Each year, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) confers its highest honors and awards on members whose outstanding contributions to SPE and the petroleum industry merit special recognition. Recipients of this year’s international awards will be recognized at the Annual Reception and Banquet on Tuesday, 29 September, and Distinguished Members will be honored at the President’s Luncheon, Wednesday, 30 September during the 2015 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Houston.
Honorary Membership
Honorary Membership is conferred on individuals for outstanding service to SPE and/or in recognition of distinguished scientific or engineering achievement in fields encompassed in SPE’s technical scope. Honorary Membership is the highest honor that SPE confers on an individual and is limited to 0.1% of SPE’s total membership.
Bernt S. Aadnøy is a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Stavanger in Norway. He started working for Phillips Petroleum in Odessa, Texas, in 1978. In 1980, he joined Rogaland Research (now the International Research Institute of Stavanger) and was central in building the Ullrigg, a drilling research rig. Later, he worked for Saga Petroleum, where he developed the Norwegian well design manual. He also helped develop an undergraduate petroleum engineering program at the University of the Faroe Islands. Aadnøy has published many conference and journal articles and several books such as Modern Well Design and Petroleum Rock Mechanics: Drilling Operations and Well Design, and was one of the editors of Advanced Drilling and Well Technology. He holds 10 patents. He has served as a board member in the SPE Stavanger Section, on the JPT Editorial Committee, and on the planning committees of many SPE conferences. Aadnøy has been a reviewer for SPE Journal, SPE Drilling & Completion, and the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. He has given many SPE short courses around the world, mainly on the topic of modern well design. He was a recipient of the 1999 SPE Drilling Engineering Award. Aadnøy holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Wyoming, an MS in control engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in rock mechanics from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.
Hazim H. Abass is a professor and research director of the Fracturing, Acidizing, Stimulation Technology Consortium at the Colorado School of Mines. Before joining the school in 2014, he was a senior consultant and the unconventional resources focus area champion at the Advanced Research Center of Saudi Aramco. Abass also worked as a development engineer at the Halliburton Research Center in Oklahoma, a Halliburton consultant at the PDVSA Research Center in Venezuela, and a petroleum engineer at the Northern Petroleum Organization in Iraq. He advanced the practical applications of rock mechanics to solve petroleum engineering-related problems. He introduced new concepts and technologies related to oriented perforation, oriented fracturing, sanding tendency, fracturing horizontal wells, acid and proppant hydraulic fracturing, water coning, gas hydrates, and coalbed methane. He holds 11 US patents, has written more than 50 technical papers, and contributed to three industrial books. Abass is the recipient of the 2008 SPE Middle East Regional Production Operations Award, the 2012 SPE Completion Optimizations and Technology Award, and the 2012 SPE Middle East Regional Completion Optimizations and Technology Award. He served SPE on multiple committees and technical events as chairman, cochairman, member, technical editor, Distinguished Lecturer, discussion leader, and speaker. Abass holds a BSc from the University of Baghdad and MSc and PhD degrees from the Colorado School of Mines, all in petroleum engineering.
Syed A. Ali is a technical adviser at Schlumberger Technology Corp. He began his career as a project geologist at Gulf Research and Development Co. in 1976, and held various positions at Chevron starting in 1981. He joined Schlumberger in 2007. Ali is recognized as an expert in formation damage control, sandstone acidizing, and production chemistry. He has authored approximately 150 technical papers. Ali received the 2014 SPE DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal, the 2006 SPE Production and Operations Award, the 2012 Distinguished Service Award, and Distinguished Membership in 2013. He served as a Distinguished Lecturer in 2004–2005. In 2009, he played an instrumental role in establishing the SPE International Production and Operations Conference. He also helped establish the SPE Deepwater Drilling and Completions Conference in 2010 and was cochair of the 2014 conference. He is chair of the JPT Editorial Committee. Ali holds BS and MS degrees in geology from the University of Karachi in Pakistan, an MS in geology from Ohio State University, and a PhD in geology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
J.J. Azar is a distinguished adjunct professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston and a retired professor emeritus of petroleum engineering at the University of Tulsa (TU). He started his career as an assistant professor of mechanical/aerospace engineering at TU in 1965, and in 1975, he joined the petroleum engineering department as a full professor and director of Drilling Research Projects. Azar built one of the most comprehensive drilling programs in the history of the department. He is the author of four books, coauthor of Drilling Engineering and the Encyclopedia of Energy, and has written numerous articles in technical journals. He is a recipient of the 1998 SPE Drilling Engineering Award, 1997 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, and 2004 SPE Distinguished Membership Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Azar holds BS and MS degrees in aerospace engineering and a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Oklahoma.
