September/October Reservoir 2020

In This Issue...

CSPG Fieldwork Based Research Awards for Undergraduate Students Petroleum System Elements of Trinidad at Cedros Bay With Analogies to Offshore Nova Scotia Awards and Demographics – Why are women underrepresented?

$7.00 SEPTMBER/OCTOBER 2020 VOLUME 47, ISSUE 5 Canadian Publication Mail Contract – 40070050

September 17-18, 2020

3D Printing in Geoscience and Engineering: Emerging Technology in Education, Research, and Communication

Instructors: Sergey Ishutov, Kevin Hodder, Rick Chalaturnyk, Gonzalo Zambrano-Narvaez, University of Alberta E-Short Course | CPD Credits: 8

September 17-18, 2020

The Athabasca in situ oil sands: History, Geoscience, Development, Production and Technology Instructors: Stan Stancliffe, GeoR.E.D. & Gord Stabb, Durando Resources Corp.

E-Short Course | CPD Credits: 6

September 24-25, 2020 Introduction to Geosteering

Instructor: Janelle Springer, ROGII CSPG Classroom - Aquitaine Tower | CPD Credits: 12

September 27, 28, October 1, 2, 2020 Basics of Geomodeling- An Overview 2020

Instructor: David Garner, TerraMod Consulting E-Short Course | CPD Credits: 14

October 29, 2020

Oil Reservoir Engineering for Geoscientists

Instructor: Kamal Malick, P.Eng, TAQA North CSPG Classroom - Aquitaine Tower | CPD Credits: 7.5

October 30, 2020

Gas Reservoir Engineering for Geoscientists

Instructor: Kamal Malick, P.Eng, TAQA North CSPG Classroom - Aquitaine Tower | CPD Credits: 7.5

November 18, 2020

WCSB Devonian Carbonate Core Workshop: Essential guide to depositional settings and lithologies, with examples from the Clive Leduc CO2 CCS

Instructors: Eva Drivet, Drivet Geological Consulting Ltd. and David Hills, Enhance Energy Inc. AER Core Research Centre | CPD Credits: 7.5

Register today at CSPG.org All events subject to change

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CSPG COORDINATING EDITOR

Emma MacPherson, Communications Coordinator, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Tel: 403-513-1230, emma.macpherson@cspg.org

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RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPT/OCT 2020

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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.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 – VOLUME 47, ISSUE 5

MONTHLY SPONSORS...............................................................................................4 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR....................................................................................6 FEATURE ARTICLE CSPG Fieldwork Based Research Awards for Undergraduate Students................8 Petroleum System Elements of Trinidad at Cedros Bay With Analogies to Offshore Nova Scotia..................................................................9 Drilling and Completing in Colour – Integrating Petrophysics, Geology, Drilling and Completions.....................................................................................................14

UPCOMING EVENTS Technical Webinars .................................................................................................23 Structural Geology Division Field Trip .................................................................26 Division Talks...........................................................................................................28

SOCIETY NEWS Awards and Demographics – Why are women under-represented?...................34

FRONT COVER Sandur at Skeiðarársandur, Iceland.

An aerial view of Skeiðarársandur's vast sand outwash plain (“sandur” is the geological term, coined in Iceland) formed from alluvial deposits of glacial river flows. This modern depositional environment creates beautiful geometries as seen here from above. These braided flows occur over the 15 km from glacial terminus to the ocean shoreline.

Photo By: Jenn Martin

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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Tom Sneddon Professional Geologist (Alberta), Professional Geoscientist (B.C.) retired recently as Director of Geoscience and Outreach for APEGA, has been a member of the CSPG for over 40 years, and has pursued a career in geoscience since his university days. He has two degrees – both from Alberta: initially from the University of Calgary in 1969 (B.A. Geography), and from the University of Alberta (M.Sc. in Water Resources, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1981). His initial industry experience was with Amoco Canada in 1967-69 as a “Geophysical Professional Assistant” for seismic data management, processing, and seismic section preparations.

Noon Division and Monthly Luncheon talks also are now happening on your favourite conferencing software. In some ways that is a Good Thing, since we can catch more of the presentations we normally miss, but the socializing is an important component of those activities and we will all miss those. Another benefit of the conferencing approach is that CSPG Members outside of Calgary can now easily take them in.

Hopefully, that will become a permanent fixture.

utumn again! The leaves of the aspens in the garden are brilliant yellow, the mornings are crisp and bright (just starting later than we might like), suggesting skiing will begin again in only a couple of months. Our CSPG golf tournaments were absent this year and were much missed (by golfing fans, anyway). Ditto all the rest of the sporting events we all enjoy.

The spring and summer conferences are being reincarnated as on-line/interactive events (see the GeoConvention website) in the COVID-19 afflicted world around us. We soldier on with an on-line version of the Core Conference, with the face-toface discussions and rock fondling we are accustomed to absent, or nearly so (see the Core Conference web page).

Keep those Reservoir-friendly manuscripts coming!

Tom has taken his broad geoscience experience – over 30 years of earth sciences experience, including experimental watershed research, hydrology, hydrogeology, environmental geology, oil and gas prospect development, drilling programs, and extensive field work in minerals exploration and development – in both government and industry, and applied it to the promotion of professionalism within the geosciences, through his role at APEGA. Readers of The RECORDER, The Source, the CSPG Reservoir, and The PEG have seen Tom’s numerous articles on the role of the professional geoscientist.

T.I.H. Consulting Ltd. Geologic Well-Site Supervision

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1602 – 5th St N.E. Calgary, AB. T2E 7W3 Phone: 403-233-7729 www.tihconsulting.com e-mail: tih@shaw.ca

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

Graduate Thesis Awards Call for Theses

ABOUT THE THESIS AWARDS

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Ph. D. AWARD Win $5,000, a framed certificate, and a one-year CSPG membership for the Doctoral thesis that makes the most significant contribution to Canadian sedimentary geology in 2020.

M. Sc. AWARD Win $4,000, a framed certificate, and a one-year CSPG membership for the Masters thesis that makes the most significant contribution to Canadian sedimentary geology in 2020.

Eligible theses are either produced in a Canadian university, regardless of project location, or deal with a Canadian sedimentary/petroleum geology topic, regardless of the university of origin.

NOMINATION DEADLINE September 25, 2020

Visit www.cspg.org/awards for nomination information

FEATURE ARTICLE

CSPG FIELDWORK BASED RESEARCH AWARDS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS By: Mark Cooper This article describes the CSPG Awards for field-based research by undergraduate students at Canadian universities which were introduced to encourage the development of field work in undergraduate degree programmes. The awards are for submissions that describe fieldwork that has been completed and documented; they are not grants made in advance of the fieldwork.

CSPG engaged in consultation during 2018 with several university departments to judge the potential level of interest in these new awards and to solicit feedback as to the practicalities of implementing this award scheme within the teaching framework.

Promotional materials were sent to university departments in Jan 2019, to raise awareness before the 2019 field season and submissions were due by Mar 31st 2020 and the awards will continue annually.

would also include logging of core and other similar activities that involve working directly with rocks; the intention is to exclude pure laboratory studies. The emphasis must be on the geological observations made and the interpretations derived from those observations. In this context laboratory work should only be included where it is critical to support conclusions reached from the fieldwork.

Any geoscience topic can be submitted for this award; the topic does not have to be related to petroleum geology. This includes studies on unconsolidated deposits, sedimentary geology, stratigraphy, paleontology, igneous and metamorphic terranes, mineral deposits and environmental geology. Whilst this list is not exhaustive, we want to make this as inclusive as possible so please contact CSPG for guidance if necessary.

Submissions are limited to one per university department which must internally decide on the best candidate to be submitted to the CSPG for consideration. Submissions must be as a 4 to 6 pages summary article in the style of the CSPG Reservoir that must present the data and the analysis and conclusions that accrue from the fieldwork project. Submissions can be made in French preferably with an English translation to aid the judges not all of whom are bilingual.

There is one award for each of the three following geographic areas,

The work must be based on at least five days of fieldwork undertaken individually by the student or as a group of up to 4 students with minimal supervisory support. This could be work undertaken as part of

Each award is $5000 to be split 50/50 between the student(s) and the department with the option for the department to take less than 50% if they choose to do so; the department is required to use their funds to support future fieldwork for students, for example, by subsidising field schools.

• a field school

• Quebec, Atlantic and Eastern Arctic (Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Nunavut),

For the purposes of this award fieldwork

In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic impacted

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Finally, I would like to thank Murray Gilhooly, Marian Warren and John Weissenberger who helped with the review of the submissions and the selection of the two winners for 2020.

For further information please visit https:// www.cspg.org/IMIS20/Students/Fieldwork_ Awards/ or you can email me at fieldawards@ cspg.org .

• Western Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, NWT, Saskatchewan and Yukon).

• as a field assistant to a research project.

• an internship project with a company or government entity

I encourage you to read the two winning submissions for 2020 by Lauren Morris of Dalhousie University, available in the September/October issue of the Reservoir and Jessie Kehew of the University of Ottawa, available in the upcoming November/ December issue of the Reservoir. The articles cover two very different topics but are both of a very high standard and show that high quality undergraduate student field research is alive and well in Canadian Universities.

• Central Canada (Ontario and Manitoba),

The author(s) of the winning submissions will present their work in a special session organized in conjunction with Geoconvention in Calgary in mid-May 2021; a travel and subsistence grant of $1500 per region is available from the CSPG.

• an undergraduate thesis project

the number of submissions and I anticipate that this may also be an issue for the coming year as the 2020 field season will have been affected by travel restrictions. CSPG intends to continue to offer the awards with the expectation that the number of submissions will increase as normality slowly returns.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

FEATURE ARTICLE

PETROLEUM SYSTEM ELEMENTS OF TRINIDAD AT CEDROS BAY WITH ANALOGIES TO OFFSHORE NOVA SCOTIA By: Lauren Morris, Grant Wach – Department of Earth & Environmental Science – Dalhousie University ABSTRACT While in Trinidad, students from Dalhousie University participating in the Petroleum Geoscience Field Methods course examined each element of the petroleum system by visiting numerous outcrops in the field, completing core and outcrop descriptions, seismic interpretations, and log correlations. Cedros Bay, located on the southern tip of the island, exposes part of the Morne L’Enfer formation silts and sands.

These outcrops were observed, described, and interpreted with sequence stratigraphy and ichnology in mind to produce a final stratigraphic column, including inference of depositional environments and location of the ancient delta. This section is analogous to the Scotian Basin, in terms of petroleum system elements and processes, and the importance of deltaic input for reservoir potential.

