Winter 99/00 - Petroleum Engineering | The University of Oklahoma

Discovery 

School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering 

Industry leader, 

1999 SPE president 

and OU graduate 

Gustavo Inciarte 

tells how lifelong learning 

will see our industry through 

the 21st century. 

What’s Inside 

2 Executive Column 

By Gustavo Inciarte 

7 “The Winning Attitude” 

by PGE director 

Keith K. Millheim 

8 Naval Goel Places First 

10 Guest Column by Gary 

Swindell 

11 Mewbourne Leadership 

Scholars Program 

18 New Program in Natural 

Gas Engineering 


Winter 1999-2000 Vol. 1 Number 2 The University of Oklahoma

Discovery 


Table of Contents 

1 Editor’s Letter 

2 Executive Column – Gustavo Inciarte 

6 PGE Forms Alliance 

7 Director’s Message – Keith K. Millheim 

8 OU #1 in International Competition 

10 Guest Column: Gary Swindell 

11 Mewbourne Leadership Scholars Program 

12 SPE Student Chapter News 

13 PGE in Tulsa: A Growing Presence 

16 New faculty and staff 

18 New Program in Natural Gas Engineering 

Vol. 1 Number 2 

The University 

of Oklahoma 

OU Discovery 

Issued by 

The University of Oklahoma 

School of Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering 

100 East Boyd, Room T-301 

Sarkeys Energy Center 

Norman, Oklahoma 73019-0628 

Editor: Lisa L. Schmidt 

Art Direction: Acme Design Works 

Printer: The Transcript Press 

Special thanks to the contributing 

writers and to Jerri Culpepper, Jill 

Coombs Hurt, Teresa Dotson and 

Bob Rice. 

This publication was issued by the 

University of Oklahoma and 

authorized by Keith Millheim, 

director of the School of Petroleum 

and Geological Engineering. 

3,500 copies have been prepared at 

no cost to the taxpayers of the 

State of Oklahoma.

1999-2000 

Petroleum 

and 

Geological 

Engineering 

Industry Advisory 

Board 

Kim Hatfield, Chair 

Ronny G. Altman 

W. Clyde Barton, Jr. 

John M. Campbell 

Sam Cerny 

Dwight Dauben 

Mike Drennen 

Richard Goddard 

Peter Goode 

G. Carl Hale 

W. Carey Hardy 


Barry Irani 

Ronnie Irani 

Graydon H. Laughbaum, Jr. 

Joe Lawnick 

Allan Neustadt 

Michael A. Osborne 

Bill Z. Parker 

Pamela Pierce 

Steve Richards 

Douglas W. Robertson 

Arlie Skov 

Walter J. Sleeper, Jr. 

Mark Smith 

Bruce Stover 

Robert L. Tiner 

Sam Varnado 

Ken Waits 

Bob Waller 

Paul D. Witt 

Cliff Zwahlen 

OU Discovery 


Your response to the first 

issue of OU Discovery 

was truly moving. 

Thank you to all of you 

who took the time and 

effort to write or e-mail 

or call with your 

comments. Clearly you are eager to 

hear about the direction of the School 

of Petroleum and Geological Engineering 

and the accomplishments of 

current students and fellow graduates. 

We are delighted to have the opportunity 

to keep you informed. 

An exciting announcement was 

made just as this issue was being 

finalized. The BP Amoco Technology 

Center in Tulsa, a beautiful 56-acre 

research park valued at $37.5 million, is 

now flying the OU flag. Petroleum 

engineering alumnus Charles 

Schusterman and his wife, Lynn, have 

made it possible for OU to centralize its 

medical research and education 

programs currently scattered throughout 

Tulsa and provide a real boost to 

high-tech biomedical research in the 

area. The Schusterman Foundation gift 

is the third largest in OU history, $10 

million. The campus will have a new 

name, the Schusterman Health Sciences 

Center at OU-Tulsa. This was good 

news for another reason. This same 

facility currently houses the Integrated 

Core Characterization Center (IC» ) that 

was donated in July to PGE and 

Sarkeys Energy Center by BP Amoco. 

Now that OU is our new “landlord” 

we can breathe a little easier about 

finding a new home for the 

petrophysics program made possible by 

the acquisition of IC» . 

Several new faculty members are 

profiled in this issue. These additions 

to the School represent the accomplishment 

of several initiatives in a short 

amount of time. Chandra Rai, Carl 

Editor’s Letter 

Sondergeld, and Bruce Spears join us a 

direct result of the acquisition of IC» 

and our commitment to a world-class 

petrophysics program in Tulsa. Dan 

O’Meara is providing the leadership on 

the new reservoir engineering center. 

Jonathan Kwan is leading the way on a 

new graduate program in Natural Gas 

Engineering and Management. They 

are strong additions to a teaching 

faculty that is already among the most 

highly respected in academia and we 

welcome them to the School of Petroleum 

and Geological Engineering. 

The new Curtis W. Mewbourne 

Leadership Scholars Program is also 

announced in this issue. This is an 

exciting and unique new scholarship 

program that we believe to be the first 

of its kind for petroleum engineering 

majors. In addition to substantial 

financial assistance, students selected as 

Mewbourne Leadership Scholars are 

guaranteed internships for the summer 

between their freshman and sophomore 

years and will have frequent 

personal contact with industry leaders 

and practicing engineers. Alumni and 

friends of PGE are invited to nominate 

students for the award or send us the 

name and address of any high school 

seniors you know who might be 

planning to major in petroleum 

engineering. We will contact them 

personally and tell them more about 

the program. 

These are exciting times in PGE and 

we are glad you are a part of our 

progress. Thank you again for your 

interest and loyalty to the School of 

Petroleum and Geological Engineering. 

On behalf of all of us in PGE, have a 

great new year. 

Best regards, 

1

ILifelong Education - 

The Competitive Edge 

t is an honor and a pleasure to 

have the opportunity to share 

some thoughts with students, 

alumni, colleagues and friends in 

this issue of OU Discovery. I have 

always been proud of my association 

with the University of 

Oklahoma and have many fond memories 

of my time on campus. Being a Sooner fan, 

this year has provided some special 

excitement and I know we will continue to 

enjoy success on several playing fields. 

Ex Executive ecutive 

Column 

2 

By Gustavo Inciarte, 

1999 SPE President 

B.S. School of Petroleum 

and Geological Engineering, 


This column provides an excellent 

forum to raise some of the challenges 

our industry faces today and emphasize 

how timely application of the latest 

technology developments can impact 

the upstream operation of the oil 

industry well into the next century. 

While cost and quality, speed and 

flexibility have always played a leading 

role in competition, the difference in 

today’s world is the aggressiveness of 

interaction in multidisciplinary teams 

and the application of new technologies 

to maintain the competitive edge 

that our business requires. The upstream 

factor of our industry is a 

wonderful arena where risks have to be 

dealt with and managed in such a 

fashion that they can be reduced to a 

bearable level. This allows us to seize 

the opportunities from competitors 

rather than risk becoming paralyzed. 

OU Discovery 


Ms. DeAnn Craig, 1998 SPE president, passes the gavel 

to Gustavo Inciarte, 1999 SPE president in September 

1998 in New Orleans. 

Our industry is now characterized 

by being more global and interdependent 

with stakeholders yet still highly 

competitive. The oil business has 

entered an age of new realities. It is 

essential to understand and take advantage 

of the dynamics of our global 

markets and technological breakthroughs. 

Properly utilizing the 

innovative ideas and applying leading 

edge exploration and production 

technologies are adding true value 

added to the companies involved in the 

scene. 

As the 20th century hurried to a 

close, we were wary of the upturn in 

the oil prices, and we should be. We 

recognize that the history of our industry 

is one of this century. The 

accomplishments have been stunning. 

The twentieth century can very properly 

be categorized as one of invention, 

and one of technological creativity and 

energy.

