Earth & Energy Magazine 2013

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T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O K L A H

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THE MANY FACESOF RESEARCH


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CONTENTS

02 COLLEGE 2 LETTER FROM THE DEAN

3 IN MEMORIAM: JOHN TIM KWIATKOWSKI

4 FROM CAIRO TO NORMAN

4 AN ACADEMIC VIDEO PLATFORM

5 ALUMNI ROLE MODEL

7 STAYING FOCUSED

8 A MEANINGFUL ROLE 9 PHILANTHROPIC DOMINO EFFECT

10 TRAILBLAZER SOCIETY

14 ADDRESSING GROWING NEEDS

15 INVESTMENT PAYS OFF

16 FACULTY 16 MAKING STRIDES IN PLANETARY GEOCHEMISTRY

17 TEACHING AROUND THE WORLD

18 REMOVING COMPLICATIONS

19 STUDENTS 19 AT THE TOP

21 DEGOLYER GRADUATEFELLOWSHIP

22 GRAD STUDENTS CAPTUREIMPERIAL BARREL AWARD

22 BIG WIN IN CHINA

23 RAISING THOUSANDS FOR LIFE

24 STUDENTS TEACHING STUDENTS

25 TELLING HER STORY

27 IMMERSED IN BOLIVIA

27 BIGGER AND BETTER

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28 RESEARCH 28 FINDING FRACTURES IN

THE MISSISSIPPI PLAY

29 OVERVIEW AND FUNDING

30 CLASSIFYING SHALES FORECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

32 ALUMNI 32 A BIT AND A CREW 34 A SCHOLARSHIP CHALLENGE

34 ABOVE AND BEYOND

35 DAVID A. KIMBELL SR.

35 JAY SANFORD HANDLEYSCHOLARSHIP FUND

36 JOHN M. CAMPBELL SR.

36 A CENTURY OF FRIENDS

37 CLASS NOTES40 MEETINGS, CONFERENCES

AND FIELD TRIPS

EARTH & ENERGY MAGAZINEMewbourne College of Earth and EnergyUniversity of Oklahoma

Editor: LevyMart Public RelationsDesigned by: Haley Fulco, University Printing ServicesPhoto credits: Brandon Akbaran, Kevin Blake, Robert H. Taylor,University of Oklahoma Western History Collections, Shevaun Williams

Contact:Allison RichardsonDirector of Alumni RelationsMewbourne College of Earth and EnergyUniversity of Oklahoma1510 Sarkeys Energy Center100 E. Boyd St.Norman, OK 73019-1015Phone: (405) 325-3821Fax: (405) 325-3180email: [email protected]

This publication, printed by OU Pri nting Services, is issued by the U niversity of Oklahoma.6,000 copies have been prepared and distri buted at no cost to the taxpayers of the Stateof Oklahoma.

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo2013

This University in compliance with all app licable federal and state laws and regulationsdoes not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, relig ion,disability, political beli efs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, p ractices orprocedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, nancial aid andeducational services.

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFFLarry R. Grillot, Dean and Lester A. Day Family ChairBarry L. Weaver, Associate Dean and Associate Professor, ConocoPhillips School of Geology and GeophysicsDonna Ade, Staff AssistantAndrea Flores, Financial AssociateLuanne Howk, Financial AdministratorAllison Richardson, Director of Alumni RelationsAmeil Shadid, Director of DevelopmentYoana Walschap, International Outreach Web SupportHope Watson, Administrative AssistantConstance White, Manager, Administration and Operations

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT SERVICESElizabeth Ehrhardt, DirectorLaura Cullen, Senior Academic CounselorFrancesca Hunt, Staff Assistant

Web: www.ou.edu/mceeFacebook: OU Mewbourne College of Earth and EnergyLinkedIn: Mewbourne College of Earth and EnergyTwitter: twitter.com/oumcee

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OLLEGE NEWS

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OLLEGE NEWS

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AS I HAVE COMMENTEDIN PREVIOUS ISSUESOF EARTH & ENERGY

MAGAZINE, WE HAVE ANOUTSTANDING HISTORYAND HAVE BUILT ASTRONG FOUNDATIONFOR THIS COLLEGE. WECONTINUE TO WORKTO MOVE THE COLLEGEFORWARD IN THEAREAS OF ENERGY ANDEARTH SCIENCES AND

ENGINEERING EDUCATION.

This edition ofEarth & Energy magazine includes tributes to two

of our alumni, David A. Kimbell Sr. and Jay Sanford Handley.And, as we were going to print, we learned of the passing ofJohn M. Campbell Sr., whose obituary is reproduced in part on page 36.John was described to me as legendary with many of our graduates,and was viewed as such by the OU School of Petroleum and GeologicalEngineering.

Given the contributions of these alumni to the history of geology,geophysics, petroleum engineering and geological engineering at theUniversity of Oklahoma, it is tting that this issue focuses on research, andin particular the many faces of research. Research is a key element infaculty development and graduate education in particular, but also plays akey part in our undergraduate education. Although we still use textbooks

where appropriate, in many cases we teach from our research.OU is a major public research university, and research is an integral part ofthe three areas of activity: teaching, research and service. The MewbourneCollege conducts a very strong research program in a variety of areas,including both fundamental and applied research. When combined withgood teaching, such research provides the best approach to highereducation. Research also provides one way for the college to stay in theforefront of technology and the concepts that will impact the education,science, engineering and industry of tomorrow. The proper combinationof teaching, research and service is the way in which we can continue thelegacy that has been left by those such as Campbell, Handley and Kimbelland pass it on to the next generation of leaders.

As I have commented in previous issues ofEarth & Energy magazine, wehave an outstanding history and have built a strong foundation for thiscollege. We continue to work to move the college forward in the areas ofenergy and earth sciences and engineering education. The newly createdTrailBlazer Society honors and recognizes donors for their support of theMewbourne Colleges mission and vision (see page 10).

As always, I offer my sincere thanks on behalf of our faculty, staff andstudents for your continued interest in and support for the MewbourneCollege of Earth and Energy and the University of Oklahoma.

Larry R. GrillotDean and Lester A. Day Family Chair


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EARTH & ENERGY

After graduating in 1998 with his doctorate in physicsfrom the University of Oklahoma, John Tim Kwiatkowskibegan working for the Center for the Prediction of Storms,managing its supercomputers. Colleague BrandonGeorge, who later became the coordinator for the CAPSsupercomputers says, He was one of the most intelligentpeople I know. I dont think there is anything he couldntaccomplish when he put his mind to it.

In December 2000, Kwiatkowski began working for theShell Crustal Imaging Facility (now Crustal ImagingFacility) as systems administrator. At that time, the SCIFlab was a geophysical computer lab in the school ofgeology and geophysics. Early in his career, Kwiatkowskidemonstrated his talent for translating scientic conceptsinto mathematical models for computer implementation.He began helping graduate students and senior scientistswith their software projects, helping to optimize routinesand add user interfaces. Eventually, he was instrumentalin releasing Fusion Geophysical LLCs SpectralDecomposition software to the geophysical world.

During his time with SCIF, Kwiatkowski and others oncampus had the idea of a supercomputing center. As aresult of their discussions, Henry Neeman, who holds adoctorate in computer science, was hired and the OU

Supercomputing Center for Education and Research wasoff and running, with Kwiatkowski serving on the Boardof Advisors.

Kwiatkowski was a dedicated scientist to the end. Hereviewed his last paper for the SEG two weeks beforehis death, sat on his last thesis defense as a committeemember one week before his death, and made a softwarerelease three days before his death.

He donated his remains to OU Medical Center for cancerresearch. So, in true Kwiatkowski form, he continues to doscience after the end.

Kwiatkowski lled four roles at the university: mentorto students with technical applications, guru/teacherof computational geophysics, research scientist andlead programmer/problem solver/system administrator.Each of his accomplishments was made while assistinghis colleagues with whatever geophysical or computerdifculty that arose in the course of a day. Computercrashes and network outages seemed no moretroublesome than a cloud momentarily blocking thesun. He was unfailingly kind and generous with his timeand knowledge. He will be missed by the college, theuniversity and the scientic community.

Contributions may be made in Kwiatkowskis memory to the Wick Cary Crustal Imaging Facility Fund #42481, c/o The University of OklahomaFoundation Inc., 100 Timberdell Road, Norman, OK 73019-0685.

Tim Kwiatkowski (left) and student Supratik Sarkar (Ph.D. geology, 2011) in the Crustal Imaging Facility.

JOHN TIM KWIATKOWSKI1965 2013


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FROM CAIRO TO NORMANIlham El-Monier is a long way from hernative Egypt. But she feels very muchat home teaching and conducting

research in reservoir engineering inthe Mewbourne College of Petroleumand Geological Engineering.

El-Monier is a new MPGE instructorwho this fall is teaching uidmechanics, a 160-student lecturecourse with ve lab sections. In

spring 2014, she is scheduled to lecture in the labcomponent of the reservoir and rock properties coursetaught by professor and Curtis Mewbourne Chair CarlSondergeld.

Im really happy to be among the faculty here, she says.

El-Monier focuses her research on clay stabilizersthat prevent nes migration and clay swelling causedby contact with low salinity or high pH uids at hightemperatures. The presence of clay can make oilproduction difcult if there is different salinity, acidity oralkinity in the formation, all of which trigger clay migration

that plugs pores and reduces permeability, she explains.Previous clay stabilizers, including aluminum andzirconium compounds and cationic polymers have several

drawbacks. Aluminum and zirconium compounds can beremoved by acids. Cationic polymers can cause formationdamage. Also, quaternary amine-based chemicals havebeen used for many years as clay stabilizers, but theenvironmental prole of some and short life of others havelimited their use. So there is a need to develop new claystabilizers that can work following acid treatment and areenvironmentally acceptable.

