Events & Courses

After carefully considering the impact of the current COVID-19 outbreaks on the conference, the convening committee have reluctantly decided to postpone the conference until May 2021.

The UK Atlantic margin, including the West of Shetlands area, is the location of the UK’s largest remaining hydrocarbon reserves, the largest recent field development investments and holds the greatest potential for future material discoveries in the UK.

In the 10 years since the last Geological Society conference on this region, great advances have been made in the understanding of its diverse plays, from fractured basement to Eocene coastal deposits, and everything in between.

This three-day meeting gives attendees a unique opportunity to learn about the geoscience of recent discoveries and field developments, as well as how technology is developing to meet the imaging and drilling challenges of the area.

Conference themes

• Paleocene deep water reservoirs
• Mesozoic pre-, syn-, and post-rift plays
• Palaeozoic play (e.g. Carboniferous and Devonian at the Clair field)
• Non-clastic plays (e.g. fractured basement, volcanics, carbonates)
• Paleocene-Eocene volcanic-associated reservoirs
• Extra-UK Atlantic Margin
• Multidisciplinary technology session (e.g. advances in drilling techniques, sub-sill imaging, EOR)
• Geodynamics, basin modelling, thermal and uplift/subsidence history, migration routes
• What’s next? The next 10 years for exploration and development in the region

Programme and additional activities

Conference (20-22 May 2020)

Call for abstracts: Extended Deadline 28 February 2020. The conference programme will be available shortly after this date. 

Field trip (14-18 May 2020)

Three-day field trip to the Isle of Skye run by Nick Schofield (University of Aberdeen) and Stuart Archer (Nautilus RPS).

This fieldtrip will examine the strata of the Hebridean Basins in a petroleum systems context, as analogues for the basins West of Shetland. Skye represents the most westerly exposure of Jurassic strata and the rocks to be observed were deposited in the same sub-basin setting which dominated the Jurassic of the Atlantic Margin. We will investigate the interaction of extrusive and intrusive volcanic rocks with reservoirs, and discuss the possible impacts on the West of Shetland petroleum system. Local seismic lines and exploration well data are integrated throughout the trip.

West of Shetlands Core Day (19 May 2020)

As a precursor to the conference on the UKCS Atlantic Margin we will spend a day looking at selected cores from throughout the stratigraphy of the West of Shetlands area. Geologists working on each field will guide small groups of participants through the key features of their core. Discussion will include key observations, depo-environment and drilling issues.

Conference dinner (20 May 2020)

Social programme to include a conference dinner.

Convenors

• Noah Jaffey (Shell)
• Jamie Collins (BP)
• Clayton Grove (Siccar Point Energy)
• Olga Shtukert (Western Geco)
• Christopher Bugg (Total)
• Douglas Watson (ExxonMobil)

Venue

Sir Ian Wood Building
Robert Gordon University
Aberdeen
AB10 7GJ