Mr. Walter Dobbs III


SENIOR CONSULTANT - ENGINEERING


Walter Dobbs has 25+ years of experience forecasting reservoir behavior and supporting programs designed to maximize oil and gas recovery and investment returns. He specializes in dynamic reservoir modeling, well performance analysis, and reservoir fluids characterization and has participated in field studies for conventional and unconventional plays in several North American and worldwide basins.

Walt has provided technical analysis to rationalize field developments for conventional, unconventional, onshore, and deep water plays in the DJ, Permian, Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, Western Canadian, and Berkine Basins. His experience includes cost-effective reservoir depletion schemes such as water-flood and gas injection to maximize hydrocarbon recovery, and physics-based fracture and reservoir modeling with multivariate analysis used to forecast field performance and create elegant well spacing and completion designs that reduced production cost and improved commercial metrics.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE


Nov 2020 to Present – Senior Consultant, International Reservoir Technologies, Inc., Lakewood, Colorado

Responsibilities include the planning and completion of reservoir studies utilizing numerical simulation techniques for conventional and unconventional reservoirs. All aspects of reservoir engineering, field development, reservoir management, and production optimization will be used in future IRT projects.

2020 – Reservoir Engineering Consultant, Silver Aspen Engineering LLC, Denver, Colorado

Continued the development of novel model-based solutions for horizontal well drilling campaign optimization. Extended the workflows to commercial, widely available platforms, and improved cycle times for individual studies. Partnered with operators and consultants to improve well program design and reservoir management practices in unconventional plays.

2019 – Senior Reservoir Engineering Advisor, Occidental Petroleum, Denver, Colorado

Applied results of reservoir management - well spacing & completion optimization - field studies to build a high-return drilling and completions program for the Wattenberg Field Niobrara/ Denver-Julesburg Basin play. Partnered with geoscience, drilling, completions, production, planning, and management to build consensus and create improved development plans.

  • Provided technical foundation for improved design of 240 wells (mixed length) totaling +$1B in capex with projected 50 million BOE. Improved financial ROR of all wells to at least 50%, applying new design process to adjust completion volumes at Drilling Spacing Unit (DSU) level (6-18 wells) based on local geology, reservoir fluid type, well spacing and well stacking pattern.
  • Trained 20 subsurface technical staff on reservoir characterization, reservoir simulation, field optimization, and reservoir fluids management for Rockies assets.

2012 to 2019 – Senior Reservoir Engineering Advisor, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Denver, Colorado

Appointed lead technical reservoir engineer for Wattenberg Niobrara field in the Denver-Julesburg Basin encompassing 1500 operated horizontal wells and an active drilling program with a $1B, 300-well (5000-ft equivalent) annual budget. Pioneered reservoir simulation workflows integrating hydraulic fracturing and reservoir depletion processes for improved well spacing, stacking, and completion design. Developed the company’s first multi-well, multi-target dynamic model to understand drilling-completion-reservoir interactions. Provided production forecasts in support of development planning, economic evaluation and optimization, and annual reserves reports.

  • Built reservoir models to optimize drilling programs to meet sustained demand of 200 Mboe/d under the assigned budget.
  • Coordinated well tests, reservoir pressure surveys, and reservoir fluid PVT characterization program across Rockies assets, providing fundamental data for geoscience, engineering, and planning workflows.
  • Created, with reservoir characterization team, a design workflow adapted by DJ Basin business unit to plan its 250-well annual drilling and completion program. The technique was extended to the Powder River and Delaware Basins.
  • Detailed a comprehensive reservoir development plan for a 30 sqm field extension by collecting appropriate data, constructing fit-for-purpose models, and evaluating simulated performance for several alternative developments. The final design used 8 wells/section with 45 to 55 bbl/ft completion fluid loading.
  • Interpreted a focused collection of stimulation, production, and downhole pressure data in a 640-acre project with 15 legacy vertical wells and 4 new horizontal wells leading to an improved understanding of hydraulic fracture characterization in 3D and over time.
  • Taught reservoir fluids characterization and reservoir simulation skills to +50 engineers, geologists, and managers. Mentored and collaborated with reservoir engineers in Denver, Midland, and Houston.
  • Represented the company in Colorado School of Mines research programs and served as onshore reservoir engineering SME for company-wide engineering competency initiative.

2004 to 2012 – Project Reservoir Engineering Advisor, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Houston, Texas

Conducted field development planning and optimization studies for Deep-Water assets in the Gulf of Mexico. Pioneered and standardized coupled subsurface-surface modeling routine that improved design capabilities on GoM and Mozambique projects. Designed flow test to appraise Lucius Field and reservoir simulation models to support its initial plan of development.

