Trends in Oil & Gas Exploration: who’s winning and where?
This article was first published in Oilvoice.com. OilVoice features a global selection of oil company profiles in one location, alongside continually updated industry news, operational data and focused regional information.
Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions.
Sun-Tzu
Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)
As we approach the end of 2009, what can we say about the shape and health of global exploration?
Firstly, I believe that we can observe that innovation, the exercise of “Know How”, the smart application of technology, are all alive and kicking in the world of exploration and there have been some noticeable successes, for example:
- In the Balmer Basin of Rajasthan
- In the Lower Tertiary of the Deep Water Gulf of Mexico
- In the Albertine Basin of Uganda
- In the sub-salt of the Santos Basin, Brasil
- In Deep Water Angola
- In the Jurassic of the southern end of the West Siberia Basin
- Chasing unconventional gas onshore in the USA
- Along the West Africa Transform Margin, especially Ghana.
Secondly, we should admit that this list slides off the keyboard too easily and disguises the fact that exploration is getting harder and harder compared with the ‘easy days’ of the second half of the 1990’s when the advent of regional marine 3D allowed us to explore young-ish Tertiary deep water clastics with comparative ease.
Consider for example what was involved in the recent Tiber discovery in the Lower Tertiary of the Deep Water Gulf of Mexico:
About the Author's Website
Finding Petroleum (www.findingpetroleum.com) is a social network for people involved in pushing the boundaries to find petroleum - including geoscientists, engineers, data professionals. We are planning a two day Conference in January. We will consider the Sub-salt plays of the South Atlantic; Onshore Rifts – in particular West Siberia and…...read more
David Bamford is a geophysicist by background and an explorer by recent history, and is well known as both around the oil & gas industry. He is a non executive Director of Tullow Oil (since 2004, and is a member of the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committe…
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