Enhanced Oil & Gas Recovery and Reservoir Characterization
News and Announcements
Dr. Tayfun Babadagli elected into the Canadian Academy of Engineering
Dr. Tayfun Babadagli was elected into the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) on May 6, 2024 to recognize his significant contributions of research and teaching in the field of petroleum engineering.
"The Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) is the national institution through which individuals, who have made outstanding contributions to engineering in Canada, provide strategic advice on matters of critical importance to Canada and to Canadians.
The CAE is an independent, self-governing, and non-profit organization established in 1987. Fellows of the CAE are nominated and elected by their peers, in view of their distinguished achievements and career-long service. Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering are committed to ensuring that Canada’s engineering expertise and experience are applied to the benefit of all Canadians."
The announcement can be found in the following link:
https://www.cae-acg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-New-Fellows-Media-Release-EN-1.pdf
Qingdao, China - On May 19, 2024, Dr. Tayfun Babadagli, along with Dr. Andy Li were invited by Dr. Guang Zhao, professor in the College of Petroleum Engineering to visit the China University of Petroleum (East China) in Qingdao, China.
San Antonio, Texas -Dr. Tayfun Babadagli and PhD student Lixing Lin from the EOGRRC group attended the SPE ATCE conference held in San Antonio, Texas. Researchers from various institutions presented their papers on "Modeling and Characterization of Challenging Reservoirs" in the afternoon session on October 17, 2023.
Lixing had the privilege to present his work on phase behavior of hydrocarbons in unconventional reservoirs. In this paper, we developed a modified alpha-function in PR EoS for accurate prediction of the saturation pressures of hydrocarbons in porous media. This critical research has far-reaching implications for the oil and gas industry, and it didn't go unnoticed.
This session at the SPE ATCE conference not only provided a platform for sharing knowledge and expertise but also underscored the vital role of collaborative efforts and innovative research in tackling the challenges in unconventional reservoirs. The presentation by Lixing and the enthusiastic response from the audience have set a promising trend for future research in this domain.
As the SPE ATCE conference continues, it's clear that this year's event is a hub for groundbreaking discoveries and discussions, proving once again that innovation and collaboration drive the energy industry forward.
PhD student Lixing Lin standing in front of the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio
Dr. Babadagli was invited by Dr. Hai Huang, dean of New Energy College, to visit Xi'an Shiyou University in Xi'an, China. Dr. Huang had previously served as a visiting professor to the EOGRRC group during the period of 2016-2017. During this visit, Dr. Babadagli engaged in technical discussions with professors from Xi'an Shiyou University, focusing on exploring potential avenues for research collaboration. The key areas of interest revolved around proppant transportation in fractures and investigating the dynamics of high temperature/pressure imbibitions in fractured reservoirs.
In May, Dr. Babadagli and Dr. Li visited Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED) in Beijing, China. During the visit, Dr. Babadagli delivered two presentations, focusing on chemical additives for thermal oil recovery and the application of microfluidics in enhanced oil recovery.
Dr. Babadagli talks new developments in chemical additives for thermal oil recovery.
Dr. Babadagli captivating the audience with a workshop on the application of microfluidics in enhanced oil recovery.
Dr. Babadagli, Dr. Li and the RIPED team.
Dr. Babadagli standing in front of a statue of Chairman Mao.
Dr. Babadagli and the RIPED team in Beijing.
Dr. Shengfei Zhang visited the EOGRRC group
On May 1, 2023, Dr. Shengfei Zhang from the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED) at the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) visited our EOGRRC group. During the visit, Dr. Zhang shared his research on heavy oil recovery techniques, specifically SAGD and ISC. Dr. Babadagli discussed the microfluidics applications utilized in our group's oil recovery research over the past two decades. Additionally, PhD students Lixing Lin and Randy Pratama presented their research work on chemical additives and SAGD.
