Alfredo Guzman (left) and Dr. Scott W. Tinker (right)

Alfredo Guzman, Exploration Coordinator, PEMEX Exploracion y Produccion, Villahermosa, Mexico, visited the Bureau Wednesday, August 29, 2001 for a review of the joint BEG-PEMEX project on the Macuspana and Veracruz basins. He came to the Bureau after participating in AAPG's APPEX meeting in Houston. Mr. Rafael Munoz, geophysicist of PEMEX E y P's Veracruz office, attended the review, as did Dr. Javier Meneses of PEMEX E y P's Exploration Coordination office in Villahermosa and BEG-PEMEX Project Coordinator. Dr. Meneses spent the entire week at the Bureau. 08/29/01

(left to right) Bureau researcher Mark Holtz, PEMEX representatives Dr. Javier Meneses and
Alfredo Guzman, and Bureau Associate Director Eric Potter

Paul M. (Mitch) Harris of Chevron Petroleum Technology Company in Houston, Texas, presented “Geologic Framework for the Tengiz and Korolev Fields, Kazakhstan — Carboniferous Isolated Carbonate Platforms” at the Bureau’s Friday morning seminar on August 31, 2001. [Abstract] 08/29/01

BEG scientist Dr. Stephen C. Ruppel was among the recently announced project winners for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) ongoing petroleum research program to develop new tools for increasing domestic oil production. The category for Steve’s investigation is “Oil Technology: Reservoir Efficiency Processes,” for which he will focus on carbonate oil reservoirs common to the Permian Basin of West Texas and the U.S. (Details) 08/22/01

Bureau researchers Dr. Roberto Gutierrez and Rebecca Smyth returned last week from a two-week trip to Turkey, Albania, and Italy to evaluate the feasibility of using airborne LIDAR to map archeological sites in these countries. Part of Roberto's and Rebecca's travels included a boat trip up the Euphrates River in eastern Anatolia. There they visited Rumkale, a medieval fortress that is an important part of the proposed project in Turkey. Click here for more information, and to see more pictures from this trip. 08/21/01

On Thursday, August 23, 2001, the Bureau welcomed National Research Council representatives who were here to learn about the management and holdings of the Bureau’s core and well log facilities. Nine members from the Committee on Preservation of Geoscience Data and Collections met with Bureau staff for an overview and tour of the Core Research Center and the Geophysical Log Facility. [Details] 08/23/01

(Left to right) Dr. Charlie Kerans, Xavier Janson, and Dr. Lesli Wood

Mr. Xavier Janson, Research Assistant and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami presented "Architecture of Miocene Carbonate Platform, Ermenek Turkey: Implication for Subsurface Data Interpretation" to Bureau staff on Monday, August 20 in the Main Conference Room. Mr. Janson's visit was hosted by Dr. Charlie Kerans. 08/21/01

The Bureau welcomes another new employee to its growing staff, Cary Urso. Cary is the new administrative assistant for the second floor where she will assist the researchers, the IT group, and help maintain the Bureau's resume database. Her interests include live music, including playing the drums, and her pets (2 dogs and 2 cats). She also enjoys theater, reading, and computers. Cary returns to Texas after living in Tucson for 12 years. 08/21/01

The AAPG Prospect and Property Show (APPEX), an exposition for prospects and properties and complimentary DealMakers Conference, will be held August 27–29 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Houston, Texas. Bureau Director Scott W. Tinker will discuss the “Reality of Industry Trends” at the DealMakers Conference Power Lunch on Monday, August 27. Registration deadline is August 7; for more information and to register, click here. 07/26/01

Senior Research Scientist Dr. Bridget R. Scanlon and Research Scientist Associate Robert Reedy presented a short course titled “Vadose Zone Hydrology” to technical staff at the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission on Wednesday and Thursday, August 15^th–16^th, 2001. 08/13/01

Left: Jon Price, right: Scott Tinker

Each year the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) and the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) host a booth at the National Conference of State Legislators. At this year's meeting in San Antonio, the Bureau coordinated this effort with AIPG. Jon Price, former Bureau scientist and now State Geologist of Nevada and President of AASG, joined Bureau Director Scott W. Tinker, Bureau Associate Directors, and others in the booth from August 13 to 15, 2001. 07/26/01

Marsha Shasteen, Science Foreign Policy Aide and Counsel to Texas Congressman Ralph M. Hall, visited the Bureau on Wednesday, August 8, 2001, for an overview of the Bureau’s research units. Ms. Shasteen monitors the proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, for which Representative Hall is the ranking Democrat. 08/07/01 

Don Charbula, Vice President of Engineering, and Tony Massoth, both of Texas American Resources Company, met with Bureau researchers Susan D. Hovorka, Paul R. Knox, and others August 7, 2001 to discuss teaming up with the Bureau to conduct a CO₂ sequestration project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. 08/07/01

Bureau researcher Paul R. Knox presented "Climatic and Eustatic Controls on Exploration-Scale Heterogeneity within Fifth- and Sixth-Order Depositional Cycles: Insights from the Quaternary of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain and Shelf" at the Bureau’s Clastics Lunch Seminar, Thursday, August 9, 2001, 11:45 a.m., in room 3.132. 08/06/01

Aysen Ozkan, Graduate Research Assistant in the Fracture Research and Application Consortium, recently accepted a position at Core Lab in Houston. Aysen completed her Master of Science degree while working at the Bureau on a wide variety of structural and diagenetic topics. [More] 08/03/01

In Europe, they take the month of August off…Bureau Director Scott W. Tinker spent the month of August traveling in Texas and Colorado speaking to various organizations. On August 6, he gave public testimony for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oil and Gas Program titled "Oil and Natural Gas Technology: Securing the Nation’s Energy Future" in Denver, Colorado. On August 16, Scott presented "Oil and Gas Technology: Why Should a Royalty Owner Care?" to the National Association of Royalty Owners Texas Convention in San Angelo, Texas. In Houston on August 22, Scott addressed the National Research Council’s Committee on Preservation of Geoscience Data and then headed to Midland on August 23, where he taught a one-day short course for the Permian Basin Graduate Center titled "Interpreting 3-D Carbonate Stratigraphy Using 1-D Data." 07/25/01