Wednesday, May 8, 2013

In Search of Expertise (Part 1) - JOT

“We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective.”  -- Dave Barry (American Writer and Humorist, b.1947)

There are commercial databases containing the names and specialties of experts in every field you can imagine.  However, they do charge for this information.

If you do not have access to such a database, you might want to begin to compile a list of your own.

The Saudi Aramco Journal of Technology (JOT), located at
 http://www.saudiaramco.com/en/home/news/publications-and-reports/saudi-aramco-journal-of-technology.html#news%257C%252Fen%252Fhome%252Fnews%252Fpublications-and-reports%252Fsaudi-aramco-journal-of-technology.baseajax.html,
 is a rich source of biographical information.  At the end of each article in this excellent technology journal are detailed bios of the authors.

Here are a few of them, culled from the last two editions of JOT …

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Dr. Hamoud A. Al-Anazi is the General Supervisor of the North Ghawar Gas Reservoir Management Division in the Gas Reservoir Management Department (GRMD). He oversees all work related to the development and management of huge gas fields like Ain-Dar, Shedgum and ‘Uthmaniyah. Hamoud also heads the technical committee that is responsible for all new technology assessments and approvals for GRMD. He joined Saudi Aramco in 1994 as a Research Scientist in the Research & Development Center and moved to the Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center – Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC) in 2006. After completing a one-year assignment with the Southern Area Reservoir Management Department, Hamoud joined the Gas Reservoir Management Division and was assigned to supervise the SDGM/UTMN Unit and more recently the HWYH Unit. With his team he successfully implemented the deepening strategy of key wells that resulted in a new discovery of the Unayzah reservoir in UTMN field and the addition of Jauf reserves in the HWYH gas field. Hamoud’s areas of interests include studies of formation damage, stimulation and fracturing, fluid flow in porous media and gas condensate reservoirs. He has published more than 50 technical papers at local/international conferences and in refereed journals. Hamoud is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) where he serves on several committees for SPE technical conferences. He is also teaching courses at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, as part of the Part-Time Teaching Program. SAUDI ARAMCO JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY SPRING 2013 9 In 1994, Hamoud received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from KFUPM, and in 1999 and 2003, respectively, he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Petroleum Engineering, both from the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

Dr. Zillur Rahim is a Petroleum Engineering Consultant with Saudi Aramco’s Gas Reservoir Management Department (GRMD). He heads the team responsible for stimulation design, application and assessment for GRMD. Rahim’s expertise includes well stimulation, pressure transient test analysis, gas field development, planning, production enhancement, and reservoir management. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco, he worked as a Senior Reservoir Engineer with Holditch & Associates, Inc., and later with Schlumberger Reservoir Technologies in College Station, TX, where he used to consult on reservoir engineering, well stimulation, reservoir simulation, and tight gas qualification for national and international companies. Rahim is an Instructor of petroleum engineering industry courses and has trained engineers from the U.S. and overseas. He developed analytical and numerical models to history match and forecast production and pressure behavior in gas reservoirs. Rahim developed 3D hydraulic fracture propagation and proppant transport simulators and numerical models to compute acid reaction, penetration, and fracture conductivity during matrix acid and acid fracturing treatments. Rahim has authored 65 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) papers and numerous in-house technical documents. He is a member of SPE and a technical editor for the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering (JPSE). Rahim is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and a mentor for Saudi Aramco’s Technologist Development Program (TDP). He is an instructor of the Reservoir Stimulation and Hydraulic Fracturing course for the Upstream Professional Development Center (UPDC) of Saudi Aramco. Rahim is a member of GRMD’s technical committee responsible for the assessment and approval of new technologies. Rahim received his B.S. degree from the Institut Algerien du Petrole, Boumerdes, Algeria, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, all in Petroleum Engineering. 28 SPRING

