letter from the editors - department of petroleum engineering petroleum... · neously, wellbore...
TRANSCRIPT
After a long semester, December ended with the graduation of pe-
troleum engineering students. The ceremony was the culmination of
years of effort that led to their success as petroleum engineers. As
they look towards their future, the students at University of Louisiana
prepare for theirs and there will be many opportunities for them to en-
hance and increase their knowledge as petroleum engineers. The pe-
troleum engineering organizations at UL will do their best to provide
more meetings, tours, trips, volunteer opportunities, and industry lec-
tures to increase their out of class knowledge, form valuable connec-
tions, learn from professionals, and become more involved with indus-
try and the community. This upcoming semester, we will be sending
students to the SPE Student Summit in Oklahoma, offering free IADC
certified training through Intertek, sending students to gain Wild Well
Control certification, and making more opportunities available. We
thank you for your continued support.
L e t t e r f r o m t h e E d i t o r s
N e w s l e t t e r D a t e
I n s i d e t h i s i s s u e :
L e t t e r f r o m
E d i t o r s
1
I n t e r v i e w w i t h
D r . S a l e h i
2
U p d a t e w i t h
D r . B o u k a d i
4
F a l l 2 0 1 4
G r a d u a t i o n
5
O i l P r i c e
A n a l y s i s
6
M e r c h a n d i s e 8
C a l e n d a r o f
E v e n t s
9
O f f i c e r
C o n t a c t I n f o
1 0
w w w . u l p e t r o l e u m . o r g D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4
Muhiad Elsanousy
LES President
SPE Secretary
Joseph Kravets
PETE Newsletter Editor
Pi Epsilon Tau Treasurer
Stephen Au
SPE Treasurer
Page 2 www.ulpetroleum.org
I n t e r v i e w w i t h P r o f e s s o r S a e e d S a l e h i b y M u h i a d E l s a n o u s y
Q: What is your experience and specialty in the field?
A: My main specialty is Drilling Engineering, Petroleum Geome-
chanics and Well Construction. This includes a wide spectrum of
drilling related problems, drilling fluids, optimization, well design,
cementing, zonal isolation and application of rock mechanics in
diverse petroleum engineering applications. I worked in industry
in various capacities before joining academia such as a drilling
and completions engineer. Working in the field helped me to
get a good grasp of petroleum fundamentals and processes.
Q: What is the general scope and purpose of your current re-
search project?
A: Currently, I have a team of eight graduate students and two
undergraduate students. We are working on various projects
that are mostly industry related. Projects are casing while Drilling
which is new drilling technology to drill and case a well simulta-
neously, wellbore cementing with developing new environmen-
tally friendly materials, drilling fluids and wellbore strengthening
to develop new generation of drilling fluids and mixtures to drill more efficiently with less drilling and
wellbore stability related problems. One new project we currently work on is application of new
computing techniques such as neural networks and fuzzy logic for drilling optimization. Most of pro-
jects are sponsored by industry, state and federal agencies. Some of the projects we are collaborat-
ing with the civil and chemical engineering departments which helps to bring more specialties on
the table. With current push by the University for more research work and projects, we need to bal-
ance the time for both research work and teaching. We try to attend and present technical papers
in the major SPE and AADE conferences such as ATCE, IADC and AADE National. Most of the papers
are presented by students which expose them to industry attendees and helps them with presenting
skills and job placement.
Q: Can you go into more detail about the industrial applications of your research?
A: Many of the projects are meaningless without industry applications. For instance, to cut more
down time while drilling (Non-Productive Time) requires efficient drilling techniques, equipment and
materials. This translates into research projects such as casing while drilling and wellbore strengthen-
ing which are currently top notch technologies. To mitigate problems with leakage and cementing,
we need to continue developing new advanced sealing materials by testing them in the laboratory
and numerical modeling simulating under downhole conditions. Students exposed to these projects
are able to get more skills such as working with some advanced software and new state of art la-
boratory equipment. Many of the research projects involve industry mentors helping students to be
Dr. Salehi, Petroleum Engineering Professor
Page 3 www.ulpetroleum.org
in touch with industry and initiate professional networking. Students need to present their research
results to industry and get valuable feedback for future work.
