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MARCH 2004VOLUME 31, ISSUE 3

� Trends in the Canadian Oil Patch

� Dolomites: The Spectrum – Mechanisms, Models, Reservoir Development

� The CSPG and its Members – The Source of so much!

� I.C.E. 2004 Field Trips and Short Courses

� Professional Societies serve to enrich your careers…’

� Information Technology and the Oil Industry

� Trends in the Canadian Oil Patch

� Dolomites: The Spectrum – Mechanisms, Models, Reservoir Development

� The CSPG and its Members – The Source of so much!

� I.C.E. 2004 Field Trips and Short Courses

� Professional Societies serve to enrich your careers…’

� Information Technology and the Oil Industry

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CSPG OFFICE#160, 540 - 5th Avenue SWCalgary,Alberta, Canada T2P 0M2Tel: 403-264-5610 Fax: 403-264-5898Email: [email protected] Web: www.cspg.orgOffice hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:00pm

Business Manager:Tim HowardEmail: [email protected] Manager: Deanna Watkins Email: [email protected] Manager: Jaimè CroftEmail: [email protected] Manager: Lori Humphrey-ClementsEmail: [email protected] Relations Manager: Kim MacLeanEmail: [email protected]

EDITORS/AUTHORSPlease submit RESERVOIR articles to the CSPGoffice. Submission deadline is the 23th day of themonth, two months prior to issue date.(i.e., January 23 for the March issue).

To publish an article, the CSPG requires digitalcopies of the document. Text should be inMicrosoft Word format and illustrations should bein TIFF format at 300 dpi. For additionalinformation on manuscript preparation, refer tothe Guidelines for Authors published in the CSPGBulletin or contact the editor.

COORDINATING EDITOR & OPERATIONSJaimè CroftCSPGTel: 403-264-5610 Fax: 403-264-5898Email: [email protected]

TECHNICAL EDITORBen McKenzieGEOCAN Energy Inc.Tel: 403-261-3851Email: [email protected]

ADVERTISINGKim MacLeanCorporate Relations, CSPGTel: 403-264-5610, Ext 205Email: [email protected]

Advertising inquiries and all artwork should bedirected to Kim MacLean.The deadline to reserveadvertising space is the 23th day of the month,two months prior to issue date.

The RESERVOIR is published 11 times per yearby the Canadian Society of PetroleumGeologists. This includes a combined issue forthe months of July/August.

Advertisements, as well as inserts, mailed withthe publication are paid advertisements. Noendorsement or sponsorship by the CanadianSociety of Petroleum Geologists is implied.

The CSPG Rock Shop is an attractive andaffordable way for advertisers to present theirservices to the CSPG readership. Spaces aresold at business card sizes (3.5” wide by 2” high).To reserve space or for more information, pleasecontact Kim MacLean at 403-264-5610, ext. 205.

The contents of this publication may not bereproduced either in part or in full without theconsent of the publisher.

Design & Layout by McAra PrintingPrinted in Canada by McAra Printing

Additional copies of the RESERVOIR areavailable at the CSPG office for $3.00.

TRENDS IN THE CANADIAN OIL PATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18DOLOMITES: THE SPECTRUM

– MECHANISMS, MODELS, RESERVOIR DEVELOPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22THE CSPG AND ITS MEMBERS – THE SOURCE OF SO MUCH! . . . . . . . . . . . 23I.C.E. 2004 FIELD TRIPS AND SHORT COURSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24‘PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES SERVE TO ENRICH YOUR CAREERS…’

AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENTS OFGEOTECHNICAL/PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS . . . . . 26

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE OIL INDUSTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3

ARTICLES

DEPARTMENTS

CONTENTS

FRONT COVER

Rocky Candy Mine, British Columbia – Epithermal veins of green and purple fluorite, cut by vuggy quartzveinlets, are developed in fine- to medium-crystalline andesite.Vugs are often lined with crystals of barite, quartz,and fluorite. Although the deposits once commercially provided flux for local copper and gold smelters, thepresence of quartz in the fluorite makes the mine uneconomic and it is now mainly used for mineral collection.Photo by Darran Edwards.

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5EXECUTIVE COMMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7TECHNICAL LUNCHEONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8DIVISION TALKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14ROCK SHOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172004 CALENDAR OF EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19JACK PORTER: VIGNETTES OF CANADIAN PETROLEUM GEOLOGY . . . . . . . 20KEEPING TRACK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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THE CSPG GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES ITS

*CORPORATE MEMBERS:

ABU DHABI OIL CO., LTD. (JAPAN)

ARCHEAN ENERGY LTD.

BAKER ATLAS

BURLINGTON RESOURCES CANADA ENERGY LTD.

CALPINE CANADA

CANADIAN FOREST OIL LTD.

CONOCOPHILLIPS CANADA RESOURCES LIMITED

CORE LABORATORIES CANADA LTD.

DEVON CANADA CORPORATION

DOMINION EXPLORATION CANADA LTD.

DUVERNAY OIL CORP.

ECL CANADA

EL PASO OIL & GAS CANADA, INC.

HUNT OIL COMPANY OF CANADA, INC.

HUSKY ENERGY

IHS ENERGY

IMPERIAL OIL RESOURCES LIMITED

LARIO OIL & GAS COMPANY

MJ SYSTEMS

MURPHY OIL COMPANY LTD.

NCE RESOURCES GROUP INC.

NEXEN INC.

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SAMSON CANADA

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TALISMAN ENERGY INC.

TOTAL E&P CANADA LIMITED

UPTON RESOURCES INC.

*CORPORATE MEMBERS AS OF

JANUARY 24, 2003

CORPORATE MEMBERS

ConocoPhillips is pleasedto announce the recipients of the

ConocoPhillips Glen Ruby MemorialScholarships in Geoscience for 2003.

Dean Knight

Matthew Pronk

Cody Miller

ConocoPhillips would liketo wish all applicants the best of luckin their studies and future endeavors.

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CSPG Programs are responsible forContinuing Education, Technical Divisions(Basin Analysis, Core and Sample, EmergingPetroleum Resources, Environmental,Geomathematics & Computer Applications,Hydrogeology, International, Paleontology,Reservoir Development, Sedimentology,Sequence Stratigraphy, and StructuralGeology), Technical Luncheons, and – in asmall way – conference planning.The role ofthe CSPG Program Director is largely toserve as a liaison between Programcommittees and the CSPG Executive, as wellas a facilitator when new initiatives are beingundertaken or new committees and sub-committees are being established orchanged. Many of the activities of CSPGPrograms are thus, at their root, importantsources of technical, scientific, educational,and professional training information forCSPG members – effectively the ‘life blood’of our petroleum geoscience society.

During the past year as CSPG AssistantProgram Director, it became clear that theday-to-day work of the Society is handled bya very competent and effective CSPG officeled by Tim Howard (Business Manager) andassisted by Deanna Watkins (Programs &Services Manager), Jaime Croft(Communications Manager), Lori Humphrey-Clements (Conventions Manager), and KimMacLean (Corporate Relations Manager).Coupled with the CSPG office and Executive,are a large, dedicated contingent of amazinglyeffective volunteers ranging from the morevisible Program committee chairs (e.g.,Continuing Education – Godfried Wasser andDave Russum; Conventions – George Eynon;Technical Luncheons – Jim Gardner) to themany, many committee members and eventvolunteers.With people such as these and allthe other active volunteers, (and I am sure asmany others equally as committed andenthusiastic waiting in the wings to devotetheir time!), the CSPG should be well placedto be successful not only in the short term,

but also in the long term – ‘visionary’ sort ofway. So… please volunteer!

At the end of each fiscal year a general visionfor CSPG Programs is presented to theExecutive outlining short- and long-termgoals in each of the areas for whichPrograms is responsible. Following is asummary of what was developed by pastProgram Director Elizabeth O’Neill (kudosto Liz for a superb job!!) and myself, as towhere we, and the Executive, believePrograms should be headed:

• General Aim: To improve and modernizetechnical standards of the CSPG usinginnovative means to reach out to bothprofessional and academic petroleumgeoscience communities.

• Education: To improve and expand thetechnical and professional abilities of themembership through geoscience educationrelative to their needs. Specifically, tocontinue revitalizing the ContinuingEducation Committee and to support,nurture, and monitor the GeoscienceProfessional Development Centre. Also, toseek opportunities to forge links with othergeological / geotechnical societies formutual benefit.

• Technical Divisions: To improve thesynergy between Technical Divisions.Promote the Technical Divisions on the website and facilitate inter-division interactionsto achieve cross-divisional presentations.Monitor each Technical Division’sperformance and provide assistance whereit is needed to renew and refresh thevolunteer base.

• Technical Luncheons: Provide a widevariety of current and relevant technicaland scientific presentations for the CSPGmembership under the steerage of theTechnical Luncheon Committee. Achievefull schedule of webcasts and promotedevelopment of the Technical LuncheonPresentation virtual library througharchiving of webcasts. Attempt to makeavailable selected webcasts to up andcoming petroleum geologists.

• Conferences: To seek opportunities forthematic, topical mini-conferences andcollaboration with other societies on jointconventions. This is now the practicalresponsibility of the ConventionsCommittee – ongoing support will be

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EXECUTIVE COMMENTA MESSAGE FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

PRESIDENTCraig LambHusky EnergyTel: [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENTJeff PackardBurlington Resources CanadaTel: 260-8041 Fax: [email protected]

PAST PRESIDENTJohn HoggEnCana CorporationTel: 645-2533 Fax: [email protected]

FINANCE DIRECTORPauline ChungBurlington Resources CanadaTel: 260-1713 Fax: [email protected]

ASSISTANT FINANCE DIRECTORAllan SchinkBerland ExplorationTel: 770-2002 Fax: [email protected]

PROGRAM DIRECTORLavern StasiukGSC – CalgaryTel: [email protected]

ASSISTANT PROGRAM DIRECTORDoug HamiltonEnCana CorporationTel: 290-3193 Fax: [email protected]

SERVICE DIRECTORWayne DwyerAnadarko CanadaTel: [email protected]

ASSISTANT SERVICE DIRECTORAstrid ArtsConocoPhillips CanadaTel: [email protected]

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTORAshton EmbryGSC - CalgaryTel: 292-7125 Fax: [email protected]

Continued on Page 34 . . .

8

MARCH LUNCHEON

“If the bus stops at the busstation and the train stops atthe train station, whathappens at theworkstation??”

SPEAKEREaston Wren, Consultant

11:30 amTuesday, March 9, 2004

TELUS CONVENTION CENTRECALGARY, ALBERTA

Please note:The cut-off date for tickets sales is1:00 pm,Wednesday, March 3rd.Ticket price is $28.00 + GST.

The huge volumes of 3D datasetsrecorded in the 1970s created the needfor a machine to handle the tasksassociated with routine picking ofseismic events, their posting, andsubsequent mapping. It was not possibleto cope with the rapidly escalating datavolumes on paper sections.

Just like other early developments ofcalculating devices (abacus, log tables,slide rule, hand calculator) The earlyworkstations did not have too many frills:simply elementary operations withouttoo much demand for computing power.However, the human operator wasalways in charge. This is a non-trivialaspect of the human-machine interaction.Also there were no statistical estimatesor assumptions with these earlyoperations.They were precise.

Early workstations had no capacity forprocessing, calibration with and

generation of synthetic seismograms,phase filtering, or inversion. They couldnot handle anything but the input datavolume.The fundamental advantage thenbecame the routine process of pick,post, and map. Contemporary workstations are precise in their ability topick and transport data to mappingpackages. However, contemporaryworkstations do not always satisfy theseismic interpreter’s objectives to gobeyond this pick-post-map process.

Seismic interpreters are forced toproduce interpretation maps of multipledata sets in relatively short time. Themain complaint from the interpreter isthat it is not possible to do everything tofine-tune a seismic prospect with thecurrent crop of workstations. It isdesirable to be able to investigate thequality of the seismic data processing andthe final seismic product beforecommitting to a well location. Often it isnecessary to investigate the pre-stackdatabase (CDP gathers, offset gathers,cross-plotting, etc.) to establish any AVOsignature that might be critical in additionto assessing the quality of processing.

Therefore, much of the essential workthat should be performed on theworkstation cannot be done.

This presentation will take a historicallook at the process of computation andsuggest where we might be headed inthe future with respect to theworkstation world.

BIOGRAPHYEaston Wren is well known in Canada andrecognized internationally as an innovative

geophysicist who is a leader in theapplication of new seismic techniques.

