Richard Sykes
BSc (Geology); MSc (Geology), University of Canterbury
Richard is an organic geochemist whose research career has focussed on understanding the origin and properties of coal deposits and petroleum fluids in New Zealand’s sedimentary basins. He provides specialist geochemistry expertise to oil and gas exploration and production companies to help them better understand subsurface petroleum plumbing systems and ensure safe production.
Richard joined the New Zealand Geological Survey in 1985 to investigate the composition and formation of New Zealand’s coal deposits. In the 1990s, his research focus pivoted to oil and gas geochemistry to support the Government’s drive to lift economic wealth through increased exploration and production of New Zealand’s petroleum resources. By combining organic petrography (microscopy) and geochemistry, Richard discovered that New Zealand crude oils are derived mostly from fossil leaf cuticle preserved in coal seams, and this helped to drive oil exploration by dispelling the widely held theory that coals produce only gas.
Richard led the MBIE-funded research programme on Petroleum Source Rocks, Fluids, and Plumbing Systems and he now manages GNS’ portfolio of Strategic Science Investment Fund (SSIF) research programmes, whilst also continuing to provide specialised geochemistry services to petroleum companies.
His research interests include:
- identifying the paleoenvironmental and paleoecological controls on the formation of coals and organic-rich mudstones in terrestrial, lacustrine and marine environments.
- understanding relationships between the composition and properties of coals and organic-rich mudstones and the types and amounts of oil and gas they produce through natural maturation.
- establishing genetic relationships between oil and gas deposits and their source rocks to help elucidate the subsurface petroleum plumbing systems.
- applying chemometric (multivariate analysis) techniques to identify genetic oil families in the subsurface and calibrate the thermal maturities of oil and gas deposits.
Richard was a visiting scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada (1992) and the GeoForschungsZentrum of Germany (2005) and has field work and research experience in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Indonesia and Antarctica.
To most people, coal is just a dirty black rock that burns and produces large amounts of greenhouse gases. But when I first looked at coal under a microscope at university, I was amazed by the incredible variety of plant parts within the coal and how the type and preservation of plant parts provide important clues into how the coal formed
