[PFItemLinkShortcode|id:2387|type:standard|anchorText:Dietrich Welte|cssClass:|title:A Conversation With Dietrich Welte|PFItemLinkShortcode], a leader in research and development of the concept and software in 3-D numerical basin and petroleum system modeling and author of the first comprehensive textbook used in the field of geochemistry, will receive the 2013 Sidney Powers Memorial Award, AAPG’s highest honor, during the opening session of the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in Pittsburgh.
Welte is a retired professor emeritus from Technical University RWTH, Aachen, Germany, and adjunct professor from Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany – a university he helped initiate.
In winning the Powers award he joins two others, Martin Jackson and Robert Weimer, as the most honored geologists in AAPG history, all having won five awards.
Joining Welte at the top of this year’s AAPG awardees list is [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:2394|type:standard|anchorText:Stephen A. Sonnenberg|cssClass:|title:Sonnenberg’s Leadership Skills Stretch Far|PFItemLinkShortcode], Boettcher Distinguished Chair of Petroleum Geology at Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo., who has been named the winner of this year’s Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award.
Also honored will be AAPG Honorary member and past president [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:2467|type:standard|anchorText:Robert “Bob” Gunn|cssClass:|title:Wichita Falls Honors Gunns|PFItemLinkShortcode], this year’s recipient of the L. Austin Weeks Memorial Medal, the AAPG Foundation’s highest award.
They and 52 others will be honored during the ACE opening session, set Sunday, May 19 at 4 p.m., at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in the Spirit of Pittsburgh Ballroom.
The program is preceded in the same room at 3 p.m. by the AAPG Imperial Barrel Award ceremony.
In addition to honoring the awardees, the opening session also will feature the official welcome from ACE general chair Michael R. Canich and the presidential address from AAPG President Ted Beaumont.
AAPG awards, approved by the Executive Committee, are presented annually at the ACE opening session to recognize individuals for service to the profession, the science, the Association and the public.
Welte began his career with Shell International as a research geochemist in 1959. Three years later he returned to his alma mater, University of Würzburg, Germany, where he worked four years. He later returned to the industry as a senior research geochemist for Chevron Oil Field Research (USA) in 1967.
Welte’s textbook, “Petroleum Formation and Occurrence,” first published in 1978 and expanded in 1984, is still used today in teaching petroleum geochemistry.
He founded the Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry at then-Kernforschungsanlage, now Forschungszentrum Jülich, in Germany in 1979, and later founded and was director of Integrated Exploration Systems in 1985.
Welte’s previous awards from AAPG include the President’s Award (1966), International Special Commendation Award (2000), the Special Award (renamed the Harrison Schmitt Award in 2011) (2004) and Distinguished Service Award (2006).
Sonnenberg, who is the seventh recipient of the Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award, given in recognition of outstanding and exceptional leadership in the petroleum geosciences, received AAPG Honorary membership in 2008.
He has been actively involved in AAPG leadership roles over the last three decades, serving three times on the AAPG Executive Committee, as vice president 1995-96, as president-elect/president from 2002-04, and as chair of the House of Delegates in 2009-10, as well as serving on various committees.
Bob Gunn will receive the L. Austin Weeks award in recognition of his “extraordinary service in advancing the mission of the AAPG Foundation.”
Gunn, a nationally noted petroleum geologist, was AAPG president in 1978. He also is one of AAPG’s most honored members – past awards include the Sidney Powers Memorial Award, the Public Service Award and the DPA Heritage Award.
Biographies and citations of all award winners will be included in a future BULLETIN.
Award winners announced by AAPG and who will be honored along with Welte, Sonnenberg and Gunn in Pittsburgh are:
Honorary Member Award
Presented to members who have distinguished themselves by their accomplishments and through their service to the profession of petroleum geology and to AAPG.
- [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:3608|type:standard|anchorText:Abdulla A. Al Naim|cssClass:|title:Al Naim, A Towering Figure in the Middle East|PFItemLinkShortcode], Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (presented posthumously).
- Jeanne E. Harris, G&H Production, Denver.
- Kenneth E. Peters, Schlumberger Information Systems, Mill Valley, Calif.
- Daniel J. Tearpock, Subsurface Consultants, Houston.
Norman H. Foster Outstanding Explorer Award
Presented to members in recognition of distinguished and outstanding achievement in exploration for petroleum or mineral resources, with an intended emphasis on recent discovery.
- [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:2385|type:standard|anchorText:William A. Zagorski|cssClass:|title:Zagorski Made His Mark With the Marcellus|PFItemLinkShortcode], Range Resources, Caraopolis, Pa.
Robert R. Berg Outstanding Research Award
AAPG’s newest award, presented to honor a singular achievement in petroleum geoscience research.
- Ronald A. Nelson, Broken N Consulting, Cat Spring, Texas.
- J. Frederick Sarg, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo.
Distinguished Service Award
Presented to those who have distinguished themselves in singular and beneficial long-term service to AAPG.
- Eugene L. Ames III, Ames Energy Advisors, San Antonio.
- Mark J. Gallagher, Encana USA, Plano, Texas.
- Frances J. Hein, Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board, Calgary, Canada.
- Joseph J. Lambiase, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
- Stephen D. Levine, SK E&P, Houston.
- Brian E. Lock, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, La.
- Richard A. Lorentz Jr., Krisenergy, Singapore.
