Issuu

MAY/JUNE 2021 • ISSUE 3

THE MAGAZINE OF CANADIAN ENERGY GEOSCIENTISTS

Reservoir cspg.org

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In This Issue

M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 1

Letter from the Editor

16 Go Take A Walk

Message from the Board

20 Visit the Erratic Sites Around Calgary

2020 CSPG Award Recipients — H.M. Hunter Award

22 The Blue View: Industry Trends Through Woodmac's Lens

10 Regulating the Geoscience Professions — Part 3 of 4: The Role of APEGA, Other Regulators and Academics 13 2020 CSPG Award Recipient — Honorary Membership Award

26 2020 CSPG Award Recipient — Medal of Merit Award 28 The Psychology of Geology: Unearthing Creativity Amongst the Uncertainty 38 Black Gold: the World’s Oldest… and Richest… Oilfield?

Conferences

e-Talks

Page 15

Page 25

Page 30-35

May 19, 2021

Gussow Conference

Technical Division e-Talks

Genesis and evolution of solid bitumen; an organic petrology perspective

Page 31

Page 36

Hamed Sanei

Mountjoy Conference Page 35

Core Conference

GeoWomen e-Talks

UPCOMING EVENTS

Technical Webinar

THE MODERN AND THE PALEOZOIC, ALBERTA In 2013 the Bow River abandoned its original channel and established a new route closer to Tunnel Mountain, near Banff. As a braided river, the Bow will eventually reoccupy its old channel as it switches back and forth across the valley over time. Above the river is the north face of Mount Rundle comprised of the Late Devonian and Mississippian strata. The Tunnel Mountain Hoodoos lie in the foreground. Photo by: Kurt Armbruster.

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FROM THE EDITOR TOM SNEDDON, PROFESSIONAL GEOLOGIST (ALBERTA), PROFESSIONAL GEOSCIENTIST

h! Springtime in Alberta! Sun, snow, breakup, rain, sleet – all in one afternoon. And COVID-19 is still grimly holding on and keeping us apart. In this issue, we should be getting excited about attending the 2021 GeoConvention and Meltdown – but sorry. Postponed until September, when Dustin has a great show (virtual, of course) lined up for us. Maybe next year, given that this is a great ‘Next Year’ country.

Our science is far from static, despite our current coronal virus constraints. We would all like to improve our knowledge of what is coming out of the field and laboratories around the world.

What we do have for you is a great e-zine lineup of articles to tickle your reading fancy. George Eynon reveals the third in his series of articles on the regulation of our professions and industry. Astrid Arts leads us through a walk in amongst the erratics and Kiersten Mohr introduces us to the Psychology of Geology (by golly, that would make a great rap riff). Jon Noad takes us on a virtual field trip to the South African Veld, asking “Black Gold: The World’s Oldest… and Richest… Oilfield?”. By the way, Kiersten conveys a Message from the CSPG Board as well as her feature article. Don’t miss either one. There is still a wealth of Technical Webinars and Technical Division presentations in this edition to build our Professional Development credits and spark our thinking. Our usual line up of GeoCommunity Talks are reported upon, as is our Industry Update. Society News includes a wrapup on the Gussow (virtual) Conference and the Medal of Merit winner citations.

While perusing this edition, take a couple of minutes to watch the Mountjoy Conference and Core Conference promotional videos, then plan to attend. Both events are coming soon, and we all want to get them into our calendars. On the subject of planning, if you have insights into important advances in geoscience and technology in progress or that have recently been revealed and would care to write up an article for the Reservoir, we plan to devote page space to those topics in our upcoming editions. Our science is far from static, despite our current coronal virus constraints. We would all like to improve our knowledge of what is coming out of the field and laboratories around the world. That sums up what we have to present to you in this edition of the e-Reservoir. Please let us know how we are doing and what you might like to see in the second half of 2021 and into 2022. In the meantime, enjoy springtime in the Rockies (and forests, plains, and other physiographic provinces!) n

Tom Sneddon

PUBLICATIONS INFORMATION The RESERVOIR is published 6 times per year by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. The purpose of the RESERVOIR is to publicize the Society’s many activities and to promote the geosciences. We look for both technical and non-technical material to publish. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in part or in full without the consent of the publisher. No official endorsement or sponsorship by the CSPG is implied for any advertisement, insert, or article that

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

appears in the RESERVOIR unless otherwise noted. All submitted materials are reviewed by the editor. We reserve the right to edit all submissions, including letters to the Editor. Submissions must include your name, address, and membership number (if applicable). The material contained in this publication is intended for informational use only. While reasonable care has been taken, authors and the CSPG make no guarantees that any of the equations, schematics, or devices discussed will perform as expected

or that they will give the desired results. Some information contained herein may be inaccurate or may vary from standard measurements. The CSPG expressly disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions, or conduct of any third-party user of information contained in this publication. Under no circumstances shall the CSPG and its officers, directors, employees, and agents be liable for any injury, loss, damage, or expense arising in any manner whatsoever from the acts, omissions, or conduct of any third-party user.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2021

PRESIDENT

PRESIDENT ELECT

PAST PRESIDENT

FINANCE DIRECTOR

Neil Watson

Kelty Latos

Jen Russel-Houston

Jason Frank

Enlighten Geoscience Ltd. president@cspg.org Linkedin

ConocoPhillips Canada Ltd. presidentelect@cspg.org LinkedIn

Osum Oil Sands Corp. pastpresident@cspg.org Linkedin

Athabasca Oil Corp. directorfinance@cspg.org Linkedin

FINANCE DIRECTOR ELECT

DIRECTOR

Erin Crerar

Kurt Armbruster

Mona Enachescu

Amy Fox

directorfinanceelect@cspg.org Linkedin

technicaldivisions@cspg.org Linkedin

Cavalier Energy Inc. outreach@cspg.org Linkedin

Enlighten Geoscience Ltd. education@cspg.org Linkedin

DIRECTOR

Chad Glemser

Mark Mallamo

Kiersten Mohr

Genga Nadaraju

conferences@cspg.org Linkedin

Acquisition Oil Corp. fieldtrips@cspg.org Linkedin

Terra Firma Transition publications@cspg.org LinkedIn

membershipdirector@cspg.org Linkedin

OFFICE CONTACTS MEMBERSHIP INQUIRIES Tel: 403-264-5610 Email: membership@cspg.org

CSPG OFFICE #150, 540 - 5th Ave SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 0M2 Tel: 403-264-5610 | www.cspg.org

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Emma MacPherson Tel: 403-513-1230 Email: emma.macpherson@cspg.org

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Yarina Moharam Tel: 403-513-1235 Email: yarina.moharam@cspg.org MANAGING DIRECTOR Yarina Moharam Tel: 403-513-1235 Email: yarina.moharam@cspg.org

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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD KIERSTEN MOHR, CSPG PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR

The Publications Evolution: Enhancing Value for Our Members

2020

was a milestone year for the publication's portfolio after the successful and aheadof-schedule transition of Reservoir into a digital platform. We could not have executed this transition without the passionate dedication of CSPG's Emma MacPherson, who quickly and seamlessly worked behind the scenes to bring our digital version to life. Additionally, in 2020 we were fortunate to begin working with a contract designer specializing in digital content generation. This new relationship has put the entire process in our hands, allowing us to be incredibly responsive to member preferences and evolve our design and content delivery in real-time. As a long-time CSPG member, I am extremely proud of this evolution as it springs our society's magazine into the 21st century. Looking forward, I am confident we have set a foundation from which we can continue to evolve content, accessibility and engagement, ultimately allowing all of us to stay more engaged and connected to new ideas, insights and society news and events. As we looked ahead to 2021, the publications committee set our sights on the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geoscience (BCPG). For over 68 years, the BCPG has showcased historical discoveries, exploration challenges and brought to life many leading-edge geoscience ideas and concepts. As with many other professionals, the BCPG was formative for me in building my technical competency as I took on various subsurface challenges throughout my career. This journal provided an open window into the concepts and ideas I needed to understand as I continually took on new and challenging problems in our industry. I will never forget the first issue I opened, and from that point forward, it became my go-to resource. As I have

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spent the last year exploring the behindthe-scenes workings of this journal and the people who make it happen, I have been quickly reminded of how foundational this publication is to our society and how much pride I had in it as a Canadian Geoscientist. With that said, as we looked at the BCPG journal relative to current industry trends, comparative benchmarks, and feedback from current and potential contributors across the country, it was clear that the BCPG was facing many challenges. First, we had continually seen a decrease in our content submission. Our publishing process was slow and lacking the efficiency, consistency and timeliness of our peer publications, and the delivery options of our content were limited. Additionally, given the currently evolving roles of geoscientists across our country, we recognized that this publication's scope and name were unintentionally limiting our ability to showcase new and exciting geoscience for our members. In contrast to the challenges, the enormous benefit that was apparent was how many dedicated and passionate individuals were already in place and committed to helping our society reimagine and rebuild a journal that was and continues to be so meaningful to so many of us. Therefore, as we came to the end of 2020, the CSPG board committed to evolving the Bulletin and getting started. To begin with, at the end of 2020, working closely with our Editors-in-Chief, Dr. Jennifer Galloway and Dr. Hairuo Quing, the CSPG board of directors voted unanimously to expand the scope of the Bulletin to include all aspects of Canadian energy geoscience. Next, and most significantly, in the first quarter of 2021, the board unanimously voted to change the name of the BCPG to the 'Bulletin of Canadian Energy Geoscience (BCEG).' The current timeline

will see a call for submissions in Q3 of 2021, with our first issue to come on in Q1 2022. This change of scope and name is the foundation on which we will begin to build a more inclusive, relevant and meaningful journal for all of our members across the country and worldwide. The committee, publishing team, editors, and organization are all excited to be part of building the next generation of our Journal. While a name change provides the first step, many other improvements are necessary and will accompany our new name. First, in 2021, the publications committee will be bringing forward 'ahead of print publishing,' which will help ensure researchers can get their work out faster, and our members will be able to access content quicker. Next, we will be adding 'open access publishing options to maximize the optionality for contributors on submitting their content. With a great deal of excitement, I look forward to the future of our publication's portfolio. Like any transition, it can feel difficult at the beginning and complex and challenging in the execution. However, given the passion of so many individuals behind this portfolio, I am confident that on the other side of this evolution we will have created a modernized, inclusive and much more engaging publication which will work to connect our membership across the country with the incredible science going on in our discipline. As a long-time CSPG member and as importantly, a Canadian geoscientist, I can't wait to see where we go! Please check out our new scope and stay tuned for submission deadlines so you don’t miss your chance to be part of the first issue on this new path for the CSPG! n

The H.M. Hunter Award was originally created to recognize CSPG members who have contributed long term distinguished service to the Society. As such the focus was on volunteers more in the latter part of their careers and who likely had served in a variety of capacities. However distinguished service is not limited to long term service members, so the original concept has been modified to also recognize outstanding volunteer efforts of the Society's younger members. The H. M. Hunter Award now recognizes: • a longer term CSPG member (20+years) who has contributed to the Society on an on-going basis in a volunteer capacity in a variety of portfolios and/or singular outstanding service. This would include an outstanding individual who has not received a major service award recently and if they have been recognized in the past, have contributed to provide great service to the Society since that time. Special consideration is given to those 'behind the scenes' i.e. 'unsung heroes' whose contributions have not been adequately recognized. Such longer-term members have gone above and beyond and by doing so have promoted our profession and the Society. • a shorter term CSPG member (10-20 years) for exceptional performance, who has gone above and beyond, a rising star as a volunteer to the Society, and who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the CSPG.

Both awards are of equal merit and recognize exceptional volunteer commitment to the Society. The CSPG is built on a legacy of service by members and so strives to recognize and encourage such recipients. There is no restriction as to the number of times an individual may win this award. Nor does this award have to be awarded in either category each year or at all in the unlikely situation of no worthy nominees in a given year.

History of the H.M. Hunter Award First awarded in 2004, this award is named after Mr. H. (Harry) M. Hunter who was a founding member of the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists. He had one of the longest volunteer careers of the founding members. Harry Hunter served as ASPG SecretaryTreasurer in 1929, as Business Manager in 1935 and 1937, and as President in 1939. Harry Hunter was the only founding member present at the final meeting of the ASPG where they overwhelmingly agreed to change their name to the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. This award is named in honour of Mr. Hunter's work in the early days of the Society, on the Executive and his subsequent volunteerism. The award is a wall clock chosen to represent the time members have given to the Society. The originator of the award, Astrid Arts, designed the original clock. The current version of the award is a plaque-style, slate, wall clock with the CSPG logo in the center and the name of the winner on a brass plate.

