Graham R. Davies, Ph.D., P.Geol.—– ‘narrative’ bio President, GDGC (Graham Davies Geological Consultants) Ltd., Alastair Ross Technology Centre, 3553 31st St. NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2L 2K7 email:graham@daviesgeoconsult.com
Graham was born in Perth, Western Australia (WA). He obtained his B.Sc. degree with first-class honors in geology – initially in zoology and geology- from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1964. Towards the end of his honors year, Brian Logan, former doctoral grad student, returned to UWA in a staff position from Texas A&M University with an American Petroleum Institute grant (API 71B) for research on modern carbonate sediments in Shark Bay, a large embayment off the Indian Ocean on the central-west coast of Australia. Brian became Graham’s honors thesis* supervisor [*analysis of modern sediments in core taken by Scripps Institute (San Diego) R.V. Horizon from Cockburn Sound, WA], and that association led to Graham becoming the first Ph.D. student under the Shark Bay research program, being paid to spend part of four years in small boats (see photo in ‘Resume’ on website) in a subtropical paradise! His thesis covered two main topics, one on the Wooramel mixed carbonate-clastic seagrass bank and tidal channel complex, now recognized as the largest seagrass bank in the world, and the other on hypersaline carbonate tidal flat sediments in Gladstone embayment. Deeper offshore work was via the 75ft trawler Peron of the WA Fisheries Department [on one occasion using NASA space-tracking radar at Carnarvon (Project Gemini) to check vessel locations], and the radar-equipped 22ft RV Balamara of the UWA for shallower sampling, particularly on the Wooramel seagrass bank and channel system. During this doctoral research program, Graham spent a week at the Heron Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef of NE Australia, toured the Coorong Lagoon of South Australia (site of recent dolomite sediment formation), and the Devonian reef complex of the Canning Basin of WA (latter through WAPET: West Australian Petroleum- consortium of Ampol, Caltex, later Shell), and participated in an oceanographic cruise of the Australian Navy (RAN) frigate HMAS Diamantina (now on display at the Brisbane Maritime Museum in Queensland). On that cruise, anti-submarine depth-charges were used as the energy source for seismic receiving stations along the adjacent coast of Western Australia.
During his undergrad and Honors year time at UWA, Graham worked summers for Western Mining Corporation mapping iron ore bodies in the ‘outback’ of WA, and as a junior geologist with WAPET, drilling shallow stratigraphic test wells in the southern Carnarvon Basin
After completion of his Ph.D., Graham accepted a post-doctoral associate offer at Rice University in Houston, Texas, for two years as an associate of Dr. James Lee Wilson [ex-Shell Oil carbonate specialist, AAPG Sidney Powers Medalist: alternative offer was with Dr. Bob Ginsburg at The John Hopkins University), with field work on Pennsylvanian-Permian carbonates in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. While at Rice, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) decided to publish his Ph.D. thesis on Shark Bay (written in AAPG Bulletin format) as the main contribution of AAPG Memoir 13, published in 1970. That publication opened up many opportunities in presentations, lecture tours and applied petroleum geology fields over the rest of Graham’s career (as late as 2021, he was using modern analogs from Shark Bay to assist clients in interpretation of Triassic Charlie Lake reservoir facies in western Canada). During this time in Houston, Graham also conducted consulting work on sulfur mineralization in Permian carbonates in the subsurface of west Texas (in 2015, he worked on Lower Permian unconventional reservoirs in west Texas for a major in Houston- a 48-year break!).
Under the Australian university system (at least in the 60s), external examiners of Ph.D. theses remained unknown to the candidate. At an AAPG meeting in San Antonio in the late 70s, in a chance discussion with Lloyd Pray (an internationally-recognized ex-industry carbonate geologist then at University of Wisconsin), Graham learned that his external examiners were Lloyd, Robin Bathurst (another internationally acclaimed carbonate geologist, then at University of Liverpool), and Richard Rezak, also a carbonate specialist, at Texas A&M University.
