dGB Earth Sciences donates software to Petroleum Technology program

Dr. Jamal Assad, visiting professor of petroleum technology, secured the software. He said that students in the petroleum technology program will use the software to interpret seismic data on oil and gas reserves in Pennsylvania.

In addition to the software, students will also have access to dGB’s Open Seismic Repository, which contains seismic data, interpreted horizons and well data from a number of global locations.

Assad said that the software works by taking seismic and geological data and turning it into a three-dimensional representation that can be used to pinpoint the location of oil or gas and the best, most efficient way to reach and extract it.

Assad said students who can use the software will be in demand with operating companies that are currently exploring and extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale layer of Pennsylvania.

Assad hopes that the OpendTect acquisition will be the first tool to make Pitt-Bradford a technology center for petroleum research and teaching.

Pitt-Bradford is the first university in Pennsylvania to receive academic licenses from dGB. In Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the in the Americas, about 200 universities have already incorporated OpendTect into their teaching and research with more than 1,000 commercial licenses.

Jan Stellingwerff Beintema, marketing director of dGB Earth Sciences, said, “Supporting the next generation of geoscientists and geologists is core to everything we do at dGB. That’s why thousands of students worldwide are today able to familiarize themselves with OpendTect and some of the most advanced specialist seismic interpretation tools in the industry today. We welcome the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford to the program and look forward to working with them as they tackle some of Pennsylvania’s oil and gas and seismic interpretation challenges.”

Pitt-Bradford’s petroleum technology program was restored four years ago to help address the increasing needs of the oil and gas industry and the residents of the region.

Assad has more than 18 years of academic and industrial experience in oil and gas and has served as a visiting faculty member at California State University and as a co-director of the West Coast Geo-Technology Training Center in Bakersfield, Calif.

He has worked at Fugro World Wide, Core Laboratories and Landmark Graphics (Halliburton) consulting and training worldwide in seismic processing, seismic modeling, attribute analysis and two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic interpretation.

He holds a doctoral degree in geophysics from the University of Houston, a master of science in geological sciences from the University of Kentucky and a bachelor of science in geology from the University of Jordan.

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