Page 8 - Petroleum Geology

PREFACE

The fascination of petroleum geology lies both in its complexity and in its
importance to society. There is still much that we do not understand; and
there is much to learn if remaining undiscovered reserves of oil and gas are to
be found economically. It is also good geology with a healthy practical com-
ponent.
The great advances in geological thought and understanding in the 19th
Century were based largely on the construction of coal mines, railways and
canals. But this was almost two-dimensional geology of the land, bounded by
the low-tide line. In the last 30 years or so, geology has moved offshore onto
the continental shelves and ocean floors, largely under the stimulus of petro-
leum exploration, and with it has grown a great wealth of geological informa-
tion.
In “Petroleum Geology: a Concise Study” (published by Elsevier in 1973,
with the paperback edition in 1976) I attempted to focus on those elements
of petroleum geology that seemed to be amenable to synthesis and to
provide a broader understanding of some significant processes in petroleum
geology. Since then, there has been an even more spectacular growth in the
quality and quantity of geological information. We are still being buried
under a mountain of empirical data.
I remarked then, as many others had before me, that petroleum geology
embraces more disciplines of science than one mortal can master. The same
is true today, of course, and it is also true that in many of our fundamental
topics, no true consensus has emerged. This is not through lack of informa-
tion (although this is certainly retarding our progress in the microbiological
aspects of petroleum geology). The notable exception is the consensus
reached on the geochemical aspects of the origin and generation of petro-
leum.
Since writing my first book, books have been written on petroleum geo-
chemistry, abnormal pore-fluid pressures, and empirical approaches to petro-
leum migration (among others), whereas only papers in journals or chapters
of books had appeared before. These were all valuable contributions to
petroleum geology; but there has grown from these and other works a need
for another treatment of petroleum geology that will help the individual to
get a grasp of the whole subject and the interactions between the specialist
topics. This is particularly important for the student because, once an active
career in industry begins, little time will be found to keep up with the litera-
ture.