Q: What aspects of petroleum are you most interested in and why?
A: I am more interested in tangible aspects of petroleum industry. Aspects that I can understand the
problem and can come up with a solution. I like to make things simple and, believe it or not, many
of the problems sometimes need simple solutions. Complexity brings confusion which I try to avoid as
much as possible. It’s also a joy for students to see application of the things they have learned in
school. I love to do laboratory, hands on, and field work. Things that you can see the results by end
of the day.
Q: What is the newest most exciting technology in the field to you right now?
A: The most exciting technologies I am currently following are “Wellbore Strengthening”, “Managed
Pressure Drilling” and “Dual Gradient Drilling”. Imagine you drill a well with four casings instead of
eight! Or you do not worry about you fracture gradient anymore. You are proactive with problems
you expect and complete well with more than 25% less downtime. I think this is the future for us. We
are shifting towards more efficiency or what I like to call smart drilling. Current boom in unconven-
tional resources and hydraulic fracturing techniques is a good example. Nobody twenty years ago
could believe tapping into these resources in such a quick time.
Q: Currently, the price of oil has plummeted to around $50 barrel. Can you explain why?
A: This happened due to the market oversupplied with oil and some other geopolitical issues. Like
every other commodity, when supply exceeds demand, the price of the commodity goes down.
Being in this industry for a while, we are used to such up and downs and company mergers. It has
always been a volatile industry with having oil price as a biggest market risk. However, this shouldn’t
be a concern for our students or technical people. More than seventy eight percent of energy
comes from fossil fuels. This means we still need to drill and find oil and gas for years to come.
Q: Do you have any recommendations for students wanting to learn more about the industry?
A: Yes, I do recommend students to be on top of current technology by reading and being curious.
This includes books, papers and magazines. Students have free access to SPE papers, JPT and many
other resources. This is a good start. One other thing is abundant industry resources around us. Just
pick up a phone and call someone and make an appointment. I am sure they will be glad to help
out as long as their time permits.
Q: What advice would you give to students now?
A: My advice to students is to go beyond the stuff they learn in the courses. With current oil industry
projects becoming more diverse and as complicated as NASA projects, students need more diverse
skills by practicing more hands on work and projects. Try to get the best benefit of being close to
Gulf Coast industry meaning more of deep and ultra-deep water experience and technologies.
Plan to be a Professional Engineer (P. E.) quickly after graduating. The journey just begins with gradu-
ation!
U p d a t e w i t h D r . B o u k a d i b y M u h i a d E l s a n o u s y
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We received a substantial and very gener-
ous donation from Schlumberger. The do-
nation is in the form of software licenses.
TECHLOG, the new software, will be uti-
lized to support teaching Formation Evalu-
ation lectures (PETE 481) and labs (PETE
483). The donation was given to the De-
partment right before the break and is
worth more than $30,000,000 in total.
We will also be using a generous donation
that was given to us by Chevron, this past
Summer, to purchase new high-powered
computers. 20 new desktops with 16 giga-
bytes of ram and 3 terabytes of hard drive
space will be installed in the PETE Computer
Room before Spring semester kick off. They’ll be added to 21 working desktops to make up a
total of 41. The following software will be installed on all the computers: TECHLOG, Schlum-
berger platform, Fracpro, Weatherford EPS Suite, Roxar Simulation Suite, and FEKETE Software
Suite. We are also approaching Schlumberger to donate more computers. The intent is to fur-
nish another Computer Lab with 50 high-power desktops.
A new Drilling Engineering Simulator has also been donated by Chevron during the final ex-
am period. The cost of the unit is around $25,000. The new Well Control Simulator is installed in
the new Drilling Engineering Lab located right across the PETE Conference Room. Two work-
ing simulators can now be utilized in during Drilling Engineering Labs.
