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JAN/FEB 2022 • ISSUE 1 • VOL 49

THE MAGAZINE OF CANADIAN ENERGY GEOSCIENTISTS

Reservoir cspg.org

GUSSOW 2022 EXPANDING HORIZONS

May 10-12, 2022 Earl Grey Golf Club | Calgary, Alberta

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Gussow 2022: Expanding Horizons will be a single-track, technical conference focused on three thematic areas: energy, water, and land. Invited contributions in each thematic area will be anchored in six core practices of CSPG members: crude oil and bitumen, shale gas, geothermal energy, carbon-capture and storage, noncombustible uses of carbon, and technology. At the intersection of each key area and core practice area, we will present a talk about the emergent needs and opportunities for earth science and scientists. By looking through the lenses of energy, water, and land we will tie the conference to the broader themes of transition, sustainability, and development. And by anchoring the talks to core areas of practice, we will be exposing participants to technical opportunities in what can be termed “the adjacent possible”, things you might not do today but can certainly do tomorrow.

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In This Issue

JAN/FEB 2022

Letter from the Editor

20 A Primer on Frac Sand

From the Board

2022 GeoCalendar

Go Take A Hike – The Serpulid ‘Mini-Reefs’ of Mahboula Beach, Kuwait

By Jon Noad | Sedimental Services

24 From the Desk of the AER 26 Dinny, the Great Survivor By Jon Noad | Sedimental Services

13 2021 CSPG Award Recipients

30 The Blue View: Industry Trends through Woodmac's Lens

14 A Tribute – Gerard Viner Middleton FRSC (1931-2021)

33 Thank You to all the CSPG Sponsors

CONFERENCES PAGE 2

GUSSOW 2022

NEW E-TALK FORMAT! PAGE 16

MOUNTJOY 2022

PAGE 17

EETIG RECAP

PAGES 18-19

2022 UPCOMING INFORMATION

PERCHED LAKES, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES These near-circular lakes 80 km WNW of Norman Wells are on a plateau near an erosional scarp. They flank Virgin Creek, seen in the distance to the left, a tributary of the much larger nearby Mountain River. The lakes are 100 m higher than the adjacent valley and are controlled by a combination of tight underlying shales and surrounding soils impregnated with permafrost. Such lakes can be breached suddenly by either erosional contact of their shoreline with the scarp or by deterioration of the encasing permafrost. Photo by: Wayne Laturnas.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

FROM THE EDITOR TOM SNEDDON, PROFESSIONAL GEOLOGIST (ALBERTA), PROFESSIONAL GEOSCIENTIST

elcome fellow Geologists and related rockhounds, to the second year of the second decade of the second millennium of the (Historical) Common Era of the Holocene Stage of the Tertiary Period of the Cenozoic Era! May you lead the national and global economies to new heights, picking up the pace initiated in 2021. Hopefully, your New Year Resolutions include learning more through the CSPG courses, conferences, seminars and publications to further advance the science and technology of exploration and production. And, of course, contribute your innovative ideas and research to the Reservoir.

Hopefully, your New Year Resolutions include learning more through the CSPG courses, conferences, seminars and publications to further advance the science and technology of exploration and production.

In this edition read, enjoy, and follow up on our continuing articles and columns:

• Get 2022 off and running through a message from the board – Kelty Latos (President 2022) • Go Take a Hike (an international article in this edition) • From the Desk of the AER, we learn from the regulatory world which take-aways will keep us onside with them and how we can further Geoscience technology • Interpret Canadian and international industry economic trends described from Wood McKenzie

This edition also contains non-technical articles on:

• Energy and Emerging Technology in Geoscience Symposium (EETiG) Symposium Wrap-Up. Your editor has seen the role of the Professional Geologist change dramatically over the past five years and hopes to see this event join the CSPG line-up for future years • A tribute article for Dr. Gerry Middleton, who passed away recently. Dr. Middleton taught Geology at McMaster University in Hamilton for many years and trained a cadre of CSPG members Don’t forget to check out the “Upcoming Events” information for division talks, technical webinars, conferences for the next two months. This edition also lists another group of 2021 award winners. Best wishes from the Reservoir staff to all those whose work and volunteerism is much appreciated by the Society and the Trust. That’s the wrap for Reservoir 2022 Edition 1 and we look forward to seeing your manuscripts for the other 5 2022 editions! Good geologizing to all our readers. n

Tom Sneddon

We present two technical articles from the everinquisitive Jon Noad:

• Dinny, the Great Survivor: a retrospective on the non-fossil that got many of us on the road to paleontology • Frac Sand: wherein the inner secrets of a material few of us think much about very often are revealed

PUBLICATIONS INFORMATION The RESERVOIR is published 6 times per year by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. The purpose of the RESERVOIR is to publicize the Society’s many activities and to promote the geosciences. We look for both technical and non-technical material to publish. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in part or in full without the consent of the publisher. No official endorsement or sponsorship by the CSPG is implied for any advertisement, insert, or article that

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

appears in the RESERVOIR unless otherwise noted. All submitted materials are reviewed by the editor. We reserve the right to edit all submissions, including letters to the Editor. Submissions must include your name, address, and membership number (if applicable). The material contained in this publication is intended for informational use only. While reasonable care has been taken, authors and the CSPG make no guarantees that any of the equations, schematics, or devices discussed will perform as expected

or that they will give the desired results. Some information contained herein may be inaccurate or may vary from standard measurements. The CSPG expressly disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions, or conduct of any third-party user of information contained in this publication. Under no circumstances shall the CSPG and its officers, directors, employees, and agents be liable for any injury, loss, damage, or expense arising in any manner whatsoever from the acts, omissions, or conduct of any third-party user.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2022

PRESIDENT

PRESIDENT ELECT

PAST PRESIDENT

FINANCE DIRECTOR

Kelty Latos

Simon Haynes

Neil Watson

Erin Crerar

ConocoPhillips Canada Ltd. president@cspg.org LinkedIn

presidentelect@cspg.org LinkedIn

Enlighten Geoscience Ltd. pastpresident@cspg.org Linkedin

APEGA directorfinance@cspg.org Linkedin

FINANCE DIRECTOR ELECT

DIRECTOR

Kathy Diaz

Matt Adams

Nicholas Ayre

Mark Caplan

Petra Resources Inc. directorfinanceelect@cspg.org LinkedIn

University of Toronto outreach@cspg.org Linkedin

Rife Resources conferences@cspg.org Linkedin

Prairie Lithium technicaldivisions@cspg.org Linkedin

DIRECTOR

Shelley Leggitt

Mark Mallamo

Kiersten Mohr

Valentina Vallega

education@cspg.org Linkedin

Acquisition Oil Corp. fieldtrips@cspg.org Linkedin

Terra Firma Transition publications@cspg.org LinkedIn

Schlumberger membershipdirector@cspg.org Linkedin

OFFICE CONTACTS

CSPG OFFICE #150, 540 - 5th Ave SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 0M2 Tel: 403-264-5610 | www.cspg.org

MEMBERSHIP INQUIRIES Tel: 403-264-5610 Email: membership@cspg.org

CONFERENCE INQUIRIES Jennifer Lee Tel: 403-513-1233 Email: jennifer.lee@cspg.org

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Emma MacPherson Tel: 403-513-1230 Email: emma.macpherson@cspg.org

MANAGING DIRECTOR Emma MacPherson Tel: 403-513-1230 Email: emma.macpherson@cspg.org

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

FROM THE BOARD KELTY LATOS, CONOCOPHILLIPS CANADA LTD.

Greetings from the CSPG Board for 2022

W I want to thank you: student members, full members, emeritus members, all of you, for your support of your Society through the good times and the bad.

e are about to start another year, another year in a pandemic, another year with every aspect of our lives impacted: our families, our work, our hobbies, our travel, our pets. Everyone has been doing their best to keep living in uncertainty, and many of us are wearing thin. The CSPG is still here. You, our members, our board, our Staff have supported the Society throughout the pandemic, and we are surviving well. We are not out of the pandemic yet, and there are other forces we must face as a Society to survive and thrive. The ancient Stoics thought much about how to live a life which acknowledges reality for what it is, yet with unshakable faith that we can survive. Let us examine what Seneca and Epictetus have to say that resonates with the CSPG.

but will accelerate in 2022. Please watch this space for more news, and for the opportunity to give feedback. We are first and foremost a technical society, and we will continue to provide high quality technical material to our members, through division talks, luncheons, conferences, and a renewed focus on education. We will also be renewing our focus on members and membership, collaboration with our partner societies, and a focus on our volunteers, the lifeblood of our society. We might not know what the future holds, but all we can do is tackle the challenges we face every day.

