David Bamford, Director at IMMER Ltd & Next Bigger Better CIC

At last, back to Exploration, I feel I can talk about it, advocate it, again!

A month or so ago, on LinkedIn, I disagreed with a poster who, in discussing the need for technology breakthroughs to enable future Exploration, suggested that DHI was the last great breakthrough.

In contrast, my view was that Regional or Exploration 3D was the last great breakthrough in conventional Exploration; and the exploration successes of the ‘90s were enabled by great explorers using it to integrate sedimentology, stratigraphy, structural geology, seismic stratigraphy, petroleum systems analysis, and yes, AVO and DHIs. Unfortunately, the DHI-driven approach took over in many companies; to succeed in the future, I assert that we need to re-learn this INTEGRATED approach.

Over 20 years ago, I tried to describe this Integrated Process in terms of what it meant for Geoscientists’ career development:

However, another way of looking at this is what this means in terms of an Exploration organisation.

Put simply, a first level Supervisor leads a team of Specialists and builds a Technically Integrated story.

The Supervisor is in fact a Domain Expert – my naïve question is then whether the team of Specialists could be replaced by eg AI?

Which brings me to our recent 3rd July Finding Petroleum webinar, the video of which you can watch here:

Interpreting very large 3D seismic datasets, integrating bathymetry, and LIDAR data- Jul 2026

The UKCS Mega Merge 3D surveys available for the NNS, CNS and SNS enable such INTEGRATION to be undertaken on a truly Regional scale.

David Roberts’ presentation shows how modern seismic interpretation tools allow both fast and robust interpretation resulting in a much better integrated interpretation of the Subsurface.

David is, and is acting as in this case, a Domain Expert, delivering Regional, Integrated, visualisations for the NNS, CNS, SNS.

These can then be integrated with other sources of data, for example, the GIS maps held by the NSTA showing structure – depth to key horizons, and isopachs – as well as undeveloped discoveries, existing infrastructure (platforms, pipelines).

Which, in turn, will transform Petroleum Systems Analysis for Exploration, Optimise Developments, Identify robust Options for CCS(storage)…

KeyFacts Energy: Commentary