Team
A group of industry experts, Professors, Post Docs and PhD students with a high level of competence in different disciplines have been nominated to constitute the core team of WIP at MUL.
Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont.
Gerhard Thonhauser
Head Chair of Drilling and Completion Engineering
Education
- PhD Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben 1998
- MSc Petroleum Engineering, joint degree Montanuniversität Leoben and Colorado School of Mines, Golden 1996
Experience
- Head of Department Petroleum Engineering since 2015
- Head of Chair of Drilling and Completion Engineering since 2013
- Head of “Environmental Friendly Drilling Systems” initiative in Europe since 2009
- Consultant with ENI Technology, Milano, Italy, working in drilling fluids design and solids control 2001-2002
- Founder and Chairman of TDE Group, servicing the international industry with drilling performance analysis and benchmarking, as well as software, electronics and equipment development, and manufacturing since 2000
- Member of the Mittelplate-Dieksand Team, RWE Dea, Hamburg, Germany, drilling of record extended reach wells, development of cuttings transport solution in cooperation with Petrobras/CENPES 1997-1998
- Consultant with CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization), Australia, for the Genesis 2000 Project, from January 1999 managing of Genesis 2000 Europe 1996-2001
Research Interests
Prof. Gerhard Thonhauser has 20 years of experience providing the petroleum industry with the evaluation, analysis, and management of drilling and well-related data. His areas of research and development include “Drilling Process Monitoring and Analysis” combining modeling, advanced monitoring and sensing, and drilling analysis to optimize and automate the drilling process and to improve learning and knowledge management in drilling organizations. He has authored and co-authored around 100 publications in the area of drilling and completion engineering and data science. Head of “Environmental Friendly Drilling Systems” initiative in Europe since 2009, focusing on drilling and completion technologies with “Zero Harmful Environmental Impact”.
Univ.-Prof. MBA, PhD
Kris Ravi
WIP Managing Director
Education
- MBA, Oklahoma State University/Rotterdam School of Management 1996-1999
- PhD, Chemical Engineering, Oklahoma State University 1985-1989
Experience
- President, Kris-Ravi Consultancy LLC, Kingwood, TX, USA since 2016
- Technology Fellow, Halliburton, Houston, TX, USA 2011-2016
- Chief Scientific Advisor, Halliburton, Houston, TX, USA 2008-2011
- Technical Advisor, Halliburton, Houston, TX, USA 2001-2008
- Team Leader, Halliburton Europe, The Netherlands 1995-2001
- Principal Scientist, Halliburton, Duncan, OK, USA 1989-1995
Research Interests
Designing and deploying Barrier elements to secure well integrity. Cement design and deployment for challenging wells such as CO2, Deepwater, HPHT, extended reach, geothermal and steam injection. Innovation and product development. Designing for P&A. Solving challenges during drilling and cementing such as lost circulation, gas migration. Designing and deploying monitoring system to verify Barrier elements. Data analysis, capturing lessons learned for continuous improvement. Teaching, training, mentoring. Leading teams. Improving organization efficiency. Raising funds for innovation. Growing business and improving return on investment. Developing strategy for growth.
Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont.
Michael Prohaska
WIP Deputy Managing Director
Dipl.-Ing.
Asad Elmgerbi
Expert for Rig Sensor Development
Education
- PhD Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria since 2014
- MSc Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria 2010-2012
- BSc Petroleum Engineering, Tripoli University, Libya 1996-2000
Experience
- Work as lecturer at Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria since 2014
- Field drilling engineer with Wintershall Libya 2008-2009
- Drilling engineer with Wintershall world wide 2006-2007
- Production Supervisor with Wintershall Libya 2002-2005
Research Interests
Developing a new concept for detecting losses and kick events while drilling.
