Dr. Robert Balch
PRRC Director, Emeritus REACT Member
Dr. Robert Balch is Director of the Petroleum Recovery Research Center and Emeritus member of the Reservoir Evaluation and Advanced Computational Technologies (REACT) group. He has been PI or Co-PI on a range of federally funded projects and has a track record for management and integration of multidisciplinary team research efforts; recent work includes involvement with the BLM Pecos District Reasonable Foreseeable Development Plan, web-ware for New Mexico Pit Rule compliance, and the Southwest Partnerships Gordon Creek Saline CO2 sequestration project where he is responsible for design and implementation of seismic Monitoring Verification and Accounting. His past research has focused on developing and applying solutions to a variety of problems at many scales using geological, geophysical, and engineering data, including single well studies, field scale analyses and most recently, regional exploration, simulation, drilling risk evaluation and regulatory issues. Dr. Balch was recently appointed as an Oil Conservation Commissioner for the State of New Mexico.
Dr. William Ampomah
REACT Group Head/Research Engineer
Dr. Robert Balch is Director of the Petroleum Recovery Research Center and Emeritus member of the Reservoir Evaluation and Advanced Computational Technologies (REACT) group. He has been PI or Co-PI on a range of federally funded projects and has a track record for management and integration of multidisciplinary team research efforts; recent work includes involvement with the BLM Pecos District Reasonable Foreseeable Development Plan, web-ware for New Mexico Pit Rule compliance, and the Southwest Partnerships Gordon Creek Saline CO2 sequestration project where he is responsible for design and implementation of seismic Monitoring Verification and Accounting. His past research has focused on developing and applying solutions to a variety of problems at many scales using geological, geophysical, and engineering data, including single well studies, field scale analyses and most recently, regional exploration, simulation, drilling risk evaluation and regulatory issues. Dr. Balch was recently appointed as an Oil Conservation Commissioner for the State of New Mexico.
Dr. Tongjun Ruan
Research Engineer
Dr. Tongjun (Roger) Ruan first came to the PRRC as a visiting scientist from Shandong University, P. R. China where he was an associate professor. His most recent work focused on designing web-based application software and developing soft computing methods using 100% Java Technology (Java, JavaBean, Applets, Servlets and JSP) for the REACT group's FEE Tool project, which can now be accessed online at http://ford.nmt.edu/. Past work includes the design and implementation of a 3-D simulation system for sequence stratigraphy and basin modeling; he has also developed a real-time database for a power distribution automation system, and a management information system for corporate use. Roger has a BS in Electrical Engineering and a MS in Computer Science from Shandong University of Technology. He holds a PhD in Petroleum Geology from China University of Geosciences.
George El-kaseeh
Research Engineer
Mr. George El-kaseeh is a Research Engineer at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center. He spent 20 years in the oil and gas industry with Schlumberger that included onshore and offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico and international. During his tenure with Schlumberger, he held several technical and management positions: Geophysicist, technical team lead, operations manager and regional manager. He has extensive experience in field geophysics, seismic data processing, and multiple aspects of field operations.
Dr. Hassan Khaniani
Research Scientist
Dr. Hassan Khaniani is a Research Scientist at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center. Hassan has earned both B.Sc and Master degrees in Petroleum Engineering. He attained his B.Sc. from Iran's Petroleum University of Technology and his Master's Degree from the University of Calgary, Canada. Hassan completed his Ph.D. in Geophysics at the University of Calgary in 2015. His Doctoral thesis focused on full waveform inversion of seismic data using Kirchhoff approximations. Hassan specialized in software development for High-Performance Computing (HPC) of 3D seismic imaging and reservoir geomechanics. Hassan has extensive experience in seismic data acquisition, processing, and interpretation for unconventional reservoirs.
Dr. David Jiawei Tu
Postdoctoral Research Engineer
Dr. Jiawei (David) Tu is a Postdoctoral Research Engineer at Petroleum Recovery Research Center. He was graduated from Texas Tech University with a Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering. His doctoral research scope was shale oil Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), focused on EOR methods in unconventional oil reservoirs through surfactant fracturing fluid imbibition with experimental and numerical simulation approach. In 2019 he achieved 1st place in SPE Southwestern North America Student Paper Contest and participated in the international contest during SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Calgary, Canada. Dr. Tu joined the PRRC in 2021 and will be working on DOE awarded projects regarding CO2 EOR and CO2 storage.