INTRODUCTION This report is written from the fieldwork experience of the Dalhousie University’s Petroleum Geoscience Field Methods course (ERTH 4157), that has been offered through the Department of Earth Sciences with instruction by Grant Wach for the past 18 years. The course focus is a week of field work in February on the island of Trinidad, located just off the northwestern coast of Venezuela. I have been to Trinidad twice – the first in 2019 as a student in my final year of my degree, the second in 2020 as the teaching/field assistant to a new group.

The trip is jam packed with incredible field work and activities, making it difficult to narrow down the most appropriate subject to report. Out of all the outcrops visited, the Lower Morne L’Enfer member of Cedros Bay may be one of the most dynamic deltaic sections, exhibiting trace fossil assemblages, and an array of sedimentary structures within a sequence stratigraphic framework. While on the tide-restrictive beach, students viewed and measured

the outcrop to create a final log including grain size, bioturbation index, associated ichnofacies, structural features, and stratal thicknesses.

This log was used to interpret depositional environments on the delta, the progradational or retrogradational Fig. 1. Map of Trinidad indicating gas and oil fields, as well as significant faulting. nature of the Cedros Bay is marked with a yellow dot, Stollmeyer’s quarry in blue (Deville et delta system, al 2009). and potential viability as reservoir-seal pairs for a petroleum system.

It is emphasized in the field course that many of the outcrops we see in Trinidad petroleum systems are analogous to the ones we see in the Scotian Basin. Learning the field techniques of outcrop and core description, gamma ray logging, and recognition of petroleum systems, could prove very useful for students returning to Nova Scotia industry.

FIELD METHODS Several methods were taught and implemented in the field in Trinidad, a variety in direct use for the Cedros Bay section. The initial focus in any field exercise is to do a detailed observation of the outcrop in question, and record the dip and strike, sedimentary geology of the formation, including grain size and shape, colour, deformation, and any structures present (fig. 2). Once observations have been made, interpretations can

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

Fig. 2. Students from 2020 recording dip and physical & biogenic structures at Cedros Bay (photo by LM).

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Fig. 3. Traverse along Cedros Bay beginning in the southwest (Google Earth).

be formed based on physical and biogenic sedimentary structures; these typically include processes of formation, deformation mechanics, and the evolution of depositional environments.

Pace counts were also completed, done by laying out a length of measuring tape and counting the paces it takes to get down the line, resulting in their pace per meter.

Students can effectively measure the distance walked on the beach this way, which can then be put into a trigonometric equation to determine the thickness of the formation.

reviewed the field stops and collaborated on exercises. During the Cedros Bay review, students shared their observations and interpretations of the outcrops to aid in the formation of a complete stratigraphic log of the section (fig. 4).

Using the direct observations and ensuing interpretations, along with pace count measurements, a stratigraphic log can be created with a purpose of detailing the sedimentary geology and stratigraphy of the unit in question. While in the field, notebooks are filled with minutiae of grain characteristics, potential formational processes of specific structures, and which ichnofacies are most likely related to the trace fossil assemblages present. The field books contributed to the final stratigraphic log that consists of information on sediment structures, grain size, sequence stratigraphy, ichnology, and interpreted depositional environments.

A number of distinct facies were observed in the field, with variable characteristics aiding in final interpretation. Walking northeast up the beach and younging in stratal age, the outcrops begins with lithofacies 1, consisting of laminated grey to beige silts and clays. At the base of the section, finer grained muds are common, while locally deformed or contorted beds, as well as fragments of organic matter can also be found. Silty sand layers start thin and rare, then grade into a visible coarsening upwards as the frequency and thickness of sand layers increase to evolve into the overlying sandstones.

Bioturbation is low, if trace fossils were present, very little were preserved.

RESULTS After each full day in the field, participants

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Fig. 4. Stratigraphic log of the Cedros Bay section of the Lower Morne L’Enfer member with physical sedimentary structures, ichnology, and sequence stratigraphic interpretations. Lithofacies described in text are noted. Depositional environments were determined from these observed features.

Lithofacies 2 is distinguishable by the

thickening of very fine-grained sand layers into massive, poorly consolidated beds. This gradational contact is marked by the evolution from lenticular, to wavy, to flaser laminated beds, with silt lenses becoming rare attributed to excess sand accumulation (fig. 5). The massive sand beds contain multiple types of cross stratification. Bioturbation is common and attributed to the Skolithos, Psilonichnus, and Cruziana ichnofacies.

Lithofacies 3 begins with a sharp contact visible in outcrop where the massive yellow sands are capped by chaotic beds of grey silts. The base of this unit is characterized by contorted and slumped grey silt beds with ball and pillow structures. This is topped with interlaminated silts and veryfine-grained sands, similar to the initial facies described. While bioturbation is not visible in the deformed beds at the base, it

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

FEATURE ARTICLE

DISCUSSION The Morne L’Enfer formation is separated into two major units, the Upper and Lower Morne L’Enfer members, separated by the Lot 7 Silt, a maximum flooding surface.

The Lower Morne L’Enfer is further broken down into distinct silt and sandstone members, which are visible at Cedros Bay among other locations.

Fig. 5. Outcrop photo showing transition from siltier to sandier sediments (photo by Grant Wach). increases with the onset of laminations.

A great diversity of trace fossils can be seen here, including Ophiomorpha and Asterosoma.

The final distinct unit, lithofacies 4, is identified by an abrupt change to thick bedded fine to medium-grained sandstones, marked by a contorted bed with flame structures. There are occasional interlaminae of thin silts, grading up into amalgamated sand beds with occasional symmetrical ripples. The distinguishing feature of the sand unit is thick intervals of swaley cross stratification, with trough cross stratified sands occurring at the top. Bioturbation is intense but not necessarily diverse, with Ophiomorpha nodosa burrows being frequent and most dominant. The latter two distinct facies repeat multiple times along the beach cliff face, marking out potential parasequences within this deltaic system.

Approximately ten kilometers north, on the other side of the Los Bajos fault, lies Stollmeyer’s quarry, which comprises the upper most unit of the Lower Morne L’Enfer member. The amalgamated cross-stratified sands here, unlike the outcrops at Cedros Bay, are stained black with oil as they form an exhumed hydrocarbon reservoir.

Four parasequences were defined in the exposed Morne L’Enfer outcrops along Cedros Bay. The first is comprised of the initial two facies described, laminated grey silts grading into lenticular-wavy-flaser bedding with massive sand beds on top.

The final three parasequences comprise the same two lithofacies, repeating the bioturbated laminated silts and the stratified massive sands. Flooding surfaces are marked by a change from thick sands to thin silts or clays. These finer-grained, laminated sediments are often used to identify deeper marine settings, compared to the sands of the shoreface above. The three flooding surfaces indicated lie at the base of each new parasequence and indicate an increase in water column height and a relative deepening of the basin at each boundary.

The parasequences can be further defined into sets, or stacking patterns, based on grain size succession. Each parasequence identified has a similar stacking pattern beginning with silts and clays and grading upwards into very fine to medium grained sandstones. Using grain size and sediment structure, each of these four parasequence sets can be defined as a progradational system. The entire outcrop observed can also be characterized as a single parasequence set. Progradation indicates basinward movement of the delta as sediment supply overcomes available accommodation space, and the delta progrades outward.

Information gained from the sequence stratigraphy and ichnology allows for interpretation of depositional environments. Grain size, physical and biogenic structures present, and type of trace fossils preserved provide clues to where that sediment was deposited and the energy level of that location. Figure 7 demonstrates the interconnectivity of salinity, turbidity, and energy as related to

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

Fig. 6. Outcrop image of lithofacies 1, laminated silts & clays, ruler for scale (photo by Tanner Milne). environmental stresses, in a deltaic setting.

For the first lithofacies, bioturbation was very low and rarely visible in the outcrop. The chaotic nature of the beds, contorted with slumping, suggest that the environment was too turbid to preserve many traces, if organisms were even present to make them. This turbidity, indicated by the deformed mud beds and lack of ichnofossils preserved, is indicative of a distal prodelta or slope environment. The second described lithofacies, comprised of wavy bedding grading into massive sands, had a low to moderate bioturbation index. A diverse range of ichnofacies were interpreted from the various traces found in the strata, the Ophiomorpha nodosa pellet-lined burrowing being the most recognizable, especially in the sandier beds.

Skolithos and Arenicolites traces were also interpreted, identified as simple vertical burrows appearing as either assemblages of “pipes” or in pairs of small circles acting as the entrance and exit of the burrow. This increase in bioturbation comes with the onset of sandier laminae, observed in the lenticular-wavy-flaser bedding, as some degree of the structure is determined by the churning of sediment by organisms, as opposed to solely tidal or wave processes.

The ebb and flood of tidal processes is most likely the cause of the transitional wavy bedding, which is indicative of a shallower wave base. Based on this, the lithofacies was interpreted to be in a subtidal environment, likely on the distal delta front or proximal prodelta. The increase in

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Fig. 7. Components comprising relative environmental stresses for marine organisms, and the resulting impact on ichnological diversity.

Fig. 8. Representation of the deposition of the Morne L’Enfer formation and other deltaic sediments from the Pliocene Orinoco Delta.

with Ophiomorpha nodosa pellet-lined burrows, indicative of a high-stress sandy environment, typical of the delta front.

Stollmeyer’s quarry, an active oil sands mining operation. Offshore, the Palo Seco oil field produces from the Morne L’Enfer formation, with multiple rigs visible from the coast. These deltaic sands form great reservoirs, with their fine-grained channelized sands and reworked delta front winnowing fines. The Morne L’Enfer formation provided the reservoir seal pairs of the viable petroleum system, along with the potential for structural and/or stratigraphic traps. The system is charged by the Cretaceous source rocks of the Naparima Hill and Gautier formations, buried by thick sediment including the Pliocene Morne L’Enfer, initiating thermal maturation and allowing for generation of hydrocarbons (Vincent 2008).

bioturbation was likely a factor of reduced turbidity stresses, and an increase in sandy substrate, indicative of a more proximal lithofacies than the one it overlies. This also supports the prograding parasequence set interpretation, as these units indicate a fall of sea level and an increase in deltaic sand deposition.