MSc
Alexander Fine
Expert for Material Science
Education
- MSc Materials Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel 1994-1998
- Dipl.-Eng. Materials Engineering, Samara State Technical University, Russia 1977-1982
Experience
- Research Associate, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria since 2017
- Owner, Fine Solutions, Austria since 2016
- Senior Project Engineer, Weatherford company, Russia 2011-2012
- Materials Engineer, TDE Group GmbH, Leoben, Austria 2011-2015
- Project Engineer, Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing Project at Malmö University, Sweden 2008
- Research Materials Engineer, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel 2007-2009
- Project Manager, STI Laser Industries, Israel 2004-2007
- Quality Assurance/Metallurgy Manager, Advanced Coding Systems Ltd., Israel 2002-2004
- Aerospace industry, Carmel Forge LTD. (Subsidiary of Pratt & Whitney), Process Metallurgist, Israel 1998-2002
- Assistant Lecturer, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel 1994-1998
Research Interests
- Materials expertise and testing
- Aluminum Alloy Tubulars application in extended-reach wells
- Advanced materials application in drill bit design
- Solid Expandable Liner Systems in cased-hole and open-hole applications
- Fiber optic technology in well integrity monitoring
- Work performance analysis of materials under well-operating conditions
- Types of damages identification depending on operating conditions
- Design concepts review
- Manufacturing supervision
Patrizia Haberl
Secretary of Chair of Drilling and Completion Engineering
Dipl.-Ing.
Abdelfattah Lamik
Expert for Material Science
Education
- PhD Candidate, Montanuniversität Leoben since 2015
- Dipl.-Ing. Mechanical Engineer, Chair of Mechanical Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben 2014-2004
- Physics and Chemistry, University Abouchouaib Adoukalli, El Jadida, Morocco 2000-2003
Experience
- Senior Lecturer, Montanuniversität Leoben since 2015
- Scientific Assistant, Material Center Leoben Forschung GmbH - MCL 2009-2014
- Design Engineer, Sandvik Mining and Construction 2008-2009
- Data Analyst, TDE Thonhauser Data Engineering GmbH 2005-2007
Research Interests
A major concern in well integrity is the Cement/Casing Interface, which should not fail within a pre-determined lifetime. The objective of the research is the investigation of durability and crack growth propagation in this interface under several conditions.
Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.
Mišo Soleša
Expert for Well Integrity Management Systems
Education
- Doctoral Study Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade 1988-2003
- MSc, Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade 1983-1988
- BSc Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade 1982
Experience
- Univ.- Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr., Chair of Drilling and Completion Engineering, Department Petroleum Engineering since 2016
- Upstream Petroleum Technology Consultant 2010-2016
- Director, Artificial Lift Application Technology, Borets International, Moscow 2008-2010
- Deputy General Director for Production Optimization of ESP, Borets, Russia, Moscow 2005-2008
- SLB Technology Hub Moscow, Completions and Artificial Lift Expert, Russia 2004-2005
- Project Manager Schlumberger Integrated solution for 650 gas wells with severe liquid loading problem, Mexico 2002-2004
- Visiting Professor at University of Leoben, Austria 1996-2006
- Professor of Petroleum Production Engineering, Faculty of Mining and Geology, University Belgrade, Yugoslavia 1993-2001
- NIS Naftagas, Serbia, Field Engineer to General Director 1983-2001
Research Interests
The research interest is to promote the new approach of how advanced analytics, process automation, intelligent data analysis and other digital advances will transform the day-to-day work. Additionally, it will result in workforce productivity step-changes and new ways of managing performance to identify potential of cost saving by effectively using all the available historical data during the well life cycle.
Dr.mont.
Petr Víta
Expert for Solidification Modeling and Simulation
Education
- PhD Thermodynamics and Numerical Simulation, Montanuniversität Leoben since 2016
- MSc Computer Science, Technical University of Ostrava 1996-2001
Experience
- Senior Lecturer, Montanuniversität Leoben since 2016
- Research Associate, Montanuniversität Leoben 2005-2015
- Research Associate, Christian-Doppler-Laboratory for Applied Computational Thermo-Fluid Dynamics 2003-2005
- Senior Operator, Centre of Simulation and Training Technologies, Armed Forces of Czech Republic 2002-2003
- Research Associate, Christian-Doppler-Laboratory for Applied Computational Thermo-Fluid Dynamics 2001-2002
Research Interests
Major: Artificial Intelligence, Real-Time Data Analysis, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI), Continuum Mechanics and Multi-Physics.
Minor: Software Engineering, Object-Oriented Methods and Programming, OpenFOAM and Python.