Each year, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) bestows its highest honors and awards on members whose outstanding contributions to SPE and the petroleum industry merit special distinction. Recipients of the 2013 SPE international awards will be recognized at the Annual Reception and Banquet held Tuesday, 1 October, and SPE Distinguished Members will be honored at the President’s Luncheon, Wednesday, 2 October. Both events are held during the 2013 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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 SPE confers upon an individual and is limited to 0.1% of SPE’s total membership.
Ali Rashid Al-Jarwan serves as chief executive officer (CEO) of Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In 1979, he started his career at Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) as a petroleum engineer/reservoir engineer, subsequently assuming the role at ADCO of senior reservoir engineer/head of development planning. Al-Jarwan then worked as manager of petroleum development, senior vice president (svp) technical, and svp operations at ADMA-OPCO. He then moved to Zakum Development Company, where he worked as deputy general manager, becoming CEO of ADMA-OPCO in 2006.
Al-Jarwan received SPE Distinguished Membership in 1999 and several other honors from the government and the oil and gas industry, including an SPE Regional Award; two Innovation awards from BP–Middle East; and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company 2010 Health, Safety, and Environment Man of the Year Award. He earned a BS degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma; completed an MBA program from the International Institute for Management Development (now known as IMD); and earned a degree in general management from the Granfield School of Management in the UK.
Kate Hadley Baker is retired from BP America in Houston, Texas. Her career has spanned many areas among the geoscience and engineering disciplines, including geotechnical, drilling, and reservoir engineering; geology; geophysics; and formation evaluation. Baker started her career at Exxon Production Research Company, working as a research geologist, becoming supervisory geologist in the Reservoir Description Section. She then moved from senior to district geologist positions in Exxon’s Offshore Division, then to head of formation evaluation at Exxon Company USA. After serving in various managerial roles at BP and its predecessor companies, she became distinguished advisor and director of new well delivery in BP’s Upstream Technology Function, serving also during 2009–10 as Vann Fellow to Princeton University.
Baker was awarded SPE Distinguished Membership, and Rotary International made her a Paul Harris Fellow. Among many professional volunteer positions, she has served with the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee and US Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Basic Energy Sciences Council on Earth Sciences. She currently chairs the annual peer review for the US DOE Geothermal Technologies Program Office and is secretary of the American Rock Mechanics Association. In her association with SPE, Baker is proudest of helping nurture it as an international organization, as a participant in the digital age, and as custodian of international reserves and resources definitions. She earned a BS degree in geology and a PhD in geophysics—both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Emmanuel O. Egbogah is founder and chairman of the board of Emerald Energy Resources in Lagos, Nigeria. Following graduation with an MS in applied petroleum geology from Friendship University, Moscow, Russia, he began his career as a reservoir/production engineer at Pacific Petroleums Ltd., in Calgary, Canada. He then earned an MS degree in petroleum engineering at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and a PhD in petroleum reservoir engineering from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. Egbogah joined United Petro Laboratories in 1980 as manager of reservoir engineering. He subsequently served in various managerial and advisory capacities at Amerigo Technology, Calgary; Libyan National Oil Corporation, Tripoli; and Petronas, Kuala Lumpur. From 2007 to 2011, he served as presidential adviser on petroleum to the Republic of Nigeria.
The author or coauthor of 94 technical papers and two books, Egbogah received SPE Distinguished Membership in 1995, the SPE Asia Pacific Regional Service Award in 1998, the Millennium Award in 1999 from the SPE Nigeria Council, the National Honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger in 2006 from the government of Nigeria, and several other honors. He has served in various roles with SPE, including 1993–99 Steering Committee member of the Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference, 1992–96 Steering Committee member for the Forum Series in Asia Pacific, Diversity/Governance Task Force member, and SPE Speakers Bureau speaker. A member of several professional and learned societies, Egbogah is currently SPE Director, Africa Region. His philanthropic endeavors include endowments for the University of Ibadan and University of Port Harcourt, as well as scholarships for those universities and the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Nigeria.