The first flooding surface marks our second defined parasequence, comprised of the lithofacies three and four. Within the grey interlaminated silts, bioturbation is typically very low as the base of the unit is comprised of contorted beds with ball and pillow structures, not ideal for fossil preservation. As energy stresses decrease, bioturbation increases up the unit, and traces like Phycodes and Asterosoma are present along with Ophiomorpha and Arenicolites, more burrows identified by their unique branching shapes comparable to a whiskbroom for the former and a star for the latter. The base of this unit is interpreted to be distal prodelta or slope environment, based on the chaotic beds with ball and pillow structures, indicative of instability. The overlying laminated silts with abundant ichnofossils requires deeper waters for non-turbid sedimentation, and proper preservation of the diversity of traces, meaning a transition from prodelta to more offshore. This indicates shallowing with eventual abandonment of the delta lobe; followed by resurgence of rapid sedimentation marked by the onset of sandier beds with flame structures in between. The incoming sediment from the new active delta lobe could overwhelm the deposited offshore muds, creating more contorted beds, as well as flame structures from the overburden of the sands. This massive sand deposit is interwoven

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A flooding surface bounds the next parasequence, which comprises the same two lithofacies described for the previous.

The base of this unit is not as contorted as the last, with parallel laminations of silt and very fine-grained sands being mildly bioturbated. The trend of the strata follows that of the unit before, and an input of sands caps the fine-grained sediment beds, which are then bioturbated with Ophiomorpha nodosa burrows and instances of Skolithos.

This parasequence likely represents another abandonment to active delta phase, indicated by the change from bioturbated laminated silts of the offshore to swaleycross-stratified sands of the delta front.

The final parasequence is likely indicative of a third abandoned to active delta lobe, based on the interlaminated silts capped with cross stratified sands, divided by a bed with flame structures and organic-rich mud. Bioturbation is low in the deformed basal unit beds but increases with the onset of sandier laminae being deposited.

Flame structures were likely formed when quick-deposited sands overburdened the muds, while swaley cross-stratification formed by processes of wave reworking, typical of a shoreface environment, which would coincide with the shallowing-up progradation of the delta. This environment would allow for wave-reworking of the delta front, leading to these structures observed.

The outcrops described from Cedros Bay comprise the Lower Morne L’Enfer member of the Morne L’Enfer formation.

To the northeast, the Lower and Upper members of the formation are exposed at

The answer as to why Stollmeyer’s quarry and Palo Seco are producing hydrocarbons while Cedros Bay does not, is due to migration pathways, from the source rock to effective reservoir. Trinidad has experienced multiple tectonic events, producing an intricate network of faults throughout its strata (Escalona & Mann, 2011). A visible fault in the quarry separates oil-wet from water-wet beds, while mud drapes and plugs form baffles and barrier to flow within the channelized sand unit.

At Cedros Bay, effective pathways and traps have not been created to allow the sands to become gas or oil-bearing reservoirs. These pathways could be directly related to the Los Bajos fault, depicted in figure 8.

SCOTIAN BASIN ANALOG Offshore Nova Scotia, the Scotian basin also preserves evidence of significant deltaic input forming its hydrocarbon reservoirs.

The reservoir seal pairs produced by the active deltaic progradation and

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

FEATURE ARTICLE

Fig. 9. Students from 2020 on the oil saturated sands of Stollmeyer’s quarry, an exhumed oil reservoir (photo by LM). retrogradation, and abandonment of delta facies produced the prolific petroleum systems in each basin. The study of these discrete petroleum systems provides insight into each other’s system. Both regions have viable hydrocarbon systems with significant production capabilities, in part attributed to the reservoir sands deposited in deltaic depositional systems.

CONCLUSIONS The Cedros Bay Lower Morne L’Enfer member is a dynamic deltaic section that forms at least four parasequences visible from the coastal outcrops, exhibiting lithofacies indicative of lobe abandonment and reactivation. Theses parasequences are defined by flooding surfaces and represent a set of progradational packages of deltaic sediment. Ichnology can be a useful indicator of organism stress responses, which in turn can lead to depositional environment interpretation.

Diverse bioturbation can be seen in the fine-grained laminated sediments, while only a few, like Ophiomorpha nodosa, persisted in the sandy substrate with robust burrow walls in times of high energy. The combination of sequence stratigraphy and ichnology provided the synthesis of the Lower Morne L’Enfer member as it is viewed at Cedros Bay. Examination of the Trinidad petroleum systems at outcrop provides valuable insight to the subsurface reservoirs of offshore Atlantic Canada, where outcrops are not present for study.

Fig. 10. Jurassic paleogeography of the Scotian Basin, depicting deposition of siliciclastic deltaic sediments into the basin (modified from John Wade & Atlantic Geoscience Society, from Brown (2008)).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I offer my utmost appreciation to the Petroleum Geoscience Field Methods student groups from 2019 and 2020. Thank you to my fellow classmates of the 2019 field season for an extremely memorable field course and all the hard work completed: Tanner Milne, Rachel Noddle, Galena Roots, Ryan Taylor, Sarima Vahrenkamp, Eleanor Chisholm, Bennett Mortimore, and especially to Max Angel for helping with edits. Thank you to my students of the 2020 field season, you all helped me learn as much on my second trip as I did the first, and your collaborative effort in the field led to creation of this report: Jonathan Kabiito, Madison Matthews, Sadie Jacobs-Peters, Graeme Wach, Rosa Toutah, Anna Ryan, Olivia Rolfe, Natalie Shields, Bailey Milos, and Cole Christenson. Special thanks to Professor Grant Wach for his dedication to the course and his ongoing support, as well as the collaborating educators and professionals in Trinidad, especially to Dr. Hasley Vincent from Heritage and Xavier Moonan from Touchstone. Lastly, my gratitude to our generous sponsors; Dalhousie University, Touchstone, OERA, NSDEM, Heritage, Shell, BP, Encana, the Canadian High Commission in Trinidad & Tobago, and the University of West Indies, without whom the course would not run.

Offshore Petroleum Board, 13 p. Available from: https://www.cnsopb.ns.ca/sites/ default/files/resource/regional_geology_ of_the_scotian_basin_-_2008.pdf Deville E. and Guerlais S., 2009; Cyclic activity of mud volcanoes: Evidence from Trinidad (SE Caribbean); Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 26 (9), p. 16811691.

Escalona A. and Mann P., 2011; Tectonics, basin subsidence mechanisms, and paleogeography of the Caribbean-South American plate boundary zone; Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 28 (1), p. 8-39.

Vincent H., 2008; Cenozoic Sediment Dispersal Patterns Across Trinidad, West Indies; PhD Thesis; Department of Earth Sciences. Dalhousie University. CSPG Graduate Thesis Award Winner 2009.

Wach G., Vincent H., Pothier H., MartynsYellowe K., Hargreaves A., Morrison N., Skinner C., Hu X. and Morris L., 2020; ERTH 4157 Petroleum Geoscience Field Methods Field Guide; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Dalhousie University.

REFERENCES Brown D., 2008; Regional Geology of the Scotian Basin; Canada-Nova Scotia

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DRILLING AND COMPLETING IN COLOUR – INTEGRATING PETROPHYSICS, GEOLOGY, DRILLING AND COMPLETIONS By: Reigh MacPherson, P.Geoph., Petrophysicist - MacPherson Energy Consulting

P

etrophysics, its methodology and application, has changed dramatically over the last decade.

This transition is not unique and has been repeated in most disciplines within the oil and gas industry. This is particularly true in the operations occurring in the more mature onshore basins of North America where the focus has predominantly shifted to ‘resource’ plays.

Prior to this transition, most hydrocarbon production was derived from vertical wells. The preponderance of these wells were logged to varying extent following drilling. Specific wireline tools were chosen to determine various reservoir properties: depth of potential pay zones, fluid content, thickness, porosity, lithology, saturations, etc. Most recent domestic drilling, particularly in marginal areas of mature fields and in shale basins, is horizontal well placement requiring fracture stimulation. In general, much less ‘conventional’ petrophysical data is collected in these wells. To demonstrate how petrophysics can still add value in this new paradigm this article will focus on the integration of petrophysical tools with geology, drilling and completions to improve well placement and completions efficiency.

The Lower Cretaceous Viking formation in Central Eastern Alberta and Southwest Saskatchewan has been a target for multistage fractured horizontal wells for many years. Numerous sand bodies within the overall shoreface/shallow marine depositional environment have been produced. In some areas, specifically where older vertical wells exploited the initial pool discoveries, the sand is reasonably well developed and can be considered ‘conventional’. In many other areas the Viking consists of sand/silt/clay laminae which may only be economic with the application of multi-stage fractured

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horizontal wells.

High Ground Energy drilled 92 horizontal wells in the Provost area between 20162018 to further exploit areas previously identified with vertical wells and to extend tight oil production beyond the boundaries of historic vertical oil production. In these areas, steering of horizontal wells is complicated by the ‘shaliness’ of the target interval. Whereas many horizontal wells in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin can be successfully drilled and placed using a combination of mud logging, cuttings description and Gamma Ray data, this is difficult in parts of the Viking play where the Gamma Ray expression is very subtle (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Typical Viking well in Central Eastern Alberta. Note low Gamma Ray contrast between Viking SS (774-779m) and surrounding shales.

To more accurately position the horizontal wellbores, it was decided to incorporate Logging While Drilling resistivity tools into drilling operations.

The AziTrak tool from Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE), was selected due to its capability as a deep azimuthal resistivity tool. This tool is designed to detect reservoir boundaries, both the distance and direction to the boundary, based on the resistivity contrast between the target formation and the surrounding beds. The Viking reservoir has a markedly higher resistivity than the Viking shale above and the Joli Fou formation below (Figure 1).

The first drilling programs, roughly one third of the total wells drilled, were conducted using the BHGE AziTrak tool combined with wellsite geology input and mud gas response. These wells were typically drilled at half-section spacing (average lateral length approximately

800m) and completed with 20 frac stages.

The early programs were reasonably operationally successful, but several issues were encountered. Two wells required redrilling of the lateral section due to difficulty in finding and staying in zone.

Additionally, a substantial number of frac stages near the upper Viking boundary were difficult to place, requiring high fluid volumes.

The latter two thirds of the drilling programs consisted mainly of full section spaced wells (average lateral length approximately 1400m), many of which were located in regions of thinner Viking reservoir. In an attempt to further improve operational efficiency, an additional tool was added to the workflow. The Brigg’s Colour Cube module within the Geolog (Paradigm/Emerson) software was employed in real time to assist with

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Figure 2 – 3-D Crossplot of Deep Resistivity, Shallow Resistivity and Gamma Ray steering decisions. This model (Doveton, 1994) takes three input logs and assigns a primary colour (Red, Green, Blue) to each.

The data from each log are normalized on an orthogonal scale from 0-255 and a 3-D crossplot is generated (Figure 2).

