It is my pleasure to share with you the activities of CSM’s Petroleum Engineering Department duringthe last 12 months. Also, here’s a brief update on my personal family status. On a positive note, my wife Deniceand I enjoyed the birth of our fifth grandchild, Sean William Campbell, on October 8, 2002. He is healthy andhappy, as is our son-in-law USMC Captain Tom Campbell, who returned home safely to the US after havingspent 6 months recently in Iraq with his brother Patrick. We are lucky and grateful.

Unfortunately, on a sadnote, my little brother’s wife ShariVan Kirk died of cancer thissummer on June 20 after beingdiagnosed 2 years ago. She wasonly 55 years old. My wife Deniceand I knew Shari for 40 years, asclosely as our own sister.

Also, several CSM PEalumni passed away during theyear, ranging in ages from 35 to90. So, please enjoy life everyday and be careful. Throughoutthe year I receive daily messagesor personal visits from many PEalumni with inspirational andsatisfying news. This frequentcontact is most appreciated andwelcome, please make a point tokeep in touch with us.

Since our last Newsletter a year ago we have added one new faculty member, Dr. Larry Chorn. We areso pleased that Larry has joined our staff after 25 years in private industry in research, development, andoperations with Arco, Mobil, et al. Larry moved into Alderson Hall in early August and started fresh thiscurrent Fall semester. His areas of specialization areeconomic evaluations, risk analysis, real options, andEOR. Naturally, he’s teaching PE422 this semester.Read on and learn more about Larry later in thisNewsletter.

During the past year our PE Departmentcontinued to enjoy success on all fronts. The jobmarket for our graduates has been very strong. OurBS graduates enjoyed the highest average salariesof any department on campus, as always, exceeding$60,000 per year. Also, our job placement rate bygraduation time was tops on campus, nearly 100percent. During these economic times in the countryand the State of Colorado, we are pleased that PE’sstudents and program are so popular and so wellsupported.

Petroleum EngineeringVol. 8, No. 1 September 2003

N e w s l e t t e rC

olor

ado

Scho

ol o

f Min

es G r ee t i ngs f rom Cra ig W. Van K i rk

(con t inued on page 2 )

Please help us by complet ing and mail ing the enclosed Alumni Survey.

Inside this issue:

Greetings from Craig Van Kirk ....................... 1

Faculty Letters .............................................. 3

Field Trip Photos ....................................... 10

Anchorage Alumni Picnic ........................... 11

Alumni Reception-SPE Conference ............. 16

Craig Van Kirk

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As always, Dee Brown and Chris Cardwell continueto provide excellent support for the program, students, alumni,professors, and partners around the world. Dee has completed20 years and Chris has completed 10 years as administrativeassistants in PE. Both of these ladies are planning to retirewithin the next 12 months, against my pleadings. I suppose I’llbe retiring too, someday.

Here’s some new and exciting news:1. The US Department of Energy has chosen CSM

and Penn State to conduct a pilot project to find ways to increasethe number of students graduating annually who are preparedto enter the energy industry. Our PE Department is a majorplayer in this new program.

2. Gulf Publishing Company’s Advisory Board hasselected CSM’s PE Program to receive the World Oil Award, tobe presented at a banquet in Houston on October 16. Only 4US PE programs have been so recognized for “excellence inpetroleum engineering education”.

3. Marathon Oil Company has started a Center forReservoir Studies in our department with a grant of $300,000over 3 years. Read more about it later in this Newsletter.

4. Our computer labs which we provide our PEstudents appear to be top notch. Our students offered theiropinions in a survey last school year that our computer labsare the best on campus; clean, reliable, up-to-date, always open,free software and paper; thanks to professor Mark Miller’sdedicated hard work, and thanks to alumni and industrysupporters who deliver the funds necessary to pay Mark’ssalary and cover the other significant costs not provided byCSM.

My own activities continue to include teachingseniors reservoir engineering in PE423, teaching freshpeoplethe introductory course in PE102, and working with gradstudents on a wide variety of reservoir management topics. Ido enjoy it all so much.

In late September I’m scheduled to go to China withCSM President John Trefny as part of a small group to furtherCSM’s part in training Chinese professionals in global oil andgas E & P business, technology, economics, et al. I plan to beback in the USA just in time for the Annual SPE Conference.

Then in late October I’ll be in Egypt to conduct a“needs assessment” to help them improve the quality of theirpetroleum industry professionals through improved training.It is most satisfying to be able to help people from throughoutthe world improve their lot, and I really do enjoy the trips,visits, and making new friends for myself and for CSM.However, I don’t like to miss classes very often, and these 2trips in the same semester create an unusual situation whichcannot be avoided. Not to worry though, I’ll schedule tests onthe class days I’ll miss.

Please note that the Annual SPE Conference this yearis in Denver, from Monday October 6 through WednesdayOctober 8. Naturally, we’ll cancel all PE classes for those 3days and encourage all of our students to attend the conference

as much as they can. And, as always, the Department willcover all of the students’ costs using funds provided by CSMPE alumni and other supporters in industry. If you can make it,please try to attend our annual alumni reception on Tuesdayevening October 7. As always, lots of students and alumni willbe there making new friends and sharing news. If you needmore info please phone Dee or Chris at (303) 273-3740.

Each year the PE Department enjoys donations fromalumni and other industry friends totaling several hundredthousand dollars above and beyond the support provided byCSM’s Administration. These donations have been andcontinue to be essential to our practice of providing ourstudents with an exceptional and excellent educationalexperience. Most of the monies go to supplement theundergraduate program; such as, computer labs, SPEConference expenses, 2 summer field sessions PE315 and PE316,fieldtrips, books, financial aid, guest speakers, Thanksgivingluncheon, et al.

Also, significant funds are spent on graduatestudents to support them as Teaching Assistants, with mostof these activities going to support the undergraduate programby providing graders for all undergraduate classes andassistants to ensure safety in our undergraduate lab classesand summer field sessions. The PE program really does needyour help in order to continue our exceptional activities, soplease give serious consideration to supporting the Programin any way you can. If you need advice or have any questions,please contact me at your convenience.

