NINA RACH, Contributing Editor
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| Integration of time-dependent microseismic data with karst and sweet spot geobodies. Image courtesy of Paradigm. |
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Attending a technical conference has many benefits—exposure to new ideas and networking that can invigorate our work with a renewed optimism and fresh industry outlook.
The European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers will host the 74th EAGE Conference and Exhibition incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2012 in Copenhagen, June 4-7, 2012. The theme of this conference—Responsibly Securing Natural Resources—focuses on the need to operate with increased transparency and act safely, ethically and responsibly while pursuing increasingly advanced and costly technical solutions.
A great variety of topics are covered among more than 900 talks and 16 workshops. Although there is an emphasis on technologies used to unlock the remaining resources of the maturing North Sea basin, many ideas are applicable around the world. Promising results from a variety of projects show that exploration is increasingly successful due to ingenious solutions to drilling and production challenges.
EAGE FORUM
The topic of the half-day EAGE forum focuses on the conference theme: Responsibly Securing Natural Resources, moderated by British television correspondent and journalist, Julian Rush.
Responsible development of oil and gas is increasingly important, as stakeholders want the most efficient technologies and the public continues to scrutinize the environmental impact of petroleum.
Forum participants include:
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Melissa Coleman, Europe, Africa, Latin America & Middle East Exploration, ConocoPhillips.
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Jon Ferrier, Senior Vice President for Business Development and Strategy, Mærsk Olie og Gas AS.
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Manoelle Lepoutre, Senior Vice President Sustainable Development and Environment, Total.
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Angus McCoss, Exploration Director, Tullow Oil.
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Martijn Minderhoud, Senior Exploration Advisor, Shell Upstream International.
GEOMECHANICAL WORKSHOP
Since 2004, the SPE EUROPEC event has been incorporated within the EAGE annual conference. Among the offerings this year is a joint SPE/EAGE Workshop that will address the challenges of shale anisotropy, “Fully Integrated Geomechanical Workflow—A Myth or A Fact.”
The conveners from Maersk Oil and Gas AS, ENI, Sintef, and Senergy will discuss questions surrounding geomechanical models. How predictive are they when we are using them to define operating envelopes for wells and reservoirs? What does it take to improve predictability? Stronger integration with geoscience models, enhanced focus on input data quality, or specialized workflows for different tasks?
The main discussion items include: well integrity; predicting solids production in HPHT; building geomechanical models: prediction of stresses and pore pressure, rock properties/constitutive models (cap-rock, shale and reservoir); temperature-dependent models; and defining the time-dependent drilling window in compacting and HPHT environments.
SEISMIC METHODS
Five of the 14 EAGE workshops are dedicated to seismic topics, including Simultaneous Source Methods for Seismic Data; From Kinematic to Waveform Inversion; and Shear Wave Reflection Seismic—Feasibilities and Challenges for Near Surface Characterization. Two workshops are devoted to broadband techniques, catering to the high-level of interest: Fast-Evolving Marine Broadband Technologies and Broadband Seismic—Technical Value to Reservoir Characterization Workflows.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Geoscientists and engineers do not usually leave university with a good understanding of risk assessment, but in-house training and attending industry programs can bring students up to speed. Copenhagen ’12 offers two workshops in this area.
On June 3, a full-day workshop will focus on the state-of-the-art practices, in the AGORA Workshop on Understanding Uncertainty and Managing Risk. Presentations are planned in geophysics, geology, petrophysics and reservoir management. Learning points will be applied in focused cross-disciplinary team exercises on a real reservoir problem. The exercise, led by Mike Christie and Dan Arnold (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh), will focus on incremental reserves and infill wells. Participants will contribute toward the planned deliverable: a summary document and paper at the next EUROPEC conference!
Niels Ter-Borch (DONG Energy) and Anette Uldall (Maersk Oil) will lead a workshop on June 8, “Evaluation and Risk Assessment of Amplitude Supported Prospects—A Practical Exercise.” The full-day program will focus on best practices, based on discussions in multi-disciplinary teams based on real life prospects. A wide variety of perspectives is expected during the nine presentations from DONG Energy, Maersk Oil, Rose and Associates, Marathon Oil, GeoKnowledge, Agora Oil and Gas (UK) Ltd., WesternGeco, Eliis and CGGVeritas. Participants will apply the concepts in exercises throughout the day, based on three prospect examples. The workshop is designed for industry professionals who are involved in seismic interpretation and evaluation of amplitude supported prospects.
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| The EAGE conference in Copenhagen will include a workshop on the “Challenges for Greenland Exploration—Risks and Opportunities. |
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STUDENT PROGRAM
The student program at Copenhagen 2012 is extensive, offering students the opportunity to attend short courses, workshops, field trips, trial interviews and debates, and participate in a geoquiz. The theme is “Building your future,” and includes a visit to the Maersk Oil office.
Nine student poster sessions, spread over three days, include topics in sedimentology, structural and reservoir geology; electromagnetic methods; gravity; seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation; reservoir characterization, stimulation, monitoring and management.
Industry sponsors of the student program include BP, Dong Energy, Eni, ExxonMobil, Maersk Oil, PetroSkills, Total, SPE and the EAGE Student Fund, including Shell, CGGVeritas and WesternGeco.
It is important for those working in the industry to review student posters and attend student talks. Beyond the obvious altruistic benefit, it provides a good opportunity to see an overview of current academic research, often funded by industry, and to meet up-and-coming geologists, geophysicists and engineers who are the future of the industry and may soon be colleagues.
EARTHDOC
EarthDoc is the online geoscience database of EAGE, containing more than 30,000 papers, abstracts from previous EAGE meetings, and articles from various journals. All the accepted submissions for the Copenhagen 2012 conference are added to EarthDoc and available about 14 days prior to the conference, allowing anyone to preview the conference material before the event. EAGE members have free access to EarthDoc. 
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