In an interconnected world full of economic, political and technological challenges, energy professionals must find agile and innovative solutions to meet demand. The fourth annual International Meeting for Applied Geoscience and Energy is designed to equip geoscientists and energy professionals with the knowledge and tools needed to be successful in an evolving energy landscape.
The 2024 theme, “Your Passport to Global Energy,” reflects organizers’ commitment to provide a single gathering place for geoscience professionals throughout the world, as well as a pronounced deviation from the traditional practice of organizing the content by discipline. Instead, geology topics in the IMAGE ’24 program are divided into regional/themes: Africa, Asia Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean/Middle East, Europe/Caspian, Latin America and Caribbean (including Mexico) and North America (focusing on the United States and Canada).
Brian Horn, president at Hatteras Energy and IMAGE ‘24 technical program co-chair for AAPG, described the meeting as a four-day journey through exploration, technology and innovation.
“The focus of the meeting is integration, working in multidisciplinary teams to address various technical problems faced by geoscientists in the field of energy,” he said.
“The intent of the regional themes is to get all geoscientists in the same room discussing technical and commercial issues across multiple technical disciplines,” he added.
Horn and colleagues Wenyi Hu of SEG and Howard Harper of SEPM oversaw development of a robust technical program featuring more than 1,200 presentations by geoscience and industry experts from 49 countries.
The meeting, organized by AAPG in partnership with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Society for Sedimentary Geology, takes place at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Aug. 26-29.
Region Sessions
Charles A. Sternbach, president Star Creek Energy, past AAPG president and current recipient of the AAPG Michel T. Halbouty Outstanding Leadership Award (see related article this issue), helped develop the idea for region themes in his role on the IMAGE Oversight Committee and invited programs chair in the IMAGE ‘24 Steering Committee.
Adding regional sessions helped support one of Sternbach’s primary objectives: to make IMAGE more relevant for geologists.
“Geologists think geographically in terms of regions, basins, plays, and fields. Geology is tied to the geography beneath our feet and in front of us,” he said. “Listening to many comments ‘around the water cooler,’ we responded to AAPG members’ requests for more region-focused sessions, high-impact business panels and case studies.”
Sternbach described sessions as the “fundamental unit of thought” at conferences.
“Geologists may have a tough time darting from room to room to hear technical talks spread all over the conference,” he said. “The idea for regional sessions is to unite geoscientists interested in a particular region together in one room at one time. If you are interested in the Permian Basin, Gulf Coast or Latin America, for example, you can grab a seat for an entire session and hear many talks of interest. You can also meet and network with others interested in the same region.”
Birthplace of the Industry
The largest number of region sessions fall into the North America theme, which covers the geology of the United States and Canada.
Rasoul Sorkhabi, research professor at the University of Utah, Energy and Geoscience Institute in Salt Lake City, chaired a team of 12 geoscientists who reviewed abstracts and organized sessions into five geographical regions:
- Alaska, Canada and the West Coast
- The Rockies
- The Midcontinent
- Permian Basin
- Gulf Coast and U.S. Gulf of Mexico
Sorkhabi said research and technology from the United States and Canada has application far beyond the region.
“North America is the birthplace of the modern oil and gas industry; the petroleum science and engineering legacy of this region dates back to the 1860s – this is a treasure to study and learn from,” he said. “North America is also a pioneer in renewable energy technologies and is actively engaged in cutting-edge technologies related to hydrogen production and storage, carbon sequestration, enhanced geothermal systems, critical minerals and so forth.”
Sorkhabi, who has worked on regional geology from Southeast Asia to North America over the past three decades, said he appreciates the opportunity to work on various basins in an environment so conducive to scientific research.
“The level of funding that the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation have provided to geoscience research is enormous; it is also an enormous contribution to humanity as a whole,” he said.
Sorkhabi described the geology of North America as vast, varied, fascinating and significant for geoscience.
“Consider the beautiful national parks, mountains and coasts we have – they are amazing places to visit; they are also textbook examples of geologic history and landscape development,” he said, “Field trips that are run before or after geoscience conventions in the U.S. or Canada are highly instructive geology classes taught by expert geologists; they are also great opportunities to meet new colleagues and friends.”
IMAGE ‘24 includes pre- and post-meeting field trips in Southeast Texas. Texas Coastal Processes: Texas Brazos River Delta to Galveston Island, sponsored by SEPM, is designed to help participants understand clastic sediment distribution along coastal and barrier island systems.
Sorkhabi expects North America will continue to play a leading role in the global oil and gas industry in future years.
“Consider oil and gas production from tight shale plays – it has revolutionized the industry and has more than doubled the U.S. production – this is perhaps the largest and fastest increase in oil and gas production in any region in recent decades,” he said.
“The horizonal drilling and fracture stimulation technologies that made the shale revolution possible in the USA can be applied in other parts of the world. North America is also making huge advances in renewable energy and energy transition technologies. These are great opportunities for every professional – no matter what country or continent he/she lives and works.”
Diverse Region, Diverse Resources
The United States and Canadian oil and gas technology provides direct benefit to emerging markets, including those in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region recognized worldwide for developments in conventional and unconventional resources over the past decade.