He received his B.Sc. (Hons) in Geology in1960 and his Ph.D. in Geophysics in 1968from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.His professional experience includes positionswith Ray Geophysical Company in Libya, theUnited Nations in Uganda, Amoco Canada,and PanCanadian Petroleum. In 1978 hefounded Petrel Consultants and was Presidentand General Manager of the company until1986. Since that time he has been anindependent consultant.

Dr. Wren is current in state-of-the-artseismic methods, has lectured at U.S. andCanadian universities, has developed andpresented industry-oriented training coursesto a wide variety of audiences. His“Geophysics for Geologists” has beenpresented in Calgary annually for overtwenty years.

Easton was elected President of theCanadian Society of ExplorationGeophysicists for 1981, received theSociety’s Best Paper award in 1974, theMeritorious Service Award in 1977, andHonorary Membership in 1988. He hasauthored several papers on seismicprocessing and interpretation, is a pasteditor of the Journal of the CSEG, andBulletin of the CSPG, and was GeneralChairman of the joint CSEG-CSPGConvention, Exploration Update, in 1979.

In 1987, he was Distinguished Lecturer forthe American Association of PetroleumGeologists (AAPG). He is also an activemember of SEG,CSEG,and APEGGA. He wasthe host of the CFAC-TV Calgary “ScienceSpectrum” documentary programme.

MARCH LUNCHEON

The two facies of Piscichnus,water-bound vertebrates areGemini: paleogeography andprocess ichnology usingfeeding traces and trace fossils

SPEAKERMurray GingrasUniversity of Alberta

CO-AUTHORIan Armitage

11:30 amTuesday, March 23, 2004


Please note:The cutoff date for ticket sales is

1:00 pm,Wednesday, March 17th.Ticket Price is $28.00 + GST.

The trace fossil Piscichnus represents thevestige of subaqueous feeding behavior.The trace fossil typically resembles aconical- or bowl-shaped structure,depending on the caliber andcohesiveness of the sediment. Although

9

the behavior is normally interpreted torepresent water jetting by an animal into asubstrate, some types of digging activitiesmight produce similar trace fossils. Drawingfrom two distinctive examples, this papercontrasts occurrences of modern and ancientPiscichnus and reveals a range of behavioralinferences that might be applied to rockrecord occurrences of Piscichnus.

The first example, observed in greatabundance on tidal flats in the Bay of Fundy,comprises a crescent-shaped impression anda plug-shaped excavation.The morphology ofthe trace strongly links it to foraging Atlanticsturgeon. Surfaces characterized bynumerous occurrences of the feeding trace,contain a variety of organisms includingmollusks, polychaete worms, and amphipods.Analysis of the distribution and orientationof the feeding traces shows that feedingactivity is greatest within 500m of the meanhigh-tide mark and coincides with themaximum concentration of the amphipodCorophium volutator. Within this zone,voluminous quantities of mud and silt areresuspended by the feeding activity ofsturgeon. Extensive soupy substrates resultfrom suspension deposition of silts and mudsat slack tide as well as the impoundment ofseawater within the feeding excavations.Thus, it is suggested that feeding by theAtlantic sturgeon locally represents one ofthe chief erosional/depositional agents onthe intertidal mudflat zone within the upperreaches of the Bay of Fundy.

Our second example focuses on Piscichnusobserved in gravelly Pleistocene depositsadjacent to Willapa Bay, Washington, whichare co-occurent with bivalve trace fossils.The suite of biogenic structures manifesttwo distinct occurrences: (1) symmetric orasymmetric u-shaped structures with flaredlimbs containing occurrences of gradedbedding (Piscichnus) and (2) vertical to sub-vertical columns where laminae and beddingdeflect downward (bivalve burrows).Piscichnus cross-cut the bivalve-generatedstructures and are interpreted to representa predatory relationship. Several animalshave been reported to feed on bivalvesincluding: elasmobranch fishes, crabs, seastars, sea otters, whales, and walruses. Inparticular, walruses generate distinctiveexcavations on the sea floor as they root forprey with their snouts and emit a hydraulicjet that liquefies the substrate where abivalve has burrowed. Earlier documentationof seafloor furrows and pits produced by thePacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens)provides modern analogues for theaforementioned structures. The presence ofthese trace fossils is significant in that: (1)given the growth rate of likely tracemakers,

the bivalve-made structures probablydeveloped over 20 to 60 years—thereby atemporal significance can be attached to theobserved surface; and, (2) if feedingexcavations in paleo-Willapa Bay,Washingtonwere produced by walruses, their herds musthave wandered along the northern Pacificrim from their present habitat in the BeringShelf and Chukchi Sea whilst enjoying acolder (glacial?) climate.

BIOGRAPHYMurray Gingras received his Diploma inMechanical Engineering Technology from the

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 1987,a B.Sc. from the University of Alberta in 1995and his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in1999. Dr. Gingras has worked professionally inthe hydrocarbon industry, at the Northern AlbertaInstitute of Technology, and as an AssistantProfessor at the University of New Brunswick. Hisresearch focuses on using sedimentology andichnology to interpret sedimentary rocksuccessions. This broad field has strong links tothe hydrocarbon industry, is used extensively inpaleogeography, and is applied in modernsedimentary environments.

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MARCH LUNCHEON

Methane hydrates andclimate change: theclathrate gun hypothesis

SPEAKERRichard J. BehlAAPG Distinguished Lecturer

AUTHORSRichard J. BehlCalifornia State UniversityLong Beach, CaliforniaKevin G. CannariatoUniversity of Southern CaliforniaIngrid L. HendyUniversity of MichiganJames P. KennettUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

11:30 amThursday,April 8, 2004


Please note:The cut-off date for ticket sales is1:00 pm, Monday April 5th.Ticket price is $28.00 + GST.

What caused repeated, remarkably rapid,global warming events that occurred inless than one human lifespan during thelate Quaternary? A likely, butcontroversial, culprit is methane hydrate(or clathrate), which makes up a vastreservoir of frozen methane in oceansediments.Destabilization of the reservoirthrough changes in sea-floor temperatureand pressure may release methane (apowerful greenhouse gas) into the oceanand atmosphere, with dramatic climaticconsequences. The Clathrate GunHypothesis proposes that the marinemethane hydrate reservoir was repeatedlyreloaded and discharged as clathratesaccumulated during cold glacial intervalsonly to be dissociated when triggered bypulses of warmer intermediate waterimpinging on the continental slopes. Thismechanism could have greatly amplifiedand accelerated global warming episodes.Could methane hydrates play a role inpresent and future climatic change,as well?This presentation explores whether thepresent is always the best key to the past,or whether these dramatic episodes inEarth's history were unique in theirsensitivity to certain triggers of climaticand environmental change.

BIOGRAPHYRichard J. Behl graduated in 1978 with hisB.A. in Chemistry with Earth SciencesSpecialization from the University ofCalifornia, he then went on to receive hisPh.D. in Earth Sciences from the Universityof California at Santa Cruz in 1992.Between 1978 and 1987 Richard workedas a wellsite geologist for a number ofcompanies. From 1992 to 1995 Richardwas a Postdoctoral Fellow at theUniversity of California. From 1995to1999 Richard was an AssistantProfessor at California State University.Presently Richard is an Associate Professorat California State University.

Richard has authored and co-authored 29professional papers, 54 abstracts, and 1book on marine sedimentology andstratigraphy, diagenesis of silica- and organiccarbon-rich sediments, andpaleoceanography. Richard has a specialinterests in the sedimentary record anddiagenesis of the Neogene throughQuaternary of the California Margin.Richard is involved with AAPG, AmericanGeophysical Union, GSA, InternationalAssociation of Sedimentologists, and theSociety for Sedimentary Geology.

APRIL LUNCHEON

MARCH LUNCHEON

Tide-dominatedsedimentation in an arid riftbasin – Cretaceous QishnClastics, Masila Block,Republic of Yemen – a billionbarrel oil field

SPEAKERDale A. LeckieNexen Inc.

AUTHORSDale A. Leckie and Tom RumpelNexen Inc.

11:30 amThursday,April 22, 2004


Please note:The cut-off for ticket sales is 1:00pm, Monday,April 19th.Ticket Price is $28.00 + GST.

This talk begins by illustrating the cultureand landscapes of Yemen which leadsinto a brief discussion of the petroleumgeology of Yemen’s Masila Basin. TheCretaceous Qishn Clastics Member wasdeposited in a rift basin connected to thePaleo-Indian Ocean – an ideal set-up fortidal amplification and domination.Recoverable hydrocarbon reserves are1.1 billion barrels. Facies associations areconsistent with an estuarine system –sand shoals, tidally influenced point bars,mud flats, etc. Lowermost Qishn onlapresulted in deposition of tidal estuarineto bay facies. A sequence boundarytruncates the Lower Qishn at the base ofthe S3, a low-accommodation braidplaindeposited close to the shoreline. Aflooding surface at the top of the S3heralds S2 progradational, tide-dominated deltaic deposits. Deltaprogradation culminated in clasticdolomitic deposits on the coastal plain.

With subsequent transgression, S1Cdeposits show rising water table and anonmarine flooding surface, overlain bytidal-flat/inlet deposits. Ongoingtransgression resulted in wave-ravinement overlain by shallow shelfclastics and deeper shelf carbonates ofthe S1B. The overlying S1A comprisesbioturbated, clastic shelf deposits relatedto a drop in sea level. Accommodationwas relatively high, except for lowaccommodation associated with regionalsheet sandstone of the S3.

Qishn Clastic sediments meet thecriteria of a macrotidal, tide-dominatedestuary, yet a more appropriate analogmay be the Shatt al-Arab River flowinginto the Arabian Gulf. Is the latter atidally-influenced delta flowing into a gulf- or a large bayhead delta? Application ofexisting terminologies - estuaries, syn-riftclastics, deltaic, strait, Gulf, bay - is

APRIL LUNCHEON


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confusing to the practicing explorationist,particularly when attempting to convey amental image of the environmentalsetting of the reservoir.

BIOGRAPHYDale Leckie, Chief Geologist at Nexen Inc.,has worked on basins in Canada, Yemen,Australia, Colombia, New Zealand and theU.S. He utilizes sedimentological andsequence stratigraphic technologies to

explore for and develop hydrocarbons. Hehas published over 100 refereed papers andreceived numerous awards including: AAPGDistinguished Lecturer, SEPM DistinguishedLecturer, CSPG Distinguished Lecturer, CSPGPresidents Award, CSPG Medal of Merit,CSPG Link Award. Dale co-edited AAPGMemoir 55, Foreland Basins and Fold Belts(1992) and CSPG Memoir 15, SequenceStratigraphy: Surface, Subsurface andSedimentology.

Tom Rumpel is Staff Geological Consultant atNexen Inc., developing the petroleum reservesin Nexen's new Al-Hajr Block in Yemen. In atwenty-nine-year career as a professionalgeoscientist in the petroleum industry, he hasworked in a variety of capacities for severalIntermediate and Junior Exploration &Production companies, including field geologist,exploration/exploitation geologist, consultinggeologist, Vice President of Exploration, andChief of Computer Geoscience.

Continued from Page 10 . . .

Thank youto everyone who attended the

CSPG 2004 Volunteer Appreciation Socialon February 10th.

Congratsto the 2003 Volunteer Award Recipients

and to the 10 Prize Draw Winners

The CSPG is a success due to our dedicatedvolunteers and we express our gratitude

to all of them.

For more details on this event, award recipients, or volunteering click on

VOLUNTEER SOURCE@ www.cspg.org

Special Thanks to our Sponsor:

www.smart4d.com500, 777 - 8th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 3R5Tel: 403.265.0111 Fax: 403.294.9544 Email: [email protected]

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14

The real significance ofsequence stratigraphy tosubsurface geological work

SPEAKERDoug CantDoug Cant Geological Consulting

12:00 NoonWednesday, March 10, 2004

EnCana Amphitheatre2nd Floor, east end of the CalgaryTower Complex1st Street and 9th Avenue SECalgary, Alberta

Many industry geologists believe sequencestratigraphy to be of little importance totheir day-to-day work, partly becausemost sequence stratigraphic presentationsemphasize esoteric theory and jargon.Thereal significance for exploration geologistslies in how it allows a completely differentapproach to well-log correlations. Manygeologists still use a layer-cake approach,

pushing all correlations througheverywhere, a method almost guaranteedto produce errors.

