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Issue No. 1 — October 2014

Pg. 9

A Society of Petroleum Engineers at Texas A&M Publication

Drilling Automation:

Pg. 5

More Inside!

Learn how the industry is changing

Dr. Tom Blasingame

Interview Exclusive

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Letter From the Editor: For the first time ever, I am proud to introduce: The Well

Log, TAMU-SPE’s official journal.

We’ve set out to publish up-to-date, high-quality and origi-

nal papers on the petroleum industry alongside articles with

insight into TAMU-SPE events. As such, the journal aspires

to be vibrant, engaging, and, at the same time, entertaining.

It’s meant to be something that’s fun to pick up and read!

Each issue of the journal will contain different types of con-

tent — including informative pieces, technical reviews, in-

terviews and much, much more.

Our team has dedicated a lot of time and energy in prepa-

ration of this issue. The idea of having a journal in our SPE

chapter has been around for awhile, and this year we’ve

finally made the leap to establish a long lasting, student-led

publication. Our journey to this point started last May and

we have worked hard as a team since then. With that be-

ing said, it is our goal to constantly improve and to continu-

ally provide quality reading material.

We will always be seeking input from

students, faculty and anyone else inter-

ested in contributing. Any content that

you wish to submit, either individually or

collaboratively, is much appreciated and

will greatly help in the early development

and success of our journal.

We sincerely hope you enjoy reading

The Well Log.

Tanner Wachsman, Editor & Director

Content From the Officers: SPE Breakdown – How to be Involved with TAMU-SPE

Drilling Automation: Not a theory anymore!

5 Things Everybody Should Know About Engineers

A Look Into Texas A&M SPE’s Career Enhancement

Interview with Dr. Tom A. Blasingame

Extras: Meme & Crossword

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Pg. 5

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Pg. 9

Pg. 12

Monday Saturday Friday Thursday Wednesday Tuesday Sunday

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U-Ignite 3PM: Leadership Talk

October/November SPE Calendar

11:30AM L&L (Muscle Wall) 8PM Ice Skating Social

7PM GM: Shell

ATCE IN AMSTERDAM Aggie Football: Louisiana-Monroe

POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK - POWER WEEK

An Insight Into Engineering Affairs

A&M Consolidated

SPE Informational

The Well Log’s Staff

11:30AM L&L (Don-Nan)

7PM: SPE-GCS YP Informational

Scotty’s House Project

7PM GM: BP

3PM Leadership Talk ————— Software Training: Kappa

Aggie Football: Missouri

Narendra Vishnumolakala — Member

Ernesto Valbuena — Marketing Board Director

Reza Ghasemi — Co-Chair

Sara Edwards — Member

Jonathan Soto — Member

Leigha Alexander — Member

Amanda Nelson — Member

Daniel Forero — Member

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I have gotten many emails lately about how to get more

involved with SPE. This makes me so happy! Thank you

to everyone who is involved and willing to volunteer.

Without you, we wouldn’t have events or members! To

help you out, I decided to focus this article on how you

can get more involved with TAMU-SPE.

Events for All Interests

First of all, the very best way to be involved is to attend

our events. This may sound like a no-brainer, but there

are many students who want to jump right into leadership

without getting a feel for everything SPE does. We offer

a wide range of events depending on your interest: tour-

naments, socials, leadership workshops, tech talks, job

fairs, philanthropy opportunities, and intramurals – you

name it! Check out our calendar for more info at

spe.tamu.edu/events. Who knows, you may discover

a new hobby!

From the Officers:

SPE Breakdown –

How to be Involved

with TAMU-SPE By: Jennifer Wisler

Leadership Positions

If you want to be a leader, we have many opportunities for

you! In fact, TAMU-SPE has 14 committees which fall under

4 boards. The positions include Board Chair, Director, Co-

chair, and Member. I will explain these positions in detail.

There is one Board Chair for

each Board, and each of them

are “retired” officers or Direc-

tors. The Board Chairs report to

the President on behalf of the

Directors on their Board. They

also advise the Directors to aid

in the committee visions.

Directors ensure the committee

has value-adding events

planned for the semester, dele-

gate tasks to their Co-chairs

and Members, and handle the

budget for their events.

There are between 1 and 3 Co-chairs on each committee.

They report to the Directors. Usually, the Director will give

each Co-chair an event or task that they are held responsi-

ble for. The Co-chair can then reach out to the committee

Members to help with execution.