Life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. —Seneca

I first encountered the CSPG in 2002, as an undergrad student. I volunteered at the Core Conference, and was amazed by the community of geoscientists. Everyone chatting excitedly about the rocks and the discoveries they had made. Even a lowly undergrad like myself was welcome amongst them, my questions heard and answered. Years later, When I joined the CSPG board, I asked myself why I was a member of the Society. The CSPG offers so much through talks, publications, conferences…all of it. But the reason I am a member is because of you, my fellow geoscientists. Throughout my studies and my career the time I spend with my fellow geoscientists is the most satisfying, the most challenging. You challenge me to become a better scientist, to become a better colleague, to become a better person. There is something truly special that happens when geologists get together: geologists like geologists. I want to give my sincere thanks to the CSPG Board, for sharing their passion and enthusiasm with the Society. I also especially want to thank our staff, without whom we would not have survived 2020 and 2021, and we could not achieve a miniscule fraction of what we do. And I want to thank you: student members, full members, emeritus members, all of you, for your support of your Society through the good times and the bad. Please stay safe in 2022, and I sincerely hope to see you in person very soon. n

In 2021, CSPG had to remain in the present moment: the past way we did our activity was impossible, as almost all of the CSPG activity was in person. The staff and the Board had to abruptly move as much as was possible online. As online offerings charge less than in person offerings, CSPG also had to be incredibly focused on our costs. Their hard work paid off, and (with assistance from subsidies), the CSPG finished its 2021 fiscal year in the black. Thank you to the Board, Staff, and all the members of the CSPG for supporting the CSPG throughout the pandemic. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. —Seneca As we prepare for 2022, there is still much uncertainty: what activity will be in person, what will stay online? What impact will the fluctuating oil price have on the health of our Society? What new opportunities are growing with renewable and alternate energies and carbon capture and storage? What is the future of geology programs at universities across Canada? In November 2021, the new CSPG Board gathered to talk strategy, to come up with ideas to execute in 2022 and beyond. For years now we have been talking about re-branding the society to reflect our current reality and expected future. Work on this rebranding initiative has been slow,

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. —Epictetus

Kelty Latos

2022 GeoCalendar Available for Sale

$10 Per copy

How to Order Visit www.cspg.org/geocalendar to order your copy today. Options for shipping and in-office pickup are available.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

GO TAKE A HIKE

The Serpulid ‘Mini-Reefs’ of Mahboula Beach, Kuwait

Philip Benham, Georg Warrlich and Dan Bosence

eachrock is a rapidly lithified sediment that forms within the tidal range of tropical sandy to pebbly coastlines. A combination of microbially mediated, evaporative, and interactive processes between seawater and groundwater produce calcite, dolomite and/or aragonite and iron oxide cements that may fill or partially occlude pore space (Mauz et al., 2015). At Mahboula Beach, the beachrock tends to be exposed only at lowest tides, and this is the time to visit so that you can observe fascinating miniature reefs built by serpulid worms. Serpulidae are a diverse family of sessile annelid worms that build tubes composed of a mix of aragonite and calcite (Vinn et al., 2008). They have an operculum that can block the tube entrance when conditions require. Serpulids appear in the fossil record by the late Permian (Sanfilippo et al, 2017) but are not widespread or diverse until early Jurassic (Ippolitov et al, 2014). They are almost exclusively marine, residing from the intertidal to the deepest parts of the oceans. They do well in normal marine conditions but can also be opportunistic — they have been found in colonies surrounding cold seeps and black smokers, and in eutrophic conditions. Serpulids readily attach to hard substrates such as rocks, corals, bivalves, snails , wood, and man-made items (ships, piers and refuse).

Trailheads: The site is located at a beach in Mahboula District of Kuwait City, Kuwait. Location is 500 m south of intersection of Route 210 and Coastal Road (Route 290 – Salem Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah Street). Park (P) in the Spoons Restaurant complex (currently featuring a TGI Fridays and Mais Algnanum restaurants) and walk to the pier on the beach. Distance: Roughly 1.2 km, depending how far you want to wander. The full length of the beach between harbours is 700 m but access is limited to the south by private property (and security guards). The serpulid build-ups and beach rock platforms are best exposed at lowest (spring) tides and are not visible at high tide. Elevation Gain: 1—2 m.

FIGURE 1: View westward, toward shore from exposed beachrock at very low tide. In the foreground is a serpulid mini-reef 1.5 m long and about 20 cm high. Note the brownish-green coating of marine algae on the beachrock. Between this exposure and the beach is a shallow lagoon with mobile beach rock clasts that present ever-changing nucleation points for serpulids.

Serpulid worms are an important bio-mineralizer, building tubes at a rate of up to 3.3 cm/year and forming populations as dense as 180,000 individuals per square metre (Hughes et al., 2008; Aliani et al., 1995). At Mahboula, the formation of the reefs can be correlated to the completion, by early 2013 (based on Google Earth images), of a concrete pier reinforced with excavated beachrock. The pier was apparently built to conduct grey water (or possibly sewage) that drains from the neighborhood further from the beach. The shallow water and constructed harbours at either end of the beach tend to restrict circulation, resulting in nutrient-rich water — excellent conditions for certain kinds of serpulids. The reefs therefore likely date to no more than 6—7 years ago.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

2 3

Serpulids have a tendency to be a dominant and impactful bio-fouling species, coating any available hard surface when conditions are right. Consider the Lake of Tunis (Tunisia), a restricted, hyper-eutrophic lagoon where dumped nutrient-rich raw sewage has triggered blooms of algae and phytoplankton. The filter-feeding serpulid Ficopomatus enigmatus, an invasive species likely brought in ships’ ballast, thrives on these phytoplankton. The resulting serpulid colony rapidly constructed a 750 m long reef that is calculated to be comprised of 540,000 tons of carbonate (Keen, 1980; ten Hove and van den Hurk, 1993). Serpulid aggregation and reef formation can also occur due to their occurrence in physically restricted environments, where larvae are released but cannot disperse. In Ardbear Lough, western Ireland serpulid reefs occur in this situation as larvae settle on the limited hard surfaces forming reefs several hundreds of metres across and up to 2 m in height. Increased nutrients in the Lough may also be a contributory factor (Bosence 1973; 1979). Serpulid growth takes on four different forms at Mahboula Beach: 1) Mini-Reefs; small localized mounds (20-30 cm in diameter) or connected patches up to 2 m long but typically less than 25 cm high. These form on the beachrock platforms away from the wave-breaking zones at low tide and are described in further in next paragraph. 2) Ingrowths in recessed areas; dense coatings on surfaces between the piled rocks buttressing the pier, and within widened fractures and protected divots in the beachrock topography. 3) Small colonies on isolated highs; on large chunks of beachrock in the shallow lagoon behind the beachrock platform, and on small topographic highs on the beachrock platform itself. 4) Encrusters; on all sides of mobile beach rock clasts, shells, landfill waste, and garbage at the beach. As waves (and human hands) move them, new locations for growth are created, often resulting in complete coverage of the clasts. While superficially similar to coral reefs, the serpulid minireefs differ in some important respects. Firstly, serpulids are individual organisms and not colonial organisms like corals that form extra branches and frameworks by asexual budding off, or breakage and regrowth. Serpulids spawn

FIGURE 2: View from the beach immediately north of the pier. Note the abundant organic material in the troughs of the ripples, and how the beachrock is pock-marked due to bioeroders and “karst” effects during low-tide exposure. FIGURE 3: Idealized profile of the beachrock environment, cements, and sedimentary structures in the shoreface tidal zone (from Mauz et al., 2015). Serpulid range has been added. FIGURE 4: Southward view of an algae-coated and serpulidencrusted beachrock platform from the south of end of the pier. Note the abundance of serpulids along solution enhanced fractures in the beach rock. White scale is 10 cm in length.

and produce larvae which then may settle near the adults for the aggregation of “tribes”. Secondly, the organism initially grows parallel to the substrate, before growing upwards in a sinuous fashion, presumably due to lack of space and the need to find a good filter feeding site. This may also help the individual not to get overgrown and buried by its neighbour. Thirdly, the tubes are cemented together as each new worm attaches itself to form a robust framework likely needed to withstand the strong surf in this environment. The mini-reef framework is mostly comprised of serpulids but small recessions in it create homes for a lot of associated organisms, including secondary encrusters (barnacles, a large reddish tinged tubular encruster that may be a sessile gastropod{Dendropoma?}, oysters, bryozoa and juvenile serpulids), bioeroders (bivalves, clionid sponges) and cavity dwellers (gastropods, bivalves, crustacea, worms, starfish and sea urchins). So, they really are like miniature reefs; a complex community with different functional groups all within a biogenic structure no more than a few dm high and a few metres long.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

FIGURE 5: A carpet of serpulid worm tubes, likely Spirobranchus cf. kraussii, a morphologically variable (but not an invasive species) found throughout the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and parts of the Western Pacific Ocean (Simon et al, 2019). Note the bare, recessed patches occupied by gastropods. FIGURE 6: Close-up of partly submerged serpulids with open opercula (white arrow) and tentacle-like feeding radioles (red arrows) spread for capturing detritus. Serpulids have a diverse suite of eyes of varying design and complexity on many parts of their body, including on their radioles (Bok et al., 2017). FIGURE 7: A gastropod encrusted with serpulid tubes, found on the beach. The growth of worms on the living gastropod may have led to its ultimate demise. FIGURE 8: A block of beach-rock from the upper shoreface. Shelly debris is abundant in this calcareous sandstone which may help trigger cementation by acting as a carbonate source or a nucleus. The vuggy texture is due to weathering but may reflect original burrow patterns and varying levels of cementation. Size “12” foot for scale. 9 7

FIGURE 9: Beachrock is often weakly cemented and attracts lithophagous bivalves and other bio-eroders. These weaken the rock, producing fragments that break off with wave action, thus creating new nucleation sites for serpulids.

10 R E S E R V O I R I S S U E 6 • J A N / F E B 2 0 2 2

FIGURE 10: Rocks exposed near the nutrient outflow have thick coatings of algae, bacterial mats, various species of small grazing cerithiid gastropods, limpets, and encrusting oysters and barnacles. Isolated serpulid worms (circled) struggle to compete for space within this micro-ecosystem on a rock.

FIGURE 11: Boulders of beach rock near the sewage outflow at the pier are completely coated in serpulid tubes. These were overturned by human hand or wave action, creating new focal points for serpulid growth. The nearest boulder is about 25 cm long. FIGURE 12: View northeast near the end of the pier. All the rocks are coated with serpulids but patches of green show the abundant algal growth associated with the eutrophic setting. With time, these separate colonies could coalesce into a single reef. An inverse relationship between serpulids and algal and cyano-bacterial growth (including stromatolites) in restricted and eutrophic environments is apparent in the rock record, but there is a sweet-spot between euryhaline (fluctuating salinity) and hypersaline environments where both can co-exist (Davaud and Strasser, 1994). Pleistocene and Holocene stromatolitic build-ups are occasionally observed along the Kuwait coastline, but not at Mahboula.

