Galápagos is one of the most pristine archipelagos in the world and its conservation relies upon research and sensible management. In recent decades both the interest in, and the needs of, the islands have increased, yet the funds and capacity for necessary research have remained limited. It has become, therefore, increasingly important to identify areas of priority research to assist decision-making in Galápagos conservation. This study identified 50 questions considered priorities for future research and management. The exercise involved the collaboration of policy makers, practitioners and researchers from more than 30 different organisations. Initially, 360 people were consulted to generate 781 questions. An established process of preworkshop voting and three rounds to reduce and reword the questions, followed by a two-day workshop, was used to produce the final 50 questions. The most common issues raised by this list of questions were human population growth, climate change and the impact of invasive alien species. These results have already been used by a range of organisations and politicians and are expected to provide the basis for future research on the islands so that its sustainability may be enhanced.

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This paper presents a case study focusing on the identification of CO2 in the Hollin reservoir, based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) responses, its effect on petrophysical parameters, and the negative effect on production wells. The paper also discusses the strong relationship between the high CO2 concentration in the reservoir fluids and its effect on the formation damage resulting from pore throat plugging from organic and inorganic compounds. After NMR processing, it was possible to identify the CO2 response on porosity related to low hydrogen index; the PVT analysis reveals approximately 75% of CO2 in the reservoir conditions and more than 95% of CO2 in the surface conditions. Asphaltene stability was evaluated through four methods, including the Leontaritis method, colloidal stability index, Stankiewicz method, and stability crossplot (SCP), which enabled the determination of an unstable probability by more than 75%. Palo Azul wells have been completed with production enhancement techniques, such as fracturing, to minimize the formation damage and its negative production effect; until now, however, the unique hypothesis considered formation damage to be related to fine-grain migration without considering that the primary problem could be connected to asphaltene stability. The deposition of the asphaltene can plug pore throats, reducing wellbore permeability and dramatically reducing fracture wings conductivity. This case study provides several important contributions. First, NMR results were successfully used in the Oriente basin of Ecuador to identify reservoirs with high concentrations of CO2. Second, four different diagnostic methods were used to determine asphaltene stability; this has altered common paradigms regarding production reservoir behavior. Finally, this case study enabled the development of a new technical hypothesis concerning additional factors that can contribute to formation damage in the Hollin reservoir.

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