  • Helped secure approval for Lucius Field $4B investment in 80 Mb/d Spar facility for 300 MMboe resource target.
  • Added 16 MMbbl to net proved reserves for K2 Field; recommended riser gas as optimal artificial lift solution and backed cancellation of the Nitrogen Injection project in favor of water flood process, reducing cost and risk profile.
  • Coordinated Al Rayyan Field development opportunities; recommended 5 new wells for 12 MMbbl increase in reserves.
  • Led International Exploration Team appraisal and development projects in the Middle East carbonate, North American Arctic fluvial, and Gulf of Mexico turbidite systems.
  • Provided internal consulting as part of the Corporate Technology team: contributed to Wyoming EOR – CO2 injection design, Gulf of Mexico development plans, Indonesia exploration evaluations, and Ghana discovery pre-development forecasting.
  • Facilitated Reservoir Engineering company forum. Taught and mentored on data acquisition, PVT properties, analytical reservoir engineering, and reservoir simulation.
  • Appointed Anadarko’s representative on DeepStar joint industry reservoir engineering committee. Piloted new reservoir simulation software and hardware systems.

2002 to 2004 – Senior Staff Reservoir Engineer, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Calgary, Canada

Project lead of multi-disciplinary reservoir studies team. Improved and expanded water-flood projects and designed CO2 floods for properties in a carbonate trend of Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

1999 to 2002 –Staff Reservoir Engineer, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Houston, Texas

Gulf of Mexico department reservoir simulation and studies specialist. Directed the acquisition of pressure and fluid data, and special core analysis. Conducted pressure transient analysis and reservoir simulation modeling for development planning and early performance analysis of several fields including Marco Polo, Tanzanite, Hickory, and Mahogany.

1996 to 1998 –Senior Reservoir Engineer, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, London, United Kingdom

Performed analytical and numerical reservoir studies for six newly discovered oil fields in the Berkine Basin, Algeria. Assessed reservoir architecture with pressure transient analysis. Used reservoir simulation to evaluate alternative recovery processes and well requirements, resulting in the initial development plan of water and miscible gas flood and successful Exploitation License Applications.

1994 to 1996 –Reservoir Engineer, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Houston, Texas

Produced engineering and economic evaluations of Permian Basin oil and gas properties for investment opportunities, acquisition and divestment activity, and corporate reserves. Designed waterflood down-spacing and expansion programs.

1991 to 1994 – Production Engineer, Amoco Production Company, Houston, Texas

Project engineering for a Permian Basin exploitation program with 6 wells drilled and 15 recompleted. Designed and managed hydraulic fracture stimulation, water flood optimization, remedial well workovers, and environmentally protective well abandonments.

PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS

Registered Professional Engineer (Petroleum) – State of Texas #84628; State of Colorado #0056710; State of Wyoming #17868


EDUCATION

M.S., Petroleum Engineering, The University of Houston, 1994
B.S., Petroleum Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1991
B.A., Plan II Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin, 1991


SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE

Reservoir simulation: ECLIPSE, VIP, NEXUS, CMG, GEOSIM, associated optimizers
Analytical well performance analysis: Kappa Engineering, IHS Harmony, Petroleum Experts
Fluids characterization: PVTSim, WinProp, PVTP, Desktop PVT
Geo-cellular modelling: PETREL


PUBLICATIONS

Rosenhagen, N. M., Nash, S. D., Dobbs, W. C., and Tanner, K. T. (2019). Dimensionless Section-Level “Cumulative Oil vs. Pumped Fluid” Normalization Plot in Unconventional Development. Society of Petroleum Engineers. 195204-MS presented at the SPE Oklahoma City Oil and Gas Symposium, Oklahoma City, OK, 9-10 April.

Tanner, K. V., Dobbs, W. C., & Nash, S. D. (2019, January 29). Right-Sized Completions: Data and Physics-Based Design for Stacked Pay Horizontal Well Development. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/194312-MS presented at the SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference, The Woodlands, TX, 5-7 February.

Tryggestad, M., Dobbs, W., 2017. Niobrara Carbonate. Presentation to the AAPG/SPE Unconventional Reservoir Summit II, The Woodlands, TX, 21-24 August.

Griffith, Chris and Mark McClure, 2016. Insights from Pressure Transients at Observation Wells near Hydraulically Fractured Wells in a Domestic Shale Play, Society of Exploration Geophysicists and American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 13 October. (Omitted co-author due to confidentiality requirements)

Dobbs, W., Browning, B., and Killough, J., 2011. Coupled Surface/Subsurface Simulation of Anadarko’s Offshore K2 Field. Paper SPE 145070 presented at the SPE Reservoir Characterization and Simulation Conference and Exhibition, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 9-11 October, and the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, USA, 30-October – 2 November 2011.

Dobbs, W. 2009. Screening vs. Refinement – Recent History Match Studies from Deepwater GOM. Presentation to SPE History Matching Workshop, Galveston, TX, 10 November

Dobbs, W. 2009. Keeping up with the Drill Bit – Use of Reservoir Simulation as an Exploration/ Appraisal Tool. Presentation to SPE Gulf Coast Section Reservoir Simulation Forum, Houston, TX, 15 May

Melichar, H, Reingruber, A., Shotts, D., and Dobbs, W., 2003. Use of PEBI Grids for a Heavily Faulted Reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico. Paper SPE 84373 presented at SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, USA, 5-8 October