AAPG PREVIEW

AAPG focuses on dynamic era for E&P

Preview of the technical program for the annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Denver, June 3 – 6

n its spectacular setting at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, the Mile High City – Denver – will host the 2001 convention of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), its divisions and the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), June 3 through June 6. The three AAPG divisions include Energy Minerals, Professional Affairs and Environmental Geosciences. Venue for the event will be the Colorado Convention Center.

The theme of AAPG’s meeting, "2001: An Energy Odyssey," underscores a dynamic period for the hydrocarbon industry. In the association’s opinion, the upstream industry is beginning its journey into the 21st century with concerns about plentiful, reliable oil and gas supplies, as well as debates regarding the environmental impact of energy exploration and development.

An extensive technical program will feature sessions and papers on eight themes. In addition, pre- and post-convention field trips or short courses will be conducted. Field trips will visit world-class outcrops of the Rocky Mountains and Colorado Plateau. Trips will extend in all directions from Denver and range from one-day excursions to eight-day adventures. AAPG is also offering many new and timely short courses.

In addition, SEPM will commemorate its 75th anniversary with a one-and-a-half-day, pre-meeting symposium titled, "Sedimentary Systems in Time and Space – New Horizons." The symposium comprises invited talks that will address the many future directions of sedimentary geology in the 21st century.

The exhibition hall will feature more than 300 commercial and non-profit exhibits, the Prospect & Property Marketplace, the International Pavilion, the Career Center, and the Virtual Café.

Special entertainment will occur on Tuesday evening, June 4, at Colorado’s aquarium, Ocean Journey, with spectacular views of the Colorado Mountains at sunset and the lights of downtown. Spouse and family entertainment events are also part of the convention.

Attendance/Exhibits

Given the industry’s excellent economic health at present, AAPG officials expect this year’s event to be very well-attended. Last year’s attendance totaled 6,856 geoscientists and other industry professionals. The projection this year is that at least 7,000 people will attend, and perhaps more.

The exhibit hall at the 2001 annual meeting will represent many divergent, yet related, areas of the petroleum industry. Technology displayed in the hall will be accompanied by numerous enhancements that have evolved and improved over past years. More than 300 commercial and non-profit exhibitors will be present, forming the backbone of the exhibit hall, and providing the framework on which the other entities are built.

Other features of the exhibit hall include the Prospect & Property Marketplace. This venue will feature international and U.S. domestic exploration prospects, and producing properties. In addition, the Career Center will be in booth 2115 – 2117. All job openings, information on prospective employers, job interview schedules and résumés will be available for review online in the exhibit hall. Half-day Poster Sessions also will be held in the exhibit hall. They will change in the morning and at noon, each day. Situated near the Poster Sessions, and behind the AAPG Center, will be the Sidewalk Café, where attendees can enjoy a meal or snacks with business associates, clients and guests.

International Pavilion

Government ministries, commercial and energy-related agencies and national oil companies from various regions across the globe will exhibit at the International Pavilion, also in the exhibit hall. Some of the countries featured include: Australia (the AGSO); the Falkland Islands (Falkland Islands Government); Greenland (Bureau of Minerals & Petroleum); Namibia (state firm Namcor); New Zealand (Crown Minerals); Peru (state firm Perupetro); South Africa (Petroleum Agency of S.A.); and Equatorial Guinea (Ministry of Mines & Energy). Given the expanding international portfolios of many independent oil companies, as well as majors, this has proven to be a popular part of the exhibition.

Technical Program

An impressively voluminous grouping of sessions and presentations comprises this year’s technical program. There are no less 101 sessions of all kinds and an incredible 1,018 presentations scheduled within them over three days. There will be 48 oral sessions hosting 449 paper presentations. In addition, poster sessions will total 48 and include 517 individual presentations. There are also three "Interactive E-poster" sessions (28 presentations) and two "Core Poster" sessions on the agenda.

This year, technical content is spread over eight different themes. These include natural gas; petroleum systems; structure and tectonics; reservoir geology and characterization; depositional systems and stratigraphy; technology; business; and global environmental issues. For convenience, this article includes several tables that list each theme’s technical sessions.