We are also putting together a database for oil and gas industry around campus. The intent is
to invite as many companies as possible to participate in the 60th Anniversary of the Depart-
ment. An open day will be scheduled during mid April. Plans are to also invite “Majors” from
Houston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette to the event. All stakeholders will be invit-
ed to make this event a success. Student societies and the PETE student body (800 or so)
should play a major role in the event. I invite all the student body to participate and take part
and make the Department look great. The idea is to bridge gaps between UL PETE and the
industry, provide students and faculty with more opportunities including internships, employ-
ment, research, and services. Plans are to recruit two new Assistant Professors for Fall 2015 to
meet the needs of the growing petroleum engineering student body. Have a great semester.
Dr. Boukadi, Petroleum Engineering Department Head
F a l l 2 0 1 4 G r a d u a t i o n b y J o s e p h K r a v e t s
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For the Fall 2014 semester, we saw 13 undergraduate students and 17 graduate stu-
dents complete the petroleum engineering program. Our graduates are working at compa-
nies like Chevron, Baker Hughes, Weatherford, and other local and national companies. Aus-
tin Notariano, graduating with his bachelor’s, will be working at Baker Hughes in Houma as a
field engineer in the Gulf of Mexico dealing with wellbore construction and completions. Rob-
ert Rodriguez will be working as an MPD engineer for Weatherford. Stephanie Hussman, a
graduate with her master’s, will be working as a Drilling Engineer at Chevron.
Fall 2014 also showed the strength of the petroleum engineering master’s degree pro-
gram. We see more graduate students complete the program than undergraduate students.
In fact, more petroleum engineering masters students graduated in petroleum engineering
than all the other College of Engineering graduate programs combined, with 17 out of 36 to-
tal engineering graduate students majoring in petroleum engineering. More than half of UL’s
Engineering graduate students majored in petroleum engineering, a testament to the depart-
ment’s popularity and the demand for advanced degrees in the oil and gas industry.
Not surprisingly, a petroleum engineering major was the College of Engineering’s Out-
standing graduate. Austin Judy Catlin, from Arkansas, was the top graduate, with a 3.7 GPA.
Ms. Catlin served as Vice President of Pi Epsilon Tau and competed in the Petrobowl competi-
tion in Amserdam. Ms.Catlin said that after graduating, “I am moving to Bakersfield, California
the end of January to work as a Drilling Engineer for Chevron in the San Joaquin Valley. I plan
to attend grad school upon completion of Chevron's Horizons Program and get a do a dual
masters for an MBA and an MS in Industrial and Operations Engineering. “ We wish all of the
graduates the best of luck in their new careers.
Red Graduation Gown: Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering
Black Graduation Gown: Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering
Austen Catlin, B.S. PETE
Outstanding Graduate Fall 2014
A n a l y s i s o f F a l l i n g O i l P r i c e s L a t e i n 2 0 1 4 b y S t e p h e n A u
Page 6 www.ulpetroleum.org
With oil and gas at shockingly low prices, the public image of the petroleum engineering in-
dustry has become one of volatility and uncertainty. Those interested in this field have begun raising
questions. Chiefly among the concerns of students are the reasons as to why oil prices took a drastic
drop. Although the current status of the oil & gas industry can be attributed to a myriad of factors,
most experts agree that the major reason for this change in oil prices is twofold: the North American
shale/tight oil revolution and OPEC’s attempt at maintaining their market share in this industry.
Oil & gas constitute a market known as commodities. In such a market, well-understood and
simple theories of economics provide the best explanations for this current glut. With simple laws of
supply and demand, one can deduce that increasing the supply of oil will simply drive down the
corresponding price of oil. OPEC, or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is among the
world’s top oil exporters. The massive influx of North American petroleum and OPEC’s decision to
continue its tremendously high rate of production has produced an oil surplus, which has caused
prices to plunge to record lows in recent history. Since its geology renders oil & gas production
cheapest of all, Saudi Arabia believed that the best course of action to defend its market share of
oil was to cut prices, instead of cutting production. In doing so, many independent North American
shale/tight oil operations would prove unprofitable and be forced into shutting down. Additionally,
OPEC noticed recent scientific breakthroughs in pad drilling for unconventional oil. As a result, the
countries involved believe that cutting prices will deter major investors in future technology. Mean-
while, in the midst of many North American shale plays suffering from losses, Saudi Arabian produc-
tion remains highly profitable.