El-Monier holds undergraduate and masters degrees inpetroleum engineering from Cairo University in Egypt. In2007, she received a three-year Schlumberger FoundationFaculty for the Future fellowship, awarded to women from

developing and emerging economies who are preparingfor Ph.D. or post-doctoral study in the physical sciencesand related disciplines at top universities for theirdisciplines abroad. As a Faculty for the Future scholar,El-Monier earned her doctorate in petroleum engineeringat Texas A&M University.

AN ACADEMIC VIDEO PLATFORMFaculty in the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energyare participating this semester in a beta launch ofmymedia.ou.edu, an open source video platform thatallows faculty to record lectures and other presentationsthey can then share with students.

Mymedia.ou.edu integrates seamlessly with Desire2Learn,a platform widely used by OU faculty and students forsharing information. With mymedia.ou.edu, faculty canupload recorded classroom lectures or short videos onspecic topics and make them accessible to studentsthrough D2L.

For the beta launch, OU Information Technology iscollaborating with select faculty who have experience withsimilar technology and can provide valuable feedback forthe university-wide launch scheduled for early 2014.

Several Mewbourne College faculty members participatedin the beta project.

Another big piece the Mewbourne College brought to thebeta is the three large classrooms that are wired for audio

and video, says Grant Butler, IT account representative tothe college. These rooms were made possible becauseMewbourne College alumni provided the support torenovate and upgrade them with the latest technology.

When the mymedia.ou.edu launch goes university-wide,Butler says, all OU faculty will be able to create course-related video content. Its an academic platform, so wewill do some amount of monitoring to ensure it is usedappropriately, he notes.

Kaltura, the vendor that licensed the technology to OU,counts among its more than 300,000 customers HBO,

Texas Instruments, Warner Bros., Nestle, Siemens,Zappos, Best Buy and TMZ, as well as many colleges anduniversities, including New York University, University ofVirginia, Yale University, University of Southern California,University of Kansas and Cornell University.

Ilham El-Monier


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EARTH & ENERGY

ALUMNI ROLE MODEL

Its little wonder that S. KimHateld was honored with theUniversity of Oklahomas 2013

Regents Alumni Award for dedicationand service to the university. He hasgiven back to OU for decades in avariety of ways.

Still, he is awed by the honor.

The Regents Award is the secondhighest honor the university awards,second only to the honorarydoctorate, marvels Hateld (B.S.and M.S. petroleum engineering,

1974 and 1979, respectively). Itskind of mind boggling to me.

Both his parents grew up absolutelydirt poor in Yeager, a speck of atown in Hughes County. Someplaces you grew up expecting to berich. In rural Oklahoma at that time,they hoped theyd make it up to poor,Hateld says. His father served inWorld War II, after which the couple married and came toOU, where they lived in Sooner City and the elder Hateldattended school on the GI bill. He was the rst generation

in either family to go to college. After earning his lawdegree, he had a career in the FBI, was a judge and thenbecame mayor of Durant, Okla.

The University of Oklahoma changed our family tree, hisson relates. I have three brothers and a sister, and amongus we have six OU degrees.

His own academic career might have begun muchdifferently, however.

I was planning to go to MIT, when [now vice presidentemeritus] Paul Massad called me out of the blue andconvinced me to come to OU as a University Scholar,

Hateld recalls. I was enrolled as a double major inmath and physics. I didnt know there was a disciplinecalled petroleum engineering. The oil eld wasnt the biginuence where I grew up like it was in other areas ofthe state.

But the rst day of his rst class at OU honors calculus changed Hatelds professional course forever. Theprofessor gave us his philosophy on math, life and theuniverse. He told us that answers arent important, that

the beauty of the mathematic process is all that matters,Hateld says. Being young and brash, I suggested that ifyou used a Ouija board it didnt matter as long as you got

the right answer. The professor replied, Son, you think likean engineer. Get the hell out of my class.

Hateld headed to the north end of campus in searchof the College of Engineering, but went to the wrongbuilding and came across Professor Carl Moore. I toldhim my story and he took me to his ofce and told meabout petroleum and geological engineering, Hateldremembers. Dr. Moore was excited about his subjectand he made me excited about it. After half an hour, I wasa petroleum engineering student. It was a very fortunateencounter.

His rst full-time industry job was at Atlantic Richeld atthe beginning of the boom after the Arab oil embargo,where the shortage of personnel combined with rapidexpansion of the industry allowed him to advancequickly. He became a troubleshooter for the companysoating drilling operations. By 1985, he was presidentof Oklahoma City-based Crawley Petroleum Corp., aprivately held oil and gas exploration and productioncompany that currently operates more than 500

From left: OU President David Boren, Regents Alumni Award recipient S. Kim Hateld,OU Board of Regents Chairman Richard Dunning and OU Alumni Association presidentFloyd Simon Jr.

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2013-2014 BOARD OF VISITOComposed of up to 30 active members whoare distinguished alumni, corporate leaders andoutstanding scientists, the Mewbourne College of

Earth and Energy Board of Visitors membership isrepresentative of the broad scope of earth and energydisciplines in general, and geosciences and petroleumand geological engineering in particular. The boardprovides advice to the dean and the other membersof the College Executive Committee, helps shapeand actively promotes the colleges vision, goals andobjectives, and assists the colleges leadership withissues that impact the future of the college.

The fall 2013 meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15 and thespring 2014 meeting is slated for April 4.

SAVE THE DATE!The Trailblazer Awards dinner at theEmbassy Suites in Norman has been movedfrom Nov. 15, 2013, to April 4, 2014.

MEMBERS

Chris CheatwoodDouglas Cummings

James C. DavisJames C. DayJohn W. DoughtieJames A. GibbsKris GoforthS. Kim HateldRonnie K. IraniT.H. McCasland Jr.Bob McKenny

Brian OBrienFrank J. Patterson

David G. Rensink Conley SmithCharles Stephenson Jr.Robert L. StephensonJ. Mike SticeRobert ThomasGene Van DykeKenneth WaitsLew Ward III

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

J. Denny BartellJere W. McKennyBill Z. Parker

Pamela S. PierceTed Sandridge

EX OFFICIO MEMBERS

Brad Biddy, chairmanCPSGG Alumni Advisory Council Tray Black, chairmanMPGE Industry Advisory Board

properties in Oklahoma and Texas and has an economicinterest in more than 1,400 properties operated by others.

Hateld remains Crawleys president and serves onits board of directors. He also is on the board of theOklahoma Independent Producers Association, and is adirector and ofcer of Oklahoma Energy Explorers.

At the Mewbourne College, he serves on the collegesBoard of Visitors and the petroleum schools IndustryAdvisory Board. In 2010, the college recognized him withits Distinguished Service Award.

Hateld frequently returns to campus, sometimes to talkwith students, occasionally to lecture and regularly toattend football games. I like to give students some avorfor the oil and gas industry, he explains. One thingthat we can do as alumni is help prepare students fortheir careers.

Thats especially important because the industry and whatHateld calls the art of the impossible have changeddramatically over the past 10 to 15 years.

The university has done a great job in tooling up toteach these students, he says. The labs and equipmentstudents have to understand rocks are unlike anything wecould have imagined as students. I joke that when I wasin school all we had was a rock hammer and we broke it.Now they use nuclear magnetic resonance to determineporosity and scanning electronic microscopy to look atpore structures. Todays students understand rocks ona fundamentally different level than we did. And thatsexciting.

But recruiting and retaining those students takes fundingfor laboratories, equipment and scholarships.

When I was in school in the early 1970s, a lot of us wereon scholarships from big oil companies. I was a MarathonScholar, and it made a big difference in my ability to nishschool and do well, Hateld says. When I started to getinvolved in the college several years ago, I assumed thatwas still the way it was. But consolidation in the industryeliminated many of those companies, and the scholarshipswere consolidated and reduced. Other companies justwerent supporting scholarships.

Now, most of that funding comes from endowments fromindividuals and smaller companies, he continues. Withstudents coming out of school with tens of thousands ofdollars of debt, scholarships and internships can make abig difference.

To my fellow alumni, I say: These kids can use our help.Think about the difference scholarships made for us.Come back to OU to see whats going on, get engagedand do what you can to give back.

They have a role model in Hateld.

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EARTH & ENERGY

STAYING FOCUSEDBrad Biddy enjoys helping othersfocus on professional goals.

As a senior geological adviser atDevon Energy Corp., he workswith interns and new hires, helpingthem get into the swing of thingsand assisting them in charting theircareer paths.

Biddy, a ConocoPhillips School ofGeology and Geophysics alumnus(B.S. geology, 1976), has longbeen involved in helping to ensurethat graduates are fully prepared toenter the workplace or further theiracademic careers. Now, as the newchairman of the CPSGG AlumniAdvisory Council, Biddy is focusingon all of that and more.

The Alumni Advisory Council helpsthe school stay abreast of industrytrends, Biddy explains. Id like to do more of that andalso expand alumni involvement in a variety of activities.Some of these might be adjunct teaching, presentingin colloquia and other activities designed to open theaperture of experience at the school. Knowing theexpertise of our alumni, I think there would be interest inthat. So I plan to survey the depth of that interest.

Another of Biddys goals is to more fully inform alumniabout the current funding formula for public highereducation. Over time, the state has cut more and morehigher education appropriations, making fundraising fromalumni more critical than ever, Biddy says. Id like alumnito understand that donating to the school can take manyforms, including estate planning and the MewbourneColleges new TrailBlazer Society.

Developing a position on theregulation of hydraulic fracturing, anissue facing the oil and gas industry

today, is an initiative on which Biddyintends to lead the council during histerm as chairman. There is a greatdistinction between activities likeinjecting salt water or wastewaterback into the ground, which can

have an impact on the kind of earthquakes weve seenrecently in Oklahoma, and hydraulic fracturing, which hasa minimal impact on earthquake activity, he explains. Wewant to be part of the strategy that guides the oil and gasindustry on this issue. We want to be proactive by comingup with best practices and be a resource for informinglegislative activity. We think thats a critical interest in ourindustry.