OU Discovery 


And what of the 21st century? I 

suggest it will be one of reinvention. 

We are already seeing this daily, often 

in disturbing fashion. And it is not just 

companies and institutions that are 

changing, but individuals as well. 

What does this mean for our society? It 

means we just stand the test of adding 

value for our customer - those who are 

our customers and those who hopefully 

will become customers. 

We have lived through the era of reengineering. 

Now we are at the front 

door of re-invention. 

If we look at what our professions 

have contributed to the global oil and 

gas industry, we get a glimpse of what 

is possible in our society. Despite the 

daunting challenges of a price environment 

that will very likely be lower than 

we like, technology has changed the 

face of the upstream sector of the 

industry. 

It has permitted the exploitation of 

resources previously thought to be 

unrecoverable, and it has made successful 

and safe exploration possible in 

areas not even on the industry’s radar 

screen only two decades ago. 

From the prolific and booming years 

of the early seventies and eighties 

when operation hit record highs, oil 

prices succumbed in the mid-eighties, 

driving the oil industry into a “survival 

mode.” The new realities of the 

nineties have brought restructuring 

and transformation. Oil majors and 

service companies have reevaluated 

their business priorities, focusing on 

core competencies and outsourcing 

more to third parties: the service 

providers, and oil prices have succumbed 

again! Although they have 

now recovered, demand and supply 

trends for the long term indicate that 

the pre-crisis levels may well be the 

highest level of oil prices that we can 

expect to see for some time. 

The concept of learning organizations 

is now predominant and greater 

incentives for diversified investments 

are playing a major role in the oil 

business. Future trends indicate more 

integrated service companies taking 

over some of the planning and conducting 

some of the research and 

development needed for business. 

Relationships between oil and service 

companies are now closer partnerships 

than the previous fee-for-service 

operational mode. 

The more complex “technological 

barrel” demands a high integration of 

multidisciplinary knowledge, information 

and new ways of doing things 

throughout the whole value chain of 

“...the history of our industry is 

one of this century. The accom- 

plishments have been stunning. 

And the 21st century? I suggest 

it will be one of reinvention.” 

the exploration and production 

business. I think all of us finally agree 

that in order to get the maximum 

benefits out of the technologies being 

applied, we need to tear down the selfcreated 

departmental walls and 

integrate all professional expertise into 

multidisciplinary teams tailored 

according to the task at hand. 

The complexity of the world and the 

speed with which technology changes 

each day demands more integration 

between professionals from different 

disciplines, just as has been accomplished 

among oil and service 

companies. 

Effective communication, collaborating 

with our fellow professionals and 

sharing information on a routine basis 

all lead to establishing a relationship of 

trust that is essential to achieving 

success. Multidisciplinary integrated 

teams are essential to our being able to 

use all available expertise in our 

organizations, and thus being able to 

add value to our business. 

Different technological sources 

operate within a new paradigm 

focused on doing more with fewer 

resources. For this reason, it is not 

surprising to see new alliances and 

partnerships between companies, 

continued on page 4 

contractors, consultants, universities, 

and other institutions. These alliances 

are based on a complementary relationship 

in which each part brings its core 

competencies to the partnership. This 

requires a new mindset that can be 

described as having to “cooperate to 

compete” in the new marketplace. 

A new generation of technology 

management based on concurrent 

technology futures development is 

being created by the circumstances in 

this era of new realities in the oil 

business. We will be encountering 


3

Gustavo Inciarte served as 

the 1999 president of the 

International Society of 

Petroleum Engineers. He 

is currently an Upstream 

Oil and Gas consultant based in 

Caracas, Venezuela, and served a 

three-year term on the SPE Board of 

Directors as regional director for 

South America and the Caribbean 

Region. 

Inciarte was a member of the 

PDVSA, the Venezuelan National 

Oil Company Board of Directors 

from March 1995 until June 1998. 

Inciarte graduated from the University 

of Oklahoma with a bachelor of 

science degree in petroleum engineering 

in June 1957. Following 

graduation, he joined Shell Venezuela. 

He remained with Shell until 

1976, when the Venezuelan petroleum 

industry was nationalized. 

Inciarte has long been active in 

SPE, serving on numerous committees. 

He has also been active in the 

Gas Processors Association, serving 

on their Board of Directors as the 

first international member. He later 

founded the Venezuelan chapter. 

Inciarte has been active in other 

professional organizations and 

serves as a member of several 

advisory groups. He is a member of 

the Board of Sarkeys Energy Center 

at the University of Oklahoma, the 

Industry Advisory Board to the 

School of Petroleum and Geological 

Engineering, and he is a member of 

the OU College of Engineering 

Board of Visitors. He was named to 

the University of Oklahoma College 

of Engineering Distinguished 

Alumnus Society in May 1992. 

4 

Inciarte, continued from page 3 

industries that rise and fall on the basis 

of technological breakthroughs. 

The only constant in today’s world 

is change. We need to apply new 

knowledge to create and take advantage 

of opportunities around us. This 

requires flexible organizations with 

cooperative environments where 

empowered employees develop the 

capacity for personal growth. Only at 

that point will the company fulfill its 

most vertical integration, the convergence 

of the company and its people. 

It is my conviction that those 

companies that take up this challenge 

will not only be the most successful, 

but will survive into the 21st century, 

where a very likely scenario will be one 

of higher prices and a totally different 

mix of majors, state companies, independents 

and types of service companies. 

Producing countries’ oil and 

service companies will have a different 

business balance since their roles will 

be somewhat different. Producing 

countries will move toward the role of 

non-operating partners as they open up 

their industries to private investments 

on the road to privatization. Oil majors 

will absorb more and more operations 

that will require larger investments and 

financial clout than at the present. 

Therefore, the wave of mega-mergers 

currently under way is leading to 

much larger but leaner majors. This 

OU Discovery 


Two great grads: 

Archie Dunham 

B.S.,Geological 

Engineering, University 

of Oklahoma, 

president and CEO, 

Conoco, Inc. and 

Gustavo Inciarte, 

B.S. Petroleum 

Engineering, University 

of Oklahoma 

will also require a different way of 

dealing with service providers that will 

eventually do more of the planning 

and coordination as a result of the more 

integrated operations required by the 

asset management approach. This 

being the case, this will eventually also 

result in a different balance between 

the medium-size majors, smaller 

companies and independents. We 

must not ignore the integration happening 

between gas companies and 

utilities resulting in total power 

suppliers, nor the insertion of renewable 

energy sources into the picture. 

In this day and age, all the measures 

taken to improve our profitability and 

add value to our business will likely 

result in job losses. In this environment, 

the most technically competent 

will be the survivors. We older professionals 

have to accept this reality. We 

probably should admit that we have no 

one to blame but ourselves if we are not 

among the chosen ones. We have not 

played the role we needed to play as 

professionals, which requires that we 

keep ourselves technically updated. 

Technology changes so rapidly that our 

education has become a lifelong 

process. A professional can no longer 

afford to take the attitude most of us 

took decades ago. We graduated from 

university and went to work with the 

idea that our employer would manage

OU Discovery 


our professional development in a very 

paternalistic fashion. That viewpoint 

does not work any more. We have to 

take charge of our own continuing 

education. We, as individuals, must be 

proactive in ensuring that we remain 

technically current if we want to stay 

competitive and provide added value 

to our employer, which is what we are 

paid for. 

This is where the interconnective 

“umbilical cord” comes in. Our 

universities can help us remain up to 

date; they must also be effective in 

providing the right professional for our 

industry. Industry, of course, will 

provide the specific training that may 

be required for a certain job. SPE can 

help members move in this direction 

and provide them with the international 

perspective that is so important 

in today’s world of globalized economies 

and industries. 

To put this in perspective, I refer to 

an article that circulated in the mid- 

1960s. The article, written by George A. 

