Ocean Drilling Consortium workshop

Ocean Drilling Consortium workshop
http://www.iodp.org/ODC
Deadline for application for participation in the workshop: Wednesday, May 7, 2008.

To develop a proposal for an Ocean Drilling Consortium that would address research challenges common to the academic community and industry, it was proposed at a recent meeting attended by academic and industry representatives that a workshop be held in June 2008. This workshop is planned for June 15-17 at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. Support for the workshop will be provided by several energy companies.

Funding is not available from government agencies for year-round operations on the U.S.-sponsored IODP drillship. Funding is only available for an average of seven months per year, from 2009-2013. The merits of utilizing the drillship for the entire year are obvious, both for maintaining the scientific and technical infrastructure on the ship and ashore, and for maintaining the scope of scientific activities for the full year. You also may be aware of an avenue that IODP-MI and the USIO have explored together over the last six months or more, with a number of energy companies: an industry-sponsored ocean-drilling program that would be funded by a consortium of energy companies and that would utilize the JOIDES Resolution for an average of five months each year. This initiative would not replace or displace IODP. Instead, it would provide an independent program to support IODP and help maintain its viability.

The workshop will be organized around three major themes:
I. Genesis and evolution of extensional margins and basin architecture
II. De-risking uncertainty in shelf margin and deep water reservoirs
III. Distribution and genesis of Mesozoic through Paleogene marine source rocks on passive margins.

Participants will be divided into three working groups to address each theme. Each group will be charged with developing specific objectives that can be achieved by drilling. Each group should also consider the possibility of high-scientific-value, single-site targets. These could include, for example, areas with a lack of stratigraphic control and/or structural control, areas where imaging is difficult (sub-basalt, sub-salt, etc.), or high-latitude/near Arctic regions and other poorly sampled areas.

The main outcome of the workshop will be an outline of a proposal for a four-year drilling program. This will include well defined targets that are drillable within the first one to two years, as well as an outline for longer-term drilling plans.