September, 1999 HGS Meetings Calendar

September, 1999HGS Meetings

Environmental / Engineering Dinner Meeting
Introduction to DRIS—Deep Remediation Injection System

Author: Randy Horsak, P.E.
Date: Wednesday, September 8, 1999
Place: Jalapenos - 2702 Kirby (at Westheimer)
Time: Social 6:00, Dinner; 7:30 - 8:30 PM Lecture, Career Opportunities, and Networking

Abstract:
The Deep Remediation Injection System (DRIS) is a method utilizing the in-situ placement of remedial agents and air for on-site subsurface cleanup operations. It injects agents such as oxidizing chemicals, microbes, and nutrients into contaminated soils and groundwater to depths of 30 feet. High-pressure, low-volume injection is done with portable equipment. Air simultaneously injected through a lance into the impacted media increases the effectiveness of the remediation method.
Biographical Sketch:
Mr. Horsak received a B.S. in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.S. in environmental science from U.T. at San Antonio. He has worked 26 years in all phases of environmental management. Mr. Horsak has worked on many of environmental projects with companies such as Brown & Root, Beck and Associates, NUS, Roy F. Weston, M.W. Kellogg, McLaren Hart, and most recently as the owner of Petra Environmental. He is the author of many papers on topics such as remediation and cost control, pollution prevention, regulatory trends, hazardous waste disposal, geothermal energy, and environmental auditing. Randy''s project experience includes regulatory audits, remediation, training seminars, risk assessments, air permitting, engineering feasibility studies, and hazardous waste disposal for sites in the United States and Mexico.

HGS Dinner Meeting
"Subsalt Exploration in the Deepwater Foldbelts of the Gulf of Mexico: Regional Analysis of a Giant Petroleum System"

Author: Michael J. Roberts, and Thomas W. Hall, Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company, Deepwater Business Unit, New Orleans, Louisiana
Date: Monday, September 13, 1999
Place: Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer
Time: 5:30 pm Social 6:30 pm Dinner
Poster Session: Regional Depositional Systems of the Vicksburg Formation

Abstract:
The geologic setting of the distal U.S. waters is characterized by a complex assemblage of salt-related compressional features. In the U.S. western Gulf, the Perdido Foldbelt is a north—south trending zone of shortened Mesozoic through Miocene strata covering an area of over 30,000 square kilometers. In the deep east central U.S. Gulf, the Mississippi Fan Foldbelt is an arcuate trend of folded/thrusted Mesozoic through Pliocene strata encompassing over 25,000 square kilometers. Approximately 80% of each trend is in the subsalt environment. The difficult seismic imaging of these subsalt trends necessitates a regional approach to understand the development and prospect potential in these vast areas.
Our regional methodology employs source rock analyses, potential field and basement mapping, regional structural mapping of key horizons including the top and base of salt, regional cross- sections, stratigraphic studies and depth-migrated seismic imaging. Basement-controlled thickness and distribution of the Louann Salt and subsequent sediment loading history are the primary controls on the location, distribution, and character of the foldbelts. These primary controls are responsible for observed changes along the regional strike and dip of the trends that include structural inversion. Compression in both areas has lifted objective intervals up to 4 km above regional elevation. Folding accommodates only a small portion of the total regional extension, with the emplacement of the Sigsbee salt canopy serving as the primary balancing mechanism. Understanding the linkage between contraction of the objective intervals and the emplacement of the overlying salt canopy is the key to successful exploration in these trends. Because emplacement of the canopy is partially synchronous with folding, a correlation exists between the structural grain of the subsalt folds and the base of allocthonous salt.
Primary reservoir objectives in both foldbelt trends are Tertiary-age turbidites, although a higher-risk poorly understood Mesozoic section is present. Hydrocarbon sources for both trends are from Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous marls, with the Perdido Foldbelt also accessing potentially mature Paleogene intervals. The combination of large structural traps, rich source rocks, potentially excellent reservoirs, and a regional top seal places the subsalt foldbelts in the forefront of future Gulf of Mexico exploration.
Biographical Sketch:
Mike Roberts received a Bachelor''s degree in geology from Bowling Green State University (Ohio) in 1982 and his Master''s degree in geology from the University of Cincinnati in 1984. He has been employed by Chevron since 1984 and has spent these 15 years working in Chevron''s New Orleans office. Mike has had numerous assignments across the GOM and has spent the last 11 years working in deepwater exploration. Mike is a member of NOGS, AAPG, and SEPM. Mike''s professional interests are in salt tectonics, basin analysis and regional studies.
Poster Session
Regional Depositional Systems of the Vicksburg Formation, by Janet M. Combes, Ph.D.
The lower Oligocene Vicksburg Formation of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain contains major petroleum reservoirs in the Rio Grande Embayment and the Houston Embayment. Several discoveries in these areas over the past few years have led to renewed interest in the potential for undiscovered fields in the embayments as well as in the San Marcos Arch region. Knowledge of the depositional systems distribution during Vicksburg times is essential to understanding sand concentration and is fundamental to effective exploration and production of the section.

International Dinner Meeting
Chronostratigraphy, Sedimentary Facies, and Architecture of Tectono-Stratigraphic Sequences within a Miocene Rift, Gulf of Suez, Egypt

Author: William A. Wescott, Geological Consultant, Houston, Texas and William N. Krebs, Consulting Biostratigrapher, Katy, Texas
Date: Monday, September 20, 1999
Place: Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer
Time: 5:30 pm Social 6:30 pm Dinner
Poster Session: Deepwater Hydrocarbon Play Types within Sedimentary Basins, East Coast of India to be presented by Ashok K. Ghosh, C.P.G.

Abstract:
The Miocene synrift stratigraphy of the Suez Rift records the complex interplay between the structural development of the rift and the sedimentary response to tectonics. Along the Sinai margin of the Gulf of Suez (GOS), the Miocene sediments were deposited during the three main phases of rifting: rift initiation, clysmic rifting, and early post-rift. In general, this stratigraphy records the progressive subsidence and drowning of the basin during rift initiation and the clysmic stage, followed by isostatic adjustment and shallowing during the early post-rift stage.
A regional synthesis of the Miocene stratigraphic sections exposed along the Sinai margin of the Gulf of Suez has resulted in a depositional and sequence stratigraphic model for these strata that integrates tectonic history and sedimentary response during the early, clysmic, and post-rift phases of basin evolution. The development of this model was made possible by establishing rigorous chronostra