Mark A. Beeunas

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.

 

Contact Mark Beeunas at beeunas@oiltracers.com