Dr. Jim Bennett of Schlumberger attends the CERE Discussion meeting after a three-year break.
“Before that interval I was here three years running. But I guess it is good to miss a few years and come back with a fresh view. The most apparent change is all the students being new. Still, I find a lot of continuity.”
Schlumberger is the worlds’ largest engineering consultancy company within energy resources applications. With a background in mathematics, Jim Bennett specializes in modeling of the behavior of fluids in reservoirs and during oil and gas production.
“For complex and expensive wells modeling becomes more important. Also, being able to handle water in the models is a focus. Especially at the wells, we see large amounts of water in the gas phase.
This introduces a different level of complexity to the modelling.”
Being consultants, Schlumberger always tries to stay ahead of the clients’ needs.
“Some clients are taking increasing interest in asphaltenes. This is a field where I feel the current simulators are lacking behind. The task is challenging since it involves thermodynamic modelling for multiple phases.”
Asked whether he has found inspiration for his daily work at the Discussion meeting, Dr. Bennett gives a dual answer:
“I definitely return with new ideas, but my problem is to find the time to elaborate on them. In recent years, we have had to do less research and more development. For instance, I would love be able to do some joint projects with PhD students, but it doesn’t seem possible right now.”
On the new concept of the CERE Discussion meeting overlapping with the KT-Consortium annual meeting, Jim Bennett comments:
“As we are in energy resources engineering, some of the KT-Consortium activities are not really relevant to us. I am still making up my mind on that issue.”