Petroleum exploration history: discovery pattern versus manpower, technology and the development of exploration principles

Abstract

Discovery of conventional resources outside North America peaked during 1956–1980, when almost 60% out of the total 3535 Bbbloe of technically recoverable resources discovered through 2007 were found. Most of the 88 super-giant fields were also found during that period. How does this clear pattern of discovery compare with the patterns of development of the organizations, technologies and principles employed in petroleum exploration geoscience? Since 1900 the organizations involved in exploration have become steadily more numerous and diverse, as have the geoscientists employed, but both were affected by the oil price shock in 1985. The technologies for drilling and well geosciences evolved steadily. Similarly, seismic reflection technology, starting in 1920, has progressed relentlessly. Geochemical technologies, to analyse source rocks, their maturation and hydrocarbon generation, developed rapidly from 1970. Three ‘principles’ of petroleum exploration geoscience have been developed: the search for anticlinal traps replaced drilling on seeps in the 1930s; the exploration play was formulated in 1984; and the more general principle of the petroleum system was formulated in 1988. This history shows that the pattern of discovery and the patterns of manpower, technology and the development of principles have followed different paths in the period since 1900.