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International Technical Advisory Committee

Professor Cem Sarica, Floyd M. Stevenson Distinguished Professor of Petroleum Engineering, The University of Tulsa, USA. 
Co-chairman
Director of Fluid Flow, Paraffin Deposition, and Horizontal Well Artificial Lift Projects

Dr. Cem Sarica, Floyd M. Stevenson Distinguished Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tulsa (TU), is currently serving as the director of three industry-supported consortia at the TU: Fluid Flow, Paraffin Deposition, and Horizontal Well Artificial Lift Projects.  His research interests are production engineering, multiphase flow in pipes, flow assurance, and horizontal wells.  He holds BS and MS degrees from Istanbul Technical University and a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from TU.  He has previously served on various SPE Committees.  He was an SPE Journal Editorial Board member between 1999 and 2007.  He served as Associate Editor of JERT of ASME between 1998 and 2003.  He was a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of British Hydrodynamics Research Group (BHRg) Multiphase Production Conferences.  He served as the Technical Program Chair of the BHRg 2008 and 2012 Conferences.  He is the recipient of the 2010 SPE International Production and Operations Award.  He was recognized as a Distinguished Member of SPE in 2012.  Cem received SPE John Franklin Carll Award and SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Certificate in 2015. 

 

Steven P Smith, Global Business Development Manager, Facilities, SLB, Canada
Co-chairman

Steve has been involved in the development of multiphase flow solutions for oilfield applications for 30 years.  He joined Neotec in 1993 as a member of the Technical Services team where his primary responsibilities included providing technical support, training, and consulting services, all of which required extensive application of computer modeling to the design and analysis of systems involving multiphase flow.  In 2008, Steve was named President & CEO of Neotec.  Following the acquisition of Neotec by SPT in 2010, and the subsequent acquisition of SPT by SLB in 2012, Steve took on a series of Portfolio Management roles related to the development of Schlumberger’s production engineering and production operations software.  He is currently leading business development efforts for SLB’s process simulation and digital twin solutions.

Steve is the author or co-author of several papers on multiphase flow and related subjects and has been involved in over 200 international consulting projects.  He holds M.Eng. and B.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary and is a registered professional engineer in Canada.  Steve has been actively involved with BHR since the 1st North American Conference on Multiphase Technology in 1998.

Professor Eissa Al-Safran, Kuwait University, Kuwait

Eissa Al-Safran is a professor of petroleum engineering and former vice dean for research and academic affairs at the College of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University. Al-Safran was a visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Tulsa (TU), and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT). Al-Safran worked as a reservoir engineer, and production engineering consultant in Kuwait Oil Company. He is the coauthor of the SPE book Applied Multiphase Flow in Pipes and Flow Assurance-Oil and Gas Production, and has authored and coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications. Al-Safran received the regional SPE 2017 Distinguished Achievement for Petroleum Engineering Faculty Award, the regional SPE 2019 Production and Operations Award, the international SPE 2020 Distinguished Membership Award, the regional SPE 2021 Service Award, and the international SPE 2022 Production and Operations Award.

Ian Kopperman, Senior Business Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Wood PLC.

Over 20 years of worldwide oil and gas project management and technical experience encompassing offshore, onshore and subsea projects, related to flow assurance, production chemistry, subsea and process engineering, and project management. Proven capabilities in business growth, management and performance improvement with success in leading, and building, dynamic engineering and technical teams and delivering innovative solutions for business expansion.

Dr. Roel Belt, Multiphase Flow & Separation team leader, TotalEnergies

Roel Belt is a researcher at TotalEnergies’ Research Centre in Lacq, France, within the Physical Chemistry & Analysis department. He leads there the Multiphase Flow & Separation laboratory. He holds a PhD from Delft University of Technology and his main areas of research are multiphase flow in pipes (from theoretical considerations to practical applications) and the behaviour of emulsions and foams. 

