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OERB Annual Scholarship Application Event

You’re invited to a FREE LUNCH!!
Join Lisa Schwarz, OERB’s Education Director, to learn more about the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board (OERB) and the scholarship opportunities available to you as well as enjoy a free lunch.

Did you know the OERB provides students majoring in petroleum related fields, Petroleum Engineering, Energy Management, and Geoscience, at Tulsa University up to $7,500 in scholarships through their Petroleum Scholar scholarship program?

Application Event Information
• What to bring? Your personal laptop and Student ID # if you would like to apply during the event.
• What will you get just for attending? FREE LUNCH!
• What can you do to be more prepared? Write out your answer to the essay questions prior to the meeting so you can copy/paste them into the application!

Each student that applies for the scholarship on or before Nov. 8th at 1pm, will be entered into a drawing for a $100 Amazon digital gift card. Multiple gift cards will be given out.

NEW Organizational Questions: It is important to the OERB that each scholar is aware of the organization they are representing if awarded this scholarship.
• Please provide the full name of the organization offering this scholarship.
• Who does the OERB work on behalf of?
• How is the OERB funded?

Scholarship Application Essay Questions
• Explain why you are (or may) pursue a career in a petroleum-related field.
• Describe the occupation you intend to pursue and how you intend to plan and prepare for that career.

• Why do you feel you should be considered for the scholarship? Please include how you are currently paying, or plan to pay, for your education.

GeoSeminar: Formation Evaluation and the Petrophysics of Carbon Storage

Join TU’s Geosciences Department to learn more about formation evaluation and the Petrophysics of Carbon Storage. The use of down-hole wireline logging measurements to characterize carbon storage projects has many similarities to the requirements for hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs. The most important features of any carbon storage project that satisfy operational plus regulatory design include knowledge of storage capacity, injectivity and containment, which is very similar to the major components of a petroleum system that is defined by reservoir volume, hydraulic connectivity and sealing capacity. Wireline logs can provide information on porosity that define storage capacity and rock mechanical properties that define sealing capacity for a proposed reservoir. Well tests and other dynamic measurements are used to determine maximum pressures for CO2 injectivity, though pore-size information from NMR logs provides a rapid evaluation tool for estimating formation permeability. The types of CO2 storage sites depend largely on the state of the CO2 to be stored, whether in supercritical or dissolved in saline waters, which in turn affects wireline responses for any in-situ monitoring strategies. Carbon storage as a mineral precipitate is gaining adherents in the CCUS community, especially when stored in basalt. Basalt storage evaluation depends in accurate porosity measurements in a very low porosity rock along with higher values in altered basalt layers. Much of the storage is located in fractures and in small pores found in altered or weathered basalt. Permeability in basalt is influenced primarily by a fracture network, characterization of which is done through analysis of image logs. Creation of fractures in basalt is a function of rock strength, which is interpreted via acoustic logging methods.

Brief Bio:
James Howard is currently a Research Professor in Geosciences at the University of Tulsa and a technical consultant to a geochemistry group at Columbia University on carbon storage in basalts. He is also a technical advisor to DigiM Solution, a software company that uses AI-powered image processing and analysis tools. Previously he was a Senior Research Fellow at ConocoPhillips’ subsurface laboratory in Bartlesville where he established and directed the Pore-Scale Characterization group. Trained as a clay mineralogist / geochemist, his career meandered from the sedimentology of shales, to logging tool design and interpretation, petrophysics with emphasis on NMR technology, advanced core analysis methods including multi-phase flow experiments at reservoir conditions, production scenarios for natural gas hydrates based on CH4-CO2 exchange, and finally back to measuring dynamic properties in very-low permeability shales. Getting involved with carbon storage issues is a nice way to spend one’s retirement.

Title: Formation Evaluation and the Petrophysics of Carbon Storage
Dr. James Howard, Research Associate, Department of Geosciences, The University of Tulsa
james.jennings.howard@gmail.com
Wednesday April 10, 2024 @ 12pm KEP 3005

GeoSeminar: Drinking Water Treatment in Tulsa

Water is the foundation of civilization and societies. The Tulsa community is invited to join TU’s Department of Geoscience to learn all about Tulsa’s drinking water supply and treatment from Hua Jiang, Ph.D., P.E., Senior Engineer with the City of Tulsa’s Water and Sewer Department.

Water is essential to olivesife and fuels the economy. We, as a human race, have come far from the hunter-and-gatherer age. We don’t typically scoop up the water from a stream to quench our thirst anymore. Ever wonder in modern industrialized countries, where and how we normally get our potable water from? Is our tap water safe to drink? This talk will offer a brief overview of drinking water sources, treatment processes, and safeguards.
The City of Tulsa (City) is a regional water supplier and supplies drinking water to metropolitan Tulsa and surrounding communities. The City owns and operates two large drinking water treatment plants and produces up to 220 million gallons of water per day. The first plant, the Mohawk Water Treatment Plant, was built in 1929 and treated the water from Lake Spavinaw which is about 60 miles away. The lake water is transported to the plant through man-made pipelines, under gravity, for most of the year. The second plant, AB Jewell Water Treatment Plant was built in early 1970. It treats the water from Oologah Lake, which is about 30 miles away. The treated water from both plants is pumped to the City through a network of approximately 2000 miles of water mains.

Brief Bio:
Dr. Jiang is currently a Senior Engineer with the City of Tulsa’s Water and Sewer Department. In his capacity, he provides technical support for Tulsa’s drinking water treatment and supply. He has led some major initiatives and projects during his tenures, such as chloramine conversion and taste & odor control. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri – Rolla in 2006, and earned MS and BS degrees from Nanjing University and Nanjing University of Technology, in Nanjing, China, in 2001 and 1998, respectively. Before he joined the City, he worked for an engineering consulting firm in Kansas City where he worked on some very interesting projects, such as the first advanced wastewater reuse plant in Australia and the world’s largest ozonation project for drinking water purification in Texas.

GeoSeminar: Building subsurface models with AI

TU community join the Department of Geosciences for a GeoSeminar over building subsurface models with AI.

A realistic model that delineates the structure, stratigraphy, and rock properties plays a pivotal role in understanding the Earth’s subsurface, and is essential to natural resource exploration, carbon storage, and civil engineering. Traditionally, building such models requires extensive human interaction with multiple data modalities. For example, to build a structural model, one needs to interpret multiple horizons and faults that define the key structures, which can be time-consuming even for experienced seismic interpreters.
We attempt to automate and accelerate the subsurface model building workflow with artificial intelligence (AI), specifically, with deep learning. We use deep learning models in many key steps of the workflow, including seismic and well log data quality check and conditioning, structural and stratigraphic interpretation, generation of attributes, as well as predicting rock properties. We will see the value of AI in building subsurface models with greatly reduced turn around time, while also discussing some lessons learned along the journey.

Brief Bio:
Tao Zhao is the data science manager for interpretation at SLB. Tao joined SLB in 2019 as a senior data scientist, developing deep learning applications for seismic processing and imaging. From 2017 to 2019, Tao was a research geophysicist at Geophysical Insights. Tao has PhD and MS degrees in geophysics from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa, and BE degree in exploration geophysics from China University of Petroleum (East China). Tao received the J. Clarence Karcher Award from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) in 2023, and the best paper award from the 2024 SEG-AAPG IMAGE annual meeting.