A view on why the petroleum industry does not support relevant directed fundamental hydrocarbon/seismic research - Arthur B. Weglein , 9/14/2024
Posted on September 14, 2024
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I hope that this email finds you very well.
In this note , (for your possible interest) I am sharing a view of the causes behind the recent and current lack of petroleum industry funding for relevant directed fundamental seismic and petroleum related research.
I think that there are many contributing factors to explain why the petroleum industry has little or no interest in supporting real fundamental meaningful relevant petroleum research -that is, research that can be impactful, address actual shortcomings, and prioritized and pressing challenges and thereby improve the success rate in locating and producing hydrogens.
One factor is a response to a perceived previous overspending by oil and service companies ( a view held by many investors and on Wall Street)and a concomitant lack of financial due diligence and stewardship in the past and resulting in the recent higher budget and expenditure scrutiny- and ‘ research ‘ is always a vulnerable and easy target.
Another is the misguided and misinformed government and government agency political agendas and pressure to (seem to) be focusing on transitioning away from hydrocarbons -with virtue shielding strategies with injurious and destructive DEI and ESG objectives. The latter commitment to ‘ woke’ objectives are in fact not only a harmful distraction, and not only to the petroleum industry since the latter is ( and will remain) a key component of our national ( and international) energy needs and our national economic and security interests.
However, there is a recent and growing awareness of decisions from the US Supreme Court on DEI university policy- and, separately, that ‘“woke” can lead to “broke”. That awareness and understanding has started a very “quiet” reduction of actual internal industry funding for “so-called and mislabeled clean energy” while donating relatively minor funds to academia as virtue shielding. Academia will go and follow wherever the federal ( e.g., NSF, DOE, NIH, …) and other funds point- along with all the unquestioned premises and pre-determined conclusions.
Perhaps even more important is the overselling and marketing of current or emerging seismic “methods” and other energy related capabilities, without any sense of scientific honesty, accuracy, and integrity- and without anything new and relevant being produced from the industry’s research labs and from academia. That lack of ingenuity, creativity and relevance [ and without starting with a clear and real view of the source of method failures and dry hole drilling ] is apparent everywhere with industry research and researchers and academia, at professional societies, international conferences( where days are filled with only 100% success story presentations , and where there are no limiting assumptions, failures, or open issues- while the reality is , e.g., that there is a one in ten drill success rate in the frontier region of the deep water Gulf of Mexico ),this disconnect is also evidenced at Society Research Committees, Technical Workshops , and “peer-reviewed” publications- but especially prevalent at elite universities, and among their alumnae. More group think and (geo)political navigators and opportunists than scientists [ entering, succeeding and] being produced at universities and ( once again) especially at the so-called elite universities- The students are in line with what many current faculty represent- and that can be regrettable and what universities too often support, encourage and reward.
At some point those who control expenditures and funding in the petroleum industry figured out that without the oversold and underperforming ‘ research’ and ‘ research delivery’ nothing material would affect their business bottom lines and their fiduciary responsibilities. If research is then perceived as a useless affectation and indulgence, then let it focus on everything except hydrocarbons, on something equally worthless and useless- and thereby to at least gain some virtue shielding credit.
So-called “applied-petroleum and seismic research” becomes all the rage, meaning no research, and advocated by those “researchers” and managers , without vision, without capability and without accomplishment- to project a false tough hard-nosed impression, that is shallow, harmful, and misguided and only seeks to serve and navigate their own careers.
Our colleagues, students , and collaborators and I have been ( and remain) enormously fortunate for the strong encouragement and constant support we have received over the years- and we will always remember and we will never forget. And we recognize, welcome and deeply appreciate the ongoing and continuing positive interest and encouragement.
Again, we have been, and will always remain, enormously grateful and deeply appreciative. Many thanks!
Sending warmest and very best wishes,
Always,
Arthur
Dr. Arthur Benjamin Weglein
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Chair in Physics
Director, Mission-Oriented Seismic Research Program
Physics Department
University of Houston
Science and Research Building Room 617
Houston, Texas, 77204-5005
E-mail: aweglein@central.uh.edu
http://www.mosrp.uh.edu/people/faculty/arthur-weglein
http://mosrp.uh.edu/news/two-papers-to-appear-in-jse-in-february-2022
Recent Keynote addresses and the new messages they contain.
Below, please find several recent Keynote Addresses- one at the 2022 SEG International Conference Workshop on ‘FWI/FWM and New Imaging Concepts and Capability’ September 1, 2022 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas USA, and one November 28-30 in 2023, at the SEG/KOC Workshop “ On-shore and Shallow Water Exploration Challenges” in Kuwait City , Kuwait and an extended and comprehensive version of the latter Keynote in 2024.
The extended version of the 2023 SEG/KOC Workshop Keynote presentation “A Perspective on Advances and Challenges in Seismic Exploration: 2024” can be found in the link below.
Topics within this (2024) Keynote include:
Why all (direct and indirect)seismic processing methods require multiples to be removed at some point either initially or eventually ( of course that includes FWI).
That seismic waves are ubiquitous and have no illumination issues- but processing with intrinsic high frequency approximation/ ray theory methods such as Kirchhoff or RTM squeeze the recorded wave field back, into the subsurface along rays ( and rays are not ubiquitous) and therefore RTM migration produces illumination issues.
The new Stolt Claerbout III (SC III ) migration for smooth or discontinuous heterogeneous media is the only migration method that doesn’t make high frequency/ ray theory approximations in both the imaging principle and the propagation model. It is the only migration method that can automatically image and invert planar, curved or pinch-out reflectors. SCIII has higher resolution capability compared to Kirchhoff and RTM.
The inverse scattering series methods for attenuating and eliminating internal multiples are the only internal multiple removal methods that: contains a water speed SCIII migration and operates without knowing, estimating, or determining subsurface information.
No other internal multiple removal algorithm (e.g., Radon, Feed-back, Marchenko, Jakubowicz) satisfies one of those properties- let alone both.
A response to several prioritized onshore and shallow water open issues and challenges is presented.
In 1985, migration was conceptually and practically more advanced than multiple removal- now that situation is reversed. We hope that( in the near future) migration can catch up to multiple removal. Details are provided in the video presentations.
For your possible interest, please find the Keynote address presented at the 2022 SEG International Conference Workshop on ‘FWI/FWM and New Imaging Concepts and Capability’ September 1, 2022, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas USA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9h7QhNs79c
I hope that you find these presentations and publications to be informative, interesting, and worthwhile. I look forward to staying in touch.
In summary
In science and in research there are no closed subjects and ultimate solutions- it’s always a work in progress- and all scientific methods make assumptions and are provisional. Today’s reasonable assumption is tomorrow’s impediment to effectiveness and increased capability.
This two-volume set ( please see the update link above)communicates both recent advances and open issues ( please see the KOC/SEG 2024 ( extended) Keynote Address) . Thank you.