TOP ENERGY - Key Persons
Dr. Eustes specializes in drilling operations and experimental and modeling research. He has twenty-four years of drilling, completion, workover, and production engineering and operations experience. … Read More »
Art Markman is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the Founding …
Dr. Tutuncu held various research and leadership assignments in Well Engineering, Rock Physics, Geomechanics and Subsurface R&D groups at Shell International E&P and Shell Oil …
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Scientist at the Jackson School of Geosciences
- Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, the University of Texas at Austin
Bridget Scanlon is a Senior Research Scientist at the Jackson School of Geosciences, Univ. of Texas at Austin. She has worked for 20 years on unsaturated flow studies that included use of physical, chemical, isotopic, and numerical modeling of flow and transport in these systems. Her research included monitoring and modeling of alternative covers at a site in the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas for several years. She has collaborated with researchers in DOE on modeling alternative covers at other sites. She has published many papers on these topics. She is currently serving as an Associate Editor in Hydrogeology Journal and Vadose Zone Journal. She has served on National Academy of Sciences and DOE review committees on vadose zone processes related to waste containment.
Bryan is currently a Senior Extension Associate and Water Resources Coordinator for Penn State Extension in the College of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecosystem Science …
Job Titles:
- Associate Director at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
- Senior Research Scientist Emeritus, Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, the University of Texas at Austin
Cliff Frohlich is an earthquake seismologist and Associate Director at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), where he has been employed since 1978. He is the word's leading authority on Texas seismicity, a coauthor of the book Texas Earthquakes, and a co-author on the recent paper in Leading Edge describing the 2008-2009 Dallas-Fort Worth earthquakes. However, being the world's leading authority on Texas earthquakes is not a full-time job, and he is better known internationally for his research on deep-focus earthquakes, moonquakes, and tsunamis. In 2008 he was chosen as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) and the Seismological Society of America (SSA).
Dan Brockett is with the Penn State Extension Shale Energy Education Team. He lectures and teaches on energy development from shale, the economics driving the process, the process and politics of hydraulic fracturing, and the associated impacts to communities, businesses, land, and people. He has had the opportunity to provide training for industry, for elected officials, for businesses, regulators and for landowners and has been able to speak throughout the country and around the world.
Some of the recent issues he has focused on include:
Appalachian Basin Natural Gas Liquids - from Wellhead to Fractionation
The Case for Ethane Cracker Plants in the Appalachian Basin
Price Basis Differential for the Appalachian Basin - The Case for Shipping Gas Outside of the Basin
Local Government Role in Regulating the Oil and Gas Industry
Job Titles:
- Business Operations Manager, Marcellus Education Team, Penn State Extension, Penn State
Dave Messersmith is an Extension Educator with Penn State Extension's Shale Energy Education Team. He has delivered educational programs on Marcellus shale and natural gas - focusing on natural gas pipeline development - throughout Pennsylvania, nationally and internationally. Dave speaks regularly on natural gas pipelines and right of way negotiation to landowners and communities where pipeline activity is being planned. He has authored several peer-reviewed publications including "Negotiating Pipeline Rights of Way in Pennsylvania" and "Understanding Natural Gas Compressor Stations". In addition, Dave recently served on Governor Wolf's Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force which was formed to engage stakeholders in a collaborative process to achieve a world class pipeline infrastructure system.
Job Titles:
- Senior Manager
- Senior Manager, Natural Gas, Environmental Defense Fund
As Senior Manager, Natural Gas for EDF's US Climate and Energy Program, Drew is focused on understanding how best to work with governments and companies to cost-effectively reduce global methane emissions from natural gas production, distribution, and use. Prior to joining EDF, Drew worked for the U.S. Department of State on the international climate negotiations. At the State Department, Drew was the lead negotiator on a variety of issues, including deploying clean technologies, reducing emissions from international aviation, and developing international sustainability criteria for biofuels. Drew also worked at the EPA in the Office of Air and Radiation.
Dr. Olson's technical research integrates biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental data with core, well-log, and seismic data to examine the Earth's stratigraphic record. Her research includes stratigraphic studies in the offshore and onshore Gulf of Mexico, Faeroe Basin, California, and New Jersey Margin. Her education, training, and outreach programs address the areas of unconventional resources and carbon storage, with audiences ranging from state and federal regulators to the public. Dr. Olson's K-12 teacher professional development activities are focused on energy and earth science education, and have received support from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. Her involvement in STEM education for pre-university age girls is focused on addressing energy, climate, and water issues in the 21st century, and building confidence in middle-and high-school age girls. Before joining the University of Texas at Austin she worked as a research geologist for Mobil Research and Development Corporation. Dr. Olson has served as President of the North American Micropaleontology Section of the Society for Sedimentary Geology and as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Ocean Drilling Program. She was awarded the Public Service Award by the Dallas Geological Society.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director at the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach
Jim currently serves as Associate Director at the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR) and Director of Special Initiatives for the Shale …
Job Titles:
- Lecturer, Law, the University of Texas at Austin
John Beckworth served as Associate Dean in the Law School from 2013 through 2018. He has taught Oil and Gas Law during the past three years. Before joining the Law School faculty, Mr. Beckworth taught as an adjunct professor in the Law School during his career in private practice.
After completing his legal education in 1983, Mr. Beckworth joined Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP in Houston where he was an associate and a partner in the firm's litigation section. Beginning in 1994 through 2014, he co-founded and practiced in his own law firm in Houston, Watt Beckworth. During his time in private practice, Mr. Beckworth handled and tried multiple civil jury cases and appeals in state and federal court. His later career in private practice focused in oil, gas, and energy law, both as counsel to companies and individuals in domestic and international oil and gas litigation, transactions, and arbitration and as a principal. Mr. Beckworth continues to work as an attorney, and he serves as an arbitrator in complex energy related disputes.