In late 1969, while still at Rice and with assistance from James Lee Wilson*, Graham accepted a National Research Council Fellowship at the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in Calgary, Alberta (*James Lee and his wife Del became the god-parents of Graham’s and wife Maureen’s first child, born in Houston). The following year, the GSC offered him a permanent research geologist position, which he accepted. At the GSC, Graham initially worked on Devonian carbonates and evaporites in cores from the subsurface of western Canada, receiving recognition and awards from the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG) for demonstrating long-range correlations of carbonate-evaporite ‘laminites’ between Devonian reefs that contradicted then currently-accepted industry interpretations. His involvement with evaporites led to a role as principal author for the western Canada segment of a Canada-wide evaluation of subsurface salt/evaporite deposits as potential sites for nuclear waste storage, co-funded by the GSC and Atomic Energy Canada. He also was a proponent of subaqueous evaporite deposits at a time when the emphasis was on sabkha (supratidal) and related depositional models- published papers and convention presentations on these concepts in the US and Canada, with emphasis on Arctic Paleozoic examples, led to him becoming elected Vice-chair then Chair of the Evaporite Research Committee of SEPM in 1977-78.
While at the GSC, Graham also was exposed to the spectacular geology and scenery (see website Homepage photo and caption) of the Arctic Islands (Canadian Arctic Archipelago), with ‘summer’ field seasons (July) on Ellesmere Island, often within 1000 kms/600miles of the geographic North Pole- with 24-hour sunshine! With his associate and long-term friend Dr. Walter Nassichuk (later to become Director of GSC Calgary), Graham eventually published about 30 papers on the Carboniferous (Mississippian-Pennsylvanian) to Permian geology of the Arctic, including some of the first documentation of Carboniferous-Permian reefs (similar to those in productive trends in the Ural Mountains of Russia ), spectacular porosity-occluding submarine cements in those reefs, and subaqueous evaporites exposed in fiord cliff faces on Ellesmere Island. During that time, Graham also described and evaluated many of the Paleozoic cores drilled in the Arctic Islands by Panarctic Oils Ltd and partners.
On his first field trip with the GSC, to the northern Yukon, Graham discovered an enigmatic Permian reef-building organism that originally had been described mainly in Russian literature. Later, he published one of the first papers in English incorporating growth-format sketches of this fossil organism (Palaeoaplysina- now recognized as a type of calcareous alga). Some years later, while doing field work in the Arctic Archipelago, he found this organism again in very large and extensive Pennsylvanian-Permian carbonate reefs on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands, and published a number of additional papers on it and its significance. Many years later (2014), researchers at the University of Calgary completed a detailed study of Palaeoaplysina in the Arctic, and erected a new genus, Eopalaeoaplysina with species name daviesi , with etymology ‘After seminal English descriptions of Palaeoaplysina in the Sverdrup Basin (Arctic Archipelago) by Dr. Graham Davies, whose benchmark research was done in collaboration with Dr.Walter Nassichuk of the Geological Survey of Canada in the 1970s’.
While still at the GSC, Graham received offers of teaching and research positions at Universities of Windsor, Connecticut and San Diego, and head of geological research at the then-new Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) at Townsville, Queensland, on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia- but turned them all down to stay in Calgary, although initially accepting, later withdrawing, from the AIMS position*. Graham also conducted two lecture tours sponsored by the GSC in the mid-70s to universities in eastern Canada and eastern and central USA (including Columbia and Duke), presenting on the geology of Shark Bay and of the Arctic Islands. *decision to stay in Calgary influenced by discussion with business partners re starting new consulting company in Canada.
In early 1977, Graham left the GSC to co-found AGAT Consultants (later, AGAT Laboratories) with two other geologists (Cliff James, Bob Maiklem) and a corporate partner from Houston (Geochem Labs). He also created the company name- AGAT is the acronym for Applied Geoscience And Technology. The ‘AGAT’ logo, still used today and seen on many core boxes and other materials, came about because at the time he proposed the name, Graham had a sheet of ‘REVUE’-font pressure-sensitive lettering on his desk, and chose that to make the first ‘AGAT’ abbreviation logo. Initiation of the company was funded largely by industry participation in the multi-client AGAT ‘Lower Mackenzie Energy Corridor Project’ in the NWT (later impacted by the Berger Report). Beginning as Vice President and Technical Manager, Graham later became President and principal owner of AGAT, buying out the other partners.
