R&D in Exploration Technology

Sponsored by:

Presenters:

Dirk Smit
Vice President of Exploration Research and Innovation, Shell International

Dirk Smit has been with Shell since 1992. He earned an undergraduate degree in 1985 in theoretical physics and mathematics from the Univ. of Amsterdam, and a PhD in 1989 from the Inst. for Theoretical Physics, Univ. of Utrecht. Work experience includes the Theoretical Physics Dept. at the Univ. of California-Berkeley until end 1991, then on to Shell, where he staged in EP Research. Together with co-workers, he introduced modern mathematical physics methods to establish imaging conditions for Kirchhoff seismic imaging in the presence of acoustic caustics, for which he received Shell's Gold Award for Best R&D (1994). After assignments in the UK, he was Head of Geophysics for Shell Expro and responsible for Shell's 4-D reservoir monitoring program in the North Sea. He is now Vice President of Exploration Research and Innovation in Shell International Exploration and Production. He won the Ludwig Mintrop Award (EAGE, 2001); is a member of SEG and EAGE; holds a visiting Professorship in Geophysics at the School of Earth Sciences at Leeds Univ. in the UK; and is Visiting Scientist at MIT in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Smit is also a member of the Solid Earth Panel of the US National Research Council, which is part of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Mike Bahorich
Executive Vice President, Apache

Mike Bahorich became Apache Corporation’s Executive Vice President, Exploration and Production Technology in 2000. He joined the company in 1996 as chief geophysicist. He was later promoted to Vice President of Exploration Technology.

Prior to joining Apache, Bahorich was with Amoco, where he spent his first decade involved in prospect generation and development. He then spent three years with Amoco Research in scientific and management positions, where he invented two geophysical concepts that are now widely used in the industry. He later became a resource exploration manager in the company’s Mid-continent operations.

A graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia, he received his master’s degree in geophysics from Virginia Tech.  He currently serves on advisory boards at Stanford, Yale, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. In 1998, Bahorich received the Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and was president of the organization in 2003.  He holds eight patents.

C. Michael Ming
President, Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, RPSEA

C. Michael Ming currently serves as the President of the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, RPSEA. Ming formerly served as an independent natural gas producer as a managing member of K. Stewart Energy Group LLC and as a principal, director, and VP of Engineering at K. Stewart Petroleum Corp. He holds a BS degree with distinction in Petroleum Engineering and an MS degree in Engineering Management, both from Stanford University, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Oklahoma. Ming is an emeritus member and past chairman of the Petroleum Investments Committee at Stanford University. He is actively involved in the university's energy programs and co-sponsored the MAP/Ming Visiting Professorship on Energy and the Environment. He currently serves on the Dean's Advisory Board for the Stanford School of Earth Sciences, the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas, and the MIT Natural Gas Study. He has served as an adjunct professor in Energy Management at the University of Oklahoma and as an oil & gas strategic planning advisor to the Department of Energy.