Our PE Department continues to be strong andhealthy, striving to maintain and build upon the longstandingfine reputation. The alumni accomplishments in the globalpetroleum industry continue to bring praise to CSM and aworldwide reputation of the highest caliber. We can all beproud to be associated with such an extraordinary group ofpeople, young and old, in PE and across the CSM campus.

We continue to enjoy healthy class sizes, averagingapproximately 30 seniors per year. Our undergraduate programis balanced very nicely with our graduate program, whichmaintains approximately 50 total Masters and PhD studentseach year. At all levels of our student body our global reputationattracts a healthy mixture of US citizens from throughout thecountry and international students from throughout the world.The PE Department annually attracts the highest percentageof non-Colorado resident students on campus and the highestabsolute number of international students. Also, I believe thenumber of US citizens in our graduate program is the largest inthe world.

The ultimate success of each of us, and ourteammates, and our teams depends on mutual support. I thankyou for your continuing support. Please keep in touch andcome by for a visit whenever you can.

My best regards to you.Craig

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It has been quite a while since I was the new kid onthe block (nearly 15 years), so I find myself trying to learn all ofthe do’s and don’ts of the department, ASAP. Twenty-fiveyears of exper-iences at ARCOR&D and, mostrecently, withMobil Researchand Develop-ment have mademe pretty prag-matic aboutchange, so I askpeople to bearwith me. I’ll getup to speedsoon. Everyoneis very under-standing andgenerously avoids laughing at me when I ask silly questions.

I joined the department in August, 2003 as anAssociate Professor with a focus on valuation of explorationand development opportunities, oil corporation finance andstrategy, and technical interests in Reservoir Engineering andpipelines (more about those experiences later.) The facultytook pity on me this first semester and assigned me to instructPEGN 422 (Economics and Evaluation of Oil and Gas Projects).It is a subject that I have a great deal of experience in, boththrough education and practical application. I will also bedirecting one or two special topics students on valuation relatedissues. One is an extension of one of my recent papers, SPE82006, which documents a strong linkage between reservereplacement ratio, proven inventory value, and share price. Iintend to begin my research funding search and projectproposal effort by mid-term. One of my near-term goals is tobegin training (which means finding funding and then thestudents) masters-level students in the practical aspects ofproject valuation and reserve estimation and management.

By now you are probably wondering about myindustry background and my pathway to Mines. So here is thebiography, in a nutshell.

I received all of my technical degrees (B.S. throughPh.D.) in Chemical Engineering. I was extremely fortunate totrain with Prof. Thomas Hanratty (National Academy ofEngineering) for my Masters and Ph.D. at the University ofIllinois-Urbana. When I completed my dissertation work I chosean offer from ARCO in Dallas to continue my dissertation workon drag-reduction, this time in the Trans-Alaska pipeline. Thefruits of the project resulted in an increase in the pipelinecapacity from 1.1 MM bbls per day to 1.6 MM without capital

Let ter s f rom Our Facu l tyLarr y G. Chorn and for only $3000 per day. Needless to say, it was a great first

project! I continued with ARCO through 1987, working onarctic pipeline issues and later on reservoir engineering aspectsof miscible displacement in Alaska and west Texas.

I accepted an offer to move to Mobil Research andDevelopment Corporation, also in Dallas, and lead their miscibleflooding R&D program. At the same time, I was enrolled inSouthern Methodist University’s part-time MBA program,focusing on finance and strategy. In early 1991, after finishingmy MBA and completing some phase behavior work forCanadian miscible flood projects, I was asked to become theR&D Planning manager for Mobil’s upstream organization. Itwas a great experience that gave me many industry contactsand a broad view of the industry’s technology needs andadoption rate, insights that I use on a regular basis.

I completed my assignment as Planning manager andwas assigned to perform a reserves/resources portfolioevaluation in the Reserves Management group. Ultimatelythat responsibility expanded into managing Mobil’s long-rangemodel for capital budgets and reserve replacement inexploration, field development and production operations. Aspart of that responsibility, I supported the Vice President ofExploration in defining and quantifying the bottom-line impactof his exploration budget. In this role, I discovered and learnedthe use of Real Options for valuing long-lived, highly uncertaininvestment opportunities.

As the merger between Exxon and Mobil unfolded, Imoved to the teaching and consulting profession. I was theMobil Visiting Professor of Finance at the American GraduateSchool of International Management (Thunderbird) and, morerecently, an adjunct professor of Finance at the University ofTexas in Dallas. Between lectures, I had the opportunity toconsult on economic issues on four continents with more thantwenty oil and gas companies. It has been very engaging workand allowed me to expand my view of the economic and reservemanagement practices in place throughout the world. I havealready begun incorporating simplified versions of myexperiences into my PE 422 lectures.

Many of you may know of me through mypresentations and publications on the application of RealOptions to our challenging business. I have been active inSPE meetings and the Forum series for several years. I intendto sustain that involvement and perhaps increase it as timeand opportunities make themselves evident.

CSM and the Petroleum Engineering Department haveentrusted me with the important responsibility of teaching thenext generation of our industry. I take this responsibility veryseriously. If you have questions, comments, or would just liketo visit, please feel free to contact me at (303)273-3903 or byemail at lchorn@mines.edu. I look forward to meeting many ofyou over the next year.

Larry Chorn(The new guy )

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In preparation for writing this letter, I skimmed lastyear's letter; it was pretty darn good. And most of it wouldapply this year: the start of the semester is always a bummer,it's fun to have the youthful faces of students around, I keepbusy with research, and so on.

One new twist: I was elected a member of the FacultySenate last Spring. The Faculty Senate iscomposed of about 15faculty from many ofthe departments oncampus. The Senateis a voice for theFaculty, which meansthat it has little realpower. I hope thatmembership in theSenate will provide aroute for influencing directions at Mines. With the economicdownturn in Colorado and the resultant strain on our budget,this is a time of campus soul-searching: What should we dodifferently to avoid such budgetary difficulties in the future? It will take some time for the campus to find an answer to thisquestion. I expect that the answer will include increasingenrollment without increasing the number of faculty, so largerclasses will result. The answer also will include recruiting ofnon-resident students who will pay a higher tuition. And Ihope that the answer will include re-focusing the campuspolicies on research so that we can produce competitivelypriced proposals, which should attract extra revenue.