A n a l y s i s o f F a l l i n g O i l P r i c e s L a t e i n 2 0 1 4 b y S t e p h e n A u
Page 7 www.ulpetroleum.org
In 2012 and 2013, U.S. shale production grew, but oil prices did not decline due to decreas-
ing production at the hands of OPEC. Until recently, geopolitical conflicts have damaged OPEC’s
production. For example, most estimates of Libya’s oil output never exceeded 300,000 barrels per
day. In spite of civil unrest, Libya has produced approximately one million barrels per day, and its
output is only expected to grow further. This severe underestimate on the part of many energy ana-
lysts has caused supply to skyrocket, further depressing oil prices. However, in 2014, OPEC produc-
tion grew, and U.S. shale production still grew, resulting in a glut. This excess oil supply accounts for a
majority of the fallen oil prices.
Although an unprecedented rise in supply would lower oil & gas prices significantly, one must
also analyze demand-side economics in order to comprehensively complete the picture of today’s
situation. The key market that demands energy correlates with growing economic activity. Develop-
ing countries like China and India consist of some of the largest beneficiaries of oil and gas. Coun-
tries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and India have begun cutting energy subsidies. This reduc-
tion in government funding has increased fuel costs for the Asian population despite drops in world-
wide oil prices. In recent news, some of these developing countries have not demanded energy at
the rate that mainstream economists predicted; as a result, the demand for oil and gas has
dropped. After 2014, there has been major concern in the European economy. Countries such as
Germany reported cuts in exports, sparking investors to rethink placing their money in the hands of
Europe’s largest economy. In analyzing the demand side of the oil and gas industry, key expecta-
tions have been defied by not only developing Asian countries, but also European economic pow-
erhouses that have underperformed relative to major analysts’ estimations. A generally negative
outlook on Asian and European countries has pervaded in most recent times. Because of this, de-
mand for energy has descended below many economists’ expectations.
All in all, the recent slump in oil and gas prices should not be a topic of panic for industry. The
reasons for the diving oil prices are well-understood and well-documented. Most notably, the North
American oil & gas industry is engaged in a tug-of-war with the national oil companies in countries
associated with OPEC such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The current state of industry should not deter
any student from pursuing petroleum engineering. In fact, many students have begun researching
and understanding this recent political and economic situation, further dispelling uncertainty in the
industry.
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U L P e t r o l e u m E n g i n e e r i n g M e r c h a n d i s e
www.ulpetroleum.org
The petroleum department is designing and ordering an entire line of
merchandise including jackets, fishing shirts, long sleeve shirts, and Dri-Fit
short sleeve shirts. All merchandise will be available for order or pickup in
the petroleum lounge in Madison hall. If you are interested in getting
more information about this please contact Kirby Garret and Christian
Marshall below.
Kirby Garret Christian Marshall
AADE Secretary Sports Coordinator
Page 10
S t u d e n t O f f i c e r C o n t a c t I n f o r m a t i o n
SPE President: Quy Nguyen [email protected]
SPE Vice-President: Frank Ben-Eze [email protected]
SPE Treasurer: Stephen Au [email protected]
SPE Secretary: Muhiad Elsanousy [email protected]
AADE President: Gavin Parria [email protected]
AADE Vice-President: Emmanuel Ngalamou [email protected]
AADE Treasurer: Kirby Garrett [email protected]
AADE Secretary: Alex Deshotel [email protected]
Pi Epsilon Tau President: Claude Joseph [email protected] Pi Epsilon Tau Vice President: Daniel Ballard [email protected]
Pi Epsilon Tau Treasurer: Joseph Kravets [email protected]
Pi Epsilon Tau Secretary: TBA
SPWLA President: Kobie Renard [email protected]
SPWLA Vice President: Lauren Jordan [email protected]
SPWLA Tau Treasurer: Edward Dupont [email protected]
SPWLA Secretary: Bernard Wright [email protected]
O t h e r O f f i c e r s
Newsletter Editor: Joseph Kravets [email protected]
Event Coordinator: Ashvika Sathianathan [email protected]
Sports Coordinator: Christian Marshall [email protected]
LES Sports Coordinator: Donald Blue [email protected]
www.ulpetroleum.org