Announcements

Summer is around the corner! On behalf of the Board of Directors of SPE Golden Gate Section, we'd like to invite you to attend our last meeting in the SPE year of 2021-2022. The meeting will be on Wednesday, June 1st starting at 11:00 am. It will be a Zoom meeting. This meeting will also serve as the section’s annual meeting to finalize the selection of the Board of Directors for 2022-2023.

Our speaker is Dr. Rita Esuru Okoroafor. The title of his presentation is: Evaluating the Feasibility of Underground Hydrogen Storage as a Complement to Renewable Energy Production. An abstract of the talk and a short bio of Dr. Okoroafor are shown below.

Looking forward to seeing you (Albeit virtually) at the next Golden Gate Section Meetings. Have a wonderful summer!

Title: Evaluating the Feasibility of Underground Hydrogen Storage as a Complement to Renewable Energy Production
When: Wednesday, June 1st, 2022 (11AM Pacific)
Where: Online via Zoom
Meeting Link: Zoom Meeting - SPEGGS March 2022 Link
Meeting ID: 860 3570 2797
Passcode: 106236

Abstract

With growing demands for energy and the need to reduce energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, several clean energy technologies are being researched, developed, and tested. Renewable energy resources such as solar and wind can provide emission-free electricity and are being adopted into the electricity grid. The increasing amounts of renewable energy onto the grid pose a challenge as the renewable resources can generate more electricity than is required. Energy generation from renewable resources is often curtailed to manage this surplus energy. While curtailment is an acceptable operational tool, it is anticipated that there will be more instances of oversupply amidst the energy transition. A possible solution to reduce the amount of curtailed renewable energy is to convert the surplus energy to hydrogen, store it, and later convert the hydrogen to electricity to power the grid.

This presentation shows how underground hydrogen storage in porous media can complement a high renewable energy portfolio by storing the energy that would otherwise have been curtailed. Based on a screening set of criteria, potential depleted fields in Northern California that would be suitable for underground hydrogen storage were identified. The amount of hydrogen that is potentially recovered by the seasonal hydrogen storage was estimated using a numerical simulation model.

The presentation outlines the value chain involved in underground hydrogen storage, shows how geological storage of hydrogen meets the capacity required to store the surplus energy, and demonstrates the role petroleum engineering concepts could play in the process.

About the Speaker

Dr. Rita Esuru Okoroafor is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage, Stanford University. During her doctoral studies, Dr. Okoroafor’s research focused on investigating optimal methodologies for harnessing Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) through numerical simulation of the subsurface. Before embarking on her Ph.D., Dr. Okoroafor was a Petroleum Engineer with Schlumberger for 13 years. She started out supporting formation pressure and fluid sampling data acquisition while drilling and on wireline, carrying out well test analyses, production log interpretation, and cased hole log interpretation. She later supported the development of a single well reservoir modeling software for while-drilling applications, and aided operators in creating novel workflows for reservoir management utilizing Schlumberger’s Petroleum Engineering software. Dr. Okoroafor is a recipient of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Africa Region Reservoir Dynamics and Description Award (2017), SPE International Young Member Outstanding Service Award (2016), and SPE Africa Region Young Member Outstanding Service Award (2014).

Dr. Okoroafor’s current research involves developing and implementing rigorous, interdisciplinary site selection criteria for carbon dioxide and hydrogen storage. Her areas of interest include geothermal reservoir engineering, carbon dioxide storage and utilization, geologic storage of hydrogen, and reservoir geomechanics.

We are excited to announce that our May meeting will be in person at Stanford University! This will be our 1st in-person meeting in two years!

The meeting will be on Monday, May 2 at the Green Earth Sciences Building of Stanford University (367 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305; Room 104). Please note that Stanford requires an indoor mask in the classroom. No food will be served during the seminar. Please plan your lunch accordingly. The meeting will be from 12:15 to 1:15 pm. The meeting will also be the graduate seminar on that day.

our speaker for this month is Dr. Akshay Sahni, who is the General Manager, Strategy and Technology at Chevron Technology Ventures. The title of his presentation is Partnerships and ecosystems for driving innovation in energy. A short bio of Dr. Sahni is shown below.

A map for the meeting venue is here:

https://earth.stanford.edu/about/maps-directions

A parking map and visitor parking information are here:

https://lbre.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/parking_and_circulation_map_0.pdf
https://transportation.stanford.edu/parking/purchase-a-parking-permit/visitors

The best place to park is the Roble Field parking lot (underground) on Via Ortega. You can pay with a credit card at the machine on Level 1.