For those of you who missed last fall's newsletter, Iwill briefly replay some of the “highlights.” Once again, I amteaching PE 310 (with 33 students) on the properties of oil, gas,and water. This course includes instruction in the wet labsand in the computer lab. At the graduate level, I am teachingEnhanced Oil Recovery. Twelve students are enrolled,including two undergrads.

On the research side, I am developing “Mr. Misty”, that is what Robert Thompson called it. This technologyconverts water at the bottom of a gas well into a very fine mistfor lifting by the flowing gas. A device for shallow gas wellsshould be available this semester. I am looking for funding todevelop the device for deeper wells. This technology hasattracted a lot of interest. The research is funded by the DOEthrough the Stripper Well Consortium at Penn State. Anotherpart of my research time is devoted to coal-bed methane,particularly the permeability of coals for different gascompositions (methane, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide). Thiswork is sponsored by the Idaho National Engineering andEnvironmental Laboratory.

And just as last year, total sales slowly increase formy text on multi-phase flow for reservoir engineering. A recentdiscussion of rel perms by SPE’s Reservoir Simulation TIGprompted a higher rate of purchase, still, it is not a best-seller!

Richard L . Chr i s t i ansen

Richard Christiansen

Alfred W. (B i l l ) Eus te sAnother year, another newsletter. Where does the

time go? This last year has whooshed by (like the Enterprise atthe start of Star Trek). Between the classes, my researchactivities, and the various service activities, it beats me when Isleep. Come to think of it, maybe that explains a thing or two.In any event, I would like to tell you about the drilling educationbusiness at Mines.Drilling Research Activities

As you probably know from previous newsletters,Dr. Will Fleckenstein and I have been involved in thedevelopment for the next generation of ice core rigs. We hadthe conclusion for the conceptual design at the Ice CoreWorking Group meeting in March. It looks like a good plan.Now it is a matter of putting the funding in place.

By the way, Will and I have an alternate paper at the2003 SPE ATCE titled: Novel Wireline Coring System. It is areview of ice coring operations and how the equipment mightbe used in petroleum operations to reduce the cost of recoveringcores.

The Martian drilling research program at CSM is stillin progress. We finished the minimum mass flow rate tests.Unfortunately, the bits kept breaking on us. Given the noveltyof this bit, this was disappointing, but not unexpected. JPL isredesigning the bit with industrial assistance. Our latest JPLcontract is to develop an expert system for autonomous roboticoperations. I have always felt that great drillers have a feel fordrilling operations by listening to the system. We will trymimicking this by instrumenting the Mars bit with a microphoneand listen to the bit while we do “bad” things to it. If we areright, then we should have some vibrational premonition of apotential catastrophe by listening to the sound. We shall see(hear?).Service

Another facet of being a faculty member is service.In the last few years, I have been on the Executive Committeeof the Petroleum Division of the ASME. This year, we havevoted on becoming the second ASME Institute: theInternational Petroleum Technology Institute. It is interestingbeing in on the creation of a new, yet familiar, organization.Look for it soon.

I also had the pleasure of representing the ColoradoSchool of Mines at the AADE conference in Houston in April.We were the first of ten schools invited to present our drilling

The text is available through the CSM bookstore.The coming year is my 14th at CSM. The years have

passed quickly. During this time, there have been manychanges in the faculty and many more in the students. On thewall of my office hangs a picture of a group of students fromthe 1996 summer field session in Canada. I enjoy reflecting onthose experiences and many others with students. I hope thatall of you are finding satisfaction in your careers. And I hopethat the oil and gas industry will continue to test the limits ofyour abilities.

5

education and research activities. I was trying to determinewhy we were first. It wasn’t alphabetical, nor was it the obviousanswer that we are number one. I think it is because we led theAADE in creating the first AADE student chapter! Now thereare four, CSM, LSU, ULL, and TAMU.

I am also thechair for the sixth SPEColloquium on PetroleumEngineering Education. Itwas to be held here on theMines campus lastAugust. Unfortunately,the registration numbersindicated that we shouldpostpone the CPEE, stepback, and determine whythe attendance was goingto be low. Currently, weanticipate the CPEE will beheld in June of next year.Field Session

This was my seventh year of leading the PEGN 315Summer Field Session. We went to Texas and Louisiana thisyear. Assisting me was Dr. Mark Miller as usual and Dr. ErdalOzkan again. As my assistants, I had Dee and Joe Brownagain. There were a total of 35 students this year, and wefocused the session on offshore operations.

As we always do, we start the Field Session stressingsafety. Transocean donated a video to the department manyyears ago called, “Remember Charlie”. It is a talk by CharlesMorecraft, a person who survived a brutal industrial accident.It always gives me pause when I hear his story. It alsoemphasizes safety from the “get go” with our sophomores.

We spent the first week of Field Session in Houston.I found it hard to believe; but everyone who lived down thereassured me that the temperatures were moderate. In any event,over the weekdays, we visited the following companies:

Aramco Services Company - Khalid AI-Hanai, NormOdell, Wayne Hollingsworth, Sally Johnson, SteveSawyer, and Freddie Wong.Oceaneering Intervention Engineering - ChristopherMurdoch and Michael Cunningham.FMC Energy Systems - Dane Tipton, Leigh Martin,Carey Seay, and Gavin Stafford.I also want to thank Glenn Macdonald of Technip-Coflexip - CSO Aker Engineering who helped mearrange Oceaneering and FMC.Anadarko Petroleum Corporation - Susan Howes,Jacob Shumway, Scott Albertson, Jay Blaylock, MikeBridges, Scott Chesebro, Randy Couch, Mike Griffis,Tomas Gutierrez, Eric Kolstad, Eric Miller, Mark Pease,Justin Raithel, Cameron Rempel, Josh Walker, andShawn Young. There are a lot of CSM Alumni in thatlist!Hughes Christensen - Bobby Grimes and Sean Berzas.Cameron - Thomas Kelly.Schlumberger - Nathan Frisbee, Tyrone Chang,

Jonathan Cockeram, Javier Espinosa, Joel Alabastro,Nigel Lewis, Pat Sladecek, Dave Nichols, GeorgeSpencer, and Choon WongWe ended up in Galveston for the weekend studying

near-shore clastic depositional environments. We also visitedthe Ocean Energy Museum, which I thought was well done.