Mostly, though, he says the AACs purpose is to assistCPSGG. We offer advice when its asked for, andsometimes when its not, Biddy says with a laugh. Ourobjective is to work with Dr. [Doug] Elmore [EberlyProfessor and CPSGG director] and make the school assuccessful as possible. We want to be part of the processthat turns out graduates who are proud of their educationand who are able to realize their fullest potential.

Brad Biddy

WE WANT TO BE PARTOF THE PROCESSTHAT TURNS OUTGRADUATES WHOARE PROUD OF THEIREDUCATION AND WHOARE ABLE TO REALIZETHEIR FULLESTPOTENTIAL.


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A MEANINGFUL ROLETray Black has a solid plan for whathe hopes the Mewbourne Schoolof Petroleum and Geological

Engineerings Industry AdvisoryBoard will accomplish during histwo-year term as its chairman.

Our objective is to play a meaningfulrole in helping the school managethe increase in enrollment whilecontinuing to provide an excellentstudent experience and turn outtop graduates, says Black (B.S.petroleum engineering, 1998).

The IAB will do that by raisingprivate funds to support programsand initiatives in the school andfoster research and developmentcollaboration between faculty andindustry.

A key fundraising tool is the collegesnew TrailBlazer Society, a network of supportersdedicated to excellence in energy education and meetingthe total needs of the college, including scholarships,fellowships, graduate teaching assistantships, andlaboratory equipment maintenance and replacement.

Black knows a bit about fundraising for his alma mater.

As part of his service on the IAB, he helped establish theLeave a Legacy Campaign, a student-led MPGE programcreated in 2012 that encourages recent or soon-to-begraduates to support a class gift through nancial giftsor pledges.

One of the goals of the TrailBlazer Society is tore-engage recent graduates by reaching out to peoplewho may not have donated in the past, but who are nowat a point in their careers where they should be able to

give back to the school or collegethat helped get them where theyare today, Black explains. A majorfocus of the Trailblazer Society israising discretionary funds that the

dean and school directors can use to address their mosturgent needs.

Along with promoting the TrailBlazer Society and otherfunding opportunities, members of the IAB also will adviseMPGE about what industry values in graduates. As the oiland gas industry moves more toward horizontal drilling, its

important that students get a lot of exposure to cutting-edge technologies that they will use after they graduate,Black says. The IAB can help by linking the school withindustry and encourage collaborative opportunities.

Our ultimate goal, he adds, is to ensure graduates ofthe Mewbourne School of Petroleum and GeologicalEngineering are the most sought-after and mostprepared.

Tray Black

OUR OBJECTIVE IS TOPLAY A MEANINGFULROLE IN HELPING THESCHOOL MANAGETHE INCREASEIN ENROLLMENTWHILE CONTINUINGTO PROVIDE ANEXCELLENT STUDENTEXPERIENCE ANDTURN OUT TOPGRADUATES.


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EARTH & ENERGY

PHILANTHROPIC DOMINO EFFECTLINN Energy LLCs philosophy about educationalphilanthropy is pretty straightforward: Improving educationsystems and supporting talented and committed students,

ultimately benets society as a whole.We invest in the brain power of the future of domesticenergy, says LINN Energy community relations andinternal communications representative Kristin Midgett.Feeding what goes on at the university level is veryimportant. The more we focus on education, themore we contribute to creating a better society. Its adomino effect.

The Houston-headquartered company has made aconsiderable contribution to that goal in only a decade.Founded in 2003 with just a few natural gas wells,LINN Energy has grown into one of the nations top 15independent energy producers. It employs approximately1,200 people in more than 30 locations that include theMid-Continent, Permian Basin, Hugoton Basin and theRockies, plus sites in Michigan and California.

LINN Energy recruits at four colleges OU and threeTexas universities but hires a whopping 42 percent ofits interns from OU, placing them in operations across thecountry and offering them real-world, hands-on experienceto help prepare them for careers in the energy industry.

OU is a very important source of young talent for us,says Mark Owen (B.S. petroleum engineering, 1981),

vice president of operations for LINN Energys OklahomaCity division, who also oversees areas in Kansas andTexas. He says many students with one LINN Energyinternship under their belts return for second and eventhird internships, as well as permanent employment, withthe company.

The company supports OU students in many otherways as well.

Beginning this fall, LINN Energy will host a LINN EnergyDay on campus where the companys local leadershipwill engage with petroleum engineering students,providing an opportunity for open discussions aboutreal-world experience and current industry activities.To enhance students hands-on education on campus,LINN recently presented a $50,000 gift to theMewbourne School of Petroleum and GeologicalEngineering for the purchase of equipment inundergraduate laboratories. We want to touch as manystudents as we can, Midgett says.

Each summer, LINN Energy participates in OU AlumniClub of Houstons Sooner Sendoff, a special event forincoming and current OU students and their families.

When the OU SPE chapter held its annual Relay forLife fundraiser and needed T-shirts, Midgett says LINNwas excited to partner with the student organization andprovided the shirts at no cost. The company also donatedto the 2013 SPE golf tournament.

In one year, we have reached a lot of students, Midgettsays.

Our focus at OU is to support the students, she adds. Ifwe put more talent into the pool and encourage that talentto do more and to do better, that creates opportunityfor LINN.

Owen notes that the effort is very much a part of LINNEnergys overall philanthropic strategy. Over the last twoyears, we have given $3 million back to communities allover the country, he says. Our partnership with OU ispart of that. We want to have a positive, direct inuenceon our communities.

Mark Payton Gannaway (B.S. petroleum engineering, 2012) participated in the LINN Energy internship program.


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TRAILBLAZER

Points the way, takes the risks andchanges the landscape

Has a vision for a bright future, a

faith that turns dreams into reality,a determination that cuts throughbarriers and obstacles


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EARTH & ENERGY

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TRAILBLAZER IMPACT

The TrailBlazer Society providesthe Mewbourne College and itsschools an opportunity to celebrateleadership giving and the impactit has on our students, facultyand programs. The college willprovide an annual stewardshipreport to members detailing howcontributions are used.

Members of the TrailBlazer Societywill be honored through recognitionprominently displayed in SarkeysEnergy Center and in collegepublications. All society membersalso will receive an invitation to thecolleges annual celebration banquet.

DEANS MESSAGE

The newly created TrailBlazer Society is agiving society that involves, nurtures,honors and recognizes donors for theircontinued support of the MewbourneColleges mission and vision.

Gifts made through the TrailBlazer Societyprovide a reliable source of fundingfor some of our most critical needs:scholarships, new educational initiativesand outstanding facilities. The funding

the Mewbourne College receives through the university from stateappropriations and student tuition provides a basic education. Thepremium content of our curriculum labs, eld trips, professionalexperiences for our students and support for student programs must

come from other funding sources.

TrailBlazer Society members invest in the future of the college bymaking a commitment at one of the membership levels. Thesefunds can be unrestricted or directed to a specic area of interest.The leadership support of the TrailBlazer Society is crucial to theMewbourne Colleges success.

Best regards,

Larry R. GrillotDean and Lester A. Day Family Chair

MEMBERSHIP

Alumni and friends who make commitments of $7,500 or more areeligible for TrailBlazer Society membership. Those who have madecumulative gifts of $7,500 or more to the schools or programs thatcomprise what is now the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy willbe recognized during the TrailBlazers inaugural year as CornerstoneMembers. Individuals making planned gifts by will or trust also may

qualify for the TrailBlazer Society.Gifts may be restricted for a particular purpose, such as scholarships, labsupport or school and college priorities. Gifts also may be designatedas unrestricted to the college, with the option of two-thirds of the giftdirected to the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics,Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering orOklahoma Geological Survey.

Trailblazer

Society Committee

Greg Appleton, Oklahoma City

Brad Biddy, Edmond, Okla.

Tray Black, Houston

Chris Cheatwood, Colleyville, Texas

David Ferris, Norman, Okla.

Nicole Fritz, Oklahoma City

S. Kim Hatfield, Oklahoma City

Ronnie Irani, Oklahoma City

Bob McKenny, Spring, Texas

Sharon Minor, Norman, Okla.

Ken Waits, Tyler, Texas


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OLLEGE NEWS

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WHAT

The Mewbourne College of Earth and EnergyTrailBlazer Society is a network of supportersdedicated to excellence in energy education.

WHY

We believe that combining lecture and theory witha strong lab, eld and applied component, as wellas broad opportunities for student enrichment,continues to provide the best educational experiencefor our students. Private funding is a critical elementfor maintaining this excellence in education.

Our goal is to recognize ALL GIVING through theTrailBlazer Society to meet the total needs of thecollege. Continuing the tradition of giving forscholarships, fellowships and lab support withan emphasis on unrestricted giving will ensurea rst-class education for Mewbourne Collegestudents.

HOW

Support Mewbourne College student programs,including:

} Individual scholarships, fellowships and graduate

teaching assistantships} Group scholarships students engaged in a

common activity for eld and laboratoryeducation, which reduce student lab andcourse fees

} Student participation in national and internationalcompetitions and conferences

} Student organization support, convocationceremonies and other milestone events

} Funds for the maintenance and replacement ofequipment in teaching labs

WE WELCOME THE OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT PERSONALLY WITH YOU ABOUT YOUR

MEMBERSHIP IN THE TRAILBLAZER SOCIETY. PLEASE GIVE US A CALL!