Please RSVP by Thursday, April 28, 2022, to Professor Roland Horne:  horne@stanford.edu. 

Abstract

Akshay Sahni is the General Manager, Strategy and Technology at Chevron Technology Ventures. In this position he provides oversight over enterprise technology strategy development, R&D for disruptive technologies, external partnerships for technology innovation, intellectual property and technology deployment and adoption.  His focus is on technologies supporting the core business, digital and low carbon technology verticals including CCUS, hydrogen, renewable fuels, energy storage systems etc.  He is an advisory board member of the Energy Institute, UT Austin.

Akshay joined Chevron in 1998 as a Research Scientist and since then has held operations and asset management leadership positions of increasing responsibilities in multiple locations within the US and internationally.

Akshay has a Doctorate in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University and MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business. In addition, he has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Punjab University, India and a MS degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has authored over 20 technical publications and has 3 patents.  

Next Meeting

Our speaker for next month is Dr. Rita Esuru Okoroafor from Stanford University. She will speak about "Maximizing The Use of Clean Energy Resources Through Underground Hydrogen Storage". Stay tuned for our next meeting announcement!

We are excited to announce that our speaker for this month is Dr. Adam Jew, who is an associate staff scientist at the Stanford SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The title of his presentation is: Understanding the Geochemical Impact of Injection Fluids on Unconventional Shale Systems. An abstract of the talk and a short bio of Dr. Jew are shown below.

Title: Understanding the Geochemical Impact of Injection Fluids on Unconventional Shale Systems
When: Wednesday, March 16, 2022 (11AM Pacific)
Where: Online via Zoom
Meeting Link: Zoom Meeting - SPEGGS March 2022 Link
Meeting ID: 859 4944 2697

Abstract

Unconventional oil/gas shale production has led to US energy independence and is a major contributing factor to the reduction in CO2 emissions over the past decade. In spite of these successes, unconventional stimulation practices remain highly inefficient. Though current injection practices use a wide array of chemicals for a variety of purposes to promote production, these chemicals can prime the system for later mineral scale precipitation. This mineral scaling can lead to decreased production and requires a multi-faceted approach to understanding the important chemical reactions occurring. By blending laboratory- and synchrotron-based laboratory techniques with reactive transport modeling it has been shown that mineral scaling is occurring by both mineral scaling on fracture surfaces derived solely from injected chemicals and in the internal shale matrix caused by transformation of the naturally occurring minerals caused by the injection fluids.

Producing shale plays encompass clay-rich (> 25 wt.%) and carbonate-rich (> 20 wt.%) lithologies. Most unconventional stimulations begin with extremely low pH (pH -0.3) with later steps in the injection process being as high as pH = 10. These wide pH ranges coupled with the large range of lithologies result in different mineral scaling rates and phase behaviors. Regardless of these lithological variations, Fe(III)-(hydr)oxides are a universal scaling problem in the shale matrix while sulfates primarily precipitate on the surfaces. The degree to which sulfate scaling occurs is controlled by the composition of the both the additives and the base fluid used. The sourcing of the base fluid is critically important and needs to be taken into account when selecting additives to minimize sulfate scaling. Besides the interactions between additives and base fluids, the disequilibrium caused by the base fluid alone can cause mineral scaling as well. This disequilibrium covers a wide range of chemical parameters (pH, redox, ionic strength, dissolved organics). In some situations, mineral transformation/scaling is so rapid that additives added to control scaling are arriving too late to mitigate the problems. The insights garnered through studies of injection fluids with the minerals in the stimulated rock volume provides the necessary knowledge that allow for important incremental changes to the chemical aspects of stimulations.

About the Speaker

Dr. Adam Jew is an associate staff scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory with a focus on mineralogy and geochemistry of various earth systems using a combination of laboratory- and synchrotron-based methods. He received his PhD in surface and aqueous geochemistry from Stanford University and has worked in a variety of research fields from mercury in the environment to coal and unconventional oil/gas shales. His current focus is on geochemistry of unconventional oil/gas shales, enhanced geothermal systems, and critical material geochemistry.

Next Meeting

Our speaker for next month is Varadarajan Dwarakanath.  Stay tuned for our next meeting announcement!

