EAST TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

October 2025 Virtual Meeting

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Monday, October 13, 2025
6:00 - 7:30 pm

Note: ETGS members will receive an email with info for logging into the meeting.
 

October Presentation

Structural Geology in Exploration and Development in Abu Dhabi, UAE


By

Mary Grace Jubb
(RSI EnTech)
 

Occidental Petroleum, the fourth largest oil company in the US, is an exploration and development company that operates assets worldwide, including in Abu Dhabi. Oxy operates 2.5 million acres for exploration, as well as a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to operate the Shah gas field, the largest ultra-sour gas field in the world. Exploration efforts in Onshore Block 3 began in 2020, with early work focusing on pop-up structures, which have developed along a network of Late Cretaceous-Eocene WNW and NNW-oriented, steeply dipping strike-slip faults. Fault seal analysis was conducted on several prospects to determine if fault seal was the mode of failure or success for that prospect. Concurrently, a well at the crest of the neighboring basement-cored anticlinal Shah field began producing large solids, suggesting a geomechanical problem potentially resulting from the complex tectonic history of the region. A detailed three-dimensional structural restoration was constructed to understand tectonic input on geomechanical parameters. In both areas, structural geology was an essential component for geomechanical modeling, understanding wellbore stability, risk analysis both for exploration prospects and for fault and fracture reactivation, and for understanding structural timing and associated petroleum system risks.

Biography
 

Mary Jubb is a Tennessee native who recently returned to Oak Ridge after a long stint in oil and gas. She received her BS in Geology from UT Chattanooga and her MS in Geology from UT Knoxville, where she studied structural geology and tectonics with Bob Hatcher. She taught introductory geology at UT Martin for a year before joining Occidental Petroleum in 2011. Her time with Oxy included work on projects including conventional and unconventional reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery, exploration, development, and carbon capture and sequestration, in locations including the San Joaquin Basin in California, the Permian Basin, Offshore Louisiana, South America, Algeria, Oman, and the UAE. In 2022, she won the award for Best Presentation at the International Geomechanics Symposium in Abu Dhabi. In March 2025, she joined UCOR in Oak Ridge as a hydrogeologist for the Water Resources Restoration Program. When she isn't lost looking at rocks, Mary likes running, hiking, reading, and spending time with her 2 kids, 2 cats, and husband.

 

 

Greetings, and welcome to the October 13, 2025 ETGS hybrid meeting.
 

This meeting will be attended via Zoom and as a courtesy please mute your cell phone or the microphone in your laptop/tablet to minimize background noise and feedback echos. We will also make an effort to mute all participants - at least until the presentation is finished. Please use the chat feature to type any comments or questions you may have. We recommend that you send questions for the speaker to "everyone" so all participants can see the question. In the interest of time, we may hold the Q&A at the end of the presentation.

We will create a virtual attendance list. It is not always possible to tell who is participating on-line, especially for those joining by phone, so please email etgs@live.com to be listed on the attendance sheet. Let us know exactly how your name should appear on the list. We will add a note explaining the lack of signatures due to remote participation and have an ETGS officer sign as usual.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue with this online format. As always, we welcome and appreciate your feedback and suggestions for improvement.

 

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President
Tony McClain

Vice President
David Carlone

Secretary
J. Brad Stephenson

Treasurer
Seaira Stephenson

Webmaster/Social Media Coordinator
Bob Gelinas

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Page updated October 07, 2025