FEBRUARY 2005 ISSUE
Obituaries
Gordon Tebbutt, P.Geol.
Gordon Edward Tebbutt, P.Geol., a veteran exploration geologist who loved
the mountains and adjusted his career through a changing industry, passed away
last fall. He was 65.
While an undergraduate, Dr. Tebbutt worked on Chevron's last horse-propelled
field party in the Rockies. Further work for Chevron and Amoco in the Rockies
and Northwest Territories followed.
Later, in the 1980s, he made the transition from industry-conducted research
to stripped-down technical service groups. He retired, by then with Petro Canada,
in 1999.
Dr. Tebbutt, born in Clinton, Ont., completed his honours bachelor of science
degree in 1962 at the University of Western Ontario, his master's at the University
of Wyoming in 1964, and his PhD at Rice University in 1967. Under James Lee Wilson,
his PhD studied diagenesis of Pleistocene limestones in Belize, and Dr. Tebutt
received numerous scholarships and awards during those years.
Known for his high standards and attentional to detail, Dr. Tebbutt was ideally
suited to reservoir characterization. Much of his work dealt with pore-to-core-scale
heterogeneity and its effect on carbonate reservoirs.
He began full-time with Chevron Standard in 1967, just as industry had discovered
major carbonate pools at Ricinus West and Rainbow. He actively explored deeper
strata in the basin.
In 1969 he moved to Banff Petroleum, which was promptly bought by Acquitaine.
He took a senior geological specialist position at PetroCan in 1978, in the research
and technology group.
Dr. Tebbutt was an active member of the Canadian Society of Explortation Geologists,
the SEPM and APEGGA. He was listed in both the Alberta and the international
Who's Who.
He is survived by his wife, Liz, of almost 38 years, his children, John and Katherine,
and other family and friends.