Hawkins, who was dean of Engineering 

at Purdue University at the time, 

appeared in Engineer magazine (1966- 

67, Volume 7, No. 4). The article called 

this obsolescence process “the four ages 

of an engineer.” Hawkins’ point was 

that it is a costly mistake not to recognize 

that maintaining our technical 

knowledge is a lifelong process and 

that the solution requires a great deal of 

self-discipline. 

Our complaints about our knowledge 

requirements and the fault with 

university education can be divided 

into four periods after graduation. 

According to Hawkins, after between 

one and five years after graduation, the 

engineer would like to have had more 

practical courses. The young engineer 

becomes impatient because he or she 

cannot solve the practical problems 

that the experienced engineer can 

solve. After five to 12 years, engineers 

wish for greater competence in the 

basic sciences - math, physics, chemistry 

- because they lack the knowledge 

to solve difficult engineering problems. 

The engineer begins to show a lack of 

newer scientific and theoretical 

knowledge. 

After 12 to 25 years, engineers require 

more administrative and managerial 

knowledge - speech and report writing, 

industrial relations, finance. The 

mature engineer realizes that she or he 

needs not only the technical knowhow 

but also supervisory, administrative 

and managerial skills. After 25 

years, the engineer becomes more 

philosophical and may desire to know 

more about the arts, music, literature, 

and drama. As they approach retirement, 

some may admit to a total lack of 

cultural activities. 

Hawkins quite rightly identifies 

these four stages. Each requires 

specialized knowledge and skills. 

Certainly, no engineering program can 

prepare its graduates for the next 40 or 

50 years of professional life. Hawkins 

believes that it is totally inappropriate 

to talk of not being technically competent 

some 10 years after graduation, 

when the process really starts the 

moment we graduate. 

Hawkins’ article was written more 

than 30 years ago. The rapidity with 

which technology is now being 

developed, and changing our ways of 

thinking and working, reduces those 

first 10 years substantially. We can 

become obsolete a lot more quickly 

now. My message to younger engineers 

Inciarte with University of Oklahoma President David Boren and other 

University dignitaries at the signing ceremony of the Charter for the Energy 

Institute of the Americas on May 12, 1995 in President Boren’s office. 

is to let your professional society, your 

company, and your university help you 

defeat the obsolescence process. Keep 

yourself up to date not only technically 

but also in your total professional and 

life development. Remember, it is not 

one instead of another, but a different 

emphasis at different stages of your life. 


5

Inciarte, continued from page 5 

As I emphasize during my talks to 

SPE sections worldwide, our business 

has entered an age of new realities, one 

in which it is essential that we take 

advantage of all technological developments 

and the dynamics of our global 

markets. Only by combining these 

elements with our experience can we 

really achieve corporate effectiveness. 

It is essential that we communicate 

effectively, collaborate rather than 

compete, and share information and 

knowledge on a routine basis. We must 

do that in order to establish the relationship 

of trust that is required for 

multidisciplinary, integrated teams require 

to be successful. This may sound 

a bit theoretical. I can assure you, 

however, that in today’s climate of 

alliances, partnerships, and megamergers, 

the concept of learning 

organizations is now predominant and 

greater incentives for diversified 

The University of 

Oklahoma School of 

Petroleum and Geological 

Engineering and Sandia 

National Laboratories in 

Albuquerque, N.M., have 

formed an alliance for research and 

development in the area of well 

construction. 

The mission of the Alliance is to 

make U.S. oil, gas and geothermal 

energy production more economical. 

To this end, OU and Sandia will 

collaborate on well construction 

research and development to enable 

U.S. energy producers to meet a larger 

percentage of the nation’s energy 

needs. 

6 

investments are playing a 

major role. You, the 

individual, must be ready 

to change. If you are not, 

you will be left out of the 

process. 

Our society must evolve 

into having a global 

membership while retaining 

the capacity for local 

responsiveness. The 

challenges are many but 

we will have to turn them 

into opportunities. It is 

essential that we use our 

vast diversities, both 

professional and cultural, 

to our advantage. 

I think the best way to 

finish is by quoting Albert 

Einstein. “The significant problems we 

face today cannot be solved at the same 

level of thinking we were at when we 

created them.” Our past leaders did 

PGE Forms Alliance with 

Sandia National Laboratories 

The Alliance is expected to be a 

world-class, national center of expertise 

in well construction technologies 

offering a joint capability in drilling 

research that will be sought out and 

used, the centerpoint of drilling 

research and development in the 

world. 

Sandia National Laboratories is a 

Department of Energy laboratory, the 

lead national lab for drilling technology 

for the past 20 years, developing 

instrumentation and technologies to 

reduce drilling costs such as acoustic 

data telemetry, high-temperature 

instrumentation, PDC hard-rock drill 

bits, and lost-circulation technology. 

Sandia’s technology development also 

includes modeling and simulation 

using high performance computers, 

OU Discovery 


Inciarte visits with John Campbell, PGE Advisory 

Board member and former director, OU School 

of Petroleum and Geological Engineering. 

their job and positioned us well. Now 

it is up to us to provide the programs 

and services that ensure we are relevant 

and meet our customers’ needs. 

rock mechanics, reservoir characterization 

technologies, advanced sensing 

and information systems, robotics, and 

nanomachine technology. 

Error Message: 

We were pleased to have the 

opportunity in the inaugural 

issue of OU Discovery to list and 

thank the many alumni and friends 

who have contributed financially to 

the School of Petroleum and Geological 

Engineering. That list should 

have included Jon R. Withrow, 

president of Sundance Oil, Oklahoma 

City. Also, the correct spelling 

of the name of another of our donors 

is Om P. Garg, president of the Garg 

Foundation of Irvine, Calif.

OU Discovery 


The Winning Attitude 

Ihave enjoyed sports ever 

since I was a kid playing 

sandlot baseball, football and 

basketball. Throughout the 

years I marveled at the World 

Series champions, the Super 

Bowl and NBA winners. Later in my 

career with Amoco Production Co., 

when I was working in the area of 

strategic planning I continuously asked 

myself, “Why are some teams and 

organizations consistently in the playoffs?” 

Teams like the San Francisco 

49ers, Dallas Cowboys and Boston 

Celtics—always at the top. Is it coaching? 

Sure. The right coach at the right 

time at the right place can make a 

difference. But then there are coaches 

like Tom Osborne of Nebraska and Joe 

Paterno of Penn State who, besides 

being good coaches and role models, 

understand something else — the 

winning attitude. 

So what is this “winning attitude”? 

If you asked different coaches you 

would get a variety of answers, but I 

believe the common thread joining all 

of the explanations would simply be 

Message from the Director 

the belief in one’s self to succeed and 

excel. 

One football “Hall of Famer,” 

Raymond Berry, was a seemingly 

ordinary guy who showed up for the 

Baltimore Colts training camp to try 

and make the team. He wasn’t extremely 

fast, super strong or big. Just 

an average guy. Yet this average guy 

dominated football as one of the 

leading receivers of all time. When 

asked how he did it, Berry said, “I 

loved what I did. I worked hard. And 

I believed in myself to catch the ball.” 

He had the winning attitude. And the 

amazing thing is that the coach and 

fellow players acknowledged Berry’s 

attitude as being one of the major 

sources of inspiration for the other 

players to share this winning spirit. 

This led to the Colts being a consistent 

contender and championship team for 

a number of years. 

That same attitude can prevail in 

schools like Petroleum and Geological 

Engineering. Back in the 1950s and 

1960s, there was a coaching staff for the 


This issue is full of signs of 

our determination to be the 

top Petroleum Engineering 

school in the world. 

