He is known throughout the oil industry as an exceptional petroleum geologist and to his many university and professional students as an outstanding and inspirational teacher. Few people are as well qualified as Professor Richard Selley to comment on the interplay between the academic world and the oil industry and the dependence they have on each other.

The technological breakthroughs of the onwards from the early 1990s have had enormous implications for the oil and gas exploration and production industry. New methods, changing work processes and an improved understanding of the subsurface have all contributed to new exploration arenas and increased oil recovery.

Two fields are currently being developed, significant amounts of oil and gas have already been found, and geological studies indicate that this is a promising exploration frontier, possibly making the Barents Sea a major gas and oil supplier in the future.

By introducing the concept of fault facies, a new research project aims to arrive at a more realistic way of representing faults and fault properties in the subsurface. The result is expected to improve our understanding of reservoir behaviour and thus improved recovery.