During his tenure, AGAT (with a branch office in Denver, Colorado, for a number of years) pioneered reservoir quality analysis of sandstone reservoirs in Canada, eventually owning and operating two scanning electron microscopes for this purpose, one exclusively for oil sands (and with a third SEM in the AGAT office in Denver). The company also conducted several large-scale multi-client stratigraphic-reservoir projects (Mannville, other) in western Canada. Graham participated directly in early AGAT reservoir studies of Hibernia and other Canadian offshore east coast sandstone reservoirs, and was a proponent of modified primary porosity preservation in those sandstones due to overpressuring at a time (late 70s/early 80s) when the current North American industry paradigm was that such porosity ‘must’ be secondary. He also designed the first AGAT Table of Formations of Alberta that still is used widely in modified form in the petroleum industry in Canada. As AGAT grew, it acquired a 50% interest in Hardie and Associates civil engineering company and developed a reservoir engineering lab, leading into a greater laboratory focus and nucleus for AGAT Laboratories in later years.
AGAT Consultants was so successful through its early years, it was approached for partnership or buyout by companies in Salt Lake City, Denver and Houston/Calgary. Although tempted, Graham decided to maintain ownership. However, at the suggestion of the AGAT accountants/auditors (then Coopers Lybrand), a chartered accountant advisor (later to become Graham’s business partner) was contracted to provide financial guidance.
While at AGAT, Graham and an associate out of Denver (Dr. Mike Wilson, former Exxon global sandstone reservoir specialist) began teaching a “Geology for Engineers†course, initially for the Petroleum Society of CIM and later for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). Over time, this course expanded into a five-day program presented through GDGC with a core seminar and a Rocky Mountain field trip, and was presented twice a year for over 29 years, with a final ‘standing-room’ only session* in September, 2011. Graham and Mike also presented a variant of this course to the Philippines national petroleum group in Manila (*Mike discontinuing because of family health reasons). Graham sold his interest in AGAT in 1983, although maintaining an association with the company for several more years. During that transition, he worked as a consultant for the Mobil-Phillips-Chevron consortium on the Prudhoe Bay equity hearing for three years, involving multiple visits to Alaska, Seattle, Denver and elsewhere.
At this time, Graham set up GDGC Ltd, through which he continues to operate. Through to 2004 (latter date influenced by increasing health issues of younger son), GDGC specialized in large-scale multi-client stratigraphic-reservoir projects in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB), in later years with offices in the University Research Park in Calgary. Those sub-regional projects covered Mississippian and Triassic carbonate and Triassic and Cretaceous clastic reservoirs, with particular emphasis on the Lower Triassic Montney Formation, which has re-emerged as one of the ‘hottest’ unconventional plays in western Canada. During that time, Graham also conducted geological projects in Ghana, west Africa (Cretaceous turbidites, offshore Tano Basin), in Jordan (Ordovician Risha field), and other international areas, mainly through Petro-Canada International Assistance Corporation (PCIAC). Through 1999 to 2001, he also prepared a major multi-client industry report on structurally controlled ‘hydrothermal’ dolomite (HTD) reservoirs that was supported by many companies and organizations in Canada, USA, and internationally. That project led to a range of presentations and abstracts on HTD, a Short Course on HTD for the Eastern Section of AAPG in London, Ontario in 2000, and keynote presentations at the Colorado School of Mines in 2004 and at a field program organized by NorskHydro in northern Spain in 2007. An abbreviated summary of the 2001 report, published in the AAPG Bulletin in 2006, received both AAPG and CSPG best paper awards.
From 2005 to 2020, Graham’s main geological activities were or have been focused on proprietary consulting work, and multi-client projects in joint venture with Canadian Discovery Ltd. in Calgary (to 2015 for latter) . For part of that time, he also continued to present courses, seminars and field trips on the Triassic of the WCSB and structurally controlled hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs, as well as the `Geology for Engineers` course (to 2011).
Through his career, Graham has published 78 technical papers and over 85 abstracts of oral presentations (with over 3400 citations of published papers by the end of 2020, including over 750 for the HTD summary paper), and has authored or co-authored over 650 consulting reports for the Canadian and international petroleum industry (representing more than 350 companies and organizations, from majors to small independents). He also was the principal author of 15 large multi-client reports (through GDGC) on the exploration geology of the WCSB, with distribution in excess of 350 copies (on HTD reservoirs, Mississippian Debolt [2 phases],Turner Valley, Banff, and Pekisko, Triassic Montney [6 phases], Baldonnel-Pardonet [2 phases], Baldonnel-Charlie Lake, and Cretaceous Mannville/ Cold Lake oilsands). Graham has described over 1450 drill cores from Canada, US and other countries, with over 600 of those from the Montney in western Canada.