Two of the oral sessions are actually panel discussions. The first of these on Monday morning (June 3) is "The executive perspective on the energy odyssey of the 21st Century." Invited panelists include Stephen Cassiani, executive vice president, ExxonMobil Exploration Co.; Ian Vann, Technology vice president, BP; Dr. Andrew W. Wood, head of Global Exploration, Shell International Exploration and Production BV; Kenneth Crouch, senior vice president, Kerr-McGee Corp.; Dodd DeCamp, vice president, Worldwide Exploration, Phillips Petroleum Co.; William Herbert Hunt, advisor to management, Petro-Hunt, LLC; and John Seitz, president and COO, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

The other panel discussion on Monday afternoon is "Late-breaking E&P activities around the world." Invited panelists include George Eynon, director of Oil & Gas Resources at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (Canada’s role in the North American gas market); Ian Cross, IHS Energy and also representing SEAPEX of Asia (latest E&P activities in Asia); Carlos A. Dengo, area manager, U.S. & Mexico, ExxonMobil Exploration (revitalizing a mature basin – Gulf of Mexico); Mahmoud Abdul-Baqi, vice president, exploration, Saudi Aramco, and also AAPG Middle East international region president (technology challenges in E&P in the Middle East); Ganesh Thakur, senior principal technical consultant, Chevron Petroleum Technology Co. (heavy oil recovery in Venezuela); Dirceu Abrahoe, New Ventures, Petrobrás Exploration (business side of E&P in offshore Brazil basins); Mary Feeley, Nigeria West project manager, and Frank Goulding, ExxonMobil Exploration (Integrated play element analysis at deepwater Niger Delta); Lans Taulor and Francois Gauthier, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (North Africa-structural trends in Algeria – controls on trap formation); and Dave Roberts, senior advisor, BP, and also AAPG European region president (overview of latest E&P activities in Europe).

Receptions/Luncheons

The exhibition officially opens with the Icebreaker Reception on Sunday evening, June 3, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Attendees, guests and exhibitors will be able to mingle throughout the exhibition floor of the Colorado Convention Center.

On Monday, June 3, the All-Convention Luncheon will take place in the Convention Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. At press time, AAPG was in communication with the new Bush administration to confirm a high-level federal official as luncheon speaker. That official will speak to the theme, "The Global Energy Industry: A View From the New Administration."

On Tuesday, June 5, AAPG’s Professional Affairs and Energy Minerals Divisions will host a joint luncheon in the convention center, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Featured speaker will be Matthew R. Simmons, president of Simmons & Company International, a specialized energy investment banking firm with offices in Houston, Texas, and Aberdeen, Scotland.

Also on Tuesday, SEPM’s Business Meeting / Luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Hotel. Dr. Donn S. Gorsline will be the speaker. He is the Wilford and Daris Zinsmeyer Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. He is a past president of SEPM and an honorary member. His research has been primarily on the contemporary sedimentary material and processes in basins of the borderlands of the Pacific margin of Southern California and Baja California, and most recently the margin basins of the western Gulf of California and Baja California. He will shift to a different topic for the luncheon lecture and will discuss current predictions of future directions of research in sedimentary geology.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Mini-Breaker Reception – a "mini" version of the Icebreaker – will be held from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., again in the exhibit hall. Meanwhile, the Division of Professional Affairs will host its Business Meeting and Reception from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., at Top of the Rockies Club, 37th Floor, Denver. Convention registration is not required to attend that particular event.

On Tuesday evening, the SEPM President’s Reception and Awards Ceremony will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Hotel. The Twenhofel Medal, SEPM’s highest award in recognition of outstanding contributions to sedimentary geology, will be presented to William L. Fisher. Honorary Membership will be awarded to John B. Southard. Other recipients include Wolfgang Berger, the Francis P. Shepard Medal for excellence in marine geology; David L. Clark, the Raymond C. Moore Medal for excellence in paleontology; Paul Enos, the Pettijohn Medal for excellence in sedimentology; and Maria Mutti, the Wilson Award for excellence in young scientists. In addition, SEPM will continue to honor its 75th Jubilee by showing a rotating set of slides that present some of the history of SEPM. The final event is the Division of Environmental Geosciences Luncheon on Wednesday, June 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at The Wynkoop Brew Pub, 18th and Wynkoop Streets, in Denver. Bernard J. Bulkin, vice president, environmental affairs, BP-London, will speak on the topic, "Sustainability – making it real."