Ameil Shadid, Director of Development (405) 325-0463

Allison Richardson, Director of Alumni Relations(405) 325-2449


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EARTH & ENERGY

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CORNERSTONE MEMBERS

Edward J. and Lou AckmanW. B. and Jo Ann AkersRonny and Judy AltmanCarl B. Anderson Jr.James K. and Jerrie S. AndersonBruce E. and Mary Ann ArchinalBobby D. and Joann Armstrong

William B. and Elizabeth ArperC. Hayden and Ruth AtchisonTommy H. Sr. and Jan AtkinsCharles B. Jr. and Gerry BarlowE. Jack and Nancy H. BarnesJ. Denny and Dixie BartellEllen BartellA. E. Jr. and Ann B. BasingerCarlton BealClyde M. and Anita BeckerJohn S. BellOrville and Bonnie BergRichard and Geral BeveridgeWayne T. and LaFawn BiddleBrad and Aleta BiddyTray and Emelie Black Charles L. and Nancy BlackburnG.T. and Elizabeth BlankenshipPeter E. BlauWalter A. and Claire E. Bork J. Philip and Dolores BoyleBarth W. and Linda BrackenCourtney H. and Amy L. BrackinLeo Robert Brammer Jr.John A. and Donnie V. Brock Lawrence E. Jr. and Lorena Brock Jane H. BrowningDavid G. BryantPaul and Natalie BuckthalRalph D. BurksL. Weldon and Nell CalahanCharles A. II and Tarah CambronJohn M. Campbell Sr.Logan Wickliffe CaryKelvin D. and Valentina CatesPete W. Jr. and Charlsie E. CawthonJames W. and Gayle CaylorF. Martin CaylorSamuel J. CernyDon O. ChapellChris J. and Cathy CheatwoodQing ChenKenton III and Nancy ChickeringH. E. Eddie ChilesWilliam W. and Lillian P. ClopineSteven K. CochranFrank and Marty ColeTed Collins Jr.Michael S. and Ellen ConnellyJames C. and Amy E. CopelandRex D. and Marty CoppedgeJack V. and Barbara CowanTommy C. and Billye Joy CraigheadTommy D. and Marilyn S. CraigheadDouglas R. and Peggy Cummings

Stanley L. and Suzanne Y. CunninghamBobby and Shirley DarnellElliott DavisJames C. and Teresa K. DayEverette L. DeGolyer IIIEdith W. DeGolyerRodger E. DenisonDavid M. DiamondJohn W. and Dana DoughtieMarlan and Marea DowneyCarole J. DrakeJames M. and Susan DrennenDonald J. and Helen P. DuffySherman E. DuganThomas A. and Mary DuganThomas F. and Nancy C. Dunlap

William J. and Virginia L. DunnJaye F. and Betty F. DyerJohn W. and Judith M. EliasJames A. Jr. and Bette Lou EmbryMarshall J. and Louise EnglandEric W. and Shannon R. EricksonRichard R. and Ruth F. Evans

Robert and Carolyn EvansRonald D. and Estelle L. EvansRonald T. and Patricia A. EvansDavid K. and Terry FaginRichard G. and Judy FaginSteve FarrisJeffrey L. FerraraHershell and Beth FilesL. Randle and Rachel FludDonald C. and Judith G. ForbesBill Forney Sr.Margaret B. FosterRobert G. and Bonita FowlerJay M. and Susan GabbardOm P. GargTheodore T. GeffenNorman R. GelphmanJames A. and Judith W. GibbsCharles and Mary Carol GilbertRichard D. and Linda D. GoddardDwayne E. and Awilda N. GodseyKristina R. GoforthJames M. and Lura L. GoodgerFrank GouinJerry K. and Rebecca GreerGene E. and Janis R. GroganWilliam R. and Charlotte GuffeyE. Murray and Nancy C. GullattCarl E. and Thelma J. GungollG. Carl HaleVance A. and Marilyn D. HallJay Sanford and Lillian HandleyHarold W. and Nancy HankeW. Carey and Kellene HardyGen. Hugh W. Hardy, USMCBen and Carol HareVerlan and Winnifred HarrellRalph L. and Maxine HarveyS. Kim and Suzette HateldWilliam C. HauberGerald M. and Carolyn HeinzelmannJames C. and Paula A. HenryFrank D. and Bette J. HillWilliam J. Hilseweck William L. HissHarold H. and Sara HoldenClarice M. HollingsworthHenry T. III and Ann HooperJohn A. and Ruth W. HordKaren HoughJoseph R. and Joan W. HuffstetlerLarry O. and Gayle HulseyGustavo J. InciarteRonnie K. and Shahnaaz R. IraniJ. Paul and Ruth Jennings

Donald D. and RebeccaGardner-JohnsonA. V. Jr. and Pat JonesJon Rex and Ann JonesJon Rex Jr. and Brenda W. JonesEdward C. III and Letitia JoullianJ. Clarence KarcherHarold S. KellyThomas E. and Gloria KempGuy B. and Marian KikerDavid A. Sr. and Peggy KimbellBobby D. and Elizabeth KimberlinCharles E. KimmellJohn C. and Rachael L. KinardKendall K. and Alison KirbyRobert E. and Doris Klabzuba

Pete J. and Kay A. KlentosCraig and Susan KoontzTed K. Jr. and Patsy R. KrampfFrank A. and Peggy LaddN. A. Lale Jr.Graydon H. and Nancy J. LaughbaumJames R. Lesch

Harold and Jean Marie LiddellAaron R. and Joyce R. LieschLeonard L. LimesBill J. and Kay N. LindseyJames P. and Darlene LinnRobert L. and Else LordRobert LowryTom N. and Cathy Luccock Robert F. LukeCharles J. MankinKurt J. and Stephanie MarfurtAlex H. MassadJames Roy and Jozelle Wyatt MaxeyRobert R. and Lillian B. McCallThomas H. Jr. and Phyllis A. McCaslandThomas H. McCasland Sr.Gary A. McDanielJere W. and Anne S. McKennyRobert S. and Elizabeth McKennyMason and Joye McClainJ. Roy and Mickey MeltonPaul M. Mershon Jr.Curtis W. and Joanne MewbourneCharles S. MeyerCharles and JoAnn MeyerDorothy MillerMartin G. and Argentina MillerLee MillsRicky C. and Sharon D. MinorRobert O. MitchellDon D. Sr. and Patty MontgomeryJohn H. and Mary MooreJames L. MorganEdward S. and Gladys M. MorrisTom E. and Frankie P. MortonArthur J. MyersKenneth J. and Glenda J. NelsonKenneth L. and Virginia NelsonAllan and Marilyn NeustadtStephen E. NicholsCharles R. Jr. and Jo Ann NollBrian E. and Sandra OBrienDennis J. OBrienPaul F. OBrien Jr.Glenn W. and Angel M. OkersonMichael A. and Daphne OsborneCody M. and Karen T. OwensJohn C. and Debby OxleyBill Z. and Gayle M. ParkerJ. Durwood Pate Sr.Frank J. and Jennifer L. PattersonH. W. II and Norma J. PeaceHugh W. and Jana PeaceJoe S. and Ruby PeersonCharles R. and Nancy Jo Perry

Pam S. and David L. PierceMorris R. PitmanRandel J. and Jeanne Polk Michael A. and Teresa Pollok Bob and Jo Ann PoteetJeanne Steele PottsMark C. PottsBlair and Gaylene PowellThomas B. PrestonVictor W. Pryor Jr.Mark A. and Myrna RainerBarton W. and Leah RatliffO.H. and Ruth V. ReaughBill K. and DoAnn ReedDavid G. and Carol A. Rensink Fred S. and Jeanette A. Reynolds

Eddie W. and Nanette D. RheaJames P. and Mary Adell RichardsSteven A. and June RichardsJohn W. and Lindy RitzJean-Claude and Jeanne S. RoegiersJ. Hugh and Ann RoffRobert W. and Sheri Rohlng

Mr. Robert L. RountreeJohn L. RowlandLance and Belinda RuffelJ.D. III and Melissa SandeferTed. L. and Kay E. SandridgeLeo and Maralynn V. SantAmir M. SaremLee and Liz SargentBill D. SaxonFrank A. and Betty SchultzJohn E. and Charlotte SengTerry L. and Ruth E. ShyerRobin Jr. and Cherrie SiegfriedPaul and Mary SimpsonArlie M. and Luella SkoveRoger and Linda SlattW. Jack Jr. and Tess SleeperRaymond D. SloanSteven D. and Susan B. SmithC. W. SmithWynne Jr. and Aimee SnootsWilliam O. and Shirley SnyderRobert C. SouthardAlexander B. SpencerMarie Frances SpencerDonald G. and Jo Ann SpindlerHarry Jr. and Jewell SpoonerCol. B. Charles and La Donna SpradlinEdward S. and Jackie SpraginsCol. Charles S. Jr. and Mildred

B. StandleyThomas S. and Gayla M. StapletonCharles E. and Marilyn A. Stark Ernest SteinerCharles C. Jr. and Peggy StephensonRobert L. and Norma E. StephensonGary C. and Teresa A. StewartJ. Mike and Joni SticeJay D. and Susan SwansonJohn A. and Ann TaylorAnn Marie TerryR. J. ThatcherRobert C. and Sally R. ThomasHugh M. and Frances ThrallsDjebbar TiabB. C. and Mercedes TuckerMichael S. and Ginny TurnerGene and Astrid Van DykeGrady H. and Kris VaughnJoe T. and Caryn C. VaughnSam K. Viersen Jr.Cecil V. Von HagenCyril Jr. and Lissa WagnerFred J. Wagner IIIKenneth S. and Laura Waits

Robert L. and Gwyn WallerGerard and Yoanna WalschapLew O. III and Myra B. WardHerbert E. Ware Jr.H. Vaughan Jr. and Mary WatkinsLoy E. WebbStacey E. WeltmerHarry WestmorelandCharles M. and Elaine WilbanksLester WilkonsonJon R. and Cathryn WithrowLesli J. WoodRoy A. WorrellDah C. WuRoger A. YoungLoyce L. Youngblood


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OLLEGE NEWS

14 |

ADDRESSING GROWING NEEDSWhen longtime Mewbourne College corporate donorApache Corp. considered options for a scholarshipprogram, it focused on a couple of key factors: the

companys deep Oklahoma roots and its growing needfor talented, well-trained engineers.

About those roots: Apaches rst wells were drilledin 1955 in the Cushing eld located about halfwaybetween Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The rst Cushingwell came in at seven barrels per day. The next wellApache drilled the Bradley Rafferty #1 had an initialproduction rate of more than 700 barrels per day. Today,Apache Corp. is one of the worlds top independent oiland gas exploration and production companies.

