URTeC 2024 Prestigious Speakers

Mark Finley Rice University’s Baker Institute URTeC Speaker Mark Finley is the fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University’s Baker Institute. He has over 35 years of experience working at the intersections of energy, economics, and public policy. Before joining the Baker Institute, Finley was the senior U.S. economist at BP. For 12 years, he led the production of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the world’s longest-running compilation of objective global energy data. He also was responsible for the company’s long- and short-term oil market analysis, and he led the global oil market and transportation sector analyses for the long-term BP Energy Outlook. Prior to joining BP, Finley was an analyst and manager at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. He was responsible for assessing the implications for U.S. strategic interests of developments in global oil and other energy markets, as well as analyzing the policies of key oil-producing and -consuming countries. He was recognized for exceptional analytic performance many times, including for oil market analysis during 1990-91 Gulf War. Finley also edited a daily intelligence summary for Cabinet-level U.S. economic policymakers as well as the president’s daily brief, and regularly briefed these summaries and other analysis to senior U.S. officials. Finley is a senior fellow of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics, and has been recognized for his lifetime contributions to the profession of energy economics. He has held leadership roles in the International Association for Energy Economics, the National Association for Business Economics, and the Conference of Business Economics, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Finley is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan and holds graduate degrees from Northwestern University (in economics) and the George Washington University (in finance).

Deborah Byers Energy Transition and Women in Energy URTeC Speaker Deborah retired as a Partner from Ernst & Young LLP (“EY”) in July of 2022 after 36 years of service in Public Accounting while holding multiple leadership roles. EY is a global leader in assurance, consulting, strategy and transaction and tax services. From July 2018 to her retirement, she was EY’s Americas industry leader overseeing the markets and growth strategy across its primary industry markets including energy, industrials, automotive, consumer technology, telecom, media, entertainment, healthcare, life sciences, real estate, private equity, and government. Deborah was EY’s Houston Office Managing Partner and US Energy Leader from July 2013 to July 2018, and Managing Partner of the Southwest Region Strategy and Transactions Business Unit from July 2008 to July 2013. In these roles she was a leader in the global energy markets and worked with corporations and investment funds in all phases of energy investment across the sector with key focus on the US Shale and global LNG export market transactions. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Excelerate Energy, Inc. and Kinetik Inc. where she is the Audit Committee Chair overseeing key areas of financial reporting, ESG, and overall enterprise risk. She is also on the Board of Directors for Civitas Resources where she serves on both the Audit and ESG Committees. Deborah was recently elected to the Board of Directors of DTE, a public utility headquartered in Detroit Michigan. Deborah remains very active mentoring young professionals and is passionate about supporting women in energy while engaging publicly on all thing’s energy transition and transformation. She is active in the community as an advisory board member of Switch Alliance where she supports programs in energy literacy and energy access. She was recently apppointed as a nonresident Fellow at Rice University, Baker Policy Institute, Center for Energy Studies where she will continue her thoughtful contribution to energy transition. She serves as a Senior Advisor to Veriten, a media, research, and consulting platform focused on the energy sector. Deborah remains committed to her local community in Houston as a member of the Memorial Hermann Foundation Board and the Depelchin Childrens Hospital Foundation Board. Deborah and her spouse, Wayne have three adult children, three grandchildren, and enjoy the outdoors, playing golf and traveling the US. Deborah holds a BBA from Baylor University in Waco Texas and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Trey Lowe Devon Energy URTeC Speaker Trey Lowe is the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President at Devon Energy. His team includes Devon Energy Ventures, operational technology, IT and other digital teams. Prior to his current role, Trey spent 20 years in operational engineering and leadership roles in various countries around the world. Trey’s engineering background helps Devon focus on leading technology in the E&P industry. He joined Devon in 2005 from Schlumberger where he held various engineering and management positions. Trey is also a past Distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Robert Gibson S&P Global URTeC Speaker Rob has been working in the upstream oil and gas data management arena for nearly 30 years. Most of those years were spent on the petrophysical and geological side of the industry, however, after 21 years at a multi-client seismic company, the geophysical side of the business has also crept its way into his repertoire. Today Rob is responsible for the enterprise data management software solution from S&P Global focused on the upstream energy industry, including E&P, CCUS, and ESG. Rob has worked numerous A.I. projects over the past several years and has seen both significant successes and just as notable failures. His knowledge on the importance of data in the A.I. projects will be a central theme of today’s talk.