Last, and definitely not least, are the Members. They report

to the Director as well. Depending on how the Director struc-

tures their committee, Members can do anything from plan-

ning an event on their own to just simply being there to help

with logistics on the day of the event.

The only other leadership positions in SPE are Officers and

Faculty Advisors. This includes 2 Faculty Advisors, Presi-

dent, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Graduate

Representative. If you want to know more about each indi-

vidual officer or advisor position, please contact us!

Officer elections are held early in the spring semester; com-

mittees are selected later in the spring semester. However,

this doesn’t mean we don’t have opportunities now! We

have a committee waiting list just in case a committee

needs more help as the semester goes on. If you would like

to be added to this list, please contact me (see contact be-

low).

Committees, Committees, Committees

So, what are these 14 committees? I will break it down by

Board. First, we have the Development Board, which in-

cludes the Student Summit Committee and the Training &

Development Committee. The Student Summit is an annual

conference created for students, by students. This year’s

Student Summit will be in Oklahoma City and is co-hosted

by TAMU and OU.

Courtesy J. Wisler

Courtesy of SPE-TAMU Recruitment

4

Training & Development plans events which help students

develop as leaders and employees: software training, field

trips, workshops, mock interviews, and the Career Enhance-

ment Event.

Second, we have the Marketing Board, which includes the

Media Committee, the Merchandise Committee, and the

Journal Committee. Media supports all of our social media

outlets and our website. They also provide photography for

events and assist with branding the chapter. Merchandise

designs, sells, and distributes our TAMU-SPE merchandise.

This year, they are shipping our merchandise to former stu-

dents for the first time! Journal puts together “The Well Log”

which you are reading currently!!! This includes design, writ-

ing, and interviewing to pull it all together.

Third, we have the Public Relations Board, which includes

the Recruitment Committee, the Outreach Committee, the

Engineering Affairs Committee, and the Philanthropy Com-

mittee. Recruitment is in charge of anything which involves

freshmen or prospective students. This will range from de-

partment tours, to organization fairs, to festivals, and be-

yond! Outreach’s role is to increase positive publicity of the

oil and gas industry. Engineering Affairs serves as our link

to the Student Engineers’ Council (SEC). They send a dele-

gate to all SEC meetings and coordinate SPE’s participation

in SEC events. Philanthropy aids in the partnership between

SPE and local charities. Most significantly, they help us help

Scotty’s House, a child advocacy center and SPE’s official

philanthropy.

Finally, we have the Networking Board, which includes the

DVG Golf Tournament Committee, the Sporting Clays Tour-

nament Committee, the Fishing Tournament Committee, the

Social & Sport Committee, and the Hospitality & Tailgating

Committee. The DVG Golf Tournament is a memorial tour-

nament which raises a lot of money for PETE scholarships.

The Sporting Clays Tournament is SPE’s only event in

which the goal is to fundraise for the chapter. The Fishing

Tournament is unique to TAMU-SPE, and is in its first year

of existence! Social & Sport organizes every social event

and our intramurals. Hospitality & Tailgating ensures we

have food at every meeting and a party at every tailgate.

I hope this wasn’t too much information to take in! If you

have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact me any

time.

Contact Jennifer at: Jennifer.Wisler@pe.tamu.edu

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Put simply, automation is the replacement of human labor

by machines. Since the Industrial Revolution, there have

been innumerable technological advances used to help

humans work more efficiently. From the simple use of

pulley systems to highly sophisticated Human-Robot

Interactions (HRI), many industries have been quick to

adopt these advancements, while some have progressed

at a slower pace.

Two examples that really stand out are the aviation and

automotive industries. Both have achieved high levels of

automation in their processes, so why not in the case of oil

and gas drilling? Perhaps it’s all the years where drilling

was considered an art based on experience rather than

science, effectively creating a lag in the adaptation of

automation. Just recently, though, the industry has seen

rapid changes in terms of drilling automation – where

completely automated drilling systems are becoming a

reality.

Why automation?

The main objective for any driller is to simultaneously drill

fast and drill safe, ensuring quick and accurate execution.

Typically, drilling faster means less time spent drilling,

which in turn works to reduce costs. At the same time,

though, people are a company’s most valuable asset and

keeping their wellbeing intact is of the utmost importance.

These objectives can be achieved and maximized with the

introduction of automated drilling rigs.

