Iain Prince has a Phd in Palynology from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (1996) where he studied dinoflagellates from the Late Cretaceous (UK). After his Phd he worked as a consultant looking at North Sea, West of Shetlands and Danish Basin wells. In 1998 he joined Statoil where he supported active drilling in the Faroes and Norwegian Sea, completing the first wellsite biostratigraphy completed in Statoil and the first offshore acid palynology. He was also actively involved in geosteering wells in the Tertiary (N Sea) Siri and Glitne fields. Outside of the North Sea he worked in West Africa, Venezuela, and Brazil. In 2003 he became head of the biostratigraphy group. During this time, he began working on the GOM when Statoil entered this basin. Subsequently in 2007, he moved to Statoil in Houston where he further gained experience in the GoM and began using palynology to assist with the Wilcox. In 2008 he joined Shell as their team leader and head of biostratigraphy. Since that time, he has worked extensively in the GoM (more lately the Mexican GoM) and is still active looking after wells – His most recent wells were from Mexico and involved drilling megaflaps and repeated thrusts; wells in which the wellsite biostratigraphy was critical to reaching a safe TD.