2011 SEG Forum

By Spring Harris

The 2011 SEG Forum titled Exploration Frontiers: Geography, Technology, and Business Models focused on the geographic, technological, business, and legal issues involved with finding and developing new hydrocarbon reserves. This event was held 19 September in the Lila Cockrell Theatre at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center during the 2011 SEG Annual Meeting.

This year SEG invited five experts in oil-and-gas-industry exploration to offer their insights on the challenges facing growth in new frontiers. The five-member panel included Tim Dodson, executive vice president for the exploration business area of Statoil and a member of the Statoil corporate executive committee; Susan M. Cunningham, senior vice president of exploration Noble Energy; David Lawrence, executive vice president-exploration and commercial for Shell; Carl Trowell, president of WesternGeco; and Hank Hamilton, chairman of TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA, who acted as moderator.

According to Hamilton, "As geophysicists, exploration is in our DNA." The first speaker, Lawrence, echoed this sentiment as he discussed the technology being developed to explore deepwater, Arctic, and shale and tight gas plays. He also touched on the regulatory challenges facing new developments. The next speaker, Dodson, spoke about the challenges faced in developing new business models for frontier success that offer "win-win solutions for all parties involved." Cunningham touched on the human aspects of "frontier thinking" and how the interplay of "people, process, and technology, and information" are crucial to finding and developing new plays. Trowell, the final speaker, discussed the need to develop new strategies to address environmental, security, and technological concerns such as developing seismic imaging to mitigate risk. All of the panelists touched on the need for greater collaboration between the various parties involved exploration.

This well-attended event drew meeting delegates for a variety of reasons. One attendee, Luke Jensen, a geologist with Signal Hill Petroleum, Inc., attended because of his interest in the "global business and exploration focus" as well as "the emerging technologies to address frontier plays, particularly unconventional" plays. Forum attendees were invited to submit questions to the panel. Questions ranged from inquires about technological advancements to the level and type of cooperation from host governments.

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Go to the 2011 Annual Meeting news overview