SPE Seeks Nominations for the 2016 International Awards
SPE needs help in recognizing significant technical and professional contributions to the oil and gas industry and the petroleum engineering profession.
SPE award committees are seeking nominations from 15 November 2015 through 15 February 2016 for all 2016 awards. Award criteria, nomination forms, and other information can be found at www.spe.org/awards/. Review the eligibility requirements and nominate a worthy colleague today.
Thomas A. Blasingame is a professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University and the holder of the Robert L. Whiting Professorship. He was a graduate assistant from 1984 to 1989, and a research associate from 1989 to 1990. Blasingame has consulted for more than 30 industry clients worldwide, including ExxonMobil, Repsol, and Saudi Aramco. He has made contributions to research in applied reservoir engineering, including integration of formation evaluation data, new material balance methods, correlations for rock and hydrocarbon fluid properties, and analytical solutions for modeling the flow of single and multiphase fluids in porous media. Blasingame received the SPE Distinguished Membership in 2000, the Distinguished Service Award in 2005, the Lester C. Uren Award in 2006, the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal in 2012, the DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal in 2013, and the Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty in 2014. He also served as a Distinguished Lecturer in 2005–2006. He is program chair for the 2015 SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition and a member of the SPE Reservoir Description and Dynamics Advisory Committee. Blasingame holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University.
DeAnn Craig is an industry adviser on project valuation and strategic endeavors and an adjunct professor of petroleum engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. She serves on two corporate boards and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Craig started her career in reservoir and drilling engineering at Phillips Petroleum and Mobil Oil. She went on to hold management positions such as operations manager of West Area and manager of Worldwide Drilling & Production at Phillips and served as president of Phillips Petroleum Resources Canada. More recent positions include senior vice president of asset assessment at CNX Gas and a consultant at Chevron North America Exploration and Production. In 2010, she served as president of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers. Craig was a recipient of the SPE Young Member Outstanding Service Award in 1987 and the Distinguished Membership in 2008. In 1998, Craig served as SPE president. She has also served as chair of the Denver Section, the Energy Information Committee, and the SPE Task Force on Women, and as treasurer and president of the SPE Foundation. Craig holds an MBA from Regis University. She earned an MSc in mineral economics and business, and international political economy of resources, and an interdisciplinary PhD from the Colorado School of Mines.
Emmanuel Garland is a special adviser to the vice president of health, safety, and environment (HSE) at Total Exploration and Production (E&P). He provides support and advice to companies on international standards and regulations. In 1980, Garland joined Elf Aquitaine (now Total), where he held positions such as head of research and development projects for produced water, head of production engineering, and head of the E&P environmental division. For more than 20 years, he represented Total on the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers’ environmental committee, which he chaired from 2005 to 2013. Garland is a member of the French delegation on the OSPAR Commission, which manages the convention for the protection of the marine environment in the northeast Atlantic, and chaired the expert assessment panel of its offshore industry committee for 7 years. He was an HSSE-SR technical director on the SPE Board from 2005 to 2008 and a Distinguished Lecturer from 2009 to 2010. He serves on the JPT Editorial Committee. Garland holds an MSc from École Centrale de Paris in physics and an MSc in petroleum engineering from École Nationale des Pétroles et des Moteurs.
John Franklin Carll Award
The John Franklin Carll Award recognizes contributions of technical application and professionalism in petroleum development and recovery.
Cem Sarica is the F.H. “Mick” Merelli/Cimarex Energy Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tulsa (TU). He is also the director of three industry-supported consortia at the university, which are focused on fluid flow, paraffin deposition, and horizontal well artificial lift. Before joining TU, he was an associate professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering at Pennsylvania State University and an assistant professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). Sarica has submitted more than 115 peer-reviewed technical articles to various journals and conferences and written more than 50 conference papers. His research interests are production engineering, multiphase flow in pipes, flow assurance, and horizontal wells. Sarica is the chair-elect of the Projects, Facilities, and Construction (PFC) Subcommittee for the 2016 SPE ATCE and was the cochair of the 2015 SPE Flow Assurance Forum. He has previously served as a member of the SPE Production and Operations and Books Development committees, chair of SPE International PFC and Production and Operations Award committees, and was a member of the SPE JournalEditorial Board between 1999 and 2007. He is the recipient of the 2010 SPE Production and Operations Award and was recognized as a Distinguished Member in 2012. Sarica holds BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering from ITU and a PhD in petroleum engineering from TU.
Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal
Established in 1936, the Anthony F. Lucas Gold medal recognizes achievement in improving the technique and practice of finding and producing petroleum.
Anil Kumar is the founder and president of Omak Technologies in Plano, Texas. He started his career in 1971 and later became chairman and associate professor of petroleum engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. He helped create the institute’s Petroleum Recovery Research Center. Kumar then worked in senior positions at a number of oil and gas companies, including Gulf Oil, Chevron, Mobil E&P Technical Center, Devon Energy of Indonesia, and PetroChina International Jakarta. As a senior vice president at Reliance Industries, he led a 60-member subsurface team for a deepwater field development in India’s Krishna-Godavari Basin’s D6 block. Kumar pioneered the breakthrough pressure derivative methodology for oil, gas, and injection well test analysis and interpretation, which has become a dominant technology platform in the past 40 years. He has published numerous technical papers, and coauthored five books, including Gas Well Test Analysis Under Water Drive Conditions. He received the SPE Reservoir Engineering Award in 1997 and the SPE Formation Evaluation Award in 2013. He became an SPE Distinguished Member in 2001 and was a Distinguished Lecturer during 1995–1996. Kumar holds a BSc from the Indian School of Mines Dhanbad, India, an MS from Louisiana State University, and a PhD from Stanford University, all in petroleum engineering.
Lester C. Uren Award
The Lester C. Uren Award recognizes distinguished achievement in the technology of petroleum engineering by a member who made the contribution before age 45.
Anthony R. Kovscek is a professor and chairman of Stanford University’s Energy Resources Engineering Department. He joined Stanford in 1996 as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor and received tenure in 2003. He received Stanford’s School of Earth Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1997. He was the inaugural Global Climate and Energy Project Distinguished Lecturer on carbon sequestration in 2008. He has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed articles and about 120 SPE meeting proceedings manuscripts. Kovscek’s publications report on studies of enhanced oil recovery processes for unconventional resources including hydrocarbons such as shale and heavy oil in tight media. He and his research group apply advanced, nondestructive imaging techniques to understand complex multiphase flows of gas, water, and oil in porous media. From 2009 to 2012, Kovscek was the executive editor of SPE Journal. He received an SPE Regional Technical Achievement Award in 2005 and the SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty in 2006. Kovscek holds BS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Washington and University of California at Berkeley, respectively.
Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal
The Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal recognizes distinguished achievement in mining administration, including metallurgy and petroleum.
Amin H. Nasser is the acting president and chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco and a member of the Saudi Aramco board of directors. He concurrently serves as senior vice president of upstream, a position he has held since 2008. Nasser joined the company in 1982 and held various technical and operational assignments with the Production Engineering, Drilling, and Reservoir Management departments. In 1997, he became the manager of the Ras Tanura Producing Department, and later, the manager of the Northern Area Producing Engineering Department, the Safaniya Offshore Producing Department, and the Safaniya Onshore Producing Department. He was appointed chief petroleum engineer in 2004, and named executive director of Petroleum Engineering and Development (PE&D) in 2005. Nasser’s leadership led to his appointment as vice president of PE&D in 2006, and then as acting business-line head of Exploration and Producing (E&P) in 2007. In 2008, he became E&P’s senior vice president. He is actively involved in professional and societal activities focused on the advancement of education, and people and technology development. He is a member of the Dhahran Techno-Valley Company board of directors. A longtime SPE member, he has served on SPE’s Industry Advisory Council since 2008. Nasser holds a BS in petroleum engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal
The DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal recognizes distinguished and outstanding service to SPE, to the professions of engineering and/or geology, and to the petroleum industry.
Ali Ghalambor is the technical adviser at the Oil Center Research International and an international consultant. He has more than 35 years of industrial and academic experience in the petroleum industry. He held engineering and supervisory positions at Tenneco Oil, Amerada Hess, and Occidental Research Corp. He has served as the American Petroleum Institute Endowed Professor, head of the petroleum engineering department, and director of the Energy Institute at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He served as commissioner on the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. Ghalambor has performed consulting and training services in more than 40 countries. He has authored or coauthored 14 books and manuals and more than 180 technical papers. He is recognized for his technical contributions on fundamental and applied research on formation damage control. He received the SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty in 2001, the Distinguished Member Award in 2006, the Production and Operations Award in 2007, Distinguished Service Award in 2008, A Peer Apart Editorial Award in 2008, and the Regional Completion and Optimization Award in 2009. He was director of the Central and Southeastern North America Region on the SPE International Board of Directors and is the founding chairman of the SPE International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control. Ghalambor holds BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and a PhD in environmental sciences and engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty
This award recognizes superior teaching, excellence in research, significant contributions to the petroleum engineering profession, and/or special effectiveness in advising and guiding students.