2020 CSPG Award Recipients

2020 H.M. HUNTER AWARD

Jim Barclay Jim started his education and geology career on the hard-rock side of things. In 1979 he moved from mining exploration with Norcen Energy to the oilpatch with Dome Petroleum. There he quickly realized he needed to improve on his meagre soft-rock knowledge and he began using CSPG talks and conventions as his soft-rock school, absorbing everything he could at these events. That was his introduction to the CSPG. His CSPG volunteering began with the CSPG around 1986 while working at the GSC and he was able to present project results at conferences, workshops and talks. Since then, Jim has published about 35 papers, given about 40 formal talks, luncheon talks, posters and core displays as well as many informal talks at oil companies, universities and schools. Most of the papers and talks were given via the CSPG.

Jim Barclay

SUMMARY OF VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES: • Co-author on 4 chapters, CSPG/AGS/GSC WCSB Atlas (1990-1994) • CSPG Stratigraphic Nomenclature Committee (1991) • Organizing Committee & Technical Program, 1993 CSPG “Pangea” Convention

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2020 CSPG Award Recipients

• Director, CSPG Board of Directors (1996-1997, 2010-2012, 2017-2018)

• Co-Chair, 5 Horn River Shale Gas sessions and co-editor of proceedings, 2011 CSPG Convention

• Member & Chair, CSPG Medal of Merit Committee (1997-2006)

• Co-Chair, Core Conference, 2016 AAPG-SEPMCSPG Convention

• Organising Committee & Chairman Core Workshop, 1999 International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian

• Committee member, Core Conference, 2017 Geo-Convention

• CSPG Douglas Award Nominating Committee, for Dr. Graham Davies (2002) • Chair Technical Programme, 2002 CSPG 75th Anniversary Convention • Associate Editor, CSPG Bulletin (2005-2007) • Co-Chair, Core Conference, 2006 CSPG-CSEGCWLS Convention

• Critical reviewer of CSPG and other publications • CSPG awards: PhD Thesis Award (2001), Volunteer Award (2003) and Service Awards (2005 & 2015).

Jim has a B.Sc. from Carleton University and a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary (Fed Krause, advisor). His career in the oilpatch centred mainly on regional exploration mapping and also resource assessment, mostly in WCSB. He worked for a number of entities. Notable stretches were at Dome, GSC, Poco/Burlington and ConocoPhillips, all in Calgary. Later in his career he enjoyed working as a geological advisor and doing a lot of mentoring and teaching. These days he is not sure if he is unemployed or retired. He would like to acknowledge the many terrific friends and colleagues he met during his career and volunteered with at the CSPG. He would also like to thank the companies and organisations he worked for who allowed him time to volunteer in CSPG activities. And Jim has said often that he received more from volunteering with the CSPG than he has ever given to it!

Award Recipient Interview

• Lecturing for Queen’s University, Master’s Degree in Earth and Energy Resources Leadership program (2018-present)

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In late 2002, Steve and his co-chair Mark Caplan were approached to take over running the Basin Analysis and Sequence Stratigraphy (BASS) Technical Division. They agreed and have been successfully running the Division along with their hardworking committee to the present day. He also served as one of the two CSPG representatives on the GeoConvention Board from 2015 to 2018. This was a very rewarding role, as it allowed him to work with many talented professionals and gain high level insight into the workings of GeoConvention. Steve has been the recipient of multiple CSPG Volunteer and Service Awards over the past several years and also served as the Basin Analysis/Sedimentology session chair with Mark Caplan at GeoConvention 2016. Steve received his B.Sc. (Honours) degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1989. His undergraduate thesis "The Depositional Environment of the Queenston Shale, SW Ontario" was the winner of the Ontario Petroleum Institute's Undergraduate Thesis Award. Intrigued by the earth sciences, Steve decided to continue his geological journey in graduate school at Western, starting a M.Sc. degree that he soon upgraded to a Ph.D. During his studies, Steve was awarded a CSPG Graduate Scholarship. His Ph.D. was completed in 1997 and the thesis topic was "The Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Diagenesis of the Upper Cretaceous Bad Heart Formation, NW Alberta". Steve has 21 years of experience working frontier, international and conventional assets with Graham Davies Geological Consultants, Alberta Energy Company, EnCana, Cenovus and Partners Energy Development Corp. Steve currently works at Canadian Discovery Ltd. (CDL) as an Exploration Analyst, researching and evaluating current prospects, projects, areas, operators, and/or technologies to write technical review articles with a geological focus for CDL's Discovery Digest publication.

W. Steven Donaldson

2020 CSPG Award Recipients

W. Steven Donaldson

Award Recipient Interview

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Regulating the Geoscience Professions:

A series on the Complementary Roles of Regulators, Individual Professionals, Employers, Academia and Government George Eynon, PGeo FGC FEC [Hon] ICD.D Principal, geos - eynon & associates consulting inc Past-President, APEGA (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta) Associate, University of Calgary, School of Public Policy and Haskayne Business School

PART 3 of 4: The Role of APEGA, Other Regulators

and Academics

Reconciling APEGA’S Regulatory Obligations and Member Services Functions Some jurisdictions separate the regulatory role from the association (advocacy and member services) roles for some professions. In Alberta, the Law Society regulates the professionals under the Legal Professions Act, whereas the Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association is the advocate for Alberta’s lawyers. Alberta’s Health Professions Act organises health professions into regulatory bodies called “colleges” that have delegated powers and authorities for self-governance. Some of the professions— the College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta and the Chartered Professional Accountants, for example—have both association and regulatory functions, and are comparable to the authors’ professional affiliations—APEGA and EGBC—in that respect. Regardless of how they are organised, regulation and member services are different functions and need to be somewhat separate. Regulation is the more important role as it embodies the purpose of the enabling legislation of our associations—the protection of the public interest and welfare.

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Viewed from my varied career perspectives, and bearing in mind the obligations to which we as professionals must adhere, a number of shortcomings (and some strengths) are evident. One shortcoming is that many academics teaching applied geoscience or engineering are not registered professionals; and are not even members of engineering or geoscience faculties. Neither are many so-called “earth scientists, who teach subjects that fall within the definition of the geosciences. A colleague refers to this phenomenon as “capture of the geosciences” by nongeoscientists; and something that we should rightly concern ourselves over from a regulatory point of view. Commonly, regulation of the professions is reactive rather than proactive, and avoids the difficult role of “policing” compliance. Many professionals do not understand the concept of selfregulation. There is a significant lack of effective collaboration and communication among the various regulatory agencies on professional practices issues; and among the regulators, academia, and governments regarding (as well as between members and the public). Both can create problems for individual professionals in their work situations. Commonly, professionals do not interact sufficiently with stakeholders or the so-called “general public” on issues that directly affect them. Canada has highly respected governance and judicial systems.

It is of utmost importance that APEGA adheres to its mandate of protecting the public interest, as well as the five core principles of good governance— accountability, leadership, integrity, stewardship and transparency

Other Regulators

creating and maintaining a healthy corporate culture, and grossly mismanaging public funds and assets.

Several other agencies directly or indirectly regulate the professional practice of geoscientists working in oil & gas exploration and production. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) regulates the operations of the energy resources sector, including oil & gas exploration and development, much of which is geoscience and engineering. Similarly, the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) must maintain and regulate a fair and efficient capital market and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is responsible for enforcing labour laws to protect workers. All these areas include the operating companies and their employees.

Three independent agency investigations into the AER led to new processes for Board and CEO accountability, improved staff relations, retraining, closer watch of executive expenses, and improved channels of communication between the CEO and Board and the Board with the Government of Alberta.

Agencies that regulate professionals control the right of admission to the professions. Entities such as the AER, ASC and OHS do not have the ability to determine who operates under their regulatory aegis. However, these agencies are responsible for regulating practice within the bounds set by their legislation and, like APEGA, are dealing with the conduct and impacts of professional practice by both individuals and companies. Although there is some collaboration and coordination among them all, there needs to be considerably more than exists currently.

Failure in Regulation can be Catastrophic Failures in governance can jeopardize the responsibility of regulatory authorities to protect the public. Since governments set mandates for regulatory authorities under their jurisdiction, it’s up to the former to mitigate the risk with effective oversight and legislation. Effective oversight relies on five core principles of good governance: accountability, leadership, integrity, stewardship and transparency. In practice, regulatory authorities need leadership, ethics and a culture committed to good governance; and require strong relationships with stakeholders, effective risk management, both internal and external compliance, and ongoing monitoring, evaluation and support. Unfortunately, jurisdictions do not always follow these principles and practices; and such was the case with the executive management and board oversight of the AER. Its controls and processes designed to protect against conflicts of interest failed dismally. The Board oversight and AER leadership significantly exceeded its mandate, establishing an affiliated consultancy, not

Above all, the Government of Alberta learned that when pursuing new and innovative activities, it must carefully define mandates; and that effective whistleblowing processes are vital to uncovering misdeeds. It is of utmost importance that APEGA adheres to its mandate of protecting the public interest, as well as the five core principles of good governance— accountability, leadership, integrity, stewardship and transparency—referred to above. And that we as APEGA Professional Members follow suit.

Teaching Ethics and Professionalism at Universities The public demands the highest standards of ethical conduct by scientists. Regulators expect companies—and their future employees—to operate within the rules and regulations governing their industry. Given such societal expectations, the first and perhaps the most egregious problem (since it comes at the start of the career path of young professionals-to-be), is the absence of education on ethics, professionalism, and workplace regulation in post-secondary geoscience curricula in Alberta and likely across Canada. Education in the ethics of academic research is an increasingly important component of the university training of scientists, given that funding agencies require training of graduate students in the responsible conduct of research. Although there is considerable literature on the subject for reference (for example, Mogk, D. & Bruckner, M., 2015), few faculty members have the requisite training or knowledge to teach about research and professional ethics effectively or mentor students. Just as important, is the lack of education of geoscience students regarding their professional obligations and conduct. Universities’ curricula rarely includes enough, if anything at all, on professionalism and ethics. Few faculty members teach ethics and

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In the interests of protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public, and the environment, it is essential for us all as regulated professionals to engage in career-long learning. professionalism effectively to their students. It is not clear whether they lack the knowledge and understanding or they do not see the need and benefit of incorporating ethics and professionalism into the curricula. Somewhat ironically, there is considerable emphasis on ethics and professionalism in the education of other, nonregulated industry professionals. It is an integral part, for example, of the Land and Petroleum Land Management Program course I teach at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. This lack of an introduction to professionalism is hardly surprising, given that barely one fifth (the national average is 21%) of geoscience departments’ faculty members are themselves registered professionals. Only 22% of geoscience faculty members in Alberta are registered professionals (data from Carter, D.C., and Stewart, R.D., oral presentation, 35IGC, 2016), and most register only if they conduct commercial consulting assignments in their field. However, I believe that teaching ethics, professionalism, and workplace regulation in post-secondary geoscience (and engineering) curricula should be mandatory. Education Departments and Academic Institutions should consider adding requirements for faculty members to be registered. If teaching geoscience is not practising geoscience, what is it? Regulatory agencies recognise that the curricula do not provide the opportunity to demonstrate professional competency: this requires a supervised probationary period as a Member-in-Training (MIT) to qualify for a professional designation. However, there are jurisdictions that admit students directly to professional status without any work experience and supervision whatsoever—this is poor regulatory oversight, to say the least.

Regulating Engineering and Geoscience Most often, the role of the professions’ self-regulatory agencies in dealing with practice issues is reactive: responding to complaints about members, and only then investigating and disciplining as required. This was the primary, perhaps only, form of practice regulation initially, but is now inadequate; regulatory agencies across Canada recognise the need to improve in this area. APEGA is no different in this respect. We are several years into a program to strengthen our practice regulation through a much more proactive approach that includes practice reviews and inspections on a risk-assessed basis. Regrettably, a significant proportion of its geoscientist members seem not to understand that APEGA’s primary role—the raison d'être of the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act—is one protecting the public through self-regulation; not providing a wide range of ancillary services to us as members. In return for our

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professional membership fees, many, perhaps most, members expect a range of benefits and services that are more appropriately within the scope of their technical societies rather than their regulatory agency. (That is not to say that APEGA does not take advantage of our sheer numbers to provide some advantages in the areas of professional practice and individual ad liability insurance, for example.) Effectively policing ourselves to protect the public interest is the essence of self-regulation. We must not compromise the privilege of professional self-regulation with self-interest. APEGA is addressing misconceptions about self-regulation through direct engagement. Professional members in all jurisdictions need to understand the legal requirement to regulate the professions under their enabling Acts, and that its purpose is to protect the public interest—which we accomplish best through self-regulation of the profession by the profession—i.e., by each of us and our peers.