Manuj Nikhanj Enverus URTeC Speaker Manuj Nikhanj is president of Enverus, the most trusted energy-dedicated SaaS company. Since joining Enverus in 2019 with the acquisition of RS Energy Group, he has been vital in shaping the company’s strategy and driving its growth. In 2023, Manuj’s vision helped Enverus surpass $500 million in annual recurring revenue. Manuj has more than 20 years of experience in energy and has completed hundreds of evaluations of public and private producers, plays and assets, establishing himself as a trusted advisor to multiple company boards and executive teams. Prior to Enverus, Manuj was an original partner and co-CEO of RS Energy Group and its predecessor companies, which he helped build from a start-up into the leading provider of energy software, analytics, and insights for corporate and institutional customers. Manuj holds a bachelor's degree in commerce (with distinction) from the University of Calgary and is a CFA and FRM charter holder.

Zachary Coplon Blue Bison Analytics, Inc. URTeC Speaker Zac is a native of Oklahoma who earned an MBA in Finance from Oklahoma City University while playing on the baseball team. After college, he held various accounting roles at a state agency and worked as a credit analyst for financial institutions based in Oklahoma. In 2017, Zac began his career in oil and gas as the CFO of a small Oklahoma City-based mineral and non-op company. During his tenure, the company transacted several thousand Oklahoma leasehold and mineral acres in under three years. In January 2020, Zac co-founded Blue Bison Analytics (BBA), where the team developed an oil and gas evaluation software called 4cast. This software is designed for the economic evaluation of oil and gas properties. When he's not working, Zac enjoys spending time with his family and friends, attending live music events, hunting, fishing, hiking, golfing, playing disc golf, and participating in other outdoor activities. He also volunteers as a youth baseball coach in the OKC Dodgers Rookie League, the Oklahoma City University Mentor Program, and the Mineral Foundation for NARO (National Association of Royalty Owners).

Andrew Munoz 4Cast URTeC Speaker Andrew Muñoz, a multifaceted geoscientist with over a decade of experience, brings invaluable expertise to Blue Bison Analytics as a Technical Advisor. His diverse background spans geophysics, geology, and data science as well as experience across major US unconventional resource basins. Beginning his career at Newfield Exploration, Andrew honed his skills in basin evaluation and geoscience operations, eventually building data science workflows that are still in use today. In 2019, he joined Ensign Natural Resources, leading multidisciplinary teams and spearheading the development of cutting-edge analytics tools. His contributions resulted in significant asset growth and positioned Ensign as a technology leader among small to mid-sized operators. Now, Andrew actively shapes the development of 4cast's software, focusing on enhancing various features like type curve analysis, economic analysis, and geoscience data integration while expanding the company's infrastructure and database.

Thomas Blasingame Texas A&M URTeC Speaker Dr. Tom Blasingame is a Professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station Texas. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Texas A&M University — all in Petroleum Engineering. Blasingame's research efforts address topics in applied reservoir engineering, reservoir modeling, and production engineering. Blasingame has made numerous contributions to the petroleum literature in well test analysis, analysis of production data, reservoir management, evaluation of low/ultra-low permeability reservoirs, and general reservoir engineering (e.g., hydrocarbon phase behavior, natural gas engineering, inflow performance relations, material balance methods, and field studies). Since 1991, Blasingame has graduated 78 M.S. (thesis), 37 M.Eng. (report, non-thesis), and 18 Ph.D. students, and he has prepared more than 200 technical articles, as well as having performed several major field studies involving geology, petrophysics, and engineering tasks. Blasingame has also been recognized with several teaching and service awards from Texas A&M University. Blasingame is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the Society for Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). Blasingame has received numerous awards from SPE, such as the Distinguished Member designation (2000), the SPE Uren award (2006), SPE Distinguished Service Award (2005), SPE Distinguished Lecturer (2006), the Anthony F. Lucas Medal (2012), the SPE DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal (2013), the SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Faculty (2014), SPE Honorary Membership (2015), SPE Technical Director for Reservoir (2015-2018), and the 2021 SPE President. In addition, Blasingame has made significant service contributions over the last 30 years by chairing various technical committees, conferences, symposia, forums, and workshops within the industry. As a source of significant personal pride, Blasingame has also been recognized with several teaching and service awards from Texas A&M University. Lastly, Blasingame is also active in community projects (such as the Wai-a-Ariki Food Forest) and his local church (St. Stephens Anglican church) in his adopted hometown of Onerahi, New Zealand where his wife and children permanently reside.

Josh Viets Chesapeake Energy URTeC Speaker Josh Viets was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in February 2022 for Chesapeake Energy. For the last 20 years, Mr. Viets has worked in operational positions of increasing importance at ConocoPhillips Company. He most recently served as Vice President, Delaware Basin and previously held leadership positions in operations, engineering, subsurface, and capital project across the ConocoPhillips portfolio. Mr. Viets earned a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.

