Reservoir Management Leader
Saleri Says Farewell

Saudi Aramco Week (Ahmad Dialdin)

DHAHRAN, August 22, 2007 --  Nansen G. Saleri, head of Reservoir Management, retired after 15 years at Saudi Aramco and 33 years in the upstream industry.
Ironically, it was worries about earthquakes that prompted Saleri to help lead Saudi Aramco into a series of earth-shattering advancements in reservoir management.

Nansen G. Saleri speaks to well-wishers at his retirement celebration. Saleri left the company as head of Reservoir Management after 15 years with the company.
Photo by Hadi A. Al-Makayyl

“When I first came into the industry in 1974,” said Saleri, “Chevron offered me two positions: one in downstream operations - my area of study - in San Francisco and one in upstream operations in Los Angeles. I ended up picking upstream - not because of my own choice but because my wife, Marina, chose it. She wanted to be in Los Angeles because she was afraid there were more earthquakes in San Francisco.
“That instance captures my life,” he said with a laugh. “I came into an area so foreign to me that I could barely spell reservoir, and now, after 33 years and with a bit of humility, I might arguably be the most famous person in the area of reservoir management.”
With bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering, Saleri worked nearly 20 years with Chevron, including seven at Arabian Chevron in Dhahran. He joined Saudi Aramco in 1992, and after five years became manager of Reservoir Management.
“It was the toughest decision to leave Chevron and come to Saudi Aramco,” he said. “The biggest difference was that there’s no other company that has the sense of empowerment that Saudi Aramco offers.
“What also distinguishes Saudi Aramco is the strong sense of a can-do attitude,” said Saleri. “Over the years, the company has transformed from being a follower to being a leader, and I believe that, in my own little way, I played a role in that.”
Saleri accomplished a lot. He oversaw the company’s Maximum Sustained Capability commitment of 10.8 million barrels per day.

Abd Allah S. Al-Saif congratulates Nansen G. Saleri as Khaled A. Al-Buraik, left, and Amin H. Nasser look on during the recent celebration of Saleri's retirement as head of Reservoir Management. Photo by Hadi A. Al-Makayyl

In 1999, he established the company’s Reservoir Management metrics and helped set its reservoir management practices as the global standard of excellence. He spearheaded deployment of maximum reservoir contact wells in 2000 at Shaybah - now a lynchpin for increased productivity and cost savings. In 2003, he led the Best-in-Class Strategic Imperative Well Optimization initiative that introduced several new technologies, including “smart” wells, geosteering and water management. It was one of the main initiatives that established Saudi Aramco as an industry leader in upstream technologies.

Saleri also initiated the Ghawar Integrated and New Technologies project to better understand recovery processes, leading to the Ghawar Strategic Monitoring and Surveillance Master Plan which became a model for all active fields. He directed reservoir-development plans for several major projects, including Shaybah, Hawiyah and Haradh gas plants, Haradh increments and many others.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Houston and has been a Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Distinguished Lecturer and “Journal of Petroleum Technology” Distinguished Author. He was one of the key technical spokesmen for Saudi Aramco’s reservoir management practices in international forums, most notably at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., in February 2004.

In 2006, he received SPE’s John Franklin Carll Award for his pioneering ideas in reservoir management.

“I love work. Work is my life, and I cherish it. People always used to kid that I had a love affair with the reservoirs, and it’s true,” he said. “It’s the worst-kept secret in town.”

Family and friends attended his retirement luncheon recently, including Abd Allah S. Al-Saif, senior vice president of Exploration and Producing (E&P); Khalid A. Al-Nafisee, vice president of Abqaiq Plants, Power and Pipelines; Amin H. Nasser, vice president of Petroleum Engineering and Development; Abdulla A. Naim, vice president of Exploration; Khaled A. Al-Buraik, chief petroleum engineer; and Mahmoud M. Abdul-Baqi, former vice president of Exploration and Petroleum Engineering and Development.

“With vast technical knowledge, sharp instincts and an uncanny ability in envisioning the future, Nansen always confronted the status quo, and it is because of people like him and his team that we are here today, proud to be an industry leader,” said Nasser.

“Nansen showed how to be best-in-class as a leader, professional and a human being,” he added. “On behalf of all of us, I would like to assure you, Nansen, that you will be missed but never forgotten.”