Our second speaker of 2022 will be an SPE Distinguished Lecturer– Tom Bradley. This talk will be hosted by SPE international's Zoom platform and the registration process is a little different. You need to click “See your section’s DL events” after clicking "Register HERE". This will bring you to Golden Gate Section’s DL schedule page. Then you can click "Register" for Tom Bradley’s talk. After registration, you will receive a confirmation email with Zoom details. Make sure to check your spam folder if you don’t find the confirmation email.  

The event is live! A recording will NOT be available if you miss it.
Don’t miss this LIVE SPE Virtual Distinguished Lecturer. 

SPE Distinguished Lecturers are industry experts and outstanding speakers, nominated by their peers, to share their knowledge and expertise on the latest industry trends and technologies with SPE members throughout the world through visits to local sections. 

Title: Application of Oil and Gas Subsurface Evaluation Methodology to Geothermal: The Value of Data
When: Monday, February 14, 2022 (11AM Pacific)
Where: Online via Zoom
Meeting Registration: Zoom Meeting - SPEGGS February 2022 Registration

Abstract

The energy landscape is changing, and renewable sources of energy are gaining in importance. As part of this, geothermal energy has the ability to be a key contributor as it can supply a constant dependable baseload for a wide range of uses, ranging from low temperature heating through mid temperature industrial uses, to high temperatures for power generation.It has additional benefits, that unlike other renewable sources such as wind and solar, it is has little or no reliance on varying prevailing conditions.

However geothermal is a relatively young industry, and many stakeholders are unaware of the importance of detailed knowledge of the subsurface in the success of safely and economically realising a project. As a result many projects dissapoint in their returns. The subsurface knowledge required is very similar to that needed for successful hydrocarbon exploration, therefore the expertise in gained in the oil and gas industry over many years can be applied to geothermal projects to help increase their likelihood of success. However because of the nature of the two industries, there is often a barrier that needs to be broken down before this knowledge can be shared.

In this presentation, I discuss how the subsurface information needed for success in the two industries is very similar, show the value of data, how well established oil and gas methodologies can be applied to help in the success of geothermal projects, and how the oil and gas industries can contribute to the success of geothermal energy.

About the Speaker

Tom Bradley is a Senior Petrophysical Advisor with Baker Hughes. After graduating from The Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London with a degree in Geology with Engineering Geology in 1996, he started his career in 1997 as a wireline Data Processor with Western Atlas International, and since then has worked with Baker Hughes in a variety of technical, sales and supervisory roles in a variety of countries. Since 2005 he has been based in the Netherlands, and as part of his current role he is involved with the development of geothermal energy in the Netherlands and Europe. He is the recipient of the 2021 SPE Europe Region Formation Evaluation award, and in addition to SPE he serves with the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts as president of the Dutch Petrophysical Society, is vice-chair of the SPWLA Alternative Subsurface/Energy Transition Special Interest Group, and is a member of the SPWLA technical committee.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be on March 16 at 11 am Pacific time. The speaker is Dr. Adam Jew from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Stay tuned for our meeting notice.

Happy New Year! On behalf of the board of directors of the SPE Golden Gate Section, we hope you have enjoyed a peaceful and refreshing holiday season. Our meeting will remain virtual until further notice. Thank you for your active participation and support. 

We are excited to announce that our first speaker of 2022 will be an SPE Distinguished Lecturer– Jessica Iriarte. This talk will be hosted by SPE international's Zoom platform and the registration process is a little different. You need to click “See your section’s DL events” after clicking "Reister HERE". This will bring you to Golden Gate Section’s DL schedule page. Then you can click "Register" for Jessica Iriarte’s talk. After registration, you will receive a confirmation email with Zoom details. Make sure to check your spam folder if you don’t find the confirmation email.  

The event is live! A recording will NOT be available if you miss it.
Don’t miss this LIVE SPE Virtual Distinguished Lecturer. 

SPE Distinguished Lecturers are industry experts and outstanding speakers, nominated by their peers, to share their knowledge and expertise on the latest industry trends and technologies with SPE members throughout the world through visits to local sections. 

Title: Data Science Applications to Time-Series Data A Hydraulic Fracturing Case Study
When: Wednesday, January 26, 2022 (11AM Pacific)
Where: Online via Zoom
Meeting Registration: Zoom Meeting - SPEGGS January 2022 Registration

Abstract

Data science uses algorithms and statistics to generate knowledge and insights from data. While Oil and Gas has, at times, been at the forefront of large-scale data analysis, it has struggled with implementing data science more broadly. Some of the challenges our industry faces include poor quality and siloed data, archaic data management processes, and the lack of collaboration between data scientists and subject matter experts (engineers/geoscientists).

