21 Jun Gunnar Robinson, The Colorado School of Mines, Petroleum Engineering, Week 1

Hello everyone, it’s Gunnar Robinson! For my Pinhead internship, I got the incredible opportunity to help and collaborate with the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. The first week of my internship did not disappoint, as I grew in my technical and intellectual knowledge of petroleum engineering while meeting new people and having a lot of fun.

(View From Our Front Porch of Mines “M” On The Mountain)

I work in the department with two main people: Dr. Ashtiwi Bahri (Ash) and Mr. Kenneth Bensching (Ken). They have both helped me learn the ropes of petroleum engineering, lab work, and the college environment as a whole.

With Ash, we talked about the basics of petroleum engineering and the different labs and experiments he has conducted. I learned all about porosity, permeability, saturation, resistivity, and wettability in rock formations, and how those different factors affect fracking. I also learned about specific gravity, a way to compare the weight of a proppant to water or gas. This allows us to create a ratio that gives an idea of how heavy or light the proppant will be in the fluid being pumped into the frac.

(Model Frac System With Grad Student Haaken, Working on The Camera System)

My favorite experience of all was seeing a model frac system where different types and brands of proppant (sand that keeps fractures open) are pumped through a setup that reflects what would actually be used in a wellbore. Ash then tracks the properties and dune shapes of the proppant, reporting back to different companies on how it performs in unconventional hydraulic fracturing. I was very lucky to help conduct an experiment with this model and got to see up close how the system works and what pumping proppant into a frac actually looks like. I also got to observe the experimental process of a professor, experiencing the lab environment I had hoped for from this internship. Ash helped develop an incredible petroleum engineering foundation that laid the groundwork for many exciting weeks to come.

(Horizontal Pump Fracking System)

I also got the incredible opportunity to work with Ken, who oversees many master’s students’ petroleum engineering thesis experiments. While the students are away completing summer internships with different petroleum companies, Ken helps set up experiments and collect data for their research. With Ken, I was able to help set up and observe an experiment testing how different proppants react when heated and placed under varying pressures. To do this, we laid an equal amount of proppant between two identical pieces of core rock, loaded the sample into a core holder, and used a machine to apply pressure using mineral oil surrounding the core casing on all sides.

There are many more components to this experiment that I will explain in a later blog when I conduct it myself from start to finish. For now, I can say that it is a very fascinating experiment, and I look forward to talking about it more in the future. These experiments typically last around two weeks, so this week I helped set everything up and begin running the test. I also explored more of the Colorado School of Mines campus with Ken and had many enjoyable conversations with him. It was great to be a part of a thesis experiment, and I am looking forward to doing more amazing work with him in the coming weeks.

(Work Space For Experiment With Ken, Pressurizing Machine In The Background)

This week, I also had an incredible meeting with the President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the head of the Petroleum Engineering Department, and my mentor, Dr. Jennifer Miskimins. She talked with me about the current state of petroleum engineering, the department at Mines, and the work I will be completing during my internship. It was amazing to meet her in person, and I am so grateful that she gave me this opportunity.

My first week working and learning in petroleum engineering was spectacular, and I cannot wait to see what is in store over the next several weeks. I’m in Golden with Luke Fritsche and Evan Stogner, and I couldn’t be happier to spend six weeks with these guys.

(Evan Showing Off The Chicken He Made, Toy Gun BTW)

Thank you so much to the Colorado School of Mines for making this experience possible.

Do things worth doing!

~ Gunnar Robinson