2:00pm Registration – Hyatt Regency Hotel Downtown Tulsa, Tulsa North Banquet Room

2:30pm Shuttle Buses leave hotel for tour of North Campus

NORTH CAMPUS TOUR

3:00pm Buses arrive at UTulsa North Campus and tour begins

4:30pm North Campus Tour ends, buses shuttle back to hotel

4:30pm – 6:00pm Break

WELCOME BANQUET

6:00pm Welcome Reception in the Hyatt Regency Hotel Downtown Tulsa, Tulsa North Banquet Room

6:30pm Dinner begins

6:50pm Welcome

Dean Andreas Polycarpou, College of Engineering and Computer Science

James P. Brill, NAE, Jeffrey J. McDougall Eminent Chair Professor in Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa

7:00pm Keynote Address: Thomas F. McCoy, Senior Vice President of Upstream, Williams

“Williams, CCUS and Keys to Success”

8:30pm End of evening

8:00am Buses leave the Hyatt Regency Hotel to travel to the Great Hall, Allen Chapman Student Union on UTulsa Campus 

8:30am Registration & Coffee 

8:30am – 9:00am Brief NAE Members only meeting, The Alcove, ASCU 

9:00am Welcome & Introductions 

Andreas Polycarpou, Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science 

Brad Carson, University of Tulsa President 

Al Romig, Executive Officer, NAE 

James P. Brill, NAE, Chair UTulsa NAE MLE Organizing Committee 

SESSION 1 – Capture & Transport 

9:30am First session begins 

Session Chair: Raj Singh, NAE, Regents Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Oklahoma State University 

• Nathan Meehan, NAE, L.F. Peterson 36 Professor of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University: “CCUS Risks and Obstacles” 

• Doug Conquest, Vice President of Low Carbon Venture Services, Occidental Petroleum: “Overview of 1PointFive’s US Gulf Coast Sequestration Hubs” 

• Dale Erickson, Technical Authority, Wood: “Lesson Learned from Analysis of Online CO2 Network Operation” 

• Cem Sarica, Floyd M. Stevenson Distinguished Presidential Chair in Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa: “Two-Phase Flow of CO2 in Pipes” 

10:45am: Q&A Discussion  

11:30am Session 1 ends 

LUNCH & KEYNOTE SPEAKER 

Sponsored by  

11:30am Lunch begins – Serving boxed lunches 

11:30am – 12:00pm NAE Members only lunch, The Alcove, ACSU 

12:00pm Luncheon Keynote Address: Fireside Chat with Vicki Hollub, CEO, Occidental Petroleum 

Fireside Chat Moderators:  

James P. Brill, NAE, Jeffrey J. McDougall Eminent Chair Professor in Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa 

Birol Dindoruk, NAE, American Association of Drilling Engineers Endowed Professor of Petroleum Engineering & Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston 

12:50pm Fireside Chat & Lunch ends 

12:50pm – 1:00pm Break 

SESSION 2 – Injection & Storage 

1:00pm Second session begins 

Session Chair: Birol Dindoruk, NAE, American Association of Drilling Engineers Endowed Professor of Petroleum Engineering & Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston 

• Franklin “Lynn” Orr, NAE, Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor Emeritus, Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Stanford University: “What Will it Take to Get to CCS at Gigatonne Scale?” 

• Sally Benson, AAS, Precourt Family Professor, Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University: “Recent Advances in CO2 Storage Science and Engineering” 

• Erdal Ozkan, Professor of Petroleum Engineering, Colorado School of Mines: “CO2-EOR and Sequestration: Challenges on Pre Scale” 

• Eric Upchurch, Senior Principal Wells Advisor, Chevron: “Onshore vs Offshore CO2 Sequestration Technological and Societal Drivers” 

2:00pm Q&A Discussion 

2:45pm Session 2 ends  

2:45pm – 3:00pm Break 

SESSION 3 – The Future of Energy 

3:00pm Third session begins 

Session Moderator: Ken McQueen, Former Secretary of Energy of Oklahoma and New Mexico 