Akhil Datta-Gupta is a regents professor and holder of the L.F. Peterson ’36 Endowed Chair in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University. He is known for his contributions to fast flow simulation methods, inverse modeling, reservoir characterization, and optimization for both conventional and unconventional reservoirs. In addition to his academic activities, Datta-Gupta is also an international consultant in the oil and gas industry. In 2008, he received the US Department of Energy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Basic Research in Geosciences. He served as a member of the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences from 2001 to 2004 and on the Technology Task Force of the National Petroleum Council in 2007. He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2012. He received the SPE John Franklin Carll Award in 2009 and the Lester C. Uren Award in 2003. Datta-Gupta holds a BS degree from the Indian School of Mines and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, all in petroleum engineering.
Public Service Award
The SPE Public Service Award recognizes distinguished public service to a country, state, community, or the public through excellence in leadership, service, or humanitarianism, provided the service is above the requirements of employment and is therefore not a compensated activity. Recipients of this award automatically become Distinguished Members.
Richard D. Folger is a managing general partner of Colbridge Partners. He began his career in the oil and gas industry working on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and in gas plant construction at Collier Carbon and Chemical. From 1984 to 1992, he was employed at First City National Bank Midland, where he became senior vice president and manager of the Energy Lending Division. Folger joined Compressor Systems as vice president of business development in 1992 and was appointed president in 1996. In 1999, he was elected president and chief executive officer of the parent company, Warren Equipment Co. Folger was a recipient of the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Distinguished Engineering Graduate Award at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in 2011. He was presented with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Hope Award in 2013. His professional and community affiliations include roles as director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas El Paso Branch, past chairman of the Board of Midland Memorial Hospital, director of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, and member of the UT Engineering Advisory Board. Folger holds a BBA in petroleum land management and a BS in petroleum engineering from UT.
Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award
The SPE Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes contributions to SPE and the E&P industry that exhibit such exceptional devotion of time, effort, thought, and action as to set them apart from other contributions. This award will be given to relatively few individuals whose contributions to the industry stand out even above their excellence of services to SPE.
Zhou Jiping is the former chairman of the board of China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). He is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and is serving as an executive committee member and vice president of marketing at the World Petroleum Council. He has more than 40 years of experience in onshore and offshore petroleum exploration and development. Before his retirement as chairman of CNPC in May, Zhou held numerous management positions, such as general manager of China National Oil & Gas Exploration and Development Corp.’s (CNODC) Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea companies; president of the Greater Nile International Petroleum Operating Co.; vice president and president of CNODC; assistant president, vice president, and president of CNPC; and vice chairman and president of PetroChina. Zhou also held the position of exploration manager in China National Offshore Oil Corp.’s Exploration and Production Department. He was a visiting scholar at Exxon USA from 1991 to 1992 and a senior visiting scholar with the Eisenhower Fellowships program in the US in 1997. He has been a member of the SPE Industry Advisory Council since 2007. Zhou holds a BS in geophysics from China Petroleum University and an MS in geophysics from the Chinese Academy of Science.
Distinguished Service Award
The SPE Distinguished Service Award recognizes contributions to the Society that exhibit such exceptional devotion of time, effort, thought, and action as to set them apart from other contributions.
