This week, we will look at emerging technologies that contribute to the efficiency and safety of offshore oil exploration and production. Then, we will look at two “good old geology” papers—one on Spiro Sandstone in Oklahoma and the other on the prolific petroleum-bearing Wilcox Group sediments—both published in the AAPG Bulletin. Enjoy reading!
Rasoul Sorkhabi
Editor, Core Elements
Emerging Technologies in Offshore Oil and Gas Industry
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In its fourth annual special report,Offshore shares industry leaders’ perspectives on the near-term transformative technologies in the offshore oil and gas industry. Here are some of the technological developments mentioned.
AI-supported autonomous systems for offshore logistics and production:
AI and automation, integrated with subsea operations, are increasingly helping oil and gas companies address drill ship availability and scheduling challenges.
By integrating AI-driven scheduling, production optimization, and autonomous drilling, offshore companies can reduce downtime, improve safety, and boost production.
Pilot projects in Europe, the Middle East, and North America signal success stories for AI agents.
Underwater human habitats:
The California-based DEEP, an ocean engineering company, aims to manufacture subsea human habitats where workers and researchers can live for weeks underwater at depths of up to 200 meters.
This would enable offshore operations to transform their infrastructures with scalable and sustainable technologies.
DEEP is planning to complete in 2027 Project Vanguard, a pilot subsea facility that can support six people. The project has secured $100 million in investments and is operating in Florida and Texas.
Deepwater pipeline performance:
Tenaris, a leading manufacturer of pipelines headquartered in Luxembourg, aims to improve offshore safety, reduce environmental impact, and support complex deepwater production projects through better technologies and workforce digitization.
One of its cutting-edge technologies deploys corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA) in pipes in addition to Dopeless, a multifunctional coating applied at the mill. The combination provides high-performance lubrication.
Installation of a digital tool called PipeTracer helps “full traceability of each pipe from the mill to the well.”
Alternative fuels for offshore vessels:
Finnish company Wärtsilä Marine is developing fuel-flexible solutions toward low-carbon operations for offshore vessels.
These include alternative fuels such as ammonia, methanol, LNG, hydrogen, and biofuels.
Revival of the U.K. North Sea oil and gas:
The U.K. North Sea is experiencing unmanaged decline due to high taxes, regulatory hurdles, and a lack of new investments. The decline is threatening future oil production and jobs.
Now, a proposal lobbied by Offshore Energies U.K. aims to create a long-term, profit-based tax mechanism to attract oil and gas companies.
The proposal has set the following targets:
Secure 41 billion pounds of additional investment in the U.K. energy projects by 2050
Support the creation of 23,000 additional jobs by 2030
Deliver additional tax receipts of 12 billion pounds by 2050 through a more stable production outlook
AI/ML tools integrate with our interpretation software and upstream data, supporting consistent, iterative workflows from data preparation through analysis.
From Spiro to Wilcox: A Tale of Two Sandstone Reservoirs
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Two recent papers in the AAPG Bulletin describe the stratigraphy of Spiro Sandstone in the onshore Arkoma Basin and the Wilcox Group in the Gulf of Mexico (America).
Study #1. Stratigraphic Correlation of Spiro Sandstone
The Arkoma Basin, spanning Oklahoma and Arkansas, is a Paleozoic oil and gas basin.
The study is based on 23 cores and more than 500 well logs.
Study highlights:
The Pennsylvanian-age Wapanucka Limestone and Spiro Sandstone represent a third-order genetic sequence and record shallow to deep marine evolution.
They represent the final states of passive-margin deposition and the beginning of foreland basin deposition in the Arkoma Basin.
Wapanucka Limestone consists of two fourth-order depositional cycles: a lower marine carbonate cycle and an upper mixed siliciclastic-carbonate cycle.
Wapanucka Limestone is overlain by a marine shale (“sub-Spiro shale”), which is overlain by Foster channel sandstone.
The overlying Spiro Sandstone is thickest in the base-level rise (transgression) of the third-order genetic sequence, and it contains fourth-order cycles of valley-fill fluvial, estuarine, and marine shoreface.
Why it matters:
Spiro sandstone reservoirs have produced more than 2.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas to date.
The new regional correlation of Spiro Sandstone offers “a higher-resolution framework for prediction of reservoir presence, reservoir connectivity, and compartmentalization in developed fields, in addition to a new depositional model predicting untested exploration fairways.”
Study #2. Wilcox Group: A giant submarine fan
A paper in the AAPG Bulletin describes the deposition history of the Wilcox Group.
The lead author, Michael Sweet from The University of Texas at Austin, served as the editor of the AAGP Bulletin from 2013 to 2016.
New study highlights:
The Wilcox Group, sandwiched between the Midway Shale at the bottom and Queen City mudstone-sandstone on the top, was deposited for about 14.5 million years during the Paleogene-Eocene periods.
This time interval coincided with a global greenhouse event—the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)—at 55.8 Ma.
The Wilcox Group in the northern Gulf of Mexico Basin is up to 8,000 feet thick and covers 66,000 square miles.
Up to half of the Wilcox sands routed to the basin were deposited in submarine fans.
The known deltaic feeds for Wilcox sands are the Lavaca and Yoakum canyons in Texas, Taylor Canyon at the Texas-Louisiana border, and St. Landry Canyon in Louisiana.
The high volume of sand routed to a deepwater environment was probably related to the Laramide orogeny, narrow continental shelf, and energetic submarine canyons.
Why it matters:
The Wilcox play has had an exploration success ratio of nearly 60 percent, although it occurs below direct detection of hydrocarbons from seismic data.
Understanding variations in reservoir quality of deepwater Wilcox sands is crucial for production forecasts.
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