FIGURE 13: Looking east at a natural step in the beach rock platform. Here strong waveaction has undercut the beach rock, breaking off a block 2 m long. The presence and size of serpulid colonies is clearly controlled by wave energy. Serpulids are abundant on the lee side of the incoming waves, growing outwards as bulbous masses. Serpulids are growing in a more protected crevice (red circle) and as low encrusters atop the platform. FIGURE 14: Live specimen of S. kraussii. Small white arrows point to eyes on the feathery radioles. Red arrow points to the extended operculum. Scale bar is 2mm. Image source (Simon et al, 2019)

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

FIGURE 15: At the most extreme low tides, an ancient tidal channel is exposed in the beachrock immediately north of the pier. Here sigmoidally bedded, coarse to pebbly sandstone dotted with robust gastropod fossils is evidence of a ENE-oriented tidal channel. A few white lines have been placed to guide the eye. The rock is coated with brown and green algae, making walking tricky. The surface is rugose and pitted due to solution weathering and bioerosion by sea urchins, limpets, lithophagous bivalves, clionid sponges, and chitons. Most of these can be seen on a visit. FIGURE 16: Shell coquina at high tide mark after a storm (March 17, 2020). Daily walks on the beach reveal an ever-changing landscape. A storm the week before this photo removed a large amount of sand from the swash zone on the beach and transported it offshore, exposing beach rock, foundations and an old pier. A day after that the beach was strewn with various clumps of brown, red and green algae (seaweed). The wave energy was high on the particular day this photo was taken. The coquina is diverse and sourced from the various bio-zones from the beach to lower shoreface. Represented in this photo are a suite of bivalves, gastropods, fragments of corals, a crab claw (white arrow), echinoderms (green arrow), foraminifera, grey chunks of beach rock and, of course, clasts of serpulid worm tubes (blue arrow) and serpulid coated shell fragments. Serpulid debris makes up about 10% of the coquina, pointing to their prolific

generation of carbonate debris. Some of the shells in the coquina (red arrow) exhibit small holes that are likely the work of clionid sponges, whose larvae attach to and then bore into the shell by a combination of chemical and mechanical processes. FIGURE 17: 10 m along the same strandline on the same day revealed a dramatic change in the composition of the coquina. Here, 2-5 cm long pebbles of beachrock comprise more than 50% of the coquina. Fragments of serpulids are less abundant (blue arrow) but conversely, semi-transparent juvenile oysters and the tooth-like scaphopod Dentalium (purple arrow) are proportionally a higher percentage of the shell population. One shell of note is the lithophagid bivalve Botula cinnamomea (yellow arrow), displaced from its carved stone home by the wave action. 50 m further south along the strandline the coarse debris diminishes, disappears and is replaced by a variety of washed up seaweeds. Of interest to collectors: Al-Kandari et al (2020) have published an excellent reference on Kuwait’s modern shells.

REFERENCES Al-Kandari, M., Oliver,P.G., Chen, W., Skryabin, V., Raghu, M., Yousif, A., Al-Jazzaf, S., Taqi,A., Al Hamad, A., 2020. Diversity and distribution of the intertidal Mollusca of the State of Kuwait, Arabian Gulf, Regional Studies in Marine Science, Volume 33, 2020,100905.

Davaud, E., Strasser, A. and Jedoui, Y. 1994. Stromatolite and serpulid bioherms in a Holocene restricted lagoon (Sabkha El Melah, southeastern Tunisia); In: Bertrand-Sarfati, J. and Monty, C. (eds.), Phanerozoic Stromatolites II, Springer, Dordrecht, p. 131-151.

Aliani, S., Bianchi, C.N., de Asmundis, C. and Meloni, R., 1995. Scanning electron microscope observations on the tube of the reef-forming serpulid Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel) (Annelida, Polychaeta); Italian Journal of Zoology, v. 62, p. 363-67.

Hughes D.J., Poloczanska E.S. and Dodd, J., 2008. Survivorship and tube growth of reef-building Serpula vermicularis (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) in two Scottish sea lochs; Aquatic Conservation, v. 18, p. 117–129.

Bastida-Zavala, J.R., McCann, L.D., Keppel, E. and Ruiz, G., 2017. The fouling serpulids (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) from the coasts of United States coastal waters: an overview; European Journal of Taxonomy, v. 344, p. 1-76. 10.5852/ejt.2017.344. Bok, M.J., Porter, M.L., ten Hove, H.A., Smith, R. and Nilsson, D.-E., 2017. Radiolar eyes of serpulid worms (Annelida, Serpulidae): Structures, function, and phototransduction; The Biological Bulletin, v. 233, p. 39-57 Bosence, D W J 1973. Recent serpulid reefs, Connemara, Eire. Nature 242: 40-41. Bosence, D W J 1979. The environmental conditions leading to gregariousness and reef formation in Serpula vermicularis. In: G Larwood and B Rosen (Eds) Biology and Systematics of Colonial Organisms. Academic Press. 299-318.

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Ippolitov, A., Vinn, O., Kupriyanova, E., and Jäger, M., 2014. Written in stone: History of serpulid polychaetes through time. Memoirs of Mus. Victoria. 71. 123–159. Keene, W.C. Jr., 1980. The importance of a reefforming polychaete, Mercierella engimata Fauvel, in the oxygen and nutrient dynamics of a hypereutrophic subtropical lagoon. Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science 11: 167-178. Koči, T. and Jäger, M., 2015. Sabellid and serpulid worms (Polychaeta, Canalipalpata, Sabellida, Sabellidae, Serpulidae) from the rocky coast facies (Late Cenomanian) at Předboj near Prague; Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B, Historia Naturalis, v. 71, p. 31-50. 10.14446/AMNP.2015.31. Mauz, B., Vacchi, M., Green, A., Hoffmann, G. and Cooper, A., 2015. Beachrock: A tool for reconstructing relative sea level in the far-field; Marine Geology, v. 362, p. 1-16.

Sanfilippo R., Rosso A., Reitano A. and Insacco, G., 2017. First record of sabellid and serpulid polychaetes from the Permian of Sicily, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, v. 62, #1 p.25–38. Simon CA, van Niekerk HH,. Burghardt I, ten Hove HA, Kupriyanova, EK., 2019. Not out of Africa: Spirobranchus kraussii (Baird, 1865). Aquatic Invasions (2019) Vol 14, Iss. 2: 221–249 ten Hove H.A. and van den Hurk, P., 1993. A review of Recent and fossil serpulid “reefs”; Actuopaleontology and the ‘Upper Malm’ serpulid limestones in NW Germany; Geologie en Mijnbouw, v. 72, p. 23–67. Vinn, O., ten Hove, H.A., Mutvei, H. & Kirsimäe, K., 2008. Ultrastructure and mineral composition of serpulid tubes (Polychaeta, Annelida); Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 154, p. 633-650. 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00421.x.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: VISIT WEBSITE

2021 CSPG Award Recipients STUDENT AWARDS — Graduate Student Thesis Awards MSC WINNER Sidney A. Stashin “Late Cenozoic Basin Evolution of the Western Canadian Arctic Archipelago: The Beaufort Formation and Iperk Sequence (John Gosse, Dalhousie University).

MSC HONORABLE MENTION

PHD WINNER

Cole L. Ross

Sequence Stratigraphy of the Viking Formation in Central Alberta. (James MacEachern (Senior Supervisor), Shahin Dashtgard and H. Daniel Gibson, Simon Fraser University and Jennifer Scott, Mt. Royal University).

The Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Clearwater Formation at Marten Hills and Nipisi, Alberta, Canada. (Murray Gingras, University of Alberta).

Sarah K. Schultz

CAREER AWARDS

TECHNICAL AWARDS

STANLEY SLIPPER GOLD MEDAL

R.J.W. DOUGLAS MEDAL

MEDAL OF MERIT

for Outstanding Career Contributions to Oil & Gas Exploration in Canada

for Outstanding Contributions to the Understanding of Sedimentary Geology in Canada

for Best Paper Related to Canadian Petroleum Geology

Dr. Thomas Moslow

PATRICIA J. LEE TRAILBLAZER AWARD

Glen Stockmal

Alexander D. Hutter and Luke P. Beranek

for CSPG individuals or teams who have blazed new trails in the field of energy geoscience.

“Provenance of Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous synrift strata in the Terra Nova oil field, Jeanne d’Arc basin, offshore Newfoundland: A new detrital zircon U-Pb-Hf reference frame for the Atlantic Canadian margin.”

