Vaca Muerta
An illustrative map of the field of public knowledge about the Vaca Muerta basin, as a demonstration of the method. The notice is placed up front.
See a case: Vaca MuertaSPES CONS · natural resources
SPES GEO
It applies the SPES method to natural resources: it observes how public knowledge about a basin or resource region is organised —not the deposit itself—. From public sources it builds a map of the structure of the field, auditable back to its source.
What it shows
A map of the knowledge about a basin, in three readings.
How the field is organised
Which concepts, formations and variables structure it, whether the knowledge is integrated or fragmented, and how it evolved over time.
Who sustains it
The agencies, universities, geological surveys and operators that produce the knowledge of the area, confirmed by cross-referencing independent sources. Knowing that a basin's data depends on few actors is concrete risk information.
Where the structural gaps are
Places where the structure of the knowledge would expect a study or a connection that is not yet there: candidates for survey, flagged as candidates, never as conclusions.
The knowledge map
An illustration of how the structure of a field looks: concepts connected by their relationships. Hover over a point to highlight its connections.
Illustrative: it does not represent real data. Colour marks the connection.
What it does not do
The boundary is explicit, and that is what makes it reliable.
- It does not estimate reserves or certify resources.
- It does not recommend investing or value an asset.
- It does not predict the price of a commodity.
- It does not replace the geological study, the due diligence or the professional: it gives them an auditable structural map.
The engine proposes; the human decides
The engine proposes where to look, with grounds; the human —geologist, analyst, investor— confirms and decides. SPES asserts the structure (what is measured) and distinguishes it from the interpretation (what is proposed, subject to confirmation). Its value is traceability and auditability: every structural assertion can be reconstructed back to its public source.
Who it is useful for
Exploration companies, funds, agencies and firms that need to organise reliable public information about a basin or region and decide where to concentrate their effort —not to certify reserves, but to map the terrain of the knowledge—.