Forum - Social networking and online collaboration in the oil and gas industry. “He, who owns the information, owns the world.” This famous phrase by Winston Churchill might sound like a cliché, but it is particularly relevant today. “The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the 50-fold increase in the productivity of the manual worker in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker,” said author Peter Drucker back in 1959. This was when the term “knowledge worker” was defined. Also, the third wave of human socioeconomic development is described in the book The Fifth Generation Management (Savage, 1996) as the Age of Knowledge. Web 2.0 and social networking platforms have revolutionized the way we collaborate and communicate with others. One prominent example of a social network service is, of course, Facebook, which boasts some 350 million users. To put that community size in perspective, if Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s third largest, superseded only by China and India. In addition, online forums allow hundreds and thousands of people to unify their efforts to discuss and solve problems. Video snippets are recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Groups are formed on Facebook unifying people with similar interests across the world. Wikipedia is growing by the minute and contains more than 15 million articles in 270 languages, with all of the content written collaboratively by unpaid Internet volunteers.

Forum - Young professionals speak out on energy education. For this article, The Way Ahead addressed one of the most challenging topics for professionals in the oil and gas industry: public energy education. When oil prices peaked at USD 147/bbl in 2008, everyone felt the crunch. Food prices spiked and transportation costs rose. Global warming and the environmental impact of energy use took center stage in the public debate. Yet, media coverage, public debate, and politicians still seem to lack a fundamental understanding of where energy comes from, the costs and trade-offs related to different energy sources, technological and geographic constraints, and the hard choices that lie ahead. This article illustrates that industry professionals feel a responsibility to educate their friends, family, and neighbors, and students of all ages about energy.

Generation of thick megabreccias along carbonate platforms apparently relies on the establishment of overpressured zones in the margin and upper slope deposits (particularly during relative sea-level lowstands), but the main triggering mechanism is thought to be seismic tremors. Here, we present a detailed sedimentological analysis of carbonate density-flow deposits south and north of the Mattinata Fault, a major strike-slip fault zone in the Gargano Promontory (Italy). The analysis shows that in the southern sector the deposits of Albian–Cenomanian age (Monte S. Angelo Formation) are made up predominantly of thick and amalgamated debrites (megabreccias), whereas some 25 km to the north they are composed predominantly of prograding high-density turbidites. Moreover, detailed analysis of Maastrichtian slope deposits (Monte Acuto Limestones) from the southern sector shows that they make up a N–S-prograding system of coalesced lobes composed of high-density turbidites and subordinate debrites. We infer that preconditional factors (e.g., platform progradation, tectonic oversteepening, and high pore pressures in the margin and upper-slope deposits) for triggering the density flows varied along strike of the platform, but the main controlling factors were the activity of the prominent strike-slip Mattinata Fault and the propagation of tremor energy to its near- and far-field regions: large earthquakes triggered thick (up to 40 m) and amalgamated Albian–Cenomanian debrites in proximity (south of) to the fault, whereas the subdued effect of the tremors triggered thinner debrites (5–10 m) and rock falls in the far-field region north of the fault. Moreover, predominantly high-density turbidite deposits were emplaced in the far-field region during lower-magnitude earthquakes. During the Maastrichtian the thick succession of high-density turbidites and scattered thick debrites south of and adjacent to the Mattinata Fault may record an overall quiescent period of the fault. The results are of relevance for understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of density-flow deposition along carbonate platforms in tectonically active regions—in particular with respect to the activity of large strike-slip faults.

Forum - Youth and innovation in the oil and gas industry. According to Michael Kenison, technical solutions must have the proper blend of creativity and practicality and ideas should meet a legitimate need. Kenison is a project manager at Schlumberger and has six patents to his credit with six more in the pipeline. He received his first patent at the age of 29. He is just one of the many young achievers in the oil and gas industry. Physics, chemistry, and mathematics are overflowing with people who have exemplified the meaning of prodigy and their names are found in numerous high school and college textbooks. Wikipedia pays respect to these names. Units are named after them. Newborn elements derive their name from these people, not to mention bagel houses. But we rarely take a look in our own backyard. Given that products and services in the oil and gas industry are highly specialized and that young people are given little responsibility in their initial career years, crossing the rift can be tricky. Instead of being inspired by these examples, sometimes young people feel constrained by the long learning curve in the industry. But with the “easy oil” era over, this is a time for innovation and young professionals can be a source of refreshing insight, unique perspectives, and new ideas.