Professor Jader Barbosa, Professor Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Jader Barbosa was awarded B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London, UK. He received the 2001 Dudley Newitt Prize from Imperial College and the 2004 Young Scientist Award from the EUROTHERM Committee. He co-authored several prized publications at international conferences, including the UK Heat Transfer Conference, the International Conference on Boiling and Condensation and the International Conference on Caloric Cooling and Applications of Caloric Materials (THERMAG). His academic interests cover the areas of Fluids Engineering and Thermal Sciences, with an emphasis on Thermodynamics, Phase Change, Multiphase Flows, Enhanced Heat Transfer and Emerging Cooling Technologies. Dr. Barbosa published more than 300 scientific papers in indexed journals and international peer-reviewed conferences, advised/co-advised 53 theses/dissertations and is a co-author of three patents. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT) and President of the Assembly of World Conferences on Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics. He co-chaired the Brazil-Germany Frontiers of Science and Technology Symposium co-sponsored by CAPES (Brazil) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. From 2017-2018, he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University. At the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Dr. Barbosa is the Director of the POLO Research Laboratories for Emerging Technologies in Cooling and Thermophysics. He is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (Springer) and Subject Editor of Applied Thermal Engineering (Elsevier). 

Dr. Peter Sassan Johansson,  Principal Researcher,  Equinor As, Norway 

Peter S. Johansson is a Principal Researcher at Equinor’s Research Centre in Trondheim, Norway. He holds a doctoral engineer degree within simulation and modelling of turbulent flows from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Main areas of research are multiphase flow in gas condensate systems, with focus on field data, surging flows, minimum flow, low liquid loading systems and general model uncertainty. Recently, slug flow in deep water risers has also become a research area.

Professor Ruud Henkes, Delft University of Technology / Shell Projects and Technology, The Netherlands

Obtained Master’s Degree Aerospace Engineering (with honours) in 1985 at Delft University of Technology, and a PhD degree (with honours) in Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in 1990 at the same university. Associate Professor Aerodynamics in Delft until 1997, when he joined the multiphase flow team of the Shell Technology Centre in Amsterdam. Since then, various roles as team lead and Principal Technical Expert Fluid Flow at Shell. Combined with part-time full professorship multiphase flow at Delft since 2008, turning to the role of Scientific Director of the J.M. Burgerscentrum for Fluid Mechanics since 2021. 

Dr. Eduardo Pereyra, Associate Professor, University of Tulsa,TUFFP, USA

 Eduardo Pereyra is an associate professor at the McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering and associate director at the Fluid Flow Project (TUFFP.org) and Horizontal Wells Artificial Lift Projects of The University of Tulsa (TUHWALP.org). Eduardo holds two B.E. Degree, one in Mechanical Engineering and one in System Engineering, from the University of Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela.  He received his Master’s and Ph.D. Degree in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Tulsa.  His research interests are multiphase flow and its application to transportation, flow assurance, artificial lift, multiphase measurements, and separation technologies. He is one of the TU faculties associated with the University of Tulsa North Campus Research Facilities. This campus contains unique facilities and state-of-the-art instrumentation for energy-related research.

Dr. Jørn Kjølaas, Senior Research Scientist, SINTEF, Norway
  • Worked at the SINTEF Multiphase Flow Laboratory at Tiller for 21 years, working mainly on experiments and modelling of multiphase flows.
  • Head of LedaFlow model development.
Dr. Hariprasad J. Subramani, Strategic Relationship Manager, Chevron Technology Ventures, USA

Hariprasad J. Subramani (Hari) joined Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV) as the Strategic Relationship Manager in October 2020. Hari’s role focuses on identifying, developing, and managing strategic external relationships to propel scalable technology innovation for company’s higher returns and lower carbon aspirations. Prior to joining CTV, Hari has served as a Senior Flow Assurance Advisor in Chevron Energy Technology Company for about 14 years, championing technology development & deployment and supporting design and operation of deep-water oil/gas production facilities in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Americas. Hari is passionate about mentoring K-12/college students and early career- professionals in academia/industry. He has held several leadership roles in technical discipline committees and/or sections of Society of Petroleum Engineers International and  American Institute of Chemical Engineers and has been recognized with international and regional technical awards from these professional societies.  Hari holds PhD, MEng, and BTech degrees in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, National University of Singapore, and Anna University (India) respectively. 