• Ravi Prasher, NAE, CTO, Bloom Energy: “Low-Cost Carbon Capture with Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Decarbonized Electricity” 

• Yassin Hassan, NAE, University Distinguished Professor, Professor of Nuclear Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University: “Nuclear Energy: A Sustainable Source in the Energy Mix” 

• Zhenhua Ray Rui, Director of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage Research Institute, Associate Dean of College of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology, China University of Petroleum (Beijing): “The Current Status and Future Outlook of CCUS Technology in China” 

• Charles Gorecki, CEO, Energy & Environmental Research Center, University of North Dakota: “Managing Carbon Dioxide as a Commodity to Unlock American Energy” 

• Mohan Kelkar, Chair, McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering, University of Tulsa: “Energy Transition – The Long Road Ahead” 

4:15pm Q&A Discussion 

5:00pm Closing Remarks 

5:30pm Reception & Poster Session 

Serving light hors d’oeuvres and drinks 

Sponsored by  

6:30pm Meeting Concludes 

Speaking on: “CCUS Risks and Obstacles”

ABSTRACT

Carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS) is a key focus in the petroleum industry, but capital expenditures dropped by 50% in 2024 compared to 2023. This paper examines challenges to CCS projects, including financial burdens, uncertainties in long-term storage, and regulatory issues, which could hinder progress toward achieving net-zero emissions and mitigating climate change.

BIO

Meehan is the L. F. Peterson ’36 Professor in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, specializing in carbon capture, blue hydrogen, emission reduction in oil and gas, and CO2-enhanced recovery in unconventional wells. He holds degrees from Georgia Tech, the University of Oklahoma, and Stanford, and has received numerous honors, including the SPE Lester C. Uren Award, the World Oil Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Oklahoma.

Speaking on: “Lesson Learned from Analysis of Online CO2 Network Operation”

ABSTRACT

Operating CO2 networks is complex due to corrosion risks, temperature fluctuations near the critical point, JT cooling effects, and flow challenges during injection. Accurate modeling, including multitank reservoir models and heat transfer history, is essential to predict pressure variations, ensure smooth well restarts, and mitigate corrosion risks from phase changes.

BIO

Dale holds a Ph.D. from Rice University, where he developed high-accuracy equations of state for CO2 near the critical point in collaboration with NIST. He also created pioneering industrial models for hydrate formation, paraffin prediction, and integrated kinetic hydrate modeling with hydraulic transient simulation.

Speaking on: “Overview of 1PointFive’s US Gulf Coast Sequestration Hubs“

BIO

Doug, Vice President of Project Development for Occidental’s 1PointFive Sequestration, leads site selection and technical execution for CO2 sequestration projects. With a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Cambridge and over two decades of experience, he has held management roles in asset integrity, enhanced oil recovery, and production operations across upstream and downstream sectors.

Speaking on: “Two-Phase Flow of CO₂ in Pipes”

ABSTRACT

Political and societal forces are the impetuses for a less carbon society, requiring significant advancements in science and engineering and societal acceptance of the associated cost.   

Current practices of CO₂ transport involve operating in the dense phase. Operating with two phases would reduce the compression requirements. Moreover, in certain instances, operating under two-phase flow conditions is unavoidable.  

The knowledge and available multiphase flow technology are mature in oil and gas production and transport.  One would assume the existing knowledge would be sufficient to apply to CO₂ and impurities transport and injection.  However, oil and gas production and transportation are mostly upward, and CO₂ and impurities transport and injection are mostly downward.  In addition, oil and gas are multicomponent hydrocarbons with sufficient knowledge of thermodynamic behavior in contrast to CO₂ and impurities. 

Considering the maturity of the multiphase flow and thermodynamics of the oil and gas systems, many questions exist about the applicability and extrapolation of the existing knowledge to CO₂ systems.  In this talk, I will review CO₂+Impurities flow based on available studies and provide my perspective and efforts underway at the University of Tulsa.   

