Oil and Gas

Biography

Zhangxing (John) Chen has over 30 years of oil and gas research and university appointments, from around the globe. He graduated with a PhD from Purdue University with a degree in Applied and Computational Mathematics. He was recruited to the University of Calgary with the intention to advance the understanding of the Canadian oil and gas reservoirs and expand the potential for improved recovery through computer modelling, simulation and visualization. He currently holds three prestigious chairs: NSERC/AI-EES/Foundation CMG Chair in Reservoir Simulation Albert Innovates Energy Environment Solutions Chair in Underground Coal Gasification Alberta Innovates Technology Futures iCore Chair in Reservoir Simulation Dr. Chen holds professorships and guest professorships at over a dozen universities worldwide, and has organized and chaired 22 international conferences and congresses. Each year Dr. Chen travels to promote his research and engage with others in the field, giving lectures in a variety of countries annually. Demonstrating extraordinary leadership in the field of energy and environmental modeling, Dr. Chen’s work provides laboratory data, oil and gas production technologies, and reservoir simulation software. Working closely with his 15 industry partners, and his team of 70 works to support the goals of these research programs. He is regularly consulted for projects involving oil and gas recovery with global oil producing companies such as Shell Canada, Nexen, Brion Energy, ConocoPhillips, StatoilHydro, Laricina, in Canada, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Chinese National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), KEURIgroup (KR) in China, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in Iran, Korean Oil and Gas (KOGAS) in Korea, Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) in Mexico, ExxonMobil andConocoPhillips in the USA, and Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) in Venezuela. Dr. Chen has travelled extensively to many countries with the intent to develop and promote international education and research programs in the field of energy development and environmental protection. In particular, he has done significant work in China, Iran, Mexico, USA, and Venezuela. Over time, Dr. Chen’s work has significantly contributed to the diversification and growth of these countries’ economy and quality of life through the technologies and jobs created. Dr. Chen has been the recipient of numerous awards since joining the UofC in 2007, including: Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Technology, Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Foundation, 2012. The Graduate Educator Award of Excellence, University of Calgary, 2012. IBM Faculty Award, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA, 2012. Overall Research Excellence Award, SSE, University of Calgary, 2009. The 2009 SSE’s Department Research Award, University of Calgary, 2009. Zi Qiang Professorship Award by Shanghai University, China 2009

Research Interest

His interest includes reservoir simulation for conventional and non-conventional oils and mathematical modeling.