Wikipedia states that “A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes that shape it.”  More specifically, it states that a Petroleum Geologist studies “sedimentary basins applied to the search for hydrocarbons.”   These definitions are accurate but fail to acknowledge the multiple scientific, engineering, legal, business, and economic factors that the Petroleum Geologist considers.  Petroleum Geologists are the Detectives who ask “What?”, “Where?”, “How?”, and “Why?” to successfully find oil.  In addition, a Geologist must be the Conductor, orchestrating the collection, coordination and analysis of information from highly-skilled, supporting disciplines.

The talk will address the paradigm shift to digital data and the costs to manage it and the business impact of these costs on Independents, on their ability to sell plays “on the street” due the Industry’s focus on backing for Unconventional Resources and the continued use of economic analyses based on multi-year price and cost assumptions.