With respect to efficiency, there are many drawbacks in the

manual drilling process, mostly because of the constraints

on human labor. Most drilling rigs are located in harsh

environments, which produce considerable amount of

stress on the people working there. The combined effect of

an employee’s workload, stress and fatigue affect

performance creating a greater chance for human error. In

an automated system, those same limitations are

essentially eliminated and drastically reduce the

occurrence of such errors. When it comes down to it, an

automated system is faster, more reliable, and more

consistent compared to human operations – none of which

compare to its positive impact on human safety.

Safety is the most important aspect of drilling automation.

Automating a drilling rig means performing the drilling

activities with the help of automated control systems rather

than human labor. This results in a reduction of the number

of people on the rig floor, away from the process area.

Clearly, drilling automation helps to keep humans safer.

Drilling as a whole is a very complex process with several

key sub-activities such as the rotary, pipe racking, pumping,

cementing, casing, and directional drilling systems (etc.).

These systems contain several parameters for the driller and

his crew to monitor and control. An automated system can

ultimately provide better control over these parameters. The

importance of control in these systems are felt even more

during an emergency because of the ability to immediate

recognize abnormalities – just another factor helping to keep

humans out of harm’s way.

Where are we now?

Automation in the drilling industry is relatively less advanced

compared to other industries. The main reason for this can

be attributed to the fact that drilling activity takes place in

extreme working conditions, above ground in unhospitable

areas and downhole with high temperature, high pressure

(HTHP) formations. It’s also important to note that the drilling

process is not standard for all wells – where every wellbore’s

construction is unique in its own way. Therefore, the

modeling of this process cannot be definite, but, instead has

to be adaptive. All of these contributing factors make

automation in drilling a difficult task. However, with each

technological advancement, these limitations are being

overcome. It’s also no surprise that the recent boom in

unconventional reservoirs is adding more motivation for

transitioning into automation.

What’s the hold up?

Completely unlike the automotive or aviation industries, one of the greatest things holding industry back is the lack of a common communication protocol or standards pertaining to drilling automation. This is primarily due to the highly segmented nature of the drilling industry where we must deal with multiple service companies, rig contractors, equipment manufacturers, etc. With increased well complexity, the data handling between all systems has become more difficult, and is a major problem within the various dissimilar systems. Apart from the digital infrastructure, the availability of proper instrumentation devices has also hindered progress. Special

Drilling Automation:

By: Narendra Vishnumolakala

Not a theory anymore!

6

sensors and other devices are required in the drilling process because 1) the sensors are required to provide real-time data, and 2) many measurements are made in sub-surface environments.

Who is working on it?

The International Research Institute of Stavanger (IRIS) in Norway, an independent research institute, has assembled a team led by Dr. Eric Cayeux, who is the leader in the field of drilling automation. This team has developed an automated drilling system called ‘DrillTronics’ intended to be used in drilling conventional plays. It’s important to note that the group is gaining traction with industry leaders – specifically Statoil (who is all set to be the first company to utilize this technology). NOV, Apache, and Shell are among the other companies attempting to design and implement automated drilling systems. The University of Texas in Austin is also leading the charge with its exclusive drilling automation research team headed up by Dr. Eric Van Oort. And, not too long ago, NOV helped out by donating a $2.7 million, state-of-the-art drilling rig simulator to the university. SPE and the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) are also working towards bringing automation in drilling to market in the near future. SPE has a specific technical section aimed at these advancements - termed the SPE DSATS (Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section). The focus here is on standardizing communication protocol for the industry. The two current standards being considered are namely Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language (WITSML) and Open Connectivity Unified Architecture (OPCUA). IADC has crafted a committee working on comprehensive automation of the drilling process alongside the integration of surface and down-hole systems.

What to expect:

The next decade is likely to have even more exciting advancements in this field of technology, especially with the current research going on. At this rate, it can safely be said that drilling automation is not a theory anymore and is fast becoming a reality. It’s not an overstatement to say that in the near future, drilling a well will soon be like playing a video game!

See comment VR14

EVERYWHERE, Known Universe – The word engineer is

derived from the root word engine, that is in turn derived

from the Latin word ingenium (also from which our

words ingenuity and genius are derived), which essentially

means something of great quality and cleverness. Accord-

ingly, people who perform engineering, or engineers, are

generally regarded as being quite bright, and this is indeed a

prerequisite to a successful profession. (**Ahem** Engineer-

ing: 1, Geology: 0)

There is no question that engineers are a very peculiar

bunch. In some way or another your everyday life has

been touched by an engineer, whether directly or indirectly.

