Mr. Craig Williams

SENIOR ASSOCIATE CONSULTANT - RESERVOIR ENGINEERING

Mr. Williams is a reservoir engineer/manager with over 40 years’ experience in designing and conducting reservoir studies. His duties have included all aspects of major simulation studies including: data gathering and field testing, development of geologic models suitable for reservoir simulation, design, construction, and execution of simulation models, together with integration of the simulation result with an optimal field development plan. Most recently, Craig was group supervisor/manager for Occidental’s Advanced Reservoir Management Group (ARM) responsible for the reservoir design of CO2 EOR projects in the Texas/New Mexico Permian, including CO2 source field exploitation and most recently CO2 sequestration in combination with CO2 EOR. Prior to Occidental, as a consultant, major international studies included those in Northern and Central Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, and Romania), Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, South Africa), the Arabian Gulf (Kuwait), Mexico, South America (Colombia), and Australia, as well as many areas in the U.S.A. outside the Permian (Alaska, California, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado). Engineering specialties include integrated reservoir studies with interest in dual porosity (naturally fractured) reservoir simulation, and compositional reservoir simulation. He has been involved in multi-field modeling projects where optimal surface facility design and was the objective. He has been directly involved in the design, and improvements to ten major waterfloods, including three in naturally fractured reservoirs. He has also been involved large CO2 EOR projects where multilateral slants (unusual and unique wells) were used in the waterflood development. He has also been involved in certifying large reservoirs for Carbon Sequestration. He has extensive experience with both the Landmark VIP and NEXUS simulation suites, and the Schlumberger Eclipse line of simulation software products.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2012 to 2019 – Advanced Reservoir Management (ARM) Team Leader, and Simulation Lead, Occidental Petroleum

Was the direct supervisor of approximately 25 professions actively pursuing Occidental’s efforts to evaluate, exploit, and redevelop major CO2 EOR projects in the Permian Basin. The team included Geophysicists, Petrophysicists, Geologists, and Reservoir Engineers. During this time, new technologies were introduced and tested involving CO2 gas phase surfactant flooding, Geophysical induction surveying as a new means of defining gas flood fronts, and the use of Artificial Intelligence to predict specific individual well failures in operations. The group also developed a very large reservoir simulation model of a CO2 source field with a coupled surface network (including all compression). This model was vital in handling the low pressures, identifying new booster locations, and locating infill drilling prospects. The group was on the fore front of many new technologies.

The last 3 years of the assignment with Occidental was as Simulation Lead. In that job Craig was responsible for the detailed quality of simulation work in the ARM group, providing important guidance throughout. Craig also had responsibility for 2 critical projects in large reservoirs. One was planning a new CO2 Flood in a field developed with long reach (1000 ft) multilaterals. These multilaterals were used to enhance the waterflood preceding the CO2 flood. The second project was expansion of a very large CO2 flood into an area that had previously been miscibly flood by the previous operator. The operator left limited records of the flood which required data forensics to retrieve. This data proved critical in identifying the incremental oil retrieved by the much earlier flood, and quantifying how much oil was available for a new CO2 flood.

Craig also was responsible for identifying the best large mature CO2 EOR projects that could serve as carbon sequestration reservoirs. New CO2 sources were coming online where CO2 sequestration was the main target. The responsibilities included presenting to government agencies (non-engineers in many cases) where explaining and illustrating how processes worked in sequestration. This included the nature of reservoir simulation and the uncertainties that are inherent in these techniques.

1996 to 2012 - Senior Engineering Consultant, International Reservoir Technologies, Inc.

Duties include the planning and completion of reservoir simulation studies involving dual porosity, compositional and miscible flood simulation, as well as conventional black oil simulation studies involving waterflooding. Recent work has included preparing engineering studies to support commerciality for commercial partners (Algeria), and reviewing commerciality studies by commercial partners for a national oil company (Colombia). Other work included teaching and mentoring “Reservoir Modeling in Practice” for clients in California, Colombia, and London through tailored courses blending data analysis principles, together with the practical usage of these analyses in simulation models. Such analysis may include, for instance, systematic distribution of fracture properties in a dual porosity simulation models, either in conjunction with a geologists analysis, or a as a product of analysis with limited or sparse data. Other work has also included mechanistic work supporting MI and MIST applications in Alaska, involving miscible flooding concepts as portrayed in the VIP compositional simulator. Mr. Williams also has served on Peer Review and Peer Assist teams, mainly involving the BP operated fields in the Llanos Foothills of Colombia. Regular clients included: Compania Espanola de Petroleos, SA (CEPSA - Madrid), Empresa Colombiana del Petróleos (Ecopetrol – Bogotá), Burlington Resources (London, prior to Conoco aquistion), and British Petroleum (Alaska).

