The 100th annual Society of Petroleum Engineering’s (SPE) ATCE conference was held in New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) this year, a center for offshore rigs and coordination sights for the Gulf of Mexico. We were excited to be joined by alumni and faculty, as we brought a group of seventy-plus students this year. SPE incorporated the NOLA theme, by providing pralines, humid weather and even an alligator for attendees to hold!
This year, we made it a priority to bring the most students we could, in order to provide them with additional exposure to the diversity of roles and companies in the Petroleum Engineering community. Our Mines –SPE students competed in the highly anticipated Petrobowl, even investing in buzzers, to practice for a better outcome next year. Though we are sure the students enjoyed the excitement of NOLA cuisine and other local activities, we hope the networking possibilities with the petroleum community inspired them as they pursue their futures in the Oil and Gas industry. In addition to our student attendees, we also had several graduate students present and/or be a part of featured research papers, notably:
- Dina Hegazy (PhD)– “Experimental Study to Investigate CO2 Mediated Oil Flow in Nanopores”
- Mouna Benabid (PhD)– “Easy Deployed Distributed Acoustic Sensing System For Leaking Detection in Gas Pipelines”
- Dias Abdimaulen (PhD) & Balnur Mindygaliyeva (PhD)– “Development of Multi-Stage Fracturing System and Wellbore Tractor to Enable Zonal Isolation During Stimulation and EGS Operations in Horizontal Wellbores-Third Year Progress Report”
- Daniel Rathmaier (PhD, 2024)– “Quantifying Permeability Changes Due to Gas Hydrate Formation In undersaturated Oil Sandstone Reservoirs: A Numerical Reservoir Simulation Study”
- Meruyert Makhatova (MS,2024)– “Modeling And Analysis of Pressure – And Rate-Transient Behavior OF Interfering Horizontal Wells in Multi-Layer Unconventional Reservoirs”
With 70 plus students, we aimed to make our presence known at ATCE, though it was also nice to learn that our efforts were appreciated. Four of our faculty members also won major international awards, making Mines the most awarded university, and we hope next year to continue this trend. The recognized individuals have outstanding achievements and contributions to the advancement of the Petroleum Engineering field.
- Jim Crompton (Affiliate Faculty) awarded SPE Distinguished Member
- Alfred W. Eustes III (Associate Professor Emeritus) awarded SPE Distinguished Member
- Linda Battalora (Teaching Professor) awarded SPE Technical Award for Sustainability & Stewardship in the Oil and Gas Industry
- Ramona Graves (Professor Emeritus) Awarded SPE/AIME Honorary Member
We are grateful to our Alumni for attending our ATCE Alumni event. Which had quite a great turn-out, with a range of alumni from graduation years of 1984 to 2024. Special thanks to Alumni Henry Gruver (’57) for providing additional funding to help our students attend this trip! Both Henry (’57) and Steve (’82) Gruver, father and son duo, graduated from the Mines and Henry continues their legacies by giving back to the Mines community through student centered awards. Read more about the Gruvers’ Legacy here: Mines – Memorial scholarship supports students who don’t get straight A’s