Dennis E. Dria is the president and petroleum technology adviser at Myden Energy Consulting. He has 37 years of experience in the industry, including 9 years with the Standard Oil Co. (now BP) as a senior research chemist and 21 years with Shell as a staff research engineer. When he left Shell in 2010, he was working on fiber-optic technology development and implementation of well and reservoir monitoring. Dria was also an engineering adviser to the company’s global implementation team for reservoir surveillance technologies and a global subject matter expert in production logging and permanent sensing. He is the author or coauthor of 15 technical publications and a contributing editor of SPE’s Petroleum Engineering Handbook. He holds 26 US patents. Dria has chaired the SPE International Continuing Education Committee and the Gulf Coast Section Continuing Education Committee. He has served as a technical committee member of the 2010 SPE Annual Technology Conference and Exhibition and as chair of the production monitoring and control technical subcommittee. In 2011–2012, he was a Distinguished Lecturer on fiber-optic technology. Dria holds a BS in physics and mathematics from Ashland University and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Deonarine J. Jaggernauth is a commissioner on the Integrity Commission of Trinidad and Tobago, a position to which he was appointed by the country’s president in 2013. He has 34 years of experience in reservoir engineering, production engineering, natural gas engineering, management, and health, safety, and environment (HSE) at Petrotrin. He mentored many young engineers both at Petrotrin and the SPE Trinidad and Tobago Section. Jaggernauth served as chairman of the section in 1984 and as treasurer for 13 years. He has also served on the Exploration and Production HSE Committee, Books Development Committee, and the Engineering Professionalism Committee, among others. Jaggernauth has written and presented many papers on HSE topics at SPE conferences. He received the SPE Regional Service Award in 2001 and Distinguished Membership in 2005. Jaggernauth holds BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering from the University of Kansas and an MS in environmental engineering from the University of the West Indies.
Andrei S. Popa is a technology adviser leading the artificial intelligence and machine learning team in the applied reservoir management department at Chevron in San Joaquin Valley in California. He joined Chevron as a production engineer in 2002. He has held many positions such as reservoir engineer, special projects lead engineer, subsurface team lead, and i-field reservoir management program manager. Popa has published 36 papers on artificial intelligence technology and its applications. In 2011, he coauthored the book,Artificial Intelligence & Data Mining (AI & DM) Applications in the Exploration and Production Industry, as part of SPE’s Getting Up to Speed series. He was a Distinguished Lecturer in 2013-2014, membership director of the Predictive Data-Driven Analytics Technical Section, and a technical editor of SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering. His service has earned him several awards, such as the 2013 SPE International Management and Information Award, the 2013 Regional Service Award, the 2011 Management and Information Award, and the 2006 Regional Young Member Outstanding Service Award. Popa holds BS and MS degrees in petroleum and natural gas engineering from the University of Ploiesti, and MS and PhD degrees in petroleum and natural gas engineering from West Virginia University.
Cedric K. Ferguson Young Technical Author Medal and Certificate
The SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Medal recognizes professional achievement in petroleum engineering. The medal is presented for the paper written by an SPE member age 35 and under at the time the paper was peer approved. Coauthors of the selected paper who are age 36 and over and who are SPE members receive the Cedric K. Ferguson Certificate. The paper being recognized is “A New Comprehensive Model for Predicting Liquid Loading in Gas Wells.”
Shu Luo (medal) is a reservoir engineer at PetroTel. He has published several technical papers on reservoir engineering, production engineering, and liquid loading. He won second place in the doctoral division of the SPE International Student Paper Contest at the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in 2013. Luo holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from the China University of Petroleum in Beijing, and MS and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.
Mohan Kelkar (certificate) is the chairman and Williams Endowed Professor in the petroleum engineering department at the University of Tulsa. He has written more than 60 refereed papers and made more than 200 technical presentations. He is also the author and coauthor of three books that are used as textbooks by petroleum engineering programs. Kelkar was a Distinguished Lecturer in 2007–2008 on integrated reservoir modeling and a recipient of the SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty in 2010. He served on the SPE International Board from 2010 to 2013 and is a Distinguished Member. Kelkar holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Bombay, and an MS in petroleum engineering and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Eduardo Pereyra (certificate) is an assistant professor of petroleum engineering and associate director of fluid flow and horizontal wells artificial lift projects at the University of Tulsa. During the summers of 2005–2007, he worked as a research scientist intern at Chevron’s advanced production technology/subsea technology unit, carrying out theoretical studies on conventional separators performance. In 2006, Pereyra worked on multiphase systems integration, which involved consulting on multiphase transport, facilities design, and multiphase flow metering systems. Before that, he worked on multiphase flow and reservoir simulation for heavy oil at PDVSA’s research and development center. His research interests are multiphase flow systems and transport, flow assurance, and separation technologies. He has written several articles and conference papers in these areas. Pereyra holds a BS in mechanical engineering and systems engineering from the Universidad de Los Andes in Venezuela, and an MS and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.
Cem Sarica (certificate) is the fourth recipient of the award. For his full biography, see the John Franklin Carll Award.
Completions Optimization and Technology Award
SPE technical awards recognize outstanding achievement or contributions to the advancement of petroleum engineering in the area of the technical discipline specified by the award.
