Issuu

NOV/DEC 2021 • ISSUE 6

THE MAGAZINE OF CANADIAN ENERGY GEOSCIENTISTS

Reservoir cspg.org

In This Issue

NOV/DEC 2021

Letter from the Editor

Mountjoy Wrap-up

Go Take A Hike – Bow Valley Provincial Park and Morley Flats Drumlins, Alberta

27 The Bakken Formation: A View From South of the 49th Parallel

34 Downslope variability in deep-water slope channel fill facies and stacking patterns: implications for hydrocarbon exploration 36 From the Desk of the AER 38 The Blue View: Industry Trends through Woodmac's Lens

Conferences

e-Talks

Page 34

Page 2

Page 14-25

December 15th Technical Webinar

Energy and Emerging Technology in Geoscience Symposium

Technical Division

Page 7

Mountjoy Carbonate Conference 2022 Page 7

Gussow Geoscience Conference

Page 26

GeoWomen

UPCOMING EVENTS

Technical Webinars

HEIGHT OF THE ROCKIES, BRITISH COLUMBIA. This park lies to the southwest of Alberta’s Kananaskis Country on the west side of the Continental Divide. To the south, a vertical wall of limestone separates the upper glacial lake or tarn (fed by a small glacier between Russell Peaks) and the lower marshy lakes. These bodies of water are known as The Limestone Lakes. The bedrock of this area is primarily composed of complexly folded and overturned strata of the Middle Devonian Yahatinda Fm. with adjacent areas of Cambro-Ordovician MacKay Gp. Photo by: Jenn Martin.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

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

recent 4-day encounter with the health care system left your Editor with an uncommon opportunity to ponder. This is the final edition in 2021 of the digital transition of our e-zine from traditional print format and the opening year of the second decade of the 21st century. 50 years ago this year, I first encountered the opening year of the digital transition of the Geosciences. What will the next decade be like?

How will the technical revolution affect your training needs and scope of practice?”

Pounding the literature (internet based, my allegedly Smart Phone), it turns out that we are in the midst of a revolutionary change in data management in the industry. How we gather data, geodatabase management, interpretive computing, imaging, and reporting are all undergoing exponential change.. Workstation hardware with wonders like dual frequency CPU/GPU processors with terabytes of RAM and petabytes of SSD space will be available commercially in from 2 to 3 years. This time, software houses will be on top of the game as roll out proceeds, with bug-free (YES!) products that will automatically update as programming continues. The first stage was 11th generation operating systems from the usual gang of actors that occurred in Q4 of 2021. What are the implications on how we will work?

• How will the Revolution affect your training needs and scope of practice? • What are the risks, benefits, possible issues and collaboration opportunities that may arise in the wider Geoscience community? • Anything else that you might want to discuss or debate (please be free with ideas and conjecture and label them as such) In this issue, Dr. Bruce Hart expands on his recent Core conference article on the Bakken differences between the classic North Dakota/Montana sections and the WCSB section in Saskatchewan and Alberta. We have another look at the Alberta regulatory scene with a message from the AER (This one is about Geothermal, another topic we would like to publish in a forthcoming Reservoir); an Industry Trends review with Wood Mackenzie in our series on the finance and investment impact of Geoscience; and of course, our professional interest columns we can share with family and friends:

• Go Take a Hike • Mountjoy Wrap-Up Article (virtually attended by your Editor and much enjoyed) • A view of the Bakken formation

Your editorial staff would like to dedicate a 2022 edition to you who will be, and are currently working on the key topics above and have some questions we would love to ask you:

• Information on the August Mountjoy Conference (Vaccinate! We need to get back together in person for the 2022 edition – all of us)

• Given this beginning, what will your role as a Geoscientist be in 2025?

• Event information for Technical Divisions/ GeoWomen Talks/Webinars (New detail on access to brown-baggers, events social and professional.

• Will the return to the office following the decline and fall of COVID affect how you perform your role? • What of the emerging technologies, such as AI, 5G-6G telecom, cloud computing, super server technologies, etc. will increase your organizational impact, effectiveness and efficiency?

Whew! This is a heavy edition, and the Editorial Staff hope it fits your needs and wants. Feedback please. 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 6 • NOV/DEC 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

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DIRECTOR

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Chad Glemser

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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

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

WRAP-UP The CSPG-SEPM Mountjoy ‘V ir tual Sampler’ meeting took place vir tually on the mornings of August 17th to 19th. The conference is named in honour of Dr. Eric Mountjoy, a leader in the field of carbonate sedimentology and a mentor of many students that continued on in both industr y and academia. The purpose of these semi-regular meetings, one ever y four years, is to bring together geoscientists from industr y, government, and academic institutions that are conducting applied research on topics related to the characterization and modeling of carbonate reser voirs.

“We would like to give a huge thank you and well done to our presenters, who came through in delivering a diverse and accessible program that appealed to veteran geologists and students alike.”

So why a virtual sampler? After having to push the in-person meeting back a year, the enterprising Mountjoy Committee decided that a shor ter, vir tual program would be the best way to keep the carbonate community in the loop with current carbonate research and industr y applications. Research adapts and moves rapidly, so it’s best not to have big gaps in the conference schedule, less some fascinating research might be missed. The vir tual sampler was more than just a shor ter version of the in-person event. Talks were designed to introduce the audience to the ver y concepts that will make up technical sessions in 2022, and to give a tantalising glimpse into what next year’s event has to offer. Our day one session, chaired by Rachel Wood, introduced us to four studies in carbonate deposition. Charlie Kerans’ work on predicting carbonate stratigraphy from geochemical shifts brought on by changes in sea level, Nicholas Tosca introduced us to inorganic precipitated carbonates, Andrea Nolting spoke to the role of deformation of carbonate platforms and the impact of biological changes and Julia Wilcots talked about changing ocean chemistries. Our first day concluded with two vir tual field trips, the first staying local to Alber ta visiting Grassi Lakes, where Eva Drivet and

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

David Hills took the group on a whistle stop tour of the Devonian Cairn formation. This trip was followed by a trip normally not on offer in Alber ta, to view Ediacaran reefs in Namibia with Fred Bowyer and Rachel Wood.

Dr. Kate Giles escor ted us through day two’s diagenesis session with talks from Anne-Sofie Ahm, Malcolm Wallace, Hilar y Corlett and Cathy Hollis on Archean habitats, Precambrian diagenesis, basement fault activation and diagenesis and hydrothermal dolomitization (always a good one for discussion!). We were treated to two more vir tual field trips, first to the Guadalupe Mountains, cour tesy of Charlie Kerans and was brought back to local turf by Astrid Ar ts and Hilar y Corlett who guided us through a number of preview field trips in the Rocky Mountains that will be on offer at the in-person Mountjoy in 2022. Thursday’s session on resources was led by Astrid Ar ts who introduced Eva Drivet’s talk on the role of Carbonates in the 21st centur y, Phillip Wolper t’s talk on the potential of Geothermal exploration using thermal image logs, Liz Lappin talked about how the Leduc could fuel global electrification and Taylor Berezowski led us through the intricacies of the Weyburn CO2 Flood in Saskatchewan. The final session for the sampler was focused on two intriguing cores located at the Core Research Centre in Calgar y. David Hills showed cores from Canada’s biggest oil producer and related that to future prospects for Carbon Sequestration and Tyler Hauck took us through core from the Devonian beneath the oil sands that reveal dedolomitization in the Middle Devonian on Nor theastern Alber ta. We would like to give a huge thank you and well done to our presenters, who came through in delivering a diverse and accessible program that appealed to veteran geologists and students alike. These presenters also had to deal

with the issues of creating pre-recorded videos for their talks, a process that is far more challenging than might be expected. We would also like to thank our industr y par tners in sponsoring the event, APEGA and Enhance Energy. These companies have shown that the future of research and the sharing of information is of par ticular impor tance as the focus changes. Finally, our biggest thanks go out to our members in the CSPG and SEPM who have suppor ted this conference, and who continue to suppor t the effor ts of the researchers and workers in this field. Like Eric and Anita Mountjoy created a focal center for Eric’s students throughout his years at McGill, the Mountjoy Conference hopes to similarly act as a community centre for carbonate research around the world, and our members who have attended have shown their dedication to that community. We had over 150 people attend the conference, from almost ever y continent! Thanks to you all for making this event a success. This was but a ‘taster’ of the real event, and the Mountjoy committee are already hard at work preparing for the fullsized, in-person event in Banff 2022. The first thing we ask is that you save the date: August 15th to 19th, 2022.

The event will spend four days in Banff, that includes 3 days of sessions spanning dolomitization, new integrative methods, inorganic precipitated carbonates, geochemistr y, big data, and carbonate-associated resources, as well as a session dedicated to bold new ideas in carbonate research and industr y. There will also be a field trip day, in which you will have the choice of doing some of the field trip options that were presented at the sampler. On the Friday, there will be a core conference at the Core Research Centre in Calgar y. This is an in-person conference, but we are investigating the possibility of a hybrid offering as well. There are many ways to help beyond saving the date, and first and foremost, is to register early for the conference. This is a smaller venue and space is limited so register early to avoid disappointment! Next, how about submitting an abstract to show the work that has been done on carbonates in the last year? The call for abstracts goes out soon! Another easy way of suppor ting the Mountjoy Carbonate conference will be to share social media posts far and wide so all are up-to-date on the conference plans! We hope to see you in Banff in 2022! n

Save the Date for Mountjoy 2022

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

GO TAKE A HIKE

Bow Valley Provincial Park and Morley Flats Drumlins, Alberta

Georgia Hoffman, Philip Benham, and Nat Rutter

Trailheads: From Exit 114 on the Trans-Canada Highway, go north on Highway 1X to the entrance to Bow Valley Provincial Park (about 0.75 km). Follow the winding park road to trailheads at the Middle Lake and Many Springs day-use areas, about 3.5 and 5.6 km from the park entrance, respectively. The Moraine Trail diverges from the Middle Lake Trail on the north side of the lake (there is currently no sign there). The Montane Trail leaves from the Visitors Centre near the park entrance. The drumlins of Morley Flats lie east of the park and can be viewed from the side of the Trans-Canada Highway and along local access roads. Distance: About 1.5 km for the Many Springs Trail (loop); 2.5 km for the Middle Lake Trail (loop); 1.5 km for the Moraine Trail (one way), and 1.5 km for the Montane Trail (loop). Elevation Gain: Up to about 10 m over gently rolling and hummocky terrain.

ow Valley Provincial Park hosts an area of unusual "warm" springs that can be reached via Many Springs Trail. It also encompasses a variety of late Pleistocene stagnant-ice features that can be seen along the Middle Lake, Moraine, and Montane trails. All trails are open year-round.

Many Springs Trail: The Many Springs Trail takes you around a shallow lake that is fed by numerous small warm springs. The water from the springs originates as precipitation in the surrounding mountains and percolates down to a depth of approximately 600 m where it is warmed by geothermal heat. It then circulates up along the plane of the McConnell Thrust Fault, mixes with water from the sand and gravel that underlies

FIGURE 2: Looking southeast from Many Springs toward McConnell Ridge and the McConnell Thrust (red dashed line). The springs at Many Springs have a constant temperature of about 7°C and the lake does not freeze completely in the winter, which makes the lake popular with beavers and other wildlife.