Agatha Onuwaje Shell International E&P URTeC Speaker Agatha Onuwaje is a Senior Geohazards Specialist with more than 16 years of experience working in the global oil and gas industry. She has worked on the geohazards, geosolutions, well delivery (deep and shallow offshore), non-operated ventures, and front-end studies teams at Shell. Currently, she is a Senior Geohazards Specialist in the Houston-based Geohazards Assessment and Pore Pressure Prediction Team for Shell International Exploration and Production Incorporated. The team provides geohazards assessment support to a wide range of projects from safe well delivery in challenging subsurface environments to delivery of offshore infrastructure and regional evaluation of hydrocarbon seepage and sampling for Shell’s global onshore and offshore activity. Agatha received her Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Calabar (2000) and her Master’s in Oil and Gas Management from the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen (2012). She is the Facilitator of the Deepwater Operators’ Geohazards Forum (OGF) and a co-developer/co-instructor of the Introduction to Geohazards Assessment Course for the Shell Open University.

Kevin Bohacs ExxonMobil URTeC Speaker Kevin Bohacs is a sedimentologist and stratigrapher who recently retired from ExxonMobil in Houston, TX, who has taught first-aid and field operations safety for more than 50 years. He co-authored AAPG’s best-selling text on Field Safety and taught Field Safety Leadership over 40 times in over a dozen countries. He serves as an American Red Cross Instructor Trainer in emergency response, CPR/AED, and water safety. He has volunteered and worked as a firefighter, paramedic, disaster response leader, lifeguard, water safety instructor, and camp director. Kevin is an Eagle Scout and Scoutmaster. He graduated from the University of Connecticut with a BSc (Honors) in Geology and earned a ScD in Experimental Sedimentology from M.I.T. He joined Exxon Production Research Company in 1981 and has conducted fieldwork and scientific and safety training on six continents and in more than 42 countries. He was honored with many outstanding instructor awards and is an Honorary Member of AAPG and a fellow of the Geological Society of America, Royal Geographical Society, and The Explorers Club.

Maria Capello Kuwait Oil Company URTeC Speaker Maria Angela Capello is an awarded advisor and leader for the oil and gas industry, expert in reservoir management and transformational management and leadership strategies. She has more than 33 years of experience, growing a solid knowledge of NOCs and service companies in the Middle East, United States, and Latin America. She is currently an executive advisor in Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), champions the standardization of reservoir management best practices across the company, and is the champion of the technical training programs advanced by three assets of KOC with Shell. She is also the lead advisor of the KPC Professional Women Network, advancing the professional women in the nine companies of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation holding. Capello is recognized for implementing innovations in reservoir management, training, and diversity and inclusion. She was the first female supervisor of geophysical field operations in the jungle of Venezuela, in Pdvsa, progressing to be general manager of several oil assets. Later, she was subsurface and operations manager for Halliburton in Latin America and the northern Arabic Gulf. With more than 57 publications, she recently authored the book “Learned in the Trenches – Insights on Leadership and Resilience” (Springer, 2018). She believes that improving an individual, team, or corporation starts with clear strategic goals, communicated in simple and appealing ways. Capello was Vice President of SEG, an SEG Honorary Lecturer, Lifetime Member, Chair of the SEG SEG Women’s Network Committee, and a member of the Board of Directors for the SEG Advanced Modeling (SEAM) Corporation. At the SEG 2018 Annual Meeting, she received the 2018 SEG Special Commendation Award. She also volunteers extensively for other societies, and is a Distinguished Member, Distinguished Lecturer, and international Distinguished Service awardee of the SPE. She is the Chair of the SPE Public Service Award Committee, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Petroleum Technology, and is an advisor of SPE “Women in Energy.” She is the founder of the Lean Energy Chapter for the Middle East. In 2018, she won the international “GRIT” PinkPetro Award for The Difference Makers in energy. Capello holds an MS from the Colorado School of Mines.

Christopher Clarkson University of Calgary URTeC Speaker 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 focuses on 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.

Dilhan Ilk DeGolyer and MacNaughton URTeC Speaker Dilhan Ilk is a reservoir engineer at DeGolyer and MacNaughton in Dallas, Texas. Ilk’s interests include analysis of well test and production data, reservoir engineering, and inverse problems. In particular, he focuses on well performance analysis in unconventional reservoirs and has extensive field experience in well performance assessment of unconventional reservoirs. He has made several contributions to petroleum engineering literature, and to date, has prepared more than 30 articles in well test analysis, analysis/interpretation of production data, and general reservoir engineering. Ilk holds a BS from Istanbul Technical University, and MS and PhD degrees from Texas A&M University — all in petroleum engineering.