Turgay Ertekin is a professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in University Park, Pennsylvania. His first position was as instructor of petroleum engineering at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He began his career at Penn State in 1975 as a teaching and research assistant. Over the years, he progressed to full professor, and now occupies the George E. Trimble Chair in Earth and Mineral Sciences, is head of the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, and is co-director of the Institute for Natural Gas Research. Ertekin is the author or coauthor of 230 technical papers and four books.
Ertekin received the 1998 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, 2001 SPE Lester C. Uren Technical Excellence Award, and SPE Distinguished Membership in 2001. He also received three awards from Penn State: Outstanding Teaching Award (1982), Graduate Faculty Teaching Award (1995), and Excellence in Research Award (2004). He served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer (DL) during 2004–05, speaking on the topic of virtual intelligence. Ertekin has been a member of various SPE boards and committees, among them the JPT Special Series Committee and the 18th Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference. He supervised graduate students to the completion of their thesis—90 MS students and 37 PhD students—and has delivered 240 lectures and 40 workshops throughout the world. A member of several professional organizations, Ertekin earned BSc and MSc degrees in petroleum engineering from Middle East Technical University in Turkey and a PhD in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State.
Medhat M. Kamal, senior consultant–dynamic reservoir characterization team leader at Chevron in San Ramon, California, has served more than 45 years in the areas of reservoir description and dynamics and production engineering. He began in teaching roles at Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering and Stanford University. Starting in 1973, he served as a research associate at Amoco, then interpretation department manager at Flopetrol Johnston Schlumberger during 1984–88. After assuming the position of senior advisor at Arco Exploration and Production Technology, he moved to his current role at Chevron. The author or coauthor of 28 technical papers and one book, he has served on several SPE boards and committees, including the SPEI Board of Directors, executive editor of SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering Journal, and chairman of the SPE Dallas Section.
Kamal received the 2004 SPE Formation Evaluation Award, the 2004 SPE Distinguished Service Award, SPE Distinguished Membership in 1983, and the 1977 SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Medal. In addition to other awards, he was named 1994 Petroleum Engineer of the Year by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. He earned a BSc in petroleum engineering and an MSc in engineering—both from Cairo University in Egypt—and a PhD in petroleum engineering and computer science from Stanford University.
Giovanni Paccaloni serves as a consultant at Paccaloni Consulting in Milan, Italy. Throughout his extensive career, he has developed top-level technical expertise in the domains of production problems analysis and production optimization technologies, in particular in the field of matrix stimulation. He worked for many years at Eni Agip, progressing from manager of the Production Optimization Technologies Department to manager of Production Laboratories; vice president of Exploration and Production Laboratories; vice president of drilling, production, and subsurface geology; and finally to vice president of research and development (R&D) and technology planning.
The author or coauthor of 25 technical papers, Paccaloni was awarded SPE Distinguished Membership in 2000. During 1988–89 he served as an SPE DL, speaking on the topic of optimization of matrix stimulation treatments. In 1997, he received first prize Premio Sviluppo Tecnologico from Eni Agip. He earned an MS degree in industrial chemistry from Bologna University, Italy.
Fred I. Stalkup, of Dallas—one of only three SPE members who have won all three technical awards including the Carll, Lucas, and Uren awards—retired in 2010 from his position as distinguished reservoir engineering advisor at PetroTel. He began his career in 1961 as senior research engineer with Arco, becoming director of process research in 1965. Stalkup progressed to senior research advisor in 1985, and assumed the role of distinguished research advisor in 1993. He joined PetroTel in 2002. Among the many areas of his technical expertise are enhanced oil recovery process behavior; rock properties; reservoir description for reservoir engineering; recovery process economic analysis; and pilot test design, field testing, and analysis.
The author or coauthor of one book and more than 30 papers, Stalkup served as a DL during 1985–86 and as member or chair of several SPE committees. He received the 1985 SPE Lester C. Uren Award, the 1995 SPE Lucas Gold Medal, the 2008 SPE John Franklin Carll Award, and SPE Distinguished Membership in 1985. In 1985, he also was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Stalkup earned BA and PhD degrees in chemical engineering—both from Rice University, Houston.
