In addition to the successful PESA WA Branch Technical Luncheon Series held this year, the Evening Lecture Series has been going very well too. Our Evening Lecture Series is a great platform for networking over canapes and drinks accompanied by a technical talk in a very relaxed environment. The event usually starts around 5.30pm at The Georges Hotel. The first evening lecture that PESA WA hosted this year was on 17 April with Chris Cubitt as the guest lecturer. His topic was on the “Drill cuttings, core, wireline and seismic – a match made in heaven!
PESA Branch Activities
PESA WA August Luncheon – Evolution of “Tres Hombres”
PESA WA Branch hosted Chris Hurren from BHB Billiton, with special gratitude to our four technical series sponsors, to talk our members through the evolution of the large mid-crustal “Tres Hombres” structure within the northern Beagle Sub-basin, offshore WA. Three enigmatic circular structures in the outer part of the Beagle sub-basin, known as the three brothers, or possibly named after the album of the same name by ZZ Top, have attracted passing interest and quite a bit of head scratching in the past based on some rather sparse 2D seismic lines.
Semester BBQ event at Curtin University
On Wednesday August 22, PESA WA branch teamed up with the Curtin Geology Society (GEOS) to host a barbeque for students. The aim of the event was to improve understanding between students and PESA in an informal setting accompanied with food and drinks, and generate awareness of the society within the greater Curtin geology cohort. The attendees were predominantly undergraduates who were unaware of PESA but very interactive as they were keen to know more about PESA’s activities.
PESA WA Winter Warmer 2018
The PESA Winter Warmer, one of the WA branch's main mid-year social events, was held at Ku De Ta's “The Deck”, courtesy of Chemostrat, who have been sponsoring every winter warmer event since they opened their Perth office in 2013. This year's event also marked the culmination of a month long silent auction of a paddle board sponsored by TGS. The event was well attended by 46 professionals, which is consistent with last year’s numbers of 45 individuals.
Pluto 4D – Australia’s first 4D over a gas field is an outstanding success
It was by far the most successful PESA WA event this year with over 100 PESA members attending our monthly luncheon. Our July guest speaker was a recognizable principal geophysicist Larry Tilbury from Woodside Energy presenting his long-lived contribution into planning and analysis of first Australia’s 4D seismic survey acquired over Pluto gas field, Northern Carnarvon Basin. The branch announcements by Victoria Seesaha, WA Branch Vice-President, included upcoming events such as the Winter Warmer at Ku De Ta, August technical talk by Garry O’Halloran from BHP on evolution of “Tres Hombres” within the Northern Beagle Sub-basin, and many more!
SEG Distinguished Lecturer Entertains at joint PESA Qld-ASEG Qld Evening
The July technical meeting saw PESA Queensland team up with ASEG Queensland to present an evening with SEG distinguished lecturer Dr Kurt Marfurt. Dr Kurt Marfurt serves as the Frank and Henrietta Schultz Professor of Geophysics within the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Oklahoma. His primary research interests are the development and calibration of new seismic attributes to aid in seismic processing, seismic interpretation and reservoir characterisation. In addition to his work at the University of Oklahoma and with SEG, Dr Marfurt also serves as Editor in Chief of the AAPG/SEG journal Interpretation.
PESA Queensland 2017 Scholarship Winner Presents to Group
PESA Queensland were delighted to welcome 2017 Scholarship winner Peter Manchee to present on his honours project at their recent technical meeting. Peter is an alumni of University of Queensland graduating from his Bachelor of Science (Geology) in 2016 before completing his honours in 2017, working with Professor Joan Esterle and Dr Valeria Bianchi. Coming from an agricultural background, he had a particular interest in the sustainable management of groundwater and was offered a research project working with Arrow Energy analysing the Condamine Valley Transition Zone.
PESA WA QLD June technical lunch
Queensland’s June technical lunch saw local stalwart David Lowry presenting his work on the structural restoration and maturity modelling of the Eromanga Basin. David’s long-lived career has seen him work as a field geologist for Geological Survey WA, as a well site geologist, and as an exploration geologist for WAPET, Lasmo, Sagasco and Origin Energy. He now consults from his home in the bush. The work he presented built on his previous APPEA paper (Lowry and Evans, 2011) focussed on new exploration concepts for the Eromanga Basin.
PESA WA hosts another successful field trip for 2018 to Swan Valley
Bright and early on a Sunday morning 20 intrepid PESA members met at the Boab tree in Kings park ready to embark on a tour of the Swan Valley, and an intellectual journey that allowed for the geography of our working lives to be mapped onto the geology, geography and scale of the city we live in. The morning began with an open air “powerpoint” presentation, by trip leaders Simon Lang and Neil Marshall.
TGS kindly donates stand-up paddle board to PESA WA Branch for an auction to support the student members
TGS are pleased to donate a 9-foot long stand-up paddle board (valued at $2000) to PESA WA Branch to raise funds to support our student members. TGS recognises that students are the future of our industry and their contribution provides an opportunity for someone in the PESA community to help support the students’ training efforts. For the first time in history, PESA WA Branch will be holding a silent auction for the stand-up paddle board and the winner will be announced towards the end of the Winter Warmer social event on the 20th of July.