Yogashri Pradhan University of Texas URTeC Speaker Yogashri Pradhan is an Operations Performance Analyst at Chevron. She was previously a reservoir engineer for Coterra. At Coterra, she is involved with field development planning in the Delaware Basin unconventional reservoirs. Prior to that, she worked as a reservoir engineer at Endeavor energy Resources. At Endeavor, she was involved with field development planning for unconventionals in the Midland Basin. Most recently, she has been honored as a distinguished alumni from the University of Texas Petroleum Engineering Department and Hart Energy’s 40 Under 40. She is the recipient of the Regional Reservoir Engineering Dynamics and Description and the Regional Service Awards in 2020. She's also the recipient of Houston Engineers Week Young Engineer of the Year representing SPE-Gulf Coast Section for 2018 and the International Young Member Outstanding Service Award from SPE in 2018. Yogashri graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor's in Petroleum Engineering in 2015 and received her Masters in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University in 2020. She is currently pursuing her MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas and New Mexico.

Mark McClure ResFrac Corporation URTeC Speaker Mark McClure established ResFrac in 2015 to help operators maximize value through the application of advanced geomechanics and reservoir simulation. Before founding ResFrac, Mark was an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering. After earning a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and a Master of Science in petroleum engineering from Stanford University, Mark earned a PhD in energy resources engineering at Stanford. Mark has earned multiple awards, including the Hank Ramey Award from Stanford University, Best Paper in Geophysics, three outstanding paper awards at URTeC, Hart Energy 40 Under 40, SPE Regional Awards for Completions Optimization and for Young Member Service, and SPE’s TWA Energy Influencers award. On four occasions, he has received recognition from journals as an outstanding reviewer. Mark is the Chairperson for the SPE Golden Gate Section and the 2024 Western Regional Meeting.

Rawdon Seager Gaffney, Cline & Associates URTeC Speaker Rawdon Seager is a reservoir engineer with over 50 years of experience in the international oil and gas arena and has carried out numerous field studies, reserves assessments, and asset evaluations. Throughout his career, Rawdon has been deeply involved with the proper evaluation and reporting of oil and gas reserves and resources using the Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) and other standards, a subject on which he provides clients with advice and training. His current focus is on the application of the SRMS to carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and in assessing the impact of carbon pricing on the estimation of reserves. He has worked on several projects that involve an assessment of storage capacity, including preparation of Class VI well applications, and is using that understanding and current experience to offer training on the proper interpretation of the SRMS. He is based in Houston, Gaffney, Cline & Associates’ western hemisphere headquarters, where he is Chief Reservoir Engineer as well as Global Director of Quality Assurance.

Nicholas Fulford Gaffney, Cline & Associates URTeC Speaker Nicholas Fulford trained as an engineer and has spent his career focused on the natural gas value chain before more recently focusing on the Energy Transition and carbon management. Nick spent much of his early career with British Gas/Centrica and in the 1990s was instrumental in the restructuring of the gas and power sectors in the UK, which he then developed in a US and Canadian context after managing the acquisition of Direct Energy. A deep involvement in the LNG sector has provided Nick with a practical understanding of the complexities of project structuring, transfer pricing, and risk allocation along the value chain, which he has recently been applying to the emerging business models associated with CCUS and related carbon pricing and credit revenues. His current focus is advising clients on the economic and commercial risks associated with CCS, and how these can be appropriately managed between the emitter, the transmission and storage entities, and major lenders who are now seeking to deploy capital in the industry.

Ashwin Venkatraman ReserMine URTeC Speaker Dr. Ashwin Venkatraman is the Founder and CEO of Resermine, a niche award-winning oil and gas technology company (MOST Promising at OTC 2018). He is the recipient of the inaugural SPE International Technical Award in Data Science and Engineering Analytics at SPE ATCE 2021 held in Dubai. The award recognized his contributions to bringing hybrid workflows that combine AI/ML with traditional approaches to accelerate subsurface decision making. Resermine’s products have been used to optimize mature field injection operations and accelerate field development planning for fields in USA, Germany, Oman, UAE, Egypt, Mexico, India, and Malaysia. Resermine is based in USA (HQ) with technology delivery centers in Kuala Lumpur (ARMC - Advanced Modeling Center), Dubai (UAE), and Muscat (Oman) to support projects in different regions. Dr Venkatraman has published over 30 manuscripts and is on the advisory board of SPE’s Data Science and Engineering Analytics Committee. He previously worked with Shell for over 12 years at all their technology centers (India, Netherlands, and Houston). Dr Venkatraman served as faculty in the Petroleum Engineering Department of University of Oklahoma (2019-2020) and held research appointments in Princeton University as well as at Institute of Computational Engineering & Sciences (ICES) at the University of Texas before founding the Resermine. Dr. Venkatraman holds BSc and MSc in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay (India) and earned his PhD from University of Texas at Austin in Petroleum Engineering.