Keith 

Millheim 

team at OU: John Campbell, Judge 

Cloud, Carl Moore, Preston Moore, Art 

McCray, Frank Cole, Paul Root, and 

Laurance Reid. And what a job they 

did! Players like our featured OU 

Discovery executive columnist and OU 

graduate Gustavo Inciarte, and others 

like Archie Dunham, Arlie Skov, Clyde 

Barton, Curtis Mewbourne, Charlie 

Stephenson, Tom McCasland, Charles 

Schusterman, and a host of others have 

dominated the oil business as successful 

business men, professionals and 

leaders in petroleum engineering. 

“We are back.” The winning 

attitude is catching on again at OU, not 

only with our football team but also in 

the College of Engineering and the 


Engineering. This issue is full of signs 

of our determination to be the top 

petroleum engineering school in the 

world. 

Our new Reservoir Group led by 

Interim Director Dan O’Meara with the 

team of Faruk Civan, Roy Knapp, and 

Richard Hughes, is prepared to make 

our undergraduate and graduate 

students the best prepared students in 

reservoir engineering that any company 

could hope to hire. The new 

petrophysics graduate program is now 

launched in Tulsa with two world-class 


7

Millheim, continued from page 7 

petrophysicists, Chandra Rai and Carl 

Sondergeld. These two scholars, along 

with Anuj Gupta and John Castagna, 

McCullough Chair and Professor and 

Director of the Institute for Exploration 

and Development Geosciences, Sarkeys 

Energy Center, working with our 

reservoir group, represent one of 

the most significant geoscienceengineering 

collaborations ever in 

petroleum engineering education. 

Others talk about it. We are doing it. 

Our natural gas engineering and 

management initiative has started. 

8 

Industry and our students spoke and 

we listened. Our first graduate course 

for this natural gas initiative started 

with 13 area students, half from the 

E&P industry in Oklahoma City. 

This program is spearheaded by 

Jonathan Kwan, a world expert on 

natural gas technology and management. 

Our new Well Construction Technology 

Team, led by Subhash Shah 

with Sam Osisanya and a new postdoctoral 

researcher, Tadeau de Sousa, is 

building a center of excellence in 

OU Discovery 


OU #1 in International Competition 

Naval Goel, a doctoral 

degree candidate in the 

School of Petroleum and 


at the University of 

Oklahoma , took first place in the 

doctoral division of the International 

Student Paper Contest at the Society of 

Petroleum Engineers’ 1999 Annual 

Technical Conference and Exhibition. 

The meeting of more than 12,000 

petroleum engineers, academicians, 

students and energy industry professionals 

was held in Houston Oct. 3 

through 6. Goel is a member of the OU 

student chapter of the Society of 

Petroleum Engineers. 

Goel competed with students from 

several countries and other universities 

in the United States at the regional and 

international level, including Texas 

A&M University, Penn State University, 

Naval 

Goel 

Colorado School of Mines and IFP 

(Ecole Natl. Supérieure du 

Pétrole & des Moteurs, Paris, France). 

His paper, “Analytical Modeling of Gas 

Recovery from In-Situ Hydrates 

Dissociation,” was written under the 

supervision of Subhash Shah, 

Stephenson Chair and professor of 

petroleum engineering and Michael 

Wiggins, associate professor of petroleum 

engineering. 

drilling completion and stimulation. 

There is so much excitement around 

here. The SPE student chapter is on 

the move. New companies are on 

campus recruiting. Companies want to 

partner with PGE in education and 

research. For me, as director, I have 

never had so much fun. 

So watch out, A&M, UT, Colorado 

School of Mines, Stanford. The University 

of Oklahoma School of Petroleum 

and Geological Engineering is a force 

you will have to reckon with. We have 

the winning attitude. 

“This is an extremely prestigious 

international competition,” says Keith 

Millheim, Eberly Family Chair and 

director of OU’s School of Petroleum 

and Geological Engineering. “This 

honor would bring great pride to any 

institution. We’re very pleased that it 

was one of our own who brought home 

the top award.” Millheim also credits 

Samuel Osisanya, associate professor of 

petroleum engineering, and Richard 

Hughes, assistant professor of petroleum 

engineering, with providing the 

guidance and leadership to all of the 

OU students who competed. “We were 

just edged out at the regional level or 

we would have had three very strong 

OU students competing in Houston,” 

says Millheim. 

Goel has a bachelor’s degree from 

the University of Roorkee, India, and a 

master’s degree from the Indian 

Institute of Technology, New Delhi, 

India.

OU Discovery 


PGE at ATCE 

OU graduate students were at the SPE meeting in full force. 

From left to right: Gherson Penuela, Frank Hoke, Oluwole 

Omule, Valeria Matamoros, and Eduardo Quintero. 

A.M. Sarem, PhD 1964, and Curtis Phillips, 

B.S. 1963, M.S. 1964, at the alumni reception. 

The University of Oklahoma’s booth 

had a new look in 1999, joining with 

Sandia National Laboratories to 

promote our new alliance in research 

and development. It was also an 

opportunity to introduce the Integrated 

Core Characterization Center (IC» ) as 

an OU research facility. 

9

Guest Column 

The inaugural issue of 

OU Discovery was a 

delight. It conveyed a 

clear impression that 

change was afoot in 

the School of Petroleum 

and Geological 

Engineering. And it 

appears that the goals, educational 

approach and curriculum of the School 

are being reexamined from the ground 

up. This fresh start, together with your 

open invitation to contribute was too 

much for me to resist. 

I graduated in 1974, certainly one of 

the “boom” years of the School. Although 

my degree was in geological 

engineering, the curriculum for this 

program was only slightly different 

from P.E. Little attention was paid to it 

and the death of a key professor, Carl 

Moore, made it more of a backwater. 

Nevertheless, I was pleased to find a 

job in reservoir engineering. (Interestingly, 

a few years back, Billy Crynes asked 

to meet with a small group of OU oil people 

in Dallas over OU-Texas weekend. When 

we went around the room to introduce 

ourselves, all but one person present was a 

G.E. graduate!) 

When first hired, the most difficult 

aspect of my job was not the technical 

evaluation or methodology. It was the 

ability to recognize good data from 

poor data. Today, 25 years later, nothing 

has changed. In nearly every reservoir 

evaluation I encounter in my consulting 

work, there is not only incomplete 

data but often directly conflicting data. 

Maybe 90 percent of the data indicates 

“x” is going on in the reservoir, but 

there’s that nagging 10 percent that says 

something different. 

10 

OU Discovery 


Gary 

Swindell 

Applied Reservoir Engineering by 

Craft and Hawkins was my classroom 

text, and I still view it as the definitive 

text on the subject. But it was not 

much help in teaching the ability to 

weed out the good data from the bad. 

In fact, it aggravated the problem by 

always giving sufficient and correct 

data for the examples and exercises. 

Although this was very useful in 

teaching the theory and methodology, 

it gave an incomplete picture of the 

industry. The real world, to my surprise, 

always gave incomplete, incorrect 

or misleading information. And the 

problem usually gets worse as you 

travel from major companies to independents 

and from domestic to international 

arenas. 

Fortunately, there is a way to teach 

the ability to discern good data and 

bad, and resolve the near universal 

conflicts. It is the same way the top 

MBA schools teach - the case study 

method. 

Archie Dunham, president and 

CEO of Conoco who wrote the Executive 

Column for the Spring issue, said, 

“...Conoco is not in the business of providing 

graduate education to new hires. 

Companies that depend on sophisticated 

technologies... require new employees who 

can contribute from day one.” Throw real 

data packages from real reservoirs, 

incomplete and erroneous, at students 

who have acquired an understanding 

of the theory and science and you 

would have fresh graduates ready to sit 

at a desk and produce results from day 

one. 

Not very long after graduating, I was 

put in a position that included the 

hiring and training of new engineers 

just out of school. While it certainly 

was not a meaningfully large sample, I 

saw a few graduates of the best P.E. 

schools in the Southwest. None were 

ready to sit at a desk the first day and 

produce valuable work for the company. 

