Distinguished Speakers

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Said Al Balushi Dr Said Al Balushi currently works in CCED’s Exploration & Appraisal Department (since April 2019) as a Senior Geologist/Carbonate Expert. He previously worked in PDO’s Field Development Centre (2017-2019), Lekhwair Cluster (2015-2017), Exploration Department (2012-2014) & Study Centre (2010-2012), mainly as a Carbonate Reservoir Specialist. He has authored/coauthored several research papers and participated in many regional & international conferences. He has PhD & MSc degrees in Carbonate Geology with research projects on the Cretaceous Natih Formation & Infracambrian Ara Group, respectively. Dr Said is an active member of GSO and previously served as the society’s Vice President (2014-2016) & Executive Committee Member (2012-2014). Petroleum Development Oman LLC

Mohammed Al Kindi Dr. Mohammed al Kindi is a keen and active Omani geologist. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in physics and geology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland in 2003. He completed his PhD with the University of Leeds, England in 2006, studying the structural styles at the southern limit of the Oman Mountains. In 2008, he became the executive manager of the Geological Society of Oman (GSO) and in 2013 he became President of the Society. Between 2006 and 2014, Mohammed worked as a petroleum development geologist in Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). Mohammed al Kindi is a geological surveyor, enthusiastic fossil-hunter, cave explorer and keen photographer. Mohammed currently (2020) is the CEO and founder of the ´Earth Sciences Consultancy Centre’ as well as a visiting lecturer in a number of Universities and Institutes. Earth Sciences Consultancy Centre

Khalid Al Ramadan King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Mohammad Al Suwaidi Khalifa University

Maria Angela Capello Maria Angela Capello is an awarded advisor and leader for the oil and gas industry, expert in reservoir management and transformational management and leadership strategies. She has more than 33 years of experience, growing a solid knowledge of NOCs and service companies in the Middle East, United States, and Latin America. She is currently an executive advisor in Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), champions the standardization of reservoir management best practices across the company, and is the champion of the technical training programs advanced by three assets of KOC with Shell. She is also the lead advisor of the KPC Professional Women Network, advancing the professional women in the nine companies of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation holding. Capello is recognized for implementing innovations in reservoir management, training, and diversity and inclusion. She was the first female supervisor of geophysical field operations in the jungle of Venezuela, in Pdvsa, progressing to be general manager of several oil assets. Later, she was subsurface and operations manager for Halliburton in Latin America and the northern Arabic Gulf. With more than 57 publications, she recently authored the book “Learned in the Trenches – Insights on Leadership and Resilience” (Springer, 2018). She believes that improving an individual, team, or corporation starts with clear strategic goals, communicated in simple and appealing ways. Capello was Vice President of SEG, an SEG Honorary Lecturer, Lifetime Member, Chair of the SEG SEG Women’s Network Committee, and a member of the Board of Directors for the SEG Advanced Modeling (SEAM) Corporation. At the SEG 2018 Annual Meeting, she received the 2018 SEG Special Commendation Award. She also volunteers extensively for other societies, and is a Distinguished Member, Distinguished Lecturer, and international Distinguished Service awardee of the SPE. She is the Chair of the SPE Public Service Award Committee, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Petroleum Technology, and is an advisor of SPE “Women in Energy.” She is the founder of the Lean Energy Chapter for the Middle East. In 2018, she won the international “GRIT” PinkPetro Award for The Difference Makers in energy. Capello holds an MS from the Colorado School of Mines. Red Tree Consulting, LLC

