Our new Executive Director Tom Wilker will be writing this column in the future, and I’m really looking forward to it. In the meantime, as he prepares to lead AAPG endeavors, it is my pleasure and honor to share my thoughts on opportunities for now and the future.
Powerful new generative AI and machine learning tools are game-changers, and we’re just scratching the surface of how they can materially benefit individuals, small and medium-sized companies.
Here are just a few ideas about what you can do to build deals ranging from oil and gas, geothermal, microgrids, cryptocurrency mining, lithium, helium and other critical minerals, and then team up with legal and land professionals, engineers and data scientists to create packages you can take to market or use for forging partnerships.
Once you’ve crafted your idea, you can take your deals to prospect expos like NAPE and other marketplaces to get them in front of the right people who are looking for investments and partnerships. Smart money needs you now more than ever.
Opportunities Abound
Here are just a few of the kinds of opportunities you can develop:
● Packages of horizontal wells in new zones never drilled laterally before: Using AI-powered analysis of geological data, you can identify untapped formations with significant potential that were previously overlooked by conventional exploration methods. By combining subsurface data with advanced drilling and completion designs, you can show analogues, create compelling investment maps and project financial models that highlight both resource potential and technological innovations that make these zones economically viable for the first time.
● Legacy fields perfect for enhanced oil recovery (waterfloods, CO2 floods, etc.): Advanced reservoir modeling tools can now quickly identify ideal candidates in mature fields where modern enhanced oil recovery techniques can dramatically increase recovery factors beyond what was historically possible. Assembling comprehensive data packages that showcase the remaining resource potential alongside the appropriate EOR technique (waterflow, CO2 flood, even refracs) and required infrastructure investments creates shovel-ready opportunities for investors looking to maximize returns from existing assets.
● Wells that can co-produce geothermal energy and generate electricity (and qualify for tax incentives): Deep wells with high bottomhole temperatures offer dual-revenue opportunities as both hydrocarbon and geothermal energy producers. By integrating temperature gradient mapping with production data, you can identify candidates for binary cycle power generation systems that turn waste heat into electricity, creating additional revenue streams while potentially qualifying for significant renewable energy tax credits and environmental-social-governance enhancement opportunities.
● Natural gas prospects located near pipelines going to planned gas-fired plants: Strategic proximity to existing infrastructure dramatically lowers development costs and accelerates time-to-market. By overlaying gas resource potential maps with pipeline infrastructure data and planned power generation projects, you can identify high-value opportunities with guaranteed offtake potential, allowing operators to secure premium pricing through direct supply agreements with power generators.
● Brine-mining prospects with lithium, bromine, iodine and more: The energy transition is creating unprecedented demand for critical minerals found in oilfield brines, turning what was once a waste product into a valuable resource. Using advanced geochemical databases and AI analysis, you can identify formations with anomalously high concentrations of valuable elements and create investment packages that demonstrate both technical feasibility and economic potential for extraction alongside traditional hydrocarbon production.
● Bypassed pay wells: Modern petrophysical analysis and AI-driven pattern recognition can identify significant hydrocarbon accumulations missed by earlier technologies and assumptions. By reprocessing legacy well logs and integrating with current geological models, you can build compelling investment cases for recompletions or infill drilling that access these bypassed reserves at a fraction of the cost of new exploration, offering exceptional return-on-investment potential for investors.
● “Hot Spot” maps and regional studies: What produces? Where? What kinds of new technology are available? Where can one generate electricity to fortify the grid? Where are the microgrid candidates? Comprehensive GIS-based visualizations that integrate multiple data layers allow investors to quickly grasp the full opportunity landscape within a region. These interactive maps can highlight production sweet spots, technological applications, infrastructure constraints and market opportunities simultaneously, creating powerful decision-making tools that demonstrate your team’s superior understanding of both subsurface and market dynamics.
● Small community / small operator partnerships for small town energy security and economic development: Local energy security initiatives present unique opportunities for smaller operators to develop mutually-beneficial partnerships with rural communities. By creating proposal templates that address both community needs (reliability, price stability, economic development) and operator advantages (reduced permitting friction, community support, stable offtake agreements), you can facilitate deals that might be overlooked by larger firms but offer attractive returns while generating positive social impact. Further, the communities might be willing to partner and fund a microgrid by means of a 30-year municipal bond, thus significantly derisking the deal on both sides. The city has a secure supply of electricity at a negotiated rate; the operator has a customer that has locked in a price, thus avoiding dramatic market fluctuations.
● “Mini-grid” power from low-volume gas wells: Stranded or low-volume gas assets can be transformed from liabilities into valuable power generation resources for local consumption. By packaging these opportunities with modular generation technologies and identifying potential industrial or agricultural consumers within economic transmission distance, you can create compelling investment cases for assets that might otherwise be shut in or abandoned, unlocking significant hidden value.
● Seismic attribute “hot spot” maps: Advanced machine learning algorithms can now identify subtle patterns in seismic data that correlate with superior production results across similar geological settings. By applying these techniques to both legacy and modern seismic surveys, you can generate proprietary insights into reservoir quality and sweet spot locations, creating high-confidence drilling locations that command premium valuations from operators seeking to minimize exploration risk.
● Hybrid energy storage candidates: Identifying locations where multiple energy storage technologies can be deployed synergistically creates unique value propositions in today›s evolving grid. By analyzing geographical features, energy demand patterns and grid constraints, you can identify optimal locations for combined systems (pumped hydro, compressed air, batteries, hydrogen) that maximize revenue through energy arbitrage, grid services and resilience offerings, creating investment opportunities that outperform single-technology approaches.
● Orphan, idle and abandoned wells that can be repurposed: The growing inventory of non-producing wells represents both environmental liability and untapped opportunity. By applying screening criteria that identify wells with structural integrity and strategic locations, you can create investment packages for repurposing these assets for carbon storage, geothermal energy or monitoring applications, potentially accessing government incentives for both environmental remediation and clean energy development while creating new value from dormant assets.
● Energy-optimized cryptocurrency mining operations utilizing stranded and excess energy resources: Stranded natural gas, excess renewable generation and waste heat from industrial operations provide perfect opportunities for energy-efficient cryptocurrency mining operations that can generate significant returns. By identifying locations where energy resources are undervalued due to infrastructure constraints, you can develop crypto mining proposals that create immediate monetization pathways for otherwise wasted energy while maintaining the flexibility to redirect power to the grid during peak demand periods, creating unique investment opportunities that blend energy and digital assets.
With the need to dramatically increase the capacity of the grid and bolster resiliency, those who can form teams to tackle the problem in new ways, who can take existing technology and super-charge it with AI and automation, will be game-changers. No one is too little or big to contribute to energy security and prosperity through energy for everyone.