Why does Indonesia have so much coal? This might be like asking why is the sky blue? – but, like that question, it is fundamental and few seem to have considered it. A new paper by Mike Friederich, Tim Moore and Romeo Flores (“A regional review and new insights into SE Asian Cenozoic coal-bearing sediments: […]
The morning was smoky and hazy as we made our way to the docks from the hotel. A forecasted El Niño year was already being felt in East Kalimantan (Borneo) as evidenced by the fires through out the region. Still, we were all looking forward to going out on the infamous (at least in geological […]
We sped across the surface of Lake Semayang with the bottom only inches below us. Using traditional long boats – with light but powerful engines – twenty-seven of us were headed for Semayang village, on the north central ‘coast’ of the lake. We were there as part of a geological field trip examining modern environments […]
We are nearly there! – The 32nd Annual Conference of The Society for Organic Petrology will be held in a few days time. The Organising Committee wishes to thank all the speakers and poster presenters for all their hard work and for all attending participants for their presence. We know that during this current economic […]
The Society for Organic Petrology Annual Meeting: Hydrocarbons in the Tropics – On the Edge Field Trip The 2015 TSOP Post-Conference field trip is scheduled to take place from Thursday, 24th September to Sunday 27th September. SEE LINK: www.tsop.org for more about the society, the 2015 Annual Meeting in Yogyakarta and the field trip to Kalimantan We […]
The Indonesian Archipelago is vast, diverse and exciting. The culture is as deep and varied as it’s geology and history. It is a region at the nexus, or on the edge if you will, of almost everything; and that includes hydrocarbon generation. Indonesia has been exploiting petroleum for almost two hundred years and coal mining […]
Considering the impact that coal has on the world, there are surprisingly few technical books dedicated to the subject. Romeo Flores, recently retired from the US Geological Survey (but still a Cipher Associate [see: https://www.ciphercoal.com/the-team/dr-romeo-m-flores/ ]), has gone some way to remedy this situation. His book “Coal and Coalbed Gas: Fueling the Future” has just […]
For those of you following this blog, you might remember that last year, on my annual field trip for the Geology 483 class (University of Canterbury), I lost my hammer. As is usual, this year as last, we visited the Denniston Plateau, which has an excellent geological section extending from the basement (Greenland Group meta-sediments; […]
In June of this year, Gas Specialist Chris Nelson was in Botswana overseeing desorption testing and sample collection as part of Cipher’s services to Exxaro Resources. The Late Permian coal measures in the Kalihari area of Botswana are being investigated for coalbed methane (CBM) potential. The coal deposits of both South Africa and Botswana (and, […]
It’s always surprising to be caught out by an assumption. In this case I was writing a first draft of a paper on the effects of rank change (that is, change in organic maturation) on a coalbed methane reservoir. The study area, known locally as the Pinang Dome, is located in Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. […]