1990 to 1996 - Principal Petroleum Consultant, INTERA Information Technologies - Petroleum Production Division

Engineering manager for simulation studies, course instructor for INTERA simulation product lines (ECLIPSE models, pre and post processors) and “Applied Reservoir Simulation”, general property acquisition, property sales, and enhanced oil recovery consulting. He has also led and managed large multi-disciplinary teams tackling large problems such as the reserve evaluation of 1800 Romanian oil and gas properties or providing reorganization guidance to the Romanian oil and gas industry (for the World Bank). Clients included: BEB Erdgas and Erdöl GmbH (Germany), Mobil Oil Corporation (Denver and Bakersfield), Netherland, Sewell & Associates (Dallas), Pemex (Mexico), Occidental Petroleum (Bakersfield and Bogotá, Colombia), Western Gas Resources (Denver), Shell Gabon (Gabon), Meridian Oil (Denver and Farmington), Soekor Pty. Ltd. (South Africa), Santos Ltd. (Australia), Petrom and Romgaz RA (Romania), and Magellan Petroleum Australia Limited (Australia). Types of simulation studies ranged from a complex waterflood design/realignment program, in a large naturally fractured carbonate reservoir (Pemex), to tracking intra-field gas migration across ownership boundaries where partners were in dispute (BEB Erdgas and Erdöl GmbH).

1990 - Senior Petroleum Consultant, ECL Petroleum Technologies, Inc.

Performed study updates for ECL client companies. Prepared expert witness presentations involving hydraulic fracturing and effects on production. North American product technical support manager for compositional simulation products “Eclipse 300" and “PVT”.

1983 to 1990 - Senior Consulting Associate, Scientific Software Intercomp, Inc.

Performed and supervised reservoir engineering studies for client companies. Clients included: Amerada Hess Corp., Texas Oil & Gas Corp., Coastal Oil & Gas Corp., Sonatrach (Algeria), Western Desert Operating Petroleum Co. (Egypt), United States Department of Energy (DOE), and Chevron Corp. Simulation to support these studies ranged from conventional black oil, to fully compositional rich gas condensate or CO2 miscible flooding.

1980 to 1983 - Senior Reservoir Engineer, Chevron USA, Inc. Denver, Colorado

Performed a major reservoir engineering study in support of the CO2 flood of the Rangely Oil Reservoir, Colorado. Rangely is the largest oil field in Colorado (1.1 billion bbls OOIP). Assignment included general responsibility for requesting and supervising field-testing, Chevron representation at Unit meetings, and reservoir simulation supervision in support of the CO2 project AFE (Project Implementation Authorization). The CO2 flood was successfully implemented in 1986. Prior to assignment to the CO2 flood team, he was responsible for waterflood improvements, involving water quality and injection conformance.

1977 to 1980 - Research Engineer, Chevron Oil Field Research Co. LaHabra, California

Supervised laboratory research and technical service in gas injection and chemical flooding techniques. Worked with Chevron operating companies in evaluating specific EOR candidate reservoirs. Research interests included caustic waterflooding and use of equations of state in generated miscibility prediction, and integration into reservoir simulation technology.

EDUCATION

B.Sc. Chemical Engineering and Geology, University of Minnesota 1976
M.Sc. Geophysics (minor Mathematics), University of Minnesota 1977

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Member, Society of Petroleum Engineers Member, Society of Exploration Geophysicists

LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES

English:       Fluent
German:     Conversational
French:       Limited Capability
Spanish:      Limited Capability
Norwegian: Limited Capability

PUBLICATIONS

Usman Aslam, Jorge Burgos, Craig Williams, Shawn McCloskey, James Cooper, Mohammad Mirzaei, Eduardo Briz: “Closing the Loop on a History Match for a Permian EOR Field Using Relative Permeability Data Uncertainty,” SPE-200807-MS Presented at the SPE Western Regional Meeting, Virtual, April 2021.

Shahin Nezhad, Craig Williams: “Bravo Dome Subsurface and Surface Network Modeling,” SPE-184444-MS Presented at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, November 10-13,2014.

Williams, C.A.: “The Detection and Simulation of Shale Gas in an Oil Reservoir, The Case of the 29R Reservoir, Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve,” For Scientific Software Intercomp’s annual Technical Symposium; July 1989.Williams, C.A.: “Tracking Interfield Migration with SimBest II, The Case of Elk Hills and Asphalto Cameros,” For Scientific Software-Intercomp’s Annual Technical Symposium; July 1989.

Williams, C.A.: “Use of 16 Bit IBM Compatible PCS in Modern Petroleum Reservoir Engineering Project Management,” For Scientific Software-Intercomp’s Annual Technical Symposium; December 1986.

Williams, C.A.: “A Modified Dykstra-Mueller Phase Package for Compositional Simulation,” For Scientific Software-Intercomp’s Annual Technical Symposium; January 1986.

Frimodig, J.P., Reese, N.A. and Williams, C.A.: “Carbon Dioxide Flooding Evaluation of High Pour-Point, Paraffinic Red Was Reservoir Oil,” SPE-10272-PA, Society of Petroleum Engineering Journal; August, 1983.

Williams, C.A., Zana, E.N. and Humphrys, G.E.: “Use of the Peng-Robinson Equation of State to Predict Hydrocarbon Phase Behavior and Miscibility for Fluid Displacement,” SPE-8817-MS, Presented at the 1980 SPE/DOE Enhanced Oil Recovery Symposium, Tulsa; April, 1980.