This methodology yields approximately 16.7 million unique colour combinations representing the log readings from the three curves. Typical applications of this tool in the past have been for lithology identification (using Density, Neutron and Pef information) and shale facies identification (using the Uranium, Thorium and Potassium components of the spectral gamma ray tool).

For consistency, a regional marker was chosen (approximately 50m above the target Viking reservoir), below which all the data were normalized. Ideally a well was drilled to the base of the target sand early on so that a full representation of the section could be observed. It soon became apparent that the colour response was very consistent across the entire area of operations. Figure 3 illustrates a typical full vertical section logged at the heel of a horizontal well. It is noted that the section above the Viking sand reservoir is always green. The high quality Viking sands are generally purple and pink. The mid Viking marker (a shaly interval within the Viking sand) is always a light blue and the shale below the Viking base is generally a brown

Figure 3 – True Vertical Depth section of the heel of a horizontal Viking well in Provost. Above Viking (Green),Viking SS (Purples/Pinks), Mid Viking Mkr (Light Blue), Base Viking (Brown).

Figure 4 – Example of a Colour Cube display after drilling 400m of lateral section. Note the top of Viking was intersected twice while dropping (930-980m) indicating formation dipping at heel. Also the midViking marker seen at 1300m while climbing is not present in the heel of the well. colour. The occasional dramatic colour change is observed in the case of a very tight streak (red/pink) or a bentonite layer (bright green).

Pattern

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recognition

is

an

extremely

important aspect of both geology and petrophysics. Prior to implementing the colour cube workflow there was much debate and squinting at the screen to gauge where resistivity and gamma ray data ‘appeared’ similar. When instantaneous

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to the top of the Viking reservoir sand.

These situations had proven to be difficult to both initiate fracture stimulation and to place proppant during the early drilling programs. Completions costs were decreased and production results were improved by avoiding these conditions.

The final operational step was the geological interpretation (Figure 5b) of the wellbore placement relative to the formation.

Figure 5a – Example of a final well display including raw data, colour cube and frac port placement.

Wellbore encountered base Viking near heal at ~1000m. Base was again intersected at 1200m so well continued to be steered up. Sudden green (top Viking) spikes recognized at 1440 and 1530m are interpreted as indicating minor faulting. Top Viking was encountered at 1950m while wellbore dropping, indicating dipping formation.Well steered down and touched base again at 2120m.

Over the course of operations, both wellbore placement and frac efficiency continually improved. Final statistics for the program include 95% in zone wellbore placement and 97% frac success. Of course, not all the operational improvements in the program is the result of the implementation of the colour cube into the workflow but there is no doubt that there is demonstrable value in this application.

Acknowledgments: The entire operational team at High Ground should be recognized for their contributions to the operational improvements over the course of this drilling campaign; Colleen Sherry (VP Exploration), Brett Thompson (Sr Geologist), Craig Johns (Consulting Geologist), Rod Ewacha (VP Operations) and Nick Stanford (Drilling Mgr).

Thank You to Colleen Sherry for her review and helpful suggestions to improve the content of this article.

References Cited: Figure 5b – Example of final geological interpretation of well trajectory relative to target formation. In this location several meters of structural relief is observed with minor faulting near the top. (Courtesy Brett Thompson) Rate of Penetration at times exceeds 300 meters per hour and 1400m lateral sections are drilled in under a day it was advantageous to have an additional tool to allow for more confidence in the steering decisions.

During active operations, multiple colour cube plots (Figure 4) were generated for each lateral section to assist in positioning the well relative to the full reservoir package. These plots assisted the geologist in optimizing well placement and

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Doveton, J.H. (1994). Geological Log Analysis Using Computer Methods. (AAPG Computer Applications in Geology, No. 2).

Tulsa, OK: AAPG.

adjusting steering decisions, particularly in the case of unexpected events such as steeply dipping formation, faults, pinchouts, etc. (Figure 5a).

Following drilling, the full data suite was used to select frac port placement (Figure 5a). An iterative approach was employed using the frac port company software to determine the optimal port placement. Adjustments were made to avoid positioning a frac port in obvious shalier intervals and intervals too close

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GO TAKE A HIKE – ETHIOPIA, #1 Geology of the Ethiopian Rift Valley

By Philip Benham, Enku Mulugeta, and Tom Pfeiffer This article provides the geological background for a series of Go Take a Hike articles all set within or on the margins of the Ethiopian Rift Valley. The locations of future hike articles are noted and numbered on the map in Figure 2.

The remote deserts of Northern Ethiopia provide a spectacular geological setting for the northern terminus of the East African Rift System (EARS). The entire rift once extended 6,000 km from Mozambique, up through the present day Red Sea and into the Dead Sea in Jordan. Ethiopia is home to nine UN World Heritage sites of religious, cultural, and historic interest.

Much of early human pre-history is known from finds in the country; the 3.2 million year-old bones of our ancestor Australopithecus afarensis (aka Lucy) were uncovered in the Awash district of the ‘Afar Triangle’. Afar also yielded the 4.4 Ma remains of Ardipithecus ramidus; the last common ancestor of both chimpanzees and humans. Just south of Addis Ababa is the Paleolithic site of Melka Kunture on the banks of the Awash River with an almost continuous series of stone tools, camping, and food preparation sites that date from 1.7 to 0.2 Ma. The residents occupied this

Figure 1: Present day East African Rift System (EARS) extends from Mozambique to the Gulf of Aden. The eastern arm, running through Ethiopia is also termed the Ethiopian Rift Valley. Active volcanoes (red triangles) are mostly restricted to the rift. The dark pink wedge on land, where Red Sea and Gulf of Aden meet, is shown in more detail in Figure 2. (Modified from: http://pubs. usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/East_Africa.html).

Figure 2: Topographic map of Ethiopia displaying the highs on the flanks of the rift (brown to grey) and the adjacent lows (green) in the Afar Triangle.

Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile ultimately drains northwest due to the uplift. The red dotted lines, marking a funnel shape, identify the widening of the Ethiopian Rift Valley into the Afar.

The yellow dashed line marks the approximate position of the schematic cross-section in Figure 3. Image from Corti et al., 2015.

Numbers note the location of planned hikes in the series: 1) Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela 2) Erta Ale Volcano 3) Danakil Desert: Salt Plains and Lakes 4) Dallol Halo-Volcanic Hydrothermal System 5) Simien Mountains / Flood Basalts (Figure 9)

Figure 3: Greatly simplified cross-section orientated roughly NW-SE (over the Afar Triangle from Ethiopia to Djibouti) showing the series of small grabens arrayed within in the rift valley and the large faults along its margins. Currently active volcanoes are centred on fault systems. Alluvial fans and minor reefs (from the last marine influx) rim the edges of the rift valley and a mix of clastics and evaporites fill the subbasins. (Figure from Waltham, 2010).

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Letters denote some other locations commented upon within this article and coloured dots to the location of photographs.

A) Lucy Paleontological Site (Hadar) (Figure 11) B) Melka Kunture (Figure 14) C) Axum (Figure 13) D) Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile (Figure 10) E) Wegel Tena Opal deposits (Figure 13)

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Figure 5: View of Gondwana supercontinent with its assembled ancient cratons (ancient continental shields) and orogenic belts. Ethiopia (dashed box) sits at the junction between east (yellow) and west (blue) Gondwana. The future path of the East African Rift System (EARS) runs north along the Mozambique Orogenic Belt (MB). Between about 170 million and 180 million years ago, Gondwana began to split, with Africa and South America breaking apart from the other half of Gondwana. About 140 million years ago the breakup completed when South America and Africa split, opening up the South Atlantic Ocean between them. Image from Corti, 2009. site because of continuous water supply, abundance of game, and proximity to tool carving materials (such as obsidian). The topographic changes related to rifting altered the landscape and the climate, driving diversification of ecosystems and ultimately leading the rise of mankind.

The rapid sedimentation and subsequent erosion has both preserved and revealed evidence of man’s rise from the rainforests of Africa.

Ethiopia’s riches carry into historic times, and geology continues to play a role. The Kingdom of Axum at its peak in 400 AD exploited syenite intrusions (formed during the rifting of the Afar Triangle) to fashion massive 15 m high obelisks. The famed stone churches of Lalibela (subject of the next article in this series) are fashioned out of the flood basalts of the early phases of the rift valley. Trekkers today seek out the alpine heights and scenic vistas of the Simien Mountains, remnants of those same volcanic convulsions.

The setting today in the Afar Triangle provides a unique viewing of an incipient ocean and a triple rift junction, and it strongly mimics what occurred in the Red Sea millions of years before. Below is an

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overview of the geological history of the Ethiopian Rift Valley, setting the stage for the series of hikes to come.

The Setup: The Supercontinent of Gondwana, consisting of South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, India, and Arabia (see Figure 5), has its origins in the late NeoProterozoic (550 Ma). In Eastern Africa, an ancient orogenic belt marks where India and Antarctica were once sutured to the African Craton. It is along this zone of structural weakness that the long-lived Gondwana began to break up in the Jurassic (180 Ma) and it later became the focus of the EARS. The Plume: The Afar Mantle Plume establishes. This long-lasting magma upwelling system from the Earth’s mantle began to uplift the region in the Eocene, prior to 40 Ma). It was accompanied by minor eruptive events about 40 and 34 Ma. See Figures 6, 7.

The Flood: The ‘Trap Series’ flood basalts cover large portions of Ethiopia and are related to rifting in the incipient Ethiopia Rift Valley that resulted in shield volcanoes, thick packages of basalts, and long-lasting topographic highs (including Simien,

Figure 4: Schematic model showing the evolution of Ethiopian portion of the Great Rift Valley (Corti, 2009). The details of each stage of rift formation are in the text to the left. The layers of the earth are crust (orange), mantle (light pink) and asthenosphere (dark pink).

Mangestu, and Guguftu mountains) primarily deposited in just under one million years (Keiffer et al., 2004) started at 30 Ma (see Figures 4a and 10). The 6,800 kmlong Nile River also originated at this time with uplift and subsequent reorganization of continental drainage systems (Fielding et al., 2018), that created a different kind of flood.

