Education
M.S.
Arizona State University, Geology, 1984. Thesis:
Preserved Stable Isotopic Signature of Subaerial Diagenesis in the
1.2 B.Y. Mescal Limestone, Central Arizona: Implications for the
Timing and Development of A Terrestrial Plant Cover.
B.S. Arizona State
University, Geology, 1980.
Industry Experience
OilTracers, LLC, Dallas, Texas:
Vice President and Senior Project Geochemist.
Technical service to substantially reduce risk associated with
exploration, appraisal, development and production of oil and gas
reserves. Assessing hydrocarbon properties, producibility,
reservoir continuity, reservoir filling and alteration history
(2002-2008).
- Authored and co-authored ~100 technical reports (domestic and
world-wide field specific and regional oil studies).
- Provide seminars and lectures on applications of oil and gas
geochemistry (domestic and world-wide; in 2004 at 19 different
companies in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Egypt).
- Expert consultant for a litigant in a court case involving gas
leakage from an underground gas storage facility (USA), and was an
expert witness for the State of Colorado in a court case involving
gas leakage into a freshwater aquifer from a subsurface blowout
from an oil company gas well.
Chevron (ChevronTexaco) Gulf of Mexico Deepwater
Exploration, New Orleans, Louisiana: Senior
Geologist. Integrate geochemical data with burial and
thermal modeling to evaluate risk elements of source, generation,
timing and migration. Integrate water, oil and gas geochemistry
with geologic and production data to assess the vertical and
lateral continuity of reservoirs (1989-2001).
- Received (with project team members) Chevron Recognition and
Award (1996) for fingerprinting and correlating oils in the Deep
Water, Gulf of Mexico.
- Exploration Technical Service: Onshore Louisiana and
Mississippi, offshore Gulf of Mexico shelf - Texas to Alabama,
offshore Gulf of Mexico deepwater - Perdido Fold Belt to Florida
Escarpment.
- Appraisal and Development Technical Service: Numerous shelf and
deepwater fields across the Gulf of Mexico.
- Engineering Technology Laboratory, Supervisor: Two year stint,
providing analytical support and technical interpretations for Gulf
of Mexico engineering and geologic projects.
- Investigated and sampled hydrocarbon seeps in the Deepwater
Gulf of Mexico aboard the manned submersible Johnson Sea Link
II.
Chevron Petroleum Technology Company, La Habra,
California: Research Geochemist.
Supervised the daily operation of the Stable Isotope Laboratory
which provided stable isotopic analyses of carbon and hydrogen from
oils, gases and rock samples for his La Habra geochemistry
colleagues, and for OPCO technical service and research projects
(1984-1989).
- Developed new instrumentation and methods to automate small
sample analysis.
- Developed new methods for isotope analysis of gases collected
while drilling.
- Developed techniques to evaluate reservoir continuity using
isotopic compositions of hydrocarbon gases collected from producing
wells, formation tests and gas shows while drilling.
- Investigated the stable isotopic compositions of gases
collected form gas-caps as a predictive tool to access the presents
or absence of a down-dip oil leg.
Additional Experience and Credentials
Professional Contributions: Session Chair, 2003
21st International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Gas
Geochemistry Session; Chairman, 2003 225th American Chemical
Society National Meeting, Habitat of Natural Gas in the Gulf of
Mexico: From Source to Reservoirs to Seeps and Hydrates; Chairman,
2000 AAPG National Convention, Baffles and Barriers: Integrated
Techniques to Assess Recovery in Complex Reservoirs; Chairman, 1993
AAPG National Convention, Organic Matter: Early Diagenesis Through
Catagenesis.
Society Memberships: American Association of
Petroleum Geologists, Geologic Society of America, American
Geophysical Union, New Orleans Geological Society.
Geology Field Work: Geological mapping, San
Francisco Peaks Volcanic Field, Bradshaw Mining District, Castle
Hot Springs Hydrothermal Complex, Arizona. Aolean field studies,
Amboy Volcanic Crater, Mojave Desert, California. Ship-base piston
coring studies, Gulf of Mexico. Manned submersible investigations
of hydrocarbon seeps, Gulf of Mexico. Mud volcano gas sampling,
Colombia, South America.
Publications
McCaffrey, M. A., D. K. Baskin, M. A. Beeunas, and B. A.
Patterson, 2006, Reducing the Cost of Production Allocation by 95%
Using a Geochemical Technique: Abstract, AAPG 2006 Annual
Convention, Houston, Texas, April 9-12, 2006.
Murty, C. R. K., H. K. Zubari, M. A. Beeunas, M. A. McCaffrey
and K. F. Thompson, 2005, Determining the Fluid Transfer Mechanism
using Geochemistry in Shallow Oil Zones of the Bahrain Oil Field:
Abstract - MEOS 2005, 14th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and
Conference, Bahrain, SPE No. 93465.