Jeanine Vany

AAPG Bulletin, v. 104, no. 11 (November 2020), pp. 2325–2349

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP for Distinguished Service to the Society

Dr. David P. James and Dr. Les Eliuk

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

A TRIBUTE

Gerard Viner Middleton FRSC (1931-2021)

t is with sadness that we report the recent passing of Gerard V. Middleton, one the leading pioneers of sedimentology. Gerry, as he was known to his many friends and colleagues, was born in South Africa of English parents, and was educated in England, obtaining his Ph.D. in geology from Imperial College in 1954. For his thesis research, he mapped an area of Devonian rocks in Devon, and one of his earliest papers (1959) is a taxonomic documentation of the tetracorals contained in those rocks. Immediately upon graduation, he emigrated to Canada where he worked first for California Standard Oil Company in Calgary for one year, after which he joined McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, in 1955, starting as a Lecturer in Geology, where he remained for the remainder of his professional career. Interestingly, this appointment came on his second application; his first as a paleontologist had been unsuccessful! Perhaps because much of his Ph.D. research involved carbonate rocks, he undertook research on the facies and diagenesis of limestones in both Alberta and Ontario, spending summers working for Shell Oil where he met many of the leading carbonate researchers of the day. However, he found the local limestones “boring”, and switched his attention to sandstones. His first work on them was petrographic and geochemical in focus, and involved some of the earliest work in sedimentary geology to use advanced statistical techniques, an interest that continued to the end of his career. Because he appreciated that a deeper understanding of the origin of sandstones would require knowledge of

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the physical processes responsible for transporting and depositing sediment, Gerry educated himself in fluid mechanics through reading the civil engineering literature. In 1964, he organized a research symposium at the AAPG meeting in Toronto, the papers from which were published as SEPM Special Publication 12 “Primary Sedimentary Structures and Their Hydrodynamic Interpretation”, which he edited. This presented the now classic flow-regime concept to geologists, and popularized the series of bedforms that develop as current speed increases. This volume can be credited with introducing fluid mechanics into sedimentology, something that has become central to an enormous body of subsequent research. One of the particularly hot topics of the time (late 1950s and 1960s) was the “greywacke/flysch problem”, namely the origin of the ubiquitous graded beds that occurred in what were widely thought to be deep-water deposits. Early work by Keunen and others had raised the possibility that they were emplaced by turbidity currents, a process that was then poorly understood. Using his extensive network of connections, Gerry arranged to undertake a series of experiments on density currents at Caltech that formed the basis of the classic series of papers published in 1966-1967, that, together with a 1965 paper on antidune structures and a follow-up paper on “flysch sedimentation” in 1970, represents the foundation of nearly all modern work on turbidity currents! In 1973 and again in 1976, together with Monty Hampton, he expanded on this earlier

Education in various forms was central to Gerry’s character and contribution to the sedimentological community. As he himself said, he was always “… trying to put in order (in my mind) an area of scientific knowledge …”: he had a passion for synthesizing information and passing that knowledge to others, something that may have arisen because most of his own knowledge in clastic sedimentology was selftaught. Most notable was the general textbook “Origin of Sedimentary Rocks”, coauthored with Harvey Blatt and Raymond Murray, which appeared in 1972, with a second edition in 1980. This was the first comprehensive textbook to take a rigorous process-based approach to sedimentary geology, rather than the descriptive, petrographic approach that prevailed in previous textbooks. Gerry was also the lead author, with John Southard, of the highly influential SEPM Short Course Notes “Mechanics of Sediment Movement” (1977, 1984) that introduced many clastic sedimentologists to the intricacies of fluid mechanics. This was preceded by the first-ever SEPM Short Course that he organized with Arnold Bouma “Turbidites and Deep Water Sedimentation”, followed by short courses on the application of fluid and solid mechanics in the whole of geology, the notes from which became the textbook “Mechanics in the Earth and Environmental Sciences” (1994), cowritten with Peter Wilcock. Middleton also returned to his love of statistical methods near the end of his career, organizing short courses on “Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos and Fractals with Applications to Geological Sciences” (GAC, 1991), and “Nonlinear Dynamics and Fractals: New Numerical Techniques for Sedimentary Data” (SEPM, 1995), given with Roy Plotnick and David Rubin, and writing the book “Data Analysis in the Earth Sciences Using MATLAB” (2000). Indeed, he was fearless in his choice of research topics, taking risks on novel subjects and tackling a wider range of topics than most other workers then or now, making him an ideal person to edit the comprehensive Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks (2003). In addition to all of this, Gerry was also the behind-the-scenes instigator of the widely popular text “Facies Models” edited by his long-time colleague and foil, Roger Walker, commissioning the initial series of articles for the Geological Association of Canada’s journal Geoscience Canada, which he founded, serving as the inaugural editor. Furthermore, he had a knack for passing his love of education and scholarship to

his graduate students, of whom 6 of 13 Ph.D. students went on to university academic careers themselves, expanding Gerry’s legacy enormously. Gerry’s involvement in geological and sedimentological societies was a life-long passion. He drew inspiration from the colleagues that he interacted with at meetings, and he instilled this passion in his students as well. He was Vice-President and President of the Geological Association of Canada (1986-1988); a Council Member of the International Association of Sedimentologists for many years and Vice-President from 1978-1982, and he held positions on many SEPM committees. He once boasted that he was the only person to ever run for office in SEPM three times, and to be defeated each time. All of these societies and others have recognized his immense contributions: he was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada in 1970; he is one of only five people to be named an Honorary Member of both the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS) and SEPM, as well as of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG); he has received the highest award given by both the Geological Association of Canada (GAC)—the Logan Medal (1980) and SEPM, which awarded him both the Pettijohn Medal (1994) and Twenhofel Medal (2003). The Geological Society of London also awarded him the Major John A’Deane Coke Medal in 1995. In many ways, given all of the books and sets of notes that he coauthored, the most relevant honour was the Grover E. Murray Memorial Distinguished Educator Award that he received from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG; 1998). The Canadian Sedimentology Research Group (CSPG) also named its sole award in Gerry’s name.

A TRIBUTE

work and published a more comprehensive process-based classification of sediment gravity flows that remains the basis for most interpretations of the origin of deepwater deposits. Various additional studies with students, commonly but not exclusively based in the Gaspésie region of Quebec, added soundly-based outcrop interpretations to the repertoire of examples that have been extensively used by workers over the years. Gerry published his final synthesis paper on deposition from turbidity currents in 1993. In addition to this primary focus of his research, Gerry also contributed to important papers on such diverse topics as the origin of upper-flow-regime parallel lamination, the interpretation of grain-size distributions in sand, and tidal sedimentation in the Bay of Fundy. Later in life, he turned his attention to topics in the history of geology, and to the origin of the various building stones used in construction in and around Hamilton in the 19th century.

erry, the person, was gregarious and thoroughly enjoyed his interactions with colleagues. As he himself said, “I was always interested in acting, from early highschool days, and elecution (sic), debating, etc. I take after my father too, in liking to talk!”. He had a “presence” that caused people to pay attention to what he was saying, no matter what other conversations might have been going on. His critical ability and insight were second to none. Harold Reading, another giant pioneer in the field, once said that Gerry’s greatest qualities were “… your wisdom and your ability to see to the heart of a question, to analyse it and come up with an answer. You express your thoughts truthfully and sometimes with bluntness. … You once said to me I am only rude to my friends and to those whom I respect.” Gerry was, despite his great accomplishments, a humble man, saying that “… contacts with my contemporaries (e.g., John Ramsay, who was a fellow student at Imperial) had convinced me that my abilities in geological research were modest”. He thought of himself as a scholar rather than a researcher. He also had a dry, self-deprecating humour, as is indicated by some of the comments quoted above, and he liked good food and wine. An anecdote that we remember from our early days as graduate students, involved Middleton telling his students, in all seriousness, while driving between outcrops after a particularly terrible meal at a nameless restaurant, about his “Rolaids Scale” for restaurants, Rolaids © being

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A TRIBUTE

a popular antacid tablet. He argued that all measurement scales required a standardized benchmark and for this he chose Howard Johnson’s Restaurants ©, at that time a widespread hotel/restaurant chain (now with only one remaining location) that served adequate, if unremarkable, food. Gerry considered it to represent zero on his Rolaids Scale. He was proud that it was an inverse scale, like the then popular phi size scale, with meals that were better than the benchmark receiving a negative Rolaids score, and worse meals a progressively higher numbers of Rolaids. In summary, Gerard V. Middleton was an innovative researcher, sometimes well ahead of the field, with a deep interest in understanding how sediments were created. He was a profound and deeply critical thinker, a trait that he, together with Roger Walker, instilled in their students by means of their facies-models course and home seminar series, a trait that became feared when, in later years, these former students reviewed manuscripts for publication. He was passionate about passing on knowledge to others, and about his involvement with scientific societies. He was justly decorated for his many services to sedimentary geology, and his many publications continue to be widely cited because of they helped to establish the foundations

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for our present-day understanding, especially of gravity-flow processes. Beneath all of this external evidence, he was a deeply human individual, who loved his wife of 62 years, Muriel. He is survived by Muriel and their three children, Lawrence, Theresa and Margaret, their spouses and Gerry’s grandchildren. We thank Theresa and Lawrence for their assistance in preparing this tribute. For those who would like to give a donation in honour of Gerry’s legacy, contributions can be made to the Middleton/Walker Prize in Sedimentary Geology or the Walker/Middleton Fieldwork Scholarship, both at McMaster University, at: alumni.mcmaster.ca Information about these scholarship awards can be found at: www.science.mcmaster.ca Or you can contact: giving@mcmaster.ca Robert W. Dalrymple, Queen’s University Janok Bhattacharya, McMaster University

CONFERENCE RECAP

EETiG would like to thank the title sponsor Schlumberger as well as sponsors RPS, APEGA, Canadian Discovery, Matrix Solutions, Chinook Consulting Services and Summit Nanotech for their generosity and willingness to sponsor a new event.

Last Spring, officers of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists met with members of Geothermal Canada and the Calgary Geosciences Data Managers Society to discuss the changing political climate and the need to explore different applications for our members’ skillsets. The group discussed the current oil & gas environment in Canada; what are the emerging energy industries and who are the new players; and, how relevant are our societies to these new technologies? How do we help our members find jobs in a world where governments are enacting policies pushing for a shift away from fossil fuels, and striving towards greener energy development? What can we do to help? After some lively discussions, it was determined that we would offer to our memberships a new two-day symposium called “Energy and Emerging Technology in Geoscience” with the CSPG and Geothermal Canada partnering and the CGDMS contributing time and panels. This symposium was held virtually over November 17-18th, 2021 and had over 160 participants featuring geoscientists, data managers, sales and marketing professionals and interested geosciences students.