FIGURE 1: Looking northeast from the Many Springs viewing platform toward Mount Yamnuska (right) and Loder Peak (left). The McConnell Thrust (red dashed line) dips west beneath Loder Peak, passes beneath the Bow Valley at Many Springs and is the conduit for the upwelling spring water. The quarry (arrow) in the background at left is in the Cambrian Eldon Formation carried in the McConnell Thrust Sheet.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

FIGURE 3: The park is an excellent place to photograph wildflowers, starting in late spring and reaching crescendo in July. Prairie crocuses (Anemone patens) are a harbinger of summer.

the Bow Valley, and flows into the lake at a rate of about 100 litres per second (Toop and de la Cruz, 2002; Leckie, 2017). The spring waters contain about 350 mg/L of dissolved solids, including significant calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate. The McConnell Thrust forms the boundary between the Rocky Mountain Front Ranges and the Foothills. In the park area it places the resistant Cambrian carbonate rocks of the Eldon Formation on top of softer Late Cretaceous sandstones and shales of the Brazeau/Belly River formation. The fault plane is sub-horizontal beneath Mount Yamnuska (it lies at the base of the cliff) and dips west beneath Loder Peak, crossing the Bow Valley somewhere beneath Many Springs before resurfacing to the south beneath McConnell Ridge (McMechan, 1995; Leckie, 2017).

Middle Lake Trail: The Middle Lake area features landforms created during the deglaciation that followed the Canmore ice advance, the third of four glacial advances that have been recognized in the Bow Valley (Rutter, 1972). The lake itself is a kettle lake formed by a large block (or several blocks) of ice that had become detached from the retreating Bow Valley glacier. The block was surrounded by glacial debris and when it melted it left the depression that now holds the lake (Leckie, 2017). The lack of streams to the lake suggest that it was never populated with fish, and it is currently too shallow to support them. Middle Lake is shallow and an interpretive sign near the trailhead describes how it is gradually being filled with sediment and decaying plant matter. It will eventually evolve into a wet meadow, and will ultimately be covered by forest. There are a number of similar lakes and bogs in the park, and pollen recovered by coring one of them recorded how shrubby pioneer species were replaced by coniferous forest during and after deglaciation (MacDonald, 1982). Southwest of the lake, the trail climbs onto a recessional moraine. This steep-sided ridge of sediment marks the location of the foot of the glacier during a temporary pause in its final retreat.

FIGURE 4: Spring water seeps to the surface in a depression next to the boardwalk on Many Springs Trail. The rusty mineral deposits are probably the work of iron-oxidizing bacteria. The spring water picks up dissolved minerals during its trip through the subsurface, so its chemistry differs from that of the local surface water. Often the water has an oily sheen, probably derived from decaying vegetation. FIGURE 5: A submerged spring seen through the rippled surface water at the Many Springs viewing platform. Here the spring water flows into the lake with sufficient force to wash away the darker mud and organic debris that has accumulated on the adjacent lake floor. The churning sediments can look like water boiling in a pot. The constant temperature of the warm spring makes it a suitable home for the blind aquatic isopod Asellus, a species that is generally found only in caves. You may be familiar with a terrestrial isopod, the ubiquitous woodlouse. Isopods are diverse; more than 10,000 species, most of them marine, have been described to date. They appear in the fossil record in the Carboniferous, at about 300 Ma. FIGURE 6: Spring water seeps into the lake at numerous points like this one east of the Many Springs viewing platform. Salts from the spring water accumulate on the mud flats and are a source of minerals for wildlife, and animal tracks are plentiful around the seeps.

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FIGURE 7: Looking west across Middle Lake from the trailhead. There are no streams entering or exiting this kettle lake; it is fed by precipitation and groundwater from the underlying outwash sediments.

Moraine and Montane Trails: The Moraine Trail winds through hummocky knob-and-kettle topography. The closely spaced hills there are kames. They consist of sediment that accumulated in depressions and crevasses on the stagnant Bow Valley glacier. When the surrounding ice melted, these deposits were left standing as irregularly shaped mounds. The depressions between them are kettles like Middle Lake that were left where blocks of relatively clean ice melted away. The Montane Trail features a large esker and provides good views of this steepsided feature. Eskers are winding ridges of sand and gravel that are deposited under glaciers by meltwater streams. There is a loose network of eskers in the park. Their roughly east-west orientation, steep slopes, and 5–7 m of relief give rise to different microclimates in close proximity to one another. The south-facing sides of the eskers tend to dry out quickly. They are favored by grasses, wildflowers, and low, mat-like juniper shrubs. The relatively sheltered and humid north sides, protected from direct sun, allow robust conifer-dominated forests to become established. n

FIGURE 8: Looking east at a peninsula that juts into Middle Lake. This small ridge of sediment is a remnant of moraine, or perhaps it formed in the divide between two blocks of ice. Note the ring of sedges and other aquatic plants (dark green) that will eventually fill in the lake.

FIGURE 9: View of the relatively dry, south-facing side of the esker north of the Montane Trail.

The outwash plain and the drumlins of Morley Flats: The park area lies at the eastern limit reached by the Bow Valley glacier during the Canmore advance (Rutter, 1972). Beyond the park to the east lies Morley Flats, a broad plain of outwash sand and gravel. The numerous drumlins that rise within and adjacent to the outwash plain are interpreted to have been formed by subglacial processes. The drumlins that are surrounded by outwash show evidence of reworking by subaerial streams, or by subglacial floods that may have been caused by catastrophic outbursts (Fisher and Spooner, 1994).

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FIGURE 10: Map of the Morley Flats drumlin fields, from Fisher and Spooner (1994). The red P marks the campground at the entrance to Bow Valley Provincial Park; the park road to the Middle Lake and Many Springs trails is shown in brown. Isolated drumlins and drumlin complexes are shown in dark gray. Note the variations in the generally SW-NE trend of the drumlins, subparallel to the Bow River valley. The drumlins were modified and partly dissected near the end of the Canmore advance, when the meltwater from the glacial retreat formed a large braidplain, the centre of which is marked with a red star. More than 10 km downstream from this point, around the Ghost Reservoir (blue star), lies a giant dune field that is interpreted to have formed during a catastrophic flood event at the time of the final melt. These giant meltwater dunes consist of crossbedded gravel and cobbles with a wavelength of about 40 m and an average height of 2.5 m (Fisher and Spooner, 1994). Kettle lakes up to 200 m in diameter and 15 m deep are also present in that area.

FIGURE 11: A typical drumlin with a tear-drop shape. The tail end tapers in the downstream direction of the ice flow (Munro-Stasiuk et al., 2009). The origin of drumlins has long been debated, but they are likely produced by subglacial processes, most likely by glacial erosion of glacial till producing streamlined forms, as seen along much of the Bow Valley downstream from at least the Lake Louise area (Rutter, 1972; Rutter et al., 2018). Other ideas on their origin have been debated, such as the subglacial systems as postulated by some (Munro-Stasiuk et al., 2009). The author (Rutter) supports the erosional theory. In the Morley Flats area, the drumlins are composed of sand and gravel of glacial till, most likely derived from the bedrock that forms the Bow River valley.

FIGURE 12: Yellow balsam root flowers (Balsamorhiza) bloom next to the Middle Lake Trail, along with blue harebells (Campanula), dandelion seedheads (Taraxacum), and cinquefoil shrubs (Potentilla). Flowers are abundant in the meadows in spring and summer.

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FIGURE 13: View of the treeless south flank of the esker on the Montane Trail. The shaded north flank is covered by conifer forest. FIGURE 14: The cobbles exposed at the east end of this esker system include representatives of all the major formations of the Bow Valley corridor. They were first transported by the glaciers, and then deposited in the esker by subglacial streams. If you have a knowledgeable geologist in your group, you can test them by requesting the construction of an age-correct stratigraphic column from the cobbles! Many of the cobbles have a rind of cement deposited by the carbonate-rich groundwater. Some of these are indicated by the red arrows. FIGURE 15: Moist areas in the park like Many Springs host a variety of moisture-loving plants like these yellow lady's-slippers (Cypripedium parviflorum). These are one of the more widespread species of North American orchids and can be found as far south as Georgia and as far north as Alaska.

REFERENCES Fisher, T. G. and Spooner, I., 1994; Subglacial meltwater origin and subaerial modification of drumlins near Morley, Alberta, Canada; Sedimentary Geology, v. 91, p. 285-298. Leckie, D. A., 2017; Rocks, ridges, and rivers – Geologic wonders of Banff, Yoho, and Jasper National Parks; Broken Poplars, Calgary, 217 pp. MacDonald, G. M., 1982; Late Quaternary paleoenvironments of the Morley Flats and Kananaskis Valley of southwestern Alberta; Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 19, p. 23-35. McMechan, M. E., 1995; Geology, Rocky Mountain Foothills and Front Ranges in Kananaskis Country, Alberta; Geological Survey of Canada, Map 1865A. Munro-Stasiuk, M., Shaw, J., Sjogren, D., Brennand, T., Fisher, T., Sharpe, D. and Rains, B., 2009; The morphology and sedimentology of landforms created by subglacial megafloods; In: D. Burr, P. Carling, and V. Baker (eds.), Megaflooding on Earth and Mars; Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 78-103; doi:10.1017/ CBO9780511635632.006 Rutter, N. W., 1972; Geomorphology and multiple glaciation in the area of Banff, Alberta; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 206, 54 p. Rutter, N. W., Coppold, M., and Rokosh, D., 2018; Climate change and landscape in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, revised 2nd edition; Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, Field, British Columbia, 135 p. Toop, D. C. and de la Cruz, N. N., 2002; Hydrogeology of the Canmore corridor and Kananaskis Country, Alberta; Alberta Environment, Hydrogeology Section, Edmonton, Alberta; report to Western Economic Partnership Agreement, Western Economic Diversification Canada, 83 p.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

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VISIT WEBSITE

GO TAKE A HIKE REQUEST FOR SUBMISSIONS: Now that the publication of the CSPG Special Volume of past Go Take a Hike (GTAH) articles is complete, we are refocusing on new articles for the CSPG Reservoir. We are seeking submissions or article ideas. If you wish to write one, try to focus on a theme such as Sedimentology, Mountain Building, History of Life, Quaternary or Modern Processes, Environmental Geology, or Igneous/ Metamorphic Geology. Although Alberta remains the centre of attention, we are happy to receive submissions for areas in other provinces and throughout the world. Before you start to write, please check with series editor Philip Benham (Philip.Benham@shell.com) to ensure that there is no duplication of articles. Philip will provide guidance and a template to use so that all hikes will have a similar format. If you wish to try your hand at an article but don’t have a location in mind, Philip can provide suggestions. GTAH is a living project and CSPG is looking at an on-going digital presence for articles after their publication in the Reservoir. Stay tuned!

COURSE OFFERING

Introduction to CO2 Sequestration A Dynamic Modelling Perspective INSTRUCTORS:

Herman Mukisa and Jose Rivero

DATE:

Tuesday November 16th, 8:00am – 12:00pm

COURSE OUTLINE

OBJECTIVES

This course will cover the following topics:

Instructors will introduce a broad

• The need for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCUS): Why it matters.

audience to the fundamentals of CO2 sequestration, including an overview of the workflow used to locate, design operate and monitor a CO2 storage project.

• Key steps in the Carbon Capture and Storage process.

Online Half Day Course

• Site selection process.

Maximum 15 Registrants

• Describe the key reservoir aspects to safely store carbon dioxide.

CPD Credits Available: 4

• Describe sequestration mechanisms (changes in geologically stored carbon dioxide over time). • Describe modelling approaches for different sequestration mechanisms.

The training will also discuss the principles of CO2 storage and describe the modeling approach used to predict the behavior or CO2 within different types of geological targets.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

OPERATIONS GEOLOGY TECHNICAL DIVISION

The Role of Geoscience in Evolving Regulatory Requirements for Commingled Abandonment Presenter: Dan Palombi E-Technical Division Talk Wednesday, 24 November, 2021 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM, MDT

A B S T R AC T

BIOGRAPHY

ommingled hydrocarbon production occurs when oil or gas from more than one geologically distinct zone is produced in an unsegregated manner within a single borehole. Over 73,000 wells are producing oil or natural gas in a commingled manner across Alberta, all of which will eventually require abandonment. When operators abandon these wells, they are required to follow AER’s technical requirements detailed in Directive 020 – Well Abandonment. The intent of these requirements is to prevent environmental impacts through gas or fluid migration, and to ensure resource equity and conservation is achieved amongst current and future operators. Directive 020 allows operators to submit non-routine requests to seek variance from the abandonment requirements for commingled zones in a well when there is demonstrated low risk from unsegregated abandonment. Estimated cost savings of such variances could be substantial to Alberta’s oil and gas industry, potentially enabling a large opportunity for AER and industry to increase the number of inactive wells that are abandoned and overall reduce liability. Hence, the AER/AGS embarked on a multi-year project to: 1) derive a risk-based methodology applicable across the province; and 2) conduct a detailed case study in southeastern Alberta to evaluate if the region has no intolerable increase in risk from allowing widespread commingled abandonment across the gas field.