We got our start in oil and gas in Oklahoma, andwere excited about our continued growth here, saysMike Bahorich, Apache Corp. executive vice presidentand chief technology ofcer. As part of that growth,we recruit regularly at OU because we want to havethe very best students and we want to support theuniversity.

Students recruited by Apache Corp. typically startthat journey with an interview at the beginning of theirsophomore year for internships the following summer.Students awarded those internships often returnin subsequent summers and then become full-timeemployees after earning their degrees.

Because we hire interns for multiple years and becausethose interns often join us full time after graduation, welike to identify appropriate candidates early on, Bahorichexplains.

As part of this overall recruitment effort, Apachedeveloped a unique scholarship program.

Each student in the Mewbourne School of Petroleumand Geological Engineering who completes his or hersophomore year in the top quartile of the class, has a3.25 GPA and is eligible to work in the United Statesmay apply for a $1,000 scholarship, says FersheedMody, Apache Corp.s manager of global research anddevelopment, who has served on the MPGE IndustryAdvisory Board for the past decade. Scholarshiprecipients who complete a post-sophomore yearinternship with Apache, interview for and accept a secondinternship and continue to meet the academic andwork requirements may apply for an additional $10,000individual grant direct from Apache Corp. If they becomefull-time employees after graduation, they are eligible for asecond $10,000 individual grant.

The inaugural student scholarships were awarded this fall.

Apache Corp. also established a separate scholarshipprogram in the ConocoPhillips School of Geologyand Geophysics, this one aimed at incoming graduatestudents. Those with a minimum 3.5 GPA in theirundergraduate degree program are eligible to applyfor a $2,500 annual award. Mody says the purpose ofthe graduate scholarships, the rst of which also wereawarded this fall, is to provide additional incentive forstudents to pursue graduate studies.

The company supports the college in a number of otherways that range from $1 million in funding to MPGEsrock physics laboratory formally known as the IntegratedCore Characterization Center, or IC3 laboratory toparticipating as an industry partner in the Shale GasReservoir Consortium, an MPGE-based initiative thatseeks to build improved predictive tools for accurateunconventional reservoir management.

There are lots of interesting things going on in theMewbourne College, Bahorich says. We look forward tocontinuing our long-term relationship with the college andits students.

WE GOT OUR START IN OIL ANDGAS IN OKLAHOMA, AND WEREEXCITED ABOUT OUR CONTINUEDGROWTH HERE.

Mike BahorichExecutive Vice President and Chief Technology Ofcer, Apache Corp.


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EARTH & ENERGY

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INVESTMENT PAYS OFFSchlumberger may have a reputation as a low-keycompany, but the worlds leading supplier of technology,integrated project management and information solutions

to the oil and gas industry is making sure students at theUniversity of Oklahoma know who the company is andwhat it does.

Schlumbergers multi-year, multimillion-dollar gift ofsoftware to the Mewbourne College of Earth andEnergy is a big part of that effort, says Bob Davis(B.S. aerospace engineering, 1971), a 36-year veteranof Schlumberger who currently serves as geologydiscipline career manager and the companys UniversityAmbassador at OU.

My job is to build an image of Schlumberger on campusso that students in science and engineering elds knowwho we are, Davis explains. One of the ways we canget our message out to petroleum engineering, geologyand geophysics students is by donating state-of-the-art software that will help them get jobs in the energyindustry.

The vast array of software Schlumberger has donated tothe college includes 50 licenses for 3-D visual imagingsoftware Petrel, which allows students to build modelsof subsurface reservoirs; more than 100 licenses forECLIPSE, which lets them model reservoir geology anduids; and 50 licenses for Techlog, which enables them toperform basic and advanced petrophysics functions.

Petrel is big with geology and geophysics graduatestudents and to a lesser but important degree withpetroleum engineering undergraduate students, Davissays. ECLIPSE is mostly a petroleum engineering tool.Techlog is very useful to all three groups.

In addition to the software itself, Schlumberger also offersstudents free training on how to use it. We save a coupleof seats at our commercial training classes, most of whichare held in Houston, Davis says. Students just needto register and pay their expenses. The course, which isworth $4,000 to $5,000, is free.

The company also brings employees to campus to teachfaculty how to use the software so they can incorporate itinto their curricula.

Schlumberger is happy to provide the software andpartner with OU. We believe that providing up-to-datesoftware tools to students and faculty leads to a richeracademic environment, Davis says. The underlyingreason for this program is that we hope it will lead to thehiring of OU students and collaboration on research thatwill turn into products for Schlumberger. Its a two-waystreet and everybody benets.

Over the past couple of years, Davis says, Schlumbergerhas become the top employer of OU petroleum engineers.2013 was the rst year the company hired more engineers

from OU than the University of Texas, which has two tothree times the population from which to recruit. That,he adds, was one of his objectives when he took on hiscoordinator responsibilities.

The result speaks highly to the quality of OU engineers,he says. We can see our total efforts not just thesoftware are really paying off.

SCHLUMBERGER IS HAPPY TOPROVIDE THE SOFTWARE ANDPARTNER WITH OU. WE BELIEVETHAT PROVIDING UP-TO-DATESOFTWARE TOOLS TO STUDENTSAND FACULTY LEADS TO A RICHERACADEMIC ENVIRONMENT.

Bob DavisSchlumberger University Ambassador at OU


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ACULTY

16 |

MAKING STRIDES INPLANETARY GEOCHEMISTRY

N ot many scientists can say that their modelingresearch in a laboratory on Earth synced withNASA eld research on Mars.Megan Elwood Madden can.

As a geochemistry doctoral candidate at Virginia Instituteof Technology in 2004, Elwood Madden, now theStubbeman-Drace Presidential Professor of Geology andGeophysics at OU, was working on chemical weatheringon Mars using a computer program to model chemicalreactions in geologic systems.

My test project was to model how basalt, the mostcommon material on Mars, chemically weathers. I keptgetting jarosite, a mineral I had never heard of before thisproject, Elwood Madden recalls. As I was puzzling overwhether my modeling was rubbish, the rover Opportunitylanded on Mars and found jarosite, providing denitiveevidence that liquid water had been present on theplanets surface. I knew I had to quickly gure out themeaning of my modeling. I did, and submitted a paper toNature about how jarosite forms when basalt is present in

just a little bit of water.

The paper, of course, was published. Sometimes yourein the right place at the right time doing the right thing,Elwood Madden says.

She has continued the jarosite work at OU, where shefound some exciting results for how jarosite dissolves inwater and brines and the effects that jarosite dissolutioncan have on the overall chemistry, mineralogy and acidityof the system. She has published another ve papers on

jarosite dissolution rates and products.

Elwood Madden also focuses on planetary applicationsof gas hydrates, solid materials that look like ice but arenot quite ice because gas molecules are trapped within it.

The ice arranges itself into kind of a soccer ball cage andgas is trapped inside. On Earth, these soccer balls form indeep-sea sediments and permafrost, and the trapped gasusually is methane, Elwood Madden explains. Methanehydrates are the most commonly found gas hydrateson Earth. You can volumetrically get more methane intogas hydrates than anything else other than solid frozenmethane because of the high concentration in the gashydrates. Even liquid methane doesnt have as much.

MY STUDENTS AND I HAVE DONEGREAT SCIENCE OVER THE LASTSIX YEARS.

Megan Elwood MaddenStubbeman-Drace Presidential Professor of Geology and Geophysics

continued on page 17


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EARTH & ENERGY

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TEACHING AROUND THE WORLDThe 2012-13 academic

year was a particularlybusy one for SubhashShah. The professorand Stephenson Chairin the MewbourneSchool of Petroleumand GeologicalEngineering and directorof the schools WellConstruction TechnologyCenter was one of 28experts selected by theSociety of PetroleumEngineers as aDistinguished Lecturer.

Shah traveled the worldpresenting his lecture The Wonderful World of Fluids inCoiled Tubing.

My talk was on how and why uid ow is different incoiled tubing versus straight tubing and how that impactswhat we do in the eld, explains Shah, who spent 18years with Halliburton before joining OU in 1994. Fluidchemistry and uid behavior are very complex phenomena.

We understand uid behavior in straight tubing fairly well,

but dont have adequate knowledge and understanding ofuid ow behavior in coiled tubing, which requires moreenergy to pump.

He shared his expertise on the subject with SPE membersin South America (Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador)to Asia (India and Malaysia), Europe (The Netherlands,Germany, United Kingdom, Russia and Kazakhstan) andthe United States (Texas, Michigan, Wyoming, Louisiana,California and Utah, among other states).

Even though OU granted him an exemption from teachingduring the term of his lectureship, because of increasedteaching load on faculty Shah volunteered to teach onegraduate course, Advanced Stimulation, in fall 2012 andone of the three sections of the freshman Introduction toPetroleum Engineering course in spring 2013.

Being an SPE Distinguished Lecturer was veryinteresting and enjoyable, and was educational for meas well. If you keep yourself open to ideas, there is somuch to learn, Shah says. I would like to thank the SPEDistinguished Lecturer Program and the University ofOklahoma for providing me with an opportunity to sharethe knowledge with the oil and gas industry.

Subhash Shah

She says gas hydrates probably are pretty commonthroughout the solar system, especially on the icymoons. We built the Gas Hydrates Lab here at OUto look at hydrate formation and decomposition ratesunder planetary analog conditions at low temperaturesand pressures, she states. We [she and her graduate

students] take gas and react it with ice to form hydrates,and we decompose hydrates into ice and gas. In mostplaces on Earth, hydrates are forming in liquid water, butin planetary systems, they are probably forming in ice. Sowere looking at the process in colder temperatures.

In addition, Elwood Madden and her husband, associateprofessor Andrew Madden, co-direct the Physical andEnvironmental Geochemistry Laboratory.

Andys area is biogeochemistry, and he focuses onnanoscale geoscience. I focus on global scale, so wecomplement each other in terms of space, ElwoodMadden says. The two collaborate on several researchprojects, including the jarosite research and a NASA-funded study on brines.