2013 SPE Distinguished Corporate Support Award Saudi Aramco is the recipient of the 2013 SPE Distinguished Corporate Support Award. This award was created by the Board of Directors to acknowledge the contributions of SPE’s corporate partners which enable the society to progress its stated mission “to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence.” The award is given annually to a company that has demonstrated significant global support of SPE over time in areas such as volunteerism, dissemination of technical information, attendance at SPE meetings, and overall support of the society’s activities. Saudi Aramco’s demonstrated leadership in these areas makes it an excellent choice to receive SPE’s highest corporate award. |
Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal
The Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal, established in 1936, recognizes achievement in improving the technique and practice of finding and producing petroleum.
Kishore K. Mohanty currently serves as H.B. Harkins Jr. professor of petroleum and geosystems engineering at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). His first position, starting in 1981, was with Arco as senior research engineer, becoming principal research engineer from 1985 to 1991. He then joined the University of Houston as an associate professor, assuming full professor status in 2000. Mohanty moved to UT Austin in 2009. His areas of expertise include wettability alteration, gas injection, and chemical flooding to enhance oil recovery. He recently developed surfactant-nanoparticle combinations which can improve the sweep efficiency of various types of floods.
Mohanty was awarded SPE Distinguished Membership in 2007, and received various other SPE awards, including A Peer Apart and Outstanding Review Chair, as well as University of Houston awards for outstanding faculty research and teaching. He has served as executive editor on the SPE Journal Board, member of the JPT Special Series Editorial Review Board, and chair of the SPE Reprint Series Committee, currently serving as a member of the SPE R&D Committee. Mohanty earned a BS degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, and a PhD from the University of Minnesota—both in chemical engineering.
John Franklin Carll Award
The John Franklin Carll Award recognizes contributions of technical application and professionalism in petroleum development and recovery.
Albert C. Reynolds, Jr. serves in several roles at the University of Tulsa (TU) in Oklahoma, including the McMan Chair in Petroleum Engineering, professor of mathematics, and TU Petroleum Exploitation Projects director. He has worked 43 years as a faculty member at TU, serving from 1986 to 1990 as associate graduate dean and associate director of research, and from 1990 to 1992 as chairman of the Department of Petroleum Engineering. The author or coauthor of two books and more than 150 technical papers, Reynolds has made significant contributions to the theory and practice of assisted history matching, quantification of uncertainty in future reservoir performance predictions, closed-loop reservoir management, and pressure transient analysis.
Reynolds received SPE Distinguished Membership in 1999, the 1983 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, 2003 SPE Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award, 2005 SPE Formation Evaluation Award, and 2008 SPE Outstanding Technical Editor Award. He is a member of the SPE Formation Evaluation Committee on which he has served several times, once as chair (1999). Reynolds has served as member or chair of many other SPE committees, including Reservoir Monitoring, Pressure Transient Testing, and various steering and program committees. He earned a BA from the University of New Hampshire, an MS from Case Institute of Technology, and a PhD from Case Western Reserve University—all in mathematics.
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.
Thomas A. Blasingame is the holder of the Robert L. Whiting Professorship in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. His teaching and research focus is on petrophysics, reservoir engineering, analysis/interpretation of well performance, and technical mathematics. He has made numerous contributions to the petroleum literature in well test analysis, analysis of production data, reservoir management, evaluation of low-/ultralow-permeability reservoirs, and general reservoir engineering (e.g., hydrocarbon phase behavior, natural gas engineering, inflow performance relations, material balance methods, and field studies). Blasingame has graduated 51 MS (thesis), 30 MEng (report, non-thesis), and 10 PhD students, and has performed several major field studies involving geology, petrophysics, and engineering tasks. From 1997 to 2003, he also served as assistant department head (Graduate Programs) for the Texas A&M Department of Petroleum Engineering, and has been recognized with several teaching and service awards from Texas A&M.