The Rift: By 30-20 Ma active rifting began in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and - to a lesser extent - in Ethiopia. Due to different rates of faulting, the triple rift junction joining them became unstable and migrated northwards across the Afar Triangle. The extended Red Sea crust was thinned, faulted, and intruded by gabbro. The intrusions have been dated to about 25 Ma (Ligi et al., 2018). Back in Ethiopia… the south rift arm

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Figure 6: Schematic of the Afar mantle plume during the Oligocene, impinging on the Afro-Arabian lithosphere at a weak point in the ancient Gondwana suture. Note the thinning and bulging of the crust and lithosphere and the generation of floods basalts (red) across the region.The plume exhibits both thermal and compositional zoning that affected when and where various types of lavas are erupted. The centre of the plume exhibits lava compositions most strongly associated with the mantle. Some xenoliths found in the Neogene and younger lavas are thought to be sourced from the lithosphere at depths of greater than 50 km. Image from Beccaluva et al., 2009. of the triple junction (that follows ancient craton structural weaknesses in the Afar region) faulted to a lesser extent than the Red Sea, but it was also accompanied by dike swarms (dating between 27-24 Ma) in the southern Afar (Mege, 2015).

Due to cyclic flooding and evaporation, the Red Sea accumulated 4 km of salt and other evaporite minerals (Hovland et al., 2008).

This occurred mostly between 8-11 Ma (Miocene), when the 2,000 km-long Red Sea Rift was closed to the Indian Ocean at the south but was periodically open to the Mediterranean in the north. The oceanic floor in the Red Sea is still young (not more than 1.7 Ma) and the spreading ridge is not yet fully developed, but is starting to occur in the Thetis Deep in the south (Ehrhardt and Huebscher, 2015). Even today, the Red Sea Rift is accumulating salt as geothermally mediated brines within a string of deep sags along its length.

Escarpments and Subsidence: Between 11-2 Ma large boundary faults became

Figure 7: The plume, centred on the triple rift junction, created a huge uplift (the Afro-Arabian Dome). This uplift created the present-day path of the Nile and even influenced the predominant eastwards sediment transport across the entire Arabian Plate. It was also centre point for voluminous series of continental flood basalts (the Trap Series) that erupted around 30 Ma. These flood basalts extend from Ethiopia to Yemen. Image from Segev, 2000.

active in the Ethiopia Rift Valley, resulting in significant escarpments, dramatic rift valley subsidence, erosion, and abundant volcanism in the early parts of this stage.

The thinned lithosphere resulted in an asthenospheric bulge that further uplifted the flanks of the rift (including the Simien Mountains). Narrow strings of lakes have dotted the rift valley since this time (Figure 4b).

Concentration of faulting and volcanics: By ~2Ma the Wonji Fault Belt, cut obliquely across the rift valley and largely terminated the boundary fault activity, restricting the volcanism and faulting primarily to this belt since then (Figures 4c, d).

The ‘traps’, from the Swedish word for steps, are descriptive of the eroded profile of thick lava packages. In the Ethiopian Rift Valley, where there were sufficient periods of time between eruptive events, sediments were deposited and soils (including coals) developed. These ‘recessive’ intervals form the steps while the harder basalts form the

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cliffs.

Oceanic crust formation: Since 2 Ma faults, dikes, and larger magmatic intrusions became strongly linked in an extensionrelated feedback loop. The highly extended continental crust (now only 15 km thick versus a more typical 35 km) was breached by the asthenosphere (with mafic intrusions and numerous extrusive events) and thus began to form oceanic lithosphere. As the near-surface asthenosphere extruded lava and lost heat, the rift began to subside (portions of it are below present-day sea level), which resulted in periodic marine incursions from the Red Sea. The incursions have been related to a combination of tectonic pulse / subsidence and global changes in sea level (Figure 4e).

The Desert: The Danakil Depression was occupied by an arm of the Red Sea until roughly 120 Ka. Conditions were often sufficient for coral reefs to form (their remains can still be observed on the flanks of the rift valley today). Blockage of the

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Figure 8:Triple Junction in the Afar region of Ethiopia.

Image shows areas of stretched continental and oceanic crust as well as areas of exposed flood basalts that preceded rifting (orange). Areas unshaded or covered by flood basalts represent normal continental crust.The original extent of the flood basalts would have been greater, but large areas have been eroded or buried within the rift valley by other volcanic eruptions and sediments.

As the crust pulled apart and thinned, it became a complex mixture of continental sediments and volcanic rock (pink). Eventually the crust was distended to the point that oceanic-type basalts erupted, signaling new oceanic crust formation (purple). The new oceanic crust is restircted to Gulf of Aden, a small sliver within the Red Sea and is now initiating in the Afar triangle. Image from Wood and Guth, 2009.

Figure 11: The bones of Ardipithecus ramidus. This Early Pliocene australopithecine from the Afar appears to have lived in the forests marginal to the Awash River in otherwise widespread savanna. Unlike modern hominids, it has adaptations for both walking on two legs and life in the trees.The specimen, along with the nearly 3.2 Ma remains of even more famous ‘Lucy’ is on display in the National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa (blue dot, Figure 2).

Figure 9: Blue Nile Falls at Tiss Isat, just south of the source of the Blue Nile (Lake Tana). Below the falls the river forms a 400 km-long canyon that has recently been flooded by a hydroelectric dam – causing friction between energy-requiring Ethiopia and water-requiring Egypt. Image courtesy of www.Ethiovisit.com.

Figure 10: Simien is a massive shield volcanic cone rising to over 4,500 m in elevation and composed of over 3,000 m of low- angle basalt flows. The eruptive series was deposited in approximately one million years, starting about 30 Ma (Keiffer et al., 2004). Picture of the basalt traps of the Simien Mountains by Thomas Maluk (https:// www.africanbudgetsafaris.com/blog/trekking-the-simien-mountains-of-ethiopia/).

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Figure 12: ‘Play of colour’ opal collected from Wegel Tena. The opal formed as hydrated amorphous silica cement within the silicic lavas of the traps. At the Wegel Tena site the traps consist of alternating layers of basalt flows and rhyolitic ignimbrites comprised of the debris of the volcanic eruptive plume: ash, crystals, clasts, and shards of volcanic glass (Rondeau et al., 2010).The opal is concentrated in a single 1 m-thick layer and in isolated fracture and cavity fills.

As in the sample illustrated shows, it tends to behave as a cement; the right side of the sample is primarily opal while the darker side on the left is a mix of opal and Ba-Mn oxides. Image from Rondeau et al., 2010.

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Figure 13:The Kingdom of Axum, famous for its carved royal tombs and giant obelisks, was at its peak between 100 and 700 AD. The Obelisk of Axum (also known as the Rome Stele because in 1937 it was broken into 5 pieces and shipped to Rome as Italian war booty. In spite of a 1947 UN agreement for its return, it did not arrive until 2005. The 1,700 year-old monument is 24 m in height and weighs 160 tonnes. It is carved with false doors at its base and rows of windows making up 11 stories. The obelisks are sourced from nearby quarries in post-Trap volcanics - phonolitic and trachytic lavas erupted between 19.5 and 15 Ma (Hagos, 2016). The stone in phonolitic volcanic necks is particularly well suited for obelisk construction because of its jointing.

Image Source: Ondřej Žváček https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Axum#/media/File:Rome_Stele.jpg

ocean outlet by lava flows (from the Alid Volcanic Complex in Eritrea at the north end of the Danakil Depression) resulted in almost complete evaporation, leaving behind 1,200 km2 of desolate salt desert (at 125 m below sea level) and remnant hypersaline lakes (such as Lake Assale).

Most of the 800-1,000 m of salt strata in the Afar Triangle has likely been deposited since the Pleistocene and forms by far the largest surface accumulation of salt in the world. The beds are a mixture of halite,

Figure 14: 1.7 Ma hand tool from the Melka Kunture archaeological site. Rhyolitic lavas, pumaceous welded ignimbrites, and obsidian (from volcanic activity starting between 5 and 4 Ma and continuing intermittently during the occupation of the site) provided raw materials for weapons, choppers, and scraping tools.

other evaporite minerals such as sylvite (KCl) and gypsum (CaSO4.H2O), and some minor clastic material washed in during periodic rain storms. While the area is remote and inhospitable, these deposits have attracted miners since prehistory.

The Future: Land on the eastern side of the Danakil Desert is currently moving away from the African continent at the rate of 15 mm per year (that’s about 150 km in ten million years). In a few million years

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there will likely be a semi-permanent arm of the ocean extending south from the Red Sea through the middle of Ethiopia. In 10 Million years parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, and Kenya will have drifted off to form a ‘second’ Madagascar off the east coast of Africa. The strata within the entire Persian Gulf will likely be subducted under the Zagros Mountains in Iran, though some form of foreland basin may still exist.

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FEATURE ARTICLE References Bastow, I., Booth, A., Corti, G., Keir, D., Magee, C., Jackson, C. A., Warren, J., Wilkinson, J., and Lascialfari, M. 2018; The development of late-stage continental breakup: Seismic reflection and borehole evidence from the Danakil Depression, Ethiopia; Tectonics, v. 37, p.2848-2862; https://doi.org/10.1029/2017TC004798.

Beccaluva, L., Bianchini, G., Natali, C., and Siena, F., 2009; Continental flood basalts and mantle plumes: a Case Study of the Northern Ethiopian Plateau; Journal of Petrology, v. 50, no. 7, p. 1377-1403; https:// doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egp024.

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Fielding, L., Najman, Y., Millar, I., Butterworth, P., Garzanti, E., Vezzoli, G., Barfod, D., and Kneller, B., 2018; The initiation and evolution of the river Nile; Earth and Planetary Science Letters. v.

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Ligi, M., Bonatti, E., Bosworth, W., Cai, Y., Cipriani, A., Palmiotto, C., Ronca, S., and Seyler, M., 2018; Birth of an ocean in the Red Sea: Oceanic-type basaltic melt intrusions precede continental rupture; Gondwana Research, v. 54, p. 150-160; https://doi. org/10.1016/j.gr.2017.11.002.

Corti, G., 2009; Continental rift evolution: From rift initiation to incipient breakup in the main Ethiopian Rift, East Africa; Earth-Science Reviews, v. 96, no.

1-2, p. 1-53; https://doi.org/10.1016/j. earscirev.2009.06.005.

Mège, D., Purcell, P., Bézos, A., Jourdan, F., and La, C., 2016; A major dyke swarm in the Ogaden region south of Afar and the early evolution of the Afar triple junction; Geological Society, London, Special Publication Magmatic Rifting and Active Volcanism, v. 420, p. 221-248; https://doi. org/10.1144/SP420.7.

Hagos, M., Koeberl, C., and Jourdan, F., 2016; Geochemistry and geochronology of phonolitic and trachytic source rocks of the Axum Obelisks and other stone artifacts, Axum, Ethiopia; Geoheritage, v. 9. p. 479494; https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-0160199-7.