Sunday was an interesting day. Because of flightlimitations, I had to split the Field Session into various groupsfor a tour of three deep-water drilling rigs. These toursoriginated out of Morgan City and New Orleans. So, talk abouta logistics effort. In any event, on Monday we had ten peoplehead out to ConocoPhillips’ Deepwater Pathfinder, fourteenpeople head out to Unocal’s Discoverer Spirit, both Transoceandrillships, and sixteen people head over to Mississippi to tourNoble Drilling’s - Therald Martin, a semi-submersible in SignalInternational’s yard. There were a lot of people that made thishappen.

Deepwater Pathfinder: Wayne Sanders, MarcelRobichaux, and Ward Theriot of ConocoPhillips,Daniel Haslam, Daun Winslow, and Capt. FernandoGutierrez of Transocean.Discoverer Spirit: Charles Burton, Eddie Doré, andMike Sprawls of Unocal.Noble Therald Martin: Kirk Atkinson – Noble Drilling,Chad Freeman and Ryan Schnoor, Signal International,and Leif Nelson, Transocean.And for making it all happen, Dennis Heagney.We spent the next day in Lafayette visiting:Randy Smith Training Solutions - Gary Nance, JeffPrilliman, and Randy SmithNabors Drilling USA - John SavageI want to thank Michelle LeBlanc of ENSCOInternational for arranging this on short notice.Wednesday, we got up early and set out for

Intercoastal City. APEX Oil and Gas had invited us out to visitTODCO RBF 206 jackup and a production platform. We splitinto two groups that left three hours apart. The arrangementswere orchestrated and timed beautifully. It was awesome. Onething that really got the student’s attention was the personnelbasket used to lift us up from the crew boat up to the platformand back. We really appreciate the efforts of many people:

APEX Oil and Gas - Mike Ardeel and Gary PatinSierra Engineering - Blake Patton (the arranger!)The Offshore Drilling Company - Stephen Barber,Joshua Minton, Jason Scott, and Scooter WiseNova Consulting Services – Tracy LowryThe last two days of the Field Session were spent on

our way back to Houston. We stopped at Papco Oil and Gas ina wildlife refuge near the Sabine River. They also hosted abarbeque beach party! Then we finished up with Helmerichand Payne’s yard touring the Flex Rig plant.

PAPCO Oil and Gas - Darrell Pierce, Dan Pierce, andSteve SharpHelmerich and Payne International Drilling - J.T.Dohm, Ross Berg, Ed Bull, Todd Cantrell, CoreyLawyer, David Millwee, Dewayne Speer, and MauricioCuervo

Bill Eustes

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John R . Fanch i

Ramona M. Graves

John Fanchi

This field session saw no injuries of any kind, asusual. That is because we stress safety, safety, and safety!We were also on time except once when I couldn’t find thenational wildlife refuge (you wouldn’t think it would be thattough). The students were on time every time, a record forField Session!

One of the things I like to do in these newsletters is tobe certain to list everybody that helped make these fieldsessions the successes that they are. However, in the hustleand bustle of the session, I sometimes don’t get everyone’sname that helped us. I apologize if I have misidentified or evenleft you out of our thanks. If I have inadvertently left you off,please let me know.

I hope to see you at the Denver ATCE!

Ramona Graves

When the students return from their summer jobs, itis so nice when they greet me from alumni I have taught. Thedisconcerting part is that the students all say that theconversation starts with “Is Ramona STILL there?” Yup, stillhere! Craig was just in my office showing me a Mines Magazinefrom 1982 thatfocused onP e t r o l e u mEngineering andthere were picturesof the faculty. Weare the only twofaculty membersstill here andamazingly, wehaven’t changedmuch except for hair(or lack thereof).We are so fortunateto have students that are exited to be studying petroleumengineering, a faculty team that loves what they are doing, anda support staff that puts up with all of us. This is the beginningof my 23rd year teaching in the Petroleum EngineeringDepartment at Mines.

My Laser/Rock Destruction research continues, buta prototype is not as close to a field demonstration as I hadhoped due to a slow down in funding. DOE has chosen to puttheir “Laser Dollars” with GTI. Unfortunately, GTI no longeruses contract researchers and will be doing all their researchin-house. I am pursing other support sources and the latest tojoin the team are Occidental Petroleum and the NorthernArapahoe Tribe on the Wind River Reservation. I’m still onthe lecture circuit talking about the potential of high powerlaser applications in the Oil and Gas Industry.

Reservoir characterization continues to be my primaryresearch interest. I work closely with professors and studentsin both the Geology and Geophysics Departments. The newmultidisciplinary master’s degree with the three departmentscalled PETROLEUM RESERVOIR SYSTEMS is proving to bevery popular. This one-year, non-thesis degree will requirestudents to take classes in all three departments and take severalof our unique multidisciplinary classes. Call the GraduateSchool or PE Department for more information.

The other fun and productive multidisciplinaryactivity is a new research center housed in the PE Department,developed and directed by Jennifer Miskimins and me, calledthe Center for Earth Materials, Mechanics, and Characterization

A new Petroleum Engineering Handbook is beingwritten under the auspices of SPE with Larry Lake (UT-Austin)as Chief Editor. It hasbeen a daunting task tocompletely revise andupdate the Bradleyedition. Fortunately,many people havevolunteered tocontribute theirexpertise. I have servedas the editor of theGeneral Engineeringsection and havereceived contributionsfrom several colleagues at CSM and around the world. I expectthe new PE Handbook, which should be published in 2004, tobe a welcome addition to my bookshelf.

The Energy Engineering course I described last yearwas conducted for the first time during Spring 2003. The coursepresents an integrated overview of energy sources that willcontribute to the energy mix of the 21st century. We had severalguest speakers and covered a lot of ground. The course text isscheduled for publication by Academic Press later this year orearly in 2004. The working title is “Energy: Fundamentals ofTechnology and Directions for the Future.” Send me an email(jfanchi@mines.edu) if you want me to let you know when thebook is available.