The symposium was kickstarted with a keynote talk from Cadmus Delorme, Chief of the Cowessess First Nation. Chief Delorme shared insight into their involvement in renewable energy resources and discussed some of the steps they are taking to overcome the changing energy landscape. He highlighted many of the exciting projects that the Cowessess First Nation is pursuing and also challenges that they have faced in these projects. Following the keynote, the first day of the symposium included presentations from Geothermal and Lithium companies and researchers, as well as a panel discussion on Data Management. A virtual networking event was held at the end of the day and allowed for a remote/at-home beer tasting of some great local craft beers from Tailgunner Brewing in Calgary. Day two had presentations on Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon Capture and a continuation of the Data Management panel. All presentations were pre-recorded and followed by a live question and answer period with the presenter,

which provided great attendee engagement. The virtual platform metrics showed over 100 questions were asked during the two days of the symposium.

The biggest take-away from the Symposium: two-years ago at the GeoConvention, there was only enough activity in the alternative energy industries to fill a half-day session. Fast-forward to 2021, and there was enough content to fill two full days and more. The key thing that attendees learned: their geoscience and data management skills are completely transferrable to these emerging technologies. One thing that the involved societies learned: our memberships need to expand to include geoscientists and companies outside of the traditional oil & gas industry. By embracing the emerging technologies, we can offer our members additional opportunities for education, networking and potential jobs. What’s exciting is that this is an energy evolution, not a transition from one industry to another, but an opportunity to develop these industries in parallel to oil and gas, and it feels like we are on the cusp of some ground-breaking changes. EETiG would like to thank the title sponsor Schlumberger as well as sponsors RPS, APEGA, Canadian Discovery, Matrix Solutions, Chinook Consulting Services and Summit Nanotech for their generosity and willingness to sponsor a new event. A huge thank you goes out to the conference committee members: Co-Chairs Steve Grasby and Mia Costigan, and members Liz Lappin, Steve Whittaker, Denise Freeland and Kristy Manchul. As the organizing society for this inaugural year, CSPG Senior Events Specialist, Jennifer Lee, was instrumental to the success of this symposium. Of course none of this would have been possible without the time and effort put in by the presenters, thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise in these exciting emerging areas. Lastly, we would like to extend a sincere thank you to the attendees of the symposium. We hope that the content was thought-provoking and we are excited for the next edition of the EETiG symposium in 2023! 2021 EETiG Committee

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

2022 UPCOMING EVENTS INFORMATION January 21st Friday | 7:30pm – 8:30pm (MST)

VISIT UPCOMING EVENTS

Palaeontology Technical Division Canada’s Maritime Mastodons: New Ecological Insight from ~75,000 YearOld Dung and Fossil aroid leaves from the late Paleocene Paskapoo Formation MAIN SPEAKER: Scott Cocker BRIEF SPEAKER: Georgia L. Hoffman

January 26th

JANUARY

Wednesday | 12:00pm – 1:00pm (MST)

January 12th

Operations Geology Technical Division Where’s your Wellbore? The Great Wellbore Hunt!

Wednesday | 12:00pm – 1:00pm (MST)

PRESENTER: Jessica Beal, P. Geo.

International Technical Division Outlook 2022 - First half tough with back end of year positive for the energy sector

FEBRUARY

SPEAKER: Josef Schachter

January 18th Tuesday | 12:00pm – 1:00pm (MST)

GeoWomen Energy Transition: From 0 to Start up in the Avatar Innovations Program SPEAKERS: Ashlee Kingsbury, B.A. Econ (Enbridge) and Julie Morter, P.Eng (ConocoPhillips Canada) MODERATOR: Shannon Hiebert, P.Geo (Suncor)

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February 2nd Wednesday | 8:00am – 9:00am (MST)

Heavy Oil/Oil Sands Technical Division Optimized Well Production Using Flow Control Devices: A Case Study in Successful Subsurface Team Integration SPEAKER: Marcus Hoehn, Senior Geologist, Athabasca Oil Corporation

2022 UPCOMING EVENTS INFORMATION February 3rd

February 18th

Thursday | 12:00pm - 1:00pm (MST)

Friday | 7:30pm – 8:30pm (MST)

Structural Geology Technical Division New insights on the late Cenozoic exhumation history of the southeastern Canadian Cordillera

Paleontology Technical Division Exceptional Fossil Discoveries from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation Near Morrin, Alberta

SPEAKER: Dr. Eva Enkelmann

Speakers: Greg Funston, Royal Society Newton International Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and Mark Powers, PhD candidate at the University of Alberta

February 8th Tuesday | 12:00pm – 1:00pm (MST)

Basin Analysis and Sequence Stratigraphy Technical Division Burial History and Petroleum Generation of the Doig Formation SPEAKERS: Pablo Lacerda Silva, Postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia and Robert Marc Bustin, Professor at the University of British Columbia

February 15th Tuesday | 12:00 - 1:00pm (MST)

GeoWomen APEGA 30 by 30 Initiative Update and APEGA WAGE Grant Results OVERVIEW SPEAKER: Mohamed El Daly, P.Eng., M.Sc., CCIP APEGA

February 23rd Wednesday | 12:00pm – 1:00pm (MST)

Operations Geology Technical Division The Role of Geoscience in Evolving Regulatory Requirements for Commingled Abandonment PRESENTER: Dan Palombi

MARCH March 2nd Wednesday| 8:00am – 9:00am (MST)

Heavy Oil/Oil Sands Technical Division Stratigraphic interpretation of the Clearwater Formation of the Mannville Group at Cold Lake, AB Speakers: Bogdan L. Varban, Robert W. Wellner, Xavier Roca-Argemi, Jason A. Flaum, Esther K. Stewart, Michael D. Blum

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

A Primer on Frac Sand JON NOAD | SEDIMENTAL SERVICES

Proppant sands are an essential component of the process of hydraulic fracturing, which generates huge revenues in unconventional plays across North America. Three main types of proppant are utilized: natural quartz sand, resin coated sand and ceramic (synthetic), in order of increasing strength. In this article we will focus on the natural frac sands, which are the least expensive and most readily available frac sand option. Of particular interest is the current shift away from high quality frac sands to lower quality, more local sand sources.

WHAT IS PROPPANT? Proppant is mined and processed sand or artificial sand that is blended with frac fluid at the well site to form a slurry. The slurry is then pumped downhole during the hydraulic fracturing process at high pressures. This creates fractures in the bedrock downhole which ideally will rapidly be filled with proppant (Figure 1), with the grains then propping open the cracks. Once the pumping ends, the excess slurry is removed. The proppant is essential to keep the created fractures open, forming permeability conduits within the low poroperm matrix, and to maximise contact with the reservoir. The required properties of frac sand are that it must be nearly pure quartz, very well rounded, extremely hard, and of uniform size. Ideally the quartz grains should be monocrystalline or, less ideally, polycrystalline.

THE PROPPANT MARKET The growth of the North American shale oil and gas industry has led to rapid increases in sand consumption. Raw sand is the most common proppant type, accounting for 80 to 90% of global proppant volumes pumped downhole and is also the cheapest option. Northern White is the highest quality raw sand followed by southern white and lower quality brown sand. Resin coated sand is made up of sand grains treated with a resin coating to in crease effectiveness. This option is more expensive and accounts for 5 to 10% of the world market. Ceramic is the premium proppant with its use restricted to higher pressure (usually deeper) formations. There is no rule that the use of greater volumes of frac sand will increase well productivity, but certain plays benefit greatly from the use of more sand, especially in multi-stage horizontal wells, such as in the Eagle Ford play.

GEOLOGY OF THE OTTAWA SAND The Northern White sand, also known as the Ottawa Sand, is an extremely high quality proppant sand. The main provenances are the Jordan Formation in Minnesota, the Hickey Formation in central Texas, the St. Peters Formation in Ottawa/Northern Illinois and the Galesville and Ironton Formations in Wisconsin (Figure 2). Many of these sands represent ancient aeolian dunes where windblown transport, rounding, sorting and deposition have given rise to all the most desirable properties of

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frac sands. Even minor differences in provenance and composition can lead to poorer quality sands, the use of which is restricted to shallower reservoirs with lower closure stresses.

OTHER POTENTIAL DEPOSITIONAL SETTINGS

Brady Sand or Hickory Sand from Texas (AKA “brown sand”) is another frequently utilized proppant in the oil and gas industry, partly because Ottawa Sand was formerly restricted in supply. In the 1970s oil rush, almost any sand was considered acceptable, with European and Middle eastern sources of varying quality also employed. There has been a gradual recognition that better quality sands are essential, particularly in packing gravel where narrow grain size distribution, high, monocrystalline quartz content and excellent roundness and sphericity are required.

We have seen already that aeolian sands usually have the best properties as proppant, but there are other settings that may also deposit similar grains. River sands are known as “sharp sands”, due to the angular nature of the sand grains, which is not suitable as a proppant on its own, because it tends to fill natural voids and reduce conductivity. It may also break or crush easily with any significant closure stress. However, adding angular grains to dominantly spherical quartz grains can improve overall conductivity through increased porosity of the proppant. A 50:50 round-angular blend of 20/40 mesh sand has on average the highest relative

TABLE 1. Typical properties for a 20/40 Northern White sand (Superior Silica Sands) TYPICAL PROPERTIES

ISO 13603-2

Krumbein roundness

0.8 to 0.9

Krumbein sphericity

0.75 to 0.8

Acid solubility %

0.6 to 0.9

Turbidity (FTU/NTU)

30 to 75

Specific gravity (g/cm3)

2.65 to 2.68

Bulk density (g/cm3)

1,54 to 1.58

An example of a US state that is actively producing Northern White is Wisconsin, which has abundant sand reserves that have been mined for more than 100 years. Advances in hydraulic fracturing have greatly increased the demand for Wisconsin’s sand. The state has some of the best frac sand in the country because several geological formations are composed almost entirely of very round, extremely hard, well sorted, pure quartz grains. These outcrop in much of western and central Wisconsin. Sands to the east are typically too fine grained and are more deeply buried, while younger glacial deposits and river sands are too impure and too angular to be used as frac sands.

fracture conductivity through all closure levels up to 6000 psi. This contrasts with mixing natural and synthetic grains, which typically leads to significantly deteriorated properties. Another depositional setting that has been examined as a potential source of frac sand is a glacial strand plain deposit (Figure 6). The constant agitation of sand grains through wave action means that upper shoreface sands (very shallow marine settings) are composed of very well rounded grains. While sorting may not be as efficient as in aeolian settings, sands with highly spherical grains can be deposited. Tests have shown that a mix of different sized grains has a detrimental effect on reservoir conductivity, so the better the sorting, the better the frac sand. Sandstone maturity also impacts proppant quality, with more mature sandstones hosting a higher

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percentage of well rounded, monocrystalline sand grains, leading to better closure stress resistivity. The maturity is affected by palaeogeography, palaeotectonic evolution and also by ancient climate.

