Energy sustainability and environmental responsibility are major pillars for the future of the energy industry.
They will also be important themes for the upcoming Pacific Section Annual Meeting April 4-8 in Oxnard, Calif.
The meeting’s overall theme is “2020 Vision: Producing the Future.”
Convention Co-Chair Renee Richards said the meeting will focus on California happenings, but noted that speakers will be coming from across the country and the all-convention speaker will be addressing a topic even farther out. Mike Malaska of the Planetary Ices Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be presenting “Exploration of Saturn’s moon Titan: A hydrocarbon world in our Solar System.”
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Co-Chair Mark Leung said the convention “features the science that binds us and drives our passion to explore questions unanswered.”
“Realizing that the petroleum industry is becoming an ever more interdisciplinary atmosphere that is subject to cyclic staffing, we aim to address these issues with a technical program that promotes inter-department business considerations,” Leung said.
“Special events include extended lecture style topics and a session on qualifying as a professional geologist in California, catered to the students and young professionals that are charged with producing our future,” he said.
“One of the messages of the meeting will be to bridge the gap of the past and what the future may be for the oil and gas industry in California,” Richards said.
The theme “Geosciences and the Environment” will feature talks like “Re-purposing offshore oil platforms as desalination facilities” and “Geology and Regulations: a stratigraphic approach while ensuring protection of geologic intervals of importance during oil and gas operations.”
“The regulatory climate is changing and the industry must adapt,” Richards said.
The theme will bring together scientists from different industries and disciplines, she said.
“Our technical program will feature exciting talks about the Monterey Formation, one of the most prolific producing formations in California, as well as looking at what is on the horizon for exploration and new strategies for development,” Richards said.
“In addition to the regular technical program, we are offering an ‘Extended Lecture Series’ that will be a deep dive into topics that need more time. These one-hour lectures also align with our overarching theme of looking to the future with talks like ‘Current status of stratigraphic practice in the environmental industry: petroleum vs remediation geology’ and ‘Machine learning for enhanced understanding of petroleum systems.’
AAPG President Mike Party will attend and speak at the student event, “Planning your future: Career development, networking, and resume writing.” Party also will speak at the awards ceremony.
Department of Professional Affairs President John Jordon will also attend and will give a talk titled “Interactive Application of Business Ethics in the Geoscience Profession.”
A special event unique to the area will be a field trip, “Southwest Santa Cruz Island: Intraplate Motion and Deformation,” where geologists and enthusiasts will travel by boat from Ventura Harbor to Prison’s Harbor on Santa Cruz Island. Jim Boles will then lead the trip to the southwestern coast of the island which is not open to the public, Richards said.
In all, the meeting will include a two-day technical program with oral and poster sessions, six field trips, two short courses and two student events.
Short courses will include “Sequence Stratigraphy for Graduate Students and Early Career Professionals” and “Mitigating Uncertainty, Risk and Bias in Geotechnical Decision Making.”