The GeoGulf conference, the premier event of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies/AAPG Gulf Coast Section, continues to improve yearly, setting high attendance records.
Last year’s event set the bar with 450 attendees, with this year’s gathering in San Antonio last month drawing 400.
The GeoGulf 2024 theme was “School of Rock, Expert Geology with a Soundtrack,” an idea created by the team led by General Chair John Casiano and GCAGS President David Clay.
“The rock soundtrack theme is a bold idea to remind us that our work has serious impact, but like a classic band or song, it can also be fun and gratifying for years to come,” Casiano told the audience at the opening session. “We are all here to learn the latest and greatest in geological-based technology and to meet the geologists leaning over the forward edge of academia and innovation.”
“This event links our affiliated societies and Gulf Coast sections (GCAGS and GCSSEPM) with the AAPG/SEPM global community. Our ideas occur in the same way one of the original ‘rock stars,’ Nicolaus Steno, could identify the original laws of geology. New ideas are on top of older ones, our knowledge and breakthroughs spread over regions and around the world, most new geological ideas occur horizontally, but new truly innovative game changers crosscut the years of work our steadfast predecessors laid down for us,” Casiano explained.
Highlights from the Event
Dallas Dunlap and Tom Ewing served as Technical Committee co-chairs. Kelly Hattori of the Bureau of Economic Geology, Julie Bloxson of Stephen F. Austin University and Toti Larson of BEG served as essential organizers.
The GeoGulf2024 Technical Committee created a two-day program around four primary themes: Energy, Environmental, Transitional Energy, and Industrial Productivity.
Two speaker and Q&A panel programs stood out as especially innovative at the event. Jon Rotzien and Laura Pommer introduced the quirkily-named all-day session, “Wildcattin’ Ain’t Dead,” with panelists Rich Sears and Cindy Yeilding. Rotzien conducted an in-depth interview with Yeilding, seeking her motivational career advice and her optimistic thoughts on the future of energy.
Yeilding talked about how socializing new ideas requires persistence and “The Seven Times Rule” in which a group has to hear an idea seven times before accepting it. Repeating ideas that seem futuristic allows the progressive adoption of new ideas and prospective exploration.
Rob Pascoe identified new areas on the U.S. offshore Gulf of Mexico shelf and slope as promising for further oil and gas exploration. He challenged the audience to be “intrapreneurs” (or intracompany wildcatters) within their companies and to look for opportunities in the gap between active plays and future plays.
As panelist Rich Sears noted: high oil prices don’t necessarily lead to the discovery of additional oil fields.
“High oil prices don’t make the rock more porous or close off contours. High-quality technical work and data are still the best way to find oil,” he explained.
Another popular speaker panel was “Funding Oil and Gas Ventures: Using Your GeoLogic,” organized by Lee Billingsley and Michael Mazzella. Houston Geological Society members Barry Rava, Bill Fairhurst and Deborah Sacrey were on the panel.
Other forward-looking GeoGulf session topics included presentations on carbon storage, geothermal investigations, machine learning and AI.
Looking to the Future
The All-Convention Luncheon speaker, Jon Olsen, professor of petroleum and geosystems engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, gave a new spin on enrollment of students in engineering and geoscience. His topic was, “Priming the Workforce Pipeline for Energy Careers through High School Outreach and Innovative University Education Programs.” He reported increased interest in STEM energy subjects and increased student recognition that the oil, gas and alternative energy businesses will likely grow in the next 20 years.
HGS members received GCAGS service awards, including Charles Sternbach (Don Boyd Award), Cheryl Desforges, Sandy Rushworth and David Risch, Bryan Guzman, David Tett and James Hawkins. Dorene West was honored by GCSSEPM for her contributions.
The GeoGulf 2025 team are firming up plans for the next GCAGS conference set for April 6-9, 2025, on the Steven F. Austin University campus in Nacogdoches, Texas. Hunter Carr, president of the East Texas Geological Society, and Kurt Ley of the Shreveport Geological Society will cohost the conference with General Chair Julie Bloxson. The two societies offer experts who will be organizing sessions about East Texas Eagle Ford plays, and the Louisiana Haynesville play.
“The future is here. We are in the world of AI, supercomputers, electric cars, Space X, virtual reality, nanomedical technology, etc,” said Casiano in his closing remarks. “Young people have a good many careers to choose from. However, we need more young people to be interested in geology. Without people learning to explore and produce from our subsurface, we would have none of the things listed.”