Oil industry training

From
Date
A response to some of the recent posting regarding the state of biostrat. in
the industry.

A) Training:

In the UK at least there are still some good courses around which give a
valuable start to any budding biostratigraphers who want to work within the
oil industry. I refer in particular to the MSc level courses in
Micropalaeontology (at University College, London) and Palynology (at
Sheffield Univ.). This has in recent years been a happy recruiting ground
for the consultancy agencies. Many of the people working in the
consultancies have then moved on to jobs in oil companies. It was the route
I took and I can think of many others. In Holland Utrecht Univ. provided
many of Shell's micropalaeontologists and palynologists (many of you will be
familiar with the Utrecht Micropalaeontological Bulletins), but the
micropalaeontological research at Utrecht has now disappeared. I still think
that the major consultancies will be the area from which many oil companies
will derive their future multi-talented broad based biostratigraphers,
because it is these organisations that give the widest exposure to global
stratigraphy. I can remember working on North Sea chalks one day, over to
the Gulf of Suez Miocene, the next, followed by a large dose of Jurassic
from The Yemen. I am not familiar with the courses that are on offer in the
US or other parts of the world. One of the important aspects that must be
covered in any MSc level course, however, is the integration role that the
biostratigrapher has to play, not only with other biostratigraphers with
different skills to his own but with other exploration disciplines. I am not
sure if we are currently preparing biostratigraphy students well enough in
this area. 

B) Research

Like Mike Simmons I also hope (now that I moved across another fence into
the academic  world) that the oil industry will support applied
stratigraphic research. I tried hard on one side of the fence already and
will now battle away on the other. The geological problems facing the
industry are becoming more complex, particularly at the reservoir scale.
Reservoir scale problems are ones which would be ideal for biostratigraphic
research. They always require a thorough taxonomic understanding, a
knowledge of stratigraphy and provide exposure to other geological problem
solving tools. This benefits both the student (if he/she wants to work in
the industry) and the oil company (who get the sort of detailed approach
they could not buy in the market place because it would cost too much at
consultancy rates). 

C) Questions posed by Rich Lane

1. How can we identify paleontological horizons/ages ahead of or at 
   the same time as drilling?

With difficulty. But this is not a problem which is un-surmountable. When I
was working in the North Sea I regularly assisted with setting the casing
points for high pressure wells. Detailed knowledge of the surrounding wells,
an understanding of the regional stratigraphy, regular monitoring of results
and comparison with the pre-drilling prognosis allowed us to regularly
predict (to within 10's of feet) the correct placement of the casing point.
This task was obviously made easier by the extensive dataset that is
available for the North Sea.
     
2.  How can we have all the data in an area computerized and made 
    available to use through the Net?

Another difficult one. This requires extensive co-operation between
operators in a basin. Their resources to tackle such a problem will vary
considerably. 
     
3.  How can we more quickly and efficiently process paleo samples so 
    that results are timely.  (Timely data generation (fossil processing) 
    is a huge Achilles Heel for paleo.)

Encourage more palaeo to be carried out at the wellsite for critical
sections. It provides instant results and in the long run may not be that
more expensive. 

D) Some additional biostratigraphic problems which I think still need to be
addressed. 

1) In what areas of exploration/production do biostratigraphers get their
greatest successes / respect?. Can we learn from each others experiences?.

2) Do Biostratigraphers need to be more proactive promoting themselves?. If
we do (and I am sure that we do) how have different people gone about this?.
Again, can we learn from different experiences.

1) What is the level of confidence in the correlation between the various
standard zonation schemes used to construct a time framework?. e.g.
correlation of standard planktonic foraminifera zonations to the calcareous
nannofossil zonations in the Tertiary. I was constantly faced with
mis-matches between the published correlations and the data I was receiving
from consultants. Tertiary carbonates are one of the worlds most prolific
reservoirs therefore what are the current thoughts on the correlation
between the planktonic foraminiferal zonation and the larger foraminiferal
zonations?.
Martin Jakubowski
Head of Curation, Dept. of Palaeontology
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London, SW7 5BD
Tel: 0171 938 8902
Fax: 0171 938 9277
EMail: marj@mailserver.nhm.ac.uk