Continuing Professional Development The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program is part of the Regulations under the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act. Society's expectations have changed; the public demands greater accountability from us as professionals. In the interests of protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public, and the environment, it is essential for us all as regulated professionals to engage in career-long learning. Mandatory CPD is common in many professions. In most provinces, the geosciences regulatory bodies already have or are moving towards mandatory CPD requirements; but reporting CPD to the regulator is not mandatory in all jurisdictions, and tracking it is highly variable. Consequently, enforcement varies considerably. APEGA recently acknowledged deficiencies in its compliance processes and is improving regulatory oversight of its CPD program. Perhaps the best way is to link our current CPD compliance—as a prerequisite—to our annual payment of our dues for registration and licensure.

Next, in the Final Part… I suggest an expanded role for our professionals in the area of stakeholder engagement, and a great deal more collaboration by Regulators, especially on professional practice issues. As well, I briefly discuss the roles and involvement of governments and the courts in regulatory. And finally provide some conclusions and policy recommendations. n

Honorary Membership is the oldest award bestowed by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. Any person who has contributed distinguished service to the cause of energy geosciences in eligible for membership as an Honorary Member. Recipients are persons who have made outstanding contributions to the society or geologists or other earth scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of petroleum geology on a national or international basis. Past Presidents of CSPG are given honorary membership at the age of retirement with automatic consideration for honorary membership being given earlier (i.e. at the end of their three-year term) on the basis of the preceding criteria.

Professor Noel P. James is a most worthy recipient of CSPG Honorary Membership for his outstanding contributions to our understanding of carbonate rocks, especially important to the petroleum industry in Canada and internationally. Noel James is Professor Emeritus at Queen's University in Kingston Ontario where he teaches sedimentary geology. He received his B.Sc. (geology -1964) from McGill University, M.Sc. (oceanography -1966) from Dalhousie University and Ph.D. (geology - 1972) from McGill University. In the following years he worked in the oil business in Calgary, helped establish the Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory at the University of Miami, taught at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and has been at Queen’s University since 1986. He has been an Industrial Fellow at Marathon Oil Company research laboratories and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Adelaide. His relationship to Calgary and the oil business goes back over 50 years to when he first worked as an exploration geologist and joined the CSPG. Since leaving

for academia, he has retained strong ties, working with colleagues on Devonian and Mississippian research projects, teaching yearly courses for petroleum geologists with Bill Martindale at the EUB, and sending over 40 honours undergraduate and graduate students to work in the industry. Some of these are now working in executive positions globally. A compulsive teacher, he has reveled in leading field courses to Australia, Western Canada, Newfoundland, Western Europe, Bermuda and throughout the Caribbean. At the same time, he instructed a wide range of undergraduate and graduate classes at both universities ranging from first-year geology to sedimentology to petroleum geology to the geological evolution of North America. He confesses that one of his greatest joys is standing in front of students while waxing poetic about the fascinations of geology and arguing concepts with each one of them. An addicted fledgling artist, his love has been to illustrate geoscience through graphic design, revealing complex concepts via simple dynamic illustrations.

2020 CSPG Award Recipient

2020 HONORARY MEMBERSHIP AWARD

Moose Mountain Anticline Field Trip June 26th, 2021 Join the Structural Division on June 26th for a field trip to Moose Mountain, AB with field trip leaders Andrew Newson and Debbie Sanderson.

Registration Opens May 7th

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His research concerns the sedimentology and diagenesis of carbonate sediments and rocks throughout geologic history. The rocks, because they are largely composed of components formed in seawater, can be repositories of unparalleled information about the history of our evolving planet. They are also critical repositories of paleobiological information, aquifers for fresh waters, host rocks for natural resources such as metallic ores and hydrocarbons, and storehouses of information about global change. Decoding critical information contained within ancient deposits has been, however, difficult largely because of biotic evolution and diagenesis of these commonly soluble sedimentary rocks. This conundrum is potentially overcome by studying systems of deposition in the modern ocean together with older but still comparatively, young lithified deposits whose components are relatively unchanged from those forming on the seafloor today. Initial research interests were focused on the dynamics of reef and carbonate platform growth as illustrated by the modern and Pleistocene of the Caribbean where he helped pioneer the use of research submersibles in reef studies and formulate depositional models for use by the petroleum industry. After a period studying Paleozoic carbonate continental margin evolution, he turned his attention to the cool-water carbonate depositional realm. His papers have received awards from SEPM (Society for Petroleum Geologists) as well as IAS (International Association of Sedimentologists) and he has co-edited books on Modern and

Fossil Reefs, Cool-Water Carbonates, Paleokarst, Facies Models, and Precambrian Limestones. Many of our members have at least one copy of the various editions of Facies Models. He has just finished co-authoring his second book on Neritic Cool-water Carbonates in and adjacent to the Southern Ocean, and recently, he has completed a textbook on carbonate rocks with Brian Jones. He has received the Steacie Memorial Fellowship from NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), the Past-President’s Medal and Distinguished Service Award from the Geological Association of Canada (GAC) and has been AAPG and MAC (Mineralogical Association of Canada) distinguished lecturer. He was Vice-President (1989-1990), President (19941995) and is now Honorary Member of SEPM. He served on the Council of the Geological Society of America where he was an Executive Committee member. He has been a NSERC Killam Research Fellow, the Bownocker Medallist at Ohio State University, was awarded the Twenhofel Medal by SEPM, the Logan Medal by GAC, and the Sorby Medal of the IAS, all the highest awards of the societies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and has been appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, the Nation’s highest civilian honour. The reputation of the CSPG is greatly enhanced by bestowing Honorary Membership on such a renown, world-class carbonate sedimentary geologist. We are therefore delighted to welcome Dr. Noel P. James into CSPG Membership. n

“Nexus” noun • a connection or series of connections linking two or more things “the nexus between industry professionals and career development” •The new name of APEGA’s Professional Development conference

Join fellow engineers and geoscientists across multiple disciplines and industries at the APEGA Nexus Conference, featuring over 30 sessions, two keynote presentations and an opportunity to earn up to 15 CPD hours.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS DR. WENDY OKOLO, PhD Aerospace Engineering Researcher at NASA

Don’t miss out on the engaging opportunities to keep you connected virtually!

VIRTUAL EVENT

JUNE 9 & 10

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PROF. ANDREW E. PELLING, PhD Research Chair in Experimental Cell Mechanics at the University of Ottawa

MAY TECHNICAL WEBINAR

Genesis and Evolution of Solid Bitumen; an Organic Petrology Perspective Presenter: Hamed Sanei May 19th, 2021 | 11:00-12:00 MST Technical Webinar

ABSTRACT

BIOGRAPHY

olid bitumen is a secondary hydrocarbon product that is formed during different stages of the post-burial organic matter evolution continuum in most source and tight reservoir rocks. Solid bitumen has a distinct organic petrographic characteristics and plays a key role in the quality of both source and reservoir rocks. This presentation will discuss a new schematic model for generation and timing of multiple phases of solid bitumen formed during various stages of thermal maturity. Five distinct solid bitumen groups will be presented and their significance in the unconventional reservoirs will be discussed.

Hamed Sanei is a Professor and the Total Research Chair in organic petrology and geochemistry in the Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the Director of the Lithospheric Organic Carbon Laboratory (LOC) and the Founder/President of the PetroEval ApS. He received his PhD from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He was formerly a Senior Research Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada and served as the President of The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP).

Livingstone Range Field Trip - September 2021 Join the Structural Division in September for a field trip to Livingstone Range with field trip leader William Jamison. The Livingstone River fold and thrust system comprises a complex of folds that crop out in Mississippian carbonates.

Registration Open Soon

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GO TAKE A WALK Go Take a Walk is a new series of articles brought to you by the CSPG Fieldtrip Committee to explore easily accessible geology at home and abroad. These articles focus on geological points of interest in cities, historical sites, museums and geological destinations a short walk from the car.

Calgary’s Glacial Erratics: at the Confluence of Geology and History By Astrid Arts & Gabrielle Abernethy

Alber ta’s glacial erratics have had an enduring influence on our cultural histor y. Against the backdrop of expansive landscapes, the largest of these stone blocks have wielded a psychic pull on inhabitants and visitors. James Hector, geologist of the Palliser Expedition, first repor ted on these large blocks of quar tzite in 1863: “...and 50 miles from the Rocky Mountains, there occur a ver y extraordinar y group of blocks of granite....These blocks are of great size, one having been estimated to weigh 250 tons. Although, lying in a line, miles apar t, they seem to consist of the same rock, viz., a mixture of quar tz and red feldspar...” (Palliser, 1863, p.221) Hector failed to piece together their source, though it was broadly understood by Hector and his contemporaries the erratics and the ‘drift’ of gravels upon which they sat were the work of glaciers.

LIMESTONE BLOCK SITTING ON FRESHFIELD GLACIER, ALBERTA_ NA-3551-84 The large size of the erratics and absence of striations indicate the blocks were carried on or near the surface of the transporting glacier, [NA-3551-84] by H. Woolley. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary.

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Erratic: glacier-transported rock or boulder that differs from the local bedrock, may be embedded in till or occur on the ground surface.

Archie Stalker (1956) mapped out this narrow belt of boulders and worked to solve the myster y of their origin and manner of emplacement. He dubbed them the Foothills Erratic Train. Stalker was not able to identify the origin of the erratics but suggested enough criteria that, Mountjoy (1958) was able to decisively conclude Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park was the source. The quar tzite erratics are composed of fine to coarse grained sandstones and pebble conglomerates. They are massive to cross bedded and have a distinctive light grey to pinkish hue. It was recognized early that the erratics were from the Lower Cambrian Gog Group, 540-512 million years ago. These rocks, derived from the mass wasting of cratonic metamorphic and igneous sources, were deposited in deltaic or shallow marine conditions. The coeval Cambrian Explosion, the evolutionar y burst of life that filled the oceans with all major animal phyla, is

ERRATICS TRAIN AEA The Foothills Erratics Trains marks the junction of the Laurentide and Cordilleran glaciers (modified after AB Gov, 2021, Foothills Erratics Train Map, accessed 4 April 2021, https://www.alberta.ca/ Okotoks-erratic-big-rock.aspx).

captured by the diverse trace fossil assemblage found in this clastic succession. (Magwood, 1988) During the Wisconsin Glacial Maximum, a rockslide from the cliffs of Mount Edith Cavell tumbled onto the Athabasca glacier and travelled nor th-eastward down the valley before intersecting the south west advancing Laurentide Ice Sheet. When the two ice sheets collided, they were deflected south as glaciation advanced across the continent. When the glaciers melted, a 600+ km chain of erratics were stranded in their present positions along a corridor from Jasper National par t to nor thern Montana marking the boundar y of these two great ice sheets. The timing of coalescence between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets would help answer some anthropological questions. Was there an ice-free corridor during the last glacial maximum? Could there have been a pathway for

TRAPEZOIDAL BODIES RESEMBLE HOPI/ FREMONT ROCK ART Photo Credit: Brett Abernethy

human migration from Asia, across the Bering Land Bridge, through an ice-free corridor and into the lower latitudes of the continent? Jackson et al. (1997) dated the emplacement of the erratics using cosmogenic 36CL exposure dating . T h ey determined the Foothills Erratic Train was deposited b e t we e n 11,000 and 18,000 years ago and suggested that coalescence FLUTE PLAYER MOTIF of the Cordilleran Photo Credit: Jim Henderson and Laurentide ice sheets was the maximum extent of continental glaciation in western Canada. Geological and anthropological evidence now suggests the ice-free corridor was a transient feature at best and likely not a feasible route for the earliest human migrations. Routes along the west coast of the continent are a more credible alternative for the journey of humans into Nor th America. (Jackson & Wilson, 2004). The ancestors of the Tsuut’ina, the Stoney Nakoda, the Cree, and the Blackfoot hunted and camped amongst the lush coulees and valleys of our region and exchanged peace and war amongst themselves before the first Europeans came to bar ter for furs. Some of their stories are older than the forests and the rivers themselves: stories of a nor thern land engulfed in ice and snow and mystical adventures, immor talized in the constellations, under taken by the animals to retrieve summer. Those pre-contact Indigenous peoples that looked nor th to an endless expanse of winter were witnessing the waning of the Last

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Ice Age, its maximum reached more than 20,000 years ago. The earliest passage of humans along the western coastal route bypassed the inhospitable nor th to settle first in South America and the southern United States approximately 14,000 years ago. As the ice receded and icy melt waters car ved into the dr y and cool grasslands, the animals came and the stor ytellers followed, gradually dispersing nor th of the 49th parallel. Four hundred generations of stor ytellers imbued their oral tradition with magic realism, accounting their obser vations in fantastical events meant to teach and immor talize. Wilfred Buck, from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba, is an Indigenous star-stor y exper t. A stor y shared with him by Indigenous Elders, recounts a time of perpetual ice and snow in the Nor th Countr y; it is the stor y of the Fisher, Ochek. The Fisher was tasked with retrieving summer, as the little summer birds had been bundled up and imprisoned, keeping it winter all the time. Fisher used his sharp teeth to rip open the bundle and released the summer birds. The man who had captured the birds came running after Fisher with a bow and arrow but Fisher jumped into the sky and climbed right to the stars. Today, the outline of the Fisher’s body is commonly recognized as the Big Dipper constellation, his broken tail the Dipper’s handle. (Buck, n.d.)