Blasingame is a member of the Society for Exploration Geophysicists and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He became an SPE Distinguished Member in 2000; received the 2005 SPE Distinguished Service Award, the 2006 Lester C. Uren Award, and the 2012 Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal; and served as an SPE DL during 2005–06. He has prepared over 120 technical articles and chaired numerous technical committees and technical meetings. He earned BS, MS, and PhD degrees at Texas A&M University—all in petroleum engineering.
Lester C. Uren Award
50th Anniversary of the Lester C. Uren Award The Lester C. Uren Award was established in 1963 in honor of a legend in petroleum engineering, Lester Charles Uren. This year marks the 50th year SPE has recognized distinguished achievement in petroleum engineering technology through this award. Lester Charles Uren was born in Grass Valley, California, in 1888. He earned a BS from the College of Mining, University of California. In 1915, Uren began his 40-year teaching career at the University of California, starting as an instructor and finally becoming emeritus professor of petroleum engineering. He created the world’s first petroleum engineering curriculum and wrote the first petroleum engineering textbook, and his research activities were basic to the understanding of the science of petroleum engineering. He wrote more than 170 technical articles on engineering applications, economics, and education in the field. Uren spent his summers in oil fields, becoming familiar with the practical working conditions of the engineer, and served as mentor to students from around the world who came to study under his tutelage. Lester C. Uren Award Recipients
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The Lester C. Uren Award recognizes distinguished achievement in the technology of petroleum engineering by a member who made the contribution before age 45.
Erdal Ozkan, currently a professor of petroleum engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, began his professorial career at Istanbul Technical University in 1989. After serving as a research associate at TU during 1997–98, he joined the Colorado School of Mines in 1998. The author or coauthor of three books and 90 technical papers, his technical expertise includes reservoir engineering, modeling unsteady flows in porous media, pressure-transient analysis, horizontal and multilateral well technology, and unconventional oil and gas reservoirs.
Ozkan received SPE Distinguished Membership in 2009, the 2007 SPE Formation Evaluation Award, SPE’s A Peer Apart Award in 2007, as well as awards from TU and the Colorado School of Mines. He has served as chair or co-chair of several SPE conference and workshop committees; technical director of the SPE R&D Technical Section; and as an SPE DL during 2011–12. Ozkan earned BS and MS degrees from Istanbul Technical University and a PhD from TU—all in petroleum engineering.
Robert Earll McConnell Award
The Robert Earll McConnell Award—a joint SPE/American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) award—recognizes beneficial service to humanity by engineers through significant contributions that tend to advance a nation’s standard of living or replenish its natural resource base.
Theodore M. Streit, vice president of operations at Gaddy Engineering in Charleston, West Virginia, began his career as a field engineer in 1975 at Schlumberger, serving in various worldwide locations. From 1982 to 1985, he was chief of the Office of Oil and Gas for the US Department of Mines, following which he served in the same capacity for the state of West Virginia until 1998 and then joined Gaddy. He peer-reviewed oil and gas exploration and production waste management regulatory programs for five US states and coauthored the 2000 USAID development strategy for the oil and gas sector for the central Asia republics. Streit earned a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is a registered professional engineer in petroleum in the state of West Virginia.
Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal
The Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal—a joint SPE/AIME award—recognizes distinguished achievement in mining administration, including metallurgy and petroleum.
Sara H. Akbar, CEO of Kuwait Energy in Salmiyah, Kuwait, began her career in 1981 as a petroleum engineer at Kuwait Oil Company. She subsequently worked there in fire-fighting operations, as superintendent of petroleum engineering, and as R&D specialist. From 2001 to 2005, she served as new business development manager at Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company. Akbar received the SPE Distinguished Member Award in 2003. In 1993, she received the United Nations Global 500 Award, and this year she received the WOW Awards–Entrepreneurship Award from the New Arab Woman Forum. Akbar has served twice as a director-at-large on the SPE International Board of Directors.