MINING THE SANDS The mining process (Figure 3) begins with the removal of vegetation (1), after which the topsoil and unwanted spoil is removed (2). Once the top of the sandstone is exposed, explosive charges are inserted (3) to break up the sandstone, allowing it to be excavated with front end loaders (4). Explosives may not be necessary in poorly consolidated sands. Trucks then haul loads of sandstone (Figure 4) from the mine pit to a crusher which breaks the sandstone chunks into individual sand grains (5). The raw sand is then washed (Figure 5) to remove clay minerals (6), before being sorted by size (7), with coarser sand used for oil reservoirs and finer grained sand for gas reservoirs (Figure 5). Sand of too small a size for fracking (fines) is used for mine reclamation (8,9,10) or for cow bedding. The sand is dried before transport, reducing weight and costs, and dryer systems have grown in sophistication over the last few years.

GRAIN PROPERTIES The most common grain sizes offered in mesh sizes are: 20/40 (the most common), 16/20 and 12/20, although other sizes are readily available through sieving. Overall frac sand grain sizes range from 106 µm to 2.36 mm (see Table 2). Spherical grains are held in highest regard, although studies indicate that a mix with angular grains may be most conductive (see above). Angular sand has a much higher permeability at lower closure stresses, but round sand is much stronger at higher pressures (above 2000 psi). Other shapes have been tried without obvious benefits.

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TABLE 2. A comparison of mesh size with resulting grain sizes of sorted frac sands. TYLER MESH SIZE

PARTICLE SIZE RANGE (ΜM)

10/14

1400-2000

12/18

1000-1700

16/20

850-1180

20/40

420-850

30/50

300-600

40/70

212-420

Soft formations require large diameter propping agents that will resist embedment. Medium to high permeability reservoirs need a large size proppant to provide adequate flow capacity. Propping of cracks in hard rocks necessitates a material with high compressive strength to resist the high closure stresses. The lack of embedment in these rocks means that a proppant with a small grain size can be utilized. Embedment in soft mudstones is rapid initially but ultimately depends on closure pressures. A stronger sandstone matrix means that less proppant will be embedded in sandstones. Natural quartz sand has no cleavage, so tends to shatter and break irregularly upon failure. Monocrystalline grains have the highest stability, while oligocrystalline grains break up into halves or quarters. Polycrystalline grains are surprisingly stable, due to the interlocking crystallites that they are composed of. The rough surfaces of natural sand grains mean that they are more likely to remain in created fractures during hydraulic fracturing than synthetic, low friction grains.

SAND SHORTAGE? Headlines earlier this year suggested that the world is running out of sand. It is the world’s most consumed raw material after water, essential for construction which uses 40 to 50 billion tonnes a year. Its use far exceeds the natural rate at which sand is being replenished. Fortunately for the fraccing industry, aeolian sand grains are too smooth to bind together for building, yet ideal as proppant sands. However, there are limited quantities of frac-worthy sands in many countries, including Canada. Currently fraccing related projects in Alberta import sand from as far away as Texas, but new projects are looking to exploit Montney in-basin sands, because this Formation uses more than 50% of Canada’s frac sand demand. However, there are potential alternative supplies closer at hand. The Peace River sand deposit was evaluated by the AER in 1998 and belongs to the Upper Cretaceous Paddy Member, a friable (tidal) sand unit of the Peace River Formation. Most of the properties for the 20/40 mesh size material (except for crush resistance) meet frac sand guidelines and, using these results, the data can be extrapolated to indicate an estimated 2.6 million tonnes of frac sand resource in two blocks adjacent to the river. Other targets include glacial sands, as these were deposited in a wide variety of environmental settings during the Pleistocene. In addition to wind blown sand dune fields (Figure 6), there are several examples of ancient strand plain deposits that may have properties suitable for proppant (Figure 7). There is also some potential for using sands dredged offshore Canada, although recovery and transport costs may prove prohibitive.

ECONOMICS The cost of natural frac sand has fluctuated wildly over the last five years, with Northern White spiking at around $53/tonne, and currently sitting at around $22/tonne (Rystad Energy), although a variety of prices are quoted online. Proppant costs usually makes up around 10% of the completion costs of a horizontal well, although Northern White prices are typically around twice the cost of local sands. The demand for frac sand has more than doubled to 80 million tonnes over the same interval and is forecast to reach 181 million tonnes in 2024. The supply of Northern White is forecast to reach 239 million tonnes over the same period, which should lead to a flat price for this commodity in the Permian Basin and elsewhere. The inexorable rise in the use of lower quality, in-basin sand products has strongly affected the price of Northern White. While somewhat restricted to shallow, lower pressure targets, operators are willing to forego the use of quality proppant and reduce well productivity to save money. The use of finer grained sands for fraccing has also favoured the use of local sand resources such as “brown” or “Brady” sands. Deeper, high pressure targets remain more likely to require Northern White or the more expensive ceramic proppant, although the price of these alternative proppants are influenced by the cost of transportation, which may make up 30 to 40% of the total cost (or as much as 65% according to IHS Markit). This compares poorly to the lower cost of trucking of local sands. Many sand mines now have transload facilities and the ability to load rail cars on site which helps to reduce costs. The Bakken is currently the only major play using ceramic proppant in bulk, with the ceramic market taking a big hit during the downturn.

A typical well may use 5 million pounds of proppant in a single fraccing operation, party due to the high number of stages, which would work out to around $280,000 for a well in the Eagle Ford play. This is equivalent to around 18,000 tonnes of sand for each well, as recorded in the Permian Basin. The frac sand market in North America is around 80 to 85% sand, with the rest evenly split between resin coated sand and ceramics. The relatively high cost of high grade natural sands is likely to lead to more investment in exploration for new proppant sand resources in both Canada and the US.

CONCLUSIONS The frac sand landscape is ever changing. The move to local “brown” sands was driven by the downturn, but Northern White still makes up two thirds of the market in natural sands, with better infrastructure to deliver quality sand where it is needed. Decreases in well productivity over the last five years have been linked to the choice of local proppant over Northern White. In Canada there is a clear window of opportunity to explore for local, high quality frac sands to support the fraccing of Montney and Duvernay unconventional plays, with demand unlikely to decrease at the current oil and gas prices.

THE AUTHOR Jon Noad runs his own consultancy, specilaizing in running field trips and oil and gas related courses, university courses, oil and gas related geology, core logging, helium exploration and much more. Visit https://jonnoad.wixsite.com/sedservices for more information and contact details.

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From the Desk of the AER Dan Palombi, P.Geo. and Tony Lemay, P.Geol

The Role of Geoscience in Evolving Regulatory Requirements for Commingled Abandonment in Alberta Commingled hydrocarbon production occurs when oil or gas from more than one geologically distinct zone is produced in an unsegregated manner within a single borehole. Over 73,000 wells are producing oil or natural gas in a commingled manner across Alberta, all of which will eventually require abandonment. When operators abandon these wells, they are required to follow AER’s technical requirements detailed in Directive 020 – Well Abandonment. The intent of these requirements is to prevent environmental impacts through gas or fluid migration, and to ensure resource equity and conservation is achieved amongst current and future operators.

Directive 020 allows operators to submit non-routine requests to seek variance from the abandonment requirements for commingled zones in a well when there is demonstrated low risk from unsegregated abandonment. Estimated cost savings of such variances could be substantial to Alberta’s oil and gas industry, potentially enabling a large opportunity for AER and industry to increase the number of inactive wells that are abandoned and overall reduce liability. Hence, the AER/AGS embarked on a multi-year project to: 1) derive a risk-based methodology applicable across the province; and 2) conduct a detailed case study in southeastern Alberta to evaluate if the region has no intolerable increase in risk from allowing widespread commingled abandonment across the gas field. One of our project objectives was to devise an approach by which AER and industry could quickly ascertain the level of subsurface risk and concerns associated with potential commingled abandonment of various pools throughout the province. A risk-ranking screening tool was developed using the Alberta Table of Formations to qualitatively display the relative probability of risk and consequence from commingled zonal abandonments in wells. This derivation

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uses knowledge of the regional geology and hydrogeology of the Alberta sedimentary basin to provide a stratigraphic zonation of groups and formations. The risk rankings can guide a commingled well operator on where variances from abandonment requirements are more favourable for certain geological units, and it can be used by the regulator to guide the operator through the variance request process and potential requirements for supplemental data. The different risk categories can be used to inform what is required to substantiate the application and satisfy the AER’s requirements in achieving its regulatory outcomes. A second project objective was to evaluate a large number of commingled gas wells within the Southeastern Alberta Order area (Commingling Order No. MU 7490). In this region, the Medicine Hat Member of the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation and the Alderson Member of the Upper Cretaceous Lea Park Formation have been producing for over 100 years and many existing wells are nearing the end of their commercial life. Our riskranking screening tool identified this southeastern Alberta gas field as potentially having high probability and consequences of concern from commingled abandonment due to the geological