Kim McHugh Chevron URTeC Speaker Kim McHugh is Vice President of the Chevron Rockies Business Unit. She was appointed to this position in April 2023. Based in Denver, she oversees Chevron’s exploration and production activities in the Colorado DJ Basin and on the Western Slope. Kim is a second-generation driller who grew up in the industry and has lived in many parts of the U.S. and internationally. Her career spans operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Thailand and U.S. onshore. Kim’s career includes various management roles in field operations, engineering and global performance at Chevron, BP, Unocal and ARCO. Prior to her current role, she served as Chevron Vice President of Wells, responsible for all aspects of the company’s global drilling, completions and workover operations. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she received her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in petroleum engineering. Kim serves as chair of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers board, chair of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association board, and vice-chair of the Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development board. She is an executive advisor for the Chevron Women’s Employee Network and an executive sponsor for Texas A&M University at Chevron. She also serves on the Foundation for the United States Volleyball Association and Golf Committee for the LPGA Chevron Championship.

Dane Gregoris Enverus URTeC Speaker Dane Gregoris, Managing Director and Head of Oil and Gas Intelligence Dane joined Enverus (ITG) in 2014. His previous work experience includes positions at GLJ Petroleum Consultants and Encana (now Ovintiv). Dane leads the North American Onshore Intelligence team and has worked on numerous private mandates for our institutional and corporate clients over the years. He is also is a regular presenter to executive audiences and at industry conferences. Dane graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in geological engineering and is a CFA charterholder.

Stephen Sagriff Enverus URTeC Speaker Senior Vice President, Enverus Intelligence Research Stephen joined Enverus’ (previously RS Energy Group) analyst team in January 2018 and leads the Permian Asset Intelligence team. He has a reservoir engineering background in a business development capacity, having previously worked at RimRock Oil & Gas and interning at ConocoPhillips, both in Calgary. Stephen earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary in 2016

Riteja Dutta Enverus URTeC Speaker Riteja Dutta E&P Segment Leader, Product Management Riteja Dutta is the E&P Segment Leader, Product Management where she ensures that Enverus’ industry strategy and product portfolio solve clients’ most difficult and valuable problems. She previously worked at Gaffney, Cline & Associates and the global consulting group at Baker Hughes. She has consulted on asset evaluations and field development planning for conventional and unconventional oilfield assets across North America, Latin America, and Australia. Dutta graduated with a master’s in petroleum engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. Her experimental and modeling research focused on understanding the impact of fluid migration in unconventional reservoirs and was recognized by SPE for the Best Paper in 2012. Her published research spans various technical topics and is widely cited, including the use of analytics in unconventional reservoirs, improved production forecasting techniques, and modeling rejuvenation technologies by coupling geomechanics and reservoir dynamics.

Ryan Hill Enverus URTeC Speaker Vice President, Enverus Intelligence Research

Kevin Eichinger BKV Corporation URTeC Speaker Kevin Eichinger serves SPE as Chairman of the Committee for the Refracturing Workshop. He is a Senior Completions Engineer at BKV, where he leads refracturing candidate selection, job design and technical trials. BKV is an industry leader in refracturing activity and innovation. Kevin and his team at BKV authored a paper for last year's URTeC on a creative and efficient method for refracturing which was featured on the cover of the November 2023 issue of the Journal of Petroleum Technology.

Nabiel Eldam Encino Energy URTeC Speaker Nabiel Eldam Staff Reservoir Modeler and Geologist, Encino Energy

Jack Norbeck Fervo Energy URTeC Speaker Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Fervo Energy

Ghazal Izadi XGS Energy URTeC Speaker As the Chief Operating Officer at XGS Energy, Dr. Ghazal Izadi plays a pivotal role in driving global operations, spearheading technology advancement, and company expansion efforts. With over a decade of experience, she is a driving force at XGS Energy. Her expertise and leadership are deeply rooted in creating and delivering technology-centric business solutions, marked by exceptional client service. Before joining XGS Energy in 2022, Dr. Izadi held key technical positions at Baker Hughes, making significant contributions in both Unconventional oil and gas as well as Geothermal domains. Her responsibilities encompassed overseeing reservoir technical services across North and Latin America, Middle East, and APAC regions. This rich background reflects her commitment to a holistic approach, spanning from subsurface insights to well construction and tailored surface geothermal facility design. Dr. Izadi earned her Ph.D. from Penn State University, specializing in a diverse range of areas such as computational geomechanics, fluid transport in fractured and porous media, applied rock mechanics, and Advanced/Enhanced Geothermal Systems. Her profound expertise extends to authoring or co-authoring more than 40 technical papers, further cementing her reputation as a notable figure in the field.

Lance Cook Sage Geosystems Inc. URTeC Speaker Lance Cook is the Founder of WellsX US Unconventional Fracking Design and Operations. He has 36 years at Shell Oil with final positions of Vice President of Wells Technology and Chief Scientist. His extensive experience includes Deepwater, Arctic, and Unconventional Research & Development and Operations. Lance is the Founder and CEO of Enventure Global Technology, a joint venture between Shell and Halliburton?and the COO of Sirius Well Manufacturing, a joint venture between Shell and CNPC? Technologist, with an extensive patent portfolio.

