Mark A. McCaffrey

Education

Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Geochemistry, 1990. Dissertation: reconstruction of paleoenvironmental conditions from marine sediment organic chemistry.

B.A. Harvard University, Geology, Magna Cum Laude With Highest Honors, 1985. Harvard College Scholarship "for academic achievement of high distinction": 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84.

Certificate University of California Irvine, Extension, Environmental Site Assessment and Remediation, 1995. An eight course program on the characterization and remediation of contaminated soils and groundwater.

Industry Experience

OilTracers, LLC, Dallas, Texas:
Co-founder and President. Authored and coauthored more than 250 confidential technical reports to substantially reduce oil and gas exploration risk, assess reservoir continuity, allocate commingled production, and predict fluid properties (API and viscosity) with depth. Presented courses and lectures in more than 30 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America (1999-present).

Arco Exploration Production Technology, Plano, Texas:
Senior Research Geochemist. Research and technical service to substantially reduce oil and gas exploration risk, assess reservoir continuity, allocate commingled production, and assess field fill direction (1995 - 2000).

• Received (with project team members) Arco Award of Excellence "for developing a new charge and migration model for the Brookian petroleum system, allowing improved charge risk assessment for prospects on the Central North Slope of Alaska."
• Exploration Technical Service: Alaska, South China Sea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Gabon, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Romania, Qatar, Tunisia, North Sea.
• Development Technical Service: Alaska (8 fields, including the two largest fields in North America), South China Sea, Qatar, Tunisia, North Sea

Chevron Petroleum Technology Company, La Habra, California:
Team Leader, Exploration Geochemistry. Risk assessment of gas and oil exploration prospects using organic and inorganic geochemistry. Projects in China, Australia, North Sea, Nigeria, Texas. (Jan. 1995 - Sep. 1995).

Chevron Petroleum Technology Company, La Habra, California:
Team Leader, Reservoir Geochemistry Applications. Development of geochemical tools for production allocation and reservoir management; technical service for oil and gas fields in California, Texas, North Sea, Kazakhstan, and Angola; oil biodegradation studies. (Oct. 1992- Dec. 1994).

Chevron Oil Field Research Company, Richmond, California:
Research Geochemist. Development of geochemical parameters for evaluating petroleum source rocks from migrated oils. Technical service projects concerning the Canadian Beaufort Sea, East Siberian platform, on and off-shore Albania; Italian Adriatic Sea; Indonesian Natuna Sea; Uinta basin, Utah (July 1990- Sept. 1992).

Additional Credentials

Awards: 1995 recipient of the Pieter Schenck Award from the European Association of Organic Geochemists - given every second year "to a scientist under 35 years of age who has made a major contribution to organic geochemistry or a related field."
"The Committee in particular recognizes [M. McCaffrey's] outstanding work on biomarkers in relation to paleoenvironmental studies and petroleum exploration."

Certifications: California Registered Geologist, License #5903, requiring 7 yrs experience as a project-manager-level geologist and >70% on 7 hr examination; required for various environmental remediation projects in California. Texas Professional Geoscientist, License #350; required for certain geoscience work in Texas.Certified Petroleum Geologist, Certificate #5339 - American Association of Petroleum Geologists Div. of Professional Affairs

Publications: Senior or co-author of 30 articles (listed below) on petroleum exploration, reservoir management, oil biodegradation, hazardous waste remediation, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and marine chemistry.

Classes Taught: 2000-2008 instructor of Petroskills and OilTracers oil and gas geochemistry classes taught in: Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, England, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, The Netherlands, Mozambique, United Arab Emirates, and The United States.

Professional Contributions: Chairman, 2006-2007, Organic Geochemistry Division of the Geochemical Society.Distinguished Lecturer, 2001-2002, Society of Petroleum Engineers. Chairman, 2002 Organic Geochemistry Gordon Conference. Vice-Chairman, 2000 Organic Geochemistry Gordon Conference. Chairman, 1996 Organic Geochemistry Gordon Conference Biomarker Session. Chairman, 1996 Geochemical Society OG Division Nominating Committee. Chairman, 1997 AAPG National Convention Reservoir Geochemistry Session. Chairman, 2005 Alfred E. Treibs Medal Selection Committee (Member 2001-2004). Guest Editor, Advances in Organic Geochemistry 2003. Member, Scientific Committee, 2003 IMOG Conference, Krakow, Poland. Chairman, 2003 IMOG Conference Biomarker Session.

Litigation Support: Deposed as an Expert Witness in gas fingerprinting; testified in court as an Expert Witness in gas fingerprinting; in other cases, served as a Consulting Expert in the areas of gas fingerprinting and oil fingerprinting.

