Foreword
What is an expert in Tectonics doing in an oil company??
I am brought in by management and/or exploration team when a company has problems with the understanding of one or more fields.
A tectonicist uses tomography, gravy-mag anomalies, rheological profiles, lithospheric and basin scale seismic data, all sedimentological information (outcrops, cores and logs) all published data… and is of course before anything else an expert in structural geology.
Once the basin tectonic evolution is understood and only then, it is possible to proceed to a sound seismic interpretation, faults pointing, horizons (isochron ages) and layer-thickness maps (isochores), backstripping… in other words building a strong and robust static model.
Depending of the size of the company, besides the building, rebuilding and/or quality checking of all static models before they are pushed to the next phase, I mentor and coach junior staff and organise in house training and seminars.
I am regularly sent overseas to evaluate the opportunities for the companies hiring me, to join in exploration projects (farm in, farm out).
In short, I am called to answer the 100 million dollar question, do we drill and where…