Dr. Tayfun Babadagli received the USC Distinguished Alumni Award
The Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Southern California (USC) recently celebrated alumni and student achievements at the 2022 MFD Distinguished Alumni & Graduates Awards. Dr. Babadagli was the one of the two Distinguished Alumni Award recipients. (https://chems.usc.edu/2022/07/alumni-and-graduates-honored-at-mork-family-department-awards-celebration/)
Dr. Tayfun Babadagli Invited to Lecture as Part of the SPE Edmonton Technical Meeting
On Wednesday, 19 May 2021, Dr. Tayfun Babadagli was invited by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) to speak on his research and publication "Philosophy of Enhanced Oil Recovery". This research seeks answers, through a ‘philosophical’ approach, to the questions of whether enhanced oil recovery projects are purely driven by economic restrictions (i.e., oil prices) or if there are still technical issues to be contemplated. Answers are needed, because despite the ultimate gain from Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), applications have been below expectations since the 80s. Oil economics are naturally erratic, creating some long-lasting projects and cutting others short. 'Philosophical' reasoning––together with evidence from worldwide successful EOR cases––is used to critically analyze these issues and generate explanations, answers, and guidelines that should be used as factors in running successful EOR projects going forward.
Date: 20 May 2021
UAlberta Petroleum Engineering QS Top University and CWUR Ranking Update
Continuing our previous post honouring the University of Alberta world’s ranking in a petroleum engineering subject, we would like to share the ranking table released by the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) and QS World University Rankings.
In determining the subject rankings, CWUR uses the criteria primarily based on the number of research articles in top-tier journals. In contrast, QS World University Rankings utilizes four leading indicators in determining the subject rankings, which are academic reputation, employer reputation, research citation per paper, and h-index.
Three universities from North America (two from Texas and one from Alberta) are ranked in Top 10 universities by petroleum engineering subject consistently.
Please check out the below links for more details on the ranking process from each website.
CWUR: https://cwur.org/2017/subjects.php#Engineering,%20Petroleum
QS Top Universities: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2020/engineering-petroleum
Date: 27 November 2020
SPE Announces 2020 Award Recipients and Honours Tayfun Babadagli
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) announced their 2020 award recipients and honoured all during a virtual ceremony on 26 October 2020. At the top of the list, being presented with an Honorary Membership, is Dr. Tayfun Babadagli. An SPE AIME Honorary Membership is currently the highest honour that one can receive from SPE. The award ceremony serves to recognize researchers that have made exceptional and meaningful contributions to the field and his or her respective disciplines, and the honorary membership serves to recognize the researchers' outstanding service to SPE and the distinguished engineering achievement.
See the award acceptance speech in the video below, as provided by SPE.
Congratulations Dr. Babadagli and if you would like to see more details and other recipients, click here.
Date: 30 October 2020
AIP Scilight Paper Published by EOGRRC PhD Student
A Scilight "Thomson equation points to lower boiling points of hydrocarbon solvents in capillary systems," of Dr. Babadagli and PhD student Ilyas Al-Kindi was published online on 16 December 2019.
You can read the article by following this DOI link: 10.1063/10.0000462.
Guest Lectureships and Invitations for Dr. Tayfun Babadagli
Dr. Babadagli presented his paper titled "Philosophy of EOR" at the 2019 Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition (APOGCE) in Bali, just days after attending the Distunguished Guest Lecture Event held in Bandung. If you are interested in the content of his paper, please go here to see the paper or access online through the SPE.
On the 25th of October, Professor Babadagli was invited to the Bandung Institute of Technology to present his research and deliver a lecture as the honoured guest of the University's Distinguished Guest Lecture event. Dr. Babadagli introduced students, professors, and industry professionals to unconventional and enhanced oil recovery methods via a presentation and seminar.
EOGRRC Team Conference Publications and Presentations
This fall at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) held in Calgary our team boasts two presentations along with many chairing sessions held by our PI, Professor Tayfun Babadagli. First, we can see a number of current EOGRRC members and two Alumni posing together to show suppourt for the presenters. Donna Lee presented her work on "Visual support for heavy oil emulsification and its stability for cold-production using chemical and nanoparticles" of which she co-authored with Jingjing Huang and Professor Babadagli. Randy Agra Pratama presented his research on the "Reconsideration of steam additives to improve displacement efficiency: can new generation chemicals be solution for steam induced unfavorable wettability alteration?" which was also co-authored with Professor Babadagli.