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Wood J. and Guth A., 2009; East Africa's Great Rift Valley: A complex rift system; Geology.com; https://geology.com/ articles/east-africa-rift.shtml. .

Kieffer, B., Arndt, N., Lapierre, H., Bastien, F., Bosch, D., Pecher, A., Yirgu, G., Ayalew, D., Weis, D., Jerram, D. A., Keller, F., and Meugniot C., 2004; Flood and shield basalts from Ethiopia: Magmas from the African Superswell; Journal of Petrology, v. 45, no.

4, p. 793–834.

Ehrhardt, A. and Huebscher, C., 2015; The northern Red Sea in transition from rifting to drifting - lessons learned from ocean deeps; In: N. M. A. Rasul and I. C. F. Stewart (eds.); The Red Sea; Springer Earth System Sciences, p. 99-121; https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-662-45201-1_5.

Corti, G., Bastow, I., Keir, D., Pagli, C., and Baker, E., 2015; Rift-related morphology of the Afar Depression; In: P. Billi (ed.); Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia; World Geomorphological Landscapes, Springer, Dordrecht; https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8026-1_15; See also Corti’s excellent website on the Ethiopian rift Valley. http://146.48.95.112/ index.htm.

190.

Rondeau, B., Fritsch, E., Mazzero, F., Gauthier, J-P., Bekele, E., and Gaillou, E., 2010; Play-of-color opal from Wegel Tena, Wollo Province, Ethiopia; Gemological Institure of America, v. 46, no. 2, p. 90-105.

Segev, A., 2000; The principal Phanerozoic tectono-magmatic periods in the Levant and their stratigraphic record; Geological Survey of Israel Current Research, v. 12, p.

115-124.

Waltham T., 2010;. Afar Triangle: Rift valleys and volcanoes over plate divergence; In: P. Migoń (ed.); Geomorphological landscapes of the world; Springer, Dordrecht, p. 183-

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TECHNICAL WEBINARS

Geothermal technologies and their role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions SPEAKER Philip Ball | TOTAL E&P Americas LLC

September 16, 2020 11:00 am-12:00 pm Mountain Time The GoToWebinar link will be emailed two days in advance of the webinar.

CSPG member: $30+gst Non-member: $45+gst Please note: Registration closes September 15th at 12:00 pm Mountain Time

ABSTRACT A review of conventional, unconventional, and advanced geothermal technologies highlights just how diverse and multifaceted the geothermal industry has become, harnessing temperatures from 7°C to greater than 350°C. The cost of reducing greenhouse emissions is examined in scenarios where conventional coal or Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT), power plants are abated. In the absence of a US-policy on carbon tax, the marginal abatement cost potential of

these technologies is examined within the context of the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC). The analysis highlight that existing geothermal heat and power technologies and emerging advanced closed-loop applications could deliver substantial cost-efficient baseload energy, leading to the long-term decarbonization.

Geothermal technologies are therefore be well positioned within a future low-carbon energy portfolio.

BIOGRAPHY Philip Ball is a Senior New Ventures Geologist at TOTAL E&P Americas and a Senior Honorary Researcher at the Department of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Keele University. Philip was awarded a BSc from Keele in 1998, a MSc and a PhD from Royal Holloway University of London in 2000 and 2005. In 2020, Philip was completed his MBA at the London School of Business and Finance.

Philip's research interests are driven by an interest to better understand the feedback between tectonics, rifting, volcanism, sedimentation, fluids and climate. More recently Philip has been involved in

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research assessing, low-carbon energy technologies with a focus on geothermal, economics, innovation and carbon abatement.

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R.J.W. Douglas Medal Call for Nominations

ABOUT THE R.J.W. DOUGLAS MEDAL

NOMINEE ELIGIBILITY

This medal is awarded annually by the CSPG to an individual for outstanding scientific contributions to the understanding of sedimentary geology and, just as importantly, commending major contributions to regional tectonics and structural geology that are important to petroleum geology in Canada.

Open to any geoscientist who models the scientific attributes of Dr. R. J. W. Douglas.

NOMINATION DEADLINE September 30, 2020

Visit www.cspg.org/awards for nomination information

TECHNICAL WEBINARS

Cretaceous Revenant in Arctic Alaska – Giant Oil Accumulations Hidden in Plain Sight SPEAKER David W. Houseknecht | U.S. Geological Survey

October 21, 2020 11:00 am-12:00 pm Mountain Time The GoToWebinar link will be emailed two days in advance of the webinar.

CSPG member: $30+gst Non-member: $45+gst Please note: Registration closes October 20th at 12:00 pm Mountain Time

ABSTRACT Between 1944 and 2013, more than 150 exploration wells penetrated the shallow Aptian to Cenomanian Nanushuk Formation, mostly on the way to deeper objectives in some of the most prospective areas of the Alaska North Slope. Although oil was discovered in a few Nanushuk stratigraphic traps and one structural trap, recoverable volumes were insufficient to elevate the formation to “main objective” status. That perspective changed abruptly when an apparent 2013 discovery defined by a 3-D seismic amplitude anomaly on the Colville River delta was followed by two significant tests of the reservoir in 2015 – a vertical well flowed 2,160 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and a nearby 2,000-ft lateral flowed 4,600 BOPD, both from a Nanushuk stratigraphic trap at approximately 4,100 ft depth. 3-D seismic mapping and subsequent delineation drilling confirm the presence of an oil pool more than 40 miles long and generally less than 3 miles wide containing a 650ft oil column; recoverable oil estimates for this Pikka-Horseshoe accumulation range up to more than one billion barrels.

Production may begin as early as 2022.

Prompted by this success, a 2002 “show well” 30 miles west of Pikka-Horseshoe was followed by discovery and delineation wells in 2016–2019 in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA).

Recoverable oil from the Nanushuk Formation is estimated in the range of 400 to 750 million barrels of oil from these

Willow and West Willow accumulations.

The regional setting of these discoveries is well known. A giant Aptian to Cenomanian clinothem, comprising topset facies in the Nanushuk Formation and foresetbottomset facies in the Torok Formation, covers about 150,000 mi2 of the western Alaska North Slope and adjacent Beaufort and Chukchi shelves. Oil-prone source rocks and the clinothem are draped across the Barrow arch, a structural hinge between the Colville foreland basin and Beaufort Sea rifted margin. Stratigraphic traps lie in a favorable thermal maturity domain along multiple migration pathways across more than 10,000 mi2.

Sediment from the Chukotkan orogen (Russia) filled the western Colville basin and spilled over the Beaufort rift shoulder, forming east- and north-facing shelf margins. Progradational shelf margin trajectories in the west change abruptly to “sawtooth” trajectories at midclinothem, the result of reduced sediment influx and greater marine influence. Two endmember stratigraphic trap types are interpreted in Nanushuk basal topsets in the eastern part of the clinothem: (1) lowstand systems tracts, inferred to reflect forced regression, include a narrow, thick progradational stacking pattern perched on a sequence boundary on the upper slope; and (2) highstand progradational systems tracts include a broad, thin wedge of shingled parasequences above a toplap surface. Both include stratigraphically isolated sandstone units sealed by mudstone. Trap geometries in Torok foreset and bottomset facies in the same area include basin-floor fan, slope-apron, and slope-channel deposits that pinch out upslope and are sealed by mudstone.

Although Torok oil-saturated sandstone has been penetrated by numerous wells in the region, low permeability and reservoir compartmentalization have impeded successful production thus far.

Amplitude anomalies in both 2-D and 3-D seismic data suggest that dozens of exploration targets remain untested in northeastern NPRA, in both the Nanushuk

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and Torok Formations. Similar potential likely exists in western NPRA and adjacent offshore areas, although seismic and well control are dated in those areas so greater risk is assumed. Considering that economic viability in Arctic Alaska is directly related to distance from infrastructure and depth, it is likely that Nanushuk targets will drive exploration in a stepwise fashion westward in the foreseeable future.

BIOGRAPHY Dave Houseknecht is a senior research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Reston, Virginia with a focus on basin analysis, geological controls of petroleum resource occurrence, and petroleum resource assessment.

This work mainly is concentrated in Arctic Alaska and adjacent regions. He frequently represents the USGS scientific perspective on petroleum resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, other areas of Alaska, and the global Arctic to the Administration and Congress. Dave joined the USGS in 1992, serving as Energy Program Manager through 1998 and then moving to a research position. Previously, Houseknecht was a professor of geology at the University of Missouri (1978-1992) and consultant to the oil industry, working on domestic and international projects. He received geology degrees from Penn State University (Ph.D. 1978, B.S. 1973) and Southern Illinois University (M.S. 1975).

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DIVISION TALKS

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY DIVISION FIELD TRIP Geo-hike to the Lewis Thrust at Little Highwood Pass, Kananaskis Rocky Mountain Front Ranges of Alberta LEADER Normand Begin | Nanook Geo-Exploration Inc.

September 12, 2020* *subject to change or cancellation 7:30 am departure ABSTRACT This field trip will examine great exposures of deformation across one of the most prominent thrust faults in the Eastern Canadian Rockies, the Lewis Thrust. The thrust fault extends over 450 km in mapped view length, from the US Rockies in Montana to the Southern Canadian Cordillera, where it dies into folded carbonate beds of the Mississippian- age Rundle Group at Mount Kidd in the Kananaskis Area. South of Mount Kidd and along the Highway 40, the thrust juxtaposes steeply SW-dipping (50-70 degrees) carbonaceous units of the Rundle Group in the hangingwall, against also complexly deformed clastic units of Jurassic- age in the footwall. Several aspects

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of the folding geometry with respect to the Lewis Thrust development will be discussed in the field, as well as showing examples of displacement transfer between major (thrust) faults on a regional scale and controls of the

mechanical stratigraphy on the deformation style. The trip is not only suited for geologists and geophysicists working in thrust-fold belt regimes worldwide, but also useful to drilling engineers challenged to properly steer wells

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DIVISION TALKS

in heavily folded, faulted and fractured carbonate and clastic lithologies.

HIKE LEVEL The return hike distance from the parking lot at Highwood Pass (2206 m ASL) on Highway 40, to the summit of Pocaterra Ridge (2639 m ASL) and overlooking Little Highwood Pass will be 8.5 kilometers, with an elevation gain of 433 meters. The hiking level of difficulty ranges from easy to moderate along the trail; called moderate just because there is elevation gain. The hiking will be entirely on a well-established summer trail, involving no scrambling, climbing and exposure. If the weather turns out poor while hiking, there will be a shorter version of the geo-hike as an option, while not compromising the learning experience and delivery content in the field.

