June, 1999 HGS Meetings Calendar

June, 1999HGS Meetings

International Dinner Meeting
Modern Workflows for the International Explorationist, with Examples from SE Asia and Benin, West Africa

Author: Steven Tobias – The Energy Outpost Company Date: Monday June 21, 1999 Place: Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer Time: 5:30 Social 6:30 Dinner

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Abstract:
Early international oil and gas discoveries resulted from "bread and butter" field work by pioneering geologists. Later discoveries more often than not began in third world data rooms filled with yellowed well reports, gravity maps and seismic sections. The international exploration workflow has always been a moving target, and the skill profile of the successful explorationist has evolved in the ceaseless attempt to stay competitive.
The newest workflow innovations involve the application of newly emerging software technologies to vintage and recent digital data. The purpose of this presentation is to review and demonstrate examples of modern G&G workflows that can be used by international explorationists to "mine" existing digital data for overlooked potential.
The lecture is broken into three parts. Part one discusses recent watershed workflow changes of particular relevance to the modern explorationist. Part two presents Southeast Asian exploration (and development) practices using these new approaches, with several illustrative examples. Part three reviews workflow design and results from offshore Benin, a frontier area just beyond the latest string of West African discoveries to the east and south.
Workflow Changes: New workflows leverage powerful new integrated software. They are changing the way that explorationists work in both frontier basins as well as in areas densely covered with exploration 3D. Fast workstations can now be harnessed to automate much of the tedious work that often consumes a project. This new "recoupling" technology frees stratigraphers, structural geologists, petrophysicists, depth imaging specialists and others to work more creatively in a "decoupled" mode, channeling energies into the search for overlooked potential. Consequent recoupling of individual workflows onto a dynamic visualized geologic model, enhances team integration and allows technical work to quickly result in informed business decisions.
Southeast Asia: The exploration and development of Southeast Asian Tertiary basins has always been difficult. One reason is due to the highly faulted and often non-marine nature of these basins, with attendant sparse flooding surfaces and difficult correlations. Workflows based on classically integrated geology and geophysics (G&G) often spiral out of control as structural and stratigraphic uncertainty become entangled with each other. A more natural workstation-based sequence stratigraphic and structural (S&S) approach helps to remove these bottlenecks and uncover overlooked potential. These new workflows rely heavily on the use of automated geological modeling, coherence/variance 3D cubes, visualization techniques and inversion/AVO technologies.
West Africa: An ongoing Benin frontier project is reviewed to illustrate new workflows in frontier areas. Lying on Nigeria's northern border, Benin possesses favorable petroleum geology though has had a disappointing exploration history. The regional geology and local petroleum systems are examined, along with a short chronology of the exploration history. The special problems for exploration in Benin are then discussed, and the design of a tailored reconnaissance workflow is presented, one specifically geared to the search for subtle combination structural/stratigraphic traps. Results are presented which demonstrate new insights into both the geology and prospectivity of offshore Benin. These results include the delineation of a new "combination" trap fairway on the shelf (see illustration) as well as Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary deep water plays.
The presentation concludes with speculations on the role that modern workflows will play in the future organization of international exploration and development asset teams and departments.
Steven Tobias graduated Penn State in 1977 with an MS in geophysics. Since then he has held a variety of positions with Mobil, Tenneco and BHP Petroleum. Prior to forming The Energy Outpost Company in 1996, he served as international exploration manager for Pogo Producing Company. His company offers consulting services that include high-end workflow design and implementation, as well as integrated interpretation/evaluation services for the exploration and development community. More information and links to published articles are available at www.oilgas.com