Matt Houde Quaise Energy URTeC Speaker Matt Houde is the co-founder at Quaise Energy and project manager for the $5M grant that Quaise, Inc., received from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) to develop a new drilling technology, Millimeter-Wave (MMW) Drilling, that could allow the world to access the supercritical geothermal heat that is miles beneath our feet. MMW drilling leverages key technologies developed for nuclear fusion research to replace conventional drilling with an energy-matter interaction, where microwaves ablate rock into a fine ash that can be conveyed up hole by a circulating purge gas. The MMW drilling process can operate largely independent of depth, unlocking the potential to greatly expand access to geothermal energy to become a key enabler of the energy transition as a baseload, modular source of clean energy. Quaise is currently perfecting the MMW drilling process in the lab while preparing for their first field trial in 2024. Matt, who coordinated the writing of the successful ARPA-E grant, received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in geological engineering. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Stanford University in civil and environmental engineering.

Tim Benish ExxonMobil Corporation URTeC Speaker Tim is currently the hydraulic fracturing principal for ExxonMobil. He holds a Bachelor degree from Georgia Tech and a PhD from MIT, both in chemical engineering. In his 25 year career at ExxonMobil, he has had multiple research assignments covering deepwater and unconventional completions technologies, as well as operational assignments in U.S. tight gas development, Russian shale exploration, and Norwegian subsea completions. His recent work has focused on novel applications of diagnostics to evaluate stimulation effectiveness.

Sireesh Dadi Fervo Energy URTeC Speaker Sireesh Dadi, Senior Geophysicist, Fervo Energy

Scott Taylor Reservoir Imaging Solutions URTeC Speaker Scott Taylor, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Reservoir Imaging Solutions

Ruben Torrado OriGen.AI URTeC Speaker Ruben Torrado, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, OriGen.AI

Price Stark Halliburton URTeC Speaker Price Stark, SmartFleet Product Champion, Halliburton

Zoya Heidari The University of Texas at Austin URTeC Speaker Zoya Heidari is an Associate Professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Before joining The University of Texas at Austin, she was an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University in College Station from September 2011 to August 2015. Zoya was the founder and the director of the Texas A&M Joint Industry Research Program on “Multi-Scale Formation Evaluation of Unconventional and Carbonate Reservoirs” from 2012 to 2015. She has been the founder and the director of the University of Texas at Austin Industrial Affiliates Research Program on “Multi-Scale Rock Physics” since 2016. She received a Ph.D. (2011) in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. Zoya is one of the recipients of the 2023 SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) International Formation Evaluation Award, the 2021 SPWLA Distinguished Technical Achievement Award, the 2020 SPWLA Young Professional Technical Award, the 2019 EAGE (European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers) Arie van Weelden Award, the 2019 AIME Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award, the 2019 SPE Distinguished Membership Award, the 2019 departmental teaching award from the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, the 2017 SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Medal, the 2016 SPE regional Formation Evaluation Award, the 2015 SPE Innovative Teaching Award, the 2014 TEES (Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station) Select Young Faculty Fellows Award from the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University, and the 2012 SPE Petroleum Engineering Junior Faculty Research Initiation Award. She has been the holder of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Centennial Fellowship #1 in Petroleum Engineering at UT Austin since 2016. Zoya has supervised 31 graduate students since 2011 and published 235 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. She served as the Vice-President of Education for the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) from 2016 to 2018 and a member of the SPE reservoir advisory committee since 2022. She has also served as an executive editor for the SPE Journal since 2022 and an Associate Editor for the SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering Journal and Geophysics Journal, and has been engaged in many other activities serving Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences professional communities. Her research interests include Petrophysics, Rock Physics, Multi-Scale Formation Evaluation, Borehole Geophysics, Integrated Reservoir Characterization of Carbonates and Unconventional Resources, and Completion Petrophysics.

Shaina Kelly Columbia University URTeC Speaker Shaina Kelly is an Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University in the City of New York and the Assistant Director of Columbia’s Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy. Shaina joined Columbia in July 2022. Prior to her academic appointment, Shaina’s 6 years of industry experience include roles as Senior Petrophysicist at ConocoPhillips Company and Senior Geoscience Engineer at AquaNRG Consulting Inc. working on related petrophysics and flow and reactions in subsurface porous media research topics. She received a PhD in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2015 and a BSc in Environmental Engineering from the University of Florida in 2011.