She has authored and delivered several technical papers, served as presenter and speaker at many international conferences, and taught at various schools in Kuwait and abroad. Akbar earned a BS degree in chemical engineering and completed several training courses in petroleum engineering—all at Kuwait University.
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. Recipients of this award automatically become Distinguished Members.
Josh S. Etkind serves as project development team lead and Mars B development chief reservoir engineer for Shell in New Orleans, Louisiana. With diverse experience across the upstream exploration and production sector onshore, in the Arctic, and in deep water, he has contributed to two recent field discoveries, their development planning, and the approval of the Mars B Olympus tension leg platform.
Etkind has served on the SPE International Board, leads the Online Communities Advisory Committee, cofounded and chaired the Young Professional Coordinating Committee (YPCC), and cofounded and served as section editor of SPE’s The Way Ahead magazine. He received the 2004 SPE International Young Member Outstanding Service Award, the 2010 American Petroleum Institute Meritorious Service Award, and the 2012 SPE Eastern North America Outstanding Service Award. He earned a BSc degree in petroleum engineering from Texas Tech University.
Loris Tealdi, vice president–reservoir Africa region at Eni E&P in Milan, Italy, started his career in 2001 at Eni in reservoir engineering. He transitioned to reservoir modelist at Agip in 2003 and to reservoir department manager at Eni Congo in 2006. Tealdi served in various managerial positions at Agip and Eni Congo until 2012, when he assumed his current role. The author or coauthor of several technical papers, he received the 2007 SPE International Young Member Outstanding Service Award, as well as other SPE, Eni, industry, and scholarly awards. Tealdi earned a BSc at the Scientific Lyceum Vasco Mondovì, Italy; an MSc in environmental mining and petroleum engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy; an MSc in petroleum engineering and management from Imperial College London; and an MBA from the University of Bologna, Italy.
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.
Elizabeth Einhorn, Permian production manager for Eagle Rock Energy Partners in Midland, Texas, started her career as an operations analytical engineer at Arco. She moved to Parker & Parsley Petroleum Company in 1991, and subsequently assumed the role of senior production engineer, first at Sonat (ConocoPhillips), then at Pure Resources, and finally at Kinder Morgan CO2. Einhorn joined Eagle Rock in 2008.
Einhorn has served on the SPE Permian Basin Section Board for several years in various capacities. She is very active in her community, having served as a volunteer for the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, and Need to Read program; and as board president of Safe Place of the Permian Basin, a shelter for victims of domestic violence. She received the 1991 Volunteer of the Year Award from the Midland YMCA and the SPE 2008 Regional Service Award. Einhorn earned a BS in petroleum engineering from the Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology.
Cedric K. Ferguson 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 titled “Casing- and Screen-Failure Analysis in Highly Compacting Sandstone Fields.”
Kenji Furui (medal) is a completion geomechanics engineer at ConocoPhillips in Stavanger, Norway. He began his career in 2004, first as a postdoctoral research scientist at UT Austin, then as applications engineer in cased-hole completion systems at Baker Oil Tools. He joined ConocoPhillips in Houston in 2006. The author or coauthor of almost 20 technical papers, Furui has received several awards, including the 2012 SPE Gulf Coast Section Young Engineer of the Year Award. He has also participated in several SPE conference sessions as presenter or leader. Furui earned a BS in resources and environmental engineering from Waseda University, Japan; and an MS and PhD from UT Austin—both in petroleum engineering.
Nobuo Morita (certificate) serves as a professor in the resources and engineering department at Waseda University, where he has worked since 1995. His first position was at UT Austin as a research associate. He subsequently worked as an engineer at Teikoku Oil, returning to UT Austin as a research associate in 1982. He joined Conoco in 1982 as a research fellow. Morita earned a BS at the University of Tokyo and an MS and PhD at UT Austin—all in petroleum engineering.