One of our project objectives was to devise an approach by which AER and industry could quickly ascertain the level of subsurface risk and concerns associated with potential commingled abandonment of various pools throughout the province. A risk-ranking screening tool was developed using the Alberta Table of Formations to qualitatively display the relative probability of risk and consequence from commingled zonal abandonments in wells. This derivation uses knowledge of the regional geology and hydrogeology of the Alberta sedimentary basin to provide a stratigraphic zonation of groups and formations. The risk rankings can guide a commingled well operator on where variances from abandonment requirements are more favourable for certain geological units, and it can be used by the regulator to guide the operator through the variance request process and potential requirements for supplemental data. The different risk categories can be used to inform what is required to substantiate the application and satisfy the AER’s requirements in achieving its regulatory outcomes. A second project objective was to evaluate a large number of commingled gas wells within the Southeastern Alberta Order area (Commingling Order No. MU 7490). In this region, the Medicine Hat Member of the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation and the Alderson Member of the Upper Cretaceous Lea Park Formation have been producing for over 100 years and many existing wells

Dan Palombi joined the Alberta Geological Survey in 2010 as a hydrogeologist and currently is a Senior Advisor for Resource Geoscience. His role involves leading a provincial-scale program on the study, mapping, quantification, and reporting of Alberta’s groundwater resources. Dan works with technical experts on designing and implementing applied research projects focused on achieving goals that are of high importance to regulators, policy-makers, and Albertans by providing relevant, impactful geoscience to support regulatory and environmental issues. Dan’s background resides in regional and petroleum hydrogeology having spent over 10 years conducting regional-scale studies and mapping groundwater flow systems across the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. The majority of this work applied regional groundwater flow principles and methods to CO2 geological storage assessments, regional hydrogeological characterization, and geothermal resource potential studies. Dan received his B.Sc. in Geology and M.Sc. in Hydrogeology from the University of Alberta.

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are nearing the end of their commercial life. Our riskranking screening tool identified this southeastern Alberta gas field as potentially having high probability and consequences of concern from commingled abandonment due to the geological setting and hydrogeological conditions. In addition, the AER was receiving high volumes of variance requests for Directive 020 for wells in this field. Detailed geological, hydrogeological, and petrophysical mapping and modelling was completed to understand the extent and properties of the gas-bearing and water-bearing units. These results were used for numerical modelling of groundwater flow and groundwater-gas migration to understand the consequences of allowing widespread commingled well abandonments. We learned from this project that gas migration did not travel into areas of potential concern during commingled zonal abandonment conditions for the majority of our simulations, presenting a low-risk scenario to AER outcomes. Therefore, early in 2021 the AER updated Directive 020: Well Abandonment to allow for routine commingled abandonment in southeastern Alberta which may increase the abandonment of gas wells in this region (Figure 1). The changes also allow operators to abandon wells in preapproved pools, enabling them to plan abandonment work more efficiently and reduce the review and administrative process meanwhile maintaining public safety and environmental protection. Figure 2 illustrates the changes made to Directive 020 for specific routine commingled abandonment regions. The AER/AGS continues to conduct geoscience studies to determine if commingled abandonment is possible in other regions including where additional data collection and environmental monitoring is required to ensure that the AER’s outcomes are satisfied.

FIGURE 1: Routine commingled abandonment region and associated subsurface geological strata in southeastern Alberta. The table of geological strata has been modified from the Alberta Table of Formations (https://ags.aer.ca/publications/Table_of_Formations_2019.html).

FIGURE 2: Comparison of zonal abandonment requirements in the previous state of Directive 020 (left) versus the changes made for routine commingled abandonment in select regions (right).

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

INTERNATIONAL DIVISION

Energy Resources of Kazakhstan Sedimentary Basins: Challenges and Sustainable Energy Opportunities Presenter: Speaker: Dr. Milovan Fustic and Riza Nurbekova (PhD Candidate) E-Technical Division Talk December 8, 2021 | 12:00 PM MST

A B S T R AC T

azakhstan, the 9th largest country in the world, is located in Central Asia and partly Europe. It extends for almost 3000 km from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Chinese border in the east. Its area of 2,727,300 km2 is similar to that of Western Europe. The country is globally renowned for its richness in mineral and energy resources. It contains 15 sedimentary basins including petroleum producing Pricaspian, Ustyurt, South Tourgay, Zaisan, Mangyshlak, and ChuSarisu (Fig. 1). Literature review suggests that each sedimentary basin is characterized by the unique tectono-stratigraphic framework and geological histories, which resulted in a variety of petroleum occurrences and accumulations.

BIOGRAPHY

Kazakhstan holds 3% of the world's oil proven reserves and currently produces about 1.6 mil barrels per day, the majority of which is exported (~85%). Production is expected to increase following increasing exploration activity across the country, and

especially in the Caspian Sea region. Kazakhstan is also a major coal producer. The energy sector is facing two major challenges: i) the current oil production is expensive, averaging about 46 USD/ barrel for onshore and about 51 USD/barrel offshore (source IHS Markit; ii) the country ranks among the 20 largest emitters of greenhouse gasses (GHG) per capita. The industry and government are trying to address both issues. The government aims to switch to a green economy and sees a 50% increase in the share of alternative energy sources by 2050 (https://climateactiontracker. org/countries/kazakhstan/). Sedimentary Models for Energy Transition (SMET) research group is appraising sedimentary basins of Kazakhstan for sustainable energy solutions. The preliminary results from ongoing outcrop and subsurface studies suggest a range of potentially overseen opportunities for mitigating the current problems of the energy sector as well as for the employment of decarbonization initiatives.

Dr. Milovan Fustic, is an Associate Professor at the Nazarbayev University, based in the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan - Nur-Sultan. Fustic holds a PhD in Petroleum Geology from the University of Calgary (Canada). He has 25 years of professional experience in the industry and academia which includes various research, exploration, and field development projects with Shell, Nexen, Statoil, KNOC, Natural Resources Canada, and the University of Calgary. Fustic is a Principal Investigator of Sedimentary Models for Energy Transition (SMET) research group which is focused on appraising sedimentary basins of Kazakhstan for sustainable energy solutions. He collaborates with many local and international companies and academic institutions including the University of Calgary and Colorado School of Mines, where he serves as an Adjunct Professor and a Faculty Affiliate, respectively. Fustic served as a CSPG Director (2013-2015), CSPG’s Technical Chair of GeoConvention (2011), and CSPG’s short courses and field seminars instructor (2009-2019). He is a recipient of CSPG’s Medal of Merit (201. He supports children welfare charities.

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In this presentation we share a number of scientific observations and working hypothesis, including: i)

ii)

reinterpretation of source rock potential in Mangyshlak and Chu-Sarisu basins suggests exploration opportunities in new area and the necessity to revise petroleum system models source rock characterization in Zaysan basin (Fig. 2) coupled with calculated ultimate expulsion potential (UEP) and sedimentological considerations suggests world class unconventional petroleum potential in that low prospectivity basin (Nurbekova et al., 2021);

iii) potential value of employing utilizing depositional environment models for production optimization in mature fields such as Uzen; iv) common risk segment mapping of geothermal gradients and good quality reservoir rock units reveals a strong potential for developing conventional geothermal systems in Mangyshlak and Illy basins;

utilization of deeply buried Carboniferous deltaic deposits for carbon storage have a potential for extending the life of the coal and energy sector in the Karaganda basin;

vi) potential synergy (i.e. simultaneously use same reservoir for geothermal production, carbon or energy storage, lithium extraction …) may provide elegant solutions in basins where a single technology is not practical; vii) geological controls on uranium mineralization and insitu leaching extraction and potential association of mineralization with helium accumulations and hydrocarbon leakages. The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Nazarbayev University (CRP Research Grant No. OPCRP2021021 and FDGR No 080420FD1905) and both financial and in kind support from industry partners. We sincerely thank many of our associates from the Nazarbayev, Satbayev, and East Kazakhstan Technical Universities, as well as colleagues and friends from Katko, Orano, Condor Petroleum, KazMunaiGas, TengizChevrOil (TCO) / Chevron, KazTransGas, Magnet Petroleum (former OMV), Crystal Management, Stratum, and other organizations that we are privileged to collaborate with.

Figure 1

Map of the major sedimentary basins of Kazakhstan (modified after KazEnergy, 2015).

Figure 2

Permian shale and deltaic deposits interbedded with bentonites, Kenderlyk trough, Eastern Kazakhstan.

REFERENCES:

BIOGRAPHY

Ms. Riza Nurbekova, is a PhD candidate in Petroleum Engineering at the Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan). Her academic background is in Oil and Gas Business, and her current research is focused on evaluation of unconventional hydrocarbon potential of several sedimentary basins of Kazakhstan with a particular focus on petroleum generation potential, reserving capacity, and stimulation conditions. Her research is supported by the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS) post graduate research grant and AAPG’s Grants in Aid.

KazEnergy, 2015; The National Energy Report 2015 Riza Nurbekova, Shukhrat Mametov, Talgat Yensepbayev, Sergei Sabanov, Randy Hazlett, Laurent Richard, and Milovan Fustic, “High quality black shales in a low prospective basin: A viable unconventional resource? Permian lacustrine deposits, Zaysan Basin, Kazakhstan”; International Association of Sedimentologists, Annual Meeting, Prague, June 2021

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

ALBERTA PALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Ontogenetic Niche Shifts in Megaherbivorous Dinosaurs of Late Cretaceous North America E-Technical Division Talk December 10, 2021 | 7:30 PM MST

A B S T R AC T

his presentation is based on research conducted by this author during their MSc research into growth-related dietary changes in large-bodied herbivorous dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Changes in diet during growth and development, called ontogenetic niche shifts (ONSs), are commonly observed in modern animals and were probably just as common in extinct animals. These changes can not only have important consequences for the number and types of ecological interactions between species but also within a species. A brief overview of ontogenetic niche shifts, previous work on dinosaur community dynamics within the context of Late Cretaceous North America and a summary of the author’s research will be presented. Communities from the Late Cretaceous of North America are comprised of a variety of dinosaurs including a wide array of >1000 kg herbivores (megaherbivores) including the club-tailed ankylosaurs, ‘horned’ ceratopsids and ‘duck-billed’ hadrosaurids. At least one member of each of these groups is present throughout the entirety of the Late Cretaceous in North America which at the time was divided in two by a large seaway extending from Mexico up through to Alaska. It is the western half of the continent, referred to as Laramidia by palaeontologists, is where most dinosaur remains have been recovered. Laramidia is estimated to have

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been no larger than 7.7 million square km and yet was home to numerous species of megaherbivorous that were abundant across the landscape – some species living in herds of comparable size to those observed in Africa. Many researchers have wondered how it was possible for so many large megaherbivores to occupy a landmass smaller than Africa especially given modern mammalian communities, such as those in Africa, are home to a narrower array of herbivores despite there being more area for them to inhabit. Work on one of the Late Cretaceous communities, the Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation (~77.0-75.5 Ma) of Alberta has indicated that the answer to this quandary may be related to resource partitioning wherein different groups consume different plants to reduce competition for food. However, this research focused on adult specimens and did not consider the influence smaller dinosaurs (e.g., juvenile megaherbivores) played in Late Cretaceous ecosystems. Given many modern animals that undergo a large change in body size during growth can occupy different roles in an ecosystem throughout their life, undergoing what is known as an ontogenetic niche shift (ONS), it is important to consider how different growth stages of the same species may have fit into our understanding of the ecosystem. Body mass and histologic growth data collected from specimens from various growth stages and various dinosaur