All would have benefited from 

being forced to address those real 

world inconsistencies during their last 

year in school rather than the first day 

of work. 

The first two of the new ABET 

criteria require that graduates in 

engineering demonstrate, 1) the ability 

to apply knowledge of mathematics, 

science and engineering, and 2) the 

ability to analyze and interpret data. 

Certainly the fundamental theory of 

petroleum reservoirs and the methodology 

for analyzing them must be taught 

to meet the first criteria. But the second 

one is where good theorists are made 

into productive engineers. 

Both Keith Millheim and John 

Campbell wrote in the Spring issue of 

the role of the School in developing 

graduates to meet the needs of the 

industry. I believe these goals and 

criteria can be best met at OU by 

converting most upper division classes 

to the case study method. A close look 

at the Colorado School of Mines where 

case studies are a central part of the 

educational process would be beneficial. 

continued on page 11

OU Discovery 


Mewbourne Leadership Scholars Program 

Curtis W. Mewbourne , 

BS, Petroleum Engineering, 

1958, and 

founder, president, and 

chairman of the Board 

of Mewbourne Oil Co., 

Tyler, Texas, and Keith Millheim, Eberly 

Family Chair and director of the OU 


Engineering, have announced the 

establishment of the Mewbourne 

Leadership Scholars Program at the 

University of Oklahoma. High school 

seniors selected for the program will 

receive a renewable scholarship of 

$4,000 a year, the guarantee of a paid 

industry-related internship between 

their freshman and sophomore years at 

OU, mentoring from industry professionals 

throughout their college career, 

and recognition as a Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering Distinguished 

Guest Column, continued from page 10 

I am proud to be a graduate of the 

University’s School of Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering. And it is 

very encouraging that the dean of the 

College, the new director and the 

faculty are willing, even anxious, to 

reexamine the mission of the school. 

The best days are ahead. 

Gary S. Swindell has 

been an independent 

reser- reservoir engineering 

consultant for 19 years, preparing 

reserve reports and general reservoir 

studies for U.S. and international 

oil and gas fields. He is a registered 

engineer in Texas, Oklahoma and 

Pennsylvania. 

Scholar. 

“The Mewbourne 

Leadership 

Scholars 

Program will 

further 

strengthen 

our ability to 

draw the top 

prospective 

Curtis W. Mewbourne 

petroleum 

engineers to OU and see them through 

to graduation,” says Millheim. “We are 

confident of our ability to continue our 

record of 100 percent placement of 

graduates but we want the students 

who successfully complete the 

Mewbourne Leadership Program to be 

among the most sought after petroleum 

engineers in the country.” 

Students must demonstrate academic 

ability, leadership in one’s 

school or community, a commitment to 

majoring in petroleum engineering, 

and an understanding of the oil and 

gas industry in order to compete for the 

award. Mewbourne has committed his 

own personal time and attention to the 

success of the program. “Our company 

has benefited greatly from getting to 

know students early in their college 

career and helping them discover the 

great potential for success and personal 

achievement that can be found in the 

oil and gas business. We’re looking for 

students who are well-rounded, wellprepared 

academically, and who know 

the oil and gas business from family or 

community involvement. These are the 

future leaders in the industry and in 

our communities. 

“If this innovative, comprehensive 

program is successful, the students who 

participate will be the decision-makers 

of tomorrow in the energy industry, 

and we will be proud to have played a 

part in their preparation.” 

To nominate a high school senior or 

to apply for the 2000-2001 Mewbourne 

Leadership Scholars Program, contact 

Lisa Schmidt, Coordinator, Student 

Relations, OU Petroleum and Geological 

Engineering, Sarkeys Energy 

Center, T-301, Norman, OK 73019-0628, 

(405) 325-6863 or (800) 522-0772, ext. 6863 

lschmidt@ou.edu. 

After obtaining a bachelor 

of science degree in 

petroleum engineering 

from the University 

of Oklahoma, Curtis 

Mewbourne served as an officer in 

the U.S. Army. He founded 

Mewbourne Oil Co. in 1965 and 

continues to operate the company 

privately for the benefit of his family, 

which includes three married 

daughters and nine grandchildren. 

Mewbourne Oil Co. has been for 

many years one of the most active 

exploration and production companies 

in the Anadarko and Permian 

Basins. The general office is located 

in Tyler, Texas, with district offices in 

Amarillo, Midland, Perryton, Hobbs, 

Oklahoma City, and Woodward. 

For the past 20 years, Mewbourne 

Oil has regularly provided summer 

internships for petroleum engineering 

students along with attractive 

scholarships to help with their 

education. 

11

TDear PGE Alumni and Friends, 

12 

OU Discovery 


he OU SPE Student Chapter had a strong start to the new academic year. Over 20 students were able to 

travel to Houston for the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exposition thanks to industry contributions 

to the chapter and funds raised from the Oklahoma City SPE Golf Tournament last summer. The OU SPE 

Student Chapter has made a tradition of attending the ATCE and welcomes support from alumni and friends 

to defray the costs of enabling students to participate in this exceptional learning experience. 

On Oct. 16, over 40 students participated in 

a field trip sponsored by Marathon’s Oklahoma 

City office. The field trip included presentations 

by Marathon petroleum engineers and other 

professionals about the development of 

Marathon’s Wheatland Waterflood project at the 

Oklahoma City Will Rogers International 

Airport. After the presentations, students 

traveled to the job site to inspect the installation 

as well as to see equipment displayed by service 

providers such as Halliburton, Schlumberger, B.J. 

Services and Reda Pumps. 

The chapter has a busy year planned with 

presentations from Mid-Continent on multilevel 

completions; Devon Energy and Crawley 

Petroleum on the future of the oil industry; 

1999-2000 Officers, OU Student Chapter, SPE 

Halliburton on directional drilling and Unocal From left to right: Frank Hoke, Vice President; Don Miller, St. Pat’s 

on deep water drilling. 

Representative; Elizabeth Anklam, Membership Chair; Brendan 

Heckart, Publicity Chair; Walter Poquioma, Treasurer; Charles Martin, 

Secretary. Not pictured: Ion Ispas, President. 

This year’s officers are: President, Ion Ispas; 

Vice President, Frank Hoke; Treasurer, Walter 

Poquioma; Secretary, Charles Martin, and St. Pat’s Representative, Don Miller. Elizabeth Anklam is chairing the Membership 

Committee and Brendon Heckart is managing the SPE OU Student Chaper Web page (check it out at http://www.ou.edu/ 

student/spe/. 

The chapter is always appreciative of the support it receives from alumni and industry for student activities. This year’s 

officers have a strong interest in attracting industry support to provide next year’s officers with a stipend to allow the officers to 

dedicate more time to the club’s activities, which in turn will strengthen the section and its ability to assist students to succeed 

in the PGE curriculum. One area that needs special attention is the development of more activities for freshmen and sophomore 

petroleum engineering majors. 

The OU SPE Student Chapter welcomes your ideas, suggestions and support. Contact us at spe@ou.edu.

OU Discovery 


PGE in Tulsa: A Growing Presence 

T 

he University of 

Oklahoma now owns 

and operates the industry’s 

leading rock 

physics lab originally 

developed at Amoco’s 

research center in 

Tulsa. The Integrated 

Core Characterization Center, or IC» , is 

available to industry for R&D projects 

and rock property measurements. 

The laboratory is capable of making 

a vast number of routine measurements. 

The greatest advantage is the capability 

to set up experiments and measurements 

that meet the needs of geoscientist/engineers 

in addressing a multitude 

of E&P industry problems in a 

cost-effective manner. While the centerpiece 

of IC» has been to understand 

the seismic response of rocks and fluids 

and seismic relationships with petrophysical 

parameters, data can also be 

generated for reservoir quality evaluation, 

seismic characterization, petrophysical 

evaluation, and reservoir 

mechanical/chemical stability evaluation. 

