Celebrating 100 Years of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologist

Jane E. Jackson, D. Anderson, M. Silverman
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

In 2022, the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG) celebrated its centennial anniversary. Founded on January 26, 1922, RMAG (called Rocky Mountain Association of Petroleum Geologists until 1947) grew out of a desire and need for petroleum geologists in Denver to come together in a collegial environment. Petroleum geology had become an important component of exploration and development, with significant discoveries in the greater Denver Basin (Florence Field) as well as east-central Wyoming (Salt Creek Field) and northwest Colorado (Rangely Field). Through the first 25 years (1922–1947), membership hovered around 50, reflecting an initial boom of World War I through the 1920s, and then surviving the Great Depression and World War II. Post-World War II through the early 1980s, the world saw a huge increase in demand for oil (less-so for natural gas), spurring the “golden years” of Rocky Mountain exploration and development of many now-famous discoveries. Denver grew as a petroleum business center with large (major) to small (independent) companies, leading to steady RMAG membership growth, which peaked at 4,524 in 1984. During this period, RMAG established a legacy of publishing (The Mountain Geologist and the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region, aka “the Big Red Book”), sponsored multi-day field trips and symposia, hosted weekly luncheons with 200–300 attendees at the peak, and maintained a dedicated office staff located in downtown Denver. The legacy “golden” years ended with the “crash” in oil prices in 1985–86, and membership declined about 7% per year until the mid-1990s, levelling out at 1,900 members. Within the ashes of the 1984–1995 period, however, RMAG began its On the Rocks field trip series (1986) and published several sold-out guidebooks. It inaugurated the 3D Seismic Symposium (1995) co-hosted with the Denver Geophysical Society (DGS) and hosted several successful AAPG and Rocky Mountain Section AAPG annual meetings. In the 1990s, natural gas hosted in “unconventional” reservoirs began an exploration/development revolution, spurred on by federal price supports and construction of a major gas pipeline to the West Coast in 1992. By 2000, huge natural gas resources locked in Rocky Mountain “tight gas” reservoirs became economically viable with improved hydraulic fracturing technology and increasing gas prices. RMAG membership began growing along with the increased natural gas-drilling activity, and RMAG offered multiple well-attended symposia and publications highlighting unconventional gas plays. A new boom began in 2008 with the advent of horizontal drilling for oil in the Bakken Shale of the Williston Basin and Niobrara Formation of the Denver Basin, and a massive increase in oil price. Consequently, RMAG membership reached a secondary peak of 2,978 in 2012. However, as oil prices began declining steadily in 2014, membership also decreased. By 2016, oil price decline led to the familiar cycle of company closings and layoffs. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down all in-person RMAG activities, heavily impacting the organization. RMAG pivoted to online (virtual) luncheons, symposia, and field trips. Even so, membership declined to about 1200 members in 2022. The challenges that the RMAG will face in the next 100 years will be daunting. Long-term sustainability of the RMAG will require its members and member-leaders to recognize and embrace changes as they occur.
庆祝落基山地质学家协会成立100周年
2022年,落基山地质学家协会(RMAG)庆祝了其成立100周年。RMAG成立于1922年1月26日(1947年之前被称为落基山石油地质学家协会),是丹佛石油地质学家在一个学院环境中聚集在一起的愿望和需要的结果。石油地质学已经成为勘探和开发的重要组成部分,在丹佛盆地(Florence油田)、怀俄明州中东部(Salt Creek油田)和科罗拉多州西北部(Rangely油田)都有重大发现。在最初的25年(1922年至1947年),成员国在50个左右徘徊,反映了20世纪20年代第一次世界大战初期的繁荣,然后经历了大萧条和第二次世界大战。第二次世界大战后到20世纪80年代初,世界对石油的需求大幅增加(对天然气的需求较少),刺激了落基山脉勘探和许多著名发现的“黄金年代”。丹佛成长为一个石油商业中心,拥有大(主要)到小(独立)的公司,导致RMAG成员稳步增长,1984年达到4,524人的峰值。在此期间,RMAG建立了出版的遗产(山区地质学家和落基山脉地区的地质地图集,又名“大红皮书”),赞助了为期数天的实地考察和专题讨论会,在高峰时每周举办200-300人参加的午餐,并在丹佛市中心保持了专门的办公室工作人员。传统的“黄金”年代随着1985-86年油价的“崩溃”而结束,会员数量以每年7%的速度下降,直到20世纪90年代中期,会员数量稳定在1900人。然而,在1984年至1995年期间的灰烬中,RMAG开始了它的岩石实地考察系列(1986),并出版了几本售罄的指南书。1995年,它与丹佛地球物理学会(DGS)共同举办了3D地震研讨会,并成功举办了几次AAPG和落基山部分AAPG年会。20世纪90年代,在联邦价格支持和1992年通往西海岸的主要天然气管道建设的推动下,“非常规”储层中的天然气开始了一场勘探/开发革命。到2000年,随着水力压裂技术的改进和天然气价格的上涨,洛基山“致密气”储层中的巨大天然气资源具有经济可行性。随着天然气钻井活动的增加,RMAG的成员人数开始增加,RMAG举办了多次出席人数众多的研讨会和出版物,重点介绍非常规天然气油气藏。2008年,随着Williston盆地的Bakken页岩和Denver盆地的Niobrara地层水平钻井技术的出现,石油行业迎来了新一轮的繁荣,油价也大幅上涨。因此,RMAG成员在2012年达到了2978人的第二个高峰。然而,随着2014年油价开始稳步下跌,成员国数量也有所减少。到2016年,油价下跌导致了熟悉的公司关闭和裁员周期。2020年,Covid-19大流行关闭了所有面对面的RMAG活动,严重影响了该组织。RMAG以在线(虚拟)午餐、专题讨论会和实地考察为中心。即便如此,到2022年,会员人数下降到1200人左右。澳大利亚皇家陆军在未来100年将面临的挑战是艰巨的。RMAG的长期可持续性要求其成员和成员领导人认识到并接受发生的变化。
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