PESGB Evening Lecture – March (Online)

Guest Speaker: Mick Simpson

Topic: Operations Geology and Application to Energy Transition and Renewables

Click here to view the abstract

Mick Simpson

Mick Simpson has over 45 years’ experience in the Oil and Gas industry. After University he began the traditional route through mud logging working in a wide range of locations from Northern Canada, the Middle east, North Sea and being caught up in the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1978 where he had to make a quick exit.

He spent a year as a mud engineer and then went on to become a wellsite geologist where he pioneered basic geosteerring techniques in Qatar and the Danish sector for Maerskoil in the days when LWD was not quite as reliable as it is today. Using only oil shows and drilling parameters he successfully geosteered several Chalk wells in Denmark as the LWD then kept failing.

He worked on the Shuaiba and Kharaib of Oman onshore where geology reports were given over the radio to Japanese geologists. The morning report was usually over by noon! He then spent a spell working on the Rotliegendes and Carbonifereous gas fields of the Southern North Sea for Conoco.

After wards in 2000 he began working as an operations Geologist for Petrocanada using his geostering knowledge to help develop the Chalk Hanze field in the Netherlands which is still producing today.

He then worked 2 years for BP Angola on deep water turbidites planning several successful exploration wells on block 31 and devising different methods of predicting pore pressure.

Moving to Copenhagen in 2006 for Maersk oil he specialised in planning Upper Cretaceous Chalk and Lower Cretaceous limestone reservoirs where finally he was introduced to the dark arts of Petrel and geomodelling. Having a nose for oil he identified several Jurassic wells in the Danish sector that tested oil and contained shows but were never developed. He found that these were tight dolomites, and fractures shales of the Farsund. He then persuaded management to investigate and the Farsund project was underway having drilled one appraisal well before the oil crash of 2014. Nothing more has been done but it would be the first unconventional development offshore. He presented a paper at EAGE 2014 on how to identify unconventional field potential using drilled cuttings.

With his time at Maerskoil he mentored many young geologists and sponsored several projects they were working on. Maerskoil then was bought by Total in 2017.

He then moved on to AkerBP in Norway where they were keen to tap into his knowledge of Chalk reservoirs. Here he identified an opportunity for development of the Chalk Hod formation sitting beneath Valhall Maastructian reservoir. Using core material and offset logs he devised a geological concept that indicated it might work. Building several models and working with the reservoir engineer eventually the project was approved and Mick then not only built the model but planned the wells and was the operations geologist during execution. Two wells of the 11 planned had been drilled before he returned to the UK where he worked on Paleaocene turbidites for Dana as operations and well planning geologist.

Mick has recently just finalised a project on CCS in the Netherlands where he was investigating well integrity in the Zechstein cap rock using old-archived drilling reports and cement bond logs where many of the reports were handwritten. The lost ark however was never found! Nevertheless, this was a first foray into application of geological operations to renewable energy.

For recreation besides walking in his beloved Cheviot hills Mick is an active member of the local history society and at weekends, goes glider flying and he is currently learning to play the Northumbrian pipes.

Mick is married with 3 sons and 4 grandchildren and lives in Wooler Northumberland.