Mehmet Parlar is a technical adviser at Schlumberger Sand Management Services in Houston. He has 26 years of industry experience, with 7 years in product development and 19 in sand control, with the company. A contributor to more than 60 technical papers and a chapter in SPE’s Frac Packing Handbook, Parlar holds 27 US patents. He was recognized as an SPE Distinguished Author in 2000 and a Distinguished Member in 2007. He has been actively involved in SPE conferences, applied technology workshops, and forums as an organizing committee member, technical committee member, session chair, discussion leader, moderator, and speaker. He was a Distinguished Lecturer in 2007–2008 and 2011–2012. He has organized numerous training courses on sand control, with more than 300 operating company engineers attending worldwide in 2014. Parlar holds a BS from Istanbul Technical University and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Southern California, all in petroleum engineering.
Drilling Engineering Award
Neal Adams is a research professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston, where he has taught an undergraduate drilling course. He has worked in the drilling industry for 42 years and in 33 countries. Throughout his career, his main interests have been drilling problems and prevention, well control, optimization, and conducting seminars. He has written five books, coauthored chapters in two SPE publications, and published 80 technical papers. Adams has been involved with SPE since 1982 and has served in several capacities, such as a Distinguished Lecturer in 1982–1983, a member of the Board of Directors of the Gulf Coast Section, and treasurer and chairman of the section’s Drilling Study Group. Adams holds an MS and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Houston and Colorado School of Mines, respectively.
Formation Evaluation Award
Cosan Ayan is a reservoir engineering adviser at Schlumberger Oilfield Services based in Clamart, France. He is the technical director of reservoir engineering and management at wireline headquarters, and leads the company’s team worldwide. During his 25 years with Schlumberger, he held reservoir engineering positions in Dubai, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Aberdeen, Houston, Jakarta, and Paris. Before that, Ayan was an associate professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He works on interpretation and development projects, focusing on wireline formation testers, transient well tests, production logging, and reservoir monitoring and management. He is the author or coauthor of more than 75 technical papers on transient testing, reservoir monitoring, and reservoir engineering and holds 15 patents on interpretation, downhole tools, and acquisition techniques. Ayan is the editor of two volumes of SPE’s Getting Up to Speed series on formation testing. He has served on several technical committees, including the SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering (SPEREE) editorial review committee and Reservoir Description and Dynamics committee. He was a Distinguished Lecturer in 2005–2006 and an executive editor of the SPEREE from 2007 to 2010. Ayan holds a BS degree from Middle East Technical University, and MS and PhD degrees from Texas A&M University, all in petroleum engineering.
Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Award
Tom Knode is a contract consultant at Statoil on health, safety, and environmental (HSE) issues such as safety leadership. He recently retired from Halliburton after more than 25 years with the company. Knode began his career with Halliburton as a laboratory petrophysicist in 1985. He held various positions in the company’s global HSE and manufacturing units. In 2013, he was appointed as director of global HSE, responsible for supporting the health and safety technical resources for operations. Knode has served as a committee member for numerous international and regional SPE forums, workshops, and conferences. He has authored and co-authored nearly 20 papers on HSE management and leadership. In the SPE Gulf Coast Section, he served as chair of the Safety and Environment Study Group from 2004 to 2005 and received the section’s HSSE award in 2008. From 2008 to 2011, he served as SPE technical director of Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility (HSSE-SR). He cochaired the 2010 SPE International Conference on HSSE-SR and four regional HSSE-SR conferences in North America and Europe. Knode holds a BS in geology from Texas Christian University and an MS in geology from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Management and Information Award
Art J. Schroeder Jr. is the chief executive officer of Energy Valley and a principal with Safe Marine Transfer. He has more than 25 years of experience in operations, engineering, construction, and crisis management. He sits on several professional, corporate, and civic boards and is focused on assisting entrepreneurial startups and new technology development. Schroeder has been the manager of deepwater technology and commercialization for the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America and was a consultant project manager for the DeepStar consortium. He has also served in multiple roles on the board of directors of the Offshore Technology Conference. Schroeder is cofounder of the SPE e-Commerce Study Group. He was a member of the SPE Gulf Coast Section Board from 2002 to 2006, vice treasurer of the section from 2004 to 2005, and its treasurer from 2005 to 2006. Schroeder holds BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering with a minor in environmental engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA in finance with a minor in international business from the University of Houston.