Taia has been interested in dinosaurs and made it her mission to study them since the age of two. She is Calgaryraised with a B.Sc. in geology from Mount Royal University. There she was first introduced to dinosaur ecology during a summer job that quickly morphed into a full-fledged research project investigating potential changes in sea level and how these changes in sea level impacted dinosaur community assemblages within the Dinosaur Park Formation in Dinosaur Provincial Park. After graduating in 2018, she began her M.Sc. at Carleton University under the supervision of Dr. Jordan Mallon (Canadian Museum of Nature) and Dr. Tim Patterson (Carleton

BIOGRAPHY

Presenter: aia Wyenberg-Henzler, second year Ph.D. candidate at University of Alberta

University) studying the ecological implications of growth in hadrosaurids and ceratopsids from Late Cretaceous North America. After successfully defending her thesis in June 2020 she moved to Edmonton to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Corwin Sullivan. Her Ph.D. research is centered around characterizing feeding behaviour in the large carnivorous dinosaur clade Tyrannosauridae (e.g., Tyrannosaurus rex) in greater detail using dental microwear and bite mark analyses.

species (including some hadrosaurids), indicate that even dinosaurs with adult body masses of > 1000 kg began life weighing no more than a few kg, and took several years to approach adult body sizes. This has led several researchers to believe that dinosaurs also underwent ONSs. Despite ONSs being proposed in a variety of dinosaur groups, there is little to no research specifically investigating what ONSs would have looked like in most dinosaur taxa. Here I will be presenting some of the work from my MSc research which focused on the characterizing ONSs in hadrosaurids and ceratopsids from Late Cretaceous North America using morphological measurements of the skull known in

ALBERTA PALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY modern animals to reflect feeding ecology (e.g., diet, feeding behaviour, feeding height) and dental microwear analysis. Of the variables considered, several changes in the morphology of the skull suggest that megaherbivores selectively feed on low-growing soft vegetation as juveniles and gradually incorporated tougher, higher

growing vegetation as they matured. Support for ONSs in megaherbivores further lends credence to the theory ONSs were common amongst the Dinosauria and research investigating the potential for and characterizing such shifts in other dinosaur taxa should be undertaken. Such shifts in niche occupation with growth would have

important implications not only for our understanding of dinosaur life history but also for the structuring and assembly of dinosaur ecosystems as juvenile dinosaurs could have been important competitors for smaller dinosaur species.

A Rare Sea Turtle Discovery in the Marine Dinosaur Park Formation of Saskatchewan Presenter: Dr. Emily Bamforth, Royal Saskatchewan Museum, T. Rex Discovery Centre, Eastend, Saskatchewan E-Technical Division Talk December 10, 2021 | 7:30 PM MST

hough relatively uncommon, sea turtles (Superfamily Chelonioidae + Family Protosetgidae + Toxochelys) are an intriguing component of western Canada’s Cretaceous marine faunas. Studies of sea turtle diversity patterns within the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Sea suggest, for reasons possibly related to climate, that these animals strongly favoured southern portions of the Western Interior Sea, occurring much less frequently in Canada than in the United States. In Saskatchewan, sea turtles are represented by just two occurrences of fragmentary material. The first, representing the northernmost occurrence of a sea turtle in North America, is from the Cenomanian Ashville Formation along the Manitoba Escarpment. The second occurrence is from the upper Campanian Bearpaw Formation of southwest Saskatchewan. In 2016, the first occurrence of a chelonioid sea turtle from Saskatchewan’s Dinosaur Park Formation was discovered in a marine bonebed deposit near hamlet of Herschel, SK. This specimen, RSM P3197.198, represents the largest and most diagnostic chelonioid specimen yet known from Saskatchewan. When compared to the sparse record of co-eval sea turtle diversity from Alberta, it also raises some interesting questions about sea turtle distribution and paleoenvironmental preferences. The collection of additional specimens from marine sediments of the Dinosaur Park Formation in Saskatchewan may reveal important information on the diversity and paleoecology of marine turtles in western Canada.

I N F O R M AT I O N 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: http://www.albertapaleo.org/.

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.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

BIOGRAPHY

A B S T R AC T

ALBERTA PALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Extraordinary Modes of Fossil Preservation Sedimentary Basin. Speaker: Jon Noad, Professional Geologist and Consulting Palaeontologist E-Technical Division Talk

BIOGRAPHY

November 19, 2021 | 7:30 PM MST

Jon has been working in mining, marine geology and latterly in oil and gas since 1998. After 20 years of hydrocarbon exploration and production he decided to set up his own consultancy, Sedimental Services, and now he runs field trips, teaches courses, logs core, manages site surveys as a qualified Professional Geologist and Consulting Palaeontologist of Alberta. He is happy to take on anything geological.

A B S T R AC T

nly a tiny fraction of animals are preserved as fossils, with the most common mode being permineralization, where crystals grow in pore spaces within the hard parts of the animal. However, there are a variety of extraordinary modes of fossilization, which can be subdivided into five categories: fossils preserved in thin, fine grained, layered sediments; cemented fossils and those preserved in nodules; fossils encased in amber, tufa, tar and ice; peculiar forms of mineralization; and replacement of soft parts by metals such as pyrite and gold. Examples provided range from famous fossil sites to little known examples from around the world. Common themes involved in exquisite preservation of ancient life include the importance of changes in relative sea level, early cementation and anoxic conditions. Several of the featured fossils are extraordinarily valuable either due to the forms of mineralization (gold, opal) or their uniqueness (Archaeopteryx, mummified Ice age mammals and more). Prepare to be astounded by the fossil treasures on display. During the talk I plan to cover basic directional drilling principles, different BHAs advantages and limitations, drilling quick projection to bit estimation, drilling parameters and how it correlates to lithology, and share some hints on ways to communicate geosteering recommendations so it is clearly understood by the drilling dept. I also want to share our way of communication leveraging cloud technologies where all the parties have access to latest MWD&LWD logs information, up to date geosteering model (estimated formation dip, wellbore stratigraphic position, distance to top/bottom of the target, % in target zone) and working well plan.

Telling Calgary's prehiStory: Behind the 2021 Historian in Residence Exhibit Speaker:Cory Gross, Historian in Resident and Alberta Palaeontological Society President E-Technical Division Talk

BIOGRAPHY

November 19, 2021 | 7:30 PM MST

A B S T R AC T

ory Gross, 2021 Historian in Residence and Alberta Palaeontological Society president, shares the behind-thescenes stories behind the creation of the Calgary's prehiStory exhibit at Calgary's Central Library.

Cory Gross is a professional educator with 20 years of experience in the field of museums and heritage. He studied geology at Mount Royal University and from there transferred into the Museum and Heritage Studies program at the University of Calgary. Cory was awarded his Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in 2005. In 2010 he was awarded a Masters of Theological Studies from Lutheran Theological Seminary – Saskatoon. He has previously worked at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary Zoo, Fort Calgary, and Heritage Park, runs his own earth science education company Sandstone Prehistoric Safaris Calgary, and currently serves as president and public outreach coordinator for the Alberta Palaeontological Society. Most recently, Cory was the 2021 Historian in Residence for the Calgary Public Library and Heritage Calgary.

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BASIN ANALYSIS ANDALBERTA SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY DIVISION PALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Utilizing Stratigraphy to Optimize Hydrocarbon Recovery in Unconventional Shale and Oil Sands Reservoirs Speaker: Greg M. Baniak (PhD, P.Geo)

A B S T R AC T

E-Technical Division Talk November 9th, 2021 | 12:00 PM MST

Specifically, stratigraphic mapping in the Montney Formation is instrumental in being able to sub-divide the reservoir beyond the traditional three primary stratigraphic sequences (Lower Montney, Middle Montney, and Upper Montney). Within each of the sequences, numerous parasequence sets can be deciphered in core and well-logs. Characterization of these higher-resolution parasequence sets has proven critical in being able to properly regeosteer previously drilled horizontal wells so that production results and petropyhyscial variations can be accurately compared across large geographic areas. Within the McMurray Formation, stratigraphic mapping is critical in being able to illustrate time-equivalent sand packages across the lower, middle, and upper McMurray members. Understanding these sand packages, and their spatial distribution, is essential in understanding reservoir heterogeneities which may act as either baffles or barriers to steam chamber development.

Greg Baniak graduated with his B.Sc. Honors in geology from the University of Saskatchewan in 2008 and his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Alberta in 2013. Following graduate school, he worked at BP Energy for over six years in a myriad of different roles (McMurray oil sands appraisal mapping and drilling, UK offshore appraisal mapping and exploration drilling, offshore wellsite geology). Following BP, he joined Petronas Canada in the fall of 2019 and currently evaluates the Montney Formation and global unconventional projects within their Unconventional Center of Excellence (UCOE).

7x3

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

BIOGRAPHY BIOGRAPHY

ithin western Canada, substantial deposits of hydrocarbons occur within the Lower Triassic Montney Formation and Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation. For each of these two unconventional reservoirs, accumulations of hydrocarbons are typically ubiquitous through the entire interval, quasi-continuous across large areas of land, and often contain no clearly defined boundaries. Additionally, due to the massive appearing nature of the rock facies at the full diameter core level, many erroneous interpretations that the reservoir is fairly homogenous and therefore predictable often occur. As will be presented in this talk, in order to properly predict recovery factors and ultimately better optimize economic forecasting, a more robust understanding of the reservoir stratigraphy is required.

HEAVY OIL / OIL SANDS DIVISION

Using Biomarkers for Heavy Oil Exploration and Production 101 E-Technical Division Talk November 3, 2021 | 8:00 AM MST

BIOGRAPHY

Presenter: Martin Fowler | Applied Petroleum Technology (Canada) Ltd.

A B S T R AC T

iomarker is shorthand for biological marker, a molecule found in the geosphere that possesses a carbon skeleton that can be related to a precursor compound that was synthesized by an organism. Hence, biomarkers can be thought of as chemical fossils. Biomarkers have many uses in oil and gas exploration, and production. These include as thermal maturation indices, for oil-oil and oil-source correlations, as well as indicators of depositional environments of their source rocks, reservoir alteration such as biodegradation, of contamination and pollution, migration, and reservoir compartmentalization and production monitoring. This presentation will briefly introduce the groups of biomarkers most commonly applied to heavy oil exploration and production problems. Almost all heavy oils are the result of microbial alteration of lighter oil, hence there will be an emphasis on the process of biodegradation and how it affects geochemical parameters, especially those based on biomarker distributions. Microbes tend to degrade compounds sequentially which has allowed the development of biodegradation scales that enable the level of microbial alteration of different samples to be compared. With increasing biodegradation, oils become more viscous, have lower API gravities, have decreasing hydrocarbon contents, richer in nonhydrocarbons and metals and hence generally have less value. Most of the talk will concentrate on the application of biomarkers to solve heavy oil production problems in Alberta, although some examples from elsewhere in the world will be included. These will include comparing the level of biodegradation between samples and how this might indicate which oils can be more easily produced, detecting mixtures of biodegraded and unbiodegraded oil and variations in source, how variations in level of biodegradation down wells can reveal the presence of baffles and reservoir compartmentalization, and how biomarkers in heavy oils can be used for production monitoring and allocation.

