Areas of Expertise:

·         CBM development and operations

·         Gas compression using reciprocating, rotary-screw, and thermo-compressors

·         Pipeline modeling, design, construction, and operations

·         Low-pressure operations

·         Gas measurement

·         Project management

·         Corrosion management

·         Gas well deliquification

·         Produced-water gathering and disposal

·         Gas line purging principles and practice

·         Technical Training

·         Law Suit Support (Expert Witness/Expert Consultant)

·         Static testing

Education:

BS Industrial Management, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 1980

MS Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Denver, 1993

Career Brief:

1993-2003 – BP America Production Company, Facilities Engineer for CBM wells and gathering facilities in the San Juan Basin of Northern New Mexico.  Identify opportunities to increase revenue, design projects to implement opportunities, manage construction, and oversee operations.  Projects have included nine gathering-system expansions, four major compression facilities, de-bottlenecking 85 high-rate wells for very-low-pressure operations, and installation of 50,000 horsepower of rotary-screw compression on well sites.  The projects have added over $1,300 million (NPV₁₃) for a gross expenditure of $41 million.  Ongoing operations include innovations in the design of pigging equipment, using pipeline modeling to define pigging schedules, gas-well deliquification projects, corrosion and scale interventions, and extensive use of a Geographical Information System to reconfigure gathering-system valves to correct operational problems.

1991-1993 – Amoco Production Company (now doing business as BP America Production Company), Team Leader and Consulting Engineer for San Juan Basin Outside Operated Team.  Restructured the portfolio of outside-operated properties from an $18 million annual profit into a $200 million annual profit by applying effective property management, good partner relations, and appropriate engineering interventions.  Supervised a staff of 5 and acted as consulting engineer in the areas of reservoir engineering, reserves estimating, production engineering, and facilities engineering. 

1980-1991 – Amoco, Production Systems Analyst in General Office and field settings.  Project manager and system designer on 35 major software-development projects ranging from the Worldwide Reserves Inventory System (that defines the way hydrocarbon reserves are calculated, stored, and reported and has been in use for almost 20 years) to the Automated Maintenance Scheduling System that formalized maintenance processes in 15 plant and field locations and required acting as a maintenance consultant for the operations.  Project-management responsibilities included supervising up to 45 employees on projects that ranged upwards of $5 million expenditure.  Field support included a system that proved to the State of New Mexico that their Proration Order should be eliminated and it was.

1971-1977—U.S. Navy, Nuclear Mechanical Operator (Pay grade E-5), USS Truxton CGN35.  Acted as a plant operator, engine room supervisor, and maintenance supervisor.

Professional Affiliations:

·         Registered Professional Engineer (Mechanical), Colorado (37104), New Mexico (16189)

·         National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying Council Record Holder (22978)

·         Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE),

• Four Corners Petroleum Section Chairperson, 2004-2005 year
• ATW Chairperson, Managing the Performance of Low Pressure Gas Wells and Associated Facilities, October, 2008, Ft Worth, TX

·         American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

·         National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE)

Standing Committees:

·         BP Technical Practices Board (Lower 48 Business Unit), San Juan Performance Unit representative, Engineering Authority (Well site Equipment, Compression, Gathering Systems).

·         BP Field Facilities Network, Core Team

·         BP Deliquification Network, Contributing member

·         BP Corrosion and Inspection Network, Member

·         BP Integrity Management Network, Member

·         SPE Green Operations Network, Member

·         BP Operations Excellence Network, Member

·         BP Produced Water Network, Member

·         Eng-Tips.com Round Table board Member

·         Board Member, Global Energy, Ltd

Publications:

·         “Impact of Entrained Water on Natural Gas Measurement”, Master’s Theses, University of Colorado at Denver, April, 1993

·         “Field Experience with Meter Provers”, with Ron Beaty, Gas Research Institute “Seminar on Meter Station Design”, San Antonio, TX, January 24-25, 1996

·         “Vented Gas from Wellsite Control Equipment, SPE 61030”, with James Jensen, SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and the Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Stavanger, Norway, June 26-28, 2000

·         “Purging Air from Piping and Vessels in Hydrocarbon Service”, BP US Onshore BU Safety Standard, Section 4, Chapter 16, November, 2001

·         “Coal Bed Methane Production, SPE 80900”, with James F. Lea and James C. Cox, SPE “Production and Operations Symposium”, Oklahoma City, OK, March 23-25, 2003

·         “Producing Coalbed Methane at High Rates at Low Pressures, SPE 85409”, with Mike Kutas, presented at SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, CO, October 5-8, 2003

·         “Static Testing Requirements”, BP US Onshore BU Safety Standard, Section 4, May, 2003

·         "Vortex Flow Technology Finding New Applications", The Rocky Mountain Oil Journal, October 31, 2003.

·         "Low Pressure Gas Well Deliquification Requires Different Approaches", Oil & Gas Journal, February 27, 2006

·         Gas Well Deliquification, 2nd Edition, 2008, by James F. Lea et. al. , Published by Gulf Publishing.  Contributed Chapter 14, "Coal Bed Methane"