Dr. Dennis Cai, Aramco, Saudi Arabia

Xiaolong (Dennis) Cai is a Petroleum Engineering Consultant in Production & Facilities Development Dept, Saudi Aramco. Since joining Aramco in 2001, Dennis has played leading facilities engineering role in multiple upstream mega oil & gas development projects both offshore and onshore. He received a BS degree from Peking University (China) in 1986, and MS and PhD degrees from Dartmouth College in NH (USA) in 1988 & 1992, respectively. He then spent 15 months as a Postdoctoral Research Associate under Prof. James Brill in the Fluid Flow Project at the University of Tulsa. Dennis worked for Texaco E&P in Houston from 1994 to 2001, first in multiphase flow simulation, facilities design and flow assurance research and consulting, later as technology coordinator in Texaco’s Deepwater Agbami Project.

Dr. Mikal Espedal, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia

 

Mikal Espedal holds a MSc Degree in Mechanical Engineering (fluid mechanics) from Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology (NTNU) and von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium, and PhD in Multiphase Flow from NTNU. He started his career with Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Norway, working on the development of OLGA, and later joined Scandpower in Norway and Australia working with OLGA development and multiphase consulting. The last 20 years he has worked for Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, as a multiphase flow consultant, being involved with most of the company’s oil and gas field developments during this period.

Dr. Ergun Kuru, University of Alberta, Canada

Dr. Ergun Kuru is Professor and Director of School of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Alberta.  He received his B.Sc. degree from Middle East Technical University, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Louisiana State University all in Petroleum Engineering. 

For more than 30 years, Dr. Kuru have been teaching courses and conducting research on drilling and well completion engineering related subjects.  He has authored/co-authored more than 200 technical papers.

Dr. Kuru’s current research area of interest includes: Development of Effective Hole Cleaning Strategies for Oil and Gas Well Applications; Design and Development of Non-Damaging Fluids for Oil/Gas Well Drilling, Completion and Stimulation Applications; Understanding and Mitigating Leakage Pathways in Oil and Gas Well Cements.

Dr. Kuru served several SPE committees in the past including SPE ATCE Drilling Engineering Program Committee,   SPE Global Training Committee,  SPE Education and Accreditation Committee, Editorial Review Board member of SPE Drilling and Completion Journal and Associate Editor of SPE Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology.  He is currently serving on the editorial board of Journal of Petroleum Technology.

Dr. Kuru is 2017 recipient of SPE Canada Region Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty and 2021 SPE Distinguished Member Award.

Richard Shea, USA

Mr. Shea received his B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.  He began his career with Mobil Oil, doing process design for Refinery Units and Production Plants/Platforms.  He became involved in multiphase flow development in 1978 and became the de facto leader of multiphase flow research for Mobil.  He participated in all of Mobil’s Joint Industry Projects in Multiphase Flow, including the first meetings for the SINTEF Tiller Loop and the SINTEF/IFE Project which produced the OLGA transient program.

In 1993, he left Mobil to start the Houston office of Scandpower (later SPT and SLB).  He had significant input into the commercialization and marketing of OLGA.  He started the OLGA Verification and Improvement Project (OVIP) in 1996 aimed at improving the accuracy of the OLGA predictions.  The project continues today.  He retired from SLB in 2018.

He is the author of several papers.  He has participated in the Multiphase Production Conferences since the 3rd BHR Conference in The Hague in 1987.  His largest contribution to the Conference was to suggest they move the location to the French Riviera after freezing in The Hague.  He has participated in most of the Conferences in Banff since the inaugural one.

Dr. Yongquian Fan, ConocoPhillips, USA

Yongqian (Richard) Fan is a Staff Flow Assurance engineer in ConocoPhillips (COP). He supports COP’s worldwide projects and operations in the areas of multiphase flow, sand transport, hydrate, surge analysis, etc. He worked for BP America, SPT Group, and SINOCHEM before re-joining COP in 2020. Yongqian Fan holds a MS degree from Petroleum University of China (Beijing) and a Ph.D from Tulsa University, both in Petroleum Engineering.

Dr. Tom Danielson, Ellipsis Engineering, USA

More to come

Dr. Bahadir Gokcal, ExxonMobil, USA

More to come

Dr. Phaneendra B. Kondapi, University of Houston, USA

More to come

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