On the research side, Phase II of the Consortium forIntegrated Flow Modeling is generating additional insight intohow to provide low-cost estimates of important geomechanicalparameters. Our work includes a series of reports forConsortium members that contain details of the research. Forexample, one report describes a spreadsheet that can be usedto quickly estimate the impact of geomechanical effects onwell productivity. Another report describes a spreadsheet thatshows how to calculate the pressure and saturationdependence of Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio. Thesegeomechanical parameters play an important role in hydraulicfracture design and understanding formation stability. We

expect to learn more in the future by applying the methods tofield cases. We are interested in well productivity problemsthat might be due to changes in geomechanical properties. Ifyou have any cases that you would like us to consider, pleaselet me know.

If you would like more information, visit my websiteat http://www.mines.edu/~jfanchi/ .

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Hosse in KazemiThe academic year 2002-2003 was a productive year

for me because I was blessed with a lot of support from mycolleagues in the department as well as my industry friends. Avery significant event was the generous commitment ofMarathon Oil Company to fund the department’s Center forReservoir Studies with a gift of $100,000 per year for threeyears. The Center probably will be designated “a center ofexcellence” at the university. The vision for the Center is toconduct collaborative research on timely topics of interest tothe industry, andto provide relevanttechnical supportand training to thei n d u s t r ysponsors. Dr. VanKirk was veryinstrumental inselling the visionof the Center tothe university andMarathon, and Dr.Ozkan has beenleading theadministrative efforts to finalize the road map for the Center.Several colleagues in the department will participate inconducting research with their graduate students on subjectspertinent to the Center. We will formally announce the firstphase of the technical program for the Center in early fall of2003.

I taught two graduate courses in the fall of 2002. Thesecourses were: Reservoir Simulation I and Numerical Solutionof IOR Processes. In the spring of 2003, I taught a course onReservoir Simulation—Streamline Approach and Classical

Methods. This course became the basis for a major researcharea on the use of streamline simulation in naturally fracturedreservoirs. One of our graduate students is finalizing anumerical code for a dual-porosity streamline simulator. Ibelieve the streamline approach to reservoir modeling of dual-porosity systems will produce a major impact on reservoirevaluation and performance prediction.

Another graduate student studied the effect of non-Darcy flow in naturally fractured gas reservoirs. It wasdiscovered that abnormally large pseudo-skin values wouldresult from the analyses of pressure drawdown and builduptests. This information could have a significant bearing ondecisions regarding well stimulation in such reservoirs. Two ofour graduate students began working on the use of twooverlying grids (the dual grid) — one fine and the other course.The course grid will be used to upscale permeability for use inthe pressure solution, while the fine grid will be used to capturethe channeling of flow due to local reservoir heterogeneityand the relative mobility contrasts of flowing phases.

I was also privileged to work with some of Dr. Ozkan’sstudents and Dr. Ozkan himself on topics related to flow inhorizontal and hydraulically fractured wells. Specifically, Iworked with one of Dr. Ozkan’s students on numericalsimulation of non-Darcy flow in hydraulically fractured wells.Here, we were interested in the effect of the presence of aliquid phase on the non-Darcy flow of gas. Ultimately, theresults should be useful in evaluation of fracture proppants.The current laboratory measured data on non-Darcy gas flowin presence of a liquid phase is inadequate and will be an areafor our department to pursue.

I served on two SPE committees— the R&D and ShortBooks (primers). In the latter, we hope to publish in the nearfuture three pilot primers on Seismic Inversion, Characterizationof Naturally Fractured Reservoirs, and Hydraulic FracturingPractice. Authors from the SPE, AAPG, or SEG will write theseshort books with the intent to inform and promote collaborationand understanding among engineers and geoscientists. Othertimely topics of interest will follow.

(EM2C). Our first major function is a “Workshop on RockMechanics Laboratory Practices” held the three days prior(October 2-4) to the SPE Annual Meeting in Denver. Jenniferand I, along with Mike Batzle in Geophysics, are coordinatingthe event which is sponsored by ConocoPhillips. It looks likewe will have over 50 participants joining in panel discussions,poster presentations, and a very exciting “Lab Tour with BrewCrawl”.

I’m still coordinating our PE exchange students. Lastyear we had undergraduates studying in Ireland, theNetherlands, Australia, Poland, and Austria. The exchangewith the Mining University of Leoben, Austria is still the mostpopular with three CSM students at MUL last spring and threeMUL students at CSM this year. Our students gain such anappreciation for living in a different culture and come backwith great enthusiasm for the potential of working internationalat some point in their career.

Jake is now an employed mechanic working in theDenver area and Lacey is still in Oakland going to school.They are both healthy and happy, as am I.

Until we see each other again, I wish you peace, love,and joy.

Dee and Joe Brown relaxing during Houston Field Session

Hossein Kazemi

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Jenn i f er L . Misk iminsMark G. Mi l l er

Mark Miller

The school year has begun once again. The studentsare back to quench their thirst for truth and knowledge. We areprepared. This summer we received a batch of new computersfor both the graduate and undergraduate computer labs. Thesewere installed and the old computers they replaced were putinto graduate studentoffices. In both cases, thenew machines have aprocessor speed about fourtimes that of the ones theyreplaced. In both cases thenew machines resulted inhappy students. Thequestion is now: When isplant facilities ever going tocome to pick up the really oldmachines? You see, the oldmachines from the graduatestudent offices have goneinto a storage area (thecomputer garage), and themachines from the storagearea have gone into ahallway for plant facilities todispose. If you are quick,you can find a 286, a 386, a couple of 486’s, and a bunch ofPentium class (66 MHz) machines, not to mention a slug ofLaserJet II printers (free for the taking).

As usual, Bill Eustes did a great job putting togetheran excellent 315 field session. The students got exposed tomany different kinds of careers and made just the commentswe like to hear. The students got to see some of the newesttechnology, have great bonding experiences (use imaginationhere), and come away with a better feeling about the careerthey are undertaking. They were excited about seeing the placesand various types of work available to them. Some liked themanufacturing at Baker Hughes, others the opportunities atAnadarko, and others the high tech equipment seen offshore.Everyone came away feeling excited about the summer jobsthey were about to embark upon. We are very appreciative ofthe company support we receive every year. I thank you foryour help.