She is quick to point out that the students do most of thehands-on laboratory research. In lots of ways, these are

their projects as much as ours, Elwood Madden says.Im proud that all of my graduate students have publishedfrom work on their masters theses because of their hardwork and the opportunity to do cutting-edge science.She adds that two of her undergraduate students alsohave published results from their work in her labs and two

more are on track to do so as well.They are following in their professors footsteps. ElwoodMadden has published more than 20 peer-reviewedarticles in such journals as Icarus (a leading planetaryscience journal), Geology, Earth and Planetary ScienceLetters, Geophysical Research Letters and Clays andClay Minerals.

Elwood Madden has established a productive researchprogram she has been awarded more than $1 millionof grant money from NASA and other funding agenciesin ve years based on doing good science that isapplicable to todays major geoscience questions,whether water on Mars, gas hydrates or the effects ofclimate on chemical weathering.

My students and I have done great science over the lastsix years, she says.


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ACULTY

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REMOVING COMPLICATIONSBen Shiau is committed to inventing enhanced oilrecovery technologies that are both environmentallyfriendly and cost effective.

The associate professor in the Mewbourne School ofPetroleum and Geological Engineering and director of theApplied Surfactant Laboratory has spent the past decadedeveloping surfactant technologies to help the oil industryrework aging, underperforming elds.

Shiau says the vast majority of Oklahoma wells onlyproduce about 10 barrels of oil a day. In addition, thestates reservoirs have uniquely high brine levels. So heand his colleagues had to address multiple challenges:nd a way to recover more oil in the harsh, saltyenvironment that smaller independent producers couldafford to implement.

Using a process called chemical ooding, the team ledby Shiau and OU chemical engineering professor JeffHarwell overcame all those challenges.

The technique they use, called surfactant-only chemicalooding, helps break the bonds between petroleummolecules and rock tiny pores that live together in porousrock to release the oil.

Chemical ooding has been around since the 1980s.Jeff was one of the researchers who worked in thatarea at that time, Shiau says. Then oil prices droppedand many companies couldnt afford to pursue thetechnology. When prices started to climb toward $100 abarrel, investing in chemical ooding technology becamemore viable.

Shiau and Harwell joined by MPGE research associateTzu-Ping Hsu, MPGE graduate research assistant WeiWan and chemical engineering graduate researchassistant Mahesh Budhathoki are collaborating withTulsa-based MidCon Energy and Chemical FloodingTechnologies LLC to test the technology in an oil eld inTulsa County. Shiau says the results are expected to beavailable by the end of this year.

The ve inventors received the OU Intellectual PropertyManagement Ofces 2013 Innovator Award fortheir innovative vision in developing and successfullycommercializing the novel surfactant formulations.

The technology also was featured in the cover articleof the October 2012 issue of the Journal of PetroleumTechnology .

This technology enables independent producers toswitch to a more efcient, affordable and safe recoverysystem, Shiau says. Our job is to try to remove thecomplications so they can accomplish that.

Ben Shiau

THIS TECHNOLOGY ENABLESINDEPENDENT PRODUCERS TOSWITCH TO A MORE EFFICIENT,AFFORDABLE AND SAFE RECOVERYSYSTEM. OUR JOB IS TO TRY TOREMOVE THE COMPLICATIONS SOTHEY CAN ACCOMPLISH THAT.

Associate Professor Ben Shiau


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EARTH & ENERGY

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AT THE TOPMEWBOURNE COLLEGE OUTSTANDING SENIOR

Mewbourne College of Earth andEnergy 2012 Outstanding SeniorShelly Wernette graduated in fall2012 with a bachelor of sciencedegree in geology and a mathand anthropology minor. As anundergraduate, she maintaineda 4.0 GPA while participating inactivities and organizations oncampus and in the community thatincluded InterVarsity ChristianFellowship, Sooner Nation, Pick andHammer Club, Operation ChristmasChild, Habitat for Humanity,Cleveland County Youth Shelter,The Oklahoma Regional Food Bank,and Trick or Treating for CannedFood. Wernette was a NationalMerit Scholar and member of PhiBeta Kappa. She also was on thePresidents Honor Roll and DeansHonor Roll and in 2012 received theGould Outstanding Senior in theConocoPhillips School of Geologyand Geophysics.

Wernette is pursuing a mastersdegree in geology at OU.

Outstanding Senior rstalternate Caroline Hawkins graduated in spring 2013 witha bachelor of science degreein petroleum engineering. Shemaintained a 4.0 GPA in hermajor courses and a 3.97 overallGPA. On campus, Hawkins wasa member of Tri-Delta sorority,Chickasaw Learning Community,Society of Petroleum Engineers,

Deans Leadership Council, Pi Epsilon, Tau Beta Piand the American Association of Drilling Engineers. Inthe community, she participated in St. Jude ChildrensResearch Hospital fundraisers, The Big Event, Relayfor Life and Art with a Heart, and as a volunteer at theNorman Animal Welfare Center.

Outstanding Senior secondalternate Trevor Ingle graduated in spring 2013 witha bachelor of science degreein petroleum engineering. Hemaintained a GPA of 3.91as an undergraduate andwas a member of the Societyof Petroleum Engineers,American Association of DrillingEngineers, Deans Leadership

Council and Deans Advisory Council and was inductedinto the Petroleum Engineering Honor Society, which heserved as president. Ingle participated in Relay for Life,which supports cancer research, and represented the OUSPE chapter at the Relay for Life Summit.


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TUDENTS

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CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS AWARDS

Charles N. Gould OutstandingSenior Award

Uyen Thi Thanh Nguyen

Alan J. Witten Award

Khanh Le Huy Pham

Thang Nguyen Ha

David Stearns OutstandingSenior Award

Ellen Marie Rosencrans

Estwing Hammer Award

Jennifer DiGiulio

Hoang Huy Bui (photo unavailable)

Outstanding Senior

Caroline Hawkins

Outstanding Junior

Marissa Mercado

Outstanding Sophomore

Connor Walters

2012-2013FAST FACTS

FACULTY 35

RESEARCHERS 2

TOTAL STUDENTS 1,144

23% increase

UNDERGRADUATES 953

GRADUATE STUDENTS 191

DEGREES CONFERRED 197

ConocoPhillips School ofGeology and Geophysics

BACHELORS DEGREES

Geology 21Geophysics 10Environmental geology 4Petroleum geology 2Paleontology -MASTERS DEGREES

Geology 21Geophysics 5DOCTORAL DEGREES

Geology 1Geophysics 3

Mewbourne College ofPetroleum and GeologicalEngineering

BACHELORS DEGREES

Petroleum engineering 91MASTERS DEGREES

Petroleum engineering 27Natural gas engineering andmanagement 6Geological engineering 1DOCTORAL DEGREES

Geological engineering -Petroleum engineering 5

TOTAL 197

Nguyen

Hawkins

DiGiulio

Pham

Mercado

RosencransHa

Walters

MEWBOURNE SCHOOL OF PETROLEUM AND GEOLOGICAL

ENGINEERING AWARDS


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EARTH & ENERGY

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DEGOLYER GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPANDREW SWINDLE IS THE RECIPIENT OF THE2013 DEGOLYER GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN

GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS.

Everette Lee DeGolyer (1886-1956) is recognizedthroughout the world as an excellent scientist, a pragmaticand successful explorationist and a book collector of greatscope. The DeGolyer Graduate Fellowship in Geology andGeophysics was established at the University of Oklahomaby the DeGolyer family in fall 1997. To honor his memoryand afliation with OU and his contributions to the scienceand profession of geology, the DeGolyer Fellowship isawarded to a graduate student for academic excellence.

DeGolyer was an oilman and philanthropist who earneda geology degree from OU in 1911. One of OUs mostfamous alumni, he was a pioneer in the use of geophysicaltechniques in the search for oil. His love for science ledhim to acquire a signicant collection of items relatedto the history of science, including an extensive historyof geology. This collection serves as the foundation forboth the History of Science Department in the Collegeof Arts and Sciences as well as the History of ScienceCollections in Bizzell Memorial Library. Geologicalclassics in the library include the writings of NicholasSteno, Georgius Agricola, William Strata Smith, JamesHutton, Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, Abraham Gottlob

Werner, Charles Lyell, Baron Friedrich W.K.H. Alexandervon Humboldt and James Dwight Dana.

Swindle came to OU in 2009 as a potential Ph.D.candidate. He previously had earned bachelor of scienceand master of science degrees in geology from OklahomaState University. Between graduating from OSU andbeginning his graduate studies at OU, he spent morethan ve years working as a consulting geologist in Texas

and Oklahoma.

Swindles dissertation research atOU focuses on the comparisonsbetween eld and laboratoryinvestigations of mineral reactivity,and the impact of dissolvedorganics on the surface reactivityof nano-sized minerals. He also hasconducted research on projectsinvolving the sequestration of uraniumby iron-reducing bacteria and theoccurrence of nanodiamonds asindicators of comet impacts inQuaternary-age deposits.Swindle has presented researchndings at three internationalconferences, including thepresentation of the conclusionsof his dissertation research at theGoldschmidt 2013 InternationalConference in August.

Andrew Swindle

The rst OU Topographic Team working in the Arbuckle Mountains (1905) included studentEverette DeGolyer (far right).


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TUDENTS

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(Left to right): Alfredo Fernandez, Luis Castillo, Colleen Klockow,associate professor John Pigott, Daniel Sigward and William Bailey

BIG WIN IN CHINAJon Clark and Zheng Jiang didnt go to China looking towin PetroBowl China 2012.

But thats what they did.

While attending the Society of Petroleum EngineersInternational Conference for Future Petroleum Engineersin Beijing, Clark and Jiang (both B.S. petroleumengineering, 2012) decided on the y that they wouldenter the PetroBowl China 2012 competition, which waspart of the conference.