In this fun opinion piece, the 2P News staff, which compris-

es a few engineers (and a number of geologists – who get

our coffee), will let you in on a few things that you really

should know about engineers.

One

Deep down, every engineer you know is a very miserable

person. I believe it is a deep-rooted, bitter resentment stem-

ming from what engineers went through in an undergraduate

program. 6 technical courses in a single semester, with labs,

topped off with 6 final exams in 5 days. Repeat this 8 times.

How can society expect anybody who has been subjected to

such intellectual torture to possibly be pleasant? Here’s an

example of the stuff we’d go through:

In class: 1+1 = 2.

Homework: 1+2-1+2 = 4.

Exam: Lucy has 10 bananas. She eats 2 of them and

gives 1 to her mom and another to her dad.

Calculate the volume of the Sun…. Time to hit the

bar.

Two

The only thing that made engineers even marginally socially

5 Things Everybody

Should Know About

Engineers By: Dr. Darcy Flowman

Across 3. Mandrel 8. Water 9. Darcy’s 11. Acidizing 13. Perforation 15. Rod 18. Annulus 19. Pseudo 20. Packer

Down 1. Cumulative 2. VLP 4. Open Hole 5. Decline Curve 6. Drawdown 7. Gas Lift 10. Skin 12. Hydrate 14. Artificial 16. Bubble 17. ESP

AGGIES DON’T LIE, CHEAT, OR STEAL!

CROSSWORD ANSWERS

7

capable during university is that they drink a lot of beer. A

lot. Really, I mean a lot. Much more than previously thought

was humanly possible. The only other group that might have

consumed more beer are geologists. But the difference is

that engineers know math. Where I studied engineering, the

Engineering Students Council would put on the Beer Olym-

pics at the end of every semester. It was fun until the Dean

told us we were not allowed to promote an event with “Beer”

in its name. That’s when we started calling it the Beverage

Olympics, where the v, a, g, and last e in beverage was in 6-

point, light-grey font, and the balance of the word in bold

black 124 point. Problem solved.

Three

Engineers in the oil and gas industry generally believe the

following limit to be true:

(If you are a geologist, go ask any engineer to help you un-

derstand this.)

Four

Engineers feel that they must, and routinely do, objectively

cost-benefit analyze EVERYTHING to death – no matter

how big or how small the decision may be.

“Oh, but hang on a quick second, these 2 candy bars cost

the same amount, but this one’s mass is 75 grams and the

other’s is 46 grams – well, this is a no brainer, I’ll choose the

heavier one. Give me a moment, cashier, I’ve got to figure

something out here. The heavier one has a plastic wrapper

that cannot easily be recycled, but the lighter one has a pa-

per wrapper, which I might even be able to repurpose before

recycling it..…this is a tough one. I could purchase both of

them, however, but I’m not sure if I’m willing to spend that

kind of money. I should be able to mitigate that capital risk

by asking my buddy to buy one of them, and then realize

some upside by hoping that he lets me take a couple of

bites. Done.”

Five

Engineers like to apply engineering to pretty much every-

thing, including their love life. Most engineers think it is fun-

ny, but most non-engineers don’t – and engineers don’t

care.

A Look Into Texas A&M

SPE’s Career

Enhancement Event By: Daniel Forero

E nthusiastic recruiters, polished resumes, and

nervous minds - each and every year college stu-

dents prepare themselves to enter the work force

and become the relay generation for our industry.

Looking for an internship or a full time job can be a daunting

task, so the SPE Student Chapter at Texas A&M University

(SPE-TAMU) organizes the annual Career Enhancement

Event (CEE).

This year’s CEE was held on September 6th, 2014 at the

Memorial Student Center (Texas A&M’s campus), and host-

ed recruiters from 28 oil and gas companies as well as over

600 SPE student members from petroleum engineering and

related disciplines.

The event provides students with the opportunity to become

familiar with the oil and gas industry, allowing them to also

develop their own personal career goals. “It really is a great

place to talk to new talent,” said one recruiter from Chevron,

“[…] there’s always an impressive turn out at this event

which really speaks to how committed these students are to

establishing their careers.”

The CEE garnered interest among students on campus.

SPE statistics show student membership increased by ap-

proximately 400 members in a period of two weeks prior to

the event. With 579 students in attendance, it was promising

to see that nearly half of Texas A&M SPE’s members partic-

ipated in the event. This likely made the CEE the most at-

tended single event ever held by SPE-TAMU.