Giin-Fa Fuh (certificate) has worked throughout his 35-year career as a research fellow at ConocoPhillips in Houston. In addition to his work in geomechanics, he also holds several key US and international patents for drilling and completion applications and has authored or coauthored more than 50 technical papers and presentations. Giin-Fa earned a BS in mining and petroleum engineering at National Cheng King University, Taiwan; an MS in mining engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology; and a PhD in rock mechanics and mining engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
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.
Brian L. Chacka is a petroleum engineer for Denbury Resources in Plano, Texas, currently handling completions and production for the company’s Hastings field CO2 flood. He previously worked Denbury’s North Dakota Bakken resource play and several oil and gas fields in east Mississippi. Before that, he worked for Weatherford and Schlumberger in various capacities. Since 2006, Chacka has been very active in the SPE Dallas Section Board, serving as section chair during 2010–11, as presenter and/or committee member for many SPE symposia and training schools, and as mentor for high school students and young engineers. Among several other SPE awards, Chacka received the 2010 SPE Mid-Continent Region’s Young Member Outstanding Service Award and the 2012 SPE Dallas Section Engineer of the Year Award. He earned a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.
Jenny D. Cronlund has served as a reservoir engineer for BP throughout her career, working at the Greater Prudhoe Bay and Milne Point fields in Alaska and in the Anadarko basin. She has volunteered in many capacities with SPE, serving as committee chair, secretary, and treasurer on the SPE Alaska Section Board and on other boards and committees. Cronlund is an associate editor on SPE’s The Way Ahead editorial committee, and has served in many civic volunteer roles, including Habitat for Humanity and Girl Scouts Women in Science. She is licensed as a professional engineer in Texas and earned a BS in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University.
Madhavi V. Jadhav has served as a reservoir engineer at Schlumberger Asia Services in Mumbai, India, since 2012. She began her career at Reliance Industries in 2007 as a reservoir engineer (operations). She has also worked on various simulation projects involving water and gas injection in mature fields at the Institute of Reservoir Studies, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India. Jadhav has served as SPE Mumbai Section YP liaison, as YPCC Awards Committee co-chair, and lead editor on SPE’s The Way Ahead editorial committee. She earned a BS in petroleum engineering from the University of Pune, India.
Nael N. Sadek works as Middle East and Africa automation support manager at Lufkin Automation in Cairo, Egypt. He has served in various managerial capacities in automation at Lufkin since 2007, beginning at the company in 2004 as senior automation sales engineer. His first position, starting in 2000, was as network systems engineer at Raya Holding. The author or coauthor of 14 technical papers, he is the recipient of several awards, including the 2011 SPE Regional Outstanding Young Member Award. Sadek has served on many SPE committees and boards and served 4 years as an SPE Ambassador Lecturer. He earned a BS in electrical engineering from Cairo University, an MBA in strategic and transnational management from German University in Cairo, a diploma in international business from the University of Cambridge–UK, and a diploma in computer sciences from the American University in Cairo.
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.
Hisham Nasr-El-Din is a professor and holder of the John Edgar Holt Endowed Chair in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station. Before that, he worked for 15 years as principal professional and team leader of the stimulation research and technology team at Saudi Aramco. He has also served at the Petroleum Recovery Institute in Calgary, as well as at the universities of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ottawa as a research associate.
Nasr-El-Din has several patents and has published and presented more than 480 technical papers. He serves on SPE steering committees on stimulation and oilfield chemistry, is a review chair for SPE Journal, and technical editor for SPE Production & Operations and SPE Drilling & Completions. He received two SPE Outstanding Associate Editor awards and an SPE Outstanding Technical Editor Award, and achieved SPE A Peer Apart status. He was named an SPE Distinguished Member in 2007, and received the 2009 SPE Production and Operations Award. Nasr-El-Din earned BSc and MSc degrees from Cairo University and a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan—all in chemical engineering.