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.

Simoneit, B. R. T., M. A. McCaffrey, and M. Schoell, 2005, Tasmanian tasmanite: II - compound specific isotope analyses of kerogen oxidation and Raney Ni reduction products : Organic Geochemistry, v. 36, p.399-404.

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.

Jarvie, D. M., M. A. McCaffrey, F. Mango, and R. Hill, 2002, Evaluation of Petroleum Systems with Dual Hydrocarbons Charges: Complementary Application of light Hydrocarbon, Mid-range Hydrocarbons, and biomarker assessments, in A. Rangel, F. Goncalves, P. Parra, and C. M. Hernandez, eds., 8th Latin-American Congress on Organic Geochemistry, October 20th-24th 2002 Cartagena de Indias, Colombia: Cartagena de Indias, Latin American Association of Organic Geochemistry - ALAGO, p. 50-52.

Moldowan, J. M., J. Dahl, D. Zinniker, N. Talyzina, D. Winship Taylor, H. Li, S. M. Barbanti, M. A. McCaffrey, A. G. Holba, and S. R. Jacobson, 2001, Expanding evolutionary knowledge using molecular fossils, 20th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Nancy, France 10-14 September 2001 (abstracts), v. 1, p. 241-242.

Holba A. G., Tegelaar E. W., Huizinga B. J., Moldowan J. M., Singletary M. S., McCaffrey M. A., Dzou L. I. P. (1998) 24-norcholestanes as age-sensitive molecular fossils. Geology 26(9), 783-786.

McCaffrey, M. A., B. J. Huizinga, P. Abolins, Mohd. Jamaal Hoesni, M. S. Singletary, and T. Bukhari, 1998, Geochemical characterization of the Malay and Penyu Basin Petroleum Systems (abstract): Ninth Regional Congress on Geology, Mineral and Energy Resources of Southeast Asia (GEOSEA 98), 17-19 August 1998, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Huizinga, B. J., M. A. McCaffrey, D. E. Nedland, and S. Roth, 1997, Indirect prediction of underlying Tertiary marine source-rock facies from biomarkers in oils, condensates and seeps (abstract): AAPG Bulletin, v. 81, p. 1384.

Peters K. E., Moldowan J. M., McCaffrey M. A., and Fago F. J. (1996) Selective biodegradation of extended hopanes to 25-norhopanes in petroleum reservoirs: Insights from molecular mechanics. Organic Geochemistry 24(8), 765-783.

McCaffrey M. A. (1996) Geochemical Indicators of Biodegradation: Tools for developing and managing heavy oil assets - Pieter Schenck Award Acceptance Speech Organic Geochemistry 24(1), 3-6.

McCaffrey M. A., Legarre H. A., and Johnson S. J. (1996). Using Biomarkers to improve heavy oil reservoir management: An Example >From the Cymric Field, Kern County, California. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 80(6), 898-913.

Dahl J. E., Moldowan J. M., Summons R. E., McCaffrey M. A., and Lipton P. A. (1995). Steroid hydrocarbons with 3-alkylation in petroleum and rock extracts. In Organic Geochemistry: Developments and Applications to Energy, Climate, Environment and Human History - Selected papers from the 17th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry. (Edited by J. O. Grimalt and C. Dorronsoro); pp.418-420. AIGOA, San Sebastian.

Moldowan J. M., Dahl J., Fago F. J., Shetty R., Watt D. S., Jacobson S. R., Huizinga B. J., McCaffrey M. A., and Summons R. E. (1995). Correlation of biomarkers with geologic age. In Organic Geochemistry: Developments and Applications to Energy, Climate, Environment and Human History - Selected papers from the 17th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry. (Edited by J. O. Grimalt and C. Dorronsoro); pp.928-929. AIGOA, San Sebastian.

Peters K. E., Clark M. E., Das Gupta U., McCaffrey M. A. and Lee C. Y. (1995). Recognition of an Infracambrian source rock based on biomarkers in the Baghewala-1 oil, India. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 79(9), 1481-1494.

Dahl J. E., Moldowan J. M., Summons R. E., McCaffrey M. A., Lipton P. A., and Watt D. S. (1995). Extended 3ß-alkylsteranes and 3-alkyltriaromatic steroids in oils and rock extracts. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 59(18), 3717-3729.

Moldowan J. M. and McCaffrey M. A. (1995). A novel hydrocarbon degradation pathway revealed by hopane demethylation in a petroleum reservoir. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 59(9), 1891-1894.