It all started at 7:30 AM when students were allowed to

check-in and recruiters were able to set up their booths. It

The views and opinions expressed in the preceding article are

solely those of 2PNews (Proved Plus Probable News). This article

has been republished in coordination with 2PNews.com — a

great place to find humorous articles pertaining to the oil and gas

industry.

Courtesy of SPE-TAMU Training & Development

8

sounds like an early start but there was breakfast and coffee

on hand to help with those Saturday morning woes. Roughly

at around 8:00 AM each company began to give a sharp 5-

minute presentation to give the students

a quick taste of the professional oppor-

tunities they offer. Companies ranged

from large-scale integrated corporations

like BP, service companies, and inde-

pendent companies such as Vanguard

Natural Resources. An enthusiastic

Apache recruiter claimed the session to

be “an excellent opportunity to present

our company.”

Following the presentations, there was a

brief lunch session, which gave the re-

cruiters and students time for a quick

break before the floor was open for net-

working. Companies were located in

multiple rooms, which made it easy for

students to pinpoint exactly who they wanted to talk to in

hopes of earning that precious interview spot. The new ven-

ue at the MSC allowed for more room for recruiters and stu-

dents alike. This allowed for the record number of attendees

this year.

“Our company doesn’t even attend the SEC Career Fair”, a

recruiter from Hilcorp stated, “[The Career Enhancement

Event] really helps us distinguish whom

we want to interview for our open posi-

tions.” A lot of the companies in attend-

ance have been coming to the CEE for

the past couple of years. “Our engi-

neers only attend this event, it’s a win-

win situation for both us as recruiters

and you guys as students”. Many re-

cruiters mentioned that they were re-

cruited themselves by their respective

companies from the CEE and declared

“Aggies are the best prepared hires”

and are “top notch”. These aggie re-

cruiters were of course by no means

biased.

Many thanks to our corporate sponsors

for making the CEE a resounding success. With 98 recruit-

ers and totaling at about 677 attendees, it’s hard to believe

that we can top it next year, but we will certainly do our very

best in 2015.

Courtesy of SPE-TAMU Media

Courtesy of SPE-TAMU Media

9

Why did you decide to study petrole-um engineering, geology, etc.? (laughs out loud) I changed my major 4 times.

It started coming together for me late in my sophomore year. I’m impressed by people who can start strong and end strong. As with all things, I seem to only learn from adversity.

What’s the key to being successful in col-lege? Some people may not like my answer. Engage the fac-ulty. Make us do our job. Don’t self-medicate — when you (students) work among yourselves you’re wrong 90 percent of the time. We (the faculty) are not paid to de-ny or deflect — if there is something you don’t like, say something. If you believe you need more guidance, say something.

The secret is that you should never lose sight of the fact that you’re here because you’re supposed to be here. I’ve never met anybody who couldn’t succeed. I’ve met a hell of a lot of people who just wouldn’t put in the ef-fort to succeed. If you want do well academi-cally you have to be prepared. You have to ask yourself: what’s that professor going to ask me on the test? Have I studied the right topics? Have I studied enough? Think about it, how many times have you studied the wrong thing? You must be prepared — read before class, do your homework with enthusi-asm, and follow-up on any/all things you don't under-stand.

I operate from the Mr. Miyagi rule — "there is no such thing as bad student, only bad teacher" (original "The Karate Kid" movie). But there is a requirement that you earn your stripes, no short-cuts. If you are sincere and hard-working and you don’t succeed, we (the faculty) are

Q probably doing something wrong. It’s not just your fault. So just ASK for help, you will get it. But you have to be pre-pared — you have to earn your education.

What do you like best about being a professor at Texas A&M University? Not a fair question (laughs). I can’t imagine anybody hav-ing a better job than me — I love being a teacher more than anything else I do. I’d like the "teacher" title to be some-where on my tombstone. Our students make it so much easier. TAMU undergraduates are second to none. The selectivity and how you got here sets you apart. People come here with a desire to create something. We have truly world-class, phenomenal students.

The best days of petroleum engineering are ahead of us. We provide a morally acceptable mechanism for society to build something. You take us out of the equation and eve-rything stops. I don’t think there is going to be a downturn in your career, maybe a flat spot. Energy, energy, ener-gy — a career in some aspect of energy will not disap-

point. I would comment that "cheap energy" went away in my career, which is not to say that hydrocarbon energy is necessarily over-priced, but it is no longer under-priced, at least not liq-uids; I believe the cur-rent "gas glut" in the US will moderate as more industries switch to natu-ral gas.