Graham received the E. de Courcy Clarke Prize for Geology III at UWA, six honorable mentions and outstanding paper/presentation awards from the AAPG, CSPG, SEPM and GSA through 1970 to 1988, the A.D.Baillie Award of the CSPG for best oral presentation at the 1993 Pangea Conference, the 2002 R. J. Douglas Medal of the CSPG for ‘outstanding and ongoing contributions to the sedimentary and petroleum geology of Canada’, the 2007 CSPG Medal of Merit for the best paper on Canadian petroleum geology in 2006, and the 2008 Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Award of the AAPG for the best paper in the AAPG Bulletin for 2006. He was awarded Honorary Membership of the CSPG in 2019. Graham also is a recipient of the 2004 Australian military ‘Anniversary of National Service Medal’ for full-time and part-time national service in the Australian Army (compulsory when he was age 18).
Graham has been an active member of the CSPG over many years, including chairman or co-chair of many committees, conference sessions, and meetings, beginning in 1972 and continuing into 2018. He was elected Vice-President of the CSPG five years after he arrived in Canada (first Australian VP of CSPG?), but chose not to run the following year for President, a decision he believes led to changes in CSPG bylaws so that the VP now automatically becomes President. Graham also was the CSPG Outreach speaker for a tour of eastern Canadian universities in 2005, presenting on structurally-controlled hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs. He also has presented at the CSPG monthly luncheon meetings six times (through 1971 to 2007)- possibly a record.
Graham’s current main geological interests are in unconventional reservoirs. Major projects over the last fifteen years or so have included the petroleum geology of the Devonian-Mississippian Bakken Formation in the Williston Basin of Saskatchewan and North Dakota, and the Upper Devonian Duvernay, Lower Triassic Montney and Upper Cretaceous Second White Specks formations in the WCSB. These four units, covered variably by joint venture projects with Canadian Discovery Ltd. (CDL), are classified in part or total as unconventional reservoirs/oil-gas shales. He also has conducted proprietary projects on the Mississippian Barnett shale and the Lower Permian Wolfcampian unconventional reservoir section in west Texas, again in partnership with CDL.
Sporting and Other Interests
In Australia, active in tennis, squash, sailing ( see photo on website ). Met wife-to-be ( Maureen*) while managing a squash centre (Broadway) near the UWA during third year of his B.Sc. degree (*also UWA grad with majors in psychology, music and education, later M.Sc. in psychology at UCalgary- in private practice in Calgary through to retirement in early 2019, specializing in assessment of gifted children and childhood learning difficulties). Sailing experience included racing 14ft Teal-class dinghies from the South of Perth Yacht Club, and included some association with the Royal Perth Yacht Club, host club of the first winning challenge (and later loss) of the America’s Cup race. During early university time, was co-founder and inaugural treasurer of the West Australian Speleological Group (WASG), mainly formed by geology and zoology university students, with major aim of recovering mummified skeletons of marsupial ‘Tasmanian Devils’ and ‘Tigers’, now extinct on mainland Australia, from floors of caves in southwestern WA for museum research. A photograph (see website photo) taken by a newspaper photographer of Graham standing below a spectacular flowstone structure that he named the ‘Judge’s Wig’ in a newly-discovered cave in southwestern Australia (now world-famous vineyard territory) was published in the ‘Daily News’ (Perth newspaper ) at that time. On visit to Perth in 1992, he found that this photo now is logo and letterhead of greatly-expanded WASG, on T-shirts, and bumper-stickers (see website photo ).
Through GDGC, Graham was co-sponsor of the first dinosaur-related publication of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Alberta, and presented the Heaton Lecture at the Museum on the occasion of the opening of the Devonian reef exhibit (1994). He and his wife also support the Calgary Opera Association at the Silver Impresario level. Graham’s interest in aircraft, particularly ‘vintage’ aeroplanes (mainly British World War II types) is reflected in his membership in The Calgary Mosquito Society, a group dedicated to the restoration of a de Havilland Mosquito and a Hawker Hurricane of Second World War origin. Graham holds dual citizenship in Canada and Australia