María Antonieta Lorente
SUMMARY PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND INTERESTS
Geology: Strengths on integration of stratigraphical information (sedimentology, sedimentary petrography, cyclostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and seismostratigraphy). Competency assessment. Several areas of research interest, please see publications list.
Management: Experienced in managing groups of specialists up to 50 professionals, and integration of specialists in multidisciplinary teams. Planning in Exploration and drilling opportunities portfolio evaluation. Over 20 years experience in Exploration for the Oil Industry in Venezuela, mainly on Cretaceous and Tertiary.
Environmental Sciences: Implementation and certification of Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001:2004). Water and waste managment in the wine industry. Legal aspects in Spain.
Food Industry: Knowledge of the wine industry processes. Quality and Food Safety Management Systems apply to the food industry (ISO 9001, IFS andBRC). Knowledge of the NOP certification system for ecologic food.
Academy: Over 15 years experience in teaching and research at pre and postgraduated levels in Geology (Stratigraphy and Paleontology). More than 30 postgraduated courses and over 150 post graduated students.
Specialties
Geology. Stratigraphy. Biostratigraphy. Oil Exploration. Competency and skills development. Knowledge Managment. Environmental Sciences and the wine industry.
Patents:
Process and system for digital analysis of Images applied to stratigraphic data Edit
United States Patent USA 4.918.739 and also: UK 2.221.754; Australia 599.851
Inventors: Maria Antonieta Lorente, T. Wright, O. Morean, J. Rincon
Interests:
RESEARCH AREAS in the last 10 years:
o Food Industry and Environmental Sciences
- Water Depuration in reduced Biological Sequential Rectors (up to 800 m3)
- Optimization of energy consumption in water depuration for the wine industry.
- New methodologies for the obtention of Natural low alcohol wines (< 6%vol)
o Stratigraphy/Geology
- Quantitative palynofacies and palynological organic matter.
- K/T Boundary and Late Cretaceus Cyclostratigraphy in Venezuelan Andes.
- Biostratigraphic events related to the dynamics of the Caribbean Plate.
Honors and Awards:
- Ecoeficiency Award by the Murcia Region Goverment (Spain) to Bodegas Luzon.
- Best Research Project Engineering Faculty, Universidad Central de Venezuela.
- Outstanding contribution to Teaching in Geology. Given by Geological School Students, Central University of Venezuela.
- “Best” Award INTEVEP, Innovation Programm
- Outstanding contribution to Biostratigraphy in Venezuela. PDVSA
- Outstanding contribution to the profession of Geology in Venezuela, Central University of Venezuela
- SEPM Founder Plaque, Latin America Section
- AAPG Special Commendation Award
- CENPES Recognition for contribution to the development of Geochemical Center of Excellence
- “Recognition to Invention” by INTEVEP
Others:
-Over 35 peer review publications and 50 presentations in International Meetings
- Visiting Researcher Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin. 27th August- 7th September
Groups and Associations:
- European Union Qualification Framework EQUFAS project . Past Spain´s representative project assestment
- Past VicePresident Congresos Geologicos Siguenza , a non profit organization to promote education & knowledge interchange.
- Comunity outreach ADP magazine publications like:
oThere is always hope. Dealing with breast cancer.
o Professional Women: work and family in modern society.
- Coorganizer Breast Cancer Forum 2001, Caracas.
- Past Co-chairman AAPG International Liaisson Committee
- Past International Councilor SEPM, USA
- Past President Latin America Section S.E.P.M., Venezuela
- Past President Venezuelan Geological Society
- Past Coordinator Venezuela: UNESCO IGCP Project301 "Paleogene of South America".
- Past Coordinator Venezuela UNESCO IGCP 362 "Tethyan and Boreal Cretacous".
- Past member South American Regional Committee on Paleogene Stratigraphy . Venezuela
Address: [email protected]
Geology: Strengths on integration of stratigraphical information (sedimentology, sedimentary petrography, cyclostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and seismostratigraphy). Competency assessment. Several areas of research interest, please see publications list.
Management: Experienced in managing groups of specialists up to 50 professionals, and integration of specialists in multidisciplinary teams. Planning in Exploration and drilling opportunities portfolio evaluation. Over 20 years experience in Exploration for the Oil Industry in Venezuela, mainly on Cretaceous and Tertiary.
Environmental Sciences: Implementation and certification of Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001:2004). Water and waste managment in the wine industry. Legal aspects in Spain.
Food Industry: Knowledge of the wine industry processes. Quality and Food Safety Management Systems apply to the food industry (ISO 9001, IFS andBRC). Knowledge of the NOP certification system for ecologic food.
Academy: Over 15 years experience in teaching and research at pre and postgraduated levels in Geology (Stratigraphy and Paleontology). More than 30 postgraduated courses and over 150 post graduated students.
Specialties
Geology. Stratigraphy. Biostratigraphy. Oil Exploration. Competency and skills development. Knowledge Managment. Environmental Sciences and the wine industry.