BIO

Cem Sarica, Floyd M. Stevenson, Distinguished Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tulsa (TU), serves as the director of three industry-supported consortia at the TU.  His research interests are multiphase flow in pipes, flow assurance, and horizontal wells.  He holds BSc and MSc from Istanbul Technical University and a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from TU.  He served on various Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Committees.  He served on the SPE Journal Editorial Board and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Energy Resources Technology (JERT) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).  He received the 2010 SPE International Production and Operations Award.  He was elected a Distinguished Member of SPE in 2012 and received the SPE John Franklin Carll Award and the SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Certificate in 2015. In 2024, Cem was elected an ASME Fellow and received SPE’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty. 

Speaking on: “What Will It Take to Get to CCS at Gigatonne Scale?“

ABSTRACT

55 years of experience with CO₂ enhanced oil recovery provides convincing evidence that CO₂ can be stored safely and indefinitely in the subsurface if storage sites are chosen well and projects are operated carefully.  Surveys of potential storage formations also indicate that there is sufficient capacity available worldwide to accommodate storage at large scale.  The primary barriers to large-scale deployment of CCS are recovery of the storage costs and the creation of systems and entities to manage cost-effective gathering and transporting CO₂ from sources to storage sites.  One gigatonne per year of CO₂ injection is equivalent to about 35 million barrels per day, so large numbers of megatonne-scale projects will be required to reach gigatonne scale.  Examples of proposed projects are reviewed. 

BIO

Lynn Orr is the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor Emeritus in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University.  He served as Under Secretary for Science and Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy from 2014 to 2017.  At Stanford, he served as Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project, and Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy.  Previously he worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency, Shell Development Company, and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.  He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. from Stanford University, both in Chemical Engineering.  He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Boards of Directors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the Climateworks Foundation. 

Speaking on: “Recent Advances in CO2 Storage Science and Engineering“

ABSTRACT

Capturing carbon dioxide and storing it in deep underground geological formations is one of the most important approaches for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Recent studies indicate that globally about 10 Gt/year of CO2 storage may be required by the middle of the century, including about 1 Gt/year in the U.S. Managing subsurface storage of this much CO2 requires the ability to characterize the storage potential of geological formations, predict and manage CO2 plume migration and pressure buildup, and monitor the fate and transport of CO2 in the subsurface.  This presentation will provide an overview of recent advances in CO2 storage science and engineering, including new results from the GeoCquest Field Validation Test being conducted in Australia.

BIO

Sally M. Benson, who joined Stanford University in 2007, is the Precourt Family Professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. She studies technologies and pathways for transitioning to a net-zero emission energy system. From 2021 to 2023 she was on leave from the University to serve as the Energy Division Director and Chief Strategist for the Energy Transition at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. From 2013 to 2020, she served at the Director and Co-Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy. She also served as the Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project from 2009 to 2019. Prior to joining Stanford, Benson was Division Director for Earth Sciences, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Sciences and Deputy Director at LBNL.

Professor Benson currently is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Innovation Council and a Board Member of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute. In 2023 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Speaking on: “CO2-EOR and Sequestration: Challenges on Pore Scale”

ABSTRACT

Focusing on CO2-EOR and sequestration as essential technologies for sustainable energy diversity, highlighting the challenges posed by small- to ultra-small-porosity unconventional reservoirs. As well, emphasizing the need for innovative technologies to address molecular-level interactions between injected fluids, resident fluids, and reservoir rock to meet energy demands while reducing the carbon footprint.

BIO

Ozkan is a Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Colorado School of Mines and the Director of the Unconventional Reservoir Engineering Project (UREP). A Distinguished Member of SPE, Ozkan specializes in reservoir engineering, fluid flow in porous media, and unconventional reservoirs, and has published over 170 technical papers, a book, and several book chapters.

Speaking on: “Onshore vs Offshore CO₂ Sequestration: Technological and Societal Drivers”

ABSTRACT

Discussion on the challenges of meeting climate change goals by storing 220 Gigatonnes of CO2 underground by 2070, requiring the drilling of 200 new CO2 injection wells annually. Comparing onshore and offshore CO2 sequestration, highlighting the technical feasibility of each but noting significant societal and cost-related trade-offs, with onshore sequestration being cheaper but riskier for nearby populations and freshwater sources, while offshore sequestration avoids these risks but is more expensive.