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Martin spent almost 25 years at the Geological Survey of Canada as a petroleum geochemist working on many multidisciplinary projects examining hydrocarbon resources in Canada and many other parts of the world. He then spent two years at Talisman. Since March 2013, he has been with Applied Petroleum Technology (Canada), as Senior Petroleum Geochemist. Martin has authored or co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers, as well as numerous government and client reports. He has been an Associated Editor for Organic Geochemistry and the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, was an adjunct professor with the University of Calgary for twenty years and is now adjunct at Dalhousie University. He has organized or co-organized symposia for several different organizations including the CSPG and AAPG and been an instructor of short courses on Petroleum Geochemistry for the CSPG, AAPG, and petroleum companies.

HEAVY OIL / OIL SANDS DIVISION

Using sedimentary deposits formed landward of the paleo-shoreline to unravel architecture and chronostratigraphy of the McMurray Formation in the Firebag Tributary Presenter: Dr Lucian Rinke-Hardekopf E-Technical Division Talk December 1, 2021 | 8:00 AM MST

A B S T R AC T

First, petrographic trends in coals sitting at the top of the Lower McMurray formed following increasing rates (0.5-3 mmyr-1) of sea-level rise during the Early Cretaceous. These coals outline the paleo-shoreline in the Firebag Tributary during Lower McMurray times. An ashbed situated in this coal is dated at 121.39 ± 0.20 Ma, providing the first absolute age in the McMurray Fm. Second, detailed facies analysis and stratigraphic correlation of strata formed on delta and coastal plains in the Firebag Tributary allows for the identification of 2 progradational and 2 retrogradational phases of deposition. During Lower McMurray times the paleo-shoreline resided near the western edge of the Firebag Tributary, and mature paleosols underlying coals at its top indicate a potential maximum regressive surface. During the C2-B2 depositional units (DU), regression lead to paleo-shoreline close to the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. This is followed by a phase of progradation during the B1 DU, where coastal strata capping the unit lack evidence of base-level fall and demarcate major flooding. Progressive transgression ensued during deposition of the A2-A1 DUs. Third, an ash-bed at the top of the B1 DU (115.07 ± 0.16 Ma) reveals that Lower McMurray to B1 DUs were deposited over ~1.6 Ma each.

BIOGRAPHY

he McMurray Formation in the McMurray Depocenter (MDC), Canada, comprises shallowmarine and terrestrial sedimentary strata that form seven depositional units (DUs, from bottom to top): lower McMurray, C2, C1, B2, B1, A2, and A1. As DUs are largely eroded by contemporaneous channel belts and/or successive valley incision, McMurray Formation stratigraphy is highly complex, and the presently accepted chronostratigraphic framework relies largely on low-precision palynology. In contrast to the southern MDC, the northeastern Firebag Tributary comprises significant strata formed on deltaic and coastal plain deposits have a higher potential for preserving chronostratigraphic marker beds (e.g., ash), as well as recording baselevel fluctuations. A combined sedimentological-geochronological approach is employed to unravel the importance of paleoenvironments landward of the shoreline in understanding the stratigraphic architecture, and chronostratigraphy of the McMurray Formation.

2012 - University of Cologne (Germany), B.Sc. Geosciences 2015 - RWTH Aachen (Germany), M.Sc. Applied Geosciences (specialization: Energy & Mineral Resources) Master thesis: 3D Seismic Geomorphology of a Miocene Reefrimmed Carbonate Platform and Slope Complex, North West Shelf Australia 2021 - Simon Fraser University (Canada), PhD in sedimentology PhD Thesis: Utilizing Sedimentology and Geochronology to resolve the Architecture of Paralic Strata in LowAccommodation Systems, McMurray Formation, Canada Supervisor: Dr Shahin Dashtgard

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

ENERGY TRANSITION AND SUSTAINABILITY DIVISION

Geoscientists: Explorers and Architects of the New Energy Economy November 17, 2021 | 6:30 – 7:30 PM MST 1 CPD (Continuing Professional Development) credit will be awarded for this event

A B S T R AC T

he energy transition is synonymous with a fundamental breakthrough in energy storage. Since the discovery of fire, humans have relied on storage of energy through photosynthesis, geologic processes to concentrate energy more efficiently, and the subsequent breaking of hydrogen-carbon bonds in wood, coal, oil, or natural gas to release energy. This process not only produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a biproduct, but it also destroys the energy storage device forever, requiring that new quantities of hydrocarbons be extracted and combusted for every joule or watt hour of energy consumed. Renewable energy storage devices - batteries - require a similar amount of carbon for extraction and manufacturing but emit no carbon dioxide on use. Moreover, the extracted components used to make batteries (or solar panels or wind turbines) are not destroyed to produce energy, but can be reused, repurposed, or fully recycled. Not only is the new energy economy here, but the circular economy is just around the corner. The talents of geoscientist will translate effectively to all aspects of the rapidly developing sustainable energy supply chain. First and foremost, we bring our geologic expertise, along with our exploration and mining experience, to the problem of filling the rising demand for metals and other conductive materials used to power the Internet of Things, electric vehicles, distributed energy resources, and utility systems. The extractive industries that produce materials for energy storage will rely on sustainable development, environmental management, and proper social license now more than ever. Mineralogy, crystallography, material science, and nanotechnology will be increasingly essential skills as we onshore industrial processing as well as electrode design and manufacturing. Optimization of battery chemistries and recycling metals from waste will also call on metallurgical and refining expertise. Related energy resources, such as geothermal, as well as subsurface energy storage in green hydrogen and carbon sequestration will call on subsurface and surface geological skills. As we move from a society that extracts and uses up our energy resources to one that optimizes energy as a service, the most valuable talents we bring to the table may well be our creativity and thirst for discovery, as well as our willingness to embrace change.

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BIOGRAPHY

Speaker: Edith Newton Wilson, PhD, FGS, President and CEO, Rock Whisperer LLC

Edith is the owner of Rock Whisperer LLC, where she works to engage emerging professionals in energy solutions for a changing world and consults on renewable energy and climate mitigation projects. Edith is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and the Geological Society of London, a member of the American Geophysical Union, and an Honorary Member of the Geosciences Advisory Board at the University of Arkansas. Edith and her husband, Glenn, are Founding Members of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, where they make their home, and where Edith also volunteers as a member of the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps. In 20182019, Edith chaired the ad hoc Committee on Climate Change for the AAPG. She received her BA in Geology from Dartmouth College in 1982, and her MA and PHD in Carbonate Sedimentology from Johns Hopkins University in 1988. Her career in the energy industry began in Houston where she was an international explorer, negotiator, and manager with Amoco and bp. In Oklahoma, Edith worked with Phillips Petroleum on global new ventures, ConocoPhillips on leadership development, Samson Resources on domestic shale gas projects, and in 2008 co-founded TallGrass Energy. Edith has traveled throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa - where she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2004 - and is conversant in French, Italian and Portuguese.

GEOTHERMAL DIVISION

Sustainability and Renewability of Geothermal Energy in Western Canada Presenter: Nelson Molina Giraldo, Ph.D., P.Eng., Fluid Domains Inc. E-Technical Division Talk December 9, 2021 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM MST

A B S T R AC T

The objective of this presentation is to clarify the renewability and sustainability concepts by explaining the heat transport processes controlling the natural replenishment of geothermal resources and the development and management factors controlling their potential long-term sustainability. The concepts will be discussed in the context of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). Additionally, strategies for sustainability management such as reinjection strategies and well network optimization in warm sedimentary formations will be discussed.

Nelson Molina Giraldo is a Hydrogeological Engineer and Partner at Fluid Domains Inc. Mr. Molina Giraldo has a Masters and a PhD in Applied Environmental Geoscience from the University of Tübingen in Germany. His research focused on the use of analytical solutions to assess thermal plume migration in aquifers from low-enthalpy geothermal systems and the use of numerical methods to assess groundwater – surface water interactions by using heat as a tracer. Mr. Molina Giraldo has 12 years of experience in the field of hydrogeology with particular strengths in the analysis of groundwater thermal data and numerical methods applied to heat transport problems. He also has a wealth of experience in developing numerical models to analyze groundwater flow and transport of associated contaminants. His experience includes conducting numerical modeling to: assess the feasibility of groundwater withdrawal/disposal forecasts for operational management and regulatory needs; support development of interim risk management plans for contaminated sites; support decision-making for mine operations and mine closures; and to assess thermal plume migration (single- and multi-phase flow) in aquifers from SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) and CSS (Cyclic Steam Stimulation) operations.

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BIOGRAPHY

he notion of continuous and perpetual utilization of geothermal resources is usually taken for granted by stakeholders, regulators, the general public, and operators. The main reason is that the concepts of renewability and sustainability are commonly used interchangeably and are often oversimplified. The renewability of a geothermal resource is related to its physical properties. In other words, the renewability is driven by factors beyond human’s technological control such as the geological nature of the system. On the other hand, sustainability of a geothermal resource is related to the way the resource is developed and managed over time. Factors affecting sustainability are, for instance, reinjection strategies, output power requirements and well network design.

GEOWOMEN TALKS

Starting a consulting business (Part 2 of 2) – Entrepreneurial journey during a pandemic Speaker: Michelle Saquet (M.Sc. P.Geo.), Founder of Athena Subsurface Ltd. and Senior Geologist, Parex Resources Inc. Moderator: Amy Fox (Ph.D. P.Geo.), Geomechanics Specialist, President and cofounder of Enlighten Geosciences Ltd. E-Technical Division Talk November 16, 2021 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM

A B S T R AC T BIOGRAPHY

tarting a business from scratch during a pandemic was a brave choice. Michelle decided to start Athena Subsurface, an incorporated consulting company that would connect multi-disciplinary energy professionals who offered a unique set of technical expertise with energy companies who lacked a skilled, functional technical team. The initial concept of Athena was to provide an asset team for hire, an arrangement benefiting both parties: companies would receive guidance on established technologies and best practices while staying agile and lean, Athena’s technical team would gain experience in emerging opportunities. How does one go about starting a business? This talk will cover the main learnings while building Athena Subsurface. -

Attend a self-employment program to learn business planning, strategy, market research, marketing, and sales.

Create a personal brand presence through LinkedIn

Create a company brand and marketing strategy

Focus on what makes the company different from competitors

Network inside and outside of the energy industry in a way that best suits you

BIOGRAPHY

Entrepreneurial journeys require continual personal growth, passion, perseverance, and a positive mind set particularly during these challenging times in the industry. This presentation will provide a perspective, key learnings, and tools that may assist in navigating the geoscience consulting business path.

Michelle Saquet is a professional geologist (M.Sc. P.Geol.) with 15 years of experience in energy. She started her career as a wellsite geologist working in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. In 2004 she joined Nexen Inc., where she worked as a production, development, and exploration geologist in a wide range of basins, play types, and countries. After being laid off from CNOOC in 2020, she enthusiastically used the time to discover what work and her career meant to her.

Amy is a geomechanics specialist with decades (ouch) of industry (mostly oil and gas, but other stuff like geothermal, too!) experience. She was trained at Stanford University and by working at Geomechanics International (and Baker Hughes, after it bought GMI). Since 2015 she's been helping to grow her own integrated consulting business, Enlighten Geoscience, where she spends zero time in management meetings and lots of time trying to figure out better ways to help her clients. At Enlighten, the only company line she has to toe is the one that aligns with her personal and professional values.

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THE BAKKEN FORMATION:

A View From South of the 49th Parallel Bruce S. Hart | Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario

Introduction This article describes and interprets the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Upper Devonian/Lower Mississippian Bakken Formation, focusing primarily on the North Dakota part of the Williston Basin (Figure 1). I then link those characteristics to reservoir and source-rock properties. The intent is to familiarize Canadian readers with the rocks, including prevailing interpretations thereof, from south of the international border. Given the stratigraphic continuity of the Bakken across the border, and to make comparison of key properties easier, I compare the stratigraphy and properties of a representative well from North Dakota with those from the Viewfield oil accumulation in southeast Saskatchewan. I use photos and other data from North

Figure 1. Structure map of the Bakken Formation in the Williston Basin. Dashed red line shows approximate preserved limit of the Bakken. Elm Coulee Field (Montana) and Viewfield (Saskatchewan) are both stratigraphic traps, whereas most of the US production is from the deepest part of the Williston Basin and there is no obvious up-dip structural or stratigraphic trapping mechanism.

