Creative Petroleum

ExplorationEdward A. Beaumont

Douglas K. Strickland

AAPG Webinar

February 25, 2010

Course Purpose

Reflect

Become aware

Consider skills

Think about characteristics of “oil-finders”

Begin restoring or re-lighting your creativity

Presentation

Definition of Creativity

Right Brain – Left Brain

Model

Visualization – Seeing

The Creative

Environment

Definition of Creativity

“The ability to bring

something new into

existence through

imaginative skill” (after

Webster‟s)

“Going beyond the

information given to a

solution that was the

product of one‟s mind”

Right Brain - Left Brain Model

The Creative Process

First Insight

Saturation

Incubation

Illumination

Verification

Field Sketch of folds on coast of Brittany (the lostgeologist blogspot, 2009)

First Insight

Right Brain Function

Intuitive Leap

See „whole picture‟ but

something is missing

Saturation

Left brain function

Gathering, sorting,

& categorizing

information

Arduous

Can take hours or

years

Incubation

Left brain falters, right

takes over

Feel sense of anxiety

Put it away for awhile

Right brain works

problem subconsciously

Illumination

Left brain becomes

aware of solution

Pieces fall together

Ah-Ha! Moment

Solution seems obvious

Verification

Left brain process

Wonder where

solution came from

Test the solution

Peach and Horne

Scottish Geologists

Unraveled complex

geology of Scottish

Highlands

Peach more “right-

brained”

Horne more “left-

brained”

Ben Peach Watercolor

Oil is first found is in the mind.

-- Wallace Pratt, 1952

Visualization"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."

--Jonathan Swift

Three Types of Visual Imagery

Type that we see: “People see images not

things”

Type that we see in our mind‟s eye, as when we

dream

Type that we make with our hands as in drawing

or sculpting (or idea sketching)

McKim, 1980

Interaction of 3 kinds of Imagery

R.H. McKim (1980)

Seeing

M.C. Escher

Seeing

We see an abstracted

image of an object, not

the object itself

"I placed in front of a

window, seen from a

room, a painting

representing exactly that

part of the landscape

which was hidden from

view the tree situated

behind it, outside the

room.

It existed for the spectator,

as it were, simultaneously

in his mind, as both

inside the room in the

painting, and outside in

the real landscape.

Which is how we see the

world: we see it as being

outside ourselves even

though it is only a mental

representation of it that

we experience ourselves."

The Human Condition by Renee Magritte

A Definition of Seeing

"Seeing is more than sensing: seeing requires

matching an incoming sensation with a visual

memory. A knowledgeable observer sees more

than a less knowledgeable companion because

he or she has a richer stock of memories with

which to match incoming visual sensations“

McKim (1980)

See 2D, Interpret 3D

Use visual cues

Shading

Perspective

Occlusion

Stereoscopic disparity

Seeing More Effectively

Learn to experience the here and now

Ex. Scurry Reef, W. TX

Make the familiar strange

Michigan Pinnacle Reefs

Re-label

Un-label

Sketching

McKim, 1980

Making the Familiar Strange:

Example from Michigan Basin

> 700 productive Silurian

reefs

Started in 1965

Pete Lucas, Shell, assigned to

see if potential existed in

Niagran

New Niagran fields in S.

Michigan basin

Lucas’s Approach

Studied existing fields –

Boyd – Peters fields

Read the literature

Looked at cores and

cuttings

Made maps and cross

sections

Boyd-Peters Analog

Canning Basin Analog

New concept of pinnacle

reefs basinward of shelf

edge in published report

by Phil Playford

Pre-existing Interpretation I

Published Interpretation

Niagran Isopach

Lucas’s New Perspective

Correlating logs

Illumination – Flatten

section on base instead

of top Niagran

New Concept – Starved

basin with shelf margin

on N & S

Exploration Area

38 dry holes

Lower and middle Silurian

Isopach defines play area

Defining Play Area

Defining Play Area

Map pinchouts of A1 & A2 Salt

Defining Exploration Area

Limit A1 Salt

Limit A2 Salt

Play Area 2.2

Million Acres

Thoroughly Tested the Concept

Got all data from the 38 wells in N. Michigan

basin

Made cross sections & maps

Ran samples

Studied cores

Established that dark, thin basinal carbonates

present in center

High energy carbonates present on shelf

Critical Elements

Defined Target – Niagran

Pinnacle Reefs

Defined Area – Northern

Michigan Basin

Used isopachs to map shelf

margin and potential reef belt

Defined Exploration

Technique – Modern

Seismic

Play sat around for awhile

before technique found

Results

> 700 pinnacle reefs in

NRT

New interpretation is

now the paradigm

Lessons

Looked at the basin in new way

Used creative methods to recognize and define

area of the reef trend

Doug Strickland

Jayden Consulting LLC

Creative Environment

How we work

- Teams

- Competition

- Time Constraints

Working in Teams

I believe the greatest

challenges in being

creative in the work

environment are:

