As offshore developments push into deeper water, mature basins and emerging energy transition use cases, geoscientists are being asked to balance greater technical complexity with long‑term subsurface stewardship.
According to Dr. Susan Nash, director of Innovation and Emerging Science & Technology at AAPG, uncertainty remains a defining challenge, particularly below complex overburden.
“The primary challenge remains imaging below complex overburden,” Nash told Offshore in a pre-OTC interview. “In deepwater frontier plays like the Orange Basin (offshore Namibia) or the Atlantic Margin, seismic signal attenuation from thick salt or basalt layers creates high uncertainty in reservoir geometry.”
In mature offshore basins, by contrast, geological risk is often less about trap presence and more about understanding compartmentalization and heterogeneity. Nash noted that industry interpretation workflows have evolved significantly in response.
“Interpretation has evolved from structural mapping to integrated earth modeling,” she explained. “We are moving away from simple ‘risk checklists’ to dynamic simulations.”
That shift has proven important as operators seek to extend the productive lives of long‑producing regions such as the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. According to Nash, late‑life success increasingly depends on infrastructure‑led exploration supported by time‑lapse data.
“Extending mature regions like the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea hinges on infrastructure‑led exploration (ILX) and 4D seismic monitoring,” she said.
At the same time, offshore geoscience is intersecting more directly with CCUS, energy storage and seabed infrastructure tied to offshore wind. These applications introduce containment and geomechanical considerations that differ markedly from traditional exploration and production, Nash explained.
“As we intersect with CCUS, the challenge shifts from extraction to containment,” she continued, pointing to the need for long‑term monitoring of caprock integrity and plume behavior.
Looking ahead, Nash emphasized that offshore geoscientists will need hybrid skillsets that span physics‑based interpretation, AI governance and environmental fluency—capabilities she views as essential for supporting both conventional offshore projects and emerging energy systems.
Offshore is an official media partner of OTC 2026.
AAPG is exhibiting at booth 2225 this week.
