North Texas geologist honored for petroleum exploration prowess

Trish Choate, Wichita Falls Times Record News
·2 min read

A Midwestern State University graduate was named the 2023 recipient of a national award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in recognition of his success in petroleum exploration, according to MSU Texas.

MSU alumnus Gregg Norman was honored with the Norman H. Foster Outstanding Explorer Award, one of AAPG's highest awards.

“Gregg is one of the most respected and highly regarded exploration geologists in North Texas. This recognition by the preeminent international society for petroleum geology is well-deserved,” Jonathan Price, chair and Prothro Distinguished Professor of Geology at MSU Texas, said in an MSU media release.

Members of the North Texas Geological Society include, left to right, Chris Gunn, Craig Reynolds, Chad Cummings, Cris Astorga, award recipient Gregg Norman, MSU Texas graduate students Aarron Hillard and Matthew Kaspar, partially obscured, NTGS President Josh Aaron, and graduate students James Mora and Elizabeth Elkins.
Members of the North Texas Geological Society include, left to right, Chris Gunn, Craig Reynolds, Chad Cummings, Cris Astorga, award recipient Gregg Norman, MSU Texas graduate students Aarron Hillard and Matthew Kaspar, partially obscured, NTGS President Josh Aaron, and graduate students James Mora and Elizabeth Elkins.

Gregg Norman earned a bachelor of science in geology from MSU Texas in 1987.

He was named the recipient of the annual award “in recognition of distinguished and outstanding achievement in exploration for petroleum or mineral resources,” according to MSU.

AAPG awards the honor to those who have shown a consistent pattern of exploratory success. The intended emphasis is on recent discovery.

“Norman began his career at Gunn Oil Company as a geotech while still at MSU. He began working several of Gunn’s acreage positions in North Texas where he developed his exploration expertise on the Eastern Shelf," Josh Aaron, president of the North Texas Geological Society, said in a message to members.

"While at Gunn, Norman made a significant discovery in Dickens County," Aaron said. "He later began his own company, Norman Browning Exploration and made another significant field discovery, known as the Flat Top JC Field."

Gregg Norman is the only member of the North Texas Geological Society to win the explorer award and the A.I. Levorsen Award, which honors the best paper at each AAPG section meeting, Aaron said.

The AAPG created the explorer award in 2000. In 2011, the award was renamed from the Outstanding Explorer Award to the Norman H. Foster Outstanding Explorer Award.

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent workhere. Her X handle is @Trishapedia.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: North Texas geologist honored for petroleum exploration