Professor Andrew Hurst | People | The University of Aberdeen

Professor Andrew Hurst

CGeol - Chartered Geologist, Geological Society of London

Chair Of Energy Geoscience

Telephone Number: +44 (0)1224 273713
Office Address: 129/131 St. Mary's Building
Old Aberdeen Campus
Elphinstone Road
AB24 3UF
View on Map
School/Department: School of Geosciences

Biography

How and why sediment is deposited, the processes by which it consolidates and lithifies, and its micro- and macro-mineralogy fascinate me. I integrate data from global to sub-micro-scale, examining basin evolution, sediment provenance and its relationship to climate change including weathering and erosion and diagenesis. While focussing on understanding process, my research has a strong element of resource evaluation, and its contribution to the inventory of Earth resources.

For more than 25 years, the Sand Injection Research Group (SIRG) studied the natural injection of fluidised sand into actively propagating hydraulic fractures, and their influence on fluid migration and expulsion. This is significant for resource entrapment and recovery, and waste (nuclear, CO2) or resource (hydrogen, CH4) sequestration. Other research includes a) self-sufficient low C energy systems in rural environments, b) the origin, physical characterisation, and climatic significance of loessite, specifically associated with mass extinction events, c) modelling the effect of micro-scale granular features on rock physical characteristics, d) mineral-chemical stratigraphy.

Since 1992 I held the Chair in Production Geoscience (now Energy Geoscience). I am a former Director of MSc IPG and taught MSc IPG, OGEM & Oil & Gas Engineering, as well as level 1 and 4 UG courses. In 2015 I was awarded a Blaustein Professorship at Stanford University.

I was an elected Trustee of the Geological Society of London and served on various GSL committees. I served on senior committees in the AAPG and EAGE and I am an active member of the International Association of Sedimentology. I co-founded and was Chief Editor of Petroleum Geoscience (GSL/EAGE). As part of the Deepwater Horizon Trial between 2011 and 2014, I was engaged as an expert witness for the prosecution during which I was cross examined in court.

Sand Injection Research Group (SIRG)

Sand injectites - Regional development of natural hydraulic fractures in the shallow crust, and concomitant sand fluidisation and injection; their role in the evolution of sedimentary basins.

Loessite – Origin and provenance of loessite and its significance as extra-basinal fill and as an indicator of ancient atmospheric circulation patterns.

Green rural energy – Self-sustainable energy by repurposing domestic waste, integrating agricultural waste with energy crops, and reduction of transport.

Qualifications

PhD Geology
1981 - University of Reading
BSc Hons Geology & Mineralogy
1977 - University of Aberdeen

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships: Throughout my career I assiduously avoided serving on University of Aberdeen committees.
External Memberships: I am member of the: Geological Society of London (C Geol), European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS), and Geoscience Energy Society of Great Britain.

Latest Publications

Investigation of coupled hydro-mechanical modelling of hydraulic fracture propagation and interaction with natural fractures
2023 - Published
Hu, Y., Gan, Q., Hurst, A., Elsworth, D.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, vol. 169, 105418
Contributions to Journals: Articles
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmms.2023.105418
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Provenance Variability in Coeval Slope Channel Systems: Hermod S2 Member Sandstone (Eocene), South Viking Graben (North Sea)
2022 - Published
Luzinski, W. M., Morton, A. C., Hurst, A., Tøllefsen, I. I., Cater, J.
Geosciences (Switzerland), vol. 12, no. 12, 450
Contributions to Journals: Articles
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12120450
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/20464/1/Luzinski_etal_G_Provenance_Variability_In_VoR.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Permeability heterogeneity of sandstone intrusion fluid-escape systems, Panoche Hills, California: Implications for sedimentary basins globally
2022 - Published
Callow, B., Falcon-Suarez, I. H., Bull, J. M., Gernon, T. M., Ruffell, S., Grippa, A., Hurst, A.
Sedimentology, vol. 69, no. 6, pp. 2463–2485
Contributions to Journals: Articles
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12997
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/18651/1/Callow_et_al_Permeability_heterogeneity_Sedimentolgy_vor.pdf
A giant sand injection complex: Processes and implications for basin evolution and subsurface fluid flow
2022 - Published
Vigorito, M., Hurst, A., SCOTT, A. J., Stanzione, O., Grippa, A.
American Journal of Science, vol. 322, no. 6, pp. 729-794
Contributions to Journals: Articles
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/06.2022.01
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Hydraulic fracture propagation and interaction with natural fractures by coupled hydro-mechanical modeling
2022 - Published
Hu, Y., Gan, Q., Hurst, A., Elsworth, D.
Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources, vol. 8, 4
Contributions to Journals: Articles
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-021-00307-9

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

1993 William Smith Award (Geological Society of London)

2004 Wegener Medal (European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers)

2007 Distinguished Service Award (American Association of Petroleum Geologists)

2012 Grover E Murray Distinguished Educator Award (American Association of Petroleum Geologists)

2015 Blaustein Professor in Geology, Stanford University

Research

Research Areas

Geology and Geophysics

Supervising

View Research Area

Funding and Grants

Since 1998 research on sand injectites became a huge part of my research activity. Chevron UK initiated the first 2-year project in 1998 that in 2000 became the Sand Injection Research Group (SIRG) consortium, which remains active today. Almost 40 energy companies have invested in SIRG consortia