DISTRIBUTION OF ERRATICS IN THE CITY OF CALGARY

The star stories are old - a testament to the temporal reach of human obser vers to our glacial past. But, they are not isolated. Hopi stories of the Flute Clan traveling nor th to a ‘land of ice and snow’ may have evidence in pictographs found at Grotto Canyon, near Exshaw. A flute player motif and trapezoidal bodies found in the rock ar t panel of Grotto Canyon resemble southwest Hopi/ Fremont rock ar t imager y. The flute player motif is directly equated with Kokopelli, a trickster figure in the traditions of the Hopi people and a totem figure for the Hopi Flute Clan. (Magne and Klassen, 2002) Fast forward to a ‘recent’ ~11,000 years ago, to the first intrepid humans following Pleistocene horses and camels to the cool climes of Canada. These early nomads came and went; their pulses of advancement left in flakes of stone tools and hunting technology. Their early stories were inter twined with the stars but later peoples shifted their skyward gaze to the landscape and left their memories painted on the rocks. Red ochre, mixed with animal fat, was used to draw images and meaning on canyon walls, on cliff faces, in caves and in the hidden recesses of erratics. The pictographs were indelible reminders of spiritual journeys, their meaning best left to those original inscribers. Erratics, mysterious monuments sitting incongruent amongst the open prairie, were frequent sites of rock ar t. For many First Nations, rocks are ‘grandfathers’; the erratics were not simply impressive rocks but rather an ancient forebear meant to be revered and respected - intuitive location choices for ethereal imager y. Alber ta’s largest erratic, the Big Rock, at Okotoks, holds special meaning to the Blackfoot. Blair First Rider (2020), an Aboriginal Cultural Advisor for Alber ta Culture and a member of the Blood (Kanai) Tribe, has said of the Big Rock: “The Blackfoot used the site as a place of visitation, ceremony and documentation. Vision quests took place, and red ochre was used to record impor tant events and imager y—a battle scene, a hunting par ty—on the rock’s surface. ‘These pictographs are also stories, and that is how we recorded significant events that are connected to this landscape… These are our landmarks and place names; it’s our record in stone.’”

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Split Rock, situated at the west end of West Nose Creek (Confluence) Park, near Har vest Hills Boulevard, bears no sign of pictographs, but its smoothed edges bear the mark of bison that once roamed the area and used the erratic as a rubbing stone, helping to shed their winter coats. The Rubbing Stone, aptly named by locals, on the east flank of Nose Hill Park, near the 64th Ave parking lot, also bears the polishing work of bison. The depression circling its base testifies to the centuries of dust loosened and blown away by bison hooves. Though no wild bison roam here now, their bones are found at the base of ancient bison jumps and amongst the fire broken rock of hear ths from pre-contact encampments that lie buried among Calgar y’s plateaus and valleys. Many archaeological finds within Calgar y provide evidence of hunting and camping as early as ~8,500 B.P. and Clovis points ~11,000 B.P. have turned up, the remnants of spear throwing hunters reliant on now extinct Ice Age mega-fauna including mammoth and long-horned bison.(The City of Calgar y, 2019) At the confluence of geology and histor y, is the city of Calgar y. At its centre, the Bow River bends southward where the meltwaters from the retreating Cordilleran

ice sheet dammed along the front of the Laurentide ice sheet. Where the Elbow river empties into the Bow, the Blackfoot Confederacy met and camped. The gathering spot was a natural choice to establish trade and For t Calgar y was built, later to become a population hub along the metal track that tied the new countr y of Canada together. It is here the erratics still elicit wonder and respect. The Big Rock west of Okotoks is the largest and most famous erratic in the train, but the city of Calgar y has a surprising number of large erratics wor thy of exploration. Valley Ridge, Sienna Hills, Paskapoo Slopes and West Nose Creek offer interpretive signs. The 500 tonne erratic in Panorama Hills inspired the naming of the Buffalo Rubbing Stone Elementar y School when it opened in 2017. And for anyone who has been a student at the University of Calgar y in the last 50 years, “The Rocks,” limestone erratics covered in thousands of layers of paint, are a communal message board for students to broadcast their opinions and to adver tise events. Their impor tance inspired a YouTube video produced by the University of Calgar y Alumni (2016) and can be viewed at: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=hkmV1KfK1qQ

15 AREAS ACROSS THE CITY WHERE YOU CAN GO ERRATIC HUNTING We have compiled a list of 15 areas across the city where you can go erratic hunting. Many of the larger erratics are in their original locations and sit among parks and green spaces. Smaller erratics have been moved around during the construction of new communities and are also commonly incorporated into green spaces. Below are instructions to access the Google Maps list of erratics in Calgar y:

Visit: google maps link

“Star” the map (next to the description) to save it to your google profile

To find the Map On your Desktop: In the hamburger menu select “Your places” then “MAPS” and you will find “Glacial Erratics in Calgar y” in your list On the Google Maps App on your smar tphone: select “Saved”, scroll to the bottom and select “Maps” and you will find “Glacial Erratics in Calgar y” in your list

Take a selfie with an erratic and tag @CSPGeologists on twitter or @CSPG on Linkedin with the hashtag #rocktrain. If you find an erratic not on the map, email us. We are at cspgfieldtrips@gmail.com.

Go Take A Walk to explore Calgary’s geoheritage and have fun!n

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Visit the Erratic Sites Around Calgary Get out and enjoy these sites today! Crater Rock - Panorama Hills 51.15203, -114.06968 Intersection of Panorama Hills Way and Panorama Hills Road NW HISTORICAL

Split Rock - Confluence Park 51.13468, -114.06589 West Nose Creek Confluence Park - drive 200 m north from Beddington Trail on Harvest Hills Blvd; turn right into public parking area and follow trail 500 m east. HISTORICAL

Paskapoo's Big Rock - Paskapoo Slopes 51.075067, -114.198675 Follow trail adjacent to 99 Cougar Ridge Heights SW. Follow trails 500m downslope. HISTORICAL

Buffalo Rubbing Stone - Nose Hill 51.11252, -114.08893 Start at the trailhead on the west side of the parking area at 14th Street and 64th Ave NW (64 Avenue Parking Lot). Follow the main path for 450 m; turn right on to a side trail and follow for 200 m. Erratic visible from the parking area.

Big Rocks Viewpoint - Nose Hill 51.10703, -114.09494 From the 14th Street Parking lot (1 km North of the Calgary Winter Club). Start at the trailhead at the hairpin turn in the road (250 m from parking lot) Follow trail for 400m, turn left for 150m.

Nose Hill 51.10954, -114.09288 From Big Rocks Viewpoint: follow trail upslope for 170 m. Turn right, Erratic visible down slope and Buffalo Rubbing Stone visible across the Valley. Follow trail downhill for 100 m, turn left for 100 m.

Beddington Erratic - Nose Creek Valley 51.16203, -114.03553 Nose Creek Valley greenspace - drive 600 m west of 14th Street on Country Hills Blvd. Park in small pullout at gate. Follow trail 1000m north. Erratic visible in the distance.

Hidden Valley 51.148821, -114.112372, 51.148900, -114.112384, 51.148501, -114.119897 Proceed NE 300m along path from the intersection of Hidden Valley Drive and Hidden Park NW to 2 large erratics on either side of the paved path. Follow a dirt trail on the right 50 m upslope to find the third partially buried erratic.

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Tuscany 51.1242061, -114.238700 Follow the pathway adjacent to 8 Tuscany Hills Point NW for 150m

Valley Ridge 51.092761, -114.260458 Follow the pathway adjacent to 64 Valley Creek Crescent NW for 80 m

Dover Glen - Southview Off Leash Area 51.022236, -114.003136 Access from Southview Off Leash area Parking Lot on Gosling Way SE (access to Inglewood Golf Course). Follow trail south 200m. Erratic visible from Deerfoot Trail.

Sienna Hills 51.025962. -114.171901 Playground at junction Sienna Hills Drive and Crescent

Riverbend 50.968840, -114.021928 Follow the pathway adjacent to 178 Riverview Park SE for 100 m

Fish Creek - Bow Valley Ranche 50.910158, -114.016755 Access from the Fish Creek Park -Bow Valley Ranch Parking Lot off Bow Bottom Trail SE. From the NE corner of the parking lot area, follow the pathway 100 m east, turn left and follow the trail 50 m up the slope.

McKenzie Lake - Mt Norquay Playground 50.906422, -113.997734 Playground adjacent to 250 Mountain Park Drive SE

Bridlewood - Bridlewood Wetlands Park 50.899837, -114.096664 Located adjacent to 55 Bridle Creek Park SW at entrance to Bridlewood's Wetlands Park

The Rocks - University of Calgary 51.078585, -114.129250, 51.077993, -114.130682 Located along the main pathway on the south side of MacEwan Hall on the University of Calgary Campus

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The Blue View: Industry Trends Through Woodmac's Lens NORTH AMERICA IN CONTEXT: OVERARCHING THEMES ACROSS THE INDUSTRY Resources merged with Seven 1. ARC Generations to create the largest pure-

play Montney producer, and sixth largest energy company in Canada. The company emerges producing nearly 20% of all wellhead condensate and pentanes plus production in Western Canada.

CANADA ONSHORE: n Canadian condensate shuffle

The condensate market in Canada has seen a recent shakeup both in the Duvernay and the Montney. On the Duvernay front, Crescent Point made a jump from the East shale Duvernay into Fox Creek by acquiring Shell’s assets. This deal provides Crescent Point with a decade of drilling inventory and will help offset their corporate decline rate from the mature Saskatchewan plays. This represents a changing of the guard in the Duvernay with Shell and Ovintiv exiting the play, being replaced by Canadian operators. In the Montney, a blockbuster merger deal was announced by ARC Resources and Seven Generations. The deal closed on April 6th and ARC emerges as the top condensate producer in Western Canada, accounting for nearly 20% of production. Also, the company is the single largest pure-play Montney producer and sixth largest energy company in Canada. With a deal of this size, and the market share being so large, ARC’s development decisions could singlehandedly change the price of condensate in Canada or its differential to WTI. The deal also gives ARC flexibility on whether to drill liquids rich or dry acreage in response to the market. n Whitecap making waves:

Whitecap continues its M&A drive as it is set to acquire Kicking Horse Oil & Gas (a privately held subsidiary of Quantum EP). The deal has a total consideration of Cdn$300 million, the bulk of the deal is made up of 34.5 million Whitecap shares.

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carbon tax was ruled 2. Canada’s constitutional, and some companies have already begun to innovate. Outside Canada, emissions versus returns is increasingly become a focal point; tight oil fares far better than most investors expect.

Biden-Harris Administration 3. The put forward its American Jobs plan which includes US$16 billion in natural resources clean up, enough to plug and abandon hundreds of thousands of old wells.

This is Whitecap’s 14th acquisition since 2010 and the associated production is expected to grow from 8,000 boe/d to over 18,00 boe/d by the end of this year. The Karr acreage fits well into Whitecap’s portfolio, with over 360 net locations, and expertise having previously purchased Karr assets in 2014. n Carbon constitutional – who is driving innovation?

The Supreme Court of Canada announced a ruling on the constitutional challenge of a federal carbon tax by Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. Alberta and Ontario were concerned with the carbon tax on fuel which directly impacted consumers. Both provinces have existing heavy emitter policies, which remain in place regardless of the ruling. Saskatchewan stood alone against the GHGPPA in its entirety. In related news, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being increasingly implemented in Western Canada. Most recently, Advantage Oil & Gas announced plans for a new Modular CCS installation at its Glacier gas plant; this is the first project of its kind. Following this investment, the company expects to be carbon net-zero on scope 1 and 2 emissions. After the Phase 1 build out for Cdn$27 million, Advantage expects to generate Cdn$3 million per year in operating income at Cdn$50/tonne CO2e. Phase 2 is expected to cost Cdn$49 million and sequester an additional 136 MTCO2e/year by as early as 2023. There is substantial potential income to be had with the federal carbon price growing to Cdn$170/tonne CO2e by 2030.