Last night was the closest Earth and Mars have beenin 60,000 years. I was surprised last week by a student whodidn’t think you could see planets with the naked eye. I hadbeen talking about a recent meteor shower being degraded bythe moon’s light, and I mentioned that Mars was sure bright.After getting over my initial shock, I explained to him where tolook for Mars and that he could get more info from the Internet.The students really like using the Internet. Recent assignmentshave come back where over 50% of the references are fromInternet sources. They are finding a lot of good information,but I don’t think they realize just how transitory web pagesare. Good for Mars information, perhaps not so good for aresearch paper.

Hello once again from Golden! As I write this article,the new school year is quickly approaching and summer hasonce again magically vanished. How does that happen anyway?

It’s been a busy year for me since the last issue of thisnewsletter. My first year on faculty has been a wonderfulexperience (anddefinitely anexhausting one). Ithas taken awhile toadjust to the pacearound here, but Iam happy to say I amthoroughly enjoyingit. During the lastyear, I have beeninvolved withseveral activitiesaround thedepartment, and I’dlike to share a few ofthem with you.

The first item I’d like to mention is the founding of theCenter for Earth Materials, Mechanics, and Characterization(EM2C) which I am co-directing with Dr. Ramona Graves. TheCenter is intended to be a focal point for promotingmultidisciplinary research in several areas including rockmechanics, earth systems, and non-traditional characterization.EM2C is the first official center to be recognized by the ColoradoSchool of Mines in the Petroleum Engineering Department.One of the first official acts of EM2C is the sponsorship of arock mechanics symposium being held on October 2, 3, and 4,just prior to the annual SPE conference. If you are interested inattending this symposium, please contact me. Also, pleasecontact Ramona or me if you believe you have a research topicthat EM2C may be able to help you out with in some way. Weare excited about the possibilities the Center offers us, and Iwould encourage you to visit us at http://em2c.mines.edu/.

Another change that affects me personally is that Iwas recently appointed as an Assistant Professor in the PEDepartment, which moves me into a tenure-track position. Myduties around the department will not change significantly,although I will now be instructing the undergraduate stimulationclass (PEGN 426) in addition to the senior multidisciplinaryintegrated design course (PEGN 439) and the Massadonasummer field session (PEGN 316). I’m energized by thisopportunity since my background and research areas fit nicelywith all three of these classes.

Speaking of these classes, I’d like to thank CSMalumnus Steen Jergensen of Newfield Exploration Companyfor helping us secure a new data set for the PEGN 439 class.We are always looking for new “real world” data to incorporateinto this design class, and I would encourage you to contactme if you have anything that you think may help us out (I will

Jennifer Miskimins

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place one caveat first—the data must include 3D seismic). Forthose of you who are wondering how the Massadona fieldsession went this year, please see the article on the PEGN 316Field Session.

One final item before I close—I’d like to thank allthose who responded to last year’s alumni survey andencourage you all to response to this year’s survey which is

enclosed in this newsletter. These surveys are valuable in ourassessment of various components of our curriculum, as wellas vital to our ABET accreditation. Thanks again for helpingus out!

Please feel free to contact me anytime at (303) 384-2419 or jmiskimi@mines.edu or visit my web site atwww.mines.edu/~jmiskimi/. I hope to see you at SPE in Denver!!

Full-time FacultyFrom left to right: Turhan Yildiz, Jennifier Miskimins, Richard Christiansen, Ramona Graves, Bill Eustes, Erdal

Ozkan, Mark Miller, John Fanchi, Craig Van Kirk, the new prof, Larry Chorn is not present, (see page 3.)

Dee and Chris without whose help all would come to a halt, with Craig.

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Scenes f rom Massadona . . .

Massadona!! The name conveysa variety of memories to alumni, a freshfeeling of accomplishment to seniors, anda sense of dread to underclassmen.

For the 2003 PEGN 316 fieldsession, we had the largest group we havehad in a few years. Twenty-seven juniorsand seniors attended this year, and I’mhappy to announce all twenty-sevensurvived! I feel the need to announce theirsurvival since it seems that prior to thecamp, several of the attendees doubt thiswill be the outcome. As someone who hasnow been involved with the camp for threeyears, I find it interesting how thestudents’ attitudes change as the campprogresses. At the end of camp, most ofthe students realize that it wasn’t quite asbad as the previous year’s class had made it sound.Nevertheless, they are eager to indoctrinate the next year’sclass in the perils that await them!!

Once again Dr. Donna Anderson from the Geologyand Geological Engineering Department and I co-instructedthe camp. We were joined by two TA’s, Brian Romans andAndrea Blecha, who helped to make the camp a success. Thiswas Brian’s second and last year at camp as he is leaving tostart work on his Ph.D. at Stanford. We wish him all the best inthis new endeavor. This was Andrea’s first year at camp, and

she’s already signed on for next year—much to the delight ofDonna and me.

This year’s camp consisted of the classic exercises,which include a combination of geology and petroleum-orientedtopics. We were hosted by ChevronTexaco and visited theirRangely Oil Field. Production Logging Services, Inc., gave aday-long school on production logging. This school alwaysreceives high marks from the students, and we appreciate CraigStratton and his crew for their assistance over the last twodecades. We also reinstated a tour of the Red Wash Field,

Wade putting on a volleyball clinic for his classmates.

Large groups of people can survive Massadona together.

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. . . and Field Session in Houston

operated by Questar, which hadn’t beenincluded for several years. The weathercooperated for the most part this yearwith only one day of snow. Fortunately,this snow day occurred during themapping exercise on Skull Creek and notthe rafting trip!

Every year we try to makecertain additions to the camp that eitherimprove the living conditions or help torun the camp. I know this will shockand appall several of you, but last yearwe purchased kerosene heaters for theindividual cabins. As you can imagine,they were received with an enormousamount of appreciation from thestudents. This year we added handheldradios to our repertoire to help theinstructors and TA’s communicate on

the outcrops and for safety reasons.One of the things I enjoy most about being involved

with the PEGN 316 field session are the stories I hear fromalumni about their Massadona experiences. I would encourageyou to keep sharing these stories with the CSM PE community,and if you have a minute, please email them to me atjmiskimi@mines.edu. By having a collection of these chroniclesthat I can share with the students, I can convey the historyand traditions associated with the camp.