Correlatable surfaces are recognized byan abrupt lithologic change reflecting achange in deposition. Each representsthe surface of the sediment at one time.Correlation patterns therefore shouldshow consistency.A few simple rules forcorrelation can be applied on a properlyhung stratigraphic section: 1)correlations should slope seaward; 2)marine regressive cycles are continuousand their number changes only at theshoreline; 3) units should fine offshore;4) unit thicknesses should not varyrandomly; 5) where superimposed unitsshow complementary thickening andthinning, the correlation between themis misplaced. Units may terminateproximally by onlap, distally by downlap.

Unconformities are the most importantcontrol on clastic reservoir facies, andthey occur extremely commonly. Theysometimes can be inferred on a section

where reasonable correlations cannot bemade, particularly where anomalouslowstand sands or channels occur. Inconclusion, without the simple conceptof numerous breaks in the stratigraphicrecord, reasonable correlations andinterpretations cannot be made on well-log or seismic sections.

BIOGRAPHYDoug Cant has worked on subsurfacegeology, particularly the Mannville Groupsince 1977. Other projects have been locatedfrom Argentina to the Mackenzie Delta andthe Scotian Shelf to British Columbia.

INFORMATIONBASS Division talks are free. Please bringyour lunch. For further information aboutthe division, joining our mailing list, a list ofupcoming talks, or if you wish to present atalk or lead a field trip, please contacteither Steve Donaldson at 403-645-5534,email: [email protected] orMark Caplan at 403-691-3843, email:[email protected] or visit our webpage at www.cspg.org/basin_analysis.html.

BASIN ANALYSIS DIVISION

PALAEONTOLOGY DIVISION

Unwrapping the Past:Eighth Annual APSPalaeontologicalSymposium

Saturday March 20, 2004

Mount Royal College Science Wing(Lower Level) 4825 Richard Road SWCalgary, Alberta

Alberta Palaeontological Society,Canadian Society of PetroleumGeologists (Paleontology Division), andMount Royal College Department ofEarth Sciences jointly sponsor thesymposium. On Saturday all lectures andposter displays are free and open to thegeneral public. A fossil identificationbooth and fossil displays will be at theevent. Keynote talk is on Leonardo, amummified hadrosaur excavated inMontana and certified by Guinness asthe world’s best-preserved dinosaur. On

Sunday March 21st a pair of limitedspace workshops will be available tothose who register (see below).

SPEAKER SCHEDULE(All lectures to be held in JenkinsTheatre, Mount Royal College)

9:30 – 10:00 a.m.Don Henderson, University of CalgarySauropod Dinosaurs were theColossal Corks of the Mesozoic.

10:00 – 10:30 a.m.Lisa Budney, University of AlbertaNew Technologies Challenge OldViews on the Evolution of ReptilianDental Morphology and Histology

10:30 – 10:45 a.m. Coffee break

10:45 – 11:15 a.m.Darren Tanke, Royal Tyrrell MuseumDiscovery of William E. Cutler’sWinter 1919–1920 Fieldcamp,Dinosaur Provincial Park,Alberta

Special Presentation11:15 – 12:15 p.m.Gerhard Maier, ESSOAfrican Dinosaurs Unearthed:The Tendaguru Expeditions

12:15 – 2:00 p.m.Lunch Break & Poster Session

2:00 – 2:30 p.m.Marisa Gilbert, University of AlbertaApproaches in Vocalizing theScience of Palaeontologyto the Public of All Ages

2:30 – 3:00 p.m.Richard McCrea, University of Albertaand Lisa G. Buckley, South DakotaSchool of Mines and TechnologyExcavating BritishColumbia’s First Dinosaurs,and other PalaeontologicalProjects in the TumblerRidge Area

15

3:00 – 3:30 p.m.David Eberth, Royal Tyrrell MuseumRevising the Edmonton Group:A Framework for AssessingBiostratigraphy and Climate Change

Keynote Talk3:30 – 4:30 p.m.Nate Murphy, Director of VertebratePaleontology, Phillips County Museum,MontanaLeonardo, the Virtual Dinosaur

THE WORKSHOPSSunday, March 21

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.Plant MorphologyINSTRUCTOR: Georgia Hoffman

LOCATION: Geological Survey of Canada,3303 - 33 St. NW, Calgary.Learn to categorize plant fossils intomorphotypes based on leaf structure.Participants will practice their new skillsusing Paleocene leaf fossils.FEE: $15.00. Limit: 20 participants.

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Jaw Form and Function:AdaptiveRadiation of the MammalianMasticatory ApparatusINSTRUCTOR: Dr.Anthony RussellLOCATION: University of Calgary (buildingand room to be announced)This workshop will focus on muscles, bonesand joints as they relate to jaw form andfunction.The workshop is hands-on andincludes dissection.Those who do not wish

to dissect carcasses should not enroll.FEE: $15.00. Limit: 20 participants.

Workshop registration deadline is March 7,2004.To sign up contact Vaclav Marsovsky at(403) 547-0182 or [email protected] should be made payable to AlbertaPalaeontological Society. Payment may behanded to Vaclav or mailed to the APS mailingaddress, PO Box 35111, Sarcee Postal Outlet,Calgary,AB, Canada T3E 7C7

INFORMATIONFor information or to present a talk in the futureplease contact CSPG Paleo Divison Head PhilipBenham at 403-691-3343 [email protected]. Visit the APSwebsite for confirmation of event times andupcoming speakers: http://www.albertapaleo.org/

SEDIMENTOLOGY DIVISION

Stratal pattern and sequencestratigraphy of the UpperCretaceous Upper ColoradoGroup in southern Alberta andsouthwestern Saskatchewan

SPEAKERKarsten NielsenNexen Inc.

12:00 Noon,Monday, March 22, 2004

EnCana Amphitheatre, Tower CentreRoom 498 (TC498) 2nd Floor,east end of Calgary Tower Complex1st Street and 9th Avenue SECalgary, Alberta

A method of utilizing closely-spacedresistivity wire-line logs to delineate regionalstratal patterns allows a new detailedsequence stratigraphic interpretation of themarine Upper Cretaceous Upper ColoradoGroup in southern Alberta and southwesternSaskatchewan. The results show thirteensequences: seven in the lower regressiveCarlile Formation and six in the uppertransgressive Niobrara Formation.

The large-scale stratal patterns of the thirteensequences vary considerably in scale andorientation direction. The patterns areexplained by changing accommodation spaceand sediment input through time. Paleo-waterdepth and changing direction of sediment inputare also major factors in the creation of thesemajor shaly and fine-grained sandstone

clinoforms that prograded into the WesternCanada Interior Seaway.

The sequences of the Carlile Formation aredominated by low-angled shingled stratalpatterns, which reflect a period of lowaccommodation space and low sedimentinput to the shelf.The sediments of the CarlileFormation were deposited in an offshore toshelf environment and are dominated by shaleand siltstone. Minimal sand-size sedimentbypassed the littoral energy fence to theoffshore during this period. The mainreservoir of this stratigraphic interval is theCardium Formation in western Alberta, whichforms linear reservoir trends tens ofkilometres long.

The sequences of the Niobrara Formation arecharacterized by a general upwards-change instratal pattern from high-angled to low-angled.

This general trend was modified by rapidfluctuations in the relative sea level, whichcreated a complex sediment infill of the basin.The rate of sediment input and grain size alsochanged at this time. The Medicine HatMember was deposited when large quantitiesof very fine sand bypassed the littoral energyfence and were deposited as pervasive sandsheets in an offshore to shelf environment. Incontrast to the linear reservoir trends of theCardium Formation, the Medicine HatSandstones are widespread (up to 3,000 km2)deposits that form excellent reservoirs forbiogenetic shallow gas in parts of southernAlberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.

INFORMATIONTalks are free – don’t forget to bring your lunch!For more information about this talk, or aboutpresenting a talk, please call Scott Rose at (403)875-7673, (email: [email protected])

North Dakota Geological Survey and Saskatchewan Industry and Resources

Twelfth Williston Basin Horizontal

Well and Petroleum Conference

Informal talks, poster discussions and workshops on geology, engineering, and geophysicspertaining to new developments in petroleum exploration and production within or

applicable to the Williston Basin.

May 2 – 4, 2004Holiday Inn Riverside

Minot, North Dakota, USA

For more information, please call:(701) 328-8000 United States or (306) 787-7662 Canada

EMERGING PETROLEUM RESOURCES DIVISION

North American “deep”natural gas potential:opportunities in Canadiancratonic and oceanmargin basins

SPEAKERK. G. OsadetzGeological Survey of Canada

12:00 NoonWednesday, March 24, 2004

ConocoPhillips Auditorium (3rd Floor – west side of building) 401-9th Ave SW(Gulf Canada Square)Calgary, Alberta

The United States recognizes both “BasinCentre” and “Deep” natural gas resourcesthat are not part of the Canadian resourceinventory. Characterization of American“Deep” resources allows comparisonbetween Canadian and American basins,suggesting that similar resource may bepresent in Canada. The U.S. GeologicalSurvey has analyzed potential deep andbasin-centre gas accumulations andresources (USGS Bulletins 2184, parts a-e). Gas accumulations in the Hanna Basin,Wyoming and in the Columbia Basin,Washington are among the deepest in theU.S., and they provide insights into thegeologic variability of such resources. Inthe Hanna Basin, gas-chargedoverpressuring in the Niobrara andFrontier Formations along the southern

margin of the basin may be part of a“basin-center” accumulation thatcontinues into the basin center. In theColumbia Basin, the sedimentarysequence does not appear to beextensively gas-saturated due to factorsthat prohibited the development of atypical basin-center gas accumulation.

Deep Canadian resources are essentiallyunassessed; however, geologicalcharacteristics suggest that:

1) Some existing Canadian petroleumproduction comes from settings thatwere previously “deep” (> 5km) andthat these petroleum accumulationshave survived both deep burial andsubsequent exhumation.

2) Other Canadian sedimentary basins are“deep”, but essentially uncharacterized,including:

• Alberta Basin, where deep reservoirsmay exist adjacent to and withinforeland fold-thrust belt.

• Intermontane basins, where newdiscoveries of effective petroleumsystems suggest a real potential.

• Cratonic and Oceanic basins of theAtlantic margin, from Nova Scotia toBaffin Bay, where syn-rift, sub-saltreservoirs are but one possible play.

• Mackenzie Delta, where lowgeothermal and organic maturity

gradients may preserve oil potential tovery deep depths.

• Sverdrup Basin, a very deep basin withvery encouraging shallow successes.

• Proterozoic basins of northernInterior Platform where thicksedimentary sequences (>15 km)occur east of Mackenzie Mountains.While the potential of these basinsshould be assessed, it is only by drillingthat existence of this resource will beestablished in Canada.

BIOGRAPHYKirk Gordon Osadetz is a graduate of theUniversity of Toronto, Ontario (B.Sc,, 1978;M.Sc. 1983). Mr. Osadetz is the Manager ofthe Earth Sciences Sector’s Gas Hydrates –Fuel of the Future? Program; the Head,Energyand Environment Subdivision, at theGeological Survey of Canada’s Calgary Office;and the leader of a project of PetroleumResource Assessment MethodologicalDevelopment for the Project of EnergyResearch and Development. Mr.Osadetz hasperformed studies of petroleum resourceevaluation, as well as having researchinterests related to petroleum system

INFORMATIONAll luncheon talks are free – please bring yourown lunch. If you would like more informationabout future EPRD activities, please join our e-mail distribution list by sending a message withthe title “EPRD list” to [email protected].

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ROCK SHOP

A Brief History of Canada’sNatural Gas Production

Natural gas has been the primary driver inAlberta’s growth for the past fifteen years.Figure 1 shows the trend in Canadianmarketed gas production (Bcf/d) since 1947(CAPP Data). The red line is the totalproduction while the brown line is thecontribution from Eastern Canada. Eventoday, with the production of gas from SableIsland, the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin(WCSB) produces 97% of all Canadian gas;Alberta contributes nearly 80% of that supply.

Some of the key dates in the development ofCanada’s natural gas industry are listed below (amore complete chronology and extensivebibliography can be found on Geo-Help’s web

site: www.geohelp.ab.ca). Notice the length oftime it has taken to bring frontier gas discoveriesto market and that our forays intounconventional gas are very recent. Also,according to the AEUB, Alberta’s remainingreserves peaked in 1982 and yet our productionpeaked in 2001. A detailed understanding of thehistory of our industry provides insights tobetter predict future trends.

