OREANDA-NEWS.  June 26, 2012. Creative ideas and new technologies were the stars of the recent American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) 2012 Annual Convention and Exhibition in Long Beach, California. More than 5,000 geoscientists attended the event, which included about 1,000 oral and poster presentations, reported the press-centre of Saudi Aramco.

Saudi Aramco, a Titanium Sponsor, continued its significant presence in the technical program, exhibition and other convention activities that reflect the company’s recognition of the importance of petroleum geoscience to its upstream oil and gas activities.

A team from Aramco Services Co. (ASC) Upstream Research also participated in the program and, together with ASC Staffing Services, met with those interested in careers with Saudi Aramco.

Saudi Aramco geoscientists delivered six oral presentations and four poster presentations on reservoir architecture and characterization, geochemistry, stratigraphy, and natural fractures.

One presentation given by geologist Douglas Cook focused on “encounters from space” to describe subsurface structures in the Arabian platform that appear to have formed as a result of meteorite impacts. The presentation, “Possible Impact Structures in the Sedimentary Basins of Saudi Arabia,” was featured in a technical session on astrogeology.

In-booth presentations were given by Saudi Aramco’s Dave Cantrell from Exploration and Petroleum Engineering’s Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC) who spoke about “Clastic Reservoir Quality Prediction: Challenges and Progress” and Bob Lindsay in Exploration who presented his 30 years of learning on “Carbonate Porosity Families.” Both topics attracted a large group of geoscientists, with many showing great interest in images of outcrops and rock samples from Saudi Arabia.

Prior to the convention, Mahdi AbuAli of Saudi Aramco served on the judging panel for the Imperial Barrel Award competition. Among the 12 finalists was a team from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals that represented the Middle East Region of AAPG.

Hussain Al-Otaibi, manager of Saudi Aramco’s Exploration Technical Services Department, said that the AAPG annual conference “is the premier opportunity for Saudi Aramco to meet with other upstream companies and service companies to exchange information and knowledge about shared challenges and technology solutions through oral presentations, poster sessions and in-person meetings around the exhibition and other social events.”