Degrees: B.A. Natural Sciences (Geology), Cambridge University, Gonville and Caius College, 1974. M.A. awarded in 1977.
Ph.D. and D.I.C. in Geology, Imperial College, London University, 1985. Thesis Title: "Aspects of Palaeozoic Cratonic Sedimentation in Southwest Libya and Saudi Arabia".
2003 to present
Nubian Consulting
Managing all aspects of the business of Nubian Consulting.
Since 2006 prepared and marketed non-exclusive Oil and Gas Fields Atlas of Libya; completed first edition in 2008 with a GIS version completed in 2010. A completely new online atlas commenced in 2012 for completion 2013.
Undertook numerous contracts mainly focussed on North Africa and the Mediterranean for large and small IOCs.
During 2003-6, when Libya announced its First and Second EPSA IV licence rounds, prepared a highly successful non-exclusive prospectivity report on the Murzuq basin, Libya (‘Petroleum System and Play Fairway Analysis of the Murzuq Basin, Southwest Libya’), a joint project with David Boote Consulting.
During 2009/10 participated in a training programme in Libya, giving various courses including the very popular ‘Petroleum Systems of Libya and North Africa’. Also delivered ‘Play Fairway Analysis and Prospect Appraisal’ to petroleum geologists in Algeria, Libya, Argentina and Abu Dhabi. In 2010 and again in 2013 was one of the group of tutors giving the much-acclaimed PESGB training course on the petroleum geology of North Africa, after 2013 planned to be biennial.
1993 – 2003
Consultancy
Consultancy advice was provided to Anglo Siberian Oil Company plc on a regular basis from 1993 to 2003 covering exploration, appraisal and field development geology of Russia. Technical Director from 1998 to 2003.
In addition, contracts were undertaken for PA Resources on the company's assets in Tunisia, Svalbard and Texas; with Occidental on the Murzuq Basin, Libya; and with Hunt Oil on the Sirt Basin, Libya and with Diamond Oil on Afghanistan. Other consultancy included preparation of non-exclusive reports on various petroleum geology topics throughout North Africa. A Petroleum Seminar was given to Zuetina Oil Company of Libya on new plays in the Sirt Basin. A field trip was organised for LASMO to visit the Palaeozoic type sections in western Libya, and petroleum training was provided to the senior staff of AGOCO (Libya) on a one-to-one basis.
Course Director on MSc Course in Stratigraphy at Birkbeck College Geology Department, London University (1993/4). Focused on sequence stratigraphy and its application in industry. Field Trip Leader Southern Pyrenees.
Research Fellow and part-time lecturer on the Petroleum Geology MSc class at Imperial College Geology Department, London University (1993 - 1996). In 1995 organised a Geological Society conference on the "Petroleum Geology of North Africa", the proceedings of which were subsequently published as Geological Society Special Publication No. 132 (Eds. D. S. Macgregor, R. T. J. Moody and D. D. Clark-Lowes) in 1998. With David Boote I published a major review of the Palaeozoic basins of North Africa in this volume (see below).
1985 – 1993
Scott Pickford plc
Director responsible for production of regional prospectivity reports including four non-exclusive reports on petroleum exploration potential of Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Pakistan; also production of three large-scale non-exclusive reports and atlases on the petroleum geology of regions on a part-continent scale, including North Africa, the Indian sub-continent, and the Southern CIS (Former Soviet Union). Bid preparation, negotiation and project management of a contract with the Tunisian government supported by a World Bank loan to assist the national oil enterprise to evaluate and promote the petroleum potential of its acreage onshore and offshore - two year contract worth £1 million. Consultancy advise to Sonatrach, Algeria.
From 1987 to 1993 I lectured each year to the MSc course at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College on "Basin Evolution and Dynamics", my contribution being case studies of basin analysis/petroleum evaluation and prospect risk analysis.
1982 – 1985
Charterhouse Petroleum plc
Chief Geologist, responsible for the company's geological work and for geological contracts throughout the UKCS, Ireland and Netherlands. Undertook regional hydrocarbon studies of a number of areas, generally in the context of licence round acreage evaluations. Supervised seismic and drilling exploration in three operated blocks.
1981 – 1982
Institute of Geological Sciences (now British Geological Survey), Hydrocarbons Unit (Continental Shelf Division)
Senior Scientific Officer. Project manager of team responsible for seismic mapping and geological appraisal of North Sea petroleum provinces.