Dakota cores to supplement the information and interpretations provided for the core that forms the main focus of this paper. Oil production from the Bakken Formation straddles the US/Canada border. Although it is called an unconventional play north and south of the 49th parallel the reservoir, as shown herein the Middle Bakken is considerably tighter in the US portion of the basin (Figure 2). Furthermore, most of the US production comes from the deepest part of the basin where the Lower and Upper Bakken Shale source rocks are in the oil window and migration distances are short (meters). Conversely, those two shales are thermally immature in most of Saskatchewan, implying that hydrocarbons in the Bakken there have migrated 10s of km north, out of the US portion of the basin. Figure 1 shows the current structure on the Bakken Formation and the location of key pools described in this paper.

Figure 2. Permeability/porosity cross plot comparing reservoir quality of the Middle Bakken in North Dakota (yellow squares) to that of the Middle Bakken in the Viewfield area of Saskatchewan. Although defined as an unconventional reservoir in Canada, the Bakken has one or two orders of magnitude higher permeability there than in the core productive area of North Dakota. Highest permeability North Dakota samples are probably artifacts produced by microcracks in the tested samples (e.g., Li et al. 2015).

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General Stratigraphic Framework: Facies and Facies Successions The Bakken was deposited in the intracratonic Williston Basin at the end of the Devonian and into the early part of the Mississippian. There have been many different interpretations of its depositional history and stratigraphic architecture, ranging from the local (“pad”) scale to the basinal scale. The recent synthesis of Hart and Hofmann (2020) summarizes some of the diverging opinions and forms the basis of the interpretation I present here. I illustrate facies and log signatures using data from the US portion of the basin in Figure 3. Like the Canadian portion of the Bakken, there are three members: The Upper Bakken Shale, the Middle Bakken, and the Lower Bakken Shale. Figure 4 shows slabbed core photographs from the Middle Bakken in this well.

Figure 3. Selected logs and core data for the Bakken Formation in a representative well from the US portion of the Williston Basin (location shown in Figure 5). Pie charts in the gamma-ray track are from XRD analyses. Core porosity measurements are from routine core analyses in the Middle Bakken but from GRI (crushed) analyses in the Shale members. Note the large discrepancy between core and log measurements in the shale members. TOC values from rock-eval analyses are compared against TOC derived from the density log using the equation of Schmoker and Hester (1983). The log-derived TOC measurements capture the trends but the resolution of the density log prevents some of the small-scale variability from being captured. Middle Bakken Units 1-3 (MB-1 - MB-3) are those of Hart and Hofmann (2020) and correspond to Units A-B (respectively) of Kohlruss and Nickel (2009). See text for further description.

Figure 5. Isopach maps of the Lower, Middle and Upper members of the Bakken Formation. Red star shows the approximate location of the well shown in Figure 3. The organic content of the Lower Bakken is high, averaging between 10-15% by weight, and is dominated by Type II (oil prone) kerogen (Figure 6; Hart and Steen, 2015). Given the low density of organic matter, that implies that approximately 20-30% of the volume of the rock is presently composed of organic matter. In the Viewfield area, the Lower Bakken Shale is thermally immature. As noted previously, oils there have migrated north, out of the thermally mature US portion of the basin.

Figure 6. Rock-eval data from the Lower Bakken Shale. Data points from Core A correspond to samples taken from the well in Figure 3. Grey dots show Lower Bakken data from the North Dakota Geological Survey’s compilation (https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/core_analysis/) and represent a range of thermal maturities. Viewfield data were collected from four wells accessed from the Saskatchewan government’s GeoAtlas portal (https://gisappl.saskatchewan.ca/ Html5Ext/index.html?viewer=GeoAtlas). Mineralogically, the Lower Bakken Shale is siliceous, like the Marcellus and Barnett, rather than calcareous like the Eagle Ford (Figure 7; Hart et al., 2013). Like the Marcellus, the highest TOC tends to be associated with the highest quartz content.

Figure 4. Slabbed Middle Bakken core from the well shown in Figure 3. Note the layout is reversed compared to normal Canadian core displays – top of core is in upper left. Coloured polygons show extent of three subunits of the Middle Bakken. Top of Middle Bakken was preserved at the time of the photography and was picked from CT scan of core. At the end of the Devonian, the Williston Basin was in an equatorial setting. An arm of the ocean extended into the continental interior, flooding the basin, and leading to deposition of the Lower Bakken Shale. Locally that shale is >10 m thick, generally in the US portion of the basin (Figure 5).

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Figure 7. Ternary mineralogy plot comparing the Lower and Upper Bakken Shale against Eagle Ford, Marcellus and Second White Specks. Bubble size proportional to TOC. Eagle Ford data from Hart et al. (2020). Marcellus data from Hart et al. (2013). Second White Specks data from Furmann et al. (2016) and Bloch et al. (1999).

Elemental geochemistry (XRF) data can be used to infer that most of the quartz is biogenic, i.e., the recrystallized remains of radiolarians rather than detrital silt (Figure 8). In some places, the radiolarians have been pyritized (Figure 9). Together, the high organic content and the high biogenic silica content indicate that the Williston Basin was relatively starved of siliciclastic input during the ~ 3 million years represented by the Lower Bakken Shale.

Figure 8. XRF data from the core shown in Figure 3. Silica can be either detrital or biogenic, whereas aluminum and titanium are detrital (e.g., aluminum in clays and feldspars). Positive correlations between silica and either of those two other elements indicate that the source of the silica and those elements is the same. The quartz is predominantly detrital, as seen for the Middle Bakken in the plots above. Negative correlations between silica and Al and/or Ti indicate that the silica is biogenic. Increases in the detrital/siliciclastic input correspond to a decrease in the biogenic silica content, as seen for the Upper and Lower Bakken Shale.

Figure 10. The base of the Middle Bakken is sharp on wireline logs but can be expressed as a burrowed interval several cm thick in core. Burrows are typically horizontal (such as the Thalassinoides burrows seen in these images) suggesting that organisms burrowed along the contact between the two. Top: Horizontal slice through a CT scan at the level of the red line in the images below. Lower left: Slabbed core photograph of the contact. Lower right: CT scan showing the same interval as the core photo. Grey tones in the CT scans are proportional to the sediment density. Darker grey areas in the CT scans show the low-density shale and lighter areas show silt-filled (quartz, calcite and dolomite) Thalassinoides and other burrows. Overlying the regressive surface of marine erosion is MB-1 (Unit A of Kohlruss and Nickel, 2009; Figure 3). Facies stacking in this unit corresponds to the progradation of a low-energy strandplain. The lowermost facies (Facies B of Sonnenberg et al., 2017) consists of pervasively bioturbated muddy siltstones. Brachiopods, crinoids and other bioclastic debris are common in the lower few meters of this unit. Burrows include Nereites, Phycosiphon, and Teichichnus. Mineralogy is a mix of quartz, feldspars, dolomite, calcite, and clays. These are the deposits of a well-oxygenated, fully marine lowenergy shoreface.

Figure 9. Pyrite-replaced radiolarians in the Lower Bakken Shale. At least two glacioeustatic lowstands led to forced regression and deposition of the Middle Bakken, much of which forms a relatively sheet-like, low-energy strandplain deposit that covers much of the basin. The first forced regression is expressed as the always abrupt (on logs, e.g., Figure 3) contact between the Lower and Middle Bakken members (Smith and Bustin, 1998). In core, the contact is burrowed (Figure 10) by organisms that mined the interface between the oxygenated sediment pore waters of the overlying prograding strandplain, and organic-rich muds of the Lower Bakken.

Figure 11. Pervasively bioturbated muddy siltstones of Facies B (Unit MB-1) from three different slabbed North Dakota cores. Light-grey patches are calcite cemented. Note abundant brachiopods in center core. Brachiopods tend to be more common toward the base of the unit. Conformably overlying Facies B are very fine- to fine-grained sandstones of Facies C. This unit has more quartz and less clay and dolomite. Primary sedimentary structures include lower flowregime planar laminations, algal laminations and ripples (Figure 12Figure 13Figure 20). Rare horizontal cores provide greater lateral extent with which to define sedimentary structures that can be cryptic or misinterpreted in vertical cores. Laminations are formed by the alternation of cleaner and more clay-rich intervals. Burrows are few but include mm-scale Planolites that are sometimes pyritized. Sedimentary structures are interpreted to represent an environmentally stressed (high salinity?) low-energy upper shoreface and (perhaps) foreshore.

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Figure 12. Rippled and laminated very fine- to fine-grained sandstones of Facies C (Unit MB-1) from three different slabbed North Dakota cores. Because of the relatively narrow diameter of the core, the nature of the sedimentary structures can be cryptic.

Figure 13. Slabbed, core segments through low-energy upper shoreface Facies C in an approximately horizontal core from the North Dakota portion of the Bakken Formation. Core photos have been tilted to enhance stratigraphic continuity, each showing ~ .5 m of core (note 2.5 cm diameter plugging hole in top photo). Top image shows lower flow-regime planar laminations and lower images show algal bedding. In all cases, darker laminae are clay rich and lighter laminae are cleaner. A second forced regression, corresponding to a second glacioeustatic lowstand, is represented by the contact between MB-1 and MB-2 (Kohlruss and Nickel, 2009; Hart and Hofmann, 2020). A distinct change in depositional environment is also associated with this stratigraphic break. Whereas the underlying MB-1 represents a low-energy strandplain, MB-2 (Facies D) consist of high-energy sandy limestones or calcareous sandstones where present in the North Dakota portion of the basin (Figure 14). In the core of Figure 3, most of this unit is best described as a bioclastic to oolitic, cross-bedded grainstone. MB-2 is not present everywhere in North Dakota.

Figure 15. Core GR logs from two wells located ~10 km (1 township) apart. Core on left is for the well shown in Figure 3 where the calcareous/oolitic unit MB-2 is approximately 8 m thick. Facies E dolomitic siltstones erosively overlie Facies D calcarenites. Facies D is not preserved in the core at right, although ooids are present in Thalassinoides burrows that extend down below the unconformity between MB-1 and MB-3. The inference is that ooid shoals moved along the sea floor here but were not preserved. The uppermost portion of the Middle Bakken, MB-3 (Unit C of Kohlruss and Nickel, 2009), represents a return to relatively lowenergy, open-marine conditions. The clay content increases, dolomite increases, and quartz decreases. Brachiopods are present at some levels, with bioturbation ranging from absent to pervasive. The contact between this and the overlying Upper Bakken Shale is sharp on logs. Unfortunately, this contact was not available for the core from Figure 3, but it is typically burrowed in other cores from North Dakota. Together, the different units of the Middle Bakken can be 20 m thick, generally in the center of the basin (Figure 5B). The thickness is greatest there where unit MB-2 is present. As seen in Figure 15, MB-2 can pinch out laterally over very short distances. Unit MB-1 has an approximately tabular, laterally continuous stratigraphic geometry that is reminiscent of some Cretaceous strandplain deposits of the Alberta Basin such as the Kakwa Member of the Cardium Formation (e.g., Hart and Plint, 1993) or the Cadotte Member (McCullagh and Hart, 2009) although the latter units represent high-energy siliciclastic shorefaces. A final flooding of the Williston Basin, perhaps associated with the end of continental glaciation in Gondwana, led to deposition of the Upper Bakken Shale. Although not quite as thick as the Lower Bakken Shale (Figure 5C) and somewhat more clay rich (Figure 3Figure 7) the Upper Bakken Shale is also very organic rich.