PhD student Ilyas Al-Kindi presents his paper titled: "Revisiting Kelvin Equation for Accurate Modeling of Pore Scale Thermodynamics of Different Solvent Gases" at the San Jose SPE Western Regional Meeting in California 23-26 April 2019.
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Dr. Babadagli stands with the other presenters after chairing the Heavy Oil Session at IPTC 2019 in Beijing on 28 March 2019.
RIPED China Receives Heavy Oil Recovery Lecture from University of Alberta Professors
Dr. Babadagli and Dr. Li visited the RIPED (Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development) in Beijing and Delivered a talk titled "Heavy Oil Recovery and Efficiency Using Chemical Additives" on 25 March 2019.
"SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY: HOW TO THINK AND HOW TO ACT”
October 20, 2017
Dr. A. M. Celâl Şengör from Istanbul Technical University visited the the EOGRRC research group at the University of Alberta and gave a special guest lecture on "SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY: HOW TO THINK AND HOW TO ACT”.
Science is a system of thought in which an unknown is studied by generating a testable hypothesis as to what it might be and that hypothesis is then tested using deductions from it. When the hypothesis fails, it is replaced by hopefully a better one. A scientist must learn to regard hypotheses as ‘tools’ and not reflections of reality, although it is hoped that they might reflect reality. Regarding hypotheses as tools will enable the scientist not to fall in love with them. The history of the earth sciences provides numerous examples of how knowledge grows (i.e., how ‘progress’ occurs). Especially instructive in this regard is the history of the theories of global tectonics. It records our progressive appreciation of the three dimensional mobility of the lithosphere. In this progress, the repeated discovery of the same things assures us that we indeed come into contact with reality. Rediscovering the wheel is not always a negative thing.
A. M. Celâl Şengör is a professor of geology in the Istanbul Technical University (ITU), where he has been on the faculty since 1981. He is a structural geologist by training but has been active in diverse fields of geology from palaeontology to geomorphology, with a main field of interest in large-scale tectonics. He has so far published over 18 books and 270 papers during his career. He is a member of the Science Academy (İstanbul) and also a member or foreign member of the Academia Europaea, U. S. National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina German National Academy of Sciences, Leibniz Sozietät der Wissenschaften and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He holds the Science Award of the Turkish Council of Scientific and Technological Research, Prix Lutaud of the French Academy of Sciences, the President’s Award and the Bigsby Medal of the Geological Society of London, the Steinmann Medal of the Geologische Vereinigung and the Mary C. Rabbitt Award of the Geological Society of America. Şengör is an honorary fellow of the Geological Society of America and the Société Géologique de France. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Neuchâtel and the University of Chicago.
Dr. Sengor's lecture presented by the EOGRRC research group at the University of Alberta
Dr. Sengor's lecture presented by the EOGRRC research group at the University of Alberta
Dr. Babadagli's talk to undegrads at Xi'an Shiyou University
November 09, 2016
Dr. Babadagli presented a talk to undegrads at Xi'an Shiyou University: What Should I Do Before I Graduate to Build a Strong Petroleum Engineering Career
October 10, 2017
"SPE presents international awards to recognize those who have made significant technical and professional contributions to the industry, and those who have contributed exceptional service and leadership to the society"...
May 17, 2017
"The rankings, which only name schools in the top 10 in each subject area, listed the U of A third in paleontology, fifth in petroleum engineering, forestry, and geology, and sixth in transplantation"...
March 01, 2017
"Over a 6-month time frame in 2016, I was able to attend three SPE conferences on heavy oil in different countries spanning three continents (Canada, Peru, and Kuwait)"...
April 01, 2012
"The steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) method commonly employed to pump this oil from the ground involves injecting steam or solvents into the ground, causing heavy oil to flow more freely and making it easier to bring to the surface" ...
November 30, 2011
"The University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering announced the establishment of six new industrial research chairs today, capitalizing on research and teaching leadership in areas as diverse as oil sands water treatment and decision-making tools for the construction industry"...
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