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1 week ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink
Despite there still being major uncertainties for operators on the UK Continental Shelf, as Niall McLean from Brodies Solicitors clearly explained in his talk about the Finch ruling, when talking to people during coffee breaks at the recent Devex Conference, the mood still seemed more upbeat than it was last year. Maybe Ian Cross is right, we reached rock bottom already and therefore the only way is up.
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1 week ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink
Lower Saxony, the German state that finds itself in the north-western part of the country, has a rich history in drilling and coring. But until recently, activities on that front were exclusively centred around oil and gas. No surprise; the state hosts the majority of oil and gas fields in Germany and therefore, places like Celle, Lingen and Hannover have a significant oil industry presence.
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2 weeks ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink
Map showing the first generation of long horizontal wells – in light tones – in the Walrus field of the Canadian Peace River Bluesky formation oil sands. It is clear that the development reached a mature level, given that wells such as the PENN WEST HZ WALRUS 15-1-83-18W5 well – darker tone – were drilled in areas that were initially ignored.
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2 weeks ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink
There was an outcry when the Free University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, recently announced its intention to close its geoscience department. Many well-respected geoscientists posted on LinkedIn how bad this was for the energy transition, as that is where so many earth science graduates are so greatly needed. Without saying a word about all those alumni who landed excellent roles in oil over the past few decades. But that is a by-the-by.
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3 weeks ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink |Marzena Pyteraf
In most prospective basins, the simpler and larger anticlines and high-side fault blocks have mostly been drilled. In order to find what is remaining, explorers can look for new trap types, such as low-side fault blocks and onlap or pinch-out traps. The key questions in that case are how many different trap types may exist beyond the already existing ones, have they already been drilled before, and why were these unsuccessful. This requires an accurate definition of trap types.
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1 month ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink
Natural hydrogen exploration is currently a hot topic, but few companies have advanced from initial exploration to the drilling stage. HyTerra is one notable exception. This week, the company drilled the Sue Duroche #3 exploration well in Kansas, USA, where they discovered concentrations up to 96.1% hydrogen. This finding is not entirely surprising, as the well is located just 200m north of the Sue Duroche #2 well, a hydrocarbon exploration well that found over 90% hydrogen in 2008 already.
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1 month ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink
”It’s the hope that keeps us here,” wrote Neil Hodgson and the Searcher team this week. He alluded to those promising ultra-deepwater fields that are about to be discovered. Hope also filtered through in the words of some people this week as they commented on the news of an agreement reached in the Netherlands between the government, state oil and gas company EBN and the Dutch industry association Element NL to produce more gas from the offshore.
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1 month ago | 
geoexpro.com | Marzena Pyteraf |Henk Kombrink
This in what a team of researchers concluded in a paper published in the journal Geothermics this year. It must have been a bit of a surprise to find very modest heat flows and no sign of an active geothermal system at all, despite a thick succession of basalts. It wasn’t the oldest basalts either. The team drilled a total of three wells to a depth of 1,000 m.
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1 month ago | 
geoexpro.com | Marzena Pyteraf |Henk Kombrink
Red city of Abyaneh in Iran near Isfahan. Photography: pop_gino via Adobe Stock. It is easy to focus on the oil and gas exploration hotspots of the world, where news around discoveries or the completion of a dry hole is guaranteed for attention from those following the industry. But what about areas that do not feature in the news that much? Iran is one of those countries you normally don’t hear a lot from.
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1 month ago | 
geoexpro.com | Henk Kombrink
“Why would we still explore for oil and gas?” asked René Jonk from ACT GEO at the end of his talk for the Geoscience Energy Society of Great Britain this week. René, a seasoned explorer and geologist, put this question to the audience after giving an overview of how exploration over the past decades has also depended on elements of luck. The discovery of the Golden Lane in the Suriname-Guyana Basin is an example of luck.
