The Romanian Oana Badescu recently received her Phd from Delft and is now working in Norway, where she helps her company find offshore oil. Life is good for her, but she does feel that she’s betrayed the NetherlandsShe considers herself a citizen of the world.
Oana Badescu was born in Romania, studied in Southