April 21, 2022
There is no simple, proven recipe for successful hydrocarbon exploration. Predicting the subsurface is evidently not easy, although advances in technology and geological understanding enable ever greater accuracy. Moreover, there is a wide variety of techniques that the exploration geologist can employ to evaluate the subsurface, ranging from the well-known to the relatively specialized. There is, however, a need to collate these techniques so that they are readily available for reference by early-career geologists as well as scholars.
Halliburton has compiled a series of articles in which the principles and value of specific techniques have been outlined. We have collated these articles to provide an Exploration Handbook, the first compilation of its type that is widely available. A Halliburton subject matter expert has written each article, capturing a short history of the technique being discussed, the principles by which it works, and highlighting situations where employment of the technique could be valuable.
We hope that you will gain a better understanding about the modern exploration toolkit and know when to reach out for specialist advice. Our coverage is not exhaustive, and we focus on frontier exploration as opposed to near-field exploration and production geology. Nonetheless, many of the techniques described have value throughout the full exploration and production lifecycle.
The practice of exploration geology is changing rapidly as the hydrocarbon industry embraces the digital revolution and the creation of a digital twin of the subsurface. With that in mind, we have included a look-ahead to how certain techniques will benefit from advances in computing power, data science, machine learning and automation. These approaches will change how we practice certain techniques, but the principles being applied are mostly unchanged. Click here to get your copy.