1859 - Natural gas discovered in NewBrunswick; flared as a waste product

1883 - First gas found in Alberta, at Langevin,near Medicine Hat, while drilling a waterwell for the CPR(!)

1889 - Eugene Coste drilled in Essex County,Ontario for natural gas to supply nearbycommunities

1901 - First commercial gas field developedat Medicine Hat

1907 - Rudyard Kipling visited Medicine Hatand described it as having "all hell for abasement"

1909 - "Old Glory" well drilled at BowIsland; largest gas well to that time inCanada; drilled by the CPR, reportedly onthe wrong location

1912 - Gas pipeline built from Bow Island toCalgary (275 Km) by Canadian WesternNatural Gas

1914 - First discovery of Gas-condensatereservoir at the Dingman #1 in TurnerValley (from Cretaceous)

1923 - Edmonton converted to Natural gas1924 - Gas condensate reservoir discovered

in Mississippian at Turner Valley1930 - Bow Island field exhausted, having

produced 336 Bcf into the Calgary market1938 - Alberta Petroleum and Natural Gas

Conservation Board formed by SocialCredit Government; significantly reducedflaring of natural gas as a by-product ofoil production

1944 - Jumping Pound discovered by Shell; firstefforts to recover sulphur from sour gas

1957 - First gas exported by WestcoastTransmission Company via Vancouver toUS markets

1957 - First gas exported to Eastern Canadaby Trans Canada Pipelines

1967 - Sable Island gas discovered by Shell1969 - First drilling by Panarctic resulted in the

discovery of Drake Point gas field (nearly sixTcf) at Melville Island in Canadian Arctic

1972 - Parsons Lake discovered by GulfCanada in McKenzie Delta (1.8 Tcf)

1976 - Discovery of Elmworth and conceptof Deep Basin Gas by Masters and Gray ofCanadian Hunter

1982 - Amoco Dome Brazeau 13-12-48-12W5blew out creating a stink across Alberta

1982 - Pre-build section of Alaska Pipelineopened

1982 - Alberta’s remaining natural gasreserves peaked at 65 Tcf

1985 - Western Accord by Brian Mulroney'sConservative Government started processof Deregulation of the Oil Industry

1986 - Discovery of Caroline Swan HillsField by Shell

1995 - Alberta's Energy ResourcesConservation Board (ERCB) changedname to Energy Utilities Board (EUB)

1999-2000 - Ladyfern Slave Point Fielddiscovered by Apache, Murphy, and BeauCanada

2000 - First gas production from Sable Island;first Canadian offshore gas development

2000 - First shipment of gas on Alliance Pipeline2000 - (December 11th) - Spot price for

Alberta gas closed at a record $16.95(Cdn) per gigajoule

TRENDS IN THE CANADIAN OIL PATCHBY DAVE RUSSUM

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Figure 1 - Canada’s Gas Production 1947 to 2003 showing the four main phases in thedevelopment of the industry. (Data adapted from CAPP and other sources)

MARCH 19 - 20, 2004RADISSON HOTEL & CONFERENCE

CENTRE, CANMORE, ALBERTAAbstract Submission Deadline: December 10, 2003Registration Opens On-Line Monday, January 5, 2004

WATER RESOURCES & ENERGY DEVELOPMENTWATER RESOURCES &

ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

For more information visit: www.cspg.org or contact the CSPG Office at 264-5610

19

DATE: March 19-20, 2004EVENT: Water Resources & Energy Development - William

C. Gussow Geoscience Conference(A CSPG Seminar)

LOCATION: Raddison Hotel, Canmore,AlbertaINFORMATION: SESSIONS:

Water resources for petroleum explorationand production (Dr. Kevin Parks,AlbertaGeological Survey - Chair); Resources forwaterfloods, steam generation, etc.Resource Conflict (Dave McGee,AlbertaEnvironment - Chair): Industrial impacts on surfaceand shallow groundwater resources.Handling and disposal of produced water(Dr. Ian Hutcheon, University of Calgary - Chair);Coalbed Methane waters, co-produced freshwatersfrom shallow gas, SAGD produced water, treatmentand compatibility, disposal of acid gases intoaquifers, etc.KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:Dr. Marios Sophocleous, Kansas Geological SurveyDr. Bill Gunter,Alberta Research CouncilDr. David Percy, Dean of Law, University of AlbertaCALL FOR POSTERS:Oral talks will be by invitation only. Howeverdelegates are welcome to submit abstracts forposter presentations pertaining to the subject of thethree main themes of the conference. For moreinformation, registration, and electronic submissionof abstracts contact Lori Humphrey-Clements at(403) 264-5610, Ext. 202 or email to [email protected].

DATE: April 18-21, 2004EVENT: AAPG Annual Convention

LOCATION: Dallas,TexasINFORMATION: For more information visit www.aapg.org

DATE: May 2 - 4, 2004EVENT: Twelfth Williston Basin Horizontal Well &

Petroleum ConferenceLOCATION: Holiday Inn Riverside, Minot, North Dakota

INFORMATION: Informal talks, poster discussions, and workshopson new technology and developments in petroleumexploration and production within or applicable tothe Williston Basin. Conference is co-sponsored bythe North Dakota Geological Survey and theSaskatchewan Industry and Resources. Forinformation call either (701) 328-8000 or (306)787-7662. Registration information and formsavailable at www.state.nd.us/ndgs orwww.ir.gov.sk.ca.

DATE: May 10-13, 2004EVENT: 2004 CSEG National Convention

Theme: Great Explorations – Canada and BeyondLOCATION: Calgary,Alberta

INFORMATION: For more information visitwww.csegconvention.org

DATE: May 17-20, 2004EVENT: SIPES Annual Meeting

LOCATION: San Antonio,TexasINFORMATION: The San Antonio Chapter of the Society of

Independent Professional Earth Scientists will hostthe 2004 National Convention at the Plaza SanAntonio Hotel on S.Alamo St. The theme of themeeting will be "The Economics of Being anIndependent"; papers presented will deal solely withthe business life and times of independents in the oiland gas business, and how to make them moreprofitable. Stewart Chuber will chair these sessions,and presenters will be several proven independent"players". A field trip to the gorge formed by spillwayoverflow from Canyon Lake on the Guadalupe Riverduring the 2002 flood will be an option for attendees– as will barge rides on the San Antonio River, golf,tennis, lunch at New Braunfels (Gruene) for field tripattendees, and Mission tours. Of course, theConvention will start off with an Ice Breaker.

We expect about 150 members and their guests toattend, representing SIPES chapters from Denver toNew Orleans. If you would like to attend any or allof the program, please contact Don McGregor,Convention Chairman, at 210-826-6668, or visit theSIPES website at www. sipes.org.

DATE: May 31 - June 4, 2004EVENT: I.C.E. 2004 - Innovation, Collaboration and

Exploitation, CSPG - CHOA - CWLS Joint ConventionLOCATION: Round-Up Centre, Calgary,Alberta

INFORMATION: For more information watch the Reservoir andCSPG website (www.cspg.org).

DATE: September 19-22, 2004EVENT: ICAM 2004, 8th International Congress

on Applied MineralogyLOCATION: Aguas de Lindoia, Brazil

INFORMATION: For more information contact EPUSP,Av. Prof.Luciano Gualberto,Trav.3, nº 380, 05508-900, SaoPaulo, SP, Brazil; (55) 1130915420; fax (55)38145909; www.icam2004.org.

2004 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

2001 – Alberta gas production peaked at 14Bcf/day marketable gas

2002 - (January) - Experimental gas hydrateproject at Malik in the McKenzie Delta byan industry / government consortium

2002 - (August) - Encana announces plans forthe first commercial Coalbed Methaneproject in Canada

2003 - (August) - Access Northeast EnergyInc. announced plans to build an LNGterminal at Bear Head, Nova Scotia

2003 - (September 1) - 337 gas wells (about100 MMcf/d) in the Fort McMurray area

shut-in by the AEUB to preserve reservoirpressure for future bitumen extraction

In 2003 a record number of gas wells weredrilled in Canada; however, it appears that thisactivity is still insufficient to sustain currentlevels of production. We live in a world of‘just-in-time’ delivery but are we doingenough to ‘deliver’ in the future?

BIOGRAPHYDave Russum has spent more than 25 yearsexploring for hydrocarbons. He recently completed

an exhaustive study of Canada’s future gas supplyand demand. He has developed some uniqueapproaches to both shorten the timeframe andimprove the results of exploration activities. Moreinformation can be found at www.geohelp.ab.ca

INFORMATIONThis is part of a series of snapshots of theCanadian industry designed to provide up-to-dateinformation and give possible insights into thefuture of oil and gas exploration. The commentsare strictly the views of the author; your views andfeedback are encouraged ([email protected]).

20

The Controversy SurroundingHenry Kelsey’s Inland Journeyof 1690-1692

Henry Kelsey and his Indian boy companion(Thomas Savage) had returned from theBarrens to York Factory following theirunsuccessful search for the Northern Indians(Chipewyan) during a fifty-three-day absencein the summer of 1689. Their wandering,across this inhospitable landscape was one ofextreme privation for it was devoid of woodwhich would have afforded shelter and fuelfor warmth and food preparation as well asproviding smoke to deter the incessanthordes of mosquitoes. Despite the failure ofthe two teenagers to fulfill Governor Geyer’sdirectives through no fault of their own, he,nevertheless was impressed with youngKelsey’s performance. Geyer had recognizedthat Henry Kelsey possessed an aptitude foradventure, empathy toward natives, and aresilience to nature’s vicissitudes.Accordingly, in 1690, he reported to theGovernor and Committee at Beaver Housein London, in reply to their urging him toselect one of his servants to leave YorkFactory for a journey inland; that: “I sent upHenry Kelsey up into the Country of theAssinae Poets (Siouan speaking Assiniboins),with the Captain (Chief) of that Nation, tocall, encourage and invite the remoterIndians to trade with us.” (Ibid., 1939,Morton,Arthur S., p.111).

The controversy, concerning the credibility ofHenry Kelsey’s inland expedition during1690-1692 was argued, amongst otherallegations, before a committee of the BritishHouse of Commons in April of 1749. ArthurDobbs had instigated the inquiry in hisattempt to prove that the Hudson’s BayCompany had not fulfilled its obligations asset forth in the Royal Charter granted to theCompany by King Charles II on May 2, 1670.The Company, in its defense, submittedhitherto undisclosed documents supportingits claim of adherence to the provisions setforth in its Charter to conduct exploration inthe interior. Their testimony that theCompany’s marine exploration along thenorthwest coast of Hudson Bay by Companyowned and operated vessels in search of theNorth West Passage, was self-evident of theiraccountability. As well, Kelsey’s journals wereresurrected from their archives and figuredprominently in the hearing as further proof

that the Company had met its preconditionsto conduct exploration into the interior of itsRupert’s Land.

One of the witnesses testifying in support ofDobbs’ case was Joseph Robson, adisillusioned former employee of theHudson’s Bay Company, who had spent sixyears as surveyor and stonemason supervisingthe initial construction of Fort Prince ofWales (Fort Churchill). Although, during theinquiry, his testimony was ineffectual, henevertheless had published, some three yearsafter the Parliamentary Committee’s inquiry, abook expunging the Company’s assertion ofits compliance with the provisos of itsCharter. (1752, Robson, Joseph: Accounts ofthe Six Years Residence in Hudson’s Bay, 1733-6 and 1744-7, pub. London.) The contents ofthis book was a vitriolic attack on theCompany, having at its roots an antagonismengendered towards York Factory’s residencegovernor, Richard Norton. The latter’sunwarranted interference in the earlyconstruction of the massive stone fort wasconsidered by Robson to be an affront to hisengineering ability.

The events relating to Henry Kelsey’s two-year absence from York Factory during theperiod June 12, 1690 to July 15, 1692 werepurported by Robson to have been gleanedfrom legendary accounts of Kelsey, originatingfrom former Company servants who hadbeen Kelsey’s associates. Much of theaccounts were biased and were derived fromunsubstantiated hearsay.

Robson, in his book, correctly portraysKelsey’s character in describing him as ahigh-spirited young lad, ever enjoying thecompanionship of the natives and in doingso, learned to converse in both theAlgonquian tongue of the Cree and Siouantongue of the Assiniboins. In the first decadeof the eighteenth century, Henry Kelsey hadcompiled an English/Cree dictionary. TheCommittee in London had his manuscriptpublished and in 1710 sent him printedcopies with a complimentaryacknowledgement which stated: “You doewell to Educate the men in Literature butespecially in the Language that in time wemay send them to travell if wee see itconvenient.” and further, “We have sent youyour dictionary Printed that you may betterinstruct the young Ladds with you, in yeIndian Language.” (1936, MacKay, Douglas: A

History Of The Hudson’s Bay Company, pub.,McClelland and Stewart,Toronto, p. 65).