Sharma Dronamraju Sharma Dronamraju is a Geoscientist and Director, AKD Professional Solutions in Houston, Texas, USA. He worked for Petrobras USA, Marathon Oil, Halliburton, Landmark Graphics, Fugro, and ONGC over 30 years of upstream oil and gas. His expertise lies in rejuvenating mature fields. He was associated with several deep-water developments and exploration appraisals in GoM, Gulf of Thailand, Indonesia, deep-water Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and South China Sea. Sharma’s recent work includes geomodeling for EOR in mature oil fields in Miocene Syn-rift clastics and carbonates and regional prospectively of Gulf of Suez, Egypt, heavy oil development in Powder River Basin in Lower Cretaceous incised valley fills (Newcastle Fm.), addressing subsurface heterogeneity of Mishrif Carbonates in Southern Iraq and reservoir modeling of HPHT fields in offshore East Malaysia and Borneo, and sub-salt interpretation, appraisal, and reservoir delineation of Lucius Field, GoM, and more recently, remapping and modeling of Bombay high satellite fields. Sharma’s current focus is continental rift basins and their contribution to geoscience. Sharma earned his master’s degrees from Indian Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, and MBA from Rice University. Mr. Sharma is state registered and certified in Texas USA and serves on the Executive Board of Houston Geological Society, has been a Member of AAPG House of Delegates. He held several training courses for target audiences, clients, in the US, Middle East, and Asia; HGS and AAPG Technology Workshop in US. Some of the training topics include: mature fields revitalization, deepwater depositional systems and analogs, unitization of oil and gas fields. Interpretation of fluid contacts in oil and gas fields, and geomodeling. AKDPSI

Hendrik Droste Henk Droste is a geological consultant and trainer after working more than 32 years for Shell E&P. He has experience both in petroleum exploration and production, in operating companies as well as in research. He is a recognized expert of the regional geology of the Arabian Plate with an extensive publication record and a specialist on carbonate reservoirs. He is currently working on a research project with Oxford University on the sedimentary record of the Late Cretaceous ophiolite obduction in North Oman. He is also an experienced trainer and fieldtrip leader for both industry and academic courses. Independent Consultant

Leonhard Ganzer Leonhard Ganzer is Professor of Reservoir Engineering and Head of the Institute of Subsurface Energy Systems at the Technical University Clausthal in Germany and Managing Director of HOT Reservoir Solutions GmbH in Goslar, Germany. In 2022, he also has joined Underground Energy Storage Technologies (UEST) as Managing Director. Previously, he was Professor of Reservoir Engineering at the Mining University Leoben, Austria; he held the position of Technical Director of SST Simulation Software Technology GmbH, worked for HOT Engineering GmbH and Reservoir Characterisation and Research Inc. in several technical and software development related positions serving in the Leoben (Austria), Houston and Denver (USA) offices. Leonhard holds a PhD in Reservoir Engineering and a MSc in Petroleum Engineering (with honours) from the Mining University Leoben and the Colorado School of Mines, USA. He has more than 25 years of experience in the petroleum industry and academia, with key qualifications in reservoir engineering, reservoir simulation and software development. His primary interests are compositional and fractured reservoir simulation, hydrocarbon fluid phase behaviour and multiphase flow in porous media, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), underground hydrogen storage, CO2 injection, carbon capture and storage (CCS) or usage (CCU). He is experienced in leading roles of R&D projects and technology development for reservoir simulation, enhanced oil recovery and underground storage of hydrogen and CO2. He also acts as expert for the Austrian mining authority for underground gas storage projects. Leonhard is an experienced instructor for post-graduate industry courses in reservoir engineering and simulation topics and is author and co-author of numerous publications. He is member of SPE, DGMK and EAGE. HOT Reservoir Solutions

Sobhi Nasir Prof. Sobhi Nasir is a professor of mineralogy and petrology at Qaboos University, Oman. He has a PhD in Mineralogy from the University of Wuerzburg Germany in 1986. He was the Head of Department of earth Sciences between 2008-2013 and the Director of Earth Sciences Research Centre 2015 to 2020, Chair of the International Geoscience Program (IGCP) at the UNECO (2018-2022), IGCP-Global Theme, and UNESCO Chair for Ophiolite Studies. Professor Nasir has over 35years of experience in research and teaching. His main research area includes ophiolite, Arabian lithosphere, carbonatite, kimberlite, meteorites, and environmental geology. Sultan Qaboos University