Although the hike is on a trail, hiking boots with good ankle support are recommended especially for walking downhill. Running/ track shoes are discouraged, while hiking poles can be useful to go up and down if some participants are used to them. Cameras and binoculars are very good to have, while wind and rain protective wear are a must as we will always be in alpine terrain conditions, subject its weather conditions. Bring a lunch, snacks and water. The pace of the hike will be slow, with multiple stops along the trail to outline

key features of the local structural geology and have time for discussion on the outcrops.

The total time expected to complete the hike alone will be between 5 to 6 hours, from 10 am to 4 pm at the most on the trail. So, hiking 8.5 km in 6 hours at most, including geology and lunch stops on the trail.

2019, incorporated Nanook Geo-Exploration Inc., offering expertise in structural geology for exploration and development of natural resources in deformed mountain belts, such as field mapping, seismic interpretation, generation of drilling prospects and wellbore geosteering.

BIOGRAPHY

Since the mid 1990’s, he has safely led several structural geology trips for the industry in areas of various remoteness of mountain belts of Canada (Alberta, BC, NWT),Iraq (Kurdistan) and Australia (Queensland).

In addition of extensive knowledge about structural geology in the Eastern Canadian Rockies, Normand has also hiked and scrambled to several peaks over the last 30 years in the Kananaskis and Banff parks, capturing photos of stunning mountain structural geology features. His vast outdoor experience also includes over 25 self-guided ski mountaineering and backpacking expeditions in mountainous and icefield terrains of Western Canadian Rockies and Baffin Island. His passion for the outdoors transcends to his keen desire to transmit his knowledge of mountain geology in the field, to anyone in the general public or geoscientists and engineers in the resources industry.

Normand Bégin (P.Geol.) graduated with a BSc in Geological Engineering at Laval University in 1985,then completed a Ph.D. in Geology at Queen’s University in 1989.

He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary (1990- 1992), then in mining exploration in the NWT for 2 years as a structural geologist and field mapper.

He worked as a structural geologist with the Foothills Research Project (University of Calgary) from 1994 to 1996, before joining Talisman Energy as an exploration and structural geoscientist in various deformed belts around the world. Along with his coworkers, he has successfully geosteered over 50 wells with several commercial hydrocarbon discoveries in thrust-fold belts of the Canadian Rockies Foothills, Llanos Foothills of Columbia, Zagros Belt of Kurdistan. From 2015 to 2019 with Repsol Canada, he worked on projects in Papua New Guinea, Russia, Algeria and Bolivia. In July

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DIVISION TALKS

INTERNATIONAL DIVSION TALK Exploration in Trinidad’s Southern Basin, Shining New Light on Middle Miocene Herrera Turbidites SPEAKERS Lynn Anderson | Touchstone Exploration Inc. Connie McLaren | Touchstone Exploration Inc. Xavier Moonan | Touchstone Exploration Inc.

September 10, 2020, 10:00 am Mountain Time E-Technical Division Talk ABSTRACT Hydrocarbon exploration began in Trinidad in 1857 with the first well drilled in an area known as La Brea, Pitch Lake. This historic well proved uneconomical, but by 1881 renewed interest in Trinidad eventually saw commercial production from La Brea in 1908 and the first refinery shortly thereafter, in 1911.

With increasing industrialization throughout the world, and the demand for combustible fuels, Trinidad’s oil industry was well underway. Onshore production to date (~ 1.5 billion barrels of oil) has primarily been from the Late Miocene and Pleistocene stacked deltaic sands in the Forest and Lower Cruse formations. In many respects, Trinidad’s Southern Basin has been viewed as ‘mature’.

Touchstone Exploration Incorporated (TEI), acquired development acreage from Primera Oil & Gas Limited (POGL) in August 2011, with an original mandate to optimize older wells, using updated technology and equipment, workovers and recompletions (as well as investigate viable EOR projects), with the goal of becoming Trinidad’s largest onshore producer of oil and gas.

The TEI turning point, came in 2013 when POGL (a wholly owned subsidiary of Touchstone) was awarded the Ortoire exploration block. The block was awarded to both POGL and Petrotrin (now Heritage Petroleum Company Limited-HPCL) with 80% and 20% working interest, respectively.

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The minimum work obligation for the exploration block included several items, but perhaps most importantly, drilling four exploratory wells to a minimum depth of 5,000 ft TVD. This depth requirement was intended to promote drilling into the Middle Miocene Deepwater Herrera Turbidites.

Touchstone Exploration drilled its first Herrera well on the exploration acreage in August of 2019 to a total depth of 8,560 ft MD. Coho-1 tested a maximum rate of 19.8 MMcf/d (3,300 boe/d) on a 32/64” choke at 2,632 psi tubing pressure. The second Herrera well, Cascadura-1, was spud in October 2019, and drilled to a total depth of 6,350 ft MD. Cascadura-1 was completed in two separate tests: flow and buildup test suggest an absolute open flow rate (AOF) of 92 MMcf/d from Test 1, and an AOF of 390 MMcf/d in Test 2 (indicating initial gross production rate of 7,750 and 9,700 boe/d for the well). Utilizing thin bed log analysis, detailed biostratigraphy, seismic modelling, thin sections and XRD, Touchstone has gained new insight into Herrera turbidite deposition, reservoir parameters and the structural model. The Ortoire wells are a turning point for Touchstone, but more importantly, represent a new chapter for oil and gas exploration in Trinidad, and perhaps for the people of Trinidad as well.

Figure 1- Herrera outcrop sample is analogous to our turbidite reservoir in Ortoire

BIOGRAPHY Lynn Anderson received her BSc. in Geology from the University of Calgary (2005) but has previously worked in the oil and gas industry from 1995 onward. With over 25 years of experience in exploration, development and operations geology, working on both conventional and unconventional plays, including CBM, CSG, shale gas and tight sand reservoirs (Hz multi-stage fracture technology), Lynn has worked both domestically and internationally. Since joining Touchstone Exploration Inc. in 2014, exploration and development has been focused in Trinidad’s Southern Basin.

Figure 2- recent exploration well, Cascadura

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Stanley Slipper Medal Call for Nominations

ABOUT THE STANLEY SLIPPER MEDAL

NOMINEE ELIGIBILITY

The medal is presented annually for outstanding contributions to petroleum exploration and development either in Canada or by Canadianbased petroleum geologists working internationally.

The contributions of the winner of this award may encompass one or more activities including initiating and/or leading exploration or development programs, making significant discoveries on new or existing exploration trends, applying new technologies to exploration and exploitation, and teaching and/or training of petroleum geologists.

The award is limited to individuals. Candidates must be alive at the time of their selection. The winner must be a petroleum geologist and a CSPG member. Additional requirements are listed on the CSPG website.

NOMINATION DEADLINE September 30, 2020

Visit www.cspg.org/awards for nomination information RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

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DIVISION TALKS

OPERATIONS GEOLOGY DIVISION Exploration in Trinidad’s Southern Basin, Shining New Light on Middle Miocene Herrera Turbidites SPEAKER Justin Gouveia | Halliburton Sperry Drilling

September 23, 2020, 12:00 pm Mountain Time E-Technical Division talk ABSTRACT High-resolution ultrasonic images from logging-while-drilling (LWD) technologies enable the identification and evaluation of fractures in oil-based mud (OBM) applications. Real-time assessment of borehole shape and size provides valuable insight into borehole conditions, aiding wellbore stability by enabling adjustment of drilling parameters through visualization of borehole breakout and enlargements.

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Identification of borehole enlargement, when combined with identification of fractures clusters, allows operators to optimize their completion program by aiding selection of zones of interest, and identifying the best placement of completion equipment such as packers.

This talk will discuss examples of highresolution images from a 4¾-in. ultrasonic imaging LWD service in OBM where the identification of fractures, bedding features and borehole breakout enhanced reservoir understanding and provided an improved understanding of borehole conditions.

The high-resolution images demonstrate the potential for the LWD service to be the primary imaging solution in applications where the deployment of comparable

wireline technologies is deemed too costly or risky.

BIOGRAPHY Justin Gouveia has 9 years of oil and gas experience working for Halliburton. A graduate of the University of Calgary’s Oil & Gas Engineering degree back in 2011, Justin’s experience ranges from M/LWD Field Engineer to Technical Sales Advisor with Sperry Drilling in Western Canada.

He is mainly focused on supporting Sperry’s unconventional clients where new technologies have been trialed and implemented for long term sustainability.

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DIVISION TALKS

OPERATIONS GEOLOGY DIVISION Wellsite Location Selection Through Collaboration: 3D Desktop Scouting with Geospatial Tools SPEAKERS

geospatial topographic data available:

Richard Deis | Challenger Geomatics Ltd. • LiDAR ground elevation data, and full feature datasets.

• Aerial Imagery o Satellite Imagery o Panoramic Helicopter Photos o UAV / Drone Imagery • 3D Laser Scanning • Wetland and Watercourse Data

Matthew McAdam | Challenger Geomatics Ltd.

October 28, 2020, 12:00 pm Mountain Time E-Technical Division Talk ABSTRACT Integrating the use of the latest Geospatial tools allows for efficient comprehensive review and optimize of wellsite location selection at the desktop level; allowing team groups (Civil Earthworks, Geology, Power, Pipeline, facilities Engineering) to collaborate in real time and voice their interests to ensure the best decisions are made prior to field mobilization.

These tools can be used for a wide range of scopes, from the review of the general character of a potential land asset, and highlevel construction cost estimating, to detailed location selection, sizing and drilling layout.

In this presentation we will review different

And how it can be used and shared: • 3D visualization • Real time pad design and cut / fill calculations • Augmented UAV pointcloud • Cloud Based webmapping and GIS • Augmented Digital Plans and Maps • Pre-Construction Earthworks Design / Grading Plans The use of digital tools throughout a wellsite life cycle will also be evaluated. (construction, machine control / guidance, as built, reclamation).

Professional Land Surveyor at Challenger Geomatics has taken him on travels across the Canadian Arctic, and Western Canada.

He has worked in the Geomatics Industry, primarily for the Oil and Gas Sector for the last 15 years. Much of that time has been spent developing and using the latest Geospatial tools for wellsite, plant-site, and water reservoir location selection.

Matthew McAdam A.L.S, has worked as an Alberta Land Surveyor and Project Manager at Challenger Geomatics Ltd since 2013.

He has received an B.ASc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Windsor and a M.Sc.E in Geomatics from the University of New Brunswick. He has spent time in the automotive industry designing suspension components for Tier 1 and OEM manufactures. HE now primarily works in the Alberta Oil and Gas sector providing geomatics/survey services. He has worked on projects including the Kearl Oil Sands and Kaybob Duvernay.