Production and Operations Award
Luigi Saputelli is the president of Frontender, a petroleum engineering services firm. He is also a senior adviser to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. He has 25 years of experience as a senior petroleum engineering consultant. He spent 3 years with Hess, 5 with Halliburton, and 11 with PDVSA. He has worked in several countries such as Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Scotland, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, and USA. Saputelli is an industry recognized researcher, invited lecturer, and an SPE liaison and committee member. He is a founding member of the Petroleum Data-Driven Analytics Technical Section. Saputelli’s main areas of interest are integrated reservoir modeling and simulation for improved oil recovery, field development, drilling and well planning projects, rig automation, production operations, and oilfield automation projects. He has published more than 45 industry papers. Saputelli holds a BS in electronic engineering from Universidad Simon Bolívar, an MS in petroleum engineering from Imperial College London, and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Houston.
Projects, Facilities, and Construction Award
Theodore Frankiewicz is an engineering adviser at SPEC Services. He has more than 30 years of experience in oilfield process systems and produced water treatment. His areas of expertise include operations, equipment design, and process engineering. He has worked for Occidental Petroleum, Unocal, and Natco Group. As a senior consultant at Unocal, Frankiewicz developed technology for the Gulf of Thailand to remove mercury, arsenic, and residual oil from produced water. His work set many of the water quality standards for discharges into Southeast Asian seas. As vice president of process solutions at Natco, he led efforts to use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for designing slosh-control internals for horizontal vessels on floating production, storage, and offloading vessels and floating platforms. He also used CFD simulations to develop an effective design for a vertical column flotation vessel and to generate designs for large onshore process tanks. Frankiewicz holds 15 patents and has written more than 35 technical papers. He was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer from 2009 to 2010 and a session chairman at six SPE conferences. He is the Los Angeles Basin Section chairman and serves on the Projects, Facilities, and Construction Advisory Committee and the JPT Editorial Committee. Frankiewicz holds a BA in chemistry from Oberlin College and MS and PhD degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago.
Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award
Long Nghiem is the vice president of research and development at Computer Modelling Group. He has been with the company since its founding in 1977 and has provided leadership in the development of technologies for the simulation and optimization of complex recovery processes. Nghiem has been an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary since 2005. He has published more than 100 SPE journal articles and conference papers, mostly on reservoir simulation. He has served on the program committees for eight SPE Reservoir Simulation symposiums and five SPE forums. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. Nghiem holds a BS in chemical engineering from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, an MS in chemical engineering from the University of Waterloo, and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Alberta.
Young Member Outstanding Service Award
The Young Member Outstanding Service Award recognizes contributions to and leadership in the public and community arenas, as well as SPE, the profession, and the industry, by a member under age 36.
Ugochi E. Akwiwu is a project officer at the Nigerian Petroleum Development Co. She became an SPE member in 2008 and has served as communications chair in the Benin City Nigeria Section and on multiple committees for the SPE Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition since 2010. She has also shared her career development experiences with students as a member of the SPE Ambassador Lecturer Program. Akwiwu was an officer when her section won the SPE President’s Award for Section Excellence in 2014 and received the Regional Young Member Outstanding Service Award in 2015. She earned her project management professional certification in 2013. Akwiwu holds a B.Tech. in project management technology from the Federal University of Technology Owerri and an MSc in engineering management from the University of Benin.
Yousif M. Al-Tahan is an assistant to the vice president of petroleum engineering and development at Saudi Aramco. He started his career as a gas facilities engineer in 2002 and worked in several disciplines, such as drilling, production, and reservoir engineering. He analyzed, optimized, and evaluated the development and implementation of several crude oil and nonassociated gas megaprojects, including the Haradh Increment, the Manifa field, the first Saudi Aramco offshore nonassociated gas project in the Karan field, and the upstream facilities at the Arabiyah and Hasbah gas fields. Al-Tahan served as the SPE Saudi Arabia Section’s (SAS) young professional vice chairman, publication officer, and section chairman. In 2011, he won the Regional Young Member Outstanding Service Award. He has served on several technical committees, including the 2015 Middle East Oil Show and the SPE/SAS Annual Technical Symposium and Exhibition held in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Al-Tahan holds a BS and an MS in petroleum engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and the University of New South Wales, respectively.
