The dictum of “Oil is found in the minds of men” as coined by Wallace Pratt is the norm in exploration. Begin with creative thinking is already in the blood of explorationist. Costly and dangerously exploration endeavors can only be justified after the discovery is made in the minds of explorationist, convinced to the management, and funded to go ahead plunges into the swampy coast or freezing deep water.
Innovate is marrying creative thinking with technology, any technology (can be from other discipline, or from different time zone). Like a good married couple, it takes two to tango: Creative Thinking and Technology.
Exploration is process to discover, not to search, as the end product of the exploration is the discovery. The searching is the process itself. So Exploration, in other way is searching to discover.
Oil & gas exploration is a noble cause for human being to discover more energy to mobilize and to energize the human activity in this world. So, energy is more than just Oil & Gas. Searching oil & gas may lead to discover hydrate or geothermal or hydrothermal or any unthinkable energy resources.
Oil & Gas exploration need innovation. Therefore it must begin with creative thinking. Creative thinking simply perceived as a method of thinking that leading toward creating something novel, something new, something in demand, and something has been long awaited.
Creativity only for artist is a myth. Creativity is for everybody in every walk of life! Creativity is even more serious than anything else. Allah Himself frankly introduces Himself to us that He Is The Al Khaliq, The Ultimate Creator. It is so important that the exclamation is repeatedly mentioned in 14 verses of the AlQuran.
As exploration is process. Steps in the process can be sequential; can be leap-frog; zigzag; cutting the line of process, simply eliminating some unnecessary steps or introducing simple technology in the queue of process. Technology is only a tool awaited to be utilized when we are thinking creatively. Creativity not always about new tools, new technology, it could be known technology but used in different way or different field of discipline.
The “standard” way of searching or exploring began with knowing what to search. In our case here is the energy in the form Oil or Gas. The process followed by observing from distance, from macroscopic point of view, or we say regional exploration. Then we approach and collect data and converted or process the data to become information. Process of converting data into meaningful information has wide room from creativity. Gather the information as much as possible we can do in our time and space given.
Advertisement
Try to ask and see the same information from several perspectives. Again at this point, which we call the interpretation stage, information can be questioned and perceived creatively until we discover something what we are searching, oil & gas in our mind first!. The real oil & gas will be discover at the next stage by drilling the earth and layers of rock to discover the oil & gas trapped under the sealed reservoir.
Our creativity in exploration can emerge at several stages. From scratch of designing the aeromagnetic survey, to tensor gravity, seismic line paths and orientation, planning the field geological survey traverse, selecting area to explore or selecting combination of exploration tools to satisfy discovery at reasonable cost.
After all, the end point of exploration is pointing a dot on earth. The dot with precise coordinates for the drill bit to make a hole targeting the thousand meter deep trapped hydrocarbon.
The creativity will pay out in term of the gushing of oil & gas from the deep or the earth, at minimal cost. Though the minimum cost by the oil explorationist’ term may mean millions of dollars! But the gushing oil & gas will deliver billions of dollars in return later.
Innovate using any available technology;
- Using tomography (initially used in the medical science) to scan hydrocarbon migration between two wells.
- Use electromagnetic (normally transmitted from radio) to detect effect of hydrocarbon present in the subsurface reservoir.
- Use information from the rigors and color of the trees (usually to see soil fertility) in widely covered forest to interpret the hydrocarbon present.
- Used the variation of thermal condition on the surface of earth (for weather forecast), or different saturation of certain gas on the soil, to locate the most likely to occur oil & gas anomaly deep beneath the earth.
Creativity is the positive intersection between three main circles: Circle of expertise, circle of motivation and circle of creative thinking skill (Amabile, 1998). For explorationist, the expertise is pile of knowledge and tools which are piling over the exploration office or still back in the wilderness. The motivation is burning desire to discover oil & gas to energize the economy, or to unearth the invaluable treasure, or get the oil resources at the most effective cost.
The 3rd most important ingredient is the creative thinking skill. It can come from several methodologies. The methods can basically be from ways of seeing, ways of asking and ways of doing or making the searching and discovering (Sawyer, 2013). Finding oil & gas seem as simple and well defined problem. But indeed it is a complicated problem to solve. Hence creativity is required.
Creativity which has habit of using alternatives, combinations, reconnections and flexibilities, become the power tool to solve complicated or “ill defined problem” in the oil & gas exploration. Alternatives approach of traversing. Combinations of geophysical methods such as gravity, magnetic, seismic and electromagnetic, plus microbes accumulation on soils, cloud condensation variation, gas seepage, and many more combinations. Reconnections between possible hydrocarbon migrations from one kitchen source in known sedimentary basin to another possible source rocks generating oil from deeper layers, or from the opposite basins. Flexibilities in using the method, thinking process, and approach such as re-sequencing the seismic processing algorithms.
So creativity in exploration needs method of creative thinking skill too. Even so now, when there is no easy oil anymore. More creativity in oil exploration is encouraged and become necessity or even an obligatory. This must be embraced by individual explorationist, to be combined with technology, so to gain innovation in discovering the oil & gas for mankind.
Bandar Seri Begawan, 23 Sept 2013