Stephanie Nwoko Gulf Coast Sequestration LLC

Alberto Cesar Ortiz Alberto Ortiz is a geologist graduated from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina in 1999. He worked in large oil and oil services companies (Schlumberger, Total, YPF). He started as a petrophysicist after finishing the Schlumberger's Log Analyst Training School in 2000 (LAT). At the beginning of his career, his activity was concentrated in Argentina and Brazil in the latter, providing support to the petrophysical characterization of both clastic and pre-salt carbonates offshore reservoirs. He was temporarily assigned in Qatar in 2004. In 2011 he joined YPF and two years later he was part of the team dedicated to the unconventional reservoir development project of Vaca Muerta. During 8 years he actively participated in the evaluation and development of this type of reservoir in a multidisciplinary team, providing technical support & training, publishing technical articles and interacting with the different disciplines involved such as engineering, geomechanics and geophysics between others. He also coordinated research projects with the YPF research center and laboratories outside of Argentina. He was a distinguished speaker for 3 consecutive years for the SPWLA related to the petrophysical evaluation of the Vaca Muerta formation and is the first author of the AAPG Vaca Muerta memoirs. He has recently formed the Net Zero Carbon Solutions company. He is a teacher at universities in Argentina and Colombia and coordinator of the formation evaluation team at Argentinean Congress CONEXPLO 2022. NZCsolutions

Pieter Pestman Pieter J. Pestman has over 30 years of industry experience, having worked for GAPS Geological Consultants, Maraven, Teikoku Oil, and Repsol before joining Rose and Associates (now ROSE Subsurface Assessment) in 2021. He specializes in assessing uncertainties and risks of conventional hydrocarbon exploration projects and geological carbon storage candidates. He has conducted integrated studies, peer reviews, resource assessment and training around the world, both for conventional exploration and carbon storage. He has extensive experience carrying out assurance of exploration projects worldwide, and calculating resources and chance of success. He has been leveraging this expertise in the field of geological carbon storage, reviewing GCS projects, assessing storage resources, and teaching courses. Pieter graduated from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands as a sedimentary geologist. He is currently a partner in ROSE Subsurface Assessment. ROSE Subsurface Assessment

Camilo A. Polo Camilo is a clastic sedimentologist at Saudi Aramco. He holds a MSc and a PhD University of Alberta, Canada; as part of the Ichnology Research Group (IRG) under the co-supervision of Dr. George Pemberton (RIP) and Dr. Murray Gingras. Camilo specializes in the applications of trace fossils in petroleum exploration and reservoir characterization. Camilo’s industry and academic related interest focus in trace fossil fauna across the Arabian Plate. Camilo is known for his enthusiastic approach to trace fossils through his mentorship, and active collaboration with other colleagues across the industry and the academy. Saudi Aramco

Andreas Scharf Andreas Scharf has been working at the Sultan Qaboos University (Sultanate of Oman) as an Associate Professor since 2014. He obtained his doctoral degree at the Freie Universita¨t Berlin (Germany) in 2013, working on the tectonic evolution of the Eastern Alps. His present research circles around the tectonic evolution of Oman, and in particular the Oman Mountains, from the Neoproterozoic to present at all scales, based on field work in structural geology/tectonics, mineralogy/petrology and sedimentology. Sultan Qaboos University

Frans van Buchem Dr. Van Buchem works as a G&G researcher with a focus on the integration of Neftex® geological insights within the Landmark interpretation software suites. He has 30 years of industry experience, including various research and management positions in Exploration and Production at the French Petroleum Institute (IFP), Maersk Oil, and Elf Aquitaine. He is a specialist in sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy, possessing in-depth knowledge of the carbonate petroleum systems of the Arabian Plate. Frans holds MSc degrees in Biology and Geology from Utrecht University, Netherlands, and a PhD degree from Cambridge University, UK. He is currently working as Principal Advisor Geoscience, Halliburton Landmark. Halliburton / KAUST

Mia Van Steenwinkel Mia Van Steenwinkel, PhD, is a freelance international trainer and leadership facilitator. She teaches both technical Exploration and Production courses – in classrooms and on geological field trips - and non-technical, leadership and personal development workshops for both industry and at universities. For the field trips, she likes to bring people from different disciplines to the outcrop-analogues for their reservoirs and integrate data from different perspectives. For the leadership workshops, she helps leaders and teams to create work environments where people and organizations flourish. She also helps young professionals to tap into their full potential, so that they develop self-motivation and accountability, and are able to meaningfully and ethically contribute to their company and to society. Independent Consultant

Distinguished Speakers

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