Birol Dindoruk, Principal Technical Expert of Reservoir Engineering, Shell International, USA. His participation this year is a comeback.
“I have been here a number of times, but my last participation was more than ten years ago. Still, I have always maintained contact with Professor Erling Stenby and others at CERE over the years. It feels good to be here again and meet in person.”
“If you look at the many projects in CERE, they are like Lego bricks. They each have value, but if you combine them, they fit and form a larger structure. What I find especially interesting is the fact, that companies trust CERE with actual production data. This is quite rare for an academic institution, and it increases the value for us, since the proposed solutions will be closer to realization.”
Birol Dindoruk is one of only eight principal technical experts in Shell International. He works in Projects & Technology, formerly known as Shell Technology Center Houston. Asked whether the presentations at the Discussion meeting strike an acceptable balance between academic and practical interest, he replies:
“It can never be too academic! CERE’s work should be academic. To my experience, you can always find an application. And if I come here and find just one thing, which is really useful, well, mission accomplished.”
Still, while the work itself should be academic, it is also important to have an eye for dissemination, he stresses:
“First of all, we are always interested in access to software code. We want to be able to test the solutions developed by academia in-house. And we appreciate the efforts that CERE puts into making their software available in SPECS and other formats. Also, exchanging people – like summer students – is a good way to disseminate results.”
Last, but not least the ongoing contact is important to Birol Dindoruk:
“When I send an email to a member of the CERE faculty, I know they will attend to my question and come back with a useful answer. In my domain everybody knows this place – even though Denmark is not that known for oil and gas activity. This is mainly due to people. The faculty of CERE is a good group, and something Denmark has reason to be proud of.”