Dr. Indranil Chatterjee is the Senior Research Microbiologist at the Pune Technology Center, India, for the Oil Field Chemical Division of Nalco (An Ecolab Company). He acquired experience in various microbiological and molecular techniques in addition to projects dealing with global genomic analysis (transcriptomics and proteomics). In addition, Indranil was also involved in pharmaceutical industrial projects with Bayer Vital, GmbH and Wyeth Pharma, GmbH. Following his 6 years of research experience with Medical Microbiology, he joined the Petroleum Microbiology Research Group (PMGR) at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Here, Indranil was assigned to a project funded by Genome Canada/Genome Alberta, working as a senior postdoctoral fellow. During this time, he was responsible for conducting research into the composition of microbial communities within varied hydrocarbon resource environments using modern metagenomic tools and evaluating biotechnologies to improve oil production. Indranil was involved in several 50 SPRING 2013 SAUDI ARAMCO JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY projects with oil and gas companies before joining the Nalco Technology Center in 2011. Indranil received his B.Pharm. degree from the University of Pune, Pune, India, and his M.S. degree in Molecular Genetics from the University of Leicester, Leicester, U.K. Following this, he successfully completed his Ph.D. degree with the dissertation “Senescence of Staphylococci: Metabolic and Environmental Factors Determining Bacterial Survival and Persistence” at the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Saarland-Hospital, Homburg, Germany. Indranil followed this with an additional 3 years of postdoctoral experience in medical and infectious microbiology. He has published in several peer-reviewed journals in the areas of both medical microbiology and petroleum microbiology.

Dr. Gerrit Voordouw has been a Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary since 1986 and has held the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Petroleum Microbiology since 2007. As an Industrial Research Chair holder, he works closely with major energy companies to coordinate the research activities in his lab focused on sulfur cycle management, corrosion control and improved production. Gerrit served as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee to the Saudi Aramco Research & Development Center (R&DC) from 2009 to 2011. In addition to researching practical aspects of petroleum microbiology, he is project leader of a 4-year Genome Canada funded project, aimed at characterizing the microbial communities in hydrocarbon resource environments through state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technologies. This project started in 2009 and involves 12 co-investigators, as well as participation by other industry professionals. Gerrit received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry from the University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 1970 and 1972, respectively, and a Ph.D. degree in Physical Biochemistry from the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in 1975.

Dr. Peter F. Sanders is a Research Science Consultant in Saudi Aramco’s Research & Development Center (R&DC). He worked for 12 years as a Senior Microbiologist and Research Manager for Oil Plus Ltd., an oil field consultancy company in the U.K., working on solving microbiological problems for most of the major oil field operators all over the world. Prior to that, Peter was a Research Fellow at Aberdeen University, Scotland, and ran a small oil field microbiology company He joined Saudi Aramco in 2001, and has been working on new technologies to predict, monitor, assess and control microbial corrosion, biofouling and contamination problems in water injection, oil production, and transportation and utilities systems. Peter has also been studying downhole microbial growth and microbiology in extreme environments to develop biotechnology-based processes. He has also consulted widely within Saudi Aramco to address operational problems caused by microbial growth in oil field systems. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Microbiology from Exeter University, Exeter, U.K.

Dr. Tony Y. Rizk joined Saudi Aramco’s Research & Development Center (R&DC) in July 2006 and is currently a Science Specialist. Throughout his career in the oil and gas industry for well over two decades, Tony has initiated and managed a number of research and deployment projects. He also pioneered the development of new technologies that have been successfully implemented in the oil and gas industry. Tony assumed a number of roles while at the R&DC, and he has been handling the Biotechnology Technical Services activities for the last two years. His work has involved microbially induced corrosion, encapsulation for downhole slow release, MEOR methodologies, reservoir souring and control mechanisms, nitrate corrosion, corrosion inhibitor selection, and corrosion evaluation under high shear stress and hydrotesting. Tony has chaired a number of international and regional conferences, including the Energy Institute Reservoir Microbiology Forum, London, U.K. (2007-2008), the Saudi Aramco Technical Exchange Forum (2009), Technical Chairman of the Middle East Corrosion Conference (2011), Session Chairman of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) conference on MIC at Calgary, Canada (2009), and Session Chairman of both Chemindex and Labtech in Bahrain (2010) and Qatar (2011), respectively. He is also currently the Technical Chairman of the 15th Middle East Corrosion Conference and Exhibition to be held in Bahrain in 2014. Tony received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering and graduated with a Ph.D. in Corrosion Science from Manchester University, Manchester, U.K., in 1992.

