Gibson Grams

Selections from our occasional Newsletter

This page does not include product announcements or experience that are described elsewhere within Gibson Consulting's site.

Former Soviet Union (3 articles)
Indiana University (5 articles)
US Fractured Reservoir Proposal (1 article)

Dick Gibson makes three presentations at Moscow SEG meeting

Issue #1, Fall 1992

Gibson Consulting was represented at the first-ever meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists to be held in Moscow [July 1992]. Dick Gibson gave an oral paper on "Analogs to Tengiz Field in Magnetic Data," along with poster presentations on the Turgay Basin and the relationship between magnetic data and selected giant oil and gas fields. More than 1000 delegates attended the meeting, with about 350 from the West. Prices at the Moscow McDonalds increased 23% across the board between Friday and Saturday during the meeting! But that's nothing compared to the 1200% increase in the domestic price of oil, from 41¢ last May to $5.00 per barrel in September. [The exchange rate was about 160 rubles per dollar during this visit. Now (early 1996) it is around 4600.] Abstracts of papers

West Siberia paper chosen as "Best of AAPG for SEG"

Issue #4, Fall 1994

Dick Gibson's presentation at the International AAPG Convention in Denver in June 1994 was selected as one of eight papers to be given at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists' meeting in the session of selected AAPG papers. The talk, entitled "Structural styles of the West Siberian Rift system and their impact on hydrocarbon accumulation," showed the relationships among giant productive fields, details of rift structures such as accommodation zones, and aeromagnetic data.
Gibson's paper was selected by the Paper Exchange Committee, which is sponsored by the Geophysics Committee of the AAPG and the Interpretation Committee of the SEG. Margaret Welch of Exxon chaired the Exchange Committee for 1994. The paper will be presented at the SEG Convention in Los Angeles, October 26, 1994. Abstract of this paper.

Chechnya: The hydrocarbons behind the headlines

Issue #5, May 1995

Chechnya lies on the north flank of the Caucasus Mountains in southern Russia, just north of the Republic of Georgia. During the days of the Soviet Union, it was part of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, an ethno-administrative unit with its own national identity. The Chechen people are ethnic Caucasians of Islamic heritage. The area suffered greatly during Stalinist purges, and many Chechens were deported to Siberia by 1943. The current fighting in Chechnya focuses on the desire of the population to be completely independent of Moscow.
The capital, Groznyy, is near the center of one of Russia’s oldest and most prolific oil-producing provinces. With a pre-1991 population of about 400,000, Groznyy was a major oil supply center with oil refineries and gas-processing plants as well as petrochemical factories. The oldest field, Groznyy (or Starogroznyy) was discovered and went on-line in 1893. Production is from more than 45 separate pools in Neogene (mostly Miocene) sands of the Chokrak and Karagan horizons from depths on the order of 600 to 2000 meters. Some production comes from Cretaceous rocks (>4000 meter depth), with total production reported to be as much as 1100 tons/day (about 7700 barrels/day) according to Maksimova (1987). Some 20 additional fields were discovered in the region by 1980, including the giant Malgobek-Gorsk Field whose 90 pay zones include Cretaceous carbonates.
The area is tectonically part of the Caucasus Foredeep (Tersko-Caspian Depression), and specific structures may be blind thrusts of the Caucasus Fold Belt. Fields near Groznyy lie along and on a linear magnetic high which is almost certainly a suture associated with the Alpine-Caucasus deformation. Saddles in the magnetic anomaly mark probable tear zones and may segment and separate culminations in regional anticlinal uplifts that are productive.

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Support provided for Indiana U. Geologic Field Station

Issue #2, Spring 1993

Gibson Consulting is pleased to announce the first of seven annual matching gifts to the Indiana University Geological Field Station in Montana. All individual gifts to the Field Station Maintenance Fund are matched on a 1-for-1 basis, to a maximum of $5,000 per year through 1999, the 50th anniversary of the Station. The 1992 matching gift was $3,000. Enrollments are up, and the University is expecting 65 to 70 people to attend each of two sessions this summer, with students from schools all over the United States. Dick Gibson will be serving as a volunteer instructor for the program, including all of the first session (late May to early July) and part of the second session.
Information on Field Course | Link to Indiana University Geological Sciences Dept.