BIO

Upchurch, a Chevron Fellow and Senior Principal Advisor, has 40 years of global experience in drilling, completions, and production engineering. He leads Chevron’s efforts in carbon sequestration and non-traditional geothermal energy, holding multiple degrees and patents, and has received prestigious awards for his contributions to drilling and completions engineering.

Speaking on: “Low-Cost Carbon Capture with Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Decarbonized Electricity”

ABSTRACT

With growing power demand and limited capacity, the US electricity grid is struggling to keep pace with the proliferating growth of data centers, Artificial Intelligence, transportation electrification, and the industrial sector. The situation becomes significantly worse for 24×7 decarbonized electricity as technological options are limited.

Solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFC) can enable low-cost 24×7 decarbonized electricity using natural gas and carbon capture. The technology is based on an electrochemical, non-combustion process. This leads to a CO₂-rich exhaust with 15x lower mass flow and 10x higher CO₂ concentration over combustion exhausts. The high CO₂ concentration results in ~3x lower thermodynamic minimum separate energy while the low mass flow requires smaller equipment sizes, overcoming cost and energy consumption hurdles and enabling significant cost reduction of carbon capture. As pollutants and particulates are not produced in this process, scrubbing steps are bypassed.

Bloom Energy is the largest fuel cell company in the world with its patented SOFC platform. In this talk, the speaker will discuss the carbon capture benefits of using Bloom’s SOFC, progresses, and deployment of projects. 

BIO

At Bloom Energy, Jittisa leads technology strategy for Bloom’s solid oxide fuel cell technology’s decarbonization solutions, including carbon capture-compatible fuel cells. Jittisa heads the collaboration with carbon capture technology industry leaders and is Bloom’s thought leader. Jittisa’s team defines Bloom’s strategy around carbon capture and is working to enable some of the world’s first commercial carbon capture projects.  Prior to Bloom Energy, Jittisa pioneered a startup company, Supercool Metals, commercializing high-performance alloys for aerospace applications. Jittisa has published 29 papers in top science and engineering journals and authored 6 patents. Jittisa holds a PhD from Yale University and a B.Sc. from Chulalongkorn University.  

Speaking on: “Nuclear Energy: A Sustainable Source in the Energy Mix”

ABSTRACT

The deployment of advanced nuclear power plants supplements the mix of energy generation technologies. Advanced reactors serve as powerful tools in the global efforts against climate change, capable of generating immense amounts of energy with less adverse ecological impacts. Nuclear energy provides a consistent and reliable power source, unaffected by external and environmental factors such as weather conditions. This sustainable yet reliable power generation can assist in stabilizing the energy grid while ensuring a consistent zero-carbon energy source. Industry, such as chemical, petrochemical, agriculture, and steel, requires a high level of energy input, particularly heat, for their operations. Advanced reactors, especially high-temperature reactors, can provide the necessary heat. Furthermore, advanced reactors can be used for large-scale, efficient hydrogen production via high-temperature electrolysis or thermochemical water splitting. The contributions of advanced nuclear reactors, such as Small Modular Reactors and Microreactors, will assist toward societal and technological goals for the preservation and sustenance of our environment. By diversifying our energy portfolio with nuclear energy, we can move closer to environmental preservation and sustainability goals while ensuring a reliable, secure, and dispatchable energy supply.

BIO

Yassin Hassan is a University Distinguished Professor, a Regents Professor, and holds the L.F. Peterson ’36 Chair II in Engineering at Texas A&M University. He serves as a professor in both the Department of Nuclear Engineering and the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is also the Director of the Center for Advanced Small Modular and Microreactors (CASMR).

Before joining Texas A&M University in September 1986, he spent seven years working in the Nuclear Power Division at Babcock & Wilcox Company in Lynchburg, Virginia. His research focuses on computational and experimental thermal hydraulics and advanced nuclear reactor technologies.