Robson purposely distorts the reason forKelsey’s departure inland from York Factory.According to Robson, Kelsey had violated theCompany’s strict code of conduct applicableto its servants. Although, point of fact, he hadfraternized with the natives and, in so doing,learned to converse in their language. Thisfamiliarity with the natives by Companyservants was seen to place in jeopardy theCompany’s regimen of conduct governing itstrading practices. It was because of thisquestionable misdemeanor that Robson wasable to concoct a spurious account ofKelsey’s motivation for his subsequent inlanddeparture. Robson contrived that Kelsey’sbehavior had earned the wrath of GovernorGeyer and was, accordingly, administered awhipping. Having resented the governor’sdiscipline, Kelsey took it upon himself todesert York Factory. This he did on June 12,1690 in the company of some Indian friends.The following year Governor Geyer received

JACK PORTER-VIGNETTES OF CANADIAN PETROLEUM GEOLOGYContinued from the February Reservoir

Visit www.petrelrob.com or contact Brad Hayes [email protected] or call 403-218-1607.

Instructors:

Dr. Bruce Hart, McGill UniversityDr. John Lorenz, Sandia National Lab Dr. Brad Hayes, Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd.

Trip begins and ends in Albuquerque, New Mexico,with stays near Chama, N.M. and Durango, CO.

Dates: Sun. May 2 – Thur. May 6, 2004.

Outcrop fracture occurrences as models forsubsurface reservoirs Seismic characterization of fracture "sweet spots"Exploration and development examples and analogues in the West. Can. Sedimentary Basin

Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd. will host a four-dayfield seminar to examine structural and stratigraphiccontrols on fracture development in "tight" (matrix permeability <0.1 md) Cretaceous sandstones of the San Juan Basin in new Mexico and Colorado.Field work and discussions will focus on:

Application to Canadian TightGas Exploration & Development

NATURALLY-FRACTUREDTIGHT GAS RESERVOIRSOF THE SAN JUAN BASIN

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21

a letter from Kelsey, written with charcoal onbirch bark and dispatched by an Indianmessenger. Its contents contained an apologyby Kelsey, in which he requested a pardonand permission to return to York Factory.Upon receiving a reply from the governor,granting his pardon, Kelsey, along with hisnative wife, as well as a party of Indians, leftfor the fort. On arriving there, Kelseyrequested that his wife be allowed to livewith him within the fort’s interior. GovernorGeyer initially refused his request butacquiesced after Kelsey threatened to resignfrom the Company, protesting that he wouldnot be separated from his wife.

Arthur Dobbs’ unsubstantiated publishedaccount of Henry Kelsey’s rational fordeserting York Factory for the interior wasexposed 174 years later with the revelationof the Kelsey Papers. The authenticity of thehandwriting in these documents has beenverified as that of Kelsey and were written byhim in the period 1689 to 1722. His paperssurfaced in 1926, after having been ensconcedin Castle Dobbs, Carrickfergus, NorthernIreland presumably since the ParliamentaryCommittee’s inquiry of 1749. They weredonated to the Public Record Office ofNorthern Ireland by Major A. F. Dobbs – nodoubt of the Arthur Dobbs lineage (Kelsey,Henry: The Kelsey Papers, eds. Doughty,

Arthur G. and Martin, Chester, with introd. tothe 1929 ed., p. xxvii). Suffice to say, theyrefute Dobbs’ assertion that Henry Kelseyhad run away from York Factory because ofGovernor Geyer having punished him.

The most revealing of the various paperscontained in the collection include Kelsey’s1689 journey to the Barrens with his youngIndian companion,Thomas Savage, as well asKelsey’s journal of 1691. The latter contains,as an introduction, a somewhat doggerel-style verse which serves to summarize hisinland expedition. Most captivating are hisrecords, in quaint prose, of the daily eventswhich occurred during his journey to theprairies, commencing from Deering’s Pointon July 15, 1691 and continuing untilSeptember 12, 1691. Apart from his diaryrecords, Kelsey’s journal of 1691-1692includes fascinating accounts of the customswhich were peculiar to the Plains Indians ofthat period. Their behavior was solelyinfluenced by superstition. Some of theirbeliefs involved the adornment of distincttalismans to prevent their enemies fromkilling them in battle or for the procurementof food; the treatment of the sick by singing;and the dreaming of their two deities, namely:the buffalo and the eagle, which happening


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was to portend the fulfillment of a wish bythe dreamer. The exclusion of the women inthe performance of many of the rituals wasindicative of their subservient role within thetribal organization.

Deering’s Point was the site of a rendezvousstation for natives conveying their furs downto York Factory or returning with barteredarticles to their inland habitats. Kelseynamed the site in honour of Sir EdwardDering, the third Deputy Governor of theHudson’s Bay Company, during the period of1685-1691. He took possession of Deering’sPoint on July 10, 1690 and recorded the eventin a poetic style; to quote:

“At deering point after the frostI set up their a Certain CrossIn token of my being there

Cut out on it ye date of yearAnd likewise for to veryfie the sameadded to it my master sir Edward

deerings name.”

(Ibid.; Kelsey Papers --- p. 3).

Prior to the emergence of the Kelsey Papersin 1926, the location of Deering’s Point, letalone other mysteries concerning Kelsey’swater and land routes, remained speculative.It was originally assumed that Kelsey and hisAssiniboin (Stone Indians) companions hadascended the Nelson River system and thatDeering Point’s was positioned on Split Lake

(an enlargement of the Nelson River) wherea conjoining of the Burntwood and GrassRivers occur. It had, historically, been a localefor the natives engaged in trafficking in fursto rendezvous. The name “Kelsey” marks thetermination of a railway spur line which joinsthe main branch of the Canadian National’sroute to Churchill, manitoba. It is positionednear the Nelson River at the south end ofSplit Lake. Dr. Arthur P. Low of theGeological Survey of Canada (1882-1907),Director, 1906-1907) had postulated thatDeering’s Point was associated with SplitLake since one of Governor Geyer’s reportshad indicated Deering’s Point to be locatedon the Nelson River (1908, Burpee,Lawrence J.: The Search For The WesternSea, pub. The Musson Book Company,Toronto, pp. 104, 105).

Following critical examinations of the KelseyPapers, most historians, as well as otherresearchers, came to the common conclusionthat Deering’s Point lay on the bank of theSaskatchewan River near The Pas. Itsprobable location can be credited to the lateDr. Arthur S. Morton, formerly of theDepartment of History, University ofSaskatchewan. He states that: “As the pointat which they (Kelsey and the Assiniboins) leftthe Saskatchewan was eighteen miles aboveDeering’s Point, it follows that the Point wasthe sharp bend of the river about twelvemiles below the present The Pas.” (1939,Morton, Arthur S.: A History Of The

Canadian West To 1870-71, pub. ThomasNelson and Sons Ltd.,Toronto, p. 111). This,now generally accepted Saskatchewanlocation, would appear to be in Lsd. 5, Sec. 36,Twp. 55, Rge. 25 W3M, some six miles northof Kelsey Lake and approximately 238 milessouthwest of Low’s proposed location at SplitLake/Nelson River.

To be continued . . .


22

KEEPING TRACK

WAYNE DWYER

New:Contract Operations

Geologist at AnadarkoCalgary Alberta

Previous:Senior Operations Geologist

at ConocoPhillips,Calgary, Alberta

On January 13th through 15th 2004 the CSPGFall Conference on Dolomites was held. By allaccounts this fully-subscribed technicalmeeting was an unqualified success, and theorganizing committee would very much like toexpress its appreciation to the manygeoscientists (and their respective parentorganizations) who made oral and corepresentations. The depth and breadth ofcoverage of the contributions was outstandingand collectively have made this enigmaticreservoir rock a little less mysterious!

The proceedings of the conference willpresently be available to the general publicthrough the CSPG bookstore.The proceedingsconsist of a CD of seven extended abstracts ondolomitization concepts, models, andconstraints, as well as 34 short papers(synoptic case histories, each averaging 20

pages with many full colour illustrations) onspecific dolomitized reservoirs or strata,principally from the WCSB.

The technical conveners would particularlylike to thank Professor Eric Mountjoy ofMcGill University for serving as ourhonourary chairman at this conference, andas well, for his on-going role as mentor to somany of us, on subjects "dolomitic".

Finally the organizing committee would like torecognize and extend its sincere thanks to ourcorporate sponsors. Your involvement wascritical to the successful staging of theconference, and we enthusiastically applaudyour committment to geotechnical excellence.

Jeff Packard and Graham DaviesConference Chairs

DOLOMITES: THE SPECTRUM– MECHANISMS, MODELS, RESERVOIR DEVELOPMENT

23

As a petroleum geologist, have you everthought of yourself as “the Source” ofmuch of the world’s quality of life? Do yousee the CSPG as “the Source” of many ofthe services and activities you need to fulfillyour role as a petroleum geologist? Few ofus in our busy lives and careers pause tothink about these perspectives. Withoutsuccessful petroleum geologists, therewould be no petroleum industry and,therefore, many of the everyday things wetake for granted in lives; no polar fleece, nonylon, no plastics, no paved roads, much lessprovincial revenue going toward servicesfor the common good! We don’t thinkabout these things because we wake upwith them everyday – as articulated in the‘60s, we commonly “don’t know what wehave ‘til it’s gone”1.

In the last year you may have noticed “theSource” as a recurring theme in CSPGmaterials. It first appeared as a large bannerover the CSPG Centre at the 2003 AnnualConference and is now on the website as theCareer Source,Volunteer Source, the Sourcefor Promotional Opportunities throughCorporate Relations, and the Source forGeoscience Publications on the PublicationsCatalogue. It occurs with a stylized oil dropas an instantly recognizable symbol reflectingthe message that the CSPG and its membersare “the Source” of many critical products.

To its members, the CSPG strives to be “theSource” of the essential services ofNetworking, Public Awareness, andProfessional and Career Development.

Networking is critical for the sustenance andvitality of one’s career and the CSPG is theSource for numerous networkingopportunities. It provides the ever-popularsocial events at the Annual conference, annualsquash, golf and hockey tournaments,monthly news in The Reservoir, services suchas group insurance and member discounts,and website services such as the memberDirectory and Career Source information.

Public Awareness is critical to ensuring thevitality of both our profession and industry.If the Public doesn’t know what wecontribute and how exciting and diverse acareer in petroleum geology can be, apathywill prevail and few students will be attractedto our profession.

The CSPG, commonly through the CSPGEducational Trust Fund, is the Source of many

public outreach activities. It sponsors awardsat the annual Calgary Youth Science Fair. It isa long-standing sustaining supporter of thenational EdGeo program. Each year EdGeoprovides funding to workshops on Earthscience for Canadian teachers from coast tocoast. Through teachers, and their students,EdGEO seeks to cultivate a heightenedawareness and appreciation of our planet.

A highlight of the CSPG’s outreach activitiesis the Annual CSPG-CSEG Honorary Addresswhich over the years has exposed itsaudiences of adults and elementary andsecondary school students to a wide range ofscientists and scientific topics includinganthropology, space exploration, weather,deep sea exploration, and dinosaurs.

Many members use the CSPG rock andmineral kits to share their passion for geologywith classrooms of eager young minds.

The CSPG also reaches out to universitygeology students through its sponsorship ofinter-university geology conferences, pan-Canadian lecture tours, and numerousacademic scholarships and awards. Each yearthe Student Industry Field Trip (SIFT)introduces industry professionals andundergraduate geology students who sharean amazing voyage into the world of thepetroleum geologist. Many students go onto pursue a career in the industry as aresult of their SIFT experience.

Regardless of the stage of yourcareer (a seasoned veteran or inyour first job as a petroleumgeologist), the CSPG is yourSource of professionaldevelopment opportunitieswhich help you maintain anddevelop new skills. TheAnnual Conference offersover 100 technical talks andposters as well as field trips,short courses, core displays,and service providerinformation and contacts. Inaddition to the conference arethe 19 technical luncheon talksand over 50 free talks sponsoredby 11 society divisions. TheBulletin of CanadianPetroleum Geologycontains 20-30 articles peryear and the PublicationsCatalogue lists the

numerous memoirs, lexicons, and field guidespublished by the CSPG. These sources oftechnical information are there for CSPGmembers year after year. Pause a moment…imagine your career without them!