FIGURE 1: ROUTINE COMMINGLED ABANDONMENT REGION AND ASSOCIATED SUBSURFACE GEOLOGICAL STRATA IN SOUTHEASTERN ALBERTA. THE TABLE OF GEOLOGICAL STRATA HAS BEEN MODIFIED FROM THE ALBERTA TABLE OF FORMATIONS.

setting and hydrogeological conditions. In addition, the AER was receiving high volumes of variance requests for Directive 020 for wells in this field. Detailed geological, hydrogeological, and petrophysical mapping and modelling was completed to understand the extent and properties of the gas-bearing and water-bearing units. These results were used for numerical modelling of groundwater flow and groundwater-gas migration to understand the consequences of allowing widespread commingled well abandonments. Developing a conceptual model that would incorporate elements of the petroleum and groundwater system is a requirement for any numerical modelling project of this nature. Upon review of the literature, we identified that multiple working hypotheses for the Alderson Member petroleum system and interaction with regional groundwater flow existed. Hence, no single universally accepted conceptual model could be developed given the scientific uncertainties associated with: i) distribution and hydraulic connectivity of reservoir rocks, ii) geometry and strength of sealing rocks units, iii) trap persistence, and iv) groundwater flow effects on gas distribution. As a result, we developed multiple conceptual models to represent the potential natural variability of the system. This novel ‘multi-model’ approach allowed us to ascertain and test whether different interpretations of the groundwater- and gas-bearing zones would impact commingled abandonment scenarios and ultimately a regulatory decision. We learned from this project that gas migration did not travel into areas of potential concern during commingled zonal abandonment conditions for the majority of our simulations, presenting a low-risk scenario to AER outcomes. Therefore, early in 2021 the AER updated Directive 020: Well Abandonment to allow for routine commingled abandonment in southeastern Alberta which may increase the abandonment of gas wells in this region (Figure 1). The changes also allow operators to abandon wells in pre-approved pools, enabling them to plan abandonment work more efficiently and reduce the review and administrative process meanwhile maintaining public safety and environmental protection. Figure 2 illustrates the changes made to Directive 020 for specific routine commingled abandonment regions. The AER/AGS continues to conduct geoscience studies to determine if commingled abandonment is possible in other regions including where additional data collection and environmental monitoring is required to ensure that the AER’s outcomes are satisfied. n

FIGURE 2: Comparison of zonal abandonment requirements in the previous state of Directive 020 (left) versus the changes made for routine commingled abandonment in select regions (right).

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

DINNY, THE GREAT SURVIVOR JON NOAD | SEDIMENTAL SERVICES

Towering over the other animals, Dinny the dinosaur is the oldest inhabitant at Calgary Zoo (Figure 1). Created more than eighty years ago, it has seen the city grow from a population of around 84,000 to more than one and a half million people. On several occasions the dinosaur has come close to destruction, but currently is in the best shape of its life, which has included some fascinating twists and turns. 3

Dinosaur genesis The Calgary Natural History Society was created by citizens in 1912, originally located in museums in the downtown area. One of the directors, Lars Willumsen, visited the Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg, Germany in 1932 and returned with information on the zoo’s dinosaur park, which he used to persuade the Society’s President, Dr. Omer Patrick, to develop a similar park in Calgary. While the original idea to construct a new museum on St. George’s Island never happened, two Finnish sculptors, Koskeleinen and Kanerva, began building model dinosaurs in 1935, with expert advice provided by Dr. Charles Sternberg and artistic input from Charles Bell of Banff. Sternberg was provided by the federal government. Patrick spearheaded the project. The first model was a Chasmosaurus, and all subsequent models were built by John Kanerva, later assisted by his son, Bill. The models gradually filled the original Natural History Park. The construction of the largest dinosaur, a Brontosaurus, began in 1937. It took five men six weeks to complete the structure (Figure 2), composed of with wire mesh and cast concrete covering a framework of bedspring rods. The finished model weighed around 110 tonnes and was around 36 metres long and 12 metres tall, rooted on concrete footings with reinforcing rods (Figure 3). It was hollow, although rumours that it contained an old Model T Ford were later proved unfounded. It was immediately named Dinny, most likely after the comic strip Alley Oop, the adventures of a cave man who rode a pet sauropod named Dinny the Dinosaur. The then Zoological Society’s budget for the creation of 16 prehistoric models in 1937 was only $2000, so much of the work was undertaken by volunteers, with only the designer and main builder, John Kanerva, being paid during the dinosaur’s construction, at a zoo worker’s wage of 25 cents an hour. The Natural History Park was officially opened by R.B. Bennett, former prime minister, in

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August 1937, and at the time was one of only three such Parks in the world. Dinny was eventually the largest of a collection of 56 sculptures completed for the Calgary Zoo and Natural History Park. Kanerva also created the large bisons at the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, amongst other projects that included a dinosaur once situated on MacLeod Trail. He died in 1874 at the age of 91.

Brontosaurus is back Dinny is a Brontosaurus, in itself an anomaly because this type of dinosaur has never been found in Alberta. Named by Othniel Marsh in the 1880s, the dinosaur was identified in 1903 as part of the Apatosaurus genus, whose discovery predated the brontosaur. Hence Brontosaurus was declared as a synonym for Apatosaurus, an invalid species until 2015 when an in-depth study of 81 diplodocid specimens determined that the two genera had little in common. Their findings indicated that the diplodocid family should be increased to include Galeamopus and Brontosaurus, which delighted millions of dinosaur fans who had grown up with this longneck. The statue is based on Marsh’s reconstruction at the time and is flawed because no skull had been found with the skeletal remains: Marsh’s use of a boxy Brachiosaurus-like skull (identified as a Camarasaurus skull: Figure 4) in its place has since been proved to be a mistake. The discovery of a new Brontosaurus skull, reported in 1981, showed that its head was more streamlined. When the Peabody Museum replaced the head, John Ostrom, curator of vetebrate paleontology, quipped that ''this is the first head transplant that I've ever performed''. T-shirts inscribed with ''I lost my head at the Yale Peabody Museum'' were sold outside.

Contrasting fortunes The park was a great success (Figure 5) and was featured on one of the first ever CBC television news broadcasts in 1952. Over time, Dinny became the symbol of the Calgary Zoo, proclaimed officially in 1959, and was rumoured at the time to the most photographed personality in Calgary. It was also the tourism-related symbol for many years (Figure 6) until being replaced by the Husky Tower (now renamed the Calgary Tower) in the 1970s. As a result of its near iconic status, in 1987 it was added to Calgary’s evaluated historic resource list as a monument to be preserved. This was announced by the then Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism, the Honourable Dennis Anderson. Once surrounded by an open field, Dinny was until recently located in a backwater of the zoo behind some buildings, unmoved from its initial location due to its size and weight. Many older Calgarians will remember climbing up the dinosaur’s back as a rite of passage, before sliding down the tail during visits to the zoo in the 50s and 60s. Pilots would tip the wings of their aircraft so that passengers could see the illuminated figure at night. However, Dinny appears to have been taken for granted through this time and did not receive much TLC beyond the occasional cost of paint. With the assistance of the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, the models were repositioned in 1957 to reflect the chronology of the different creatures. Due to the outdated reconstructions, and the need for maintenance, most of the original sculptures from

the park were dismantled and destroyed in the early 1980s, but fortunately the beloved Brontosaurus was saved. The economic downturn at the time made the cost of moving them simply too much. A new Prehistoric Park was constructed on the north side of St. George’s Island the following year, while Dinny’s sculpture continued to deteriorate. Repairs in 1987 slowed the decay, but a large hole was cut into the underside of the belly during a 2008 engineering review, and remained open until recently, facilitating the development of a series of cracks and spalling of the concrete (Figure 7). Salts leached from the concrete matrix, and the many layers of paint were cracked and peeling. A lengthy immersion in the waters of the Calgary Flood in 2013 did little to preserve the sauropod.

The other Dinny Due to the popularity of the Alley Oop comic strip, our Calgarian dinosaur is not the only outsized model bearing this moniker. A roadside attraction in Cabazon, California, close to Palm Springs,

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

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features two enormous, steel-and-concrete dinosaurs named Dinny the Dinosaur (Figure 8) and Mr. Rex. The modeling of the American Dinny was undertaken by Claude Bell in 1964, to attract customers to his Wheel Inn Restaurant, and took 11 years to complete. Dinny was constructed from material salvaged from the construction of nearby Interstate 10 at a cost of $300,000. Housed inside the sauropod are a gift shop and, somewhat bizarrely, a creationist museum. Other dinosaurs to keep an eye out for include the fascinating wall graphics lining the walls of the tunnels that lead into the zoo, and the lovely mural at the Patricia Inn (Figure 9), which also features a sauropod. The Prehistoric Park at the zoo has a variety of recreated geological settings with basalt columns and hoodoos (Figure 10) constructed as a background to the newer dinosaur models, and a retired Dimetrodon can be seen in a garden in Inglewood. Finally, no visit to Texas would be complete without visiting Sinclair the dinosaur, part of an exhibit originally built for the Chicago World Fair, and now located at a famous dinosaur footprint locality in Glen Rose, Texas. The dinosaur bears a striking resemblance to both Dinnys. By coincidence (?), this town also hosts a creationist museum.

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Much needed renovations Dinny was one of several concrete artworks that were evaluated by CSI Conservation Solutions ULC in 2018. Such concrete structures are challenging to preserve and maintain, particularly in Calgary which experiences large seasonal temperature differences and sometimes very cold winters (Figure 11). The dinosaur underwent a series of repairs in 2019 undertaken by RJC, after mapping out the structure using x-ray, physical review, and radiographic scanning. The neck and left back leg were repaired from the inside, and the paint would later be replaced with a breathable protective coating. A generous donation by the Brawn Family Foundation, in part due to their memories of interacting with Dinny as children, funded much of the recent renovations to Dinny, as well as to the creation of a green space, “Dinny’s Green” around the dinosaur (Figure 12), which features a mini-Dinny model. The Calgary Zoo’s journey to become Canada’s leader in wildlife conservation, now includes the Wilder Institute. The Wilder Institute is the rebranded Calgary Zoo Foundation and oversees the Calgary Zoo’s conservation portfolio, locally and globally. Together, they will continue to be a force of nature for making the world a wilder place.