What was the toughest class you took? Have you ev-er failed a class? My graduate advisor was Dr. John Lee (now at U.

Houston) — Dr. Lee insisted that I take several classes in chemical engineering (he’s a chemical engineer … obvious-ly), and I confess that at the time I didn’t appreciate it. I was unprepared. I had one course that was particularly tough — when you’re unprepared for a class and the instructor isn’t interested in "you," it is a challenge. After the course I was so disappointed in the experience that I re-taught myself the

By: Amanda Nelson and Reza Ghasemi

Dr. Blasingame: The Interview

Courtesy of T. Blasingame

10

course over the summer (I re-worked every assignment and mastered every topic).

I did fail a course in my B.S. degree ("Statics" in Mechanical Engineering) — there were over 300 of us in the classroom, and something like 35-40 percent failed, which does not jus-tify my performance, but I note this for perspective. When you are young your pride takes blows much better than as you age; I re- took Statics (and almost re-took Dynamics), but during thermodynamics it all started making sense and I began making very strong grades.

What was your gradu-ate school like? M.S. in 1986, Ph.D. in 1989 — I’d go back to graduate school for 1000 years before I’d go back to undergradu-ate school for a day. For me, undergraduate studies was like being in basic train-ing (in the military) for 4 years, but in graduate school you can do anything you want to do. The door was open — taking the courses that interested me, working on some novel and unique research; this was a very formative period for me, I became very strong in terms of my technical skills.

I will note for those who may want to know that the Depart-ment began BOTH a "Departmental" qualifying exam and a "Departmental" preliminary exam, both of which were excru-ciatingly tough. I took a couple of math classes that were a little tough, and we already discussed my love of Chemical Engineering courses. I also took several geology courses as well as just about every course offered in Petroleum En-gineering.

Who is your favorite professor at A&M? Like with your children, you can't really have favorites — but Dr. Wu (from Taiwan) — I think English was his third or fourth language; he would constantly say things in "a most unique way," and he was really good-natured about every-thing. He became a very good mentor when I came on to the faculty, and I would have to say that that I really en-joyed my time with him.

My graduate advisor, Dr. Lee, was like Master Yoda (in Star Wars) — half the time we did not communicate particularly well, but he taught me how to learn, how to think, and how to create — he knows how to move the bar just enough for you to have to exceed your abilities to achieve something significant. I would also have to say that most of my good habits in teaching I learned from Dr. Lee — things like how to ask questions, how to propose hard topics, and how to manage people doing poorly in a class.

Do you happen to remember any specific stu-dent? Why? You remember people who stood apart. We had a student

15 years ago who ran for SPE president and she really had a good message. The other candidate's message was “free beer” so he won. But she had a true belief in what she want-ed to do and it left a lasting impression on me that she knew she would not win, but she put herself out there to make a difference.

Like I said earlier, you are not supposed to have favorites. You have people who make an impression or not. I confess that I have a problem with students who don’t do their best. It’s funny how you remember those guys. It’s just not that

hard, it’s about the attitude. I always have time for people who try.

What’s the next “big thing” in the petrole-um industry? It’s tough because we knew the deep water was out there early nineties. We knew from seismic we would go after this eventually. We also knew we would go hori-zontal exclusively in some plays at some point. It took a lot of work to get here, spe-cifically in drilling and well completions. I was a bit over-focused on tight gas from about 1995 to 2005, I did see shales coming in the fashion

that they did — I thought the wells would be far too expensive and the performance too low; I certainly missed the scale at which companies could (and did) deploy capital, and that the liquids-rich plays would essentially pay for all the learnings.

You’re really asking me what the next big thing is instead of the next evolutionary thing — evolutionary being the case where we went from 5 stages to 40 fracture treatment stages in less than 4 years. We are now at 70-75 fracture treatment stages and somebody will probably do 100 fracture treatment stages in the next year or so. For unconventionals, we will have to deconstruct the reservoir (via stimulation) to increase recovery. Not revolutionary, evolutionary.

