independent consultant working on image log interpretation, core studies, and subsurface and/or field studies of fractured reservoirs and complex structures. He maintains affiliations with several companies, including Golder.

Experience: AL has worked on field and subsurface projects in a number of countries including: Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Thailand, the United States, Vietnam, Venezuela, and the former Soviet Union.

Professional activities: AL is currently in his second term as an Associate Editor of the Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and is serving as a Compilation Editor for the Bulletin .