US ONSHORE: n Pioneer acquires DoublePoint energy for

US $6.4 billion:

Following the October 2020 Parsley acquisition, this deal is the next iteration of Pioneers Permian-focused strategy. DoublePoint was a "build to sell" private-equity-backed Permian pure-play operator with a largely overlapping 97,000-acre position in Upton and Midland counties; our models value this acreage at US $5.1B, 20% lower than the acquisition price. Pioneer estimates that it can drop DoublePoint’s rig count from five to seven and stabilize their production at 100mboe/d in 2021. The deal will add more scale to Pioneer’s portfolio and Pioneer’s lower cost of debt capital will make drilling wells on DoublePoint’s acreage more profitable. Our inventory model for DoublePoint indicates there is potential in the Spraberry (submarine fan complex) and Wolfcamp A, B and C intervals (mudrocks, carbonates and shales). n No country for old wells as the White House

prepares to spend billions on P&A:

On 31 March 2021 the White House unveiled the American Jobs Plan. Contained in the document was a plan to provide US $16B in funding for orphan well plugging and abandonment as well as hard rock, uranium and coal mine clean up. There were three goals stated: 1. Plug orphan wells and clean up old mines 2. Create jobs in rural communities 3. Reduce methane and produced water (brine) leaks from aging and improperly cared for wells In 2020 we laid out a comprehensive overview of P&A liabilities in the US. At the time we estimated there were nearly 2.4 million

vertical wells and 215,000 horizontal wells in the Lower 48 that at some point would all need to be plugged and abandoned at an estimated median cost of US $55,000 per well. It is important to note however that most of these wells have a solvent owner and are not orphaned. To give the P&A funding context, federal agencies were, on average, spending approximately US $285 million per year on orphan well P&A activities. We don’t yet know what the spit will be between P&A and mine clean up, but even a small portion of the US$16B in funding would go a long way. As an example, at an average cost of $55,000 to P&A an orphan well, if only a third of the proposed funding goes to P&A, it should provide enough funding to plug and abandon nearly 100,000 wells. The Canadian government put out a similar fund of C$1.72 Billion in May 2020 which focused on cleaning up orphan wells across British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. n Core Marcellus is still the best tight gas

play in town:

The Marcellus remains the bellwether of US tight gas. Productivity in the play has plateaued, yet it remains one of the most productive gas plays in the Lower 48. In the face of low natural gas prices and a falling rig count, Marcellus gas, perhaps paradoxically, continues to grow. This is mainly being driven by operators shifting to the higher productivity, but drier, gas zones in the SW Marcellus (Greene and Washington counties). While it may not seem like much, we find that an increase from $2.50/mcf to $3.00/mcf significantly improves payback periods and well economics for operators and supports wider activity. For the top four sub-plays, which together represent 3.6 million acres (14.6 thousand square km) and nearly 10,000 remaining locations, as gas prices trend toward $3.00/mcf HH these wells will breakeven within the first 15 months.

TOP FOUR MARCELLUS SUB-PLAYS, PAYBACK PERIOD AT VARIOUS NATURAL GAS PRICES (Flat WTI price of $48/bbl was used in this analysis)

OIL SANDS: n Records rolling into 2021

CNRL reported a mining production record in Q4, with strong production at Horizon and its Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Imperial’s Kearl also had a record quarter, producing above its nameplate capacity by 5%. It is important to note that we have not seen any material impacts from earlier 2020 decisions to shut in production.

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CURTAILMENT ENDED IN ALBERTA Q4 2020 marked the final moments of the mandated curtailment in Alberta. Operators began to ramp up production with clarity on the end of curtailment coupled with improved prices and narrow differentials in 2021.

EMISSIONS: With a focus on emissions management and sustainable development rather than pure growth portfolios, more operators are picking and choosing the projects they are investing in. One recent example is Murphy Oil, who has shifted significant capital to development of its Tupper Montney. This is driven both by economics, with AECO prices at its lowest differential to Henry Hub in years coupled with an average emissions intensity below 5 tonnes CO2e/ kboe; the lowest in its portfolio. n Tight oil emissions: High returns on

a low carbon diet?

A new insight from Wood Mackenzie benchmarks projects on emissions and economic returns. The Marcellus and Permian not only exceed investment hurdles but also support Scope 1 emissions intensity goals. For companies with global portfolios, top-tier shale projects can provide a balance of scale, strong returns, and relatively low emissions. n

SCOTT NORLIN, GIT

BRANDON MYERS

Research Analyst, Upstream Canada

Senior Analyst – Lower 48 Upstream

Scott joined the Canadian Upstream Research team at Wood Mackenzie in June 2019. He is responsible for providing financial asset valuation and objective commercial analysis on company and play activity across Canada. His coverage ranges from North American large caps to junior private producers. He also covers CNRL and Cenovus for the corporate analysis team, providing high level company valuation and strategy analysis. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Scott gained comprehensive experience in exploration and development of upstream assets. Scott worked at Parex Resources on conventional assets, Devon Energy on the Jackfish oil sands project and also has field experience in unconventional plays. Scott holds a Bachelor of Geology degree with honours from the University of Calgary and is a registered Geologist in training with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

Brandon is a senior analyst with our Lower 48 research team. Having joined Wood Mackenzie in 2017, he has worked on the integration of subsurface data with L48 research and conducted research into every major unconventional play in the US and Canada. Prior to this, Brandon’s career included roles in both energy efficiency and the oil and gas industry. He was a founding partner of Firefli LEDs, a carbon reduction focused LED lighting company that focused on solutions for high rise towers and industrial facilities. After that he spent time as an energy analyst for Nemalux, a Canadian, heavy industry LED manufacturer that specializes in carbon and power reduction solutions for wellsite facilities. He was a conventional field geoscientist for an innovative junior oilfield optimization exploration company in Calgary through 2016 and early 2017. Brandon graduated from the University of Alberta with a BSc, Specialization in Geology. Academically his focus was on the organic geochemistry of the Duvernay shale and his thesis was focused on hydrocarbon generation and expulsion modelling across Encana’s Kaybob acreage.

DISCLAIMER – THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS STATED BELOW ARE BASED ON WOOD MACKENZIE’S DATA, SOURCED FROM PUBLIC SOURCES ACROSS THE GLOBE AND OUR PROPRIETARY TOOLS SUCH AS LENS.

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GUSSOW 2021

Innovation

WRAP-UP ARTICLE

Technology

ONLINE CONFERENCE

Geoscience

MARCH 10-11

Proﬁtability TITLE SPONSOR:

With over 200 attendees, this year’s Online Gussow Conference held on March 10th and 11th 2021, was a success which attracted a great deal of conversation and attention in the geoscience community. It included: twenty-one technical presentations and eleven lightning talks, two virtual field trips and three short courses which ran during the Gussow Conference week. The knowledge and ideas presented this year were outstanding. CSPG would like to thank: the Gussow committee members and session chairs, the Gussow technical and lightning talk presenters, the field trip leaders and instructors for their hard work and contribution. Its’ success would not have been possible without our sponsors; AGAT (Title sponsor), Imperial Oil and McDaniels (Session sponsors). We would also like to acknowledge Jennifer J. Adams (Systems Analyst at Weatherford Laboratories & Independent Consultant) for initiating the Femi Jokanola fund which covers the cost for students to attend CSPG’s annual Gussow Conference. This year there were eleven student recipients.

CONGRATULATIONS TO: Arijit Chattopadhyay

Queen's University

Bob Lee

University of Calgary

Chibuike Nnadi

McMaster University

Daniel Baker

University of Alberta

DongMing (Steve) Zheng

University of Alberta

Lucian Rinke-Hardekopf

Simon Fraser University

Masoud Khademi

University of Alberta

Mayra Alejandra Zuniga

University of Saskatchewan

Qi Chen

University of Alberta

Trevin Ferens

University of Manitoba

Umit Kunakbayeva

Nazarbayev University

Additionally, we want to express thanks to John Baillie (Upstream International Oil Industry Advisor) for initiating the Baillie award. The award is in memory of Andrew Dollar “Andy” Baillie (1912-2001) who had a geological career which spanned five decades. The award recognizes excellence in technical presentations by students and encourages a level of technical prowess worthy of Andrew D. Baillie. This year the Gussow Baillie award winner is Trevin Ferens, MSc. Student, University of Manitoba. Congratulations Trevin! (see award presentation video). Lastly, thanks to all the attendees for joining us online this year, we look forward to seeing you at the 2022 Gussow Conference!

Awards Presentation Video

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

2020 CSPG Award Recipients

2020 MEDAL OF MERIT AWARD The Medal of Merit has been awarded since 1952 and is the most prestigious and oldest technical award of the society. The medal is awarded annually for the best peer reviewed paper on a geological subject related to the petroleum geology or the geology of energy generation and extraction, of Canada. The stated objectives of the Medal of Merit Award are to promote the preparation and publication of geological papers of high quality, to give honorable recognition to works of merit, and by means of suitable publicity, to bring the attention of the members and of the public to the activities of the geological petroleum profession by awarding the Medal of Merit annually for the best paper. The Medal of Merit is awarded to a paper published during the previous publication year, in this case for peer reviewed papers published in 2019.

The paper awarded the Medal of Merit for 2020 was written by L. Moscardelli, J. Ochoa, I. Lunt and L. Zahm and is entitled “Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate systems and their impact for the development of deep-water turbidites in continental margins: A case study from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Shelburne subbasin in offshore Nova Scotia.” The paper was published in the AAPG Bulletin, Vol 103, No. 10, p. 2487-2520 (October 2019). The paper reviews the deposits and plausible depositional processes of the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of the Shelburne sub-basin using well, drill core and seismic data. Early Cretaceous deltaic sandstones have been penetrated on the shelf, along with carbonate deposits such as ooid shoals and the offshore sub-basin is interpreted to be prospective for deep-water sandstones as deltaic, but thick deep-water sandstones have not been documented. The authors integrate observations from the generally under-studied margin and propose two models for the lack of deep-water sandstone in the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate system. The first model proposes sand was trapped on the margin because carbonate deposits on the shelf trap sediment and prevented transport down the slope. The second model proposes that the carbonate deposits were locally breached and deep-water sands were deposited in specific, but yet-to be penetrated areas. The authors favour the second model as they interpret localized sediment sources and slope-bypass from core and seismic observations and identify areas of possible deep-water sand accumulation. This work is an important contribution to Canadian petroleum geology literature as it provides a comprehensive investigation of a Canadian margin with complex geology, ingredients of a working petroleum system, but thus far, limited success. The work is also more broadly applicable as few studies attempt to link shelf and basin processes and deposits when dealing with carbonate-siliciclastics systems.

Ross Kukulski – Chair Medal of Merit Committee

Awards Presentation Video

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Biographies Lorena Moscardelli is a Venezuelan-Italian-American geoscientist who has become a citizen of the world by both circumstance and choice. She has a wide range of interests that range from deep-water stratigraphy to planetary geology. Lorena has degrees in Geological Engineering (2000) from Central University of Venezuela and a PhD in Geological Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin (2007). Lorena worked as an exploration geologist for PDVSA (2000-2003), as a researcher and lecturer for the Bureau of Economic Geology (2007-2013), and as a geoscientist for Statoil, now Equinor. At Equinor she worked as a researcher supporting exploration projects to evaluate and secure acreage in offshore Canada, the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and the Gulf of Mexico. Early in 2020 Lorena moved to Bergen to support field development activities, including overburden management in the Tampen-Spur region, and refining of geological concepts in the Vøring Basin. Lorena is currently providing support to exploration projects in Newfoundland. She is closely involved with professional associations such as AAPG and she is the leader of project IGCP-640 S4SLIDE, an initiative by the International Geoscience Program (IGCP) and UNESCO. Lorena is a proud 2020 GRIT awardee. Lorena's twitter handle is @moscardellil

Ian Lunt received a BA in Geological Sciences at Cambridge University in 1996 and a PhD on the architecture of gravelly braided river deposits from Binghamton University in 2002. His interests in fluvial sediment architecture led him to work as a post-doctoral researcher in the UK and US resulting in several peerreviewed publications. He joined the research department of Equinor in 2007 and developed new methods for exploration in frontier basins and was involved in reservoir modelling projects in Norway before moving to the exploration team in Calgary in 2012. He has since explored for hydrocarbons in the Beaufort Sea, Grand Banks and Nova Scotia and is currently team lead for Equinor’s Flemish Pass exploration team.

Jesús Ochoa (BSc from the Universidad de Los Andes Venezuela, 2001; MSc from Montana State University, 2008) is a principal researcher working for the technology division of Equinor. Prior to joining Equinor he worked at Marathon Oil Corporation. Before moving to the United States Jesús worked as an exploration geologist for PDVSA and as an independent consultant for oil firms in Venezuela. His interests include seismic stratigraphy, multivariate analytics and reservoir characterization.