A lot of improvements will be around process — the ability to move services and product. We still have a problem with oil and pipelines. Monetizing stranded gas really does come down to LNG (liquefied natural gas), maybe CNG (compressed natural gas). The largest "gas-to-liquids" facility in the world is in Qatar and it probably doesn’t make money (at least not yet). Gas-to-liquids is touted as the holy grail for gas — just perform a quick search on the internet you find ideas for wellsite conversion, but (to my knowledge) there have been no practical deployments to date.

A question I keep pondering is "why have unconventionals been so successful here (North America) and not so much elsewhere?" (at least not yet) The obvious (and frequent an-swer) is that companies in North America are willing to risk capital and they have a ready market nearby for many (or most) unconventional plays in North America.

What are your hobbies? What sports do you follow/play? Work. Just work. There is always something to do. We

Selfie of Dr. Blasingame in New Zealand—Courtesy of T. Blasingame

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bought a powerboat a couple of years ago and I am guessing that we’ve been out on it maybe 10-12 times (maybe). My kids and my wife are my life, so I try to spend whatever free time I have with them. If I have a hobby it is Mallett Brothers ribs in Navasota, red bull and monster drinks, along with a slow drink of very good tequila.

Do I take vacations? Last real vacation was probably 2003/2004. I’m on a mission. I had parents who were dirt poor, from large farming families. My parents worked all the time as well, so I never learned how to relax. I don’t have a specific hobby. Golf is the ultimate waste of time for some-one like me. I am good at traveling, but I am not sure I would say that I "like" traveling. (laughed at question about how many countries he’s visited)

Can you give us the best story from your infa-mous 12 hour well testing exam (in PETE 324)? (laughs) Everyone always asks… The only way to "test" practice-based diagnostics and analysis is to have the stu-dent analyze a complete sequence of data. The "12 hour" just evolved over time, I have had students complete these exams in 3 to 4 hours, but also had a student who had to be physically separated from their exam at something like 15 or 16 hours (they did not prepare, and were trying to learn while doing — that strategy often does not work (as advice).

The truth is that these practice-based exams often let an av-erage student perform much better than average — without as much stress on time, students can demonstrate a depth of mastery in their skills. My goal was to distribute the grades according to effort. I tried to never give the same question twice, which was challenging. The last couple of years that I taught PETE 324 we used more synthetic problems because they were more readily analyzable.

I actually prefer project work, but that leaves too much room for collaboration (a polite word for cheating) — I don’t neces-sarily mean that collaboration is negative but the temptation to cut corners is always there. As for my tests, the raw aver-ages are typically low, but I curve to a mean of 70 (or a little higher) so there typically weren't many (or any) grade pro-tests; there were occasional cases where the student just wasn't prepared or willing to adapt to a practice-based exami-nation, but those were rare exceptions.

Comments about the TAMU undergraduate pro-gram: The faculty reorganized the undergraduate program (almost completely) in 1998 with the unintended consequence of creating a truly difficult junior year. The original design set forth in 1998 is worse than what is being done now as there has been some re-balancing, but the junior year in Petroleum

Engineering remains one of the most challenging curricula at Texas A&M. To their credit, our undergraduate students adapt, engage, and excel. As a closure comment, I’ve gener-ally found that the undergraduate students generally prefer harder classes as they know that these courses will add more value during their career.

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Across 3. Gas Lift _____ 8. ______ Flooding 9. ______ Law (HINT: a generalized relationship for flow in porous media) 11. The pumping of acid into the wellbore to remove near-wellbore formation damage 13. A hole made in the casing, cement, and formation through which formation fluids enter a wellbore 15. Sucker _____ Pump 18. Space between the wellbore and casing 19. _______-Steady State (HINT: no flow boundary) 20. Designed to make a seal between the tubing and the casing during production

Down 1. _________ Production (HINT: total amount of oil and gas recovered as of a particular time in the life of a field) 2. IPR vs. ___ shows optimal bottomhole flowing pressures for the corresponding flow rate 4. The uncased portion of a well 5. ________ _________ Analysis (HINT: A means of predicting fu-ture oil well or gas well production based on past production histo-ry) 6. The difference between the average reservoir pressure and the bottomhole flowing pressure 7. An artificial lift method in which gas is injected into the production tubing to reduce the hydrostatic pressure 10. Near wellbore damage 12. Gas molecules trapped in a cage of water molecules 14. _______ Lift 16. _______ Point (HINT: the pressure and temperature conditions in which gas starts to come out of solution) 17. An electric downhole pump used in heavy oil production ANSWERS ARE UPSIDE DOWN ON PG. 6

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TAMU-SPE Crossword #1