BIOGRAPHIES Richard Deis A.L.S., P.Eng.,is a graduate of the University of Calgary, with a degree in Geomatics Engineering. His work as a

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

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GEOCOMMUNITY

GEOWOMEN TALK Sharing The Journey: Navigating And Building A Geology Career Through Life Changes SPEAKERS Genga Nadaraju | President, Lesha Services Ltd. & CSPG Membership Director

September 15, 2020 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (Mountain Time) E-Talk (GoToWebinar) BIOGRAPHY Genga has 25 years of diverse professional experience in the oil and gas industry that includes business development, asset exploitation, strategic planning, investor relations, and technical innovation. As a

Geologist, Technical Advisor and Manager, she has worn many hats. She is currently the Membership Director on the Board of the CSPG, leading a geological consulting practice and supporting the launch of the CSPG’s Mentorship Program. She is the proud mother of two daughters who both started university this fall, neither of whom are following in her footsteps, with one interested in Criminal Studies and the other in Music Education. Genga is passionate about supporting the next generation of geoscientists and hopes that sharing her story will provide encouragement, support and strength to those navigating their own career and life paths in the geosciences.

GET READY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE Whether you are a student or an aspiring professional, continuous learning is important to succeed. Join us online to gain insights and tips for a successful career as a professional engineer or geoscientist.

A virtual experience for members-in-training and university students.

REGISTER EARLY FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN IPAD!

REGISTER TODAY AT APEGA.CA/EMERGINGPROFESSIONALS

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RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

GEOCOMMUNITY

GEOWOMEN TALK Flailing Up SPEAKER

ABSTRACT

This won’t be a glossy and neat success story. There was no defined path for my transformation, so I will focus more on the process of pathfinding. I will highlight elements of my experience that should be easier today, despite a landscape that is generally more challenging. The point is to share tools that could help you face your own challenges.

Now, more than ever, we must learn how to adapt, embrace change, and pivot.

Hope to see you there!

Jennifer Turner | Project Reconciliation

October 20, 2020 | 12:00 - 1:00 pm (Mountain Time) E-Talk (GoToWebinar)

This is a talk about my own career pivot – from someone with over a decade of experience providing geological drilling supervision on rigs to my current position as Director of Communications with an amazing group called Project Reconciliation.

This is a talk about resilience and navigating uncertainty. It is about going out on a limb – and falling – and trying again. It is about taking stock of what you already have, especially when you think that may be little.

I’ll describe how I worked to independently build new knowledge and experiences, and the important process of redefining success itself.

BIOGRAPHY Jennifer is Director of Communications with Project Reconciliation. She is also a Board Member of the Canadian Heavy Oil Association. Jennifer has over 10 years experience geological drilling supervision on rigs throughout Western Canada. She is passionate about driving forward the energy transition and revolutionizing resource development.

As communications director for an NGO, she organized a pioneering cross-cultural solar training program and installation with the Louis Bull Tribe in Alberta. She is a former Chair of the Board for the Newfoundland and Labrador Sexual Assault Crisis and Prevention

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Centre and a former board member for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (NL Chapter).

Jennifer holds a B.Sc. (honors) in geology and a B.Sc. in biology from Memorial university, where her studies focused on marine biology.

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SOCIETY NEWS

AWARDS AND DEMOGRAPHICS – WHY ARE WOMEN UNDER-REPRESENTED? By: Eva Drivet M.Sc., PGeol.

G

eoWomen is an affiliate of CSPG and AWSN with strong ties with the CSEG mentorship program. Their mandate is primarily to remove barriers to women in the geosciences and balance gender inequities in the workforce. The team driving this organization includes four exceptional professional geologists driven by positive energy, inspiration and drive to collaborate with other professional groups; Lisa Doyle, Jocelyn Keith-Asante, Jennifer Kingsbury and Mandy Williams.

This spring, they discussed with 2020 CSPG President Jen Russel-Houston, President Elect Neil Watson and the CSPG executive team ways to improve diversity in the CSPG Awards. In response, the Recognition Committee was initiated, and I was invited to chair it. Recently, geophysicist Chelsea Squires joined me to assist in understanding recognition demographics on the CSEG side of the Geo-community.

Two key objectives were identified: Gather data from the CSPG, CSEG 1. and APEGA on past award recipients, and demographics of the selection committees.

2.

Proactively submit nominations for deserving women geo-professionals for current CSPG, CSEG and APEGA awards.

Focus and approach Given my background as a geologist, my initial focus is on the CSPG community.

The CSPG staff, CSPG President Jen Russel-Houston, and Astrid Arts provided help compiling the data. As per prior assessments done by Astrid Arts, about 25% of the CSPG membership (2014 and 2019 data) are currently women geologists.

Within that pool, Gen X and Millennials comprise a more significant proportion compared to the Baby Boomers (Figure 1, Astrid Arts pers. Comm. 2020). This information provides the context and background for reviewing CSPG award demographics.

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Figure 1

Gender data was collected on CSPG award recipients (refer to “Awards” tab on the CSPG website; Figure 2). In instances where first names of recipients are not reported (as is common in data pre-1990) and the individual’s gender could not be identified by first name, a “gender not determined” was assigned. The award was marked with an asterisk to indicate an incomplete database. This will be updated once the information is provided – but this data set offers initial insights on the current status.

For some awards (E.g. Tracks Award) an individual may have been a recipient more than once. In these cases, the individual was counted only once. Gender distribution on the selection committee was also reviewed.

For the President’s Award, recipients were Convention Chairs and Past Presidents.

What is the current status of recognition for this minority group within the CSPG Awards?

Figure 2 is a bar chart that captures preliminary data available on gender distribution in the CSPG Awards recipients; 3 to 14% of award recipients are women.

The bottom row in blue indicates the gender distribution on the selection

committee (2020 data for a snapshot; data from previous years available upon request). Female geologists were absent from the selection committees on the Honorary Membership and R.J.W. Douglas Medal, and have been added very recently to the Stanley Slipper Award selection committee. The Link Award and Medal of Merit have 11% and 16% female representation respectively on the selection committee. The Hunter and Track Awards have a 50% female representation, with one female and one male making up each of those committee. Of the eight CSPG awards, four are named after professional geologists (Stanley Slipper Gold Medal, R.J.W. Douglas Medal, Link Award, H.M. Hunter) – and all of them are males. This assessment will be expanded to other professional organizations such as APEGA and CSEG.

What is this data telling us?

1. While women professionals make up 25% of the CSPG membership, representation for recognition and awards is only 3 to 14% (Figures 1 and 2).

2.

Gender

distribution

on

selection

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SOCIETY NEWS

lee-geologist.aspx. ). The second award will be named after Dr. Helen Belyea (thank you to Astrid Arts for that recommendation; more info at https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Belyea ).

Dr Belyea was the first female Canadian Geological Survey geologist to work in the field alongside «men only» crews, who wrote over 30 scientific papers and made major contibutions to the Alberta Geological Society’s «Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin».

Figure 2 committees is well balanced for the Hunter, Track Awards, and recently the Stanley Slipper with a female professional assigned as chair. Other selection committees could benefit from having more gender diversity (e.g.

Honorary Membership, Link Award, Medal of Merit, R.J.W. Douglas Medal).

have received very positive feedback and support from CSPG President Jennifer Russel-Houston, President Elect Neil Watson and the CSPG executive team on our recommendations to include more diversity within the committees.

Steps are being taken to implement these positive changes.

3. As of today, all “named” CSPG awards are named after professional male geologists, honouring their legacy and contributions in their field of expertise

2.

As a CSPG affiliate committee, GeoWomen is pro-actively nominating highly successful and deserving female geo-professionals for existing CSPG awards. If you have anyone in mind, please send your nomination to membership@cspg.org. Ask your colleagues (any genders) if they know someone deserving of these awards.

Overall, women comprise only a quarter of the CSPG membership, which is one of the main factors in the under-representation for recognition (Astrid Arts, pers. Comm.

2020). Within this group, there are several dozen outstanding, well established, women professionals who have all the merits, achievements, competence and accomplishments to be eligible as potential candidates for some of these awards – and they deserve to be recognized. Moreover, there are driven female professionals in our geo-community who could contribute and provide a balanced perspective on award selection committees.

What are the solutions?

In order to better represent highly talented female geo-professionals, four key steps will need to be implemented and we need your help: 1.

Raise awareness of this issue within the CSPG community.

Discussions between GeoWomen and the CSPG selection committees have started. We

3. GeoWomen is in the process of creating two awards, eligible to all genders, named after high profile and deserving women geologists to preserve their legacy, and ensure that up and coming junior female geo-professionals can see themselves in the role of successful and talented high performers. The intent is for these two awards to reside under the CSPG organization (pending approval from the CSPG board) so that they receive the same level of recognition and credibility as the current CSPG awards named after male geo-professionals. We are proposing one named after Patricia J. Lee, whose many contributions include her involvement in the discovery of the 2 TCF Caroline gas field ( http:// history.alberta.ca/energyheritage/oil/ the-quest-for-sustainability/women-inthe-oil-patch-1950s-to-2000/patricia-

RESERVOIR ISSUE 5 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

4.

Connect with the CSPG to promote women’s professional achievements - for example source technically strong female speakers for Technical Luncheons, and encourage women geologists/ geophysicists in academia and industry to submit technical papers to reputable scientific journals such as the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. Contact CSPG at membership@cspg.org if you have suggestions on this front.

Volunteering opportunities available: I am actively recruiting one co-chair for the Recognition Committee who would liaise with APEGA. All genders are welcome to apply. I would encourage anyone interested in assisting, or wanting to help with other aspects (e.g. award demographics with APEGA) to contact CSPG at membership@ cspg.org and get involved. It’s a great way to network. It’s also an opportunity to bring awareness in our Geo-community on diversity and inclusivity, and find solutions to implement positive changes.

I have been so impressed with the work Lisa, Jocelyn, Jennifer and Mandy have accomplished to date and how they collaborate with other resources and professional organizations. The support and leadership of CSPG 2020 President Jen Russel-Houston, President Elect Neil Watson and the CSPG team; namely Kasandra Amaro, with this initiative have been instrumental. Great progress has started to happen. I am looking forward to join efforts with Chelsea and learn more on the CSEG front. There is significant momentum right now, and I encourage you to take action. The benefits have such a valuable ripple effect on our geo-community.

Thank you for reading this note. Best wishes to all of you. Stay healthy and well!

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