Events & Courses

The high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) play forms some of the most important remaining exploration potential in the UK Central North Sea, and the Shearwater HPHT platform facilities is a key infrastructural element in the heart of the province.

Exploration for oil and gas, development of producing fields and eventual safe abandonment of facilities all pose a significant challenge to the hydrocarbon industry when working in the HPHT environment. Shearwater provides unique insights into these challenges as Shell are operating at all stages of the exploration and production business and in a range of reservoirs that are diverse in both geological age and type. This talk will provide an overview of the HPHT province in the Central North Sea before focusing on the geological variability of the reservoirs present in the Shearwater area. It will then detail the technologies Shell is applying to acquire data and safely operate in this difficult and complex arena.

Speaker

Caroline Gill, Senior Production Geologist (Shell)

Biography

Caroline is a Senior Geologist currently working as a Near Field Exploration coordinator for Shell in the HPHT area of the Central North Sea. She has a first class degree in Geology from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh where she undertook industry sponsored research on the structural evolution of the Northern North Sea. Prior to joining Shell as a Production Geologist in 2005, Caroline completed student internships with Amerada Hess, ExxonMobil and Anadarko working all areas of the UKCS including West of Shetland, the Southern and Northern North Sea.

As a Production Geologist, Caroline is experienced in reservoir modeling, operations geology and infill well design. In 2009 she was awarded the Oil and Gas UK Overall Excellence award for her leadership and technical expertise in delivery of a ‘Locate the Remaining Oil’ project on the Nelson Field.  In 2012 Caroline won the ‘Professional Woman of the Future Award’ recognizing her early career contribution to the industry and her investment in the future through technical coaching and mentoring of younger staff.
Caroline is active in the wider Petroleum community. She is Aberdeen Director of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB) and is a member of the Petroleum Group Committee of the Geological Society of London. In addition she is a member of the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE)  and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and often attends meetings including regularly reviewing abstracts and chairing sessions at the EAGE annual convention. She has presented at a range of major conferences and has published her work on the Nelson Field in a number of peer reviewed journals.

Caroline actively promotes the sciences to schools and the wider public, speaking on a range of topics including the oil and gas industry, her experiences in the industry and her passion: structural Geology.
Away from work Caroline spends her time exploring the outdoors. She is a qualified mountain leader and keen skier, canoeist, sea kayaker, climber and walker enjoying both Scotland and bigger mountains overseas.