As with all the annual articles, I have included a fewpictures from the camp that I hope you will enjoy. Additionally,we have updated the PEGN 316 for 2003 and would encourageyou to visit it at http://www.mines.edu/academic/petroleum/316/PEGN316.html.Enjoying the day in Josie's Canyon, Dinosaur

National Monument.

Someone said there's money down that hole.

On the ConocoPhillips Deepwater Pathfinder.

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A group shot at Aramco Services in Houston.

Being hoisted aboard the Apex Oiland Gas operated platform.

Apex Oil and Gas Well #1 on the Apex Platform inVermillion Block 128, TODCO RBF 206 jack-up.

Video conference with alumni Justin Raithel and Eric Miller inAnadarko's Operations Intelligence Center.

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Erda l Ozkan

Turhan Yi ld iz

Turhan Yildiz

The 2002-2003 academic year was busy butproductive for me. As always, I enjoyed teaching and evenlearned a few new things myself. I taught my regular classes;PEGN 414 (Well Testing), PEGN 601 (Applied Mathematics forFluid Flow in Porous Media), PEGN 505 (Horizontal Wells),and PEGN 605 (Well Testing and Evaluation). I was also part ofthe PEGN 315 Field Session team to visit the Gulf Coast. Ourexcellent hosts and enthusiastic group of students made thistrip very enjoyable beyond my expectations.

My research activities continued at a faster pace. Icompleted the Stripper Well Consortium project titled“Optimization of Plunger Lift Performance in Stripper Gas Wells”with the help of Dr. Mark Miller. Dr. Turhan Yildiz and I receivedsupport from PEMEXfor our “HorizontalWell CompletionOptimization” project.In June, we started anew project with Dr.Hossein Kazemi on“ S t r e a m l i n eSimulation of theTracer and CDGInjection to theChihuido de la SierraN e g r a F i e l d ”for Repsol YPF,Argentina. I have alsobeen involved in Dr. Hossein Kazemi’s efforts to start a Centerof Excellence for Reservoir Studies. You can read about theexiting support we obtained from Marathon Oil Co. in Dr.Kazemi’s letter.

I have also been involved in research with several ofmy students. We have been privileged to have Dr. Kazemiinvolved in these research efforts. Some of the problems wehave been investigating include the choking effect in verticalfractures intercepted by horizontal wells, non-Darcy flow infinite-conductivity fractures under multi-phase flow conditions,pressure drop due to non-Darcy flow in naturally fractured gasreservoirs, estimation of skin factor from horizontal well tests,interpretation of interference tests in horizontal wells, andpressure transient behavior of horizontal and undulating wellsin anticlines and domes.

In addition to teaching courses and doing research,my responsibility as the Graduate Program Coordinator in thedepartment took considerable time. Our graduate program hasbeen healthy and even growing at a time most graduateprograms in engineering have been suffering from decline inenrollments. Like all programs, we experienced some drop inour international student numbers after September 11 but wecould adapt to the changing conditions quickly andsuccessfully. This year, we accepted 17 new graduate studentsto our program. As always, the demographics of our newgraduate student group includes a wide variety of countries.

This is the third newsletter I am writing. The fallsemester of 2003 started with a new teaching assignment. I willbe teaching the multidisciplinary graduate class “IntegratedExploration and Development” the first time. Wish me goodluck.

The academicyear of 2002/2003 was areasonably productiveyear in terms of researchand publication. Iauthored two journalarticles and two papers inconference proceedings.One paper was publishedin SPEJ. The second onewill appear in the nextissue of JCPT. Bothpapers are about the reservoir engineering aspects of multilateralwells.

This summer, I visited my parents and spent sometime with them since my father has been ill. My father is gettingbetter and the prognostics are quite encouraging. We havebeen fortunate and grateful.

I wish you all peace, happiness, and prosperity. I lookforward to seeing you during the SPE Annual Meeting inDenver.

Erdal Ozkan

We have 7 new US citizens, together with 10 internationalstudents from 8 different countries (2 from UAE, 1 fromVenezuela, 1 from Argentina, 1 from Nigeria, 1 from China, 1from Thailand, 1 from The Netherlands, 1 from Austria, and 1from Iran). Altogether, we have 52 students in our graduateprogram, which makes us one of the largest graduate programsin Petroleum Engineering in the US.

Because this year’s SPE Annual Meeting is in Denver,we are hoping that you will make a special effort to attend themeeting. If you can make it, we will be extremely happy to seeyou during the meeting and the alumni function. Please makesure to check the program to find out about the paperpresentations of the CSM students and faculty. We have 10papers in the meeting this year and most of them are with ourstudents. We are very proud of our students and hope youcan come to their presentations to show your support.

Looking forward to seeing you in Denver.

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Student OrganizationsSocietyof Petroleum Engineersby S i thu Moe My in t (Beau) , P r e s i d e n t

Summer nears its end and with the beginning of anew semester, students partake in their endeavor for academicexcellence once again. Greetings. My name is Sithu Moe Myintand I come from Myanmar, a country in Southeast-Asia for-merly known as Burma.

The student chapter of SPE at Mines is faced withbuilding upon a tradition that has lasted many years. With ournew young and dynamic members and under the guidance ofour faculty advisor, Dr.Richard Christiansen,not only as an organi-zation, but rather as ateam, we look forwardto working together infulfilling the needs andexpectations of fellowstudents and the fac-ulty. This fall of 2003,SPE aims to developand strengthen thebonds between stu-dents and the petro-leum industry. As many are aware, networking plays a majorrole in one’s success, especially in the discipline of PetroleumEngineering. SPE intends to host both technical and industrialpresentations made by Mines Alumni and representatives ofdifferent operating oil companies to not only further enhancethe students’ knowledge in all aspects of Petroleum Engineer-ing, but to provide them with an opportunity to understandand appreciate some of the issues they will face upongraduation.

With the SPE Annual Technical Conference andExhibition to be held in Denver this year in October, ourmembers hope that fellow students will grasp this opportunityto initiate creating their networks and bonds for their future.The student chapter of SPE at Mines is determined in assistingin any way possible to make this event a success andunforgettable experience for all those that wish to participate.