Mr. Beckworth is a former trustee of The University of Texas Law School Foundation. He is currently a member of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee.
Job Titles:
- Chairman and Frank W. Jessen Professor in Petroleum Engineering Lois K. and Richard D. Folger Leadership Chair, Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, the University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Olson specializes in geomechanics, production optimization and environmental impact issues related to unconventional oil and gas development. His research includes hydraulic fracture design and modeling, induced seismicity, wellbore stability and reservoir compaction and subsidence. He participates in public outreach focused on secondary school science teachers with regard to energy supply and utilization, the place of fossil fuels in the energy mix for the USA, and the use of geologic carbon storage to mitigate greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere. Before joining the University of Texas at Austin he worked as a research engineer for Mobil Research and Development Corporation. Dr. Olson has served as a Distinguished Lecturer for both the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas.
Dr. Kahlor's primary research interest is in health and environmental risk communication with an emphasis on information seeking and processing. A secondary interest is in … Read More »
Linda Ann Battalora, J. D., Ph.D. is a Teaching Professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. She earned her B.S.
Job Titles:
- Manager, Field Inspection Unit, Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
Ms. Ash started with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2005 as an Environmental Protection Specialist covering southeastern Colorado and then moved to a supervisor's role in 2006 working with a number of Environmental Protection Specialists covering southern Colorado. Ms. Ash became the manager of the then newly formed Field Inspection Unit in September 2009. As the manager of this new work unit she developed inspection protocols, designed a Risk Based Inspection Strategy and oversaw the creation of a comprehensive computerized inspection reporting system. Ms. Ash was significantly involved in the development of agency policies, Standard Operating Procedures, conducted fiscal analysis of proposed legislation and authored draft regulations for the upstream oil and gas sector. Ms. Ash retired from the Commission in early 2020.
Dr. Balhoff's research specializes in Chemical EOR, Geological CO2 Storage, and Reservoir Simulation. He focuses on the flow of subsurface fluids with applications to hydrocarbon …
Job Titles:
- Professor of Geosciences, Penn State
Michael A. Arthur, a geochemist and sedimentary geologist, is Penn State Professor of Geosciences. He is a past Department Head in Geosciences and is a recipient of the L.L. Sloss Medal in Sedimentary Geology (Geological Society of America), the Francis P. Shepard Medal for Marine Geology (Society for Sedimentary Geology, SEPM), the Wilson Awards for Research and Teaching in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the Geological Society of America. His research interests include investigating the nature of climates and oceans of the past and the causes of past global change. He has long focused on studies of modern marine environments characterized by organic-carbon rich sediment deposits and the origin and nature of ancient "black shales." The geology of the Devonian Marcellus Shale is a current research emphasis through the efforts of the Appalachian Basin Black Shales Group (Engelder, Slingerland, and Arthur collaboration and students in the Department of Geosciences).
Dr. Batzle held the Baker Hughes Distinguished Chair of Petrophysics and Borehole Geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines, where he was a member of …
Job Titles:
- Principal of Parker Environmental
- Principal, Parker Environmental and Consulting, LLC
Mr. Parker recently retired after over 35 years of service as a Technical Advisor within ExxonMobil Production Company's Upstream Safety, Health, and Environment organization. Mr. Parker provided technical support and guidance to ExxonMobil affiliates world-wide on a range of issues including drilling and production discharges, underground injection control, spill prevention and control, facility decommissioning, artificial reef programs, marine environmental issues, carbon capture and storage, hydraulic fracturing and general issue management coordination.
At retirement, Mr. Parker Chaired the American Petroleum Institute's Upstream Environmental Subcommittee, the Carbon Capture and Storage Work Group and the Hydraulic Fracturing Workgroup and was Upstream Environmental and Regulatory Issue Management Coordinator for ExxonMobil Production Company.
Mr. Parker is currently Principal of Parker Environmental and Consulting which provides environmental and regulatory policy advocacy support on a range of issues, including water resource management, hydraulic fracturing and energy development, offshore facility decommissioning, and carbon capture and storage issues.
Mr. Parker is a graduate of the University of Texas and Texas A&M University and is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas and Louisiana.
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, the University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Bommer has extensive experience in reservoir evaluation and drilling and production practice. His research includes the investigation of oil field cementing operations and design, the testing and application of foam and foam cement, the fatigue life of sucker rods, and the mechanics of down-hole gas-liquid separators. He served on the National Academy of Engineering committee that investigated the causes of the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. He has received numerous teaching awards including the University of Texas System Board of Regents Teaching Award in 2014. Dr. Bommer has published articles in several fields including solution mining, beam pump design, and well log analysis. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas.
This year marks my 50th year in the explosives business. The adventure began in 1967 when I joined the United States Air Force and served … Read More »
Job Titles:
- Professor, Boettcher Chair in Petroleum Geology, Department of Geology & Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
Dr. Sonnenberg specializes in sequence stratigraphy, tectonic influence on sedimentation, reservoir characterization, unconventional resources, and petroleum traps. His career includes leadership positions at Exxon, EnCana Energy Resources, and Anadarko Petroleum. He is a licensed professional geologist in the State of Utah, and serves on the advisory committee for the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Texas A&M University. Dr. Sonnenberg served as Chairman of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission from 1999 until 2003, and holds several awards, including a 2003 fellowship with the Geologic Society of America.
Dr. Engelder is a leading authority on the recent Marcellus gas shale play. He has previously served on the staffs of the US Geological Survey, …