Gretchen Gillis ASC URTeC Speaker Gretchen M. Gillis is a geologist who is passionate about the global energy business and its ability to build economies and improve lives. Her long-term service to the industry has been recognized through a 2023 Professional Excellence Award from the Association for Women Geoscientists, a 2022 GRIT Executive Award from ALLY Energy, an organization that supports an equitable energy transition, and a 2018 Honorary Member award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). Gretchen is a Senior Geological Consultant at Aramco Americas in Houston, where she supports oil and gas exploration and production for Saudi Aramco. She previously worked as an exploration geologist and in a variety of marketing communication roles for SLB. She has served a total of 11 years on three nonprofit boards, including one year as a 501c6 president and two years as a 501c3 board chair. As 2021-2022 AAPG President, Gretchen led the effort to set a new strategic direction for the Association, resulting in the development of a proposal to merge AAPG and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). She also was a member of the leadership team that proposed the creation of the International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG). She is a Trustee Associate of the AAPG Foundation and the SEG Foundation and served as a Director of the SEG Foundation. Gretchen earned a BA degree in geology from Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, an MA degree in geological sciences from The University of Texas at Austin, and certification from the Yale School of Management “Women on Boards” program.

Katerina Yared Projeo Corporation URTeC Speaker Katerina Yared, P.G., PMP, CDI.D, is a prominent leader in the energy science and sustainability sectors, merging extensive geoscience expertise with a steadfast commitment to sustainable energy. As the owner and President of Orka Switch Solutions LLC, she leads the charge in driving innovation in environmentally sustainable energy solutions, establishing herself as an essential "energy translator" in the industry. Her diverse career in the energy sector includes roles ranging from field and applications engineer to geoscience manager at Baker Hughes, geoscientist at NEOS GeoSolutions, and petrophysicist at Apache Corporation, QEP Resources, and SM Energy. Katerina's significant impact extends to consulting for new energy ventures, where she has been pivotal in guiding the industry toward a more sustainable future. Her robust academic background includes Master of Science degrees in Sustainable Management from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, and in Geology from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. In addition to her professional contributions, Katerina's leadership extends to key roles within the industry. She is the 63rd president of the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA), co-chair of the Women’s Network of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPGWN), and a director at-large for the Energy Leadership Institute. Furthermore, she holds lifetime memberships in the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA). Outside of her professional endeavors, she serves as co-CEO of her family in Colorado, raising three boys with her husband. It is her belief that the power of early education in belief systems and social awareness is crucial, aiming to foster a more inclusive and successful community. This perspective underpins Katerina Yared’s blend of career success and personal dedication to environmental sustainability and social responsibility, showcasing her as a leader with a visionary approach to promoting sustainable and inclusive energy solutions.

Sherilyn Williams-Stroud Illinois State Geological Survey URTeC Speaker Research Geologist, Illinois State Geological Survey

John McLennan University of Utah URTeC Speaker Since 2009, Professor John McLennan has been a faculty member in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Utah. He has been a Senior Research Scientist at the Energy & Geoscience Institute and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Utah since 2008. He has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto, awarded in 1980. Before joining the university, he had more than twenty-five years of experience with petroleum service and technology companies. He worked nine years for Dowell Schlumberger in their Denver, Tulsa, and Houston facilities. Later, John was with TerraTek in Salt Lake City, Advantek International in Houston, and ASRC Energy Services in Anchorage. He has worked on projects concerned with subsurface energy recovery (hydrocarbon, geothermal) in a variety of reservoir environments throughout the world. He is an ARMA Fellow and has served as ARMA president. Currently, he is a Co-Principal Investigator on the FORGE project.

Uno Mutlu New England Research URTeC Speaker Dr. Uno Mutlu is a Principal Scientist at New England Research (NER), where he leads the Business Development Strategy. Uno's expertise lies in integrating experimental mechanics and cutting-edge laboratory measurements with data-driven models, analytical solutions, and physics-based simulations across various industry applications. His work encompasses projects spanning oil and gas, carbon storage, hydrogen exploration, and geothermal energy. Uno earned his MSc and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University, specializing in micro-tunneling and experimental-computational fracture mechanics. Following his academic pursuits, he conducted Post-Doctoral research with the Geomechanics group at Stanford University. Before joining NER, Uno held roles at various operating and service companies, including ExxonMobil Upstream Structural Dynamics R&D (Research Specialist), Weatherford Geoscience R&D (Technical Manager), Rockfield Global Technologies America (COO), and Corva AI (Director of Strategy). Uno has co-authored over 60 publications and 8 patents, bringing nearly two decades of combined academic-industry experience in geoscience and subsurface engineering applications.

Ajibola Olalekan Samo University of Houston URTeC Speaker

Isa Silveira de Araujo University of Texas, Austin URTeC Speaker Isa Silveira de Araujo is a PhD candidate in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her B.S degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Brazil, and received her M.S degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Campinas, Brazil in 2019. She is one of the recipients of the 2022 SPWLA Distinguished Speaker Award. She is also the recipient of Osmar, Mercedes, and Roberto Abib Memorial Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Petroleum Engineering from the Cockrell School of Engineering. Her research interests include petrophysics of unconventional reservoirs and rock-fluid interactions.