The applications for machine learning and data science are boundless but knowing where to start can be daunting. How do you design, prototype, and deploy models to critical end-users? Using a lean start-up approach taken from real-world experiences, this talk provides a starting point to help organizations successfully plan, implement, and launch a data science program. Data science applications to hydraulic fracturing data will be used to showcase these effective workflows and best practices. The workflows shown in this presentation can be applied to other time-series or depth datasets that exist in the industry (drilling, logging, production data, etc.). Participants will walk away with an understanding of best practices around data science and learn how to leverage efforts to gain valuable insights from time-series data.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be on Feb. 14 at 11 am Pacific time. The speaker is an SPE DL, Tom Bradley. He will talk about Application of Oil and Gas Subsurface Evaluation Methodology to Geothermal: The Value of Data. Stay tuned for our meeting notice.

The holiday season is upon us. While many activities are back to normal, we continue to navigate through unprecedented times and changing safety guidelines. On behalf of the board of directors of SPE Golden Gate, we wish you a joyful and safe holiday season. 

To close the year of 2021, we are very happy to have Dr. Andrei Popa from Chevon speak with us on Dec 2 at 11 am Pacific time. The title of his presentation is A Data-Driven Assessment of Production Impact during Un-planned Facility System Events. An abstract of the talk and a short bio of Dr. Popa are shown below.

Looking forward to seeing you (Albeit virtually) at the next Golden Gate Section Meetings.

Title: A Data-Driven Assessment of Production Impact during Un-planned Facility System Events
When: Thursday, December 02, 2021 (11AM Pacific)
Where: Online via Zoom
Meeting Link: Zoom Meeting - SPEGGS December 2021 Meeting

Abstract

A data-driven approach to successfully analyze and evaluate the production fluid impact during facility system “divert” events is presented. The workflow effectively identifies opportunities for prompt event mitigation and system optimization. The methodology used included data streaming, advance computations (i.e., low pass filtering, co-variance, moving averages, standard deviation) on high frequency data (i.e., 5 seconds), visualization, data mining, and rules extraction. Additionally pattern recognition and analytics were employed for detection and computation of event duration, maximum and average pressure during event, respectively corresponding maximum, and average impacted production. Custom tools were developed to allow visualization and computation of the massive amounts of data available (44 streams @ 5 seconds measurement frequency) for the selected events over the past few years. The model was applied to the newest events and found to significantly outperform previous manual approaches, not only by driving intelligent business decisions as opposed to quick short term reactions, but also by curtailing production loss and returning the system to normal operation conditions. The study identifies areas of improvement and opportunities to mitigate production impact during “divert” events and provides recommendations to: reduce event duration, maintain pressure at a level where production is not impacted, monitor casing pressure at well level across the field, and alternatives to divert the back pressure in the mature areas of the field. The study demonstrates how applied data driven analytics led to learnings and observations that drove business impact in management of facility systems during “divert” events. 

About the Speaker

Dr. Andrei Popa is currently Reservoir Management Advisor within the Digital Platform team, Chevron Technical Center. Andrei has more than 24 years of expertise in applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) technologies in the oil and gas industry and he is an SME in Digital Technologies, Project Management, Professional Facilitation, and Reservoir Management. In addition to working for Chevron, Andrei has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Southern California for the last 12 years, where he has taught “Applied Reservoir Engineering” and “Advanced Natural Gas Engineering”. He has broad experience leading cross-functional teams focused on delivering complex AI & ML optimization solutions and conceptual models across Chevron enterprise. Andrei has served on the SPEI Board of Directors (2015 – 2018) as WNA Regional Director, was the 2013- 2014 Distinguished Lecturer, chaired and co-chaired multiple conferences and workshops, and is the recipient of 2013 SPE International “Management and Information Award”, and 2015 SPE International “Distinguished Service Award”. He has published more than 80 papers on the subject of Artificial Intelligence technologies and their application and co-author the book “Artificial Intelligence & Data Mining (AI&DM) Applications in the Exploration and Production Industry”, part of SPE's "Get Up To Speed" Series. Dr. Popa earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from the West Virginia University and he holds a M.S and B.S. degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from the University of Ploiesti.