- William C. Stephens Jr., Mid-Con Energy Group, Dallas.
- Linda R. Sternbach, Star Creek Energy, Houston.
- Laura C. Zahm, Statoil, Austin, Texas.
Grover E. Murray Memorial Distinguished Educator Award
Presented for distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education, both at the university level and toward education of the general public.
- Carlton E. Brett, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.
- [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:2403|type:standard|anchorText:John R. Underhill|cssClass:|title:Geology: His Classroom, Inspiration and Passion|PFItemLinkShortcode], University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Harrison Schmitt Award
Presented in recognition of outstanding accomplishment that is beyond the scope of other AAPG awards.
- George B. Asquith, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. (For his contributions as AAPG’s all-time best-selling author.)
- Martin G. Lockley, University of Colorado at Denver (For contributions in the founding and administration of Dinosaur Ridge near Denver.)
Public Service Award
Presented to recognize contributions of AAPG members to public affairs – and intended to encourage such activities.
- Alex S. Broun, author, retired Exxon, Dripping Springs, Texas.
- Jerome J. Cuzella, consultant, Lakewood, Colo.
- Donald S. Van Nieuwenhuise, University of Houston, Houston.
Pioneer Award
Presented to long-standing members who have contributed to the Association and who have made meaningful contributions to the science of geology.
- Robert E. Fox, Term Energy, Lexington, Ky.
- Paul R. Lamerson, consultant, Lakewood, Colo.
Geosciences in the Media Award
Presented for notable journalistic achievement in any medium, which contributes to public understanding of geology, energy resources or the technology of oil and gas exploration.
- Kirk Johnson and Ray Troll for “Cruisin’ The Fossil Freeway – An Epoch Tale of a Scientist and an Artist on the Ultimate 5,000-Mile Paleo Road Trip.” Their book (writing and illustrations) describes their 5,000-mile journey throughout the American West.
Johnson is with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver; and Troll is a “fin” artist living in Ketchikan, Alaska. [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:2458|type:standard|anchorText:Related story|cssClass:|title:Fossils, Freeways and a Great Story to Tell|PFItemLinkShortcode]
Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author(s) of the best AAPG BULLETIN article published each calendar year.
- Andrew C. Aplin and Joe H.S. Macquaker, for “Mudstone Diversity: Origin and Implications for Source, Seal and Reservoir Properties in Petroleum Systems,” which appeared in the December 2011 BULLETIN.
Aplin is with NRG, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom; and Macquaker is with ExxonMobil, Spring, Texas.
Robert H. Dott Sr. Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the author/editor of the best special publication dealing with geology published by the Association.
- Ken McClay, John Shaw and J. Suppe for AAPG Memoir 94: Thrust Fault-Related Folding.”
McClay is with University of London, Surrey, England; and Shaw is with Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
J.C. “Cam” Sproule Memorial Award
Presented to recognize and reward younger authors of papers applicable to petroleum geology.
- Peter E.K. Deveugle (co-author), for the AAPG BULLETIN paper, “Characterization of Stratigraphic Architecture and Its Impact on Fluid Flow in a Fluvial-Dominated Deltaic Reservoir Analog: Upper Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member, Utah.”
Deveugle is with Chevron ETC, Perth, Australia.
- Klaas Verwer (co-author), for the paper AAPG BULLETIN paper, “Effect of Pore Structure on Electrical Resistivity in Carbonates.”
Verwer is with Statoil ASA, Bergen, Norway.
John W. Shelton Search and Discovery Award
Presented to recognize the best contribution to the “Search and Discovery” website in the past year.
- Anne Grau and Robert Sterling, for “Characterization of the Bakken System of the Williston Basin from Pores to Production; The Power of a Source Rock/Unconventional Reservoir Couplet.”
Grau is with Fidelity Exploration in Denver; and Sterling is with Cirque Resources in Denver.
George C. Matson Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best oral presentation at the 2012 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition (ACE) in Long Beach.
- Jonathan Allen, for the paper “Improved Reservoir Characterization at Kern River Field, California, USA: New Insights into an Old Field Using 4-D Saturation Modeling.” Allen is with Chevron, Bakersfield, Calif.
Allen’s co-authors are Dave Larue and Dale Beeson. Larue is with Chevron, Newport Beach, Calif.; and Beeson is with Chevron Perth, San Ramon, Calif.
Jules Braunstein Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best poster presentation at the 2012 AAPG ACE.
- Simon Campbell, Stanislaw Mazur, Nicola Henshaw, Ahmed Salem, Adriano Sebastiao, Jane Saweka and Artur Oliveira, for the poster “Kwanza Basin: Sub-salt Basin Structure and Sediment Thickness from Integrated Analysis of High Resolution Aeromagnetic Data.”
Gabriel Dengo Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best oral presentation at the 2012 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition (ICE) in Singapore.
His co-author was Ron Harris, of Anadarko Petroleum, Houston.
Ziad Beydoun Memorial Award
Presented to honor and reward the best poster presentation at the 2012 AAPG ICE.
House of Delegates Honorary Member
The AAPG House of Delegates’ highest award.
- David H. Hawk, consultant, Energy Analysis and Answers, Boise, Idaho.
HoD Distinguished Member
- David J. Entzminger, regional geological manager-Permian Basin, Whiting Petroleum Corp., Midland, Texas.