Pingjun Guo ExxonMobil URTeC Speaker Pingjun Guo is a Senior Petrophysical Advisor with ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company in Spring, Texas. He holds a PhD in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University. His current interests include conventional and unconventional petrophysics, reservoir surveillance, and wellbore stability. Pingjun has 16 US patents and over 30 publications. He is an associate editor for Petrophysics.

John Savage Halliburton URTeC Speaker

Mathias Carlsen Whitson AS URTeC Speaker Mathias Carlsen is General Manager for Americas at Whitson, a company that develops all-in-one, web-based, petroleum engineering platform named Whitson+. After earning his MSc Carlsen joined Whitson and has been a key developer, conceptual driver and product manager of Whitson+ for unconventional reservoir model management. Through Whitson, Carlsen has also supervised and consulted on projects for more than 50 E&P companies. In addition he researches and teaches industry courses on well performance, advanced pressure, volume and temperature (PVT) studies, phase behavior and gas-based enhanced oil recovery. Carlsen holds an MSc degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and was a Fullbright Scholar at Stanford University.

Raki Sahai Ascent Resources URTeC Speaker

Ed Wanat ExxonMobil URTeC Speaker Edward Wanat is a Reservoir Technology Development Expert and has nearly 19 years’ experience working for ExxonMobil. He is currently assigned to the Unconventional Technology Portfolio in ExxonMobil’s Technology and Engineering Company where his work focuses on enhanced oil recovery, parent-child interaction, and fluid properties. Before working in the Unconventional Technology Portfolio, Edward served as the principal reservoir engineer fluid properties, where he provided global support to ExxonMobil’s business units in reservoir fluid properties. Prior to that role he held roles in unconventional gas, enhanced oil recovery, fluid characterization, reservoir simulation, and special core analysis. Prior to ExxonMobil Edward earned a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota where his research focused on hydrogen production and earned a BS in chemical engineering from Iowa State University.

Xie Xueying OXY URTeC Speaker Xueying Xie is principal & director of Oxy ORCM unconventional technology simulation and recovery process design. She leads teams in designing and maturing unconventional EOR, providing technical support to field development plan and production operation optimization, advancing reservoir engineering workflows/tools, and developing innovative techniques for unconventional resource development. Xueying joined Oxy in 2016 after working for 11 years as a reservoir engineer at Shell. Xueying has a broad industry experience in a variety of conventional and unconventional assets including oil shale, heavy oil, shale gas, liquid rich shale, unconventional oil, shallow water, GOM deep water, and EOR/IOR. She holds a BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from Zhejiang University in China and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice University. In her personal time, she enjoys reading, traveling, gardening, and spending time with family and friends.

Dengen Zhou Chevron URTeC Speaker Dengen Zhou is a Chevron Fellow and technical advisor for gas enhanced oil recovery and carbon storage at Chevron Technical Center with R&D interests at fundamental understanding of fluid transport and thermodynamic interaction of natural gas, CO2, oil and water in conventional & unconventional formations for improving hydrocarbon recovery and carbon storage. He has been with Chevron for 27 years. Before joining Chevron, he was a research associate at Stanford University. He has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Technical University of Denmark. He has broad experience with green field development, brown field optimization & redevelopment, and EOR process piloting. He is actively involved in SPE technical committees including applied technical workshops (ATW), technology forums and annual conferences.

Cody Comiskey Chevron URTeC Speaker Cody is currently a Subsurface advisor, water and seismicity, within Chevron’s Mid-Con business unit. Cody has been with Chevron for four years and before that was with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation for seven years working in various roles from global subsurface technology, unconventional development and appraisal, and emerging technologies. Cody’s current focus is on induced seismicity, geomechanics, water management and analytical modeling. Cody currently leads the industry’s shared practices group in Texas focused on induced seismicity mitigation, and works closely with industry, academia and regulatory groups on seismicity education, research, and implementation of mitigation practices. Cody holds a B.S. in geophysics from Texas Tech University and a M.S. in geophysics (seismology & tectonics) from Baylor University. Cody currently lives in Houston, TX with his wife Morgan.

Brian Bohm Apache Corporation URTeC Speaker Mr. Brian Bohm is the EH&S Manager -Sustainability for Apache Corporation where has held various roles over the last 7 years. Brian has spent the last 25 years consulting and working for E&P operators on produced water issues including reuse and recycling to develop sustainable water management strategies related to unconventional oil and gas development. Mr. Bohm’s current focus is on sustainability initiatives for an international E&P working on projects in the Permian Basin, Egypt Western Desert and North Sea.

Nuny Ricones ConocoPhillips URTeC Speaker

Angela Bedoya OXY URTeC Speaker

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17-19 June 2024
George R. Brown Convention Center
Houston, Texas

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