Completions Optimization and Technology Award
Craig L. Cipolla is senior completions engineering advisor at Hess in Houston. Before this, he was chief engineering advisor for Schlumberger–Hydraulic Fracture Monitoring and Optimization, vice president of stimulation technology for Carbo Ceramics, and vice president of engineering for Pinnacle Technologies. His prior positions were with Union Pacific Resources, CER Corporation, and Dresser Titan. Cipolla has coauthored more than 65 technical papers and served as an SPE DL during 2005–06. He earned BS degrees in engineering and in chemistry from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas and an MS in petroleum engineering from the University of Houston.
Drilling Engineering Award (2013)
Fred E. Dupriest is a professor of engineering practices at Texas A&M University in College Station. He worked in various capacities for Exxon throughout a 35-year career in the oil and gas industry. He began as a completions and hydraulic stimulation design engineer in 1977, progressing to drilling engineer and supervisor at Aramco/Esso Suez in 1982, Exxon’s Exploration and Drilling Department’s liaison in 1985, drilling technical advisor in 1989, global drilling technical advisor at Esso Suez in 1998, becoming chief drilling engineer at Exxon in 2010. The author or coauthor of 20 technical papers, he was inducted into the American Association of Drilling Engineers Drilling Fluids Hall of Fame in 2012. Dupriest earned a BS in mechanical engineering at Texas A&M.
Formation Evaluation Award
Anil Kumar is founder and president of Omak Technologies, Plano, Texas. Starting his career in 1971, he first served as chairman and associate professor of petroleum engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology. He then worked in senior positions at a number of oil and gas companies, including Gulf Oil, Chevron, Mobil E&P Technical Center, Devon Energy, Petrochina, and Reliance Industries. He pioneered the pressure derivative approach in 1976 in oil, gas, and injection well test analysis and interpretation; and coauthored five books, including the classic reference, Gas Well Test Analysis under Water Drive Conditions. Kumar has contributed to the training of some 400 petroleum engineers both in the academic and industry settings. He was awarded SPE Distinguished Membership in 2001, and has received various other honors, including the 2005 Engineer of the Year Award from the Texas Society of Professional Engineers and the Kapitsa Medal from the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Kumar earned an honors BSc from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India; an MS from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; and a PhD from Stanford University—all in petroleum engineering.
Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Award
John M. Karish is corporate director of safety, health, and environment at ENSCO in Houston, a position he has held since 2004. Formerly, he worked in various capacities over many years at BP, including as wider world drilling and completions health, safety, environment (HSE) advisor; global drilling safety leadership project manager; and audit relationship manager–Trinidad. Karish served for several years on SPE’s DL Committee; has been an SPE Global HSE Advisory Committee member since 2009; has participated in biannual SPE HSE conferences as a delegate, author, and/or subcommittee member or co-chair since 1999; and acted as chair of the International Association of Drilling Contractors HSE Committee from 2009 to 2012. He earned a BS degree cum laude in petroleum engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Management and Information Award
Andrei S. Popa, technology advisor at Chevron in Bakersfield, California, began his career at Petrom Romania in 1995. He joined Chevron in 2002 as a petroleum engineer and has progressed through various managerial roles, including subsurface team lead and i-field reservoir management program manager, to his current position. The author or coauthor of 27 technical papers and one book, Popa is serving as an SPE DL during 2013–14. Popa has received several honors, including the 2008 SPE Outstanding Young Professional Award and the 2013 SPE Western North American Region Regional Service Award. He earned a BS from the University of Ploiesti, Romania, and an MS and PhD from West Virginia University—all in petroleum and natural gas engineering.
