Page 17 - Practical Petroleum Geology, 2nd Edition

PRACTICAL PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Energy Options and Policy

Petroleum Extension-The University of Texas at Austin

substantial portion of the process of delivering petroleum to the Afterword
A companies who sell it in its various forms and, subsequently, to the
consumers who buy it takes place long past the point when a geologist need
be involved. But no part of the industry would exist if the petroleum were
not first discovered where it had been slowly forming and collecting within
the Earth for millions of years. And it is within this discovery phase that an
understanding of petroleum geology is essential.
The petroleum geologist knows that the Earth is an ever-changing
place and that the forces at work today have been at work for all of the bil-
lions of years of our planet’s history. The petroleum geologist knows how
organic matter was transformed in oil and gas over vast lengths of time. The
petroleum geologist knows the properties of the rocks wherein the oil and
gas hide and the irregularities within such rocks. The petroleum geologist
knows how petroleum accumulates and migrates and the kinds of areas
where it becomes trapped. The petroleum geologist knows how to explore
formations and the ways in which to narrow the odds in favor of discovery.
And based in part on these things that the petroleum geologist knows,
companies in search of undiscovered oil and gas can analyze the economics
of a venture, test the formations being drilled, and develop fields to meet
the worldwide demand for oil and gas.
As was said at the outset of this book, unique challenges present
themselves with each new drilling endeavor, and each well comes with its
own particular set of traits. But in an inherently unpredictable field, the
importance of the petroleum geologist and the knowledge she or he brings
to bear remains constant.

231