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The Hammer

Sadly, I lost a trusted and long-time friend on the Geology 483 field trip: my hammer! I must have taken it out somewhere, either at 12-mile beach, or on top of the Denniston Plateau (perhaps at Burnetts Face) while leading the students around and … well, somewhere out there, she lies. I would have had […]

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Geology 483 Field Class

It was the renowned West Coast rain which put us to sleep that first night. The next day, puddles of the wet stuff lay everywhere and in some places spanned the entire road width. Low tide was at 11:52am so about an hour beforehand we set off to 12-mile beach to look at the lower […]

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Coalbed Methane: A Review

After nearly … ummm, well, lets just say a long time, my coalbed methane (CBM) review paper has been published (Moore, T.A., 2012, Coalbed methane: A review, International Journal of Coal Geology 101, 36-81). Admittedly, it was I who took a while to write it (my excuse is that at first I was Country Manager […]

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Dinner and Dialog

While attending the International Geological Congress (IGC) in Brisbane in early August, I and my partner Aretha and son Micah stayed at my good friend and colleague Joan Esterle’s house. Joan is a professor at University of Queensland and notably (to myself and Aretha) is the godmother to Micah. Also staying at Joan’s house were […]

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Talks at the International Geological Congress

The International Geological Congress (IGC) was held in Brisbane from 5 to 10 August and there were lots of sessions on coal and energy. The IGC is held every four years and takes the flavor of the city and host country. Without a doubt the mining culture of Australia permeated the congress with the end […]

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Desorption Testing

Chris Nelson was recently in Jakarta preparing equipment for gas testing on a Cipher project. There is always a lot of work to do before heading for the field and Chris was putting in a lot of overtime testing all the equipment. Gas desorption testing on coal reservoirs may not be overly complicated, but – […]

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Indonesian Petroleum Association Conference

Once again I gave a talk at the IPA. This is the fourth year in a row and my purpose has been to take one relatively narrow aspect of coalbed methane and expound on it a bit. This year’s talk title was: ” How many holes does it take to fill the Albert Hall? The […]

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Back in Indonesia

Returned to Jakarta this week. Lovely to be back in the warmth, but as always miss the fresh air of Christchurch. Coal and coalbed methane in Indonesia are about as fascinating geology as you can get anywhere in the world. Those who work in terrestrial sediments know its not for the faint hearted! Lots of […]

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