Visiting Student Hosted

Issue #2, Spring 1993

Gibson Consulting played host to a Ph.D. student from Indiana University during March. Nathan Way, studying Cretaceous depositional patterns in northeastern Wyoming, was in Denver to do research at the Earth Resources Library, and found time to discuss basement tectonics and oil exploration in the Powder River Basin with us. Nate is working with Lee Suttner, Professor of Sedimentology.

Field Geology Grants Announced

Issue #4, Fall 1994

Gibson Consulting is pleased to announce two grants in support of geological education in the field. The first, in the amount of $3,840.00, is the second of seven matching grants to the Indiana University Geologic Field Station Maintenance Fund. Individual contributions to the fund are matched one-for-one by Gibson Consulting. The fund [established by IU alumna Marcia Engle, ex-Exxon] has a target total of $100,000 by 1999, the 50th anniversary of the IU Field Station. See the Matching Gift Program for information on doubling your contribution to this fund.
The second grant is for $650.00, to the Charles Deiss Fund, which provides scholarships to students from around the country to attend the Indiana University Geologic Field Station. Funds for this grant derive from a portion of the profits from Dick Gibson's new book-calendar, History of the Earth. Thanks to all purchasers!

Third matching grant, door prizes announced

Issue #5, May 1995

Gibson Consulting announced the third of seven matching grants to the Indiana University Geologic Field Station Maintenance Fund, in the amount of $2,120.00. The program matches all individual gifts to this tax-deductible account. In addition, 24 copies of Dick Gibson's book-calendar, History of the Earth, were donated as door prizes for the National Science Olympiad, a competition involving 2500 secondary school students from every state in the U.S.

First "Award for Excellence" presented

Issue #5, May 1995

Gibson Consulting announced its 1995 Award For Excellence, presented in February to Lee J. Suttner, Professor of Geology at Indiana University, in recognition of excellence in teaching at both college and industry levels, and for his leadership role in many areas of geoscience. The award consisted of a certificate and a framed photograph of Middle Mountain, in the Tobacco Root Range of Montana. The award is given at irregular intervals.

Environmental Geology Supported

Issue #6, January 1996
Gibson Consulting announced a $5,000.00 matching gift to the Indiana University Department of Geological Sciences. The grant matches more than 100 individual contributions that were raised in a Geology Student Telethon conducted last March. Two evenings of calls to non-donors generated a total of $5,000, and with Gibson Consulting's match, this will provide a total of $10,000 for the Geological Sciences Department's environmental geology initiative. Geology is the only department on the Bloomington campus whose students have participated in such a fund raising project. The students involved were Craig Rankin, Megan McCoy, Burvee Franz, Candice Johns, Steve Baedke, Neill Vaughn, Elizabeth Russell, Sujoy Ghose, Glenn Bear, Stanley Radzevicius, Fred Clayton, Julie Boyd, Priya Ganguli, Chris Carlson, and Melissa Buciak.

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Participation invited in study of relationship between fractured gas reservoirs and gravity & magnetic expressions

Issue #4, Fall 1994

Gibson Consulting has announced a new 9-month analysis of gravity and magnetic data in several major fractured reservoir plays in the United States. Designed for the small companies that are exploring these areas today, the investigation is an applied research project that will result in specific leads and play extensions, as well as guides to development exploration in some areas. The project will focus on the Appalachian and Michigan Basins, as well as most of the exploration areas of the Rocky Mountains.
The work will consist of detailed analysis of available gravity and magnetic data, including numerous models. The data and models will be compared carefully with the known geology of fractured reservoirs, with a view to extending and defining similar situations elsewhere. Participation is invited on a proprietary, non-exclusive basis. Total cost for early participants is $12,000, which includes a free week of confidential consulting after delivery of the report. Five participants are required for the work to commence.
Click here for the full text of the proposal.

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