Industrial Biostratigraphy

[Mike Simmons <gmi267@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The continuing discussion regarding the future of industrial 
biostratigraphy is, I think, proving both interesting and useful. Since 
it's a subject close to my heart, I'd like to add a few more comments.

(i) The Next Generation

Several people have asked where are the next generation of industrial 
biostratigraphers coming from. I am not completely familiar with the US 
situation but here in the UK, we are perhaps relatively fortunate. The 
government funding body (NERC) continues to support 10 places on 
Micropalaeontology/Palynology Masters courses, indicating that they, 
at least, recognise the value of this vocational training. Add to this a 
number of self-funded, or more rarely, industry-funded students, plus 
the occassional NERC or otherwise funded Ph.D. student and you have 
a reasonable-sized pool of newcomers available to the job market 
each year. Of course the problem is finding work! Decline in 
exploration activity in the late 80's/early 90's saw both majors and 
large service companies shed large numbers of staff, which in turn 
produced a large number of independent consultants. Fresh graduates 
have found it difficult to break into this market given that for any given 
job, experience is often preferred over youth. However, there may be 
light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to the real value that 
biostratigraphy can offer to the industry (many people have cited 
wellsite work/biosteering), there are now the beginnings of a phase of 
recruitment in the UK industry to meet the increased demand for 
wellsite work. As Martin noted, we have to make sure the next 
generation is trained not only in all the requisite palaeontological 
skills but also in the skills to integrate biostratigraphic information into 
exploration and production models.

(ii) The Challange to Biostratigraphy

I think it is doubtful if the majors will ever recruit significant numbers of 
biostratigraphers again. Just as drilling and seismic surveys are no 
longer carried out by the majors themselves, but by service 
companies on their behalf, biostratigraphy has become a service 
based industry. But the challanges to prove the value of 
biostratigraphy are still the same! Rich Lane asks what will it take to 
further the image of paleo in industry - the only answer is to be able to 
demonstrate real commercial advantage - i.e. pounds or dollars added 
or saved. Correspondents have noted that this is often possible 
through rigsite work - a more difficult challenge is demonstrate added 
value in the regional pre-drill exploration work, reviewing old data and 
field samples. The fact that biostrat helped prove that no mature 
source rocks were in a basin is often lost when the cost/benefit 
analyses are being done! Quite simply when industrial 
biostratigraphers have a success story to report of money saved or 
earned through biostratigraphy we need to sing it from the rooftops. 
That doesn't just mean amongst ouselves, but at AAPG meetings and 
the like, and at in-company forums where a wide range of geoscientists 
and managers can hear of the benefits from our work. 

For sure we need to continue to improve our image - to many industry 
geoscientists/managers their last memory of paleo were lectures of 
the morphological features of macrofossils - a far cry from the cut and 
thrust of the industry. The way to get round this, in addition to the 
observations above, is to make sure applied biostratigraphy is 
included in specialised petroleum geology training at university level 
and within industry training. This will work best if biostrat is presented 
alongside other related disciplines (in a sequence strat course for 
example). 

Talking of sequence stratigraphy, I have to disagree with Rich Lane's 
comments that sequence strat has led to the demise of 
biostratigraphy. In my experience it has been the opposite - sequence 
stratigraphy has given biostratigraphy a new lease of life - it has 
provided the means of integrating our valuable data alonside seismic, 
log, geochemistry and sedimentology data.

I do think biostratigraphy has new things to offer. Continued refinement 
of local biozonation schemes do enable us to predict (with a 
reasonable success rate) ahead of the bit. The shift in industry to 
reservoir studies opens the door for detailed biostratigraphic-based 
correlation. I still maintain that taxonomic precision is a prerequisite to 
any detailed work of this nature, thus supporting the need for 
"traditional" palaeontological research.  

I think that's more than enough, but I'm keen to see a positive debate 
on these issues.

Mike

Dr. Mike Simmons
Department of Geology
University of Aberdeen
Meston Building
King's College
Abderdeen
AB9 2UE
United Kingdom

Tel: 44 - 1224 - 273438
Fax: 44 - 1224 - 272785
m.d.simmons@abdn.ac.uk