Dr. Sai Wang
Research Engineer II
Dr. Sai Wang is a Research Engineer II with Reservoir Evaluation and Advanced Computational Technologies (REACT) group at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center. He is the principle Investigator (PI) and Co-PIs on several US DOE-sponsored projects, including the assessment on the regional resources on basalt and mining waste for CO2 mineralization, Utah CarbonSAFE II project, Fault Characterization project and the CUSP Escalante project, and also involved in the San Juan Basin CarbonSAFE III focus on the field operation and Class VI permit application. His areas of interest and expertise include regulation/permit, CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and geological storage (CCS), petrophysics, surface chemistry and geochemistry. Dr. Wang has published over 30 papers mostly in the areas of enhanced oil recovery and CO2 geological storage. He holds the BS in Applied Chemistry in Hainan University, China, the MS in Petroleum Engineering from New Mexico Tech, and a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from the University of North Dakota.
Samuel Acheampong
Research Assistant
Mr. Samuel Acheampong is a Research Assistant working in the Reservoir Evaluation and Advanced Computational Technologies (REACT) group of the Petroleum Recovery Research Center. He is currently working on the Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration project. His research focusses on monitoring the movement of injected carbon dioxide in the Morrow B formation using time-lapse seismic data obtained from the Farnsworth field, Texas. Samuel earned his bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. He is currently pursuing his master's degree in Petroleum Engineering at New Mexico Tech.
Jonathan Asante
Research Assistant
Mr. Jonathan Asante is a Petroleum Engineering graduate student at the New Mexico Tech. He completed his undergraduate degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Petroleum Engineering. There, as a temporary faculty advisor, he led the PetroBowl team to victory in their regional contest in Ghana, 2019. In his final year, he led a team of five to the successful completion in determining shear wave velocity in the South Tano basin, Ghana, using an Artificial Neural Network. After his graduation, he had the opportunity to do his national service at the petroleum engineering department, KNUST as a Teaching Assistant. Jonathan is a Research Assistant in the Petroleum Engineering department, NMT, and currently works on CO2 sequestration in Oil and Gas Reservoirs.
Justice Sarkodie-Kyeremeh
PhD Student/Research Assistant
Mr. Justice Sarkodie-Kyeremeh earned his BSc. in Petroleum Engineering and MSc. in Oil and Gas Engineering degrees from KNUST, Ghana and the Robert Gordon University, UK respectively. He worked as an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Ghana for two years and was confirmed as a Lecturer at the same Department in 2018. Justice has taught many undergraduate courses in Energy and Petroleum Engineering. He is currently a PhD. student and a Research Assistant at the Department of Petroleum Engineering and the Petroleum Recovery Research Center at New Mexico Tech. He is a member of the team working on the San Juan Basin CarbonSAFE phase III project and the Subsurface Stress Prediction Project. Justice Sarkodie-Kyeremeh is interested in researching challenges in the areas of Carbon Capture and Storage, Reservoir Geomechanics, Enhanced Oil Recovery and Production Optimization. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE).
Marcia McMillan
Graduate Research Assistant
Ms. Marcia McMillan is a Ph.D. student in Petroleum Engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. She holds an M.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University and dual Bachelor degrees from Pennsylvania State University in Petroleum Engineering and Chemical Engineering. Marcia's Ph.D. dissertation focuses on estimating the stress changes induced during CO2-EOR operations within the Farnsworth Field Unit (FWU) and the utilization of acquired time-lapse VSP measurements for the calibration of these operation-induced stress changes. Marcia's professional experiences include Reservoir Simulation and Geomechanical Simulation modeling, PVT analysis, Field Development Planning, and Economic Evaluation of Oil and Gas projects.
Isaac Minkah
Research Assistant
Mr. Isaac Minkah is a Research Assistant and graduate student at New Mexico Tech, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Mathematics with concentration in Operations Research and Statistics. Minkah had his BSc. in Statistics and Economics from Garden City University College (affiliated to KNUST) in 2014. In 2016, Isaac had Diploma in Education from University of Education, Winneba and also had Higher National diploma in Statistics from Cape Coast Technical University in 2010, all in Ghana.
Anthony Morgan
Research Assistant
Mr. Anthony Morgan is a Ph.D. student and research assistance with the Petroleum Recovery and Research Center of New Mexico Tech. He is also an adjunct faculty member of the Petroleum Department of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (Ghana). He had his MSc. Petroleum Engineering from the University of Aberdeen, UK and BSc. Petroleum Engineering from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. His research focus currently lies in Enhanced Oil Recovery (CO2-EOR specifically) and CO2 sequestration.
Petroleum Recovery Research Center
PRRC 2023 · A Division of New Mexico Tech · NMT