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In conclusion Dinny remains a cultural icon in our city, triumphing over adversity and underpinned by volunteers and charity. The newly renovated dinosaur is well worth a visit in any and all weather, acting as a reminder of how our understanding of these antediluvian beasts has evolved. Jon Noad runs his own consultancy, specializing in running field trips and oil and gas related courses, university courses, oil and gas related geology, core logging, helium exploration and much more. Visit https://jonnoad.wixsite.com/ sedservices for more information and contact details. n

FIGURES ATTRIBUTIONS: 1,7,8,9,10,11,12 courtesy of the author; 2,5 courtesy of Glenmore Archives; 3 City of Calgary Corporate Records; 4 Wikipedia; 6 Ebay.

REFERENCES https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Calgary+and+her+dinosaurs.-a0329066180 https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/26/nyregion/yale-brontosaurus-getshead-on-right-at-last.html https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/150407-brontosaurusback-return-apatosaurus-sauropod-dinosaurs-fossils-paleontology https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&Object ID=4665-0735 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabazon_Dinosaurs https://globalnews.ca/news/5044175/calgary-zoos-dinny-the-dinosaur-toget-200000-makeover/ https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/conserving-concrete-artwork-in-canada. htm https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/dinny-the-dinosaur-one-timezoo-mascot-logo.199727/ https://thediscoverblog.com/2021/08/27/the-dinosaurs-of-st-georgesisland-calgary/ https://www.calgaryzoo.com/news/brawn-family-foundation-dinnys-greennow-open https://www.rjc.ca/project-details/calgary-zoo-dinny-the-dinosaur-restoration. html

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

The Blue View: Industry Trends Through Woodmac's Lens NORTH AMERICA IN CONTEXT: OVERARCHING THEMES ACROSS THE INDUSTRY GAS TO GROW 1. CANADIAN Capital allocated to gas is rising and prices support production reaching levels not seen in 20 years.

SANDS OPERATORS 2. OIL REMAIN FOCUSED ON CAPITAL DISCIPLINE

FORECASTS GET 3. GROWTH VALIDATED FOR US LOWER 48

Oil sands producers are focusing on shareholder returns rather than growth profiles.

Capital from Majors is being allocated to L48 plays, namely the Permian, which will drive production growth. The Permian Wolfcamp remains world-class.

CANADA ONSHORE: n Canadian gas production

n Oil sands capital focus

Early guidance announcements and rig trends indicate a modest gas growth trajectory. Canada gas production peaked back in April 2002 at 17.9 bcfd. Our North America Gas Service expects a return to that peak level in 2023 and production will top 20 bcfd before 2030. All signs point to the discipline and strategies formed from 2017 to 2019 beginning to pay off.

Earnings, shareholder capital return & debt reduction

Lessons applicable to other regions • Learn to live within cash flow – focusing on balance sheet strength and self-funding operations improves the long-term sustainability of the business model and will allow increased flexibility in response to increasing or decreasing prices • Hedges are not always optimal – risk management can save the day in a price crash scenario but can cause significant losses in a sudden price rise. Market diversification also plays a major role in limiting exposure to low prices • Consolidation will play a role – the gas players in Canada have shifted. Scale is an important factor in reducing costs and not all operators or acreage are created equal • ESG is a critical factor – as the world progresses into the Energy Transition, the role of gas is expected to be that of a transition fuel, especially for blue hydrogen. Methane, flaring and venting are all closely monitored in Canada and will be key to address to meet ESG targets.

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Large oil sands operators continued to deliver strong operational results in Q3 earnings. Earnings for the top five companies (CNRL, Suncor, Cenovus, Imperial Oil and MEG Energy) increased 50% quarter over quarter from Cdn$3.1 billion to Cdn$4.6 billion. Earnings growth was driven by high operating performance coupled with continued increases in realised commodity prices. Share repurchases Oil sands corporations are increasing activity in share repurchase programs, especially in the last two quarters. So far in 2021, Canadian Natural, Suncor, and Imperial have spent over Cdn$3.5 billion in share purchases, with Cdn$1.2 billion of that coming during Q3. Dividends All companies continued to sustain strong dividend payments in the quarter. Both Suncor and Cenovus announced a doubling of their dividend effective Q4 2021. Debt reduction Since Q4 2020, operators have reduced their debt position by 13%, totaling Cdn$8.8 billion. This has led to significant balance improvement, and reduction in debt servicing costs.

Dividends paid

Share repurchasing

Debt repayment

n Atlantic Canada: return to past glory?

The Terra Nova FPSO will be retrofitted in 2022 for the field extension and progression of the Bay du Nord Complex towards project sanction. We anticipate that these two projects and the White Rose extension will grow offshore production to help revitalize the offshore oil & gas industry in Newfoundland over the next decade. Exploratory drilling by CNOOC at Pelles in 2021 disappointed, but further exploration is taking place in 2022 from Equinor and BP as well as ExxonMobil and Qatar Gas. US oil production: it will grow again Our latest long term oil production forecast suggests that not only can oil production grow, but it’s also increasingly likely that it will. In three of four scenarios, our base case, $60/bbl flat WTI and $80/ bbl WTI, oil supply coming from the L48 grows into the late 2020s.

• In the high price scenario ($80/bbl), production grows to nearly 13 million b/d, up almost four million b/d from the current output of nine million b/d. Ultimately this scenario is constrained by the remaining inventory in tight oil basins across the Lower 48. • The base case, which includes our non-flat, dynamic price deck, has production growing to 11 million b/d. • The $60 flat scenario leads to Lower 48 production remaining flat into the 2030s. • Only in the flat $40/bbl scenario did L48 oil production fall from the current output down to approximately six million b/d by early 2030s.

n Exxon’s investor day update: Where do they go from here?

Exxon’s 2021 corporate update includes both a doubling of cash flow out to 2027 and new emissions reduction targets. Of their CAPEX guidance, which is between US$20 to US$25 billion, US$1.8 billion will be low carbon spend by 2023, rising to US$ 3.3 billion. ExxonMobil has identified the Texas Permian, Guyana and Brazilian production as the main recipients of capex over the next several years. Their stated goals are summarized here: • Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets for 2030: ExxonMobil is targeting a 20-30% reduction in corporate-wide intensity from operated assets and a 40-50% reduction in upstream intensity. The company is also aiming to reduce group methane and flaring intensity by 70-80% and 60-70% respectively. The targets translate into a 20% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions. • Cash flow breakevens: ExxonMobil estimates it can cover its investment and dividend at US$35/bbl between 2022 and 2027. The business delivers around US$100 billion of cumulative surplus cash flow for debt reduction and shareholder distributions at US$60/bbl. • Earnings and ROCE: a doubling in earnings between 2019 and 2027 will drive ROCE from 6% to 14% in 2025 and 17% in 2027 at US$60/bbl.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • JAN/FEB 2022

PERMIAN ECONOMIC UPDATE: MIDLAND WOLFCAMP STILL STANDING STRONG Our recent Permian Midland basin update is out. The refresh now includes water type curves and granular water operating costs. Despite upward tweaks to these operating costs, breakevens in the basin remain the best in the country. Here are some highlights from the report: • Approximately 70% of the wells brought online since 2021 are Midland, Martin, and Upton counties. • In the best Wolfcamp, breakevens are as low as $28/bbl at a 10% discount rate and total CAPEX per barrel is below $20/bbl. • 30,000 remaining locations across the basin breakeven below $70/bbl WTI.

Wells online by sub-play since 2020

Activity map: Wells online since 2020

Source: Wood Mackenzie Lens Lower 48 Discovery

SCOTT NORLIN, GIT

BRANDON MYERS

Research Analyst, Upstream Canada

Senior Analyst – Lower 48 Upstream

Scott joined the Canadian Upstream Research team at Wood Mackenzie in June 2019. He is responsible for providing financial asset valuation and objective commercial analysis on company and play activity across Canada. His coverage ranges from North American large caps to junior private producers. He also covers CNRL and Cenovus for the corporate analysis team, providing high level company valuation and strategy analysis. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Scott gained comprehensive experience in exploration and development of upstream assets. Scott worked at Parex Resources on conventional assets, Devon Energy on the Jackfish oil sands project and also has field experience in unconventional plays. Scott holds a Bachelor of Geology degree with honours from the University of Calgary and is a registered Geologist in training with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

Brandon is a senior analyst with our Lower 48 research team. Having joined Wood Mackenzie in 2017, he has worked on the integration of subsurface data with L48 research and conducted research into every major unconventional play in the US and Canada. Prior to this, Brandon’s career included roles in both energy efficiency and the oil and gas industry. He was a founding partner of Firefli LEDs, a carbon reduction focused LED lighting company that focused on solutions for high rise towers and industrial facilities. After that he spent time as an energy analyst for Nemalux, a Canadian, heavy industry LED manufacturer that specializes in carbon and power reduction solutions for wellsite facilities. He was a conventional field geoscientist for an innovative junior oilfield optimization exploration company in Calgary through 2016 and early 2017. Brandon graduated from the University of Alberta with a BSc, Specialization in Geology. Academically his focus was on the organic geochemistry of the Duvernay shale and his thesis was focused on hydrocarbon generation and expulsion modelling across Encana’s Kaybob acreage.

DISCLAIMER – THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS STATED BELOW ARE BASED ON WOOD MACKENZIE’S DATA, SOURCED FROM PUBLIC SOURCES ACROSS THE GLOBE AND OUR PROPRIETARY TOOLS SUCH AS LENS.

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