-working with others

-competition

-time constraints

Absence of Trust

Conceal weaknesses and

mistakes

Don‟t provide help

Don‟t offer feedback

Don‟t offer to help

outside expertise

Jump to conclusions

about intentions

Fail to use peers‟ skills

and experience

Waste time in behavioral

management

Hold grudges

Dread meetings

Kill Creativity

Conflict Issues

Risk avoided

Boring meetings

Back-channel politics and attacks

thrive

Ignore controversial topics

Waste time with interpersonal

posturing

Fail to use skills of team members

CREATIVITY KILLED

Commitment

Ambiguity about decisions

and priorities

Excessive analysis

Revisit discussions again

and again

Second guessing by team

members

Creativity Gone

Death By Meeting

Patrick Lencioni Tactical – Decide by round robin on two to five topics

to discuss in weekly meeting

Check in – Stand up meeting with 2 minutes each for

daily issues

Strategic – Points raised from tactical that need specific

review

Assumptions

Creative people find oil and gas

Creative people are interested in the creative process,

and are willing to learn

Creative people have to learn how to be creative, and

action must be taken

People have creative gifts. The challenge then is how

to develop these gifts

Creative people practice creativity, and are likely to be

rewarded

46

Creative Obstaclesfrom: Julia Cameron

How can I be creative in

a hostile and competitive

work place?

How can I align work

and personal goals?

How can I be creative

and deal with criticism?

47

Creative Obstacles Continued

How can I apply my strengths to my work?

How can I overcome the depression I feel at work?

How can I handle an impossible workload?

48

Expressions of Creativity

Visual*

Writing*

Verbal*

Music

Dance

Sports

Film

Photography*

Abstract thought*

49

Creativity, as has been said, consists largely of

rearranging what we know in order to find what we do

not know. ….Hence, to think creatively we must be

able to “look afresh” at what we normally take for

granted. - George Kneller, The Art of Science and Creativity, 1965

50

“There‟s gold, and it‟s haunting and haunting;

It‟s luring me on as of old;

Yet it isn‟t the gold that I‟m wanting,

So much as just finding the gold.”

- Robert Service

51

Drawing and Sketching

By learning to draw perceived objects, landscapes or

models, you can learn new ways of seeing that guide

strategies of creative thinking and problem solving

- Modified from: Betty Edwards, 1986

52

Drawing and Sketching

Unlearn the assumption that drawing is art.

Drawing can be art, but drawing is really seeing

Like learning to read or play cricket,

drawing can be learned

Drawing is the act of correct observation

Drawing requires average motor coordination

53

Learning to See

“Drawing on the Right Side

of the Brain (Betty Edwards)

Upside down drawing

Draw things that interest you

Keep a sketch book, draw

daily

Keep a photographic journal

54

Example 1

Cocorp Line, Western Utah

55

Example 2

Northwest Montana

56

Example 3

Petroglyphs

57

Always a more beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question

- E.E. Cummings

Most People Can SketchBetty Edwards class examples

58

59

Drawing Practice

60

Sketching Outcrops

Example

61

Writing Creatively

This section will deal with a technique that

improves our ability to get information that is

stored in our sub-conscious brain. Writing is a

powerful form of creative expression.

62

Poetry

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces

Between stars-on stars where no human race is.

I have it in me so much nearer home

To scare myself with my own desert places.

- Robert Frost

63

Doing-Not Thinking

Intellectualism is the primary block for many

creative people. Being smart may not be the

answer. Expect your intellectual skepticism to be

your adversary and your constant companion.

It‟s OK to be skeptical, but withhold judgment

long enough to be able to connect with all your

creative thoughts

- Adapted from Julia Cameron

64

Writing Tool-The Morning Pages

Learning to be Creative

Try some type of daily reflection on paper

Learn the ability to leverage strengths on paper

Learn how to re-frame failures on paper

65

Adapted from Julia Cameron

What are Morning Pages

Write three 8.5 x 11 inch pages longhand first

thing in the morning. Morning pages are about

anything and everything that comes into your

mind as you write. This is different from standard

“journaling” in which you set a topic and try to say

something meaningful, or to write a response to a

specific agenda.

Anything goes: it can be trivial, negative, petty,

angry, self-doubting, seemingly pointless. They are

not pointless. 66

Rules of the Road

These pages are to be three pages long. They are

written longhand.

The pages are never shown to anyone else. They

are your private place to dream, to fantasize, to

complain, to exult. Keep them private.

They are not to be reread or mulled over. Write

them, save them, move on.

Make sure they are done everyday.

It‟s okay if they are half to-do lists.

67

Morning Pages

There are voices that we

hear in solitude, but they

grow faint and inaudible

as we enter the world.

- Emerson

You‟ve got to find the

force inside you.

- Joseph Campbell

68

Creative Petroleum

ExplorationEdward A. Beaumont

Douglas K. Strickland