We got involved at the last minute, says Clark, acompletions engineer at ConocoPhillips in Houston. Tocompete, we had to have three people. We met AidarSvyatov, then a graduate student at the University ofTulsa and a native of Kazakhstan, and formed an all-Oklahoma team.

PetroBowl matches SPE student chapter teams againsteach other in a fast-paced quiz competition. Thecompeting teams are challenged to answer both technicaland non-technical questions associated with the oil andgas industry.

The PetroBowl China competition was strong andincluded teams from Russia, Germany, Thailand, Egypt,Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Austria. But Clark saidthe Oklahoma team was condent as it entered the nalsafter winning four rounds.

The nal round pitted the team against competitors fromMalaysia and China. The Oklahoma team was victoriousafter a tiebreaker.

It felt good to win, Clark says.

Jiang, a graduate student in energy resources engineeringat Peking University, adds, The China University ofPetroleum hosts the International Conference for FuturePetroleum Engineers every year in Beijing. The conferenceand PetroBowl China are great opportunities for studentsin petroleum-related disciplines to discuss professionaleld knowledge and have a culturally diverse experience. Ihope more OU students have a chance to go.

GRAD STUDENTS CAPTURE IMPERIAL BARREL AWARDRepresenting the Mid-Continental Section of theAmerican Association of Petroleum Geologists, a teamof graduate students in the ConocoPhillips School of

Geology and Geophysics captured second-place honorsat the 2013 AAPG Imperial Barrel Award competition.

Alfredo Fernandez, Luis Castillo, Colleen Klockow, DanielSigward and William Bailey were awarded the $10,000Selley Cup Second Place award, which will supportscholarships in CPSGG.

Graduate student teams from universities aroundthe world participate in the annual prospective basinevaluation program, in which they analyze a dataset ofgeology, geophysics, land, production infrastructureand other relevant materials and deliver their results ina 25-minute presentation to a panel of industry experts.Winners are selected on the basis of technical quality,clarity and originality of presentation.

OU is the rst school in the competitions history to placerst (2008), second (2013) and third (2007).


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RAISING THOUSANDS FOR LIFEEach year, more than 4 million people in 20 countriesraise funds and awareness to save lives from cancerthrough the American Cancer Societys Relay for Life.

About 1,000 people participated in the 2013 University ofOklahoma Relay for Life event held April 20.

But it took only 40 members of the OU chapter of theSociety of Petroleum Engineers to raise $42,250 one-third of the university-wide total of $126,000. Thesecond- and third-place teams raised $13,381 and$6,038, respectively.

More impressive stats: SPEs participation was thesixth-largest Relay for Life fundraiser in Oklahoma. Andthe total exceeded the nearly $30,000 SPE raised for theevent in 2012.

Participating in this event is the best opportunity to givethe gift of life to future generations by supporting cancerresearch, says Steven Crowley, who participated throughSPE and will serve as the organizations philanthropychairman this year. Any motivated team is capable of

making an impact that will be felt by anyone whose familyhas been or will be affected by cancer. SPE continues itssuccess in this event because the members, alumni and

supporters share a passion to help others and protectthe future.

Crowley says SPEs success was the result of monthsof fundraising and hard work. His goal this year is to doeven more.

I plan to encourage more members of SPE to participatein Relay for Life and think outside the box to fundraise,he relates. Its important that we put forth the effort toexceed our total from last year.

Relay for Life is one of many opportunities OU SPEstudents seize to make an impact on their community, he

adds. We thank our corporate and alumni donors as wellas the student fundraisers. Their generosity and hard workis responsible for SPEs reputation as a campus and stateleader in Relay for Life.


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TUDENTS

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STUDENTS TEACHINGSTUDENTS

W ith an emphasis on community service in2012-13, OU Pick & Hammer took on a newchallenge: promoting geosciences educationthrough a partnership with Norman Public Schools.

The multi-project initiative included:

preparing middle school students for the ScienceOlympiad and assisting at Olympiad meets

identifying and cataloging boxes of rock and mineralsamples from area schools

visiting elementary school classrooms to teachthird-graders about rocks and minerals

and hosting some of those third-grade classes atSarkeys Energy Center, where the youngsters viewedmineral and fossil collections, saw equipment typicallyused by geologists and geophysicists and maybe bestof all practiced their coring techniques on cupcakes.

Eleven third-grade classes participated in theseopportunities, says graduate student Andrew Swindle,Pick & Hammers 2012-13 president. Our partnershipwith Norman Public Schools was such a success that weare planning to continue those efforts this year.

Pick & Hammer also helped Boy Scouts participating inMerit Badge University earn their geology merit badges.Club members led activities that taught scouts howto identify rocks and minerals and use maps, Swindleexplains. These activities piqued their interest by showing

them why studying geology is important and fun.In late July, the club hosted a group of KinderCarestudents at Sarkeys Energy Center.

OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH NORMANPUBLIC SCHOOLS WAS SUCH ASUCCESS THAT WE ARE PLANNINGTO CONTINUE THOSE EFFORTSTHIS YEAR.

Andrew Swindle2012-2013 Pick & Hammer president

As part of a community outreach collaboration between Pick & Hammer and Norman Public Schools, third-grade students practice coringtechniques on cupcakes (above left) and learn about the mineral Londonite at Sarkeys Energy Center (above right).


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Telling Her Story

Growing up in Eufaula, Okla.,Casie Sudderth didnt knowmuch about engineering

careers for women.

She excelled in math and sciencein high school. Her teacher, notingher superior analytical skills andunderstanding of physics, suggestedengineering as a career.

Originally, I wanted to be amechanical engineer, says Sudderth(B.S. petroleum engineering, 2009).I thought Id work for NASA, maybe

work on the Mars rovers. Thentwo things happened early in herfreshman year at the Universityof Oklahoma.

At freshman orientation, someonecame in to talk about petroleumengineering, she says. Even thoughId grown up in Oklahoma, I neverreally paid attention to that eld anddidnt know anyone who worked in it.During the presentation, I discoveredI was much more interested in oil

extraction and all the challengesassociated with it than I was inmechanical engineering. I changedmy major a couple of days later.

Later that semester, Sudderth, theonly female engineering major in thePresidents Leadership Class, metformer OU engineering professor andassistant dean Teri Reed-Rhoads ata PLC roundtable discussion. Dr.Rhodes had both petroleum andindustrial engineering degrees and had spent several

years in the oil and gas industry. She told me abouther experiences and encouraged me to get a job in theeld as soon as possible. She introduced me to [nowprofessor emeritus] Dr. J.C. Roegiers, who offered me a

job working on research with his masters students. Hebecame my mentor and emphasized the importance ofnetworking and internships.

This past spring, Sudderth and fellow alumna DanielleWright Mezo (B.S. petroleum engineering, 2009)

shared these experiences and more with a group of 30young women, all students in the Mewbourne School ofPetroleum and Geological Engineering facing many ofthe same challenges as Sudderth and Mezo as studentsand as young engineers in a profession still dominatedby males.

We want our female students to meet and get to knoweach other to form a bond to know they are not alone,explains Francey Freeman, the schools coordinator ofstudent relations. We also think its important to hear

IT WAS NICE TO HEAR FROM AND TALK TOWOMEN WHO HAD BEEN THROUGH THE SAMETHINGS WE HAD BEEN THROUGH AND CONTINUETO EXPERIENCE. AND IT WAS NICE TO KNOWTHAT A SUCCESSFUL CAREER IN PETROLEUMENGINEERING IS DOABLE.

Danielle GenestMewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering sophomore


Casie Sudderth (right) and Danielle Wright Mezo


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IMMERSED IN BOLIVIAThe 11petroleumengineering

students whoparticipated inthe MewbourneColleges 10-daystudy abroadprogram in May2013 broughtto 27 the totalnumber who

since 2011 have expanded their scholarly and culturalhorizons through intensive study and cultural immersion.

The May 2013 destination was Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Accompanied by Yoana Walschap, the collegesinternational outreach coordinator and director of theEnergy Institute of the Americas, and Deepak Devegowda,assistant professor in the Mewbourne School ofPetroleum and Geological Engineering, the group was

joined by 24 Bolivian engineering students and veyoung industry professionals for Devegowdas ImprovedRecovery Techniques course at Universidad Privada deSanta Cruz del la Sierra.

The trip also included cultural visits to SamaipataFortress, an archeological site from pre-Inca times,and the 17th-century Chiquitana Jesuit missions in

Santa Cruz.I learned a great amount about Bolivia the culture,people and food, reports petroleum engineering seniorSamuel Eccles. I learned how to interact with studentsand other people from another country despite languagebarriers preventing uent conversation.

Marissa Mercado, also a petroleum engineering senior,adds, With the colleges international program, I was ableto have my study abroad experience that did not interferewith my summer internship while still taking a relevantpetroleum engineering elective.

Through the colleges study abroad program, vepetroleum engineering students studied at the Universityof Colombia in 2011. The following year, a group of11 headed to Argentinas Instituto Tecnologico deBuenos Aires.

National University in Colombia has been selected forthe 2014 study abroad destination. The University of SaoPaulo in Brazil is the anticipated 2015 site.

BIGGER AND BETTERThe more than $40,000 the 2012 University of OklahomaSociety of Petroleum Engineers Golf Classic raised was anew record for the annual fundraiser.

The 12th annual event was held at Winter Creek Golf andCountry Club in Blanchard, Okla. Forty-ve SPE studentsvolunteered and 55 played in the tournament. Forty-nineteams and 36 companies were represented.

We raised more money than we ever have, which allowedus to fund more SPE meetings and social events, attendconferences and participate in competitions, and stillleave a very signicant amount of money for the classbehind us, says 2012 golf tournament coordinator AustinQualls (B.S. petroleum engineering, 2013).

He notes that the tournament also is a recruiting tool.

Recruiters from sponsoring companies can requestcertain students to play with them, Qualls says. Oncethe company-specic requests are fullled, we try to placestudents searching for jobs or internships in the remainingspots to help them network with industry professionals.

