Dr. Richard Gibson Receives INFORMS Award

Richard Gibson, an associate professor in Texas A&M's Department of Geology and Geophysics, is one of several Texas A&M faculty members that have been honored by the Decision Analysis Society of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

Dr. Gibson was awarded the Society's 2006 Practice Award along with Dr. J. Eric Bickel, an assistant professor in Texas A&M's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Dr. Duane McVay, an associate professor in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, and Stephen Pickering and John Waggoner of WesternGeco/Schlumberger.

The research team was appointed to quantify the value of different levels of seismic data acquisition technology in oil drilling. They used a decision analytic technique that estimates the value of information to help WesternGeco more accurately communicate the value of the company's services to potential clients. WesternGeco provides high-resolution seismic survey services to oil exploration companies.

Gibson headed the geophysical aspects of the study - selecting values for rock properties and designing methods for simulating seismic reflection surveys. This is the information used by the petroleum industry to assess the amount of oil in reservoirs and pinpoint where to place the well. His input was used to aid in the design of the reservoir models. The team was then able to gauge the changes in accuracy of seismic data using different data acquisition technologies.

This information is invaluable to companies interested in drilling for oil. As Gibson stated, "This demonstrates to specific companies how and when it will be worth spending the extra money to use this more advanced seismic data acquisition technology. If the services cost $3 million, but will yield an extra $10 million (compared to using a less advanced technology), it is obviously the more lucrative decision."

 The award presentation was held at the Decision Analysis Society's November meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.