Next Meeting

The first meeting in 2022 will be on January 26th at 11 am Pacific time. The speaker is one of this year's SPE DL, Jessica Iriarte.  The title of her talk is Data Science Applications to Time-Series Data A Hydraulic Fracturing Case Study. Stay tuned for our meeting notice.

We are excited to invite you to our third meeting of the year on Nov 09 at 11 am Pacific time.  Our speaker is SPE Distinguished Lecturer Prof. Mark Bentley, Associate Professor at Heriot-Watt University & Training Director at TRACS International. The title of his presentation is: How To Design A Good Reservoir Model.

The event is live! A recording will NOT be available if you miss it.
Don’t miss this LIVE SPE Virtual Distinguished Lecture! 

SPE Distinguished Lecturers are industry experts and outstanding speakers, nominated by their peers, to share their knowledge and expertise on the latest industry trends and technologies with SPE members throughout the world through visits to local sections.

Looking forward to seeing you (Albeit virtually) at the next Golden Gate Section Meetings.

The difference between good models and bad models is an issue of model design

How can you tell the difference between a ‘good’ reservoir model and a ‘bad’ one?

Reservoir and simulation modelling capability has become a mainstream activity in petroleum engineering yet the models themselves often tend to disappoint.  Crucially, models and forecasts tend to be optimistic.

This talk draws on experiences accumulated over the last 25 years from working with international and national oil companies, and draws out common themes - reasons why some modelling and simulation outcomes are ‘good’, and others are ‘bad’. The over-riding theme is model design, and it will be argued that many of the errors in modelling are made before anyone logs on.  It’s not the capability of the software, it’s the design choices made.

The following design issues will be identified and optimal approaches recommended, concerning:

• model purpose, and the balance of simplicity vs. complexity in modelling
• imperfect data and concept-based modelling – “if you can sketch it, you can model it”
• taking a fluid-centric view of the need for detail: reservoir modelling, rather than geological modelling;
• the scale transition, searching for the 'lost heterogeneity'

The points above will be illustrated with a case study from a mature oil field undergoing waterflood, in which a decision on infill drilling needed to be made.

Mark has been in the industry since 1986, initially as a production geologist with Shell where he first started learning about reservoir modelling.  He has spent the subsequent 22 years training and consulting around the world with colleagues at TRACS.  His specialist technical fields are reservoir modelling and scenario-based approaches to handling uncertainty.

Mark is a frequent contributor at conferences and co-author of the textbook ‘Reservoir Model Design’. In 2018 he took up the Chair in Mature Field Management at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

Next Meeting

The December meeting will be on December 2nd at 11 am Pacific time. The speaker is Dr Andrei Popa. He will talk about AI and machine learning with practical O&G applications. Stay tuned for our meeting notice!

First, we are very happy to share great news with you: SPE Golden Gate Section has been selected to win the SPE Western North America Regional Section Award! On behalf of the board of directors, we want to thank you for your support and participation. As you all know, in spite of Covid, our section remained strong last year. We quickly adapted ourselves to the virtual format and we have seen an increased number of attendees in our monthly meetings. At our last meeting, we had a record-high number of attendees!

Second, We are excited to invite you to our kick-off meeting for the Data Science Engineering Analytics (DSEA) initiatives on Oct 22 at 11 am Pacific time.  Our speaker is Reynaldo Gomez, the Energy Partner Ecosystem Manager at NVIDIA. The title of his presentation is: Applications of accelerated computing in O&G and adjacent industries. An abstract of the talk and a short bio of Reynaldo are shown below.

Looking forward to seeing you (Albeit virtually) at the next Golden Gate Section Meetings.

Accelerated computing for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) is revolutionizing all industries from O&G to healthcare. In this talk, Reynaldo Gomez discusses the applications of accelerated computing in O&G and adjacent industries, and the most important innovations in HW and SW driving these applications. Focus will be on AI and the intersection with HPC.

Reynaldo Gomez earned his BS in Nuclear Physics from the University of Texas in 2013 and is now earning an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford. He spent three years at Schlumberger WesternGeco as a geophysicist before moving to IBM and eventually landing on the Energy team at NVIDIA. Reynaldo manages the partner ecosystem for the energy vertical with a focus on machine learning, deep learning, and high performance computing.

Next Meeting

The November meeting will be on November 9th at 11 am Pacific time. The speaker is one of this year's SPE DL, Dr. Mark Bentley.  The title of his talk is How to Design A Good Reservoir Model. Stay tuned for our next meeting announcement!