Laura Zahm received a BSc degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993 and completed her Masters degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1997. Her interests include carbonate reservoir characterization for the purpose of building 3D geologic models which capture the depositional systems spatial variations, the petrophysical properties of carbonate facies, and integrating multiple scale data from SEM to seismic for exploration and production. Her research has focused on the Jurassic and Cretaceous carbonates worldwide. She has also worked in the Permian reservoirs in West Texas. Laura has published and presented on these research topics as well as taught training courses in carbonate systems for industry and academia. She worked for Marathon Oil Technology Center from 19972000. In 2000 she joined the iReservoir reservoir characterization team from 2000-2003 then shifted to the stratigraphy and sedimentology research group with ConocoPhillips from 2004-2008. She was part of the Jackson School family with BEG at the Houston Research Center and in Austin working on research projects in Texas and Brazil from 2008 to 2013. In 2013 Laura joined Equinor based in Austin,TX working with the exploration research technology team and onshore US assets.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

The Psychology of Geology:

Unearthing Creativity Amongst the Uncertainty By Kiersten Mohr B.Sc., B.A.

fter fifteen years as a geologist and technical leader in the energy industry, I decided to go back to school to pursue a psychology degree. Initially, I intended to increase my capacity and competency in the nonprofit world in which I had begun to invest a lot of volunteer time. However, it did not take many classes to quickly realize the applicability of this knowledge to my geoscience and leadership career. The more I learned about what I had previously envisioned to be a completely unrelated discipline, the more I wanted to know, which is one of the things that has led to me continue with a Master's Degree in Counselling Psychology. When I network in the energy industry, I often refrain from mentioning my focus in this new field. I feel concerned that sharing insights from my new discipline may reflect poorly on my dedication and passion for geoscience. When I do share, I am often met with a look of confusion followed quickly by curiosity as to why I didn't pursue more education in geoscience instead. In one case, in a job interview for a leadership role, I was asked why I didn't pursue an MBA or something more 'relevant' to the energy industry. Every time these experiences happen, it reinforces how as an industry, we often undervalue knowledge and skills that can be used to support our biggest assets – our people.

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Geoscience and Creativity One of the aspects I love the most about geoscience is the space it provides for creativity, imagination and innovation. In an industry full of budgets, strategic plans, reserve calculations and performance reviews, being a geoscientist offers a window into an exciting world that requires embracing uncertainty and thinking outside of the bounds of what we may already know. It is a chance to get out of Excel and PowerPoint and into 3D subsurface models and boxes of core and well logs to collaborate, letting new ideas collide and ultimately unearthing innovative interpretations and theories. I love that geoscientists get to be storytellers, and through history, our collective contribution has been where many discoveries and new opportunities have been born. I trust that nearly all of us would agree that creativity is essential to be a successful geoscientist. As a technical leader, encouraging and fueling creativity and developing skills to help increase innovation potential was one of the first connections I saw within the psychology principles I have been learning. While our technical intelligence as geoscientists is important, I now appreciate that it is also important to support professionals to increase their emotional energy and ability to focus, to encourage positive interpersonal relationships, to create space for safe and meaningful collaboration, and to always provide a genuine sense of safety and security for individuals to explore outside of the boundaries of a challenge. In essence, to encourage and promote a highly effective, innovative and creative geoscience team, we need to focus on the people.

The Challenge In many ways, our industry and geoscience discipline are experiencing one of our most challenging times in history. As the focus has shifted from exploration to exploitation, there is a seemingly daily challenge to the validity and necessity of the science we all love. As the industry struggles with low commodity prices and a lack of consistency or confidence for the future, many geoscience professionals are living with daily career uncertainty. Compounding these already overwhelming challenges, we have been faced with a global pandemic that has added familial and social pressures and ultimately robbed many professionals of the time, space and emotional energy to be creative. It is a perfect storm. At a time in our industry when it has potentially never been more crucial to be creative and innovative to enhance recoveries and reduce costs, we are also facing the most immense barriers inhibiting our ability to be truly creative and innovative.

Finding Creativity in the Uncertainty Embrace and Communicate Uncertainty For most geologists, dealing with uncertainty is not a new thing. Our careers require us to continually weigh technical risks and navigate landscapes and decisions full of subsurface uncertainty. We have learned to creatively manage this uncertainty by

soliciting alternative viewpoints, communicate our technical work, and brainstorm alternative outcomes with colleagues. It is in this process of externalizing our understanding of the risks and uncertainty, that we become more comfortable recommending the high-cost projects we do.

In the ever-changing landscape of both our discipline and industry, encouraging and recognizing grit has never been more critical.

In psychology, grit is defined as an individual's endurance, perseverance, passion and most importantly, the persistence to overcome obstacles on the path to However, when we move to the 'surface' (our personal achieving a goal. In essence, and career challenges), it is easy to fall into creative grit is not about what we paralysis, inadvertently allowing our cognitive capacity to be achieve but instead how consumed with 'fortune telling' all the things that may or Different doesn’t mean bad – we achieve it. The value of may not happen. Given the industry's seemingly constant focusing on and recognizing it just means different. pessimistic news, this is a chronic challenge for all of us. grit is that it helps blur the While I don't propose any magical fix, I believe we can use lines between work and life and a similar approach by leveraging peers, mentors and friends encourages us to recognize, to vocalize and discuss our predicted future outcomes. be more aware of, and identify Just as in the challenge of subsurface uncertainty, the act of the external factors that an externalizing these concerns will make them more tangible and individual needed to overcome in order to accomplish increase our ability to think genuinely about the probability of their outcome. a goal. Ultimately, this focus on seeing someone as Additionally, this conversation helps introduce alternative viewpoints, concretize a person versus a geoscientist can increase an more adaptive and positive thought processes, and increase overall sense of individual's feelings of accomplishment, acceptance, control. Just as in the subsurface, this exercise may not remove uncertainty, security, mitigate uncertainty fatigue, and increase but an increased sense of control will often lessen the distress and cognitive creative and innovative thought capacity. In the load and open up more space for creativity. ever-changing landscape of both our discipline and From a leadership perspective, one of the biggest frustrations I experienced industry, encouraging and recognizing grit has never was finding myself in discussions with senior leaders talking about how to been more critical. 'message' uncertain or negative news with teams. This approach could not be Different doesn’t mean bad – it just means different. more unnatural and creates an environment of mistrust, heightening uncertainty in teams and stealing any remaining energy from collaboration and creativity. While a great deal of uncertainty remains in our Therefore, as leaders, I believe creating more space for creativity and innovation industry, I believe that geoscientists are built to happens by inviting teams into the uncertainty rather than believing you can overcome it. The biggest lesson I have learned protect them from it. along the way is that while the future may look different, different doesn’t mean bad. It just means different. If we support each other both technically Focus on Grit before Goals and personally, we can access each other’s creative In all my professional years, throughout all of my leadership training, the focus and innovative aspirations. If we can do that, I have was always on facilitating effective personal goal setting. Entire organizational no doubt we can collectively navigate this evolution performance management cycles are built around setting and measuring goals in our industry. that are ultimately used to judge employee performance. To put it simply, Becoming involved with the CSPG is a fantastic our performance management systems are often designed to focus on what way to connect with other technical professionals somebody has accomplished instead of how they’ve accomplished it. While who are navigating this uncertainty with you! While goal setting is helpful, I believe what should be focused on and recognized more companies will change, the CSPG can always be a often is the amount of grit a professional has demonstrated to accomplish consistent home. n those goals.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

HYDROGEOLOGY DIVISION

Calgary Zoo Flood Mitigation: Groundwater Management and Dewatering on an Island Speaker: Soren Poschmann, ISL Engineering’s Water and Environment group May 4th, 2021 | 12:00-1:00pm MST E-Technical Division Talk

A B S T R AC T

As high ground and berms already existed on parts of St. George’s Island, initial flood mitigation concepts focused on protecting the island from overland flooding. Flood protection berms and walls were conceived as suitable options to withstand the flooding effects while preserving as much functional space as possible for Zoo operations. The potential for flooding from groundwater sources required further study, however. As the flood mitigation design evolved, investigations and flood simulations confirmed the direct hydraulic connection between the Bow River and the groundwater in the underlying gravels — as river levels rose, so did groundwater levels. Consequently, proposed solutions would need to protect against both increases in groundwater elevation and overland flow. The most effective solution to protect St. George’s Island against flooding was to seal the island interior from overland flow and groundwater ingress. Enclosing the island’s perimeter required installation of a barrier capable of penetrating the highly permeable fluvial cobbles and boulders that make up most of the island and riverbed, while ensuring a reasonably watertight seal in the impermeable bedrock below. Recognizing that the barrier would not be completely watertight, a hydrogeological model informed the design of a dewatering system that had sufficient capacity to control groundwater levels expected from the 1:100 year flood event. The natural groundwater level within the contained area would be lowered each spring and summer to buffer against leakage and rainfall, such that the river flood pulse could pass without increasing groundwater elevations to critical levels. The dewatering system consists of ten pumps distributed throughout the island connected to outfalls that discharge to the Bow River. Although designed with a total pumping capacity of 165 L/s to handle the modelled groundwater inflows expected during the design flood, the system was also designed to be easily expandable to include larger or more pumps, if required.

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Soren Poschmann is the Lead, Hydrogeology within ISL Engineering’s Water and Environment group. Based in Calgary, AB, he provides hydrogeological and environmental expertise to clients throughout Western Canada. He has 14 years of comprehensive experience across multiple industries, including all levels of governmental agencies and industrial operations such as oil and gas, mining, pipelines and aggregate. He provides expertise on a wide range of projects such as water sourcing, dewatering, groundwater monitoring and quality assessments, environmental site assessments and general environmental management.

BIOGRAPHY

he Calgary Zoo, located primarily on St. George’s Island at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers, experienced flooding along with much of Southern Alberta in June 2013. The Calgary Zoo was inundated and without power in the early morning hours of June 21, having had less than 10 hours’ notice to enact their flood operations plan. In that time, the Zoo evacuated as many animals as possible from the collection of more than 200 animals on the island. As initial recovery of the Zoo commenced, ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. was retained by The City of Calgary to study options on how to protect the Zoo from future flood events. Associated Engineering was engaged as a key partner following the planning stage.

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY DIVISION

A Practical (and Non-judgemental) Look at the Mechanics of Natural Fractures Speaker: Amy Fox, Enlighten Geoscience Ltd. May 6th, 2021 | 12:00-1:00pm MST E-Technical Division Talk

A B S T R AC T

Amy earned an undergraduate degree in Geology from the University of New Hampshire and a PhD in Geophysics from Stanford University. At Stanford she was part of Dr. Mark Zoback’s research group specializing in geomechanics. She has been involved in geomechanical consulting for the oil and gas industry since 1998 and moved from the U.S. to Calgary in 2011. In 2015 she co-founded the consulting company Enlighten Geoscience Ltd., where she addresses a variety of geomechanics issues for a wide range of clients.

Learn more about the Mountjoy Conference

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

BIOGRAPHY

n January 7, 2021, the Structural Division presented a very popular talk on natural fractures in the Duvernay Formation. Some of the discussion involved assessment as to whether the presence of fractures in the reservoir is a good thing or a bad thing. This talk is sort-of a follow-up to that and will discuss the mechanical stability of natural fractures in general, including the potential implications (good or bad!) for a number of issues such oil and gas well completions and production, geothermal development, subsurface fluid storage and more. It will also make the case that we should probably be paying closer attention to fractures in our reservoirs!

BASIN ANALYSIS AND SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY TECHNICAL DIVISION

How to Use Microscopic Fossils to Find and Produce Oil and Gas Presenters: Kimberley Bell (1), David Rutledge (1), Russell Stancliffe (2) and John Gregory (1) Petrostrat (1) and GeoRED (2) May 11th, 2021 | 12:00-1:00pm MST E-Technical Division Talk

iostratigraphy is a fundamental oilfield service which is based on the analysis of microscopic fossils. Demand for this service is global; for example, it is a standard requirement on almost all offshore exploration wells. However, the use of oilfield paleontology has waned in Canada, largely due to a lack of investment, retirement of specialists, and lowered interest in industrial and academic research institutes. Oilfield paleontology commonly involves three paleontological disciplines, each conducted by a relevant specialist: 1) Micropaleontology [foraminifera, ostracods, radiolaria, diatoms, conodonts, etc.]; 2) Nannopaleontology [calcareous nannofossils]; and 3) Palynology [spores, pollen, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, and other organic walled fossils]. Each discipline has unique advantages and challenges, and it is important to select the best and most effective discipline(s) for any given geological scenario. The frequency of cuttings samples, availability of core or sidewall cores, and even the drilling technique applied can all have a bearing on acquisition of biostratigraphic data. Sample processing needs to be tailored to particular fossil groups. The processing and identification of fossils can be done on the rig in real-time, or later in the office. Current standard applications include dating of the sediments, correlation with surrounding wells using biostratigraphy, and the modeling of depositional environments. On rig interpretation (especially for costly offshore wells) is commonly used to assist with key stratigraphic picks for casing, coring and TD determinations, all of which may be safety critical, and “biosteering” horizontal wells. Biostratigraphic data can also be integrated with sequence stratigraphic models, supporting basin analysis and the confident correlation of seismic horizons. Palynology has some other key applications including source rock analysis, thermal maturation (along with conodonts), non-marine stratigraphy, palynofacies construction, and paleoclimate resolution. The fossils used are so small that it is often possible to find hundreds (or even thousands) of specimens in one sample, and statistical analysis of quantitative datasets assists model generation and paleoenvironmental interpretations. As outlined above, paleontology has many value-adds to exploration and production geoscientists. Recent developments include the application of automatic fossil identification using Artificial Intelligence, machine colour recognition for thermal maturation, and integration with isotopic/elemental stratigraphy studies. Future directions in palynology could include genome analysis and bacterial spore stratigraphy. The study of organic and inorganic microfossils will continue to be a great value add to petroleum exploration and production. This presentation aims to highlight some of the applications of this fundamental but sometimes forgotten science.

