Delhi Chapter of APG - India inaugurated 

On 1st June 2006, a new era began for the oil industry geoscientists of the national capital with the opening of "The Delhi Chapter" of Association of Petroleum Geologists - India (APG-India), an affiliate of "American Association of Petroleum Geologists" (AAPG), Tulsa Oklahoma USA.

The inaugural ceremony was studded with the presence of distinguished luminaries of Indian oil exploration industry. Mr D. K. Pande, Director (Exploration) ONGC and Patron APG-India, Mr Gautam Sen, ED-ONGC, Mr Joeman Thomas, ED-OVL, Mr. D P Sahastrabudhe, GGM, ONGC & Vice President of APG-India, Mr J. G. Chaturvedi, GGM, ONGC and Mr. James Peters, GM, ONGC and Secretary APG-India graced the occasion. 

The infant Delhi Chapter of APG-India scored the first bull's eye by having Professor (Dr.) Octavian Catuneanu of University of Alberta, an internationally acclaimed sequence stratigrapher par excellence, as the 'Chief Guest' in its inaugural ceremony.

The house through a unanimous resolution elected the members of the executive body of the "Delhi Chapter". Mr. Joeman Thomas, ED - Business Development, ONGC-VL, was elected first President while Mr. Sudhir Sharma, DGM-ONGC was elected Secretary. The Constitution of the executive body of the newly formed chapter is given below.

Executive Body of the APG - Delhi Chapter.

President :      Sh. Joeman Thomas
Secretary :      Sh. Sudhir Sharma
Jt. Secretary : Sh. R. K. Dhasmana
Treasurer :      Sh. Sudhir Jain

Executive Members :
Sh. Balbir Singh
Sh. K. S. Shakhtawat
Sh. R. S. Bansal 
Sh. V. K. Mittal

Mr Joeman Thomas, President "Delhi Chapter", thanked the members for giving him the responsibility of leading the Chapter. In his talk, he focused on the challenges faces by the geoscientific community today and emphasised that with the day of easy oil gone and worldwide 'Reserve Replacement Ratio' off late falling below one, brings us geoscientists to the forefront of this challenging game and regional / basin scale studies are a need of the hour.

Mr D P Sahastrabudhe in his address urged the community to rise to the challenge and bring out new workable ideas and in quick time. Another facet of the game he emphasized upon was that the 'commerciality' of exploratory ventures should be given serious consideration.

Mr D K Pande, Patron of APG-India & Director (Exploration) ONGC, very categorically expressed that though not all the oil is exhausted yet, the future lies in New Concepts & New Ideas. The geoscientists have to think new and think big to find the remaining oil. Optimism born out of sound scientific knowledge and a different approach can spark new creative ideas that may lead us to new discoveries. One such new approach is the shift from acreage or basin specific exploration to "Petroleum System" based exploration. The ongoing "Petroleum Systems & Sequence Stratigraphy" project of ONGC, under the assured guidance of Professor Octavian, is a big step forward in this direction. He expressed his happiness at the inspiring presence of Prof. Octavian on the occasion. 

Prof. Octavian said he was honoured to be associated with such an important event. In his presentation on "Sequence Stratigraphy of Clastic Systems: Concepts, Merits and Pitfalls" - Prof Octavian, highlighted different sequence stratigraphic models and approaches in vogue and the confusions prevailing because of this. He further reiterated that each model works best in particular tectonic settings, and no one model is applicable to the entire range of case studies. Flexibility is thus recommended for choosing the model that is the best match for a specific project. Having said that the existing sequence models also have a lot in common, with the main difference being in the style of conceptual packaging of the same succession of strata. He suggested that nomenclature and choice of surfaces as sequence boundaries are trivial issues. What is important is the correct identification of surfaces and genetic identification of depositional processes. 

In the end Mr James Peters, Secretary APG-India, gave details of the ensuing 3rd International Conference & Exhibition of APG-India scheduled to be held at Goa during September 2006. He urged the members to contribute quality technical papers for the conference.

The ceremony ended with a vote of thanks by Mr Sudhir Jain, Treasurer of APG-Delhi Chapter.