Thomas Vest Email and Phone Number

I managed parts of WSOZ and ESOZ at the Elk Hills Field in the San Joaquin basin. WSOZ is a primary solution gas reservoir with initial waterflood patterns and ESOZ is a gravity drainage oil reservoir with gas injection. I oversaw base production, budgeting, reserves database, and reservoir and well surveillance. I also planned workover and drilling projects to increase production and further identify new opportunities.I led meetings for the team (6 RE's) with the field to optimize artificial lift and decrease downtime for newly drilled and worked over wells, which helped us improve production in those wells and exceed their incremental production targets.

I worked as the Production/Operations Engineer for three reservoirs at Elk Hills (the Northwest Steven's Reservoir, ESOZ Reservoir, and WSOZ reservoir) while performing workovers and completions on all of the reservoirs at Elk Hills. I performed well and reservoir surveillance on these reservoirs to increase oil and gas production by optimizing waterfloods and gas injection, improving reliability of wells, optimizing lift mechanisms, and finding new opportunities. I designed and supervised completions and workovers on wells as shallow as 1,000' and as deep as 12,000' performing a variety of jobs from conformance to multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. During the busier times, I was managing up to 4 workover and completion rigs (two 24 hour rigs) simultaneously.Designed and supervised completions and workovers in the Elk Hills field on wells as shallow as 1,000’ and as deep as 12,000’ including multistage hydraulic fracturing and workovers for a Miscible Gas Injection (MGI) pilot.Performed surveillance on wells throughout Elk Hills to increase oil and gas production by optimizing waterfloods and gas injection, improving reliability of wells, optimizing lift mechanisms, and finding new opportunities.

I worked as a Drilling Engineer across many different properties in the San Joaquin basin and with many different Reservoir Management Teams. I supported daily operations on the drilling rigs, performed daily well surveillance, wrote and submitted permits, and created AFEs and cost planning. I worked with the Reservoir Management Teams to plan, design, budget, and execute drilling campaigns for wells as shallow as 1,200' and as deep as 14,000' for vertical, directional, and horizontal wells.I managed the drilling program for a newly discovered field, BV Nose. By implementing a new casing design and developing a multi-well pad program, I was able to reduce drilling costs from a previous average of $4.9 million to an average of $2.3 million and cut drilling time by 50%.I worked as a Drill Site Manager on one of the two drilling rigs the company had at the time. I helped supervise a rig that saw an increase in drilling performance with an emphasis on safety that resulted in 20% average cost savings versus the previous year with zero safety incidents and 100% well delivery.

I worked as a Drilling Engineer for the Vintage Business Unit of Oxy in the Ventura and San Joaquin Basin. I supported daily operations on the drilling rigs, performed daily well surveillance, wrote and submitted permits (both DOGGR and BLM), created AFEs and cost planning, and worked with the RMTs to plan, design, budget, and execute drilling campaigns for vertical, directional, and horizontal wells.Working with the Buena Vista Hills team, I was able to improve drilling performance and introduce new technologies allowing us to reduce drilling costs from $2 million to $1.35 million for the Monterey Shale horizontal program. This allowed us to drill more wells with the same amount of capital and helped the Business Unit meet their overall production targets.

As a Drilling Engineer, I worked in the Permian Primary Delaware Basin Business Unit of Oxy. I supported daily operations on the drilling rigs, performed daily well surveillance, helped the regulatory group with permitting, created AFEs and cost planning, and worked with the RMTs to plan, design, budget, and execute drilling campaigns for vertical, directional, and horizontal wells in the Delaware Basin including Wolfcamp Shale horizontals.For one program I worked on, Delaware Sands program, I improved cement coverage and quality and reduced lost circulation issues, which led to improved data gathering, additional pay zones to be perforated, and improved production while improving upon previous average cost savings of 20%.I led Communities of Practice on cementing for the drilling group and led my department regarding the new Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) rules for casing, cementing, and wellheads.

I worked in the Central Drilling Group for Occidental Petroleum training and working as a Drill Site Manager in the Permian Basin.I worked with subject matter experts to identify and implement new technologies company wide. For one of my projects, I worked with the Drilling Fluid experts to implement Well Bore Strengthening (WBS) in Oxy properties in California, resulting in substantial cost savings for multiple drilling programs at Elk Hills and the elimination of intermediate casing strings.

I worked as an intern in the Well Interventions group for BP's North American onshore gas properties in the United States. For my intern project, I analyzed cement squeezes across BP's onshore US properties and presented their success rates and recommended an action plan based on the findings.