Moldowan J. M., Dahl J. E., McCaffrey M. A., Smith W. J., and Fetzer J. C. (1995). Application of biological marker technology to bioremediation of refinery by-products. Energy & Fuels, 9(1), 155-162.

McCaffrey M. A., Dahl J., Sundararaman P., Moldowan J. M., Schoell M. (1994). Source rock quality determination from oil biomarkers II. - A case study using Tertiary-reservoired Beaufort Sea oils, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 78(10), 1527-1540.

Dahl J. E., Moldowan J. M., Teerman S. C., McCaffrey M. A., Sundararaman P., Peña M. and Stelting C. E. (1994). Source rock quality determination from oil biomarkers I. - A new geochemical technique, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 78(10), 1507-1526.

McCaffrey M. A., Simoneit B. R. T., Aquino Neto F. R., and Moldowan J. M. (1994). Functionalized biological precursors of tricyclic terpanes: Information from sulfur-bound biomarkers in a Permian tasmanite. Organic Geochemistry, 21(5), 481-487.

McCaffrey M. A., Moldowan J. M., Lipton P. A., Summons R. E., Peters K. E., Jeganathan A., and Watt, D. S. (1994). Paleoenvironmental implications of novel C30 steranes in Precambrian to Cenozoic age petroleum and bitumen. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 58(1), 529-532.

Schoell M., McCaffrey M. A., Fago F. J., and Moldowan J. M. (1992). Carbon isotopic compositions of 28,30-bisnorhopanes and other biological markers in a Monterey crude oil. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 56(3), 1391-1399.

Dahl J. E., Moldowan J. M., McCaffrey M. A., Lipton P. A., and Summons R. E. (1992). A new class of natural products revealed by 3ß-alkyl steranes in petroleum. Nature, 355, 154-157.

Repeta D. J., McCaffrey M. A., and Farrington J. W. (1992). Organic geochemistry as a tool to study upwelling systems. Recent results from the Peru and Namibian shelves. In Upwelling Systems: Evolution Since the Early Miocene. Geol. Soc. Special Publication No 63 (Edited by C. P. Sommerhays, W. L. Prell, and K.-C. Emeis); pp. 257-271. Blackwell, London.

McCaffrey M. A., Farrington J. W., and Repeta D. J. (1991). The organic geochemistry of Peru margin surface sediments- II. Paleoenvironmental implications of hydrocarbon and alcohol profiles. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 55(2), 315-330.

McCaffrey M. A., Farrington J. W., and Repeta D. J. (1990). The organic geochemistry of Peru margin surface sediments- I. A comparison of the C37 alkenone and historical El Niño records. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 54(6), 1713-1724.

Whelan J. K., Kanyo Z., Tarafa M., and McCaffrey M. A. (1990). Organic Matter in Peru upwelling sediments- analysis by pyrolysis-GC and GCMS. In Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, Vol. 112 (Edited by E. Suess, R. von Huene, et al.); pp. 573-590. Ocean Drilling Program, College Station, TX.

Farrington J. W., McCaffrey M. A., and Sulanowski J. (1990). Early diagenesis of organic matter in Peru upwelling area sediments. In Facets of Modern Biogeochemistry (Edited by V. Ittekkot, S. Kempe, W. Michaelis, and A. Spitzy); pp. 353-364. Springer-Verlag, New York.

McCaffrey M. A., Farrington J. W., and Repeta D. J. (1989). Geochemical implications of the lipid composition of Thioploca spp. from the Peru upwelling region -15°S. Organic Geochemistry, 14(1), 61-68.

Farrington J. W., Davis A. C., Sulanowski J., McCaffrey M. A., McCarthy M., Clifford C. H., Dickinson P., and Volkman J. K. (1988). Biogeochemistry of lipids in surface sediments of the Peru upwelling area - 15°S. In Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1987 (Edited by L. Mattavelli and L. Novelli). Organic Geochemistry, 13, 607-617. Pergamon Press, Oxford.

Farrington J. W., Davis A. C., Tarafa M. E., McCaffrey M. A., Whelan J. K., and Hunt J. M. (1988). Bitumen molecular maturity parameters in the Ikpikpuk well, Alaskan North Slope. In Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1987 (Edited by L. Mattavelli and L. Novelli). Organic Geochemistry, 13, 303-310. Pergamon Press, Oxford.

McCaffrey M. A. , Lazar B., and Holland H. D. (1987). The evaporation path of seawater and the coprecipitation of Br- and K+ with halite. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 57(5), 928-937.

Holland H. D., Lazar B., and McCaffrey M. A. (1986). Evolution of the atmosphere and oceans. Nature, 320, 27-33.

 

Contact Mark McCaffrey at mccaffrey@oiltracers.com