The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) is celebrating its 90th year with its first-ever all-virtual annual meeting and international exhibition from Oct. 11-16.

Bill Abriel, former president of SEG who will chair the Business of Applied (BAG) sessions at the event, joined Hart Energy’s Faiza Rizvi to discuss this year’s key topics including CO₂ storage and the business climate of the oil and gas service sector.

Particularly, Abriel, an industry veteran with over four decades of international experience with Chevron Corp., also spoke about the importance of geophysics on the business side of the industry.

“Geophysics is the eyes and ears of what you can’t see in the subsurface…we provide this direct measured information about what’s going on in the subsurface,” he said. “BAG sessions have more to do with the commercial forces at work…what are the business forces that make a difference. It isn’t taught in universities, you get this experience when you are in the industry. These are not tech sessions but they are interesting and important questions about what we’re trying to accomplish for the business and applied geophysics.”

Abriel pointed out that one of the BAG sessions will focus on the business of geophysics climate in Africa where experts will discuss how geophysical profitability is affected by regulatory constraints, community and national engagement, and operations.

“Africa is going to be a crucial exploration environment for the oil and gas business for decades to come…What we’re trying to accomplish with that session is to be sure that folks understand what it is like to do the business of geophysics in different parts of Africa,” he said.

As for how to navigate the current challenges of the industry, Abriel also explained how companies can undertake measures like cost-cutting, adopting new technologies and consolidation.

The BAG sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 13 and run until Oct. 14. For more information visit SEG.org/AM/2020/event/detail/bag-sessions. The full conference agenda can be found at SEG.org/AM/2020/event/all.

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  • SEG 2020 Annual Meeting (0:26)
  • BAG sessions (3:36)
  • Changing business climate (7:13)
  • New technologies in geophysics (10:09)
  • Future of exploration (13:47)
  • Path forward (16:12)