Dr. Murat Zeybek is a Schlumberger Reservoir Engineering Advisor and Reservoir and Production Domain Champion for the Middle East area. He works on analysis/interpretation of wireline formation testers, pressure transient analysis, numerical modeling of fluid flow, water control, production logging and reservoir monitoring. He is a technical review committee member for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) journal Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering. Murat also served as a committee member for the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 1999-2001. He has been a discussion leader and a committee member in a number of SPE Applied Technology Workshops (ATWs), including a technical committee member for the SPE Saudi Technical Symposium, and he is a global mentor in Schlumberger. Murat received his B.S. degree from the Technical University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, and his M.S. degree in 1985 and Ph.D. degree in 1991, both from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, all in Petroleum Engineering.

Dr. Oliver C. Mullins is a Science Advisor to Executive Management in Schlumberger. He is the primary originator of downhole fluid analysis for formation evaluation. For this, he has won several awards, including the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Distinguished Membership Award and the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) Distinguished Technical Achievement Award; Oliver also has been a Distinguished Lecturer four times for the SPWLA and SPE. He authored the book The Physics of Reservoir Fluids: Discovery through Downhole Fluid Analysis, which won two Awards of Excellence. Oliver has also co-edited three books and coauthored nine chapters on asphaltenes. He has coauthored >190 publications and has ~3,100 literature citations. Oliver has co-invented 80 allowed U.S. patents. He is a fellow of two professional societies and is Adjunct Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. Oliver also leads an active research group in petroleum science.

Dr. Murat Zeybek is a Schlumberger Reservoir Engineering Advisor and Reservoir and Production Domain Champion for the Middle East area. He works on analysis/interpretation of wireline formation testers, pressure transient analysis, numerical modeling of fluid flow, water control, production logging and reservoir monitoring. He is a technical review committee member for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) journal Reservoir 66 SPRING 2013 SAUDI ARAMCO JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY Evaluation and Engineering. Murat also served as a committee member for the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 1999-2001. He has been a discussion leader and a committee member in a number of SPE Applied Technology Workshops (ATWs), including a technical committee member for the SPE Saudi Technical Symposium, and he is a global mentor in Schlumberger. Murat received his B.S. degree from the Technical University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey, and his M.S. degree in 1985 and Ph.D. degree in 1991, both from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, all in Petroleum Engineering.

Dr. Chengli Dong is a Senior Fluid Properties Specialist in the Shell FEAST team (Fluid Evaluation and Sampling Technologies), and previously he was a Schlumberger Reservoir Domain Champion. Chengli has been a key contributor on the development of downhole fluid analysis (DFA) as well as DFA applications in reservoir characterization. He conducted extensive spectroscopic studies on live crude oils and gases, and led the development of interpretation algorithms on the DFA tools. In addition, Chengli has extensive field experience in design, implementation and analysis of formation testing jobs. He has published more than 50 technical papers, and he co-invented 10 granted U.S. patents and nine patent applications. Chengli received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Beijing University, Beijing, China, and his Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.

Dr. Julian Y. Zuo is currently a Scientific Advisor in Reservoir Engineering at the Schlumberger Houston Pressure and Sampling Center. He has been working in the oil and gas industry since 1989. Recently, Julian has been leading the effort to develop and apply the industry’s first simple Flory-Huggins- Zuo equation of state (EOS) for predicting compositional and asphaltene gradients to address a variety of major oil field concerns such as reservoir connectivity, tar mat formation, asphaltene instability, flow assurance, nonequilibrium with late gas charging, etc. He has coauthored more than 140 technical papers in peer-reviewed journals, conferences and workshops. Julian received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China.

Dr. D. Brett Fischbuch is currently involved in reservoir management activities for North Ghawar in the Southern Area Reservoir Management Department. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco in 2006, he worked in a variety of engineering positions with ExxonMobil and Chevron over a 17-year period. Brett received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, and his Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