Dr. Hassan is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). His honors include the 2008 American Nuclear Society Seaborg Medal, the 2003 George Westinghouse Gold Medal, the 2004 Thermal Hydraulics Technical Achievement Award, the 2003 Arthur Holly Compton Award of the ANS, and the 2017 James N. Landis Medal from ASME. He is a member of the Slovenian Academy of Engineering and received the 2022 Fluid Engineering Award from ASME.

Dr. Hassan was appointed to the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He is the recipient of the 2020 Grainger College of Engineering Alumni Distinguished Award from the University of Illinois. In 2007, he was sworn in as a part-time technical judge on the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Speaking on: “The Current Status and Future Outlook of CCUS Technology in China”

BIO

Dr. Zhenhua Rui is a Distinguished Chair Professor, Director of the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Research Institute, and Associate Dean of the College of Carbon Neutrality Future Technology at the China University of Petroleum (Beijing). He also serves as the Head of the UNESCO Chair in Green Transition for Climate Change. Previously, Dr. Rui was a Lead Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he co-founded the MIT A+B Platform, an initiative dedicated to addressing climate change and energy challenges through an integrated A+B Approach. His research focuses on CCUS, sustainable energy development, and resource assessment, with over 150 publications in leading energy journals. He is a member of the United Nations Expert Group on Resource Management, Hoover Medal Award Board Member, SPE advisory committee member, SPE International Technical Award Committee Chair, SPE ATCE Conference Specialty Coordinator & Subcommittee Chair. He is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Transactions of the ASME, and executive editor for Engineering Journal as well as editorial board member or assistant editor for Renewable & Sustainable Energy Review, Advanced in Applied Energy, etc. He is a recipient of the SPE International PF&C Technical Award, SPE Outstanding Service Award, SPE International Distinguished Member, SPE Peer Apart Award, Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement, etc.

Speaking on: “Managing Carbon Dioxide as a Commodity to Unlock American Energy”

ABSTRACT

This talk will focus on the use of carbon dioxide as a commodity, particularly for unlocking billions of additional barrels of oil in the United States. By treating CO₂ as a commodity instead of a waste to be disposed of, the paradigm could be shifted to a win–win scenario—more domestic energy production and lower carbon intensity versus decreasing energy reliability and security—to lower greenhouse gas emissions. This shift to treating CO₂ as a commodity can also result in more streamlined permitting for CO₂ pipelines and permanent underground storage. Experience from North Dakota will be presented that outlines the path to managing CO₂ as a commodity along with the potential economic and environmental benefits of this approach.

BIO

Charles D. Gorecki is CEO of the EERC, where he leads a multidisciplinary science, engineering, and support team of over 250 people who focus on research and development (R&D) leading to demonstration and commercialization of innovative energy and environmental technologies. Mr. Gorecki oversees efforts to address these issues through strategic initiatives including carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); oil and gas technologies; hydrogen; energy and water sustainability; and rare earth elements and critical minerals research. Mr. Gorecki holds an M.Eng. degree in Petroleum Engineering and a B.S. degree in Geological Engineering from the University of North Dakota. He has authored and coauthored numerous papers and given presentations on a variety of topics in the United States and throughout the world.

Speaking on: “Energy Transition – Long Road Ahead”

BIO

Mohan Kelkar is Applied Professor of Petroleum Engineering and currently Chairman of McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering. He has published over 60 refereed articles and has made over 250 technical presentations at various technical meetings and invited talks. In addition, he has written three books: “Applied Geostatistics for Reservoir Description,” published by Society of Petroleum Engineers which is a best-seller; “Natural Gas Production Engineering,” published by PennWell Publications and “Petroleum Economics and Property Evaluation,” published by Petroskills.

He has participated in may professional service activities including General Chair of SPE IOR meeting in 2006 and has also served on SPE Board of Directors from 2010 through 2013. He was president of India Association of Greater Tulsa from 1996-1998 and currently serves as a president of South Asian Performing Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization presenting various cultural programs of south Asian origin to broader population.