When next you see “the Source” oil drop,take a moment to imagine your world if “theSource” dried up! Imagine the world withoutgeologists finding petroleum, without plastics,without polar fleece! Imagine being apetroleum geologist without the CSPG.Without “the Source”, many good thingswould quickly dry up. Don’t take it forgranted - use it, support it and nurture it!

1 Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi

THE CSPG AND ITS MEMBERS – THE SOURCE OF SO MUCH!BY JON DUDLEY, CSPG PUBLIC AFFAIRS CHAIR

24

FIELD TRIPS The following is a preliminary list of field tripsplanned in conjunction with the I.C.E. 2004 JointConference. Detailed descriptions of each tripalong with costs are available at www.cspg.org,www.choa.ab.ca, and www.cwls.org

Coal and CBM in the Fernie Area Mines,southeastern B.C.INSTRUCTORS: Lynn Taylor, Barry Ryan, and

Kendal UmscheidDATE: May 29th and 30th 2004

Calgary – Banff Field TripINSTRUCTOR: Bill Ayrton DATE: June 5th 2004

Geological Walking Tour - The BuildingRocks of CalgaryINSTRUCTOR: Bill AyrtonDATE: June 2nd 2004 (half day – afternoon)

Basics of Oil and Gas - Calgary to CanmoreINSTRUCTOR: Al KimmelDATE: May 28th 2004

Geology of the Athabasca Oil SandsINSTRUCTORS: Mike Ranger and Murray GingrasDate: May 23rd through May 25th 2004

Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, andIchnology of Modern and PleistoceneDeposits at Willapa Bay,WashingtonState, U.S.INSTRUCTORS: Ed Clifton and Murray GingrasDATE: June 5th through June 9th 2004

Sand-rich Submarine Fan Deposystems;the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Groupon Denman and Hornby Islands, B.C.INSTRUCTORS: Peter Mustard, James

MacEachern, Deanne Katnick, and KevinTreptau

DATE: May 29th and 30th 2004

A Revised Stratigraphy For TheEdmonton Group and its PotentialSandstone ReservoirsINSTRUCTOR: Dave EberthDATE: May 30th 2004

Mt. Stephens Fossil Beds hike, Field BCINSTRUCTOR: Randle RobertsonDATE: June 5th 2004

Exploration Targets in the CanadianRocky Mountain Foothills: Calgary toMoose Mountain, a HelicopterSupported Field Trip.INSTRUCTORS: Andrew C. Newson &

Deborah SandersonDATE: June 5th 2004

Marginal Marine DepositionalEnvironments and Facies in theBearpaw-Horseshoe Canyon FormationTransition, Drumheller,Alberta;A FieldTrip for StudentsINSTRUCTORS: Jason Lavigne and Dave MundyDATE: May 30th 2004

Coal and Coalbed Methane in theAlberta Plains:A Comparison of CoalGeology and characteristics of theArdley and Drumheller Coal Zones.INSTRUCTORS: Andrew Beaton and Willem

Langenberg,Alberta Geological Survey(Alberta Energy and Utilities Board)

DATE: May 29th 2004

SHORT COURSES The following is a preliminary list of shortcourses planned to either precede orimmediately follow the I.C.E. 2004 JointConference. Detailed descriptions of all coursesare available at www.cspg.org, www.choa.ab.caand www.cwls.org

CSPG PROPOSEDSHORT COURSES

Modern Industrial Paleontology -Chronostratigraphic AndPaleoenvironmental Applications For21st Century Petroleum Exploration AndProductionINSTRUCTOR: Paul Sikora, (Energy &

Geoscience Institute, University of Utah)DATE: June 8th 2004

Geological Interpretations Of TheMcMurray And Wabiskaw Oil SandDepositsINSTRUCTORS: Murray Gingras (University of

Alberta) & Mike Ranger (Consultant)DATE: May 27th and 28th 2004

The Architecture of Fluvial Systems:AShort Course And Core WorkshopINSTRUCTORS: Andrew D. Miall (University of

Toronto) and Peter Putnam (PetrelRobertson)

DATE: June 7th through June 9th 2004

Rock Fabric Approach to CarbonateReservoir CharacterizationINSTRUCTOR: F. Jerry Lucia (University of

Texas at Austin)DATE: May 27th and 28th 2004

Siliciclastic Sequence StratigraphyINSTRUCTORS: Henry Posamentier and David

James,Anadarko Canada DATE: May 26th and 27th 2004

3-D Seismic Visualization – Workflowsand ApplicationsINSTRUCTOR: Henry Posamentier,Anadarko

Canada DATE: June 7th 2004

3-D Seismic InterpretationINSTRUCTOR: Bruce Hart (McGill University)DATE: May 25th and 26th 2004

Clastic Facies and DepositionalEnvironments In CoreINSTRUCTOR: Bill Arnott (University of

Ottawa)DATE: May 24th through May 26th 2004

Structural Styles and InterpretationTechniques in Fold-Thrust BeltsINSTRUCTOR: Shankar Mitra (University of

Oklahoma)DATE: May 26th through May 28th 2004

Reservoir Engineering For GeoscientistsINSTRUCTOR: Mauro Cimolai (Core

Laboratories Canada Ltd)DATE: June 9th and 10th 2004

I.C.E. 2004 FIELD TRIPS AND SHORT COURSES

CWLS PROPOSEDSHORT COURSES

Resistivity and Water SaturationINSTRUCTOR: David Herrick (Baker Atlas)DATE: May 25th 2004

Key Issues in Coring, Core Analysis andRock MechanicsINSTRUCTOR: Bob Skopec (Petrophysical

Applications International) DATE: May 26th 2004

Acoustic LoggingINSTRUCTORS: Denis Schmitt (Halliburton),

Doug Patterson (Baker Atlas), John Walsh(Schlumberger)

DATE: May 27th 2004

Log-Core IntegrationINSTRUCTORS: David James, John Nieto, Ross

McLean (Anadarko Canada Corp)DATE: May 28th 2004

The Integrated Solution in Coal BedMethane ReservoirsINSTRUCTORS: Barry Ryan (BC Ministry),

Satyaki Ray, Joseph Frantz, Charles Boyer,Salman Khalid (Schlumberger)

DATE: May 28th 2004

Principles of Formation TestingINSTRUCTORS: Steve Burnie, Andy Chen

(Consultant)DATE: June 3rd 2004

CHOA SHORTCOURSES OUTLINE

The CHOA is offering a set of Short Coursesdesigned to provide an overview of the variedsectors of the heavy oil industry. The ShortCourses will address technical issues at ahigh, introductory level and present awonderful opportunity for participants, whoare new to the industry or who are focusedin a specific specialty area, to gain anunderstanding of the broad spectrum oftechnical knowledge accumulated over thehistory of heavy oil development.

The topics to be covered include:

• In Situ Recovery and SAGD presented byK.C.Yeung, Suncor Energy Inc.

• In Situ Facilities Design presented by MarkDoig, Colt Engineering Corporation

• Oil Sands Mining and Processing presentedby Bob Tipman, Shell Canada, and JohnSharpe, Canadian Natural Resources

• Upgrading Technologies presented by BharatBansal, KBR Inc.

The CHOA Short Courses will be held onThursday, June 3, 2004, conveniently scheduledto immediately to follow the Technical Programheld from May 31 – June 2. The venue will bethe ConocoPhillips Theatre on the 3rd Floor,401 – 9th Avenue S.W., Calgary.

25

This year’s conference is fast approaching andso is your opportunity to register!

Registration opens on Thursday April 1, 2004.

Beat the line-ups and save a stamp by registering online for:Technical Program • Poster Displays • Core Conference

Field Trips • Short Courses • Exhibit Hall • Special Events

Registration fees for this year’s conference are as follows:

Early Bird Regular On-SiteRegistration Registration RegistrationDeadline: Deadline May 31-June 2,

April 23, 2004 May 19, 2004 2004

Member $250 $350 $450(CSPG/CHOA/CWLS)

Non-member $350 $450 $550

Retired Members $150 $150 $200(CSPG/CHOA/CWLS)

Student $50 $100 $150

Day Pass – Exhibition Hall $50/day*On site only

Luncheon Tickets $50 each

Additional Icebreaker Tickets $25 each

On-site registration will be located outside the Exhibition Hall in the Round UpCentre, Stampede Park. The hours for on-site registration are:Monday, May 31, 2004: 7:30 am to 6:30 pmTuesday, June 1, 2004: 7:30 am to 4:00 pmWednesday, June 2, 2004: 7:30 am to 12:00 pm

Payments may be made online with credit cards only (VISA, MC or AMEX).To pay by check or money order, please make payable to 2004 CSPG/CHOA/CWLS Conference. Send payment with registration form(s) to:

I.C.E. 2004: CSPG CHOA CWLS Joint ConferenceC/O Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists160, 540-5th Ave SWCalgary, ABT2P 0M2

For Registration and more information regarding the I.C.E. 2004 CSPG-CHOA-CWLS Joint Conference please visit:

www.cspg.org www.choa.ab.ca www.cwls.org

26

Atwell International ConsultantsPETROPHYSICS SHORT COURSES

For additional information regarding these and other short courses which are available in-house fromAtwell International Consultants, go to: www.atwellconsultants.com

REGISTRATION: call (403) 205 4436 or (386) 441 8305

*25% DISCOUNT!!Participants who register and pay the course fee in full 30 days before the course commences are entitled to a 25% discount.

Pay only C$1375 (includes GST).

INTRODUCTION to LOG ANALYSISDate: April 26 - 30, 2004 Cost: C$1800* inc. GST

Suitable for those with little or no knowledge of log analysis. You will learn how to recognize oil and gas-bearing rocks from resistiv-ity surveys, how to recognize different rock types from porosity and gamma-ray logs, and how to calculate water saturations by combin-ing the basic logs.

INTEGRATING LOG, CORE AND TEST DATADate: May 3 - 7, 2004 Cost: C$1800* inc. GST

Designed to ensure that you get the best value from your down-hole data. Registrants should have at least two years (preferably more) experience in analyzing petrophysical data.

RESERVOIR MONITORING & PRODUCTION LOG INTERPRETATION

Date: May 10 - 14, 2004 Cost: C$ 1800* inc. GST

This course covers all aspects of cased-hole log interpretation, including cement bond evaluation, production logs, and monitor-ing of reservoirs through casing.

ROGER L. NUTT, formerly lecturer in a wide range of PETROPHYSICS short courses for OGCI (Oil and Gas Consultants International) is pleased to offer the following courses in petrophysics in Calgary:

This is the second and final part of an article thatoriginally appeared in the December issue of theCSEG Recorder. Permission to reprint the article isgratefully acknowledged.The first part of the reprintappeared in the February issue of the Reservoir.

The RECORDER Editors recently approached thePresidents of a variety of geotechnical/professionalsocieties and associations.The aim was to get theirviews on a wide range of topics, and gain anunderstanding of issues that members appear to becurious or doubtful about. Our questions elicitedinteresting and insightful responses from theseindustry leaders. (Please note just as this articlegoes to print in October/November the 2003 SPEPresident Andrew Young hands over to the new2004 President Kate Baker).

8 How do the professional societies reflect theeffect of occasional downsizing in thepetroleum sector, by way of mergers, etc.?

Peter Duncan, President SEG:The SEG has seen 10 years of year-on-yeardecline in membership. This has to be areflection of the contraction in our industry onboth the buy and sell side.That trend has been

reversed this year with a slight increase inmembers. Interestingly, the growth is largelyoutside the US. For the first time in history amajority of our members are living or workingoutside the US. I believe other societies areseeing the same trends.

Bill Goodway, President CSEG:Beyond the obvious impact on the membershipnumbers I suspect there is little change in theactivity of professional societies beyond a generalcommiseration amongst members who areeither laid off or still hanging on to dead end jobs.From my own experience and observation thereis little or no interest in professional societiesshown by the management who control thesedownsizing or “rightsizing” cycles. In fact I thinkthey are unaware that these societies exist andthat some of their employees have volunteeredto help run them with the aim of encouraging thetechnical aspects of our profession.