Dr. Aqil Jamal is a Senior Research Engineer with the Carbon Management and Hydrogen Production Team at Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center. He is the lead engineer responsible for conducting a detailed techno-economic assessment of combined hydrogen and electricity production with CO2 capture using oil-based fuels. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco in 2010, Aqil was involved in process development research related to energy conversion, gasification and CO2 capture from industrial point sources with multiple companies in the U.S., including Fluor Corp., Praxair Inc., GTI and RTI International. He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Dr. Thang V. Pham was a Research Science Consultant with Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center in Dhahran between 2004 and 2011, leading oil-to-hydrogen development efforts at the Center. He is currently with the University of Queensland, working as the Director of External Research Collaboration. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco and for more than a decade, Thang held product development and management roles in various start-ups and joint ventures in Australia and Canada, focusing on bringing the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology to market. He received his B.Eng. degree and a Ph.D. degree, both in Chemical Engineering, from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Juaied is the Chief Technologist leading the Carbon Management and Hydrogen Production Team at Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center. He has worked in several different areas, including refining, gas processing and upstream oil activities. Mohammed is also serving as a member of the Accelerated Transformation Technology Initiative Team at Saudi Aramco. He was a 2008-2009 visiting scholar with the Belfer Center’s Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at Harvard University, where he focused on the economics and policies of carbon capture and sequestration. Mohammed received his M.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering and his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, and an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. He has published several articles related to carbon capture.

Dr. Olugbenga Olukoko is a Petroleum Engineering Specialist in the Reservoir Simulation Division. He joined Saudi Aramco in 2005, initially in the Reserves Assessment and Reservoir Development Planning Division, and has been working in the Reservoir Simulation Division since 2008. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco, he worked for Shell and Pan Ocean Oil in Nigeria and the U.K. North Sea, holding various positions between 1988 and 2005 in drilling, production, operations and field development reservoir engineering. Olugbenga’s core skills are in integrated reservoir studies and field development reservoir engineering with an emphasis in reserves assessment, reservoir management and reservoir simulation. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria, in 1986 and 1988, respectively. Olugbenga then received his Ph.D. degree in Computational Stress Analysis from Imperial College, University of London, London, U.K., in 1992.

Dr. Amer A. Amer joined Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center in September 2007 after more than 12 years in the U.S. automotive industry where he was involved in the various design and development activities of many engine programs. Since joining Saudi Aramco, Amer has led various research projects on engine/fuel experimentation and combustion, and kinetics simulation, and he has contributed to designing and executing the strategic direction for the Petroleum Fuel Formulation Initiative. He is currently the Chief Technologist for the Fuel Technology R&D Division. Amer has coauthored more than 20 papers in the fields of engine experimentation, diagnostics and simulation, and he organized and chaired many Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) technical sessions. Amer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He also received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, in 1995 and an MBA from Madonna University, Livonia, MI, in 2002.

Dr. Junseok Chang joined Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center in October 2010. He has spent his entire career in the field of internal combustion engine and advanced combustion strategy development, including 12 years of laboratory experience involving extensive engine research projects. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco, Junseok worked for General Motors’ Research & Development department for 5 years, and with the start-up company Transonic Combustion, which makes novel fuel injectors. His main interest is to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions from internal combustion engines, using fuel as the main enabler. Junseok’s specialty is in advanced combustion engine research. He was academically trained in the thermo-science and heat transfer of the internal combustion engine. In 1999, Junseok received his M.S. degree from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, and in 2004, he received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

Dr. Tidjani Niass is a Science Specialist with Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco in 2008, he was the head of the Chemical Engineering Department at the French Petroleum Institute (IFP) in France. During his career, Tidjani has led several research projects in the fields of carbon management, power generation systems, gas turbines, CO2 capture technologies and fuel effects on internal combustion engines. He has been involved in several European Union R&D programs. Tidjani has delivered graduate level courses on combustion modeling at the IFP School, served as an advisor for Ph.D. students and held positions on several thesis defense juries. He holds 15 patents and has published numerous technical papers. Tidjani received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine, Lorraine, France.

Dr. Ahmed H. Alhuthali is a Supervisor in Saudi Aramco’s Southern Area Reservoir Management Department. In addition to his current assignment, Ahmed is the Asset Team Leader of ‘Uthamaniyah field overseeing various financial and technical activities. During his 14 years with the company, he has worked on multiple assignments concerning reservoir engineering aspects for four giant fields. Ahmed is interested in reservoir and production system integration and optimization. He is also interested in risk management and decision making under uncertainty. In 1998, Ahmed received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In 2003, he received his M.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, and in 2011, he received his Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering, also from Texas A&M University. He earned a business certificate from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University in May 2008. Ahmed is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). He has published many technical papers on topics related to reservoir management. 

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