Christopher R. Clarkson is a professor and the Shell/Encana Chair in Unconventional Gas and Light Oil research in the Department of Geoscience, and an adjunct professor with the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary. His work focus in the industry was on exploration for, and development of, unconventional gas (UG) and light oil (ULO) reservoirs. His research focus, since coming to the University of Calgary in 2009, has been on advanced reservoir characterization methods for UG-ULO, such as rate- and pressure-transient analysis, flowback analysis, and core analysis. He is also interested in simulation of enhanced recovery processes in UG-ULO, and how these processes can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Clarkson leads an industry-sponsored consortium called “Tight Oil Consortium" focused on these research topics for unconventional light oil reservoirs in Western Canada.
Clarkson holds a Ph.D. in geological engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and is the author of numerous articles in peer-reviewed scientific and engineering journals. Clarkson was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for the 2009-2010 lecture season, is the 2016 recipient of the SPE Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award (Canadian Region), and the 2018 recipient of the SPE Calgary Sections’ Technical Excellence and Achievement Award. He also received the 2017 ASTech award for “Outstanding Achievement in Applied Technology and Innovation” for his work on rate-transient analysis of unconventional reservoirs.