Experimental Rock Physics 

Consortium 

The University of Oklahoma has 

made it possible for industry to access 

the former Rock Physics Laboratory 

capabilities as a pure technical service. 

The recent addition of two new faculty 

members, Chandra Rai and Carl 

Sondergeld, makes the expertise of 

these two research scientists available 

for special research projects. 

Rai and Sondergeld have combined 

experience of 36 years in solving rock 

physics problems and developing 

methods for exploration and exploitation 

of hydrocarbons. They developed 

the Amoco Rock Physics Laboratory, 

Keith Millheim, Eberly Family Chair and director, OU School of Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering, accepts the plaques commemorating BP-Amoco’s 

donation of the Drilling Mechanics Laboratory and the Integrated Core 

Characterization Center to the University of Oklahoma. From left to right, Jeff 

Harwell, associate executive dean of the OU College of Engineering; Millheim; 

Jeff Johnson, Manager, Geoscience, BP Amoco, and Ken Lackey, president, 

University of Oklahoma at Tulsa. The markers were presented at a reception in 

Tulsa on Aug. 17, 1999. 

the highly automated mobile core 

characterization facility (GEM) and the 

preeminent Amoco Rock Properties 

Database. Between them, they hold 

more than 15 patents. They also 

developed a highly integrated rock 

physics modeling software system. 

The University of Oklahoma is 

planning to form the “Experimental 

Rock Physics” consortium and is 

seeking industry feedback on topics 

that will provide the greatest impact to 

businesses. Possible topics include 

quantification of anisotropy, characterization 

of unconsolidated materials, 

attenuation, NMR response, correlation 

between static and dynamic moduli, 

AVO and attribute expression of rock 

physics, nonlinear behavior of sediments, 

rock physics modeling software, 

and creation of a rock physics database. 

For more information or to provide 

feedback on these topics, send your 

name, the name of your company, and 

your e-mail address to either of the 

following: crai@ou.edu or 

csondergeld@ou.edu, or call 

918-660-3917. 

For additional information about IC» 

or to obtain a price list, contact: 

Bruce Spears 

Research Associate 

Integrated Core 

Characterization Center 

4502 E. 41 st Street 

Tulsa, OK 74135-2500 

918-660-4245 bspears @ou.edu 

13

Tom E. Morton, 1912-1999 

T petroleum engineering, 1940. LKOT 

Tom had a twinkle in his eye, never 

spoke ill of others and always loved a 

good joke. LKOT fired “a last salute” to 

Tom at his internment. The mourners 

at the cemetery waited quite some time 

for the cannon and crew to arrive. 

After a couple of frantic phone calls 

and a whispered conversation, the 

minister announced that the LKOT 

cannon crew and “Old Trusty” has 

been stopped by three police cars 

loaded with officers. Apparently 

someone had seen five black hooded 

people in a truck with a shiny object in 

back and called the police in alarm. 

Some of us suspect that Tom made one 

last call and is still chuckling about the 

results. The much deserved salute did 

occur. 

Tom served in the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers in the South Pacific 

during World War II and was discharged 

as a captain in 1945. He 

worked for the Halliburton Co. from 

1945 to 1977 and was credited with 

14 

om E. Morton, August 28, 

1912 to November 1, 1999. 

Bachelor of science, 

199. Sigma Chi, St. Pat’s Council, Big 

Man on Campus, 1940. 

many “firsts” in our industry. He was 

active in the Society of Petroluem 

Engineers and the Nomads. Beginning 

in 1981, he further served our industry 

and his beloved alma mater as an 

adjunct professor of petroleum engineering 

until 1992. While here, he led 

the effort to refurnish Willoughby 

Lounge and was an important alumni 

supporter of LKOT. He was the faculty 

sponsor of Pi Epsilon Tau’s Alpha 

Chapter and was president of the 

national organization during the 1980s. 

Tom was married to Frankie Pauline 

Davis for 58 years. She died a year ago 

OU Discovery 


Tom Morton on the steps of Boyd House at the 1987 University of Oklahoma 

Spring Commencement, surrounded by friends and graduates including PGE 

faculty members (front row, from left to right) Larry Warzel, Earl Donaldson, 

(Morton), Roy Knapp and Don Menzie. 

on November 18, 1998. They had five 

children, seven grandchildren and 

three great-grandchildren. Frankie 

claimed to be LKOT 199 ˚. Tom and 

Frankie enjoyed life and forced people 

around them to also enjoy it. It is easy 

to fill an evening with Tom and Frankie 

stories. 

Tom was a good friend and he 

helped his friends, including former 

students, become better people. A very 

good way to be remembered. 

—Roy Knapp

OU Discovery 


Sooners Take to the Field 

S 

ubhash Shah’s Advanced 

Stimulation class made a 

field trip to observe the 

Hydraulic Fracturing 

Treatment conducted by 

Halliburton Energy 

Services for L.E. Jones Production Co. 

near Marietta, Okla. in November 1999. 

Students witnessed the frac treatment, 

observed mixing and pumping equipment, 

and also saw the state-of-the-art 

van used for monitoring the fracturing 

treatment. 

First row, left to right: Oluwole 

Omole, Naval Goel, Kshipraprasad 

Krindinti. Second row, left to right: 

Eduardo Quintero, Kolawole Ojo, 

Michael Matejka, Valeria Matamoros, 

Shah, Arturo Diaz-Perez, Ivan Gil, 

and Sukhakar Khade. 

Accreditation Visit Successful 

The Engineering Accreditation 

Commission of the 

Accreditation Board for 

Engineering and Technology 

visited OU’s engineering 

programs in early November 1999 at 

the request of the College of Engineering. 

As noted in the last issue of OU 

Discovery, PGE actively prepared for 

this important visit in which the new 

accreditation criteria, commonly called 

“EC2000” for “Engineering Criteria 

2000”, would be applied. OU’s petroleum 

engineering program was only 

the second petroleum program in the 

country to be evaluated under the new 

criteria. 

The visit went very well for petroleum 

engineering. Overall, the selfstudy 

materials, supporting documents, 

and assessment report were well 

received. Based on exit comments made 

to Millheim, no major deficiencies or 

weaknesses were noted by the visitor. 

The final accreditation notification will 

be received in July 2000 and a favorable 

accreditation action is expected. 

Michael Wiggins coordinated 

preparations for the ABET visit and 

thanked all those who helped. “First, 

I need to express my thanks to the 

committee that led the charge in 

preparing us for this visit: Djebbar 

Tiab, J.C. Roegiers and Roy Knapp. 

Thanks to the faculty and staff for 

completing the various tasks they were 

assigned. I also want to thank the PGE 

Industry Advisory Board, alumni and 

students whose support and assistance 

were critical in our efforts to develop 

the self-study materials and the assessment 

report. It took everyone’s cooperation 

to see that this process was completed 

in a professional manner, so a 

round of thank yous go to everyone. 

We should all be proud of our 

program.” 

15

New Faculty and Staff Members 

Chandra Rai, professor, Integrated Core 

Characterization Center, Tulsa 

Prior to joining Amoco Production 

Co. in 1982, Chandra Rai conducted 

research in the area of high pressure 

and temperature geophysics at the 

University of Hawaii. He was employed 

at Amoco from 1982 to 1999, and 

is the principal or co-author on 10 U.S. 

patents. Along with Carl Sondergeld 

and Bruce Spears, he was responsible 

for developing the mobile, highly 

automated and versatile core characterization 

system, GEM, that led to the IC» . 

He and Sondergeld are also responsible 

for the development of the rock properties 

database that is one of the most 

comprehensive in industry and academia. 

Rai’s undergraduate and 

master’s degrees in applied geophysics 

are from the Indian School of Mines, 

India. He earned his doctorate in 

geology and geophysics from the 

University of Hawaii. Rai joined PGE 

in November 1999. Rai and his wife, 

Usha, have a daughter, Rachna, 18, who 

will graduate from Tulsa Union High 

School in May 2000, and a son, Rohit, 

who is 12. 

