Seven Geoscientific Practices for Effective Hydrocarbon Exploration: A Holistic Approach

Oil and gas exploration is a risk intrinsic activity. The risk cannot be eliminated but can be controlled and reduced by adopting appropriate workflow, and conceptual and technological innovations. Finding new economically viable oil and gas fields has become increasingly challenging. My experience says seven practices are imperative for effectively exploring oil and gas. Three are classified as dominantly technical; two have a behavioural focus, whilst two illustrate the requirement for an integrated, commercial business mindset. Each of these seven practices is described in the paper. I argue that these practices would define robust exploration to discover oil and gas.