Production and Operations Award
Francisco J. Alhanati,
managing director at C-FER Technologies, in Edmonton, Canada, began his career in 1983 as a petroleum engineer at Petrobras. In 1997, he joined C-FER Technologies (originally the Centre for Frontier Engineering Research) and became director of exploration and production in 2006 and managing director in 2013. The author or coauthor of 16 SPE papers and coauthor of a chapter in the SPE Handbook on PCP (progressing cavity pump) Systems, he also served as an SPE DL during 2008–09. He served as chair of the SPE Brazil Section during 1993–94, served on various SPE committees and subcommittees, and taught several courses throughout the world on PCP and ESP (electric submersible pump) systems. Alhanati currently serves on the JPT Editorial Committee. He earned a BS in civil engineering from Instituto Militar de Engenharia, an MS in mechanical engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.Projects, Facilities, and Construction Award
Craig Pauley
is senior advisor facilities engineer at Chevron in Bakersfield, California, currently managing two technical initiatives: steam distribution best practices and water treatment for steam generation best practices. He began his career at Getty Oil as a staff engineer, joining Texaco in 1984 as a reservoir engineer. He progressed at Texaco through production and facilities design and operations engineering positions to senior research engineer in 1996, assuming his current role in 2002. Pauley received the 2011 SPE Western Region Projects, Facilities, and Construction Award and the 2010 Chevron Chairman’s Award. A registered professional mechanical engineer in the state of California, he earned a BS in mechanical engineering at California Polytechnic State University.Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award
John Killough,
currently Michael and Heidi Gatens development professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, started his career as a senior research engineer at Exxon Production Research. He joined Arco Oil and Gas Research and Development in 1976 and became an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Houston in 1988. In 1997, Killough moved to industry as a senior research fellow at Landmark Graphics, and then worked as a technology fellow for reservoir simulation at Halliburton Energy Services starting in 2005. He joined Texas A&M in 2012. The author or coauthor of 50 technical papers, Killough is the recipient of two American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers awards: the Rossiter W. Raymond Award and the Alfred E. Noble Award. He has chaired or been a member of several SPE committees. Killough earned BA and MS degrees in chemical engineering and a PhD in mathematical sciences—all from Rice University.Distinguished Members
SPE Inaugurates the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Ministry of Petroleum, Luanda, Angola The SPE Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes contributions to SPE and the exploration and production industry that exhibit such exceptional devotion of time, effort, thought, and action as to set them apart from other contributions. For his unwavering support of SPE and industry in Angola over his long career, the SPE Board of Directors has selected José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Minister of Petroleum of the Republic of Angola, for the first-ever SPE Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award. Born in the city of Malanje, Angola, de Vasconcelos earned a master of laws degree in technical electrical engineering from the Industrial Technology Institute of Luanda. He started his career as a technical maintenance engineer at Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, and in 1977 began serving as specialized inspector and assistant to the board of directors at Fina Petroleum of Angola. In 1979, de Vasoncelos joined the state oil company, Sonangol, as head of the trading division, rising to become its vice president for oil distribution and commercialization in 1987. He assumed the role of Minister of Petroleum of the Republic of Angola from 1999 until 2002, simultaneously serving as president of the Energy Ministries Committee of the Southern African Development Community (known as SADC). Starting late in 2002, de Vasconcelos became Minister of Energy and Water of the Republic of Angola, serving until 2008. During 2009, he served as president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). |
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 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; or if they are elected by the SPE Board of Directors.
- Tayfun Babadagli, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Maria A. Barrufet, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
- Barco Brignoli, Eni E&P, Milan, Italy
- Ernie Brown, Schlumberger, Sugar Land, Texas, USA
- Stephen K. Cheung, Yorba Linda, California, USA
- Gokhan Coskuner, Husky Energy, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Elizabeth Einhorn, Eagle Rock Energy Partners, Midland, Texas, USA
- Joshua S. Etkind, Shell, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Nnaemeka Ezekwe, BP America, The Woodlands, Texas, USA
- Richard J. Hallam, BP America, Katy, Texas, USA
- Byron Haynes, Shell Exploration & Production, Houston, Texas, USA
- Leonard J. Kalfayan, Hess Corporation, Houston, Texas, USA
- Michael J. King, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
- Tadeusz W. Patzek, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA
- Loris Tealdi, Eni E&P, Milan, Italy
- Gary F. Teletzke, ExxonMobil Upstream Research, Houston, Texas, USA
- Terry L. Thoem, Thoem & Associates, Katy, Texas USA
- Diederik van Batenburg, Shell Global Solutions, Rijswijk, Netherlands