Vol. 58 No. 5

May 2006

S. Vasantharajan, Optimal Decisions Inc.; R. Al-Hussainy, Amerada Hess Ltd.; and R.F. Heinemann, Berry Petroleum Co.

Sriram Vasantharajan, SPE, is President and founder of Optimal Decisions Inc. He specializes in developing enterprise-wide models of oil and gas assets and applying optimization techniques to improve financial performance. Vasantharajan formerly was with Mobil Oil Corp., where he directed multidisciplinary programs to develop quantitative models and solution strategies to improve performance of upstream assets. Previously, Vasantharajan was involved in the application of process control and optimization technologies to improve profitability of Mobil’s refinery operations. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon U. Vasantharajan has more than 50 scientific publications in journals, books, and proceedings. R. Al-Hussainy, SPE, is a global technical advisor for Amerada Hess Corp. Previously, he was with Mobil Oil Corp. holding various technical and managerial positions in R&D and E&P. Al-Hussainy holds PhD and MS degrees from Texas A&M U. and a BS degree from New Mexico Tech, all in petroleum engineering and a BS degree in engineering physics from Iraq. He is a recipient of the SPE Reservoir Description and Reservoir Dynamics award. Bob Heinemann, SPE, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Berry Petroleum Co. He previously served as chief technology officer for Halliburton, and worked at Mobil in several capacities, lastly as vice-president of upstream technology. Heinemann holds BS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt U.