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Posts Tagged ‘Atlantic oil and gas’

Pangea, Paul Post, West Africa, and the Atlantic oil and gas puzzle

Posted in energy policy, Guyana, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , on June 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Pangea
Quartz

Until the late Triassic period, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia were cojoined with Mauritania and Senegal as part of the Pangea super-continent. These Pangea neighbors share a common ancient geology.

Paul Post believed the untested West African analogs in the US Atlantic were highly prospective, and could contain >20 billion BOE. Paul was not alone in his thinking about Atlantic resource potential. Sadly, Paul is no longer with us 😥, so I’m sharing a few of his slides as a reminder of his important work. I have also attached his 2016 report and am linking the 2021 update.

atlantic_2016_finalDownload

Given the current Atlantic moratoriums and the steep legal, social, and political barriers that would have to be cleared, evaluating the US Atlantic is not imminent. However, nearly all Atlantic nations and their Caribbean and North Sea cousins have exploration programs and some have been wildly successful. Oil and gas consumption will be stable or growing for the foreseeable future, and it’s important to better understand the petroleum potential of our Atlantic continental margin.

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Another prominent petroleum geologist sees high Atlantic resource potential

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , on March 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Last week, my colleague Keith Meekins attended a presentation by petroleum geologist Samuel Epstein. Like the late Paul Post, a leading expert on the petroleum geology of the Atlantic OCS, Epstein believes the US Atlantic has major resource potential. Per Epstein:

Untested ultra-deep potential hydrocarbon resources are located in the BOEM play area 8, termed the BCT Structural Belt Jurassic-Cretaceous Interior Shelf. Thus, significantly more risked recoverable reserves, due to 1) Two salt ridges penetrating Middle Jurassic age sediments identified in seismic records located to the north of the Schlee Dome, analogous to the ultra-deep salt related Norphlet Formation, offshore Gulf of Mexico and the onshore East Texas, Pearsall Field and 2) stratigraphic plays including below a 60 m thick and 7500 km square evaporitic feature in Early Jurassic rocks flanking the Schlee Dome.

Looking more broadly at Atlantic resource potential, Paul Post had estimated that the US Atlantic could contain 21.4 billion BOE with the major caveat that the presence of a working petroleum system was required and that could only be determined through drilling. Per Paul:

The US Atlantic stands out. It has not been explored in paleo deep- and  ultra-deepwater using exploration concepts proven successful in similar settings.

Paul Post slide

Also, see “Opportunity Lost“

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RIP Paul Post – leading expert on the petroleum geology of the US Atlantic margin

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on April 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Paul Post – Mardi Gras, New Orleans

The offshore world lost an outstanding petroleum geologist when my friend and former colleague Paul Post passed away last week. His detailed obituary is linked.

Paul was the world’s leading authority on the oil and gas resource potential of the US Atlantic. He was also a gifted speaker who was skilled at presenting technical data to lay audiences. As Paul explained it, the US Atlantic has not been explored in paleo deep- and ultra-deepwater areas using exploration concepts proven successful in analogous West African and South American settings where massive discoveries have been made.

Paul estimated that the US Atlantic could contain 21.4 billion BOE with the major caveat that the presence of a working petroleum system was required and that could only be determined through drilling. At this point, the probability of major discoveries was thus modest, but the resource potential (should discoveries be made) was massive.

Unfortunately, Paul’s theories may never be tested. Prior to the 2020 elections, our self-described “energy dominance” President cynically withdrew the prospective Mid and South Atlantic areas through 2032. He had already withdrawn the highly prospective Eastern Gulf of Mexico in response to Florida political interests (even though the best EGOM prospects are more than 100 miles from Florida’s coast). Our current energy deficit President seems content to not hold any offshore lease sales while drawing down our strategic reserves.

Oh well, it was a great privilege to have known Paul and worked with such a dedicated professional. I’ll close with a couple of his favorite quotes:

“Uncertainty is an essential and nonnegotiable part of a forecast.”

Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise

“The time to hesitate is through.”

Jim Morrison, Poet, Songwriter, and Lead Singer of The Doors

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