Patents:
Process and system for digital analysis of Images applied to stratigraphic data Edit
United States Patent USA 4.918.739 and also: UK 2.221.754; Australia 599.851
Inventors: Maria Antonieta Lorente, T. Wright, O. Morean, J. Rincon
Interests:
RESEARCH AREAS in the last 10 years:
o Food Industry and Environmental Sciences
- Water Depuration in reduced Biological Sequential Rectors (up to 800 m3)
- Optimization of energy consumption in water depuration for the wine industry.
- New methodologies for the obtention of Natural low alcohol wines (< 6%vol)
o Stratigraphy/Geology
- Quantitative palynofacies and palynological organic matter.
- K/T Boundary and Late Cretaceus Cyclostratigraphy in Venezuelan Andes.
- Biostratigraphic events related to the dynamics of the Caribbean Plate.
Honors and Awards:
- Ecoeficiency Award by the Murcia Region Goverment (Spain) to Bodegas Luzon.
- Best Research Project Engineering Faculty, Universidad Central de Venezuela.
- Outstanding contribution to Teaching in Geology. Given by Geological School Students, Central University of Venezuela.
- “Best” Award INTEVEP, Innovation Programm
- Outstanding contribution to Biostratigraphy in Venezuela. PDVSA
- Outstanding contribution to the profession of Geology in Venezuela, Central University of Venezuela
- SEPM Founder Plaque, Latin America Section
- AAPG Special Commendation Award
- CENPES Recognition for contribution to the development of Geochemical Center of Excellence
- “Recognition to Invention” by INTEVEP
Others:
-Over 35 peer review publications and 50 presentations in International Meetings
- Visiting Researcher Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin. 27th August- 7th September
Groups and Associations:
- European Union Qualification Framework EQUFAS project . Past Spain´s representative project assestment
- Past VicePresident Congresos Geologicos Siguenza , a non profit organization to promote education & knowledge interchange.
- Comunity outreach ADP magazine publications like:
oThere is always hope. Dealing with breast cancer.
o Professional Women: work and family in modern society.
- Coorganizer Breast Cancer Forum 2001, Caracas.
- Past Co-chairman AAPG International Liaisson Committee
- Past International Councilor SEPM, USA
- Past President Latin America Section S.E.P.M., Venezuela
- Past President Venezuelan Geological Society
- Past Coordinator Venezuela: UNESCO IGCP Project301 "Paleogene of South America".
- Past Coordinator Venezuela UNESCO IGCP 362 "Tethyan and Boreal Cretacous".
- Past member South American Regional Committee on Paleogene Stratigraphy . Venezuela
Address: [email protected]
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Books by María Antonieta Lorente
held in Spain, 2006, that addressed aspects of the
geology of the area between North and South
America, with focus upon the origin of the Caribbean Plate. Additional papers provide new data.
The book follows the structure of the conference,
beginning with papers that describe different understandings of the plate origins, continuing with a
geological tour of the Caribbean and ending in the
plate interior....
Papers by María Antonieta Lorente
All around the globe, teams of field geologists were surveying sedimentary basins where oil seeps had been
reported. They sought the right geological conditions to find significant oil reservoirs. Still, many of the best
reservoirs were in terrestrial sections, so it was tough to age date them using the traditional paleontological and
micropaleontological fossil groups known at the time.
The search for oil started later in Venezuela than in Mexico and the US, but the quick decline of the known
reservoirs and the political turmoil in the early decades of the 1900s in Mexico favored intensive surface oil
exploration campaigns in nearby Venezuela, a country previously known to the industry for the oil seeps along its
coast, some “artisanal” oil production in the Andes, and the asphalt production from Bermudez-Guanoco Lake.
The first and best-documented exploration campaign was led by Ralph Arnold from 1912 to 1916 on behalf of the
General Asphalt Company, which successfully identified what would become the country’s main producing fields
in the following decades. With the extensive discoveries that followed in the 1930s and 1950s, successive
exploration campaigns by different companies and interested groups seeking new or additional concessions in the
country set the stage for the accelerated development of the application of palynology to the oil industry in
Venezuela.
Just before the Second World War, some companies started research in palynology in their home countries by
consulting with renowned coal palynologists at universities. Immediately after the end of the war, the Caribbean
Petroleum Co. (later Shell de Venezuela) and the Lago Petroleum Co.–Standard Oil de Venezuela (later Creole
Petroleum Corporation) started devoting considerable resources to advancing this application in Venezuela. Still,
palynology results were kept confidential for many years due to its extraordinary success and the leading edge they
provided these companies. For exploratory and operational reasons, early palynological studies focused on the
country’s Late Cretaceous and Paleogene sections. Therefore, proprietary palynological zonations for the Paleogene
were extensively applied in Shell and Creole concessions from the 1940s. In the 1950s, other companies opened
geological-paleontological laboratories with palynology sections—e.g., the Mene Grande Oil Company and the
Texas Oil Company (Texaco). In the 1960s, there was a steep decline in oil exploration activities in the country.