John Hogg, President CSPG:We find it hard to keep up with the demandplaced upon the society for the training of theyounger geologists in the industry because thattype of training is no longer found in the mid-sized independents. The training for the

“downsized” members for support of theirfuture careers, is also a concern and I thinkmost societies struggle with how to help theirmembers who have become unemployedthrough corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Steve Sonnenberg, President AAPG:We see the effect in our total membershipnumbers. Our membership in 1985 was 45,000whereas currently it is approximately 30,000. Inaddition, we see the membership changinggeographical areas to relocate in the importantoil and gas centers like Houston,TX.

Andrew Young, President SPE:SPE membership has not been affected by thecurrent downsizing in the sector. Actually ourmembership has been growing steadily for thepast few years to its highest level since 1986,albeit the demographics of membership havechanged substantially with nearly 50% ofmembers now residing outside of the USA.Notwithstanding some downsizing, around theglobe the aggregate number of people workingin the industry is increasing and SPE’s reach tothe global E&P community is increasing.

‘PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES SERVE TO ENRICH YOUR CAREERS…’An interview with Presidents of geotechnical/professional societies and associations


28


Continued on Page 30 . . .Continued on Page 30 . . .

Mike Smyth, President APEGGA:APEGGA has not been particularly impacted bythese moves as industry restructures itself;there continues to be opportunity and need forqualified, licensed professionals.

9 In the salary surveys conducted by differentprofessional societies, e.g. SPE, AAPG, CSPG,SEG, CSEG,APEGGA, what differences do youperceive? Do some groups see themselvesas better or worse paid than others?

Peter:Sorry but I haven’t seen the other salary surveysso I can’t comment.

Bill:I think that the CSEG is probably the mostfinancially efficient society to which Canadiangeoscientists might consider joining. By efficientI do not mean the cheapest but rather offeringmore for the membership subscription thancomparable societies.

In the area of technical exchange, we manage torival societies with two to three times our budgetthrough national conventions and extensivecontinuing education. We also have recentlycreated a world-class publication in the form ofthe Recorder that rivals the SEG’s Leading Edge.

So CSEG members might feel that they getbetter value from their society, but I don’tbelieve there’s much effort to compare CSEGmembers’ salaries with those of other societies’.

John:In general, at most levels in Calgary, geophysicistsare paid at a slightly higher rate than geologistswith the same level of experience and education.The most extensive salary survey in Alberta,APEGGA’s survey, also confirms this assessment.

Steve:I have not looked at salary surveys from theother organizations. In general, I believe thatengineers are paid more than geoscientists.

Andrew:I really cannot give you a quantified answer atthis time, not having the data at hand.

Mike:Our 2003 employer salary survey has just beenreleased. Data on salaries paid within differentemployment sectors is reflected in that data.

10 There could be some variance in salariesdue to the nationality of the respondentsbeing non-US or non-North American.Do you agree with that?

Peter:I don’t have data by nationality. Our ownsurveys show average salaries to be higher inthe USA with the exception of a couple ofoverseas locations.

Bill:I agree there is probably a significant variance insalaries but there is an associated variance in the

cost of living between countries that may be moresignificant. Some form of comparison based onbuying power would probably show less variance.

John:CSPG does not look at surveys outside theCanada market.

Steve:The cost of living and salaries vary around theworld. The total compensation packages also vary(vacation, salary, benefits, etc.). For that matter,salaries vary from large companies to smallcompanies. International companies generally paymore than the National Oil Companies.

Andrew:Again I cannot give you a quantified answer,however certainly qualitatively salaries in manyparts of our Industry around the globe aresignificantly lower than in the North America,however one needs to take into account the localpurchasing power for a thorough comparison.

Mike:We have no data to support or refute such avariance.

11 In what way(s) does yoursociety/association help the individualmembers?

Peter:SEG provides a wealth of opportunities formembers to stay current with the science ofgeophysics, to stay current with what thevendors are offering, to stay current with whatother geophysicists are doing in their careersand to be active members of a community oflike minded professionals, professionals whohave a great love of the earth and a great love ofthe science of exploring the earth.

Bill:Primarily we follow our mandate to encouragethe technical exchange of ideas through a varietyof avenues such as conventions, seminars andcontinuing education.We also have a strong andactive membership network that helps createopportunities for employment and new ventures.

John:Training, Luncheons, Conferences, Publications,Social Events, Volunteering Opportunities,Networking, Membership Lists, Website,Employment Database online for prospectiveemployers are all ways the CSPG tries to deliveradditional services to the membership.

Steve:We offer many products and services to ourmembership. Our products include publications(such as the AAPG Bulletin, Bulletin ArchivesOnline, Search and Discovery e-journal, AAPGExplorer, and other memoirs and specialpublications). We also have mid-career trainingcentres set up in various locations. We havedistinguished lectures for our membership. Weoffer conferences, field trips and short coursesfor our members. We also have personalmember programs such as the RetirementGeoVest Program, Health Care Programs. Our

products and services are probably the mostdiverse offered by any scientific society.

Andrew:Members of SPE receive many tangible andintangible benefits, that all lead to giving themthe knowledge that they need to stay abreast ofnew information and technology in the E&Pworld. For instance, SPE members receivediscounted rates to more than 50 meetings andconferences worldwide annually; they receive amonthly issue of the Journal of PetroleumTechnology, access to SPE.org, free access tointernet-based Technical Interest Groups, amonthly e-newsletter, a quarterly printednewsletter, participation in local Sectionactivities, and professional development andcontinuing education opportunities. All this inaddition to the invaluable networking.

Mike:Besides the professional recognition granted,there is a long list of benefits of membership inAPEGGA. The opportunity to participate in aself-governing profession is top-most and thereare over 500 opportunities to do that withinAPEGGA. I have already mentioned ourinvolvement in continuing professionaldevelopment. APEGGA members can benefitfrom sponsored benefits such as insuranceprograms, RRSP and the like from approvedservice providers. We continue to investigateadditional membership benefits that meetapproved criteria of the Council.

12 Serving as a volunteer or appointment toCommittees or Boards on a professionalsociety enables you to meet other activepeople in the industry. What are theother benefits one gets on serving as anExecutive of the Society?

Peter:It’s not all about benefits. For me there is acertain sense of wanting to give back to aprofession that has been a source of greatpersonal fulfillment. Holding an office is justanother facet of that fulfillment. Serving onthe SEG Exec has been like a trip to summercamp. You make new friends. You do someservice work. The change from the normalroutine is relaxing. Sometimes you get to starta project and see it grow within the societyand become meaningful to others. Frankly,most of those I have served with have all feltthe same way.

Bill:In my particular situation I have become moreaware and can better relate to the traditionalCanadian industry within Alberta, B.C. andSaskatchewan, as this is outside my focus at work,which is primarily outside western Canada.

John:Experience with management of a company,Budget, Operations experience, Staffmanagement, and working with senior leadersand most of all serving with a great bunch ofprofessional Geologists that make running theExecutive Committee fun every two weeks atour meetings.

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Steve:Other benefits include helping shape policydecisions for the organization. Each newpresident has an agenda. This year I’m focussingon: promoting Professionalism; enhancingstudent programs; promoting internationaldevelopment; increasing AAPG’s digitalproducts; increasing Public Outreach; increasingintersociety programs; and creating a new longrange plan for the organization.

Andrew:Someone who volunteers in SPE’s activities isable to help shape the society’s mission,therefore helping get information out to otherindustry professionals. All SPE activities requirea certain amount of volunteerism. SPE wouldnot function without its volunteers - they makethe society work by reviewing papers, organizingtechnical programs, making board-leveldecisions, making presentations, managingcommittees, authoring papers and books, andmuch more. Volunteers have the added benefitof being involved in a Society that is respectedas the premiere organization in the industry.

However, the overarching tangible fringe benefitof being actively involved in SPE, is for one’spersonal technical and managerial developmentwhich will add value to the company. Everymanager should be made aware of this attribute,noting that much of the volunteer work is donein the individual’s own time.

Mike:Meeting a variety of people with similarcommitments to leadership of professionalassociations in Canada is a huge benefit to meboth personally and professionally. Workingwith committed, dedicated volunteers andassociation permanent staff gives activeinvolvement and "hands-on" opportunity in non-profit leadership and governance.

13 Are geo-science / geo-engineeringadapting to the changes going onaround us and positioning for a futurein a changed world?

Peter:Absolutely. I see all the professional societieschanging to address the reality of globalization,to cope with the changing age demographics oftheir membership, and to attract and retain theentry level professionals as members.

Bill:I believe that in the geosciences we haveembraced and lead the world in applied computertechnology involved primarily in imaging, inversionand visualization.As an example, within my careerwe have moved from two-pass post-stack 3Dtime migration to the verge of economically viable3D pre-stack finite difference depth migrationthat incorporates anisotropy. This has occurredthrough the use and encouragement of significantimprovements in computing power specificallydriven by demands within the seismic industry.

John:In general, the younger geoscientists seem muchmore adaptable to the integration of the

disciplines of geology, geophysics, andengineering. With many of the lines of eachdiscipline becoming mixed, mostly throughtechnology advancement, I think it’s a good thingfor our industry.

Steve:At AAPG we are working on a new long-rangeplan to incorporate the changes occurringaround us. We want to continually assess thechanges so that we may move to make changesto meet the needs of our membership. We arealso working on several projects with our sistersocieties (e.g., SEG and SPE) to help meetchanging industry needs.

Andrew:I believe that the industry is becoming moretechnologically driven. We are finding thatcompanies like Intel, Microsoft, and HP aredeveloping sectors that cater to the energyindustry.These companies offer innovative waysto move into the future of the industry, withnew technologies, software, communicationsand developments. Communication technology,particularly, is enabling the dissemination ofknowledge in a very different paradigm to evenjust five years ago.The society also is becomingmore global by opening new decentralizedoffices to service members in areas that beforedid not have direct contact with SPE staff.

Finally it is noted that the Society’s strategy is allembodied in a periodically reviewed Long RangePlan which is the road map which guides theBoard’s governance.This LRP is available for allmembers to review and have input to.

Mike:Absolutely. From such world-impacting issuessuch as climate change to the impact oftechnology on daily life, we must adapt or elsesurrender to becoming irrelevant. APEGGA andits members are adapting to such changes as anormal part of professional life.

14 Are there demands (by members, thepublic perception, or regulators) forcommon professional guidelines,standards or certification or licensing?In Alberta for example, there been newrequirements by the Alberta SecuritiesCommission for evaluations of reservesby independent professionalevaluators. APEGGA has issued newguidelines for serving as a witness incourt, relying on the work of others, andinitiated requirements for developingProfessional Practice ManagementPlans to ensure due diligence forapplied science practices.

Peter:I don’t see this very much in my travels. Forexample, geoscientists have only becomelicensed this year in Texas, years behind Albertaand other jurisdictions, and the explorationbusiness is exempt from that licensing.

Bill:In an ideal world, APEGGA expects totalcompliance for professional and technologistregistration within engineering, geophysics and

geology. However, these legal requirements aremitigated by allowing qualified registeredprofessionals to oversee and conduct duediligence regarding the work of non-registeredbut competent professionals. I believeprofessional societies such as the CSEG areplaying a more significant role in encouragingand facilitating the continued education ofgeophysicists than APEGGA.

John:Across Canada the same new requirementsapply for geologists to be registered to protectthe public. I believe that most of the otherprovinces follow very similar rules to Albertawhere we all have an obligation to be registeredwith APEGGA.

Steve:We offer the public a means to recognizeproperly educated and trained professionals.Our membership requirement includes thefollowing: 1) a three-member sponsorship(attesting to the high ethical character of themember), 2) adequate education, and 3)adequate experience levels. We also offerseveral certifications (Certified PetroleumGeologist, Certified Coal Geologist, andCertified Geophysicist). The certificationprograms offer reciprocity to otherorganizations that have similar requirements(SIPES, AIPG).The new demands in Alberta willprobably have a ripple effect to other areas. Sofar, we have not seen any new demands,legislation, etc.

Andrew:SPE, together with the AAPG and WPC, manyyears ago jointly developed and approved of aglobal standard for Oil & Gas ReserveDefinitions. In 2000 SPE further developed a setof Resource Guidelines for use in our industryworld-wide.The Reserve Definitions have beenaccepted by the SEC in US and by equivalentorganizations in many other countries.

SPE assists in setting exams for registration ofPetroleum Engineers in US, and is currentlyaddressing the wider issue of certification ofEngineers in other countries following thedemand from members around the globe.

Mike:Much of what APEGGA does, and you havepicked out a few of them, comes from demandsfrom the public, other regulators, and membersfor common standards. In many instances anorganization that has authority such as theAlberta Boiler Safety Association, AlbertaEnvironment, or municipal organizations suchas cities and towns will insist there beprofessional authentication of work that issubmitted to them for approval.

