RISC Advisory paper ‘East Irish Sea, Rhyl field’ published in Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: 50 Years of Learning

RISC Advisory’s Gavin Ward and Dean Baker have had their technical paper published in the book ‘The Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: 50 years of learning’. The book has been published in hard copy this month and follows the proceedings of the 8th Petroleum Geology Conference held in 2015, which provided a platform for present value and future success for exploration and development of the offshore oil and gas resources of NW Europe.

Gavin and Dean’s co authored technical paper ‘East Irish Sea, Rhyl field’ explores developing a new structural model by integrating basic geological principles with advanced seismic imaging in the Irish Sea. The paper was originally published in the Geological Society of London as part of the Petroleum Geology Conference Series in 2016 and has received praise for its technical analysis by respected industry peers:

Bruce Levell (Visiting Professor at Dept. Earth Sciences Oxford University)
“It demonstrates, yet again, that once a prolific kitchen has been identified there are many subtle traps that need to be explored for using detailed and careful seismic mapping combined with a good stratigraphic understanding. The Rhyl gas field in the Irish Sea (Ward & Baker 2016) was hidden from the industry until 2009 by virtue of overburden velocity anomalies due to glacial sediment, dykes and structural complexities. The authors describe how integrated subsurface analysis, notably the combination of careful geophysical analyses and structural understanding, led to the field’s discovery 33 years after its near neighbour, the Morecombe Field.”

Mike Bowman (Professor & Chair of Petroleum Engineering – ‎University of Texas A&M at Qatar and Honorary Professor of Petroleum Geoscience at University of Manchester)
“Your Rhyl paper we all thought was a super example of what a combination of determination, high quality science and integrated subsurface description can do when applied judiciously to unlock value in what is seen as very mature province, with, in many peoples view, little upside.”

Philip Mulholland “finds it encouraging that good science, carefully applied, can still produce real value in the exploration of the East Irish Sea Basin (EISB).”

The book can be viewed online via the Geological Society of London Publication Library or purchased in hard copy. For more information please contact the RISC UK Office on +44 (0)203 356 2960 or admin@riscadvisory.com.