Senior Reservoir Engineer

Purpose:

This position reports to the NOV Manager and is responsible for providing Petroleum Engineering support to Argentina’s NOV Assets (Bandurria Sur, Rincon La Ceniza, La Escolanda, Acambuco). The position is expected to closely work with other members of the Technical Team and interface with PT Wells, Completions, Operations, Midstream, Land and Commercial organizations. This role will play an important part in external stakeholder engagements.

Accountabilities:

- Execution of surveillance plans for CVA de-risking and production optimization purposes.
- Implement the unconventional E2E maturation process and principles of horizontal well development with multi-fractured completions in adherence to DEPs
- QC and initiate proposals for well intervention
- Provide PE technical inputs to business cycle activities such as Quarterly LE and local reserves certification
- Champion opportunities to streamline processes, cut out waste and improve ways of working
- Participation in JV matters: Technical & Operational committee meetings (TCM/OCM); Well execution notification and simultaneous operations risk management with partners; Authorities & regulators reporting and compliance
-Contribute to wells after action reviews to improve HSSE, unit development cost and implement learnings from lookbacks
- Assist Well Execution Lead, Area Managers and Completion Effectiveness Team (CET) to evaluate well performance

- Provide key inputs (e.g., type curves, deferment estimates; loss estimates; interference factors; NGL yields; CVA development schedules) to NOV asset development planner for business planning purposes.

- Influence JV operating partners (e.g., YPF, Total) to adhere to Shell’s derisking process to expedite CVA E2E maturation; e.g., confined well test layouts; interference testing; well on stream scheduling to optimize CPG modeling; artificial lift strategy; stimulation design; data acquisition. Must be able to teach/coach non-operating partners where appropriate

- Collaborate with non-operating partners (e.g., Equinor) and secondee reservoir engineers to gain internal alignment on key strategic efforts such as influencing the operator on upcoming pad configurations and data acquisition priorities.  Teach/coach non-operating partners and secondee reservoir engineers as needed to gain consensus on topics related to shale play development (e.g., derisking steps in E2E maturation) and modeling.

- Coordinate and lead ITR’s with key stakeholders and assurers to advance CVA E2E maturation to the Develop phase.

- Conduct and/or supervise numerical modeling and data analytics projects related to the various NOV operating areas.

- Engage in wider Shell network to facilitate multidisciplinary knowledge sharing meetings to improve relations and become partner of choice for JV operating partners.

- Mentor junior/graduate reservoir engineers to ensure they get adequate experience to bolster near-term development goals in their RE Competency Matrices. Provide DFIT, PTA, RTA, and PPG prediction mentorship to local Argentine staff (e.g., PT’s, other junior RE’s, etc.).

- Participate in industry conferences within Argentina to promote Shell’s image as a premier operator in country.

- Act as project focal for basin-level data analytics workstreams by coordinating production, stimulation, and static property inputs from publicly available information and competitor intelligence. Drive interpretation and model QA/QC to ensure proper applicability. Manage third party/contractor interfacing as applicable.

Interfaces: Characterize team (primarily), Projects, Development Planner, Asset Economist, Finance, Water - Lead to deliver the Operating Plan.

In addition, this individual will be expected to work effectively with other teams in the asset and the broader Unconventionals organization dimensions

Dimensions

- The NOV Team is responsible for delivering a plan with a capital spend of over $300 mln/year Shell share ($700 mln/year TG) over the next years (see below tables)

- For context, from 2020 to 2024, these blocks have seen a 5x growth in oil production from- ~10 to +60 kbopd TG and went from 1 semi-active rig and $20-40 mln in yearly TG CAPEX to currently between 3 and 4 rigs with a >$700mln yearly TG CAPEX spend and AFE approvals. As of Q3 2024, the NOV assets contribute about 40% of Shell’s GES production, and near 85% on a TG basis. Shell’s NOV portfolio has about 30% of the SEC proved reserves across Shell Argentina and >50% of the GES volume across all resource classes, demonstrating the robust potential

Requirements

Experience and Qualifications required

- Demonstrated personal commitment to safety and the environment.
- Petroleum Engineer with 10+ yrs of relevant reservoir engineer experience and 5+ years of Unconventional business experience, preferably with some experience in established North American shale plays in development mode

- Strong competency in the application of analytical tools (DCA/RTA) for well performance analysis. Able to mentor and QC others in production forecasting using DCA & probabilistic RTA modeling.

- Competency with Shell economics, business planning, and applying risking.

- Competency with type curve construction both with and without large data sets of existing producing wells.

- Experience designing interference tests and subsequent interpretation. CPG modeling experience.

- Competency with DFIT analysis and pore pressure prediction.

- Competency with wellbore modeling (e.g., Prosper, POST).

- Competency in Equation of State modeling in PVTsim.

- Competency in dynamic modeling for shale wells and uncertainty analysis.

- Competency in quarterly LE forecasting.

- Competency in economic modeling using Shell tools and QC.

- Experience with integrated reservoir development planning. Familiarity with Enersight a plus.

- Familiarity with fracture modeling and geomechanical property interpretation from log data.

- Experience working in non-operated ventures and/or external stakeholder engagement: 3+ years.

- Extensive operational experience particularly related to production surveillance, production allocation QC, hydraulic fracturing (e.g., frac report interpretation), tracer interpretation, and artificial lift selection.

- Strong collaboration and persuasion skills.
- Experience on well delivery and service provider contract management is a plus
- Able to operate at a proficiency level of “can do with limited help”
- Inquisitive nature, examining both Shell and external ways of working to implement best practices for field development and/or surveillance
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills to work with the full range of multi-discipline technical staff.
- Spanish and English proficiency is required

Additional Information

Interface management between multiple locations (Houston, Buenos Aires, Neuquen and Calgary), cultures/languages, and teams/organizations