What's New in Exploration
What if a month went by, where no one reported any exploration activity, planned or past? That, of course, is the goal of environmental religionists, and, unfortunately, the frequent and dominating practice of investment groups, which only buy flippable production plays. No “new oil” activity means financial liquidation, more unemployment, and eventually folks walking in the HOV lane. So, what’s up in exploration (that still sells)?
Perhaps an honest examination of our professional society agendas will reveal some insight to that question. Some topics are just plain cool, but not related to why, or how, exploration tools are necessary. Detective work at conventions has always been an acceptable game of corporate espionage when attempting to stay current. Papers are really on a three-year hysteresis loop when releasing information. It is good to see some new exploration ideas emerging, even at ~ $50 oil.
The SEG annual international meeting was in Houston this year, finishing the last week of September. Looking at topics, and believing that maybe 60% of the papers are somewhere between useful to enlightening, I think this was a good year to see which ideas, and technological approaches, are deemed worthy of financing after three years of disastrous prices in oil and gas commodities. These topics are what senior management at oil and service companies believe, or bet, will be material and significant to future revenue. Interpret that conclusion as “your” future.
What follows is my humble opinion on which less-than-60% of topics [and abstracts] you should consider before placing your bets, or before glazing over.
Oral sessions. Carbonates, Inversion Techniques, Unconventional Plays, Fracture Characterization, Integrated Analysis and Interpretation; Interpretation Workflows and Techniques, Stratigraphic and Facies Interpretation; Thin Beds and Reservoirs, Attributes, Spectral Decomposition; Seismic Attribute Analysis and Calibration Methods; Improved Seismic Resolution; Inversion Case Studies; Machine Learning and Pattern Analysis; Deblending and Noise Attenuation; Noise Suppression and Signal processing; New Methods in Anisotropy; Azimuthal Anisotropy.
Additionally, G&M: Instruments, Processing and Interpretation, Case Histories, and Methods. S-wave Reflection Seismology with P Sources; Interbeds: Developments and Case Studies. Applied Near-surface Seismology: Refractions, reflections, and Surface Waves; Statics, Tomography, and Inversion; Wavefields and Dispersion; Experiments and Models for Shale; S-waves, Carbonates, Fractures, and Oil Sands; Recent Advances and the Road Ahead; Unmanned Geophysical Systems; Land, UR, CO2, Gravity, EM.
Seismic Processing: (Okay, have we been taking so many shortcuts for efficiency that we now can, or should, back up and investigate alternative processing methods?); Elastic Least Squares Imaging; Acoustic Least Squares Imaging; Elastic RTM and Imaging Case Studies; Imaging Examples and Imaging Conditions; Anisotropy, Attenuation and Time Lapse; Reflection Waveform Inversion.
Also, Theory VSP; Acquisition and Analysis VSP; Processing and Imaging; Marine Seismic Sources-new Aspects; Seismic Survey Design-Case Studies (This should be a bigger deal than it is, to all of us.); Downhole and Cross-well Techniques; Physics, Processing and Modeling (Every freshman interpreter needs this one.); Imaging and Inversion; Case Studies and Applications; Emerging Application in Borehole Logging; Microseismic Acquisition; Microseismic Case Studies, (I hoped this would be more than just a bunch of color displays to convince us that some science occurred.)
E-Presentation sessions. Attribute Applications; Diffraction Imaging and Modeling; Deblending, Passive and Microseismic; ***Modeling and Inversion with Seismic Anisotropy***, [This should be your center stage, considering the cost of exploration drilling.]; Digital Rock Physics Advances.
Poster sessions [No excuse to not have seen most of these in a quick walk-around]. Land and Marine Acquisition Case Studies; Case Studies and Inversion Methods; AVO and Inversion Techniques; Processing and Inversion; Practical Examples in G&M Interpretation; Interferometry and Ambient Imaging; Subsurface Characterization; Rock Property Assessments; Earth Model Building Strategies and Inputs.
New in micro-topic-isms: Heterogeneity, Compression, and Marchenko Applications (Get ready for needing a comprehensive math lesson as a follow-up, and ask why this, instead of Full Waveform Inversion?).www2.math.ou.edu/~cremling/research/preprints/marchenko.pdf.
Fault and Salt; Noise Attenuation and Signal Processing Applications; Imaging Multi-component Seismic Data; Noise Attenuation Theory and Algorithms; RTM Methods and Examples; Other Imaging Methods; Seismic Attributes and Spectral Decomposition; Fracture Characterization and Unconventional Reservoirs; Carbonates and Gas Hydrates; Resolution and Attenuation/Dispersion.
Of course, there is no way you could attend every oral session, even if you wanted to. There were no Big Parties by the service companies. One year, I was told by PGS to spend $1 million on the SEG convention and company party. We hired Kenny Chesney, Mark Chestnut and one of the Austin Lights groups. Only 40 people remained when Kenny came out at midnight, so we all gathered around on stage with him and the group. I was told it was not as neat as the Willie Nelson performance in Houston a few years earlier. However, dancing with Renée Zellweger? Sorry Willie. So, 2017 is the year to enjoy reality framed as useful tech-speak, working toward redemption of the biz. 
