I have been in leadership positions including VP Engineering at Fekete, recognized for its technically advanced consulting services, where I have been responsible for promoting a culture of innovation. This culture has been nurtured by being an example; by applying innovative solutions to client’s problems and encouraging and assisting staff in doing the same. An evidence of this is the large number of technical papers published by the SPE and other professional associations.


Some of the innovative solutions that were first employed in the engineering group, were later incorporated into Fekete’s commercial software. This ability to present innovative solutions to challenging problems were acknowledged by the industry, as evidenced by the specialized problems I have led on behalf of our clients. A few examples of these are given in the following:

Innovative Solutions Devised for Engineering Problems

Innovative Reservoir Characterization Methods: (i) A large number of SAGD projects operate at pressures larger than the initial reservoir pressure. The high viscosity of the bitumen away from the steam chamber acts as flow barrier allowing the pressure imbalance without loss of steam. Problems arise when “lean zones” are present. Lean zones are those with relatively high water saturation (35-50%) that exhibit mobility even when the rest of the pore space contains cold bitumen.
We developed innovative pressure techniques for estimation of mobility in the lean zone, which were successfully applied to field leading to good estimates of mobility in such lean zones. (ii) In a different project, the degree of communication between two nearby gas storage reservoirs was required. The area of communication was thought to be outside the edge of either of the reservoirs, however subsequent inventory calculations had shown communication through this area.
The degree of uncertainty of the permeability field in this intra-reservoir area was very large, because of lack of wells there. In my group, we devised an innovative solution, where by creating a difference between the shut-in times and corresponding pressures of the reservoirs at the end of the production cycle, we could evaluate the degree of communication between the two gas storage reservoirs.
Diagnostic cases: In a number of cases, we have had projects where the reservoir behaviour (e.g. early increase of water cut/gas cut) could be explained by two competing theories. In these cases, it was important to know which of the two alternative theories is the correct one, as that knowledge affected subsequent development plans.
By integrating different disciplines; careful analysis of the reservoir response using forward and inverse modelling techniques; as well as reservoir simulation we have successfully differentiated between the two alternative possibilities. In cases where such a clear diagnosis was not possible, we have designed tests and measurements that would allow such a diagnosis.

Innovative Engineering Solutions that were Incorporated into Commercial Software

RTA Software: In the year 2000, I developed equations and the first excel version of a software for “Modern Production Data Analysis”, later recognized as FAST RTA™. Under the leadership of our president, Louis Mattar, Fekete became the first company to have a commercial RTA software. It was a technical and business success. Competitors followed this lead and created equivalent software later on.
Uncertainty Assessment and Probabilistic Solutions: At a time, when uncertainty assessment was rarely being practiced, with the exception of some of the majors, when providing the “best” answer was sufficient and knowing how bad that answer could be was not being pursued, we implemented use of Uncertainty Assessment Techniques in reservoir simulation studies. The techniques developed early on matured in subsequent studies and were incorporated into commercial Software, including FAST Harmony™.