Then, the new palynological laboratory of the Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo (CVP) started operation in
Maracaibo. On December 31, 1975, all concessions were reverted to Venezuela’s government, including all its
properties, plants, equipment, and geological-paleontological laboratories.
By the early 1980s, only three nationalized companies (Lagoven, Maraven, and Corpoven) and one research
institute (INTEVEP) remained; all had active and prolific geological-paleontological laboratories. On December
31, 1997, a change in the corporate structure of the Venezuelan oil industry took effect with the merger of the
three companies into Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), and their geological-paleontological laboratories became
one under the umbrella of the Exploration Business Unit, with regional laboratories in the East (Puerto La Cruz–
El Chaure), the West (Maracaibo–La Concepcion), and Caracas. The paleontological laboratory of INTEVEP (Los
Teques) remained independent after the merger. Palynology continued to thrive in all those laboratories from 1978
to 2000, preserving their memory and expanding and modernizing the knowledge gained by their successful
predecessors.
held in Spain, 2006, that addressed aspects of the
geology of the area between North and South
America, with focus upon the origin of the Caribbean Plate. Additional papers provide new data.
The book follows the structure of the conference,
beginning with papers that describe different understandings of the plate origins, continuing with a
geological tour of the Caribbean and ending in the
plate interior....
All around the globe, teams of field geologists were surveying sedimentary basins where oil seeps had been
reported. They sought the right geological conditions to find significant oil reservoirs. Still, many of the best
reservoirs were in terrestrial sections, so it was tough to age date them using the traditional paleontological and
micropaleontological fossil groups known at the time.
The search for oil started later in Venezuela than in Mexico and the US, but the quick decline of the known
reservoirs and the political turmoil in the early decades of the 1900s in Mexico favored intensive surface oil
exploration campaigns in nearby Venezuela, a country previously known to the industry for the oil seeps along its
coast, some “artisanal” oil production in the Andes, and the asphalt production from Bermudez-Guanoco Lake.
The first and best-documented exploration campaign was led by Ralph Arnold from 1912 to 1916 on behalf of the
General Asphalt Company, which successfully identified what would become the country’s main producing fields
in the following decades. With the extensive discoveries that followed in the 1930s and 1950s, successive
exploration campaigns by different companies and interested groups seeking new or additional concessions in the
country set the stage for the accelerated development of the application of palynology to the oil industry in
Venezuela.
Just before the Second World War, some companies started research in palynology in their home countries by
consulting with renowned coal palynologists at universities. Immediately after the end of the war, the Caribbean
Petroleum Co. (later Shell de Venezuela) and the Lago Petroleum Co.–Standard Oil de Venezuela (later Creole
Petroleum Corporation) started devoting considerable resources to advancing this application in Venezuela. Still,
palynology results were kept confidential for many years due to its extraordinary success and the leading edge they
provided these companies. For exploratory and operational reasons, early palynological studies focused on the
country’s Late Cretaceous and Paleogene sections. Therefore, proprietary palynological zonations for the Paleogene
were extensively applied in Shell and Creole concessions from the 1940s. In the 1950s, other companies opened
geological-paleontological laboratories with palynology sections—e.g., the Mene Grande Oil Company and the
Texas Oil Company (Texaco). In the 1960s, there was a steep decline in oil exploration activities in the country.
Then, the new palynological laboratory of the Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo (CVP) started operation in
Maracaibo. On December 31, 1975, all concessions were reverted to Venezuela’s government, including all its
properties, plants, equipment, and geological-paleontological laboratories.
By the early 1980s, only three nationalized companies (Lagoven, Maraven, and Corpoven) and one research
institute (INTEVEP) remained; all had active and prolific geological-paleontological laboratories. On December
31, 1997, a change in the corporate structure of the Venezuelan oil industry took effect with the merger of the
three companies into Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), and their geological-paleontological laboratories became
one under the umbrella of the Exploration Business Unit, with regional laboratories in the East (Puerto La Cruz–
El Chaure), the West (Maracaibo–La Concepcion), and Caracas. The paleontological laboratory of INTEVEP (Los
Teques) remained independent after the merger. Palynology continued to thrive in all those laboratories from 1978
to 2000, preserving their memory and expanding and modernizing the knowledge gained by their successful
predecessors.
In this talk, I will highlight examples of the many uses that these microscopic organisms can have in helping geoscientists unravel the many challenges associated with day-to-day operations in the business of oil and gas exploration and production. We will briefly tour through several case studies that will allow us to appreciate how microfossils can help us decipher paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions, how they can assist us in the complex tasks of building accurate chrostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic frameworks, how they can help structural geologists decipher the subtle nature and timing of certain structures, and how they have helped petroleum geologists find oil and gas for many decades. All these wonders and more are possible through the study of these microscopic, often times unicellular fossils, that we can find abundantly in very small chips of rock!.
For those interested in the case histories described on this talk, please contact Dr. Lorente ([email protected]) for the published references of the given examples.