Dan O’ Meara, associate professor and 

interim director, Reservoir Engineering 

Group. 

Dan O’Meara joined Sarkeys Energy 

Center as director of the Institute for 

Reservoir Characterization in 1992 and 

joined the School of Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering as interim 

director of the new Reservoir Engineering 

Group and associate professor in 

October 1999. Before coming to OU 

O’Meara managed the Integrated 

Reservoir Characterization Team at 

British Petroleum’s Houston Technology 

Center. He earned his bachelor’s 

degree in chemical engineering at the 

University of Rochester and his 

master’s and doctoral degrees, both in 

chemical engineering, from Princeton 

University. 

16 

Carl Sondergeld, professor, Integrated 

Core Characterization Center, Tulsa 

Carl Sondergeld earned his bachelor 

of arts degree and master’s of arts 

degree in geology at Queens College of 

the City of New York and his doctorate 

in geology from Cornell University. 

He is the principal or co-author on 14 

patents and has published extensively 

in the area of rock mechanics and 

petrophysics. He has been associated 

with the Tulsa Research Center since 

1981. He and Rai are considered the 

“founding fathers” of the Integrated 

Core Characterization Center for their 

instrumental roles in laboratory automation, 

system and equipment design, 

and interpretation and application of 

resulting data. Sondergeld and his 

wife, Rose Marie, have two daughters 

who will both graduate this spring: 

Amy, 21, will graduate from Trinity 

University, San Antonio, Texas, and 

Lindsay, 18, from Union High School, 

Tulsa. 

Dr. Jonathan Kwan, Martin G. Miller 

Chair and visiting professor 

Jonathan Kwan joined PGE in May 

1999 after working at Unocal Corp. for 

20 years in various technical and 

management positions in research, 

operations, marketing and business 

development. Over the past four years, 

he has promoted the use of natural gas 

in power generation, chemical manufacturing 

and gas-to-liquid conversion 

throughout the United States, Asia, and 

Europe. Kwan received his undergraduate 

degree from the University of 

California at Berkeley and his master’s 

of science and doctorate in Chemical 

and Environmental Engineering from 

the University of Southern California. 

His research interests are in strategic 

planning, scenario analysis, system 

thinking, project economics, natural 

gas engineering and trading, enhanced 

oil recovery, heavy oil and asphaltene 

formation. He and his wife, Anne, have 

two sons, Lesley, 18, and Kevin, 17. 

OU Discovery 


Bruce Spears 

Bruce Spears is responsible for the 

day- to-day operations and management 

of IC» in Tulsa. Bruce designed 

much of the equipment used in the 

Center and wrote and maintains the 

software used for lab automation and 

multiple Web pages in support of IC» . 

Spears’ career with Amoco Production 

began at the Tulsa Research Center in 

1976 when he was the first student 

selected for a cooperative program 

between Oklahoma State University 

and Amoco to give students work 

experience prior to graduation. Bruce 

earned his bachelor of science degree 

in electrical engineering at Oklahoma 

State University. He and his wife, 

JoBeth and family live on a 300-hundred 

acre farm outside Pawnee, Oklahoma. 

He has five children: Carrie, 25; 

Justin, 24; Molly, 21; Michael, 12; and 

Grant, 11. 

Joao Tadeu Vidal de Sousa 

Joao Tadeu Vidal de Sousa is serving 

as a postdoctoral research fellow in 

PGE at the Well Construction Technology 

Center. De Sousa completed his 

doctorate in mining science at the 

University of Leoben, Austria, in March 

1999. His master’s degree is from the 

State University of Campinas, Brazil. 

His responsibilities are in the areas of 

development of drilling research 

proposals, mathematical modeling and 

computer simulations of drilling 

processes; and characterization of 

drilling fluids. He and his wife, 

Lucivania, have a 3-year old son, Joao 

Tadeu Vidal de Sousa Filho, and live in 

Norman. 

Nicolette Gosvener 

Nicolette Gosvener joined the 

department in October 1999 as 

coordinator for Financial Operations. 

Nicolette earned her accounting degree 

at the University of Tulsa and has been 

a licensed CPA since 1982. Nicolette 

lives in Norman and has two sons: 

Dylan, 15, and Cody, 11.

OU Discovery 


Petroleum and Geological Engineering 

Chandra Rai Dan O’ Meara Carl Sondergeld 

Jonathan Kwan Bruce Spears Joao Tadeu Vidal de Sousa 

Nicolette Gosvener 

17

New Initiative in 

Reservoir Engineering 

Announced 

Keith Millheim, Eberly Family Chair 

and professor, and W. Darrell “Gus” 

Gertsch, director, Sarkeys Energy 

Center and vice provost for Energy 

Research and Development Programs, 

announced a realignment last November 

of great significance to students in 

energy education and one that represents 

a milestone for Sarkeys Energy 

Center and the College of Engineering. 

The School of Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering has organized 

a Reservoir Engineering Group to 

be led on an interim basis by Dan 

O’Meara, former director of the Sarkeys 

Energy Center’s Institute for Reservoir 

Characterization. The associate director 

of the new department is Faruk 

Civan. Other key faculty involved in 

the initiative are Roy Knapp and 

Richard Hughes. 

The merger of complementary 

strengths is expected to position OU 

among the world’s leading educational 

and research institutions in the area of 

reservoir engineering and management. 

The team’s near-term focus will be 

to reinvigorate the undergraduate and 

graduate programs in reservoir engineering 

and to gradually add additional 

talent to the program through 

adjunct faculty from industry and postdoctoral 

appointments. The quality of 

the team’s educational and research 

efforts and the resulting value-added 

for OU’s students will also be enhanced 

by the department’s interactions with 

the SEC Institute for Exploration and 

Development Geosciences, led by John 

Castagna, McCollough Chair professor 

of geology and geosciences, and by the 

staff and facilities of the Integrated Core 

Characterization Center in Tulsa, 

acquired by OU from BP Amoco in 

August 1999. 

18 

OU Discovery 


New Program in Natural Gas 

Anew master’s degree in natural gas engineering and management 

has been proposed at the University of Oklahoma. The program is a 

cooperative venture involving OU’s School of Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and 

Materials Science, and Sarkeys Energy Center. If approved, it will 

be the only program of its kind in the world. 

“Natural gas is the future of the energy industry. Within just a few years, the 

need for this product in homes and businesses will be considered as critical as the 

need for electricity or to be connected to the Internet,” says Jonathan Kwan, visiting 

professor and instructor in the program. “The rest of the country and the world 

will be looking to the University of Oklahoma for leadership and the deve-lopment 

of new knowledge in the area of natural gas technology and management.” 

The coursework would cover several components of the natural gas industry: 

technology, production, transportation, utilization, safety and environmental 

issues, and economic aspects, including contracts, policy and marketing. The first 

course, Applications of System Dynamics in Natural Gas Management, will help 

managers learn to use dynamic business strategy models, analysis and simulation 

processors to identify the impact of various possible activities on an overall strategy. 

Other units in the course address business consolidation and resource planning 

and corporate performance monitors. 

The program will fill another need, that of the energy industry professional who 

wishes to add to her or his knowledge base but can’t take the time to commute to 

Norman or Stillwater for an advanced degree. The Natural Gas Engineering and 

Management program will be taught in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, as well as 

Norman. Courses will be available to students who are pursuing a master’s degree 

as well as those individuals who only wish to take a course or two without pursuing 

a specific degree. 

The first new course in the program, Applications of System Dynamics in Natural 

Gas Management was offered in the fall 1999 semester and was taught by Kwan, 

Keith Millheim, Eberly Family Chair and director of the School of Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering, and Richard Mallinson, associate professor of Chemical 

Engineering and director, OU Institute for Gas Utilization And Technology. 