Juan Pablo Lovecchio, president of the Argentine Association of Petroleum Geologists and Geophysicists (AAGGP), served as chair for the Latin America and Caribbean Region theme, including sessions dedicated to the regional exploration outlook, exploration and development and frontier basins, as well as sessions dedicated to Brazil (Pre-Salt Basins and Equatorial Margins), the Mexican Gulf of Mexico, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
“We have a great and diverse region, with energy resources from the Andes to the Atlantic Margin. We also cover Mexico, the Mexican Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean basins,” he said.
Lovecchio noted that Latin America and Caribbean countries have several factors distinguishing them from their neighbors in the United States and Canada. Most are experiencing rapidly increasing energy demand stemming from economic development and population growth, and national oil/energy companies like Petrobras (Brazil), Pemex (Mexico), Ecopetrol (Colombia) and YPF (Argentina) play a prominent role in the regional energy landscape.
“NOCs are always extremely important in their home countries and there are also major (IOCs) boosting activity in frontier and mature areas such as the Caribbean, the transform margin of northern South America, the pre-salt in Brazil, and the southern South Atlantic margin,” he said. “The region hosts a large exploration potential for conventional oil and gas in frontier areas and one of the largest unconventional resources of the world, Vaca Muerta in Argentina. Many of the mature producing basins are potential targets to apply enhanced oil recovery techniques to increase production.”
Lovecchio highlighted the Latin America and Caribbean Region’s potential for both traditional oil and gas resources as well as transitional energies.
“The region has tremendous potential for offshore and onshore natural gas – quite literally the fuel for the energy transition – as well as raw materials required to produce electric vehicles, biofuels and other lower carbon energy solutions,” he said.
Learning and sharing
Lovecchio noted how South Atlantic conjugate margins have received renewed interest following discoveries in West Africa, including the Venus and Graff discoveries in Namibia in 2022.
“The numerous unexplored areas in the region can benefit largely from the use of analogues,” he said.
“As geologists, we reconstruct and study the conjugate margins and see how they were connected,” he said. “The discoveries in Namibia opened up the potential of offshore frontier basins in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.”
In addition to chairing the Latin America Exploration Outlook session, covering all the major industry trends observed in the region, Lovecchio plans to attend sessions from other regions.
“I hope to learn about exploration success cases from other regions, to apply new workflows and ideas to our case studies,” he said.
He invited colleagues from other regions to learn more about Latin America and the Caribbean Region.
“For IMAGE ’24 the chairs have put together a fantastic program, with lots of relevant presentations and posters covering most of the region. The sessions on Brazilian pre- and post-salt, the Mexican GOM and the Caribbean basins should be a must in your schedules,” he said.
Additional Stamps on the Passport to Energy
The global, region-by-region focus at IMAGE ’24 extends beyond the technical program.
Attendees can get their first passport stamp to global energy at the Opening Session: “Global Energy’s Expected Challenges,” featuring insights delivered by exploration vice presidents representing Chevron, Apache, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and Petronas.
Horn will moderate the session and invite leaders to address challenges and issues confronting geoscientists and the energy sector both today, and in the generations to come
Other stops include the Halbouty Lecture, by William Langin of Shell: “Decades of the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico: How Innovation and Performance Continue to Unlock New Resources,” and the Discovery Thinking Forum: “Passport to Giant Global Discoveries, featuring finds in Suriname, Namibia, Indonesia and Zimbabwe.”
The Global Energy Opportunities Pavilion provides an opportunity to receive several stamps in one setting. A dedicated area of the exhibition, the GEO Pavilion includes stands and theater presentations providing a platform for NOCs, ministries and government agencies to promote a broad spectrum of investment opportunities.
Pavilion participants will share oil and gas opportunities as well as geothermal, mineral resources, hydrogen, renewable energy generation projects and government strategies for moving toward a low-carbon economy.
Participating countries include Belize, Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador), Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique, Peru, South Africa, Suriname and Uruguay.
Paving the way for Future Generations
Horn said he is particularly excited about the involvement in students and young professionals in IMAGE ’24.
He also noted that YPs and students have been actively involved in the sessions to cultivate the tradition of building even more robust and interesting content.
For Sorkhabi, having diverse age representation on the Committee benefits the program as well as Committee members.
“Working with colleagues from both academia and industry is always fun – you meet friends and make new friends – and everyone is so helpful, positive, and creative,” he said.
“Our professional society needs this spirit of service, talent, creativity, and working together. I love to see young professionals engaged in community service. In this way, experience and knowledge is passed onto the younger generations.”
Building Community
Horn hopes that young professionals will take advantage of the aspect of IMAGE he finds most rewarding: being a part of the community.
“Perhaps one of the greatest aspects of the IMAGE conference is meeting colleagues, new and old,” he said. “Networking and learning from others are vital aspects of our industry and must be cultivated by every individual. For me that is perhaps what I enjoy the most.”
Sorkhabi agreed, adding that IMAGE provides an unparalleled opportunity to share global knowledge with multiple generations of geoscientists.
“Amazing research is being done in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. It is remarkable to see thousands of geoscientists under one roof sharing their best, talking about their findings and discussing how to advance our science and technology even further,” he said. “Conventions are also great opportunities for young professionals, researchers and students. They gain inspiration and experience and meet their peers and make friends – all life-impacting events.”
To find additional information and register, visit ImageEvent.org.