I look forward to working with my fellow colleaguesin making this year full of activities ranging from those relatedto academics, to those which will bring fun and frolic to bothstudents and faculty of the Colorado School of MinesPetroleum Engineering Department. Lastly, if you areinterested in attending or sharing knowledge in one of ourmonthly seminars, please contact our Vice-President MattGallagher at magallag@mines.edu. We thank you for yourcontinuous support.

Pi Epsilon Tauby Al i Husa in , P r e s iden t

Let me introduce myself, I am Ali Husain from Kuwait,this year’s president of Pi Epsilon Tau (PET). PET is thepetroleum engineering honor society. It is an organization withmany purposes, such as fostering the bond between thepetroleum industry and the members of the organization,broadening the scope of activities of PET members, and aprimary noble goal is to keep and maintain ideals of theengineering profession.

All the members of PET meet the high standards ofthe organization tobe able to join. Theyare chosen based onmany things such asl e a d e r s h i p ,scholarship, andsociability. In orderfor an undergraduatestudent to be eligibleto join PET theymust have aminimum cumulativegrade average of 3.0.However, forgraduate studentsthey must have aminimum of 3.25cumulative grade average. The entire Colorado School of MinesPetroleum Engineering faculty are members of PET. Currentlywe have twenty members in the organization. The faculty ofthe Petroleum Engineering Department work with us at thebeginning of every year to help choose new members for theorganization.

As members of PET, we have an array of activitiesthat we are involved in. Last fall PET members participated inthe Denver Race for the Cure with the proceeds going to breastcancer research. We have adopted Alderson Hall as our serviceproject. Last year we landscaped the east side of the building(in a rain storm!) and painted the undergraduatemultidisciplinary classroom. This year we plan to continue ourpresence in the Denver Race for the Cure, increase communityinvolvement, and continue to improve the development of thelandscaping on campus. Special thanks for PET advisor Dr.Ramona Graves for the great help and support she gives forthe organization every year. If you have any questions orsuggestions please contact me at ahusain@mines.edu.

B e a u

A l i

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Best Friends

American Associat ion ofDrilling Engineersby Chr i s S to l t e , P r e s i d e n t

As president I would like to introduce myself. I’mChris Stolte originally from El Paso, Texas but have lived inAurora, Colorado for the last 10 years. The Colorado Schoolof Mines chapter of the American Association of DrillingEngineers (AADE) is a professional organization that allowsstudent members to integrate and familiarize themselves withissues theyface in thep e t r o l e u mindustry. Thisexposure givess t u d e n t si m p o r t a n tinsight andknowledge ind r i l l i n gengineering. In1996, theC o l o r a d oSchool ofMines AADEgroup becamethe firststudent chapter in the nation. Many universities and collegesacross the nation are following our lead by creating studentchapters of their own.

AADE has continued to grow and enjoy success.Over the past year, we have increased our fundraising efforts.This has allowed our organization to increase opportunitiesfor members to become involved in events outside of school.One focus is to work with other student chapters of thepetroleum industry to become involved in the Golden andsurrounding communities. Last fall the members of Pi EpsilonTau (PET) participated in Denver Race for the Cure, followedby an AADE and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)sponsored barbecue. We look forward to continuing theseservice events to show the community the caliber of studentsin the Petroleum Engineering Department.

AADE has continued its tradition of monthlyluncheon meetings in which a member from the drilling industryis invited to discuss drilling related topics in a “lunch n’ learn”forum with the students. Our advisor, Dr. Bill Eustes has usedhis research of drilling on Mars and coring in Antarctica tobring an added excitement to our organizational meetings. Onseveral occasions, members from the Mars and Antarcticaresearch teams have spoken at our luncheon meetings. Lastyear, the AADE student chapter visited the National Ice CoringLaboratory. This was an opportunity not available to studentsin the past. Hans Wychgram and Dominic Spencer conductedresearch alongside Dr. Eustes. Hans and Dominic presented

their findings at the AADE technical conference in Houstonlast April. This spring we also organized an AADE event indowntown Denver in which members from the drilling industrywere invited for dinner and a speech given by Ford Brett,president of OGCI, about the state of the drilling industry. TheAADE Denver Chapter continued their strong support for CSMby allotting three scholarships to our students.

The CSM AADE chapter has high expectations forcontinued success and this year’s officers Chris Stolte-President, Ty Woodworth-Vice President, Steve Henning-Treasurer, Jeff Reimer-Secretary, and Wade Binkley-JointSession Chair look forward to meeting this challenge. We arecurrently planning rig trips to the western slope, rig simulatornight, and several other activities. If you would like to join usfor a meeting or have any suggestions or comments, contactme Chris Stolte at cstolte@mines.edu.

Chr i s

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Department of Petroleum EngineeringColorado School of Mines1500 I l l ino i s Stree tGolden, CO 80401

A l u m n i R e c e p t i o n a t S P E C o n f e r e n c e

To O u r P e t r o l e u m A l u m n i :

Your attendance is requested at the Colorado School of Mines, PetroleumEng ineer ing A lumn i Recep t i on t o be he ld dur ing t he annua l SPE Techn i ca lC o n f e re n c e i n D e n v e r, C o l o r a d o , O c t o b e r 5 t h ro u g h 8 , 2 0 0 3 . T h e A l u m n iR e c e p t i o n w i l l b e h e l d o n Tu e s d a y e v e n i n g , a t t h e H y a t t R e g e n c y D e n v e rH o t e l , t h e G r a n d B a l l ro o m , 1 7 5 0 We l t o n St re e t , f ro m 5 : 3 0 t o 7 : 0 0 p . m .The charge i s $25 . As a lways , t he re w i l l be p l en t y o f f ood w i th a cash bar.

HOW TO REGISTER: Phone Kathy Brei t , Program Director of CSM'sA lumni O f f i ce a t (303) 273-3290 , o r e -ma i l kbre i t@mines . edu or phone thePetroleum Engineering Office at (303) 273-3740, or e-mail dbrown@mines.edupr ior t o SEPTEMBER 26 , 2003 . Drop- in s a re we lcome; however, we wou lda p p re c i a t e i t i f y o u w o u l d m a k e a re s e r v a t i o n i n a d v a n c e .

Nonprofi t Organization

U.S . Pos tage Pa idGOLDEN, COLORADO

PERMIT No . 7