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BIOGRAPHY

A B S T R AC T

Dr. Kimberley Bell’s technical expertise in Mesozoic and Paleogene palynology and stratigraphy spans Northern and Western Canada. Her research has focused on the biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental interpretations of numerous Yukon basins, the District of Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories, southwest British Columbia, and the Arctic Islands. Kimberley has a special interest in angiosperm pollen evolution using stratigraphic sections throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Yukon and Northwest Territories. She’s also worked with palynological data from the Alberta Oilsands, creating an integrated paleoclimate model for deposition of the McMurray Formation. Kimberley is also interested in using palynology to identify sedimentary recycling and as a tool for unraveling tectonic history. Kimberley completed her Ph.D. at the University of Calgary in April 2018, with her dissertation focused on the biostratigraphy of Cretaceous and Paleogene strata from Yukon and Northwest Territories. She joined PetroStrat Ltd. with the opening of their first Canadian office in September 2020, following more than ten years’ experience in palynology and biostratigraphy with the Geological Survey of Canada.

CSPG INTERNATIONAL DIVISION

Mission Possible: High Density Seismic Acquisition with Near- Zero Footprint Speaker: Allan Châtenay, Explor, Calgary May 12th, 2021 | 12:00-1:00pm MST E-Technical Division Talk

A B S T R AC T

Using the oil sand and shale resource plays in Western Canada as a proving ground, Explor has overcome significant technical and environmental challenges to achieve a step-change in seismic data densities to better image resources underlying complex and sensitive forest ecosystems while simultaneously reducing the environmental footprint of those operations. To achieve these outcomes, Explor has developed and patented a new high-resolution, low-impact, single- person-portable, impulsive seismic source system that can deliver high quality seismic images without the need for opening source lines.

Recently, Explor has also tested the deployment of a new generation of lightweight seismic receiver nodes that together with lightweight source technology can significantly increase the efficiency of operations making high density near-zero footprint seismic acquisition commercially viable. This technology will have broad applicability to environmentally sensitive onshore regions around the globe, transforming the process for seismic acquisition in resource-rich sensitive ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Papua New Guinea to name just a few. Tests are also being planned in support of Carbon Capture and Sequestration projects in the Continental United States. We will share our seismic journey, the results to date, and our plans for driving to zero footprint ultra-high density seismic data.

BIOGRAPHY

e will outline our efforts to develop and deploy lightweight seismic source and receiver technologies and methodologies to overcome the limitations on economic and environmentally responsible high-density data acquisition, particularly in forested regions around the globe.

Allan Châtenay is the President of Explor, a company specializing in developing and implementing advanced geoscience solutions, integrating new technologies and software and providing the highest quality seismic data to E&P companies. Explor also has a long history of frontier exploration and specializes in challenging and extraordinary projects. Mr. Châtenay has been in the geophysical industry for over 30 years. He holds several patents in geophysical acquisition technology, has a Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from the University of Oxford and is an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner. Prior to joining Explor in 2002, he gained over 14 years of experience in the industry while working for Schlumberger. Allan was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, where he currently resides with his wife Heather, and their two sons. He volunteers with several industry and community organizations.

Because we do not need heavy equipment or all-terrain vehicles, we do not need frozen ground conditions, so we can do the work any time of year.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

PALAEONTOLOGY DIVISION

Thunder Beasts, Hellbenders and Tiny Horses: A Safari Through the Cypress Hills Formation of Saskatchewan May 14th, 2021 | 7:30pm MST E-Technical Division Talk

A B S T R AC T

ertebrate paleontology in Saskatchewan today is inextricably linked to charismatic dinosaurs like Triceratops and T. rex (the provincial fossil emblem), and to the province’s impressive array of endemic marine reptiles. However, it was not Mesozoic mania that first drew paleontologists to the province in the Twentieth century. It was the Cenozoic mammals. The oldest diverse fossil mammal assemblages in Saskatchewan are found in the Late Cretaceous; the small - and sometimes not-so-small - furry critters that shared their landscape with T. rex and Triceratops. The province is also well known for its early Paleocene mammals, sometimes found just centimeters above the K-Pg Boundary. Many of these survivors of the dinosaur mass extinction gave rise to linages from which modern North American mammal faunas stem. These taxa are known primarily from tiny teeth and/or jaws, as mammal teeth preserve better and are easier to identify than post-crania. It is generally not until the Eocene that some mammals and their fossil remains get big, heralding in the age of Cenozoic giants. Some of the earliest discoveries of vertebrate fossils in western Canada were of Paleogene (Paleocene - Miocene) mammals in the Cypress Hills region of western Saskatchewan, from what is now known as the Cypress Hills Formation (CHF). The first record of a CHF fossil assemblage was made by R. G. McConnell in 1883, less than a decade after George M. Dawson reported Canada’s first dinosaur fossils in Saskatchewan. It is now recognized that the CHF contains fossils from a time period not represented anywhere else in Canada, but which are a northern extension of fossil mammal-bearing units in the Great Plains of America. Since the discovery of dense microvertebrate mammal sites in the CHF, collections of from this formation have grown almost exponentially. In Canada, hundreds of thousands of fossils from the CHF are housed at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (Regina and Eastend, SK), Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, ON), Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa, ON), and other institutions across the country. The formation is now known to contain a mix of extant mammal groups including artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates), rodents, marsupials, lagomorphs (rabbits and their allies), early primates, camelids and early candids. It also contains an array of now extinct groups like multituberculates, mesonychids and the bizarre condylarths.

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Dr. Emily Bamforth is a vertebrate paleontologist with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM), working out of the RSM’s T. rex Discovery Centre in Eastend, SK. Dr. Bamforth’s research in Eastend focuses mainly on palaeoecology, involving the study of fossil plants and animals, as well as sedimentology and paleoclimatology, to understand ancient ecosystems. Dr. Bamforth received a BSc in evolutionary biology from the University of Alberta in 2005, with an undergraduate thesis on 38 million-year-old fossil snake hibernacula from Wyoming. She went on to do a MSc in Precambrian Invertebrate Paleontology at Queens University with Dr. Guy Narbonne, exploring Ediacaran taphonomy and paleoecology at Mistaken Point in Newfoundland. In 2008, she began her PhD at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Hans Larsson, exploring pre-extinction biodiversity trends immediately prior to the K-Pg extinction in Saskatchewan. She received her doctorate in 2014, the same year she began working for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Dr. Bamforth has published numerous papers and conference abstracts of Ediacaran and Cretaceous paleontology. She is the recipient of several academic, teaching and community engagement awards, including the Regina YWCA’s 2019 Women of Distinction Award for Science.

BIOGRAPHY

Main Speaker: Dr. Emily Bamforth, Royal Saskatchewan Museum, T. rex Discovery Centre, Eastend, Saskatchewan

PALAEONTOLOGY DIVISION

Arguably, the CHF taxa that have generated the most public attention are the perissodactyls, or odd-toed ungulates. These included rhinos, the small leaf-eating early horses Hyracotherium (Eohippus) and Mesohippus, and the elephant-sized brontothere (Latin for ‘thunder beast’) Megacerops. In addition to the mammals, fossils of other vertebrates including snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, birds, amphibians (including a metre-long hellbender salamander) and a diversity of fish are also well represented in the CHF. Despite the vast collections fossils from the formation, the CHF was for decades thought to be comprised of a single biostratigraphic unit from the early Oligocene. We now know that the formation spans a time period from the midEocene, though the Oligocene, and into the earliest Miocene. The formation encompasses a major floral and faunal turnover event across the EoceneOligocene (E-OG) boundary, which is suggested to be related to climate cooling. As the climate cooled, the forests began to disappear and were replaced by grasslands. It was during the E-OG event that many browsing mammals (e.g. brontotheres) went extinct and grazing mammals (e.g. horses) became more prevalent. No other geological formation in Canada, and few others in North America, offer such a unique opportunity to study this continuous sequence of evolutionary and ecological transitions.

This event is presented jointly by the Alberta Palaeontological Society, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Mount Royal University, and the Palaeontology Division of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. For details or to present a talk in the future, please contact CSPG Palaeontology Division Chair Jon Noad at jonnoad@hotmail.com or APS Coordinator Harold Whittaker at 403-286-0349 or contact programs1@albertapaleo.org. Visit the APS website for confirmation of event times and upcoming speakers: WEBSITE

Message from Core Conference Committee

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

GEOWOMEN TALKS

2020 A Year of Grief and Resilience May 18th 2021 12:00 - 1:00 pm (Mountain Time)

A B S T R AC T

he year of the pandemic will be remembered as a time of deep disruption. We have all been impacted and many of us were faced with a stormy superimposition of crises that in my case included an international assignment while having the responsibility of taking care of aging parents and a sudden death in the family. The cherry on top? The real risk of losing both job and career to the ongoing industry crisis. This is about sharing the view that little victories act as life’s compounded interest, that a support network is key to survive and my conviction that hope is the only thing that we can’t afford to lose during times of deep distress.

A fun AAPG interview with Lorena can be found here:

Lorena Moscardelli (Geol. Eng. from Central University of Venezuela, 2000; Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, 2007) is a principal researcher providing support to Equinor Exploration Canada. Lorena is returning to the Americas after an assignment with Equinor Drilling and Production in Norway. She was formerly the codirector and cofounder of the Quantitative Clastics Laboratory at the Bureau of Economic Geology (20072013) and a lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin (2009-2015). She started her career as an exploration geologist at PDVSA (2000-2003) in Caracas. Lorena has an interest in deep-water processes and deposits and she led project S4SLIDE/IGCP-640 on the significance of modern and ancient submarine slope landslides. Lorena is a proud 2020 GRIT awardee, and was recently awarded the 2020 Medal of Merit for best paper related to Canadian petroleum geology by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geology.

VISIT WEBSITE

About CSPG GeoWomen Anyone in the geoscience and energy community in Calgary is welcome.

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We will make an effort to focus on topics of interest to women.

We aim to appeal to a broad range of experience levels.

BIOGRAPHY

Speaker: Lorena Moscardelli, PhD | Principal Researcher, Equinor

GEOWOMEN TALKS

Pivoting to Sustainable Energy: What Does it Mean and How Does a Geologist Fit in? A B S T R AC T

June 15, 2021 | 12:00 - 1:00 pm (Mountain Time)

Maren is a professional geologist with 15 years of experience in oil & gas reserve and resource evaluation and reporting: Starting in the field with Schlumberger in 2002 as a wireline engineer and moving to the office as a petroleum geologist in 2005 with Sproule. Maren has embraced a new challenge by returning to school in 2020 to pursue a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Development (SEDV) at the University of Calgary. Her research topic centers around ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and the evolution of environmental data disclosures in the past 3 years. An active professional society volunteer, Maren is concluding her past-president role with the Canada Region of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). She looks forward to being a part of the energy transition conversation.

To showcase the achievements of women in the geoscience and energy community.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2021

BIOGRAPHY

lecting to return to school at any age is never an easy career choice. It means forging ahead into the unknown, learning new skills, pushing oneself outside of their comfort zones, knowledge sharing across the generations, and utilizing known skills obtained over one’s professional career to leverage learning to a whole new level. Sustainability may be THE word of the 2020s, sustainable energy, sustainable finance, sustainable toothbrushes – but what does it all mean, and how can we all be a part of the most significant economic opportunity of the century. Join me for a conservation about my journey as a geologist, how I came to be involved in sustainability, and what sustainability means to me. I will also discuss my capstone research projects focus on ESG (environmental, social, governance), what educational programs are available for sustainability, and what the future may hold for energy scientists going forward.

Speaker: Maren Blair, P.Geol., M.Sc. Student (SEDV) | Sustainable Energy Professional

Black Gold: the World’s Oldest… and Richest… Oilfield? Jon Noad, Sedimental Services; University of Adelaide

“See the world in just one grain of sand…” KARL WALLINGER, 1990

It is easy to think of hydrocarbon deposits as forming only in Phanerozoic times (less than 540 million years ago), or possibly dating back into the late Precambrian. However, there are some extraordinary, oil bearing rocks dating back well into the Archean (2.5 to 4 Billion years old), of which those in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa host the world's greatest gold reserves. This is no coincidence, as the bituminous carbon reserves clearly enhance gold concentrations, as explained below.

