09:00 AM
AI for Subsurface Energy
Speakers
Shuvajit Bhattacharya
Galen Dillewyn
Jim Geitgey
Allison Gilmore
Sashi Gunturu
Ben Lasscock
Michael O'Connell
Kim Padeletti
Steve Tedesco
Energy Business Conference
The NAPE Energy Business Conference features presentations from senior-level executives and industry leaders brought on stage to discuss some of the industry's most pressing topics. Attendees also enjoy extra networking time along with exclusive insights from the experts the day before the expo floor opens. NAPE Experience Plus Pass required.
The Technical Track has been approved for 2 AAPL CEUs and the Luncheon Keynote has been approved for 1 AAPL CEU.
09:00 AM
09:55 AM
10:15 AM
11:10 AM
11:30 AM
Shuvajit Bhattacharya is a research associate professor, specializing in geophysics, petrophysics and integrated subsurface characterization. Currently, Bhattacharya leads the HotRock geothermal research consortium and is involved in multiple projects on geothermal energy, unconventional oil and gas resources, carbon storage and geologic hydrogen. Bhattacharya also leads geophysical research on gravity and magnetics for mapping and modeling volcanic, mafic and ultramafic rocks in the subsurface for geothermal, carbon mineralization and geologic hydrogen studies. Bhattacharya is primarily interested in developing new concepts and workflows in geophysical and petrophysical data processing and integrated interpretations. Bhattacharya has published several peer-reviewed research papers, two books and numerous conference abstracts and papers. Bhattacharya completed a Ph.D. in geology focusing on machine learning and petrophysics at West Virginia University.
Galen Dillewyn, vice president of business development at NuTech, has 26 years of industry experience, specializing in subsurface characterization, completion design and optimization, static and dynamic geological modeling, and mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) integration. He joined NuTech in 2009 and has expanded its client base as a technical liaison. He graduated from Texas Tech University in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. Before NuTech, he worked for Schlumberger for nine years as a field engineer, operations manager and technical support for several supermajors. He is a member of the Houston Geological Society, SPE and SPWLA.
Jim Geitgey is president and founder of Terra Nova Energy, a Midland, Texas-based firm that both sources drilling opportunities and provides advisory services. With more than 40 years in the domestic petroleum industry, including 10 years with ARCO and three decades as an independent, he has generated or contributed to numerous unconventional and conventional projects across multiple Lower 48 basins, with a focus on the Permian Basin. During his time as an independent, those projects have resulted in the drilling of more than 1,700 wells, the addition of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BBOE) in proved reserves and realized transactions exceeding $2 billion. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from The Ohio State University.
Allison Gilmore is a product manager at S&P Global, specializing in geoscience interpretation software. With more than 12 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Gilmore has successfully collaborated with companies on projects across the globe. In her current position, Gilmore focuses on integrating novel methods and innovative technologies into commercial software solutions, enhancing the capabilities of geoscientists in their exploration and interpretation efforts.
Sashi Gunturu is CEO of Petrabytes Corp., which provides data and artificial intelligence solutions for the energy sector. Through a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services, Petrabytes enables energy companies to process massive data sets at scale to generate faster, actionable insights.
Before founding Petrabytes, Gunturu worked as an independent project consultant with Reservoir Technology Group at Baker Hughes and held various roles with Geomechanics International, focusing on upstream software development and consulting.
Gunturu earned a Master of Science in petroleum engineering and a Master of Science in computer science from the University of Tulsa and a bachelorís degree in chemical engineering from Andhra University in India.
Ben Lasscock is director of digital data innovation at TGS, where he works on AI for subsurface data, including cross-modal seismic and well-log foundation models enabled at scale by MDIO, TGS's cloud-native seismic data format for high-performance analytics and machine learning. He holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Adelaide.
Michael O'Connell is the chief analytics officer at Spotfire. He leads the Spotfire Field Technology teams, including Data Science, Architecture, Customer Success and Forward Engineering. These teams develop Spotfire Visual Industrial Analytics tools and accelerators, with a particular focus on the energy sector. Recent work includes combining well-log, deviation survey and completions data to surface insights and optimize production. O'Connell holds a Ph.D. in statistics from North Carolina State University. He has been developing statistical software applications for 30 years and has published numerous software packages, patents and publications.
Kim Padeletti is a global energy and technology executive with more than 20 years of experience spanning P&L leadership, large-scale capital projects and advanced AI and cloud transformation. She brings a rare combination of operator experience in upstream oil and gas and executive leadership in enterprise technology, enabling her to bridge strategy, risk and execution in complex environments.
At AWS, she leads global energy data and AI initiatives, advising Fortune 100 companies on how to scale generative AI and modernize data foundations to drive measurable business outcomes. Earlier in her career at BHP and Occidental, she held leadership roles across multi-billion-dollar portfolios, overseeing capital allocation, operational risk and global project execution.
Steven Tedesco has more than 40 years' experience in the energy industry, including coal, helium, oil, gas, hydrogen, wind and solar. Tedesco operates Running Foxes Energy Inc., which focuses on waterflooding of shallow oil reservoirs, coal bed methane and conventional oil and gas production in the Uncompahgre Uplift, Powder River, Williston, Denver, Forest City and Cherokee basins in the U.S. Tedesco is a manager with Ultimate Carbon Storage, which is involved in generating and selling carbon credits from plugging marginal, abandoned or orphaned wells. Tedesco is the U.S. representative for MRE Wind and Solar, based in Centennial, Colorado, which is in the process of building wind, solar and battery facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado and Utah. He is also chief science officer for Energid Energy Inc., which focuses on converting natural gas assets to hydrogen, ammonia, electricity and crypto-mining.
Tedesco has a BS in geology from Northeastern University in Boston, an MS in geology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois, and a Ph.D. in geology with a minor in petroleum engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He has published numerous articles and presented several talks at international industry meetings on coal bed methane, surface geochemistry, helium, hydrogen, structural geology, petroleum engineering and stratigraphy.
Tedesco has been CEO and president of a Canadian junior public company, Admiral Bay Resources, now known as PredictMedix. He was involved in taking two companies public on the over-the-counter market: General Cannabis and Epsilon Energy.
Tedesco published the only textbook focused specifically on the use of surface geochemistry in petroleum exploration, released in 1994. He recently published the only book on helium, geology and associated gases, released by Elsevier Publishing in April 2022. Tedesco has made numerous presentations at conventions in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia.
Allie Kennedy Thurmond is vice president for U.S. lithium at Equinor, an international energy company headquartered in Norway. During her career at Equinor, she has held roles such as vice president and asset manager for exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and exploration manager for Mexico. Additionally, she has held numerous leadership roles in research and development in both the U.S. and Norway. She has worked in both the public and private sectors, led organizations in both R&D and operations and worked both domestically and internationally. She has 30 years of leadership experience, with nearly 20 years engaged in the energy industry. Prior to joining Equinor, she had a career working as a senior supervisory statistician for the U.S. Department of Commerce. She has a Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Texas at Dallas.