THE QUEST FROM SHALLOW SHELF TO DEEPWATER IN LATIN AMERICA: HOW WE GOT WHERE WE ARE, WHERE WE ARE GOING
Downtown Houston
Speaker:
Seminar Date: Mar 19 2020
Registration Opens: Feb 27 2020 - Mar 18 2020
Time: 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM (US CDT)
Admission/Registration Link: None
Meeting/Webinar Link: None
Contact: Hyungjoo Lee ( Houston, TX, USA, SPWLA Houston Chapter)
Corresponding: vpdowntown@spwla-houston.org
Fees:For Student: $25
For Member: $25
For Non-member: $15
ABSTRACT:
Industry’s first exploration foray into open ocean was shortly after World War II on Louisiana’s shallow shelf as an extension of prolific onshore and transition zone discoveries, enabled by a booming US post-World War II economy and a wealth of former military ocean engineering talent. As geotechnical and engineering innovations progressed in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, Mexico’s nearly adjacent shallow shelf Tampico and Salina Basins, plus Trinidad’s Gulf of Paria and Atlantic Columbus Basin were soon beneficiaries, also as extensions of geologically contiguous major onshore producing areas. This initial trendology, focused mainly by limited early seismic and seabed gravity data, continued to garner success and gradually gave way in the 1960’s to utilizing large digital multiclient geophysical surveys to expand beyond the basins immediately adjacent onshore production. As the ‘60’s to the 80’s progressed, however, production technology limited exploration to the shelf where failure or marginal success was achieved in basins such as Brazil’s Santos, Peru’s Talara, Argentina’s Malvinas, and Guyana-Suriname Basins. In the ‘90’s and 2000’s production technology advances in the US GOM beyond the fixed-leg platform enabled exploration in deeper waters, focused by more data sets, integration of DSDP and ODP drilling data, seismic stratigraphy, AVO, and plate tectonics (especially in the South Atlantic linking up Africa’s productive basins with South American target areas). Major deepwater success followed in Brazil’s Campos-Santos, and more recently Mexico’s Perdido Foldbelt plus Guyana. Not all deepwater expansion has been roses, however, with in failures including Cuba, Barbados, Suriname with French Guyana, northeast Brazil, and Uruguay, plus relatively marginal or gas-only success in Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, French Guiana, north central Brazil and the Malvinas – Falklands regions. We informally categorize this shelf and deepwater success of the last sixty years into ‘closed’ and ‘open’ productive systems. ‘Closed’ systems are highly structured with super seals and/or readily definable traps and boundaries on seismic data - Mexico’s Salina-Sureste Basin and Brazil’s Campos-Santos, plus a lesser extent the US-Mexico Perdido Foldbelt and Brazil’s Sergipe Alagoas. ‘Closed’ systems are very rich and have major reserves to be found primarily by drilling in-between existing discoveries in Brazil, plus some step-out in Mexico. Their heyday has decades to come, but they will probably see a production decline before humankind moves to a post-carbon world. ‘Open’ systems, conversely, are subtly structured (with local exceptions) or purely stratigraphic with undefinable boundaries on seismic – best characterized by Guyana. Vast regions possibly harboring major accumulations in ‘open’ systems remain undrilled or barely touched by the bit, from deepwater Barbados to Argentina on the Atlantic side, and higher risk Mexico to Chile on the Pacific side. A major effort is underway to identify more Guyanas that will result in establishing new producing provinces but at the present industry pace some large productive complexes may go undiscovered before we move to that post-carbon world. Rog Hardy has over four decades of diverse business and technical experience - in international and domestic, in operations and new ventures, with host governments, majors, independents, start-ups, contractors and as an independent consultant. Most recently, Rog’s equity position in a Latin America-focused E&P start-up, Cruz del Sur LLC, and extensive consulting in North American shale growth strategy plus international new ventures and operations position him to be well versed in current issues and trends in the global industry. Previously, Rog held technical and leadership positions of increasing scope and responsibility in Amoco, Chevron, Natomas/IIAPCO (Maxus) and Unocal, culminating in six years as Vice President Unocal Indonesia leading and participating in a major business unit’s oil, gas, and geothermal exploration, production (including LNG export) of over 200,000 MMBOE, and new venture strategy. Global experience elsewhere includes in-depth new ventures and operations in the Sub-Andean Countries of South America, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and North America. Rog is past chair of the AAPG History of Petroleum Geology Committee and a Visiting Petroleum Geoscientist. He has a bachelor in geology from the University of Minnesota, and a master from San Diego State. He is a registered geophysicist by the state of California. See more at www.linkedin.com/in/roghardy NOTE: Lunch is included for registered attendants. Register and pay before Tuesday 17th 5PM (one day before the meeting) to guarantee your lunch. Walk-ins are welcome but no lunch guaranteed. Lunch will be served at 11:30AM, introduction will be done at 11:55AM and presentation will start at 12PM.
BIOGRAPHY:
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