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Vol. 58 No. 5

May 2006

SPE News

Members Recognized at 15th IOR Symposium

Receiving Pioneer Awards at the 15th SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) Symposium held 22–26 April in Tulsa were Jae Bae, Don Green, Hossein Kazemi, Franklin Orr Jr., and Gary Pope. The Pioneer Awards, initiated in 1984, recognize distinguished contributions and dedication to IOR technology and processes.

Bae, a retired Chevron Petroleum Technology Co. research consultant, was honored for his work in all areas of oil recovery processes, including microbial profile modification. Some of his efforts involve water-soluble polymers that build up viscosity at high salinities, effective oligomeric surfactants for surfactant flooding, a 92-acre surfactant flood field pilot, and viscosification of supercritical CO2 using a cosolvent. Bae, who earned a BS degree from Seoul Natl. U. and MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the U. of Florida, also introduced the methods of thermal analysis to the study of fireflooding.

Green, the Deane E. Ackers Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and Co-Director of the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project (TORP) at the U. of Kansas, was recognized for leadership and TORP involvement in the application of gelled polymer systems for water control. The group has made substantial contributions to a fundamental understanding of the kinetic and flow behavior of these systems and has conducted a nationally recognized program of technology transfer in IOR processes aimed primarily at independent operators. Green earned a BS degree in petroleum engineering from the U. of Tulsa and MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the U. of Oklahoma.

Kazemi, a distinguished petroleum engineering research professor in the Petroleum Engineering Dept. at the Colorado School of Mines and Co-Director of the Marathon Center of Excellence for Reservoir Studies, is known for his research work on naturally fractured reservoirs (NFRs) and published the first single-phase and two-phase numerical flow models for dual-porosity reservoirs. His work has involved understanding and quantifying the key mechanisms controlling oil and gas production from NFRs, including characterization of the dual-continuum nature of NFRs and the combined effect of gravity, capillarity, and interfacial forces (compositional and wettability altering) on oil recovery from such reservoirs. Kazemi, a member of the Natl. Academy of Engineering, earned BS and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from the U. of Texas at Austin and retired from Marathon as the Executive Technical Fellow in 2000.

Orr, the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor of Petroleum Engineering and Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford U., was acknowledged for his work in the area of gas-injection processes for oil recovery. His contributions include experimental studies of the phase behavior of CO2/hydrocarbon mixtures, theory and experiments to investigate the interplay of viscous fingering and gravity segregation in heterogeneous porous media, and the development of an analytical theory for 1D gas/oil displacements. This theory, explaining development of miscibility for multicomponent systems (including condensing/vaporizing gas drives), has been applied to develop ultrafast compositional simulation techniques for 3D flows in heterogeneous reservoirs. Orr is a member of the Natl. Academy of Engineering.

Pope is the Director of the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the U. of Texas at Austin (UT), where he holds the Texaco Centennial Chair in Petroleum Engineering. Pope is honored for his teaching and research in the areas of enhanced oil recovery; reservoir engineering; natural-gas engineering; reservoir simulation; characterization of reservoirs and aquifers with tracers, surfactants, and water-soluble polymers; phase behavior and fluid properties; and groundwater modeling and remediation. He earned a BS degree from Oklahoma State U. and a PhD degree from Rice U., both in chemical engineering. Pope recently received the Oklahoma State U. Melvin R. Lohmann Medal for fundamental technical developments and leadership in the profession. He is also a member of the Natl. Academy of Engineering.

Nominations Being Accepted for AIME Engineering Excellence Awards

The American Inst. of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) Standing Awards Committee is seeking nominees for its engineering excellence awards. Nominations will be accepted through 15 June and must include a résumé and information related to the award criteria.

In addition to the AIME awards listed below, the AIME Board recently voted to increase the cash component of the Rossiter W. Raymond Award from U.S. $300 to U.S. $2,500. This honor is given to an author under age 35 for the best peer-approved, single-authored paper in a member-society magazine or transactions. Papers that qualify are forwarded by AIME staff to the Raymond Committee for judging. Award categories are:

  • James Douglas Gold Medal—For distinguished achievement in nonferrous metallurgy.

  • Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal—For distinguished achieve-ment in mining administration, including metallurgy and petroleum.

  • Robert Earll McConnell Award—Recognizes beneficial service to mankind by engineers through significant contributions that tend to advance the nation’s standard of living or replenish its natural resources.

  • AIME Distinguished Service Award—In recognition of extraordinary and dedicated service in furtherance of the goals, purposes, and traditions of AIME.

  • Environmental Conservation Distinguished Service Award—Recognizes significant contributions to environmental conservation.

  • Frank F. Aplan Award—In recognition of engineering or scientific contributions that further the understanding of the technology of coal and/or mineral processing.

  • Mineral Economics Award—For distinguished contributions in the advancement of mineral economics.

  • Mineral Industry Education Award—For distinguished contributions to the advancement of mineral industry education.

Additionally, the AIME Hoover Nominating Committee is seeking nominees for an industrywide engineering award. Established in 1929, this medal commemorates the civic and humanitarian achievements of engineers. It is conferred upon an engineer whose professional achievements and personal endeavors have advanced the wellbeing of humankind. The committee prepares a nomination for consideration by the Hoover Board made up of representatives from the five engineering founder societies.

Additional information about all AIME awards can be found in the awards/scholarships section of the AIME website at www.aimehq.org, or by contacting AIME Executive Assistant Michele Gottwald at 303.948.4256 or at gottwald@aimehq.org.