Abstract
Geothermal, as its Greek word roots suggest, is Earth heat. That heat expresses itself in a variety of ways at a variety of depths in differing geologic environments. Geothermal, as a subset of the energy industry, also has different meanings in its different engineering expressions: high temperature (>150° C/302° F) power generation applications at active margin locations around the world, medium temperature (90°-150° C/194°-302° F) power generation applications a further distance from active margins, low temperature (<90° C/194° F) power generation in medium to high geothermal gradient locations regardless of tectonic environment, as well as the myriad of direct use applications in agriculture, aquaculture, industrial process, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
This luncheon talk surveys the above applications of geothermal and the geoscience behind them, with a focus on the keys to geothermal systems—analogous to petroleum systems—in sedimentary basins, namely, heat source and flux, reservoir quality and flow, and the importance of geochemistry of geothermal fluids. The Williston Basin and Basin and Range areas of the United States provide examples of geothermal power generation in low-temperature regions.
Speaker Biographies
Benjamin Burke (he/him/his) is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Transitional Energy, a geothermal development company. Prior to his current role, he held individual contributor and management roles as a geoscientist in the oil and gas industry in Houston and Denver with the ExxonMobil Upstream Companies, Anadarko Petroleum, Noble Energy, Fidelity Exploration & Production, Fifth Creek Energy, and Highpoint Resources. He began his career as a geoscientist with Woodard & Curran, Inc., an environmental consulting firm, in Cheshire, Connecticut.
Ben holds an AB magna cum laude from Bowdoin College in Geology and Russian Language, an MBA in general management from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. from Dartmouth College in Earth Sciences. He is also an Affiliate Professor in the Geology & Geological Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines and a Collaborating Professor in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University.
He serves as the President-Elect of RMAG and on the board of the Denver Earth Resources Library. He is a past member and chair of the Academic and Applied Geoscience Relations Committee of the Geological Society of America. He enjoys gravel cycling, alpine skiing, and, very occasionally, whitewater kayaking. From an early age, he is a hobbyist-level lunar and planetary astronomer.
Johanna Ostrum (she/her/hers) is the Chief Operating Officer at Transitional Energy. Johanna has 16 years of experience within the oil and gas industry in a wide variety of engineering, regulatory, policy, and management positions. With a degree in Geological Engineering from Montana Tech, Johanna has brought an intradisciplinary and collaborative approach to every position she has held. With various roles at Noble Energy, SM Energy, Extraction Oil & Gas, and the Clean Air Task Force, Johanna has contributed to every part of the energy development value chain.
We have the tools and technology to reduce emissions from the energy industry right now. Johanna strongly believes that thermal energy is a wasted (and often ignored) resource and should be utilized to help solve our energy and climate crisis. An equitable and diverse energy future is something Johanna is passionate about.
Johanna currently volunteers her time as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force chair at Geothermal Rising as well as sitting on the Board of Directors of the Energy Leadership Institute.
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Regular luncheon reservation: 
Vegetarian luncheon reservation:
Use one of the PayPal links above to make your luncheon reservation.
If you are registering for someone else or using a PayPal account that is not in your name, please click here to send us an email with the correct registrant information. You should also use this link if you are registering multiple people; please provide the name and company affiliation for each registrant.
Forward this newsletter to a friend to invite them to the luncheon.
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When
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
11:20 am - 1:30 pm
Where
Wynkoop Brewing Company
(tell me how to get there)
Cost
$25 per person
$30 at the door (space permitting)
Next Month's Talk
Fracture characterization using wireline logs
Patricia Rodrigues
SeisPetro
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From the President
Tamara Maxwell
Happy New Year, I hope that everyone got to spend some time with family and friends over the holiday break!
I would like to thank all our members who participated in our luncheons and social in 2022 and made the start of the year a success!
2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year, with many oil and gas permits getting approved in our great state of Colorado as well as new projects popping up in the US in the geothermal and CCUS sectors. We have a lot of great talks lined up in the new year and we can’t wait to see you all at the meetings.
As always, if you have any suggestions or questions about our society, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your board!
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From the VP - Technology
Katerina Yared
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023 EVERYONE! May it be filled with lots of joy, health, and memorable moments!
We are looking forward to a great start to 2023 with a geothermal-focused talk presented by Ben Burke and Johanna Ostrum from Transitional Energy entitled: "Geothermal Systems in Sedimentary Basins". We hope to see you all there.
For our February talk, we will have Patricia E. Rodrigues, Seispetro Geoconsulting., talking about “Natural Fractures Characterization from Openhole Logs”. I hope you all can make it!
We will have our Spring workshop on April 4th, 2023 at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden! The topic will be “Core-to-Log and Log-to-Core: The Evolution of Tying Two Dimensions.” Please submit your abstracts (500 words max) to VP_Technology@dwls.spwla.org by February 24th, 2023.
Thank you!
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Calendar of Events
Click the calendar to the right to view events on the web.
Other Important Events
2023 SPWLA Annual Symposium, June 11-14, 2023 (Conroe, TX)
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DWLS Sponsors
Click here to view the sponsors on the website, or click on any image to contact a sponsor.
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Chapter Statistics
Statistic
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This Year
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3-Year Average
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| # of Active members * |
270 |
296 |
| # that are New members |
2 |
2 |
| # that are Students * |
10 |
7 |
| # that are Lifetime Members * |
246 |
258 |
| September luncheon meeting attendance |
30 |
40 |
| October luncheon meeting attendance |
23 |
33 |
| November luncheon meeting attendance |
20 |
45 |
| Holiday party attendance |
11 |
26 |
| January luncheon meeting attendance |
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47 |
| February luncheon meeting attendance |
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38 |
| March luncheon meeting attendance |
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26** |
| April luncheon meeting attendance |
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36** |
| May luncheon meeting attendance |
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36 |
* Note that we did a thorough cleanup of bad email addresses that resulted in some of our members being removed until they can be tracked down again. So this year's membership numbers are going to be a bit lower.
** These numbers are skewed due to COVID-19 luncheon cancellations.
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The DWLS Newsletter is published monthly September through June by the Denver Well Logging Society. For information on membership or advertising, contact the editor. For other inquiries, contact a member of the Board of Directors.
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