1980 – 1981
Imperial College, London
Field study of the Palaeozoic succession of Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, with the ‘Imperial College Saudi Arabian Cover Rock Project; results presented at a Penrose Research Conference of SEPM in the USA (Dott & Byers, 1981); a NERC grant funded this Ph.D. write-up period.
1978 – 1979
Occidental Oil Company of Libya (Consultant)
Prepared a report "Hydrocarbon Potential of the Murzuq Basin (SW Libya)"; included subsurface geology and petrographic / SEM study.
1977 – 1978
Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC)
Oil industry supported Ph.D. research project at Imperial College working in Libya with NOC. Undertook field work in southwest Libya’s Palaeozoic Murzuq Basin and subsurface geology in Tripoli. Also part-time geology lecturer at the University of Al Fateh, Tripoli.
1974 – 1977
Shell International Petroleum Company
Three months training in petroleum geology in Holland. Exploration geologist in Botswana, Southern Africa. Responsible for field geology, core description, photogeology, correlation of wire-line logs and facies analysis in Botswana Karoo basin.
Relevant past position:
Member of the committee of the Petroleum Group of the Geological Society of London (1991 – 1996).
Professional affiliations:
Fellow/member of AAPG, EAGE, PESGB, Geol.Soc.London, Geol.Assoc., RGS and Soc.Libyan Studies.
Sedimentology and mineralization potential of the Saq and Tabuk formations. Saudi Arabian Ministry for Mineral Resources, Open File Report DGMR-767. Riyadh, 88p.
Aspects of Palaeozoic cratonic sedimentation in southwest Libya and Saudi Arabia. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, London University, 286p.
Palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Palaeozoic "Nubian Sandstones" of the Sahara. Proceedings Third Symposium on the Geology of Libya, Tripoli, Libya, 1987. In: M.J. Salem et al. (Eds), The Geology of Libya. Elsevier, London, Vol. VI, pp 2099-2153.
Palaeozoic petroleum systems of North Africa. In: Macgregor, D.S., Moody, R.T.J. & Clark-Lowes, D.D. (Eds) 1998. Petroleum Geology of North Africa. Geological Society, London, Special Publication No. 132, 7-68.
Exploration history of the Palaeozoic petroleum systems. In: Macgregor, D.S., Moody, R.T.J. & Clark-Lowes, D.D. (Eds) 1998. Petroleum Geology of North Africa. Geological Society, London, Special Publication No. 132, 69-78.
The evolution of Palaeozoic sourced petroleum systems on the North African platform. Paper presented jointly by the authors at Petroleum Group (Geol.Soc.) and PESGB conference on "Petroleum Systems and Evolving Technologies in African E & P", London.
Arabian glacial deposits: recognition of palaeovalleys within the Upper Ordovician Sarah Formation, Al Qasim District, Saudi Arabia. Proceedings of the Geologist’s Association, vol 116, pp331-347. (received highly-cited author award for 2005-2008)
Depositional model for the distribution of Silurian hot shale and Mamuniyat reservoir facies in the Al Kufrah basin. In: Salem, M. J. and El-Hawat, A. S. (Eds) 2008. Geology of East Libya, Earth Science Society of Libya, Vol.1, pp.179-186
In 2008 papers were presented on historical impact of new concepts and techniques in Libyan exploration at conferences in Cape Town (AAPG) (October) and Libya (November).
New geological concepts in the evaluation of the Southern basins of Libya, with particular reference to the El Shararah trend of the Murzuq Basin. Paper presented at the Southern Basins of Libya Conference in Tripoli (November 2008) on the history of new technologies in exploration in the Murzuq Basin, Libya.
The hydrocarbon prospects of Botswana. Geological Survey Department, Open File Report. Lobatse, Botswana, 54p.
Structure and petroleum prospectivity of the Dutch Central Graben and neighbouring platform areas. In: J. Brooks and K. Glennie (Eds), Petroleum Geology of North-West Europe. Graham & Trotman, London, pp 337-356.
Geological modelling of heterogeneous sandstone reservoirs. Paper presented jointly at Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Seminars in Delhi and Bombay, India, organised by the Energy Industries Council and the DTI, 13p.