15What message would you like to sendout to members of differentsocieties/associations?

Peter:Professional associations exist only because oftheir members. The programs of each areusually the direct result of some individual

member’s initiative. If you see a goodopportunity that is being missed by yourassociation don’t ask why, rather ask how youcan help make it happen. It’s your association.

Bill:I would like to encourage members of othersocieties to attend and interact more frequentlywith the CSEG’s technical functions such asluncheons, conventions, continuing educationand workshops. This would bring a newperspective and enthusiasm for the challengesthat face exploration and development of oil, gasand other mineral resources.

John:With continuation of the aging of ourprofessions, it is imperative that all of oursocieties remain vigilant in the promotion of ourprofession to the youth of the world. Weshould also look for ways to work together, associeties and have our industry help theprofessional associations and societies promotethe message of our industry to the students thatthe industry will, in five to ten years, loseupwards of 50% of the professional staff as thebaby boomers of the fifties start to retire.

Steve:The petroleum industry will remain vital forworld energy and other societal needs. Thefuture looks very bright for new studentsentering the business. AAPG has manyprograms that we offer to our membership.Please consider joining our society.

Andrew:My message is to become involved in yoursociety at every level possible. My time as thepresident of SPE has been most gratifying andhas opened my eyes to the many benefits ofmembership. Moreover, I have been astoundedat the enthusiasm and passion professionalshave for their work and the industry all overthe world. In addition I have seen wonderfulcooperation between various internationaland national societies. I encourage this, as I seeenormous value to be gained between theSPE, the AAPG, the SEG, the EAGE and others.It is only logical that these societies, andothers can mutually benefit from linkingwebsites, e-libraries, workshops, conferences,distinguished lecturers and short-courses. Iencourage every individual involved in the E&Pindustry to learn about their society and theopportunities available to them. It can onlyenrich their career and help them in theirprofessional development.

Mike:APEGGA is pleased to collaborate withrelated associations and societies. There arehundreds of excellent technical societies towhich our members belong. The chief purposeof most of these societies in providingprofessional development opportunities toprofessional engineers and geoscientists isentirely in tune with APEGGA's mission toserve society and protect the public byregulating, enhancing and providing leadership inthe practice of the professions.

31

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The oil industry, despite its history andcontinued image of rugged individuals going outto pound on rocks, is a very high-tech business.In the constant quest for finding hydrocarbonscheaper and faster, the industry is frequently onthe leading edge of technological advances.Thisis done to gain an edge – a strategic advantage– over a company’s competitors. Over time,technology to do this has ranged from highlyspecialized modeling programs (and thehardware to run them) to software that allowsfor more efficient scheduling of meetings. It isa rare situation where an oil companyemployee doesn’t use or have access to somekind of computer technology.However,a majorcomponent of the business (like any otherindustry) deals with mundane day-to-dayactivities and what was once considered cutting-edge technology is now frequently incorporatedinto standard business operations.

An article by Nicholas G. Carr (IT Doesn’tMatter, Harvard Business Review, May, 2003,Vol. 81, Issue 5, p. 41-49) espouses the conceptthat as Information Technology becomes morecommon, its strategic advantage decreases.The following is a review of that article. Asused in this context, information technology is

one component of an information system (theothers being people, data, and procedures) andgenerally deals with hardware and software.

According to Carr, in the past 35 years, capitalexpenditures by U.S. companies for informationtechnology rose from less than 5% to nearly50%. The commonly held belief behind thisgrowth appears to be that as IT’s potency andubiquity increased, so did its strategic value.However, this misses the fundamental point thatwhat makes a resource strategic is not itsubiquity but its scarcity. What defines acompetitive advantage is the possession orability to do something that one’s competitorcan’t have or do. Additionally, as informationtechnology becomes more common, thecompetitive advantage becomes a negative re-enforcer. That is, you can lose without it butcan’t win with it. It becomes an additional costof business as everyone tries to keep up withthe latest and greatest technology.

Generally speaking, technology can be classifiedas proprietary or infrastructural. Withproprietary technology, a single company caneffectively control the related businessadvantage, e.g., through a patent.The advantageexists as long as the proprietary aspect remainsin place. In contrast to proprietary technology,where a company tries to keep the technologyto themselves, infrastructural technologyworks best when shared so that it becomes anintegral part of the business. The advantagegoes to the company that either controls theinfrastructure or makes best use of it.

There tends to be a natural progression fromproprietary to infrastructural technology. Aslong as access is limited – through cost, lack ofstandards, legal limits, etc. – the competitiveadvantage exists. As the technology spreads,costs drop, standards evolve, and the strategicadvantage decreases. However, it is possiblethat a new strategic advantage can be createdby identifying new ways to use the technologyor by recognizing its broader implications. Forexample, the expansion of railroads led to thegrowth in large-scale, mass-productionfactories to take advantage of an expandedconsumer market. Economies of scale allowedthem to edge out the small plants that hadpreviously dominated local markets.

Infrastructural technology follows a fairlyuniform growth pattern. Frequently, it beginsas a proprietary technology, where physicallimitations, cost, or lack of standards allowsone company to use it to advantage over itsrivals.As the more efficient aspects of the newtechnology become wider known, more andmore companies rush to take advantage of it.

This leads to the second stage of the technologycycle, termed the build-out phase, where hugeamounts of capital are invested in developing oracquiring it.Thus, the window of opportunity inwhich a company can gain an edge from the newtechnology is open only for a short while.Therush to join leads to greater production /capacity and increased competition, which inturn, leads to lower prices.This results in makingthe technology much more accessible andaffordable to smaller companies.

The third stage of the cycle arises as thetechnology becomes broadly adopted. Duringthis period, technical standards becomeuniform and the best practices are built into thesystem.This effectively removes the benefit ofproprietary systems. At this point in the life-cycle, the technology has become a commodity.

Carr believes that IT is an infrastructuraltechnology – it transports, processes, andstores its goods (i.e., digital information) justas railroads do with raw products andmanufactured goods or as the power griddoes with electricity. Like the infrastructuraltechnology life-cycle, IT has progressedthrough the proprietary stage to wide-spreadstandards adoption and acceptance to thecommodity stage where it can easily beacquired. At this point, there is little incentivefrom a cost or competitive advantageviewpoint for a company to build proprietarysystems. Moreover, as the growth of theinternet increasingly provides an improveddelivery system, the need to own entireapplication suites decreases. The individualsoftware components most important to acompany’s business become increasinglyavailable and cost-effective as ‘web-services’.

As mentioned above, the window ofopportunity during which a company can benefitfrom a new technology is relatively narrow. Inthe information technology world, the windowis even smaller because of the speed at whichnew innovations are replicated and become partof the standard. While the resource is essentialto remain competitive, it has little strategicvalue.This is a crucial turning point.

At this stage, the goal of informationtechnology management is less one of growthand development and more of security andefficiency. Because the use of IT is highlyentwined in the operations of a company, anydisruption potentially can paralyze itsperformance to varying degrees.While securityis an obvious concern, safeguards exist that, ifused effectively, will minimize disruption issues.More important is the capital cost aspect ofIT. Hardware wears out, software becomes

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE OIL INDUSTRYBY BEN MCKENZIE


CSPG VOLUNTEERCOORDINATOR

If you are looking for avolunteer opportunity

within the CSPG, Blythe will be happy to help youfind your volunteer niche.

She can also provide informationabout any of the Society’s numerous

committees if you require it.

Blythe will also assist with findingreplacements for current committee

volunteers who need a changeand help them to find differentvolunteer opportunities in the

Society, if desired.

Blythe Lowe can be reachedin Calgary at 403-645-3516.

Give her a call!

outdated, and companies will grow. All thesefactors require constant attention to costsversus benefits.The competitive nature of thehardware and software industries leads toever-changing prices. Likewise, new ways ofconducting business, such as out-sourcing,partnerships, and web-services, can lead tocost savings.

One way that companies can save on IT is bycutting out waste. The majority of employeestypically use only a fraction of the computingpower or applications available to them. Yet,companies, particularly the larger ones, haveestablished on-going across-the-boardhardware and software upgrade programs.Likewise, data storage, which can account for asignificant portion of the IT expenditures, ispoorly used. According to Carr, the bulk ofwhat’s being stored on corporate networkshas little to do with making products or servingcustomers. Much of this archived materialconsists of saved e-mails, internet spam, MP3s,video clips, and outdated files. An estimate byComputerworld suggests that as much as 70%

of the storage capacity of a typical windowsnetwork is wasted. This represents anenormous unnecessary expense.

As information technology matures, a newset of rules for its management is developing:

1) Spend less (i.e., spend wisely). As ITbecomes more of a commodity and less of astrategic advantage, purchases need to bequestioned on a cost / benefit basis.

2) Follow,don’t lead.Typically, the longer youwait to make an IT purchase, the more you’llget for your money.This also decreases the riskof buying something technologically flawed.

3) Focus on vulnerabilities, notopportunities. It is difficult to gain acompetitive advantage from a matureinfrastructural technology, but even a briefdisruption in its availability can be devastating.

When Carr’s article came out last year, therewas an enormous outcry from theInformation Technology sector, generallynegative. An extreme example is the 126-page book that was written in rebuttal toCarr’s eight-page article (Smith, Howard andPeter Fingar, 2003, IT Doesn’t Matter –Business Processes Do: a Critical Analysis ofNicolas Carr’s I.T. Article in the HarvardBusiness Review, Meghan-Kiffer, ISBN 0-929652-35-5). Admittedly, Carr’s title wasdesigned to provoke a response and whilethe points he makes are valid, the articleshouldn’t be seen as a blanket condemnationof information technology. As mentionedabove, IT is just one component in aninformation system. It is still possible to obtaina competitive advantage through the smarter/ better / less common use of existinginformation technology and related systems.With declining reserves and increasingcompetition, oil companies have to cut costsand become more efficient in finding andproducing hydrocarbons. Innovative use ofinformation technology will assist in this goal.


provided as needed. Monitor and elevatetechnical and scientific quality ofconferences through discussion with, andrecommendations to, ConventionsCommittee.

A central theme of many of these points iscontinued collaboration and interactionbetween the CSPG and other scientific andtechnical societies for both conferences andcontinuing education. Last year’s highlysuccessful CSPG Annual Convention was anexample of such co-operation with themeeting being jointly hosted with theCanadian Society of ExplorationGeophysicists.This year’s annual convention(May 31 - June 4) will even go further, co-operating with the Canadian Heavy OilAssociation, and the Canadian WellLogging Society. As for societal co-operation in the more focused, thematicGussow mini-conferences series, a currentproposal being considered by the CommitteeOn Conventions for the next mini-conference on Coal Bed Methane couldinvolve the CSPG, Canadian Society forUnconventional Gas, The Society forOrganic Petrology, and The CanadianSociety for Coal Science and Organic

Petrology. The last two societies are notlarge in terms of total membership, but it isprecisely small geoscience societies such asthese that offer new scientific ideas and highlyspecialized techniques many in the petroleumindustry may not be overly familiar with.And,speaking of mini-conferences, the organizersand contributors of DOLOMITES 2004 areto be congratulated for very successfulseminar and core sessions. I would suggest,however, that perhaps the focused mini-conference seminars close with a speakerreviewing what was presented, summarizingwhere we are and what needs to beresearched, with respect to the theme.Nonetheless, DOLOMITES 2004, and allthose involved,Well Done!

Lastly, if you would like to give a talk in any ofthe technical divisions, please contact theTechnical Division Chairs (contactinformation at cspg.org), who are particularlykeen on trying to achieve cross-divisional co-operation with talks showing multi-disciplinary and applied technical andscientific methods.

Lavern D. StasiukCSPG Executive Program Director

EXECUTIVE COMMENT (...CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7)

Now available for import into�ACCUMAP and other�mapping programs:

1)�Mississippian Subcrops and Devonian�� Reef Edges – Alberta, NE BC, Sask. and�� NWT - completely updated in 2003/04��2)�Glauconitic Channel Trends �� – Southern and central Alberta��3)�Colony Reservoir Trends � � – East-central Alberta��4)�Bluesky-Dunlevy Reservoir Trends� � – NE BC��5)�Halfway-Doig Shoreline Trends� � – NE BC, NW AB��6)�Charlie Lake Siphon, Cecil and North�� Pine Reservoir Trends – NE BC��

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