Murty, C. R. K., H. K. Zubari, M. A. Beeunas, M. A. McCaffrey
and K. F. Thompson, 2004, Fluid transfer mechanism using
geochemistry in shallow oil zones of Bahrain's Awali field:
Abstract - GEO 2004, 6th Middle East Geoscience Conference and
Exhibition, Bahrain.
Sassen, R., A. V. Milkov, E. Ozgul, H. H. Roberts, J. L. Hunt,
M. A. Beeunas, J. P. Chanton, D. A. DeFreitas, and S. T. Sweet,
2003, Gas venting and subsurface charge in the Green Canyon area,
Gulf of Mexico continental slope - evidence of a deep bacterial
methane source?: Organic Geochemistry, v. 34, p. 1455-1464.
Beeunas, M. A., H. A. Illich, J. E. Zumberge, and B. B. Bernard,
2003, Natural gas compositional trends in the northern Gulf of
Mexico basin: Abstracts-225th American Chemical Society Meeting,
New Orleans.
Beeunas, M. A., M. Schoell, and J. Zumberge, 2001, Habitat of
Natural Gas in the Gulf of Mexico Shelf: AAPG Annual Meeting,
Denver, Colorado, June 3-6, 2001, AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 85,
No. 13, Abstract.
Eisenberg, R. A., M. J. Roberts, R. Shank, and M. A. Beeunas,
2000, Integrated risk assessment in sub-salt exploration, deepwater
Gulf of Mexico: AAPG Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, April
16-19, 2000, AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 13, Abstract.
Beeunas, M. A., T. A. Hudson, J. A. Valley, D. K. Baskin, and W.
Y. Clark, 2000, Identification of reservoir discontinuities using
hydrocarbon compositional analyses, Genesis field (Green Canyon
205), Gulf of Mexico: AAPG Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana,
April 16-19, 2000, AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 13,
Abstract.
Beeunas, M. A., 2000, "Getting geochemistry into their
(engineer's) business", 2000 Gordon Research Conference on Organic
Geochemistry, August 13-18, Plymouth, New Hampshire, Abstract.
Beeunas, M. A., D. K. Baskin, and M. Schoell, 1999, Application
of gas geochemistry for reservoir continuity assessment and
identification of fault seal breakdown, South Marsh Island 61, Gulf
of Mexico: AAPG Hedberg Research Conference "Natural Gas Formation
and Occurrence", Durango Colorado, June 6-10, 1999, Abstract.
Schoell, M., and M. A. Beeunas, 1999, Habitat of natural gas in
the Gulf of Mexico shelf, : AAPG Hedberg Research Conference
"Natural Gas Formation and Occurrence", Durango Colorado, June
6-10, 1999, Abstract.
Beeunas, M. A., T. A. Hudson, J. A. Valley, D. K. Baskin, and W.
Y. Clark, 1999, Reservoir Continuity and Architecture of the
Genesis Field, Gulf of Mexico (Green Canyon 205): An Integration of
Fluid Geochemistry within the Geologic and Engineering Framework:
AAPG Gulf Coast Section (GCAGS) Meeting, Lafayette, Louisiana,
September 15-17, 1999, AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 83, No. 8,
Abstract.
Schoell, M., and M. A. Beeunas, 1996, Episodic Migration of
Natural Gas: A Worldwide Phenomenon of Dynamic Filling of Oil and
Gas Fields: AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Nice,
France, Vol. 5, p. A126, Abstract.
Beeunas, M. A., D. K. Baskin, J. L. Jurgens, A. R. Dincau, and
M. Schoell, 1996, Application of Gas Geochemistry for Reservoir
Continuity Assessment, Gulf of Mexico: AAPG/EAGE Research
Symposium, "Compartmentalized Reservoirs: Their Detection,
Characterization and Management. Abstract.
Schoell, M., M. A. Beeunas, D. K. Baskin, F. Monnier, L. I.
Eisenberg, and G. L. Valenti, 1996, Habitat of Natural Gases in
Papua New Guinea: AAPG Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, May
19-22, 1996, AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 80, No. 13, Abstract.
Schoell, M., P. D. Jenden, M. A. Beeunas, and D. D. Coleman,
1993, Isotope Analysis of Gases in Gas Field and Gas Storage
Operations: SPE Paper No. 26171, p. 337-344.
Beeunas, M. A., M. Schoell, and C. Beroiz, 1991, Geochemistry of
Natural Gases from Mud Volcanoes and Surface Gas Seeps in
NW-Colombia: AAPG Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991,
AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 75, No. 3, Abstract.
Knauth, L. P., and M. A. Beeunas, 1986, Isotope Geochemistry of
Fluid Inclusions in Permian Halite with Implications for the
Isotopic History of Ocean Water and the Origin of Saline Formation
Waters: Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, v. 50, p. 419-433.
Beeunas, M. A., and L. P. Knauth, 1985, Preserved Stable
Isotopic Signature of Subaerial Diagenesis in the 1.2-B.Y. Mescal
Limestone, Central Arizona: Implications for the Timing and
Development of a Terrestrial Plant Cover: GSA Bull., v.
96, p.737-745.