Reservoir Quality Deposition, diagenesis, and reservoir quality are linked in the Middle Bakken, as they are in many reservoirs. Pore-filling clays (both depositional and diagenetic) and early calcite cement both reduce porosity and permeability in the reservoir.

Figure 14. Two examples of Facies D (MB-2). Left: calcite-cemented oolitic grainstone from core shown in Figure 3. Right: Oolites in a quartzose sandstone from another core.

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Close examination of calcite concretions indicates the calcite precipitated early, prior to most compaction (Figure 16). Isotopic evidence also supports an early origin for the calcite (Brodie et al., 2018). The effects of calcite cementation on reservoir quality are obvious when comparing core using UV and white light, as seen in Figure 17. Cementation clearly preceded oil migration, preventing oil charging of those cemented areas. Some of the cementation forms discrete concretions (in both Facies B and C of MB-1) whereas cementation is associated with burrowing in some of the Facies B

shaley siltstones. In essence, the more calcite cementation, the lower net:gross of the Middle Bakken. Calcite cementation is usually pervasive in the limestones and calcareous sandstones of Facies D (MB-2; Figure 14), meaning that coarse-grained interval has very little storage capacity for hydrocarbons. Thin sections and SEM imagery show the nature of the calcite cement. It is replacive, and porosity destroying (Figure 18).

Figure 19. Permeability/porosity cross plot for the Middle Bakken in the core from Figure 3, with data points scaled by calcite content from XRD.

Figure 16. Margin of a small calcite concretion (C) in laminated very fine-grained sandstones of MB-1. Note the expansion of lamina thickness from outside to within the concretion, and compactional drape.

Figure 17. Comparison of UV and white-light photos of core from the Middle Bakken (MB-1). A) UV photo of Facies C laminated fine-grained sandstones. Porous and oil-charged portions fluoresce, whereas calcite-cemented areas do not. B) White-light photograph of the same interval shows calcite-cemented intervals as light grey. C) This UV photo of Facies B shows discrete calcite-cemented intervals but also cementation associated with burrows. D) White-light photograph of the interval shown in Part C. Light-grey areas are calcite cemented.

Figure 18 A) EDS mineralogy map of pervasive calcite cementation (blue). Colour bar at right shows mineralogy. B) Thin-section view of calcite-cemented fine- to very fine-grained sandstone, note the replacive nature of the cement (pink) and presence of some dissolution porosity (blue). The impact of the calcite cementation becomes even clearer in a permeability/porosity plot when the data points are scaled according to their calcite content from XRD (Figure 19). Calcitecemented parts of the Middle Bakken (lower left in the graph) typically have ~2% porosity and nD-range permeability. As noted above, those calcite-cemented rocks can be present in any part of the Middle Bakken.

A second control on porosity and permeability is the presence of clays, commonly as a diagenetic and/or depositional pore fill, but also as laminations in Facies C (Figure 12Figure 13). The clays reduce porosity and define pore-throat apertures, reducing permeability (Figure 22). It is not always possible to distinguish depositional from diagenetic clays, even with SEM imagery. Bioturbation has clearly mixed detrital clays and silts in Facies B but clays of uncertain origin can be present in the Facies C sandstones. The highest porosity and permeability is associated with low-clay, clean quartzose sandstones of Facies C from the top of the MB-1 progradational succession. Li et al (2015) provided further information about the links between deposition, diagenesis, and reservoir quality for other Middle Bakken cores from North Dakota. They also noted that permeability from routine core analyses can sometimes be artificially high (by one or two orders of magnitude) when microcracks are present in plugs used for testing. For that reason, they advocated the use of mercury injection permeability data for the microDarcy-range Middle Bakken.

Figure 20. Small-scale lithologic heterogeneity in Facies C corresponding to laminations such as those illustrated in Figure 13. A) Oil-charged clean sandstones are light blue and clay-rich laminae are dark in this UV photograph of a core plug. Note the rippled nature of the cleanest sandstones. B) EDS-based mineralogy of main mineralogic components, showing very fine-grained sand composed of quartz, dolomite, potassium feldspar and calcite separated by a thin lamination of much finer sediment. C) Same field of view as Part B but colour coded to show clays (green). The fine-grained lamination in image center is primarily composed of clay but note the presence of pore-filling clays in other parts of the image.

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Could the Bakken Shales be Completed as Reservoirs?

Figure 21. EDS mineralogy maps showing details of a clay-rich lamination in Facies C sandstones such as those shown in Figure 12Figure 13. A) Colours selected to show sand mineralogy. Colour code as in Figure 20. B) Same field of view with clays coloured green.

Figure 22. SEM imagery of pore-filling clays in the Middle Bakken. Inter- and intra-particle porosity of the clays defines the pore-throat aperture, a primary control on permeability. Images courtesy of Mark Brodie and Andy Aplin.

Although they are mineralogically comparable to the Barnett, Muskwa and parts of the Marcellus, several factors suggest the Lower and/or Upper Bakken Shales would not work as source-rock reservoirs (Figure 23). First, the Bakken Shales have neither the porosity (“storage”) of the Eagle Ford nor the permeability (“deliverability”) of the Marcellus. Second, the high TOC content lowers the Young’s modulus (Figure 3) making the shales more compliant. Proppant embedment and other factors related to rock strength would be a problem. Third, no significant changes in Poisson’s ratio are present between the shale members and the Middle Bakken, or between the Lower Bakken and the underlying Three Forks. As such, and because horizontal stresses are proportional to Poisson’s ratio in an intracratonic basin like the Williston, there are no stress barriers to confine hydraulic fractures within the shales. For these and other reasons, the Bakken Shales have not been successful as source-rock plays although they have produced for decades as a natural fracture play in some parts of the basin (Sonnenberg et al., 2017).

At least in part because of the lower-permeability nature of the North Dakota play, horizontal wells are longer (Figure 23). The extra length and associated hydraulic fractures provide extra surface area to enhance production. Representative decline curves for the two areas are shown in Figure 24.

Figure 23. Maps showing Middle Bakken horizontal well paths from representative 4-section areas at Viewfield (left) and from the Parshall area of North Dakota (right). Horizontal wells are typically ~1 mile (1.6 km) long at Viewfield and twice as long in North Dakota. Well orientation varies in both areas according to operators’ preferences.

Figure 25. Permeability vs porosity data for the Upper and Lower Bakken Shales compared to other source rocks. Muskwa/Evie data from Dong (2016). Eagle Ford data from Hart et al. (2020).

Closing Comments This review has focused on the sedimentologic and stratigraphic characteristics of the Bakken in North Dakota and linking those properties to selected controls on production from that unit. Although I have compared some properties of the North Dakota play to those of the Bakken at Viewfield, a full comparison of depositional and diagenetic controls on reservoir properties from those two areas would be instructive. Figure 24. Representative decline curves for Middle Bakken production at Viewfield (Saskatchewan) and the greater Parshall area (North Dakota).

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Acknowledgments I thank my former coworkers at Equinor and ConocoPhillips (both in Texas) for their insights into the Bakken. I thank Equinor for permission to publish. The interpretations and opinions expressed herein are my own. n

REFERENCES Bloch, J.D., Schröder-Adams, C.J., Leckie, D.A., Craig, J., McIntyre, D.J., 1999. Sedimentology, micropaleontology, geochemistry and hydrocarbon potential of shale from the Cretaceous Lower Colorado Group in Western Canada. Geol. Surv. Can. Bull. 531, 185 p. Brodie, M., Aplin, A.C., Hart, B.S., Orland, I.J., Valley, J.W., and Boyce, A.J., 2018, Oxygen isotope microanalysis by secondary ion mass spectrometry suggests continuous 300-million-year history of calcite cementation and dolomitization in the Devonian Bakken Formation. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 88, 91-104. Dong, T., 2016, Geochemical, petrophysical and geomechanical properties of stratigraphic sequences in Horn River Shale, Middle and Upper Devonian, Northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Unpublished PhD, University of Alberta, 238p.

Hart, B.S., and Hofmann, M., 2020. The Late Devonian ice age and the giant Bakken Oil Field. Sedimentary Record 18, 4-9. Hart, B., Macquaker, J., and Taylor, K., 2013. Mudstone (“shale”) depositional and diagenetic processes: implications for seismic analyses of source-rock reservoirs. Interpretation 1, B7-B26. Hart, B.S. and Plint, A.G., 1993. Tectonic influence on deposition and erosion in a ramp setting: Upper Cretaceous Cardium Formation, Alberta Foreland Basin. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 77, 20922107. Hart, B.S., and Steen, A.S., 2015. Programmed pyrolysis (rock-eval™) data and shale paleoenvironmental analyses: a review. Interpretation 3, SH41-SH58.

Furmann, A., Mastalerz, M., Schimmelmann, A., and Pedersen, P.K., 2014, Relationships between porosity, organic matter, and mineral matter in mature organic-rich marine mudstones of the Belle Fourche and Second White Specks formations in Alberta, Canada. Marine and Petroleum Geology 54, 65-81.

Kohlruss, D., and Nickel, E., 2009. Facies analysis of the Upper Devonian– Lower Mississippian Bakken Formation, Southeastern Saskatchewan: Summary of Investigations 2009, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources, Miscellaneous Report 2009-4.1, Paper A-6, 11 p.

Hart, B.S., Godet, A., Pope, M.C., Griffith, C., 2020, Geologic Controls on Production: Upper Cretaceous Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk, South Texas, SEPM Field Trip Guidebook 16, 145 p.

Li, H., Hart, B., Dawson, M., and Radjef, E., 2015. Characterizing the Middle Bakken: laboratory measurement and rock typing of the Middle Bakken Formation. URTEC 2172485, 13 p.

McCullagh, T., and Hart, B.S., 2010. Stratigraphic Controls on production from a Basin-Centered Gas System: Lower Cretaceous Cadotte Member, Deep Basin Alberta. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 94, 293-315. Phelps, A.S., Hofmann, M.H., and Hart, B.S., 2018. Facies and stratigraphic architecture of the Upper Devonian – Lower Mississippian Sappington Formation, southwestern Montana: a potential outcrop analog for the Bakken Formation. AAPG Bulletin 102, 793-815. Smith, M. G., and Bustin, R. M., 1998. Production and preservation of organic matter during deposition of the Bakken Formation (Late Devonian and Early Mississippian), Williston Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 142, 185–200. Sonnenberg, S. A., Theloy, C., and Jin, H., 2017. The giant continuous oil accumulation in the Bakken Petroleum System, U.S. Williston Basin, in R.K. Merrill and C.A. Sternbach, eds., Giant Fields Of The Decade 2000-2010, AAPG Memoir 113, 91-120.