Publications

Update

Biography

Sand Injection Research Group (SIRG)

Qualifications

Memberships and Affiliations

Latest Publications

Investigation of coupled hydro-mechanical modelling of hydraulic fracture propagation and interaction with natural fractures

Provenance Variability in Coeval Slope Channel Systems: Hermod S2 Member Sandstone (Eocene), South Viking Graben (North Sea)

Permeability heterogeneity of sandstone intrusion fluid-escape systems, Panoche Hills, California: Implications for sedimentary basins globally

A giant sand injection complex: Processes and implications for basin evolution and subsurface fluid flow

Hydraulic fracture propagation and interaction with natural fractures by coupled hydro-mechanical modeling

Prizes and Awards

Research Areas

Geology and Geophysics

Funding and Grants

Regional-scale subsurface sand remobilization: geometry and architecture

Outcrop characterisation of turbidite reservoir analogues deformed by fluidisation - Implications for reservoir models

Outcrop analogues for reservoir-scale conical intrusion

Reservoir analogues of sand injectites - Internal heterogeneities and implications for reservoir modelling

Seismic expression of turbidity-current and bottom-current processes on the Northern Mauritanian continental slope

Transition metal complexes and the B-to-Z DNA transition: Investigating the role of charge, hydrogen bonding and stereochemistry

Sand Injectites: Implications for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production

GASLOG - Numerical modelling of wireline logs from borehole gas and drilling data

Meso-scale heterogeneities in reservoir-scale sand injectite complexes

Prediction of petrophysical characteristics from borehole gas and drilling data

Extrusive sandstones (extrudites): a new class of stratigraphic trap?

Deep-water clastic reservoirs: A leading global play in terms of reserve replacement and technological challenges

Aqueous and petroleum fluid flow associated with sand injectites

Origin and timing of sand injection, petroleum migration, and diagenesis in Tertiary reservoirs, south Viking Graben, North Sea

Successful exploration of a large-scale sandstone injection complex, Block 24/9, Norwegian North Sea

Kilometre-scale sandstone intrusions in the Eocene of the Outer Moray Firth (UK North Sea): migration paths, reservoirs and potential drilling hazards

Sand injectites: An emerging global play in deep-water clastic environments

Sedimentary architecture of a canyon-style fairway feeding a deep-water clastic system, the Miocene Cingoz Formation, southern Turkey: significance for reservoir characterisation and modelling

Sand injectites provide a global exploration opportunity

Fluidisation and injection in the deep-water sandstones of the Eocene Alba Formation (UK North Sea)

The structural and diagenetic evolution of injected sandstones: examples from the Kimmeridgian of NE Scotland

Characterisation of the physical properties of porous media using monochrome imaging

Fluid escape from reservoirs: implications from cold seeps, fractures and injected sands - Part II. The fluids involved

Down-channel variations in stratal patterns within a conglomeratic deepwater fan feeder system (Miocene, Adana Basin, Southern Turkey)

Fluid escape from reservoirs: implications from cold seeps, fractures and injected sands - Part I. The fluid flow system

Fluidization structures in produced by upward injection of sand through a sealing lithology

Palaeo-carbonate seep structures above an oil reservoir, Gryphon Field, Tertiary, North Sea

Sandstone intrusions: detection and significance for exploration and production

Significance of large-scale sand injectites as long-term fluid conduits: evidence from seismic data

Injected and remobilized Eocene sandstones from the Alba Field, UKCS: core and wireline log characteristics

Synthetic well test modelling in a high net-to-gross outcrop system for turbidite reservoir description

Generic relationships in the mineral-chemical stratigraphy of turbidite sandstones

Generic relationships in the mineral-chemical stratigraphy of tubidite sandstones

High resolution marine geophysical data as proxies for prediction of reservoir quality and geometry in deep-water settings: analogue data from modern, high and low N:G settings and their application to the sub-surface.

The origin of consolidation laminae and dish structures in some deep-water sandstones

Equilibrium profile development in graded deep-water slopes: Eocene, Eastern Turkey

Lower Cretaceous deep-water sandstone reservoirs of the UK Central North Sea

Reservoir modelling sand-rich deep-water clastics: the necessity of down-scaling

Sand body geometry in a sand-rich, deep-water clastic system, Miocene Cingoz Formation of southern Turkey

Superb exposure of a channel, levee and overbank complex in an ancient deep-water slope environment

Swanson's 30-40-30 rule

Vertical and lateral organization of a carbonate deep-water slope marginal to a submarine fan system, Miocene, southern Turkey

Reconciling gravity and seismic data in the Faeroe-Shetland Basin, West of Shetland

Reservoir Studies - Introduction and review

Textural and geochemical micro-analysis in the interpretation of clay mineral characteristics: lessons from sandstone hydrocarbon reservoirs

Sand-rich fairways in deep-water clastic reservoirs: Genetic units, capturing uncertainty, and, a new approach to reservoir modeling

A history of events in the exploration for the Wytch Farm oilfield, southern England

One-man-operable probe permeameters

Fuzziness, incompleteness and randomness: Classification of uncertainty in reservoir appraisal

Upper Jurassic sandstone reservoir quality and distribution on the Fladen Ground Spur

Refine

Books and Reports

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Conferences

Contributions to Journals

Contributions to Specialist Publications