What's new in exploration: No time to throw rocks

WILLIAM (BILL) HEAD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 

Demand for exploration and exploitation was already running the ideology resistance course, with new deals and areas being announced, and it wasn’t even Jan. 20! Technology thought to be DOA is back. This applies to static acoustics for monitoring, which is cheaper than vector tech but not as accurate or as good. Progress in seafloor acoustic surveying and monitoring is being modified and adapted to CO₂ projects.  

Some would argue that tech innovation has been developing the other way around. Geothermal energy, which is always affordable without a tax subsidy, is moving forward but unavailable to every location. However, heat pumps and innovative tech are. Solar, God bless that sun, will never be affordable or viable to mass energy needs, as long as tax money is involved—to either the purchasers or suppliers. That said, Geos that have been pursuing tax-based green projects to expand opportunities or just to survive, can now go back to real work in fossil fuels. 

Editorial for 2025: Political correctness has diverted far too many resources to regulation by ideologies that negatively impact the fossil fuel industry. Big Deal. Yes! Every time an energy resource is diverted or withheld from those who can barely afford to warm their homes or huts, people are adversely impacted. Green extremists have denied young people growth, arranged limited opportunities in less developed countries, and even caused health crises around the globe. 

Those who yell the most drive large black SUVs and fly in private jets. Many groups who benefit financially speak the language to secure their jobs/careers at the expense of taxpayers, who have been forced to carry the burden of this nonsense. Case in point? Review the impact of shameful “climate change” dicta on government funding of famous Texas universities. While pollution abatement was the original initiative of cleaning the environment from human activity, to espouse that human activity is going to kill all of us because of an estimated/feared/conspired 1.5-degree increase is beyond stupid. It seems to me to be a self-confession of speculated species suicide.

Over a thousand educated professional scientists, who have valid measurements, contend otherwise. Perhaps now, that voice can be heard over all the global hysteria while the world thinks about turning down the hate. 

Fig. 1. Mariner field is just one example of assets that will be operated by the new independent producer that will be jointly owned by Equinor and Shell. Image taken by Michal Wachucik, courtesy of Equinor.

What does this have to do with exploration? It’s the same principle that freedom has for any life activity. Actual balance of resources and justice can exist within human dignity. Observe where exploration is thriving today—not in ANY country regulated by climate theology: 

• Offshore is a great place to work, since the produced product can be delivered to any one of thousands of ports across this tiny planet—even ports where dollars and politics collide. 
• Mergers for freedom. What an adventure for Shell and Equinor to merge North Sea efforts, Fig. 1. In the most regulated piece of saltwater anywhere, two highly evolved oil companies with significant government favor, including financial and tax benefits, have elected to use that favor to collide with activists who still do not understand where their heat comes from. Best of the bright New Year to you folks. 
• China. While there is little good that I want to say about any CCP-derived activity, such as the takeover of the South China Sea or human organ trafficking, China has gained control of more than half of leading-edge O&G technology. China is finally able to capitalize on efforts to mass-produce fluid fossil fuels. Why else would the world’s largest polluter claim so much water far from any ancestral claim? It’s not for the fish. 

Geophysical activity is better today than ever. However, there are substantially fewer providers. Take a gander at this month’s professional society magazines/web presentations. You will see two important points.  

One, exciting new applications in exploration have been attempted this past year and reported. You must belong to a professional organization to learn about advances in tech from one to two years ago, if reported in peer-reviewed journals. BEWARE otherwise. Also important is to make yourself cognizant of what the competition is doing and with what, even if organization leaders have drifted to the political left. I like this topic: “Leveraging hydrocarbon expansion signals in time-lapse seismic data for brownfield development and near-field exploration,” SEG’s The Leading Edge, January 2025. But this tech model in Alaska probably goes nowhere commercially, due to environmental intervenors: “Simultaneous inversion and geobody extraction to estimate carbon storage potential in the Ivishak Formation of the Alaska North Slope, United States,” The Leading Edge, January 2025.  

Second, no, I repeat, no remote sensing technology is close to 80% correct or accurate in depicting the subsurface and its fluids. Yet, geo models, geophysical inversions, fluid substitution algorithms, and well-log analysis have netted billions of BOEs. Knowledge is power, if you know enough to rank your risk tolerance versus your wallet. (P.S. And your wallet is large.)