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ABSTRACT

Downslope variability in deep-water slope channel fill facies and stacking patterns: implications for hydrocarbon exploration PRESENTER: Benjamin Daniels | DATE: Wednesday December 15th at Noon

Benjamin Daniels was

ithologic variations in systems; >30 m thick; >400 m wide) the winner of the deep-water slope channel was conducted along a 50-km long CSPG PhD Thesis systems offer key insight depositional-dip-oriented outcrop belt into sedimentary processes of the Campanian-Maastrichtian Tres Award in 2020. on deep-water slopes, and are a Pasos Formation (Chile) to constrain primary control on performance and longitudinal changes in slope channel updip stratigraphic trap formation in fill character and stacking patterns. subsurface reservoirs associated with Results show that channel elements ancient deep-water systems on numerous continental in updip regions of the system contain abundant siltstone, margins. While many studies have described these whereas channel elements in downdip regions are more variations at outcrop-scale along depositional strike sandstone-rich. Outcrop observations are supported (across-channel), few have focused on deciphering by channel element net-to-gross ratios (i.e., measures down-depositional-dip changes due to: (1) the paucity of of sandstone proportion), which progressively increase downslope perspectives afforded by outcrops; or (2) limited downdip. The proportion of sandstone-rich channel resolution subsurface data. In this study, characterization elements within channel complexes and channel systems of slope channel elements (≤30 m thick; ≤400 m wide) and also increases downdip; however, channel element stacking composite channelform bodies composed of two or more pattern variability results in a poor correlation between netstacked channel elements (channel complexes and channel to-gross values and paleoslope position when composite

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channelform bodies are considered. These findings indicate that the longitudinal distribution of coarse-grained detritus in channel systems is fundamentally tied to the degree of coarse-grained sediment bypass and erosion that occurs along a slope. The results of this study provide a uniquely detailed record of changes in channel fill and stacking patterns along deep-water slopes, and

help inform various aspects of analogous subsurface reservoirs, including the nature of updip stratigraphic traps, as well as sandstone proportion trends at numerous scales. n

BIOGRAPHY: Ben is a Geology Laboratory Instructor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Mount Royal University in Calgary. He holds PhD and MSc degrees in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Calgary, and an Honours BSc degree in Earth and Environmental Science from the University of Waterloo. Prior to joining Mount Royal, Ben held a variety of research-oriented roles with the Canadian government, various academic institutions, and the petroleum industry, and spent time working in various areas across Canada, the United States, Chile, and Argentina. Ben is passionate about all aspects of geology, and is keen to help the next generation of geoscientists find exciting and rewarding employment upon graduation.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

From the Desk of the AER Mauricio Canales, Virginia Stern, and Todd Shipman

Putting the Geo in Alberta’s Geothermal Energy Alberta’s energy sector is vast and complex: it includes crude oil, natural gas, oil sands, coal resources, and now geothermal energy! Geothermal will help diversify our economy, provide a reliable base-load energy supply, and leverage Alberta’s oil and gas technical expertise. However, ensuring that companies operate geothermal energy in a safe, efficient, orderly, and environmentally-responsible manner is no simple task.

To start, Bill 36: Geothermal Resource Development Act established the Alberta Energy Regulator as the primary regulator of deep geothermal, defined below the base of groundwater protection. The AER is working to design the regulatory framework centred around a new Geothermal Energy Resource Development Rules and a new directive. Together, these documents will outline the necessary licensee requirements, general prohibitions, and detailed obligations and processes that the energy industry must follow. The regulations are informed by analysis, including by geoscientists, and stakeholder feedback. The AER will address the entire life cycle of geothermal development: initiation, construction, operation, and closure. Our aim is to provide clear and robust requirements that are flexible and risk-based for an emerging industry to operate as efficiently as possible. Science is integral to understanding the benefits of the resource and for developing it safely. Geoscientists identify the geothermal resources, estimate how much energy they can provide, and establish ways to enhance geothermal systems. They also investigate the operational safety risks, environmental impacts, and managing reservoirs for greater economic benefit and resource conservation. Our geoscientists are essential in the design of the geothermal regulatory framework, and share integrated knowledge from their expertise across disciplines, including hydrogeology, geomechanics, geohazards, petroleum geology, reservoir management, data analytics mining, and geophysics. We supplement our expertise with experts across academia, industry, and other jurisdictions embarking on geothermal energy development.

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A few technical highlights from the AER and the Alberta Geological Survey are as follows: • Geoscience is integral for understanding the risks associated with geothermal development, such as surface deformation and induced seismicity. The directive includes management of these risks with science-informed requirements. For example, we have learned a lot about induced seismicity in Alberta, leveraged to guide our new draft directive for geothermal development . As induced seismicity is a known hazard for geothermal energy associated with the injection of fluids, the AGS and AER have incorporated the management of this potential hazard. • The AGS is also undertaking various studies to help characterize and inventory geothermal energy resources in Alberta to better understand the resource potential. The AGS plans to incorporate data and results into a ‘digital atlas’ product published for use by industry, investors, academia, and the general public. • AGS recently conducted a Formation-Scale Geothermal Mapping project. The study focused on correcting and adding previously unutilized BHT data and building an updated temperature database for Alberta. This enabled us to build a 3D model of subsurface temperature distribution within our 3D Geological Framework to display formation-scale temperature maps for some of Alberta’s deeper sedimentary formations that may be targeted for future geothermal exploration and development (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1. Example map from the AGS FormationScale Geothermal mapping project, showing the

temperature at the base of the Leduc Formation.

The Formation-Scale Geothermal Mapping project will produce an open file report which describes the methodology and results. The 3D temperature model will be published as point cloud data, and the formationscale temperature maps as gridded data. The model input data will also be published, consisting of the newly corrected BHT’s amended to existing qualitycontrolled data, mainly of temperatures from drillstem tests and annual pool surveys. With confidence and excitement the AER and AGS can help promote geothermal energy as a reliable, safe, and economic energy source, while cultivating a community of practice – built from geoscience! n

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

The Blue View: Industry Trends Through Woodmac's Lens NORTH AMERICA IN CONTEXT: OVERARCHING THEMES ACROSS THE INDUSTRY EGRESS 1. CANADIAN EXPANDS

Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement officially opened new capacity at the start of October; suddenly takeaway capacity appears less stressed.

DIVESTS THE 2. SHELL PERMIAN

ConocoPhillips has acquired Shell’s “core of the core” Permian assets and created the second largest Permian producer in the process.

GAINS 3. GAS Gas prices are rallying as demand

increases in a tight market. Hedges saved the day during the initial pandemic crash, but are not the boon they once were.

CANADA ONSHORE: n Expanding egress in Canada

New pipeline capacity has arrived for producers. Enbridge is offering 620,000 b/d of capacity on its Line 3 pipeline beginning in October. The Line 3 replacement project replaces the 1960 vintage 34-inch diameter pipe with new 36-inch pipe which will increase capacity to 760,000 b/d from the previous 390,000 b/d. There has been no major impact to differentials, however storage levels may begin to decrease with the excess takeaway. The Gibson/USD Group Diluent Recovery Unit (DRU) was completed in July. Located in Hardisty, AB, the DRU allows diluent to be separated from the bitumen to create DRUbit. This product allows for easier transport via rail as it is classified as both non-flammable and non-toxic which eliminates the need for special rail cars. The DRUbit can be blended to meet custom requirements for refiners or other export destinations.

Western Canada Pipeline Capacity

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The Gibson/USD group DRU serves an important purpose in two ways: 1. It removes 50,000 b/d of heavy oil and diluent that would have otherwise been flowing through pipelines, thereby adding an artificial 50,000 b/d of pipeline capacity. 2. It serves as a first of its kind development for transporting heavy barrels out of Western Canada without the need for diluent with potential to be expanded up to 250,000 b/d. After delays and years of pipeline battles, Canada’s promised relief has begun to arrive with Line 3 set to add its promised capacity before the end of the year. According to reports, the offered October capacity will be split 350,000 b/d of light oil and 270,000 b/d of heavy oil. With these developments, and TMX quickly approaching, our North American Crude Markets forecasts Canada being in a long pipe scenario throughout this decade.

CANADA OFFSHORE: n Terra Nova confirms restart, ownership structure change

The ownership of Terra Nova has been simplified, with Suncor, Cenovus and Murphy becoming the sole owners of the project. Originally slated for life extension work to begin in 2020, the project was put on hold and disagreements emerged over the project’s future in the ownership group. Suncor now holds a 48% stake and maintains operatorship, with Cenovus increasing its share from to 34% from 13% and Murphy Oil increasing to 18% from 10.475% under the new ownership arrangement. The asset extension work is now underway, with the FPSO set to enter dry dock in Spain later this year with a return to operations prior to 2022. Production is expected to reach 29,000 b/d by 2023. Terra Nova will produce for at least another decade. Exiting the project are ExxonMobil (19%), Equinor (15%), Mosbacher Operating (3.85%) and Chevron (1%). A large contributor to restart

is the previously disclosed royalty and financial support from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador including up to Cdn$205 million, on a matching contribution basis, to support the extension work. Also announced was the potential for an ownership change in the White Rose field, if the decision to restart West White Rose goes ahead. If the project resumes, Cenovus will reduce its stake from 72.5% to 60% in the original field and from 68.875% to 56.375% in the extensions. Suncor would increase its ownership from 27.5% to approximately 40% in the original field. Both the original field and the West White Rose project have Suncor increasing its share by 12.5%. Nalcor remains as a partner in the West White Rose project and no significant capital spending is expected prior to 2023.

NORTH AMERICA IN CONTEX: n Hydrogen costs to 2030: What will Canada’s

n Shell exits the Permian – Conoco picks up the “core

In our latest update Wood Mackenzie's hydrogen coverage has been expanded to 24 countries across all “colours” of hydrogen production. Currently, in Canada, we model grey hydrogen (produced via methane reformation) at sub-$2.00/ kg with blue hydrogen (produced via methane reformation paired with sequestration of the emissions) right behind.

ConocoPhillips (COP) is buying Shell's Delaware basin assets for US$9.5 billion in cash. Notwithstanding corporate acquisitions, this is the largest Permian asset deal to date. The assets include ~225,000 net acres and producing properties located entirely in Texas, as well as over 600 miles of operated crude, gas and water pipelines and infrastructure. Estimated 2021 production from these assets is expected to be approximately 175 kboe/d. After this acquisition, ConocoPhillips will be the second largest producer in the Permian behind Pioneer, up from 13th place last year.

place be in the breakeven stack?

This puts Canada firmly amongst the some of the lowest cost grey and blue hydrogen producers in the world along with the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Green hydrogen (produced via electrolysis of water), however, is notably missing among the cheapest sources globally with one notable exception, Chile, who boasts green hydrogen production at a sub $2.00/kg level via an excess of cheap renewable power.

of the core”

By 2030 we’re forecasting a shift in this narrative as 12 of our 24 modelled countries develop the ability to deliver green hydrogen at a sub-$2.00/kg level. While Canada’s grey hydrogen production is expected to remain moderately competitive, green hydrogen in countries like Brazil, Spain and Chile and grey hydrogen in countries like United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia is materially cheaper to produce by 2030. By 2033, through a combination of higher carbon taxes and lower renewable power PPA’s, we forecast green hydrogen will become cheaper to produce in Canada than fossil fuelbased hydrogen. This trend matters as securing cheap, low carbon hydrogen is one of the “lower hanging fruits” of decarbonization, especially as it pertains to desulphurization of refining products. Having this cheap supply can go a long way toward a country hitting decarbonization goals. Source: Wood Mackenzie Lens L48 Discovery

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2021

There was a reason Shell considered the Permian a core position. The rock quality is exceptional, boasting one of the thickest formations in the basin together with high oil yields. The fact that the properties are 100% on non-federal lands further adds to their desirability. Massive improvement in cost efficiency also boosted the acreage's value. It is no surprise that the main sub-play (Core Loving) now ranks as COP's most valuable global upstream asset. ConocoPhillips, post-acquisition, now has over 16 billion boe of remaining L48 onshore resource with 10% WTI break-evens ranging from ~$25/bbl up to $45/bbl.

n Commodity price surge: gas producers celebrate but

not all benefit equally

October has seen WTI oil prices exceed US$80/bbl. Natural gas, both internationally and domestically, has seen even greater increases. Both Henry Hub and AECO have now broken the $5/mmbtu mark. While rig counts have seen marginal increases, largely the capital discipline mantra is holding. Most companies have significant hedges in-place this year. That will limit the gains compared to companies like Birchcliff that went unhedged. The largest gas producers in US and Canada are often established in the Marcellus or are Majors. But both Tourmaline and Canadian Natural crack the top 15 ranking. Ovintiv and ARC Resources claim the 18th and 22nd spots.

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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THANK YOU TO ALL THE CSPG SPONSORS TITANIUM

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CORPORATE SUPPORTERS Canadian Discovery Ltd.

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Core Laboratories Canada As of October 15th, 2021 R E S E R V O I R I S S U E 6 • N O V / D E C 2 0 2 1 41

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