For more information, contact Kwan at (405) 325-2921 or visit the OU Petroleum and 

Geological Engineering Web site at www.ou.edu/engineering/peteng .

OU Discovery 


SPE Technology Summit Held at OU 

Technology decisionmakers 

from around the 

world convened in 

Norman, Okla. as guests of 

the School of Petroleum 

and Geological Engineer 

ing, the College of Engineering 

and Sarkeys Energy Center on 

April 28 and 29,1999, for the third SPE 

Technology Roundtable. Participants 

represented national oil companies, 

megamajors, existing majors, independents, 

service companies, governments, 

and academia. Keith Millheim, Eberly 

Family Chair and professor, School of 

Petroleum and Geological Engineering, 

served as facilitator for the two-day 

session. 

The purpose of the meeting was to 

discuss the industry’s new directions 

and to debate technology development 

and utilization for the emerging oil and 

gas industry. 

Questions that were posed ranged 

from the role of research and technology 

under various price scenarios to 

the industry’s shift from exploration to 

acquisitions and production. 

SPE’s JPT covered the meeting and 

reported on the proceedings. 

The following individuals 

participated: 

Abdul Karim Al-Rabah, Technical 

Adviser, Kuwait Oil Co., Kuwait 

Peter Aronstam, Director of Technology, 

Baker Hughes, Houston 

Mike Bahorich, Vice President, 

Exploration Technology, Apache 

Corporation, Houston 

Ron Bain, Manager, Technology and 

Exploration Planning, Anadarko 

Petroleum, Houston 

Charles H. Bowman, Head, Petroleum 

Engineering Department, Texas A&M 

University, College Station, Texas 

Paul J. Durning, Vice President, 

Exploration and Production Technol- 

ogy, Unocal, Sugar Land, Texas 

Carlos Espinoza, PDVSA, 

Caracas, Venezuela 

Robert Heming, General 

Manager, Strategic Research, 

Chevron, Houston 

Bob Hodgson, Vice President – 

Energy, Houston Advanced 

Research Center, 

The Woodlands, Texas 

Gustavo Inciarte, 1999 SPE 

President, Miami 

Andrew S. Mackenzie, Group 

Vice President, Technology, BP 

Amoco p.l.c., London, U.K. 

Carl Garrison, Director of 

Strategic Marketing, Halliburton, 

Houston 

Ekwere J. Peters, Chair, Department of 

Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, 

University of Texas, Austin, Texas 

W. Arthur Porter, University Vice 

President for Technology Development 

and Dean, College of Engineering, 

University of Oklahoma; Secretary for 

Science and Technology, State of 

Oklahoma, Norman 

Jitendra Prasad, Vice President – 

Technical, Noble Drilling Corp. 

Houston 

Michael C. Sheppard, Research 

Director, Schlumberger Cambridge 

Research, Cambridge, U.K. 

Adrian Williams, 

CSIRO, Australia, 

Dean Skip Porter and 

Charles Bowman, 

Texas A&M. 

Abdul Karim Al-Rabah, Kuwait, Oil Co., Kuwait 

and Mike Bahorich, Apache Corp., Houston. 

Matthew R. Simmons, President, 

Simmons and Company International, 

Houston 

Brian G. Smart, Professor, Heriot-Watt 

University Department of Petroleum 

Engineering, Edinburgh, U.K. 

CPJW van Kruijsdijk, Dean, Delft 

University of Technology, The 

Netherlands 

Tim Warren, Director EP Global 

Technology and Technical Services, 

Shell International Exploration and 

Production B.V., The Netherlands 

Adrian Williams, Chief of the Division 

of Petroleum Resources, CSIRO, 

Australia 

19

New Course for Spring 2000 

Natural gas has played a 

major role in meeting 

the energy demand in 

North America and in 

Western and Eastern 

European countries 

due to its availability and environmental 

acceptance. The natural gas business 

model has been drastically altered in 

the last ten years. With the deregulation 

of the natural gas market in the 

1990s, United States Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission’s Order 500 

and Order 636 sent shock waves 

through the United States and international 

gas markets. Deregulation not 

only changes the business model, it 

also challenges the conventional 

thinking regarding natural gas production 

and utilization. Now using United 

States models, European gas markets 

are going through the same transformation. 

The South American and Asian 

gas markets will follow the same path 

when those countries’ gas infrastructures 

and utilization projects are in 

place. Options in gas utilization 

include power generation, methanol, 

20 


College of Engineering 

Introduction to Natural Gas 

Engineering and Management 

The Value Chain of Natural 

Gas - A System Approach 

Instructors: Dr. Keith Millheim 

(405) 325-2921 millheim@ou.edu 

Dr. Jonathan Kwan 

(405) 325-0745 jkwan@ou.edu 

ammonia/urea, natural gas vehicle, 

LNG and gas-to-liquid conversion. 

The goal of this course is to provide 

students with a better understanding of 

the full value chain of natural gas, from 

supply demand balance to energy 

policy; from exploration, production 

and processing to pipeline transportation 

and storage; and from marketing 

and trading to project financing and 

utilization. Course materials cover 

state-of-the-art gas engineering and the 

latest management practices that have 

the best returns to the energy industry 

and its professionals. A system view of 

the natural gas business is emphasized 

to promote teamwork. 



100 East Boyd, Room T-301 

Norman, OK 73019-0628 

405-325-2921 

Fax: 405-325-7477 

Toll-free: 1-800-522-0772, extension 2921 

www.ou.edu/engineering/peteng 

OU Discovery 


Outline 

1. Global Natural Gas Supply and 

Demand 

2. International Gas Trade & 

Infrastructure 

3. Gas Policy, Regulation, Safety and 

Environmental Issues 

4. System Dynamics in Natural Gas 

Value Chain 

5. Natural Gas Resource Base: 

Conventional and Unconventional 

6. Natural Gas Exploration and 

Production Optimization 

7. Natural Gas Processing Technology 

8. Natural Gas Pipeline & Storage 

Engineering 

9. Natural Gas Trading and Marketing 

10.Gas Utilization: Power, LNG and 

Gas-to-Liquid Conversion 

11.Others such as project economics 

and valuation 

For more information about courses in 

Natural Gas Engineering and Management 

contact: 

Dr. Jonathan Kwan 

Visiting Professor, Petroleum and 


(405) 325-0745 jkwan@ou.edu 

Dr. Richard Mallinson 

Associate Professor, Chemical 

Engineering and Material Science 

(405) 325-4378 mallinson@ou.edu

OU Discovery 


OU Discovery 

The University of Oklahoma is a doctoral degree-granting research university serving the educational, cultural 

and economic needs of the state, region and nation. Created by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1890, the 

University has 18 colleges offering 134 degree programs, 82 master’s degree programs, 51 doctoral degrees, four 

graduate certificates, and one professional degree. OU enrolls almost 27,000 students on campuses in Norman, Oklahoma City 

and Tulsa and has approximately 1,830 full-time faculty members. The University’s annual operating budget is 

$797 million. 

The College of Engineering has long promoted Oklahoma’s economy through research, instruction and public service. The 

College is the largest engineering program in the state with 2,200 undergraduate students, 550 graduate students and 100 faculty. 

The College offers undergraduate degrees in 13 engineering fields. A few years shy of a century old, the College continues to 

emphasize teaching, mentoring and research, as well as commercialization of technology to benefit the University and the Great 

State of Oklahoma (October 1999). 

This institution in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of 

race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. 

This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and educational services.

OU Discovery 



Sarkeys Energy Center 

100 E. Boyd, Room T-301 

Norman, OK 73019-0628 

122-7276 

OU Discovery 

U.S. Postage 

Non-Profit Organization 

PAID AID 

University of Oklahoma

Winter 99/00 - Petroleum Engineering | The University of Oklahoma

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