These questions were taken from a series of articles that were published in 1998 and 1999 in the  AAPG’s Explorer.  They are presented here to stimulate your own questions and it would be better if you could provide case histories of ethical and/or unethical conduct.

(1) A geologist sells a prospect to an investor for a finder’s fee, purposely leaving off his maps a well that shows the objective sand is shaled out.  Knowledge of that well would show the prospect is more risky than advertised and probably would not be drilled.  The geologist argues that the data on the key well was inconclusive.  Is the action of the geologist ethical?, Unethical?, Illegal?  Should the geologist be sanctioned?

(2) A generator gets a verbal commitment from an investor for a partial interest in a prospect at an agreed price.  The generator subsequently gets a higher price from a second investor for another partial interest.  Can/should the generator demand the higher price from the first investor for his committed portion? 

(3) A Petroleum Geologist is invited by a friend to visit the site where the friend plans to build a summer home.  During the site visit the geologist notices various indications that the site may be subject to landslides.  For an example, in an adjacent wooded area, the trunks of the trees are all tilted downhill (the friend’s site is not wooded).  The dip of the shales forming the immediate bedrock is subparallel  to the hillslope.  What should the geologist tell his friend?  Should anyone else be informed?  What liabilities might the geologist face for saying anything?  Are there liabilities for saying nothing?

(4) A geologist becomes aware from studying an employer’s or client’s confidential information that the employer’s or client’s  operations may be causing a pollution  plume that will reach a nearby town’s water supply in ten years.  What is the geologist’s ethical obligation to the town?  How should this obligation, if any be exercised?

(5) A geologist working for a large company discovers that the results of his work are being misrepresented by his boss’ boss to upper management.  Further the geologist has good reason to believe that making a “fuss“ will result in  termination.  What should the geologist do?

(6) A geologist leaves a company to enter the consulting business.  While employed at the company, the geologist acquired substantial expertise regarding a particular geological basin-or application of a particular methodology.  What ways can the geologist ethically make use of the expertise?  Does it make a difference if the employer is abandoning the basin?  Does it make a difference if  the geologist has become a consultant due to the company  “downsizing?”

(7) A consulting geologist is asked to evaluate a prospect for a client with the  understanding that geologists report, if favorable, will be used to promote the  prospect to investors.  The geologist undertakes the assignment, concludes the prospect warrants drilling and a copy of the report is used in the offering material. Later the client asks the geologists to review another prospect.  Again the  geologist concludes that the prospect warrants drilling and submits a report.  A couple of weeks later the geologist calls the client and asks for a copy of the offering material.  When the material is received, the geologist discovers that a reserve estimate for the prospect has been added to his report-an estimate he did not prepare. What should the geologist do?

(8) Can a consulting geologist freely use data developed for a client, but for which the client did not pay?  If the employer/client has left the area of interest or gone out of business, can the  geologist then make use of the data? 

(9) A geologist and a client agree to a project for which the geologist will be paid for time and expenses.  At the end of the job, when the final bill is presented, the client acknowledges that the job was well done-but nevertheless asks the geologist to reduce the bill because it is larger than expected.  Assuming you are the geologist, what would you do?

(10)  A geologist works up and promotes a prospect, retaining an overriding royalty as part of the  compensation.  The prospect covers several  potential locations,  only some of  which are drilled and completed by the company taking over the deal. The operating company is subsequently bought out by another firm and later, oil prices result in some wells being shut-in but not  plugged and abandoned prior to the operator’s  bankruptcy.  A new company comes in to take over operations, and it drills some of the  previously undrilled locations-and some where during all these events, the paper  work relating to the overriding interest held by the geologist is lost or  overlooked, intentionally or otherwise.   What should the geologist do?

(11)  Is it ethical to charge different clients different hourly rates?   Why or why not?

(12) Have you ever experienced “junk science” being used  to condemn alleged   “junk science?”

These questions were taken from a series of articles that were published in 1998 and 1999 in the  AAPG’s Explorer.  They are presented here to stimulate your own questions and it would be better if you could provide case histories of ethical and/or unethical conduct.