He says the goal was to put on a great event that wouldencourage companies to come back in future years andgrow the tournament.We accomplished that. This years two-day golftournament will be even bigger and better, Qualls states.The college is growing, so SPE fundraising must keep upwith the burgeoning student population.

Editors note: The 2013 tournament was held Sept.20-21 at Winter Creek Golf and Country Club. Details were not available at press time.


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ESEARCH

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FINDING FRACTURES INTHE MISSISSIPPI PLAYThe 6.5-million-acre Mississippi Play concentrated innorthern Oklahoma and southern Kansas has beenproducing thousands of vertical oil wells for more thanhalf a century. Over the past ve years, this limestoneformation has become known as a new North Americanresource play where advanced technologies are beingdeveloped and employed to evaluate, drill and producenon-shale reservoirs.

Kurt Marfurt, Frank and Henrietta Schultz Chair andProfessor of Geophysics in the ConocoPhillips Schoolof Geology and Geophysics, whose research focuseson development and calibration of new seismic attributesto aid in seismic processing, seismic interpretation andreservoir characterization, plays an important role in theMississippi Play production efforts.

To appreciate his work, a little history of the area is in order.

The eastern part of the Mississippi Play, primarilyin Osage County, Okla., tends to be oil-rich, whilethe western part tends to be more gas-rich, Marfurtexplains. The Mississippi lime is intimately related tothe Mississippi Valley lead and zinc deposit in northeastOklahoma, southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri,

which was a main source of the lead and zinc used inWorld War I. The lead and zinc formed in collapsedcaves and fractured with hydrothermal uids that wereprecipitated when the acid, lead and zinc came intocontact with the basic alkaline limestone. The same thingoccurred in Osage County, forming the initial plumbingof the reservoir. When the reservoir was above sealevel, rainwater caused further dissolution, enlarging thefractures. The area has undergone a great deal of whatyou would call strike-slip or wrench tectonics, and parts ofthe Mississippi Lime were popped up and then droppeddown again and preserved.

The result is limestone full of chert int, to a layperson the main compound of which is silicon dioxide, or silica.Porosity can reach up to 50 percent in the extreme case,forming a rock type called tripolite.

Those are the sweet spots, Marfurt says, which suchcompanies as Tulsa-based Ceja Corp. recognized with3D seismic data and drilled primarily vertical wells.Since then, pioneers like Spyglass Energy Group, also

headquartered in Tulsa, have initiated horizontal drilling,but with a twist.

Its the same horizontal drilling that is used in shale. Butthe idea is not to drill through the tripolite, because theyare just spots, but rather to drill deeper down through thesiliceous chert, which is naturally fractured, and then drainthe oil out of the natural fractures, he explains. And if asweet spot is hit during drilling, thats even better.

The trick is nding those natural fractures and identifyingwhich are brittle and which are ductile. Thats whereMarfurt comes in.

The goal of my research in the Mississippi Lime is to use3D surface seismic data to predict and map areas that aremore brittle and then might have natural fractures thechert-rich rocks versus tight limestone. That will helpidentify places that are better to drill.


Kurt Marfurt (top); samples from the Mississippi Play


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He says three things give rise to natural fractures: amountof strain, thickness and brittleness. Fracture will occurif we subject rock to strain essentially fold the rock,which results in high strain at the crest and trough andlow strain on the anks. A brittle rock breaks more easilythan a more ductile rock. In the Mississippi Lime, the chert

is pure silicon dioxide and will fracture almost like glass,while the more ductile limestone will take more strainbefore it breaks. And a thick rock will fracture further apartthan a thin rock. By measuring the relative thickness, wecan estimate fracture intensity.

With conventional stacked 3D seismic data, Marfurtand his colleagues generate maps of curvature andcorrelate the patterns to fractures seen in horizontalimage logs. The transformation of prestack seismicdata into acoustic impedance is commonly referred to asseismic inversion which allows them to estimate thedensity, compressional wave impedance and shear wave

impedance of the rock.

That allows us to estimate the brittleness of the rock anddifferentiate among tripolite, cherty limestone and tightlimestone facies. In Osage County, density is the bestestimator of tripolite, Marfurt says.

He notes, however, that more well control is needed inthe Mississippi Play to better understand its statisticalvariation. This tightly held information should becomemore available when most of the available acreage hasbeen leased.

To be able to estimate whether the rock is brittle andtherefore has experienced natural fractures or, alternatively,can be successfully completed using hydraulic fracturingis critical, he says. For those operators who have not yetshot a seismic survey, my recommendation is to acquirewide azimuth and long offset seismic data. In OsageCounty where the Mississippi Lime is 3,000 to 4,000 feetdeep, wide azimuth and long offset seismic will provide avery good estimate of not only potential natural fractures,but all of lithology.

RESEARCH OVERVIEW AND FUNDING

N orman campus facultyachieved a recordnumber of researchawards in FY 2012, topping$93 million for the rst time inthe universitys history.

The Mewbourne College ofEarth and Energys total forFY 2012 was $7,641,267.00.University-wide, the collegeranked fourth in researchexpenditures and secondper capita.

MCEE RESEARCHNO. OF GRANTS

FY13RESEARCH FUNDING

FY13RESEARCH

EXPENDITURES FY13FY13 PROPOSALS

55 $38,417,425 $7,250,65240 submittedfor a total of

$14,453,335

NO. OF GRANTSFY12

RESEARCH FUNDINGFY12

RESEARCHEXPENDITURES FY12

FY12 PROPOSALS

54 $34,803,458 $7,641,26742 submittedfor a total of

$14,501,077


RESEARCH EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA BY NORMAN CAMPUS COLLEGE, FY 2012

per tenured and tenure track faculty member$0 $50,000 $100,000 $150,000 $200,000 $250,000 $300,000

Atmospheric and Geographic SciencesMewbourne Earth and Energy

EngineeringRainbolt Education

Provost DirectArts & Sciences

International Studies/ProgramsGaylord Journalism/Mass Comm

ArchitecturePrice Business

McClendon HonorsWeitzenhoffer Fine Arts

$633,466 $274,175 $212,175 $105,837 $80,988 $68,773

$32,335 $19,613 $16,057 $10,475 $2,134 $38

Sources: Norman Campus Financial Support Services (FY 2012 expenditures) and OU Institutional Research and Reporting (Fall 2011 tenured and tenure track faculty counts)


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ESEARCH

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CLASSIFYING SHALES FORECONOMIC ASSESSMENT


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R esearch at the newly established FEI-OU PoreScale Characterization Laboratory focuses on thedevelopment of routine quantitative methods toclassify shales in the economic assessment of tight oil andgas plays.

The new oil and gas center of excellence, housed inthe Mewbourne School of Petroleum and GeologicalEngineering, is a collaboration between the Universityof Oklahoma and FEI, a leading supplier of scienticinstruments for nano-scale applications and solutions forindustry and science.

There has been tremendous growth in the development ofoil and gas found in unconventional shale reservoirs, saysCarl Sondergeld, MPGE professor, Curtis MewbourneChair and director of the new lab. Unlike conventionalreservoirs, the pores that hold the oil and gas in shales arevery small and poorly connected hence the term tight making it difcult to extract any hydrocarbons that mightbe present.

FEIs tools allow us to see the pores and organicsdirectly, view the material they contain and reconstructthree-dimensional models of the pore network, he adds.The challenge now is to relate these nanometer-scalefeatures to the large-scale geological and petrophysicalcharacteristics that determine the economic potential of aparticular reservoir.

Rudy Kellner, vice president of FEIs Industry Group,notes FEIs strong track record of transforming laboratorymethods into industrial solutions.

For example, our systems have become critical in thesemiconductor manufacturing industry for process controland failure analysis. We would like to replicate that successas the leading provider of information from images inthe upstream oil and gas industry, Kellner explains.Collaborating in the development of external resources, likethis FEI-OU Pore Scale Characterization Laboratory, allowsus to acquire a deeper understanding of the industryschallenges and our role in providing solutions.

The collaboration agreement includes FEIs HeliosNanoLab 650 DualBeam and QEMSCAN automatedmineralogy tool. The DualBeam uses a scanning electronmicroscope to provide high-resolution imaging and afocused ion beam to remove thin slices of the sample,allowing the reconstruction of a high-resolution 3D model

of the pore network. The QEMSCAN combines SEMand X-ray spectrometry to automatically analyze mineralcontent, rock type and other petrographic characteristics.

Sondergeld says a key objective at the FEI-OU Pore ScaleCharacterization Laboratory will be to link nano-scaleobservations to large-scale petrophysical parametersrelevant to economic decision making in the explorationand development of shale gas reservoirs.

This means imaging and analyzing the micro- andnano-scale structures with QEMSCAN and DualBeamtechnology and reconciling the results with suchconventional macroscopic measurement technologies asmercury injection, NMR, CT scanning and core fracturingstudies to build better reservoir models, he explains.

Looking even further ahead, Sondergeld says theresearchers may be able to infer the maturity of organicmatter from the morphology of the organic particles andthe surrounding texture, or to determine if anisotropy canbe used to map organic richness.

Anything we can do to reduce uncertainty in exploitationand reservoir evaluation will have great value to theindustry, he states.

FEIS INSTRUMENTSALLOW US TO SEE

THE PORES ANDORGANICS DIRECTLY,VIEW THE MATERIALTHEY CONTAIN ANDRECONSTRUCT THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS

OF THE PORE NETWORK.

Professor Carl SondergeldDirector of the FEI-OU Pore Scale Characterization Laboratory

The state-of-the-art equipment in the FEI-OU Pore Scale CharacterizationLaboratory (pictured on p. 30 and above) that will help researchersdevelop new quantitative methods to classify shales in the economicassessment of tight oil and gas plays includes: a multimillion-dollar HeliosNanoLab 650 DualBeam scanning electron microscope, which hasenhanced capabilities over the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and

Geological Engineerings existing Helios 600 FIB-SEM; a QEMSCANautomated mineralogy tool, which combines SEM imaging with EDS(energy dispe

Documents

Earth & Energy Magazine 2013