Geology of the Witwatersrand basin (Frimmel 2019). Note the location of the Welkom gold field (#9) in which St. Helena Gold Mine is located.

1. The Witwatersrand Basin The Witwatersrand Basin (“Wits”) is located in South Africa and hosts the world's largest known gold reserves. It has produced over 1.5 billion ounces (40,000 metric tons) of gold, which represents about 22% of all gold ever mined. The basin fill consists of a c. 6000 metres thick Archean package of mainly sedimentary rocks dating to around 3 billion years in age. The entire series of rocks is known as the Witwatersrand Supergroup and includes quartzites, banded ironstones, mudstones, tillites, conglomerates and lavas. Some of these rocks outcrop around Johannesburg, dipping downward into the subsurface to form the Witwatersrand Basin, an elliptical structure some 300 kilometres in length and 150 kilometres in width. The gold bearing rocks appear to be constrained to six areas (outlined in blue on the map below) where Archean rivers from the north and west formed fan deltas, with many braided channels, before flowing into the “Witwatersrand Sea” to the south. Gold is found in selected conglomerate strata of the younger members of the Supergroup and tends to occur in streaks with larger pebbles. It is associated with iron pyrite (so called “buckshot pyrite”) and uraninite, as well as carbon rich materials such as kerogen, or bitumen, which occur as small balls, 1 to 4 mm in diameter (flyspeck carbon), or in layers up to 2 cm thick. The gold is thought to have been sourced from eroded greenstone belts to the north and west of the Basin.

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The initial fill of the Witwatersrand Basin was marine (West Rand Group, beginning 2970 MYA), overlying basement granites, with glacial episodes. Uplift of the northern Kaapvaal Craton led to a regression and the deposition of braided deltas (Central Rand Group). The rivers deposited large pebbles and heavy minerals and, in the absence of free oxygen, cyanobacteria flourished in these waters. The deposition and periodic erosion of sediments, during a series of eustatic cycles, was ended by the massive outpourings of Ventersdorp lavas around 2715 MYA. A later meteor impact, forming the Vredefort Dome, contorted and hence helped to preserve the basinal sediments.

Typical Witwatersrand gold bearing “reef” deposit with well rounded quartz clasts, buckshot pyrite, flyspeck carbon set in a quartzite matrix.

2. Description of sedimentary deposits Typically, the gold bearing “reef” deposits are less than a metre in thickness. They are dominated by conglomerates with a crossbedded quartzite matrix, with associated pyrite, uranium and gold (see below). There are basal scours into the underlying Middling Quartzite, as well as bar forms composed of quartzite, within the overall conglomeratic deposits. These bedforms exhibit trough cross-bedding overlain by current rippled quartzite. The cross-beds are often picked out by detrital pyrite. The “reef” deposits range from strongly erosional deposits that pinch out laterally, interpreted as channels, to laterally extensive, sheet-like deposits. The sheet-like quartzites are also coarsely trough crossbedded with rare wave ripples. The quartzite matrix was originally a sandstone that was later metamorphosed.

Photo from St. Helena Gold Mine showing channelized conglomerate ore body overlain by a sheet-like quartzite with fewer clasts from the Leader Reef. Metre rule for scale.

The erosional facies, with limited lateral extent, is interpreted as low sinuosity to braided channels. The channels range in width from less than 100 metres to more than a kilometre, but rarely exceed 2 metres in depth. The interpretation of these deposits as braided river deposits is supported by the pay trends, which frequently map out the individual braid bars (see map in section 5). The sheet-like deposits are of a similar thickness and may indicate a (more extensive) shallow marine depositional setting. Other facies include thick quartzites almost devoid of clasts. The succession exposed by mining at St. Helena Gold Mine exhibits a wide variety of facies over a 25 metre stratigraphic section (see below), and has been interpreted using modern sedimentological techniques, utilizing sequence stratigraphy:

Interpreted eustatic sea level curve constructed using first principles.

Logged section showing the lower Basal Reef (highly pay) and upper Leader Reef (patchy pay), separated by around 18 metres of Middling Quartzite.

Cross-bedded quartzite picked out by detrital pyrite within the Leader Reef ore body.

Description and interpretation of facies of the succession exposed underground at St. Helena Gold Mine.

A more detailed study on the Leader Reef interval over a single stope (150 x 150 metres in size) is presented in section 5.

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3. Associated heavy minerals The gold occurs in around a dozen palaeo-placer deposits. It is typically disseminated within the conglomerates except when preserved with carbon, where it occurs as seams or vertical stringers. Around 40% of the gold is found with carbon. The reduced carbon is present as kerogen, and SEM data indicates that it was probably originally a microbial mat. These mats may be preserved as the carbon seams and stringers. Buckshot pyrite may reach a centimetre or more in size, and pick out cross-beds and rippling, indicating that they are a primary deposit. The absence of oxygen in the atmosphere, coupled with common volcanic eruptions, preferentially led to the formation and preservation of large amounts of pyrite. Uraninite occurs as rounded grains and also appears to be a primary deposit, indicating the anoxic nature of the depositional environment.

Hand specimen from the Basal Reef at St. Helena Gold Mine showing visible gold and carbon.

Carbon seam (picked out between the yellow hatched lines) with vertical gold stringers from St. Helena Gold Mine.

Reconstruction of the Witwatersrand in the Archean (from Nwaila et al 2020, beautifully draughted by Lina Jakaite)

4. Carbon: a model for gold enrichment in the Wits The carbon in the Witwatersrand sediments is interpreted as a metamorphosed hydrocarbon deposit. Carbon isotope ratios support an (cyanobacterial) algal origin, possibly present as microbial mats flourishing in the mineral rich waters of the braided rivers. The original plant material was then converted to a kerogen and later a hydrocarbon, probably bitumen, before migrating and infilling pore spaces within the conglomerate. The bitumen was metamorphosed over time to pure carbon. The carbon is associated with high gold values. A theory from the 1970s suggests that the gold was transported as a soluble gold bisulphide complex in Wits rivers, and later precipitated on contact with the algal mats. This process was facilitated by the presence of oxygen emitted by photosynthesizing algae. It is also possible that the gold, present as ions in mineral rich pore waters, formed

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an amalgam with the carbon after it had been metamorphosed from algal material, gradually enriching the seams and flyspeck carbon with gold. There is strong evidence that some of the carbon was remobilized as a hydrocarbon after deposition, filling early fractures. The amount of carbon present within the conglomerate relates to the amount of primary plant material present in the deposit, the efficiency of the maturation process, the connectedness of the migration pathways and overall porosity. At least in part, the gold concentrations will reflect, and act as a proxy for, primary porosity within the matrix. It is likely that there was secondary enrichment of the gold from mineral rich pore waters, with the later gold forming an amalgam with the carbon.

5. Case Study from St. Helena Gold Mine A data set was collected from the Leader Reef Zone (LRZ) of the Witwatersrand Supergroup, exposed close to one kilometre underground at St. Helena Gold Mine in Welkom. A total of 156 sections ranging from 1-4 metres in thickness were logged in an area of around 150 x 150 metres, covering a bend in an individual channel (Noad 2001). The channel is estimated to have a width of around 200 metres. In addition, samples were taken for gold assay at around 7-10 cm intervals vertically for each logged section. It was possible to subdivide the LRZ into three intervals: a lower channelized, conglomeratic zone (Alma Unit); a middle sheet-like, quartzitic interval with fewer clasts (Bedelia Unit); and an upper, barren quartzite with tiny, angular, multicoloured mudstone clasts (Leader Quartzite). The facies were subdivided into A. pebble conglomerates (with a mix of well rounded quartz and chert pebbles) with buckshot pyrite and flyspeck carbon, B. pebbly quartzites and C. dirty quartzites. Trough and low angle cross-bedding was occasionally picked out by pyrite or opaque material in the different lithofacies. The deposits were interpreted as braided river deposits overlain by a transgressive marine sheet-like body (see the logged section and interpretation in section 2).

Map of pay trends within the Leader Reef at St. Helena Gold Mine with the study area highlighted by the black rectangle. Note the braid bar morphology of the pay trends.

Braid bars seen on the Bow River while flying form Calgary to Regina – a direct analogue to those mapped out in the mine.

Location of the 156 logged sections used to construct the model. Sketch log of a section through the Leader Reef in the study area, St. Helena Gold Mine, Welkom.

Image from the model showing the variation in thickness across the study area. Gold values ranging from 0-125 grams/tonne were recorded from these rocks. The gold concentrations relate to carbon concentrations, which are interpreted as metamorphosed plant material and potentially bituminous hydrocarbons. Higher gold values are thought to indicate more algal material (see section 4) and act (indirectly) as a proxy for higher porosities. A 3-D model of the dataset was constructed to investigate the gold distributions, and kriging of the gold values allowed the interpolation of a 3-dimensional “pseudo” porosity cube through the channel and overlying sheet.

Cross-section through the 3-D model showing the facies distribution.

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Cross-section through the 3-D model showing the distribution of gold values through the ore body, with the highest values in red and yellow, and the lowest in purple and blue. The table shows how gold values (grams/tonne) have been (imaginatively) correlated to primary porosity.

Summary The results of the modelling demonstrate that the gold values were concentrated along the basal channel contact, and at the base and top of the sheet-like interval. The values were lowest in the upper part of the channelised succession. These results can therefore be used to provide a template for porosity distribution in channel systems and suggest that horizontal wells should be located in the upper portion of individual, oil or gas bearing channel deposits, in order to maximise sweep efficiency, thereby reducing the risk of early water breakthrough due to high perm streaks. The highest gold values occur in association with the highest carbon concentrations. Gold values up to 10 kg/tonne were recorded in the thicker carbon seams in the Basal Reef, a quite extraordinary figure. Extrapolating from this value gives 3970 grams of gold per barrel, which at today’s prices equates to around $277,940 CAD. Surely this must be the world’s most economic hydrocarbon deposit. n

Jon standing in front of St. Helena Gold Mines’ #4 Shaft (photo taken too many years ago to count). An experienced geologist having worked in mining, marine geology and for the last 23 years in oil and gas, Jon now runs his own consultancy, Sedimental Services, taking on oil and gas related projects, core logging, site investigations and a variety of training for both industry and academia. His Virtual Field Trips (VFT!) are proving extremely popular in these challenging times. VISIT WEBSITE

REFERENCES Els, B.G. and Mayer, J.J. (1998). Coarse clastic tidal and fluvial sedimentation during a large late Archaen sea-level rise: the Turffontein Subgroup in the Vredefort structure, South Africa. In: Tidalites: Processes and Products, SEPM Spec. Pub. 61, 155-165. England, G.L., Rasmussen, B., Krapez, B. and Groves, D.I. (2002). Archaean oil migration in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 159 , 189-201. Frimmel, H.E. 2019. The Witwatersrand Basin and Its Gold Deposits. In: The Archaean Geology of the Kaapvaal Craton, Southern Africa: Eds. Kroner, A. and Hofmann, A. pp 255-275. Gray, G.J., Lawrence, S.R., Kenyon, K. and Cornford, C. (1998). Nature and origin of ‘carbon’ in the Archaean Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa. Journal of the Geological Society, London, vol. 155, pt. 1, 39-60.

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Hallbaeur, D.K. (1975). The plant origin of Witwatersrand carbon. Mineral Science Engineering no. 7, 111-131. Karpeta, W.P. (1991). Hydrocarbon occurrence in the Vaal Reef and A-Reef placers: sedimentological controls and economic significance. In: Carbon in Witwatersrand Reefs Symposium; Geological Society of South Africa, June 1991, 57-59. Minter, W.E.L. (1976). Detrital gold, uranium and pyrite concentrations related to sedimentology in the Precambrian Vaal Reef placer, Witwatersrand, South Africa. Economic Geology no. 71, 157-176. Nwaila, G.T., Durrheim, R.J., Jolayemi, O.O., Maselela, H.K., Jakaitė, L., Burnett, M. and Zhang, S.E. 2020. Significance o fgranitegreenstone terranes in the formation of Witwatersrand-type gold mineralisation – A case study of the Neoarchaean Black Reef Formation, South Africa. Ore Geology Reviews 121.

Noad, J.J. (2002). Black gold – co-mingling mining data and oil modelling methology. Poster abstract. IAS 16th International Sedimentological Congress, 2002, Johannesburg, South Africa. Noad, J. 2004. Static reservoir modelling of ancient fluvial metasediment reservoirs: the importance of integrating sedimentological, dissolution and fracture data. Watanabe, Y., Martini, J.E.J. and Ohmoto, H. (2000). Geochemical evidence for terrestrial ecosystems 2.6 billion years ago. Nature, vol. 408, 574-578. Wikipedia pages (2021).

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