Antonio C. Fernandez is vice president in the energy investment banking group at global banking firm Jefferies, where he is engineering lead in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. He started his career as a production engineer at Noble Energy in Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin. He has also held reservoir engineering positions on the company’s business development team as well as in its Cyprus business unit. Fernandez serves on the SPE Gulf Coast Section’s Permian Basin Study Group committee and was a recipient of the section’s inaugural Exemplary Volunteer Award and the SPE Regional Young Member Outstanding Service Award in 2014. He is the 2015 editor-in-chief of The Way Ahead, a magazine for young exploration and production professionals. As cochair of the PetroBowl Work Group, he has helped internationalize the quiz competition through the introduction of regional qualifier rounds. He is also an SPE Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium committee member. Fernandez holds a BS in economics from Duke University and an MEng in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University.
Luciano O. Fucello is a sales and business development engineer at Schlumberger’s completions group, and is focused on unconventional resources in Argentina. He also works at the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires (ITBA) as a coordinator of the “Well Completion in Unconventional Reservoirs” postgraduate course, and as an associate professor of the “Well Completion and Workover” class at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the petroleum engineering department. Before this tenure, Fucello worked for APCO Oil & Gas International, Petrolera Patagonia, Schlumberger Well Services, and Tecna in various positions including reservoir engineer, production and operations lead engineer, stimulation field engineer, and process engineer. He has held several SPE leadership positions, including Young Professionals Committee chairman of the Argentina and Patagonia sections, editor of SPE’s Contacto magazine, and a member of the Student Development Committee and Young Professionals Coordinating Committee. He received a 2012 Regional Young Member Outstanding Service Award and was chosen in 2013 to represent SPE in the Emerging Leaders Alliance. Fucello holds a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Buenos Aires.
Alejandro D. Primera is a reservoir engineering consultant and director of Primera Reservoir. He is a consultant to Nexen on the Buzzard field in the UK North Sea. Primera started his career as a reservoir engineer at Schlumberger in 2004 and later held positions such as reservoir simulation product analyst and reservoir simulation product champion. He also worked as a senior reservoir engineer at Eni. He is a member of the SPE London Section where he has served as chairperson and continuing education chair. He was selected to attend the 2011 Emerging Leaders Alliance Conference and was a recipient of the 2012 SPE Regional Young Member Outstanding Service Award in 2012. Primera holds a BSc in petroleum engineering from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.
Helena Wu is a senior reservoir engineer at Santos in Adelaide, Australia. Since starting the Santos Graduate Program in 2008, she has completed field and office-based rotations in production engineering, reservoir engineering, and business/production planning. In 2007, she was awarded a University Medal from the Queensland University of Technology. Wu is chair of the SPE South Australian Section, secretary and treasurer of the SPE Australia/New Zealand/Papua New Guinea Council, a member of the SPE Asia Pacific Regional Technical Advisory Committee, a member of the SPE Gender Diversity Task Force, and a leader of the Innovation Subcommittee of the SPE International Young Member Engagement Committee. In 2014, Wu was a recipient of the Regional Young Member Outstanding Service Award. She was also named the Australian Institute of Energy’s Young Energy Professional, South Australia. Wu holds a BS in mechanical engineering and an MS in engineering management from the Queensland University of Technology, an MS in petroleum engineering from the University of Adelaide, and a graduate diploma in energy and resources management from University College London.
Distinguished Membership
SPE Distinguished Membership recognizes SPE members whose achievements and/or service to the society are deemed worthy of special recognition. SPE members become Distinguished Members when they are elected by the SPE Board of Directors, or once they become a past president of SPE or the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers; an SPE Honorary Member; a recipient of the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal, John Franklin Carll Award, Lester C. Uren Award, DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal, Public Service Award, or Distinguished Service Award.
Rosalind A. Archer, University of Auckland
Larry K. Britt, NSI Fracturing and Britt Rock Mechanics Laboratory
Shari Dunn-Norman, Missouri University of Science & Technology
Naz H. Gazi, Kuwait Oil Co.
A. Rashid Hasan, Texas A&M University
Richard C. Haut, Houston Advanced Research
Tim L. Hower, MHA Petroleum Consultants
Chun Huh, The University of Texas at Austin
George E. King, Apache
Min-Teong Lim, Enhanced Oil Recovery Consulting
Yuzhang Liu, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
Tony Martin, Baker Hughes
Dauda Aleokhai Musa, Flowgrids
Michael Obi Onyekonwu, University of Port Harcourt
Carlos Torres-Verdin, The University of Texas at Austin
George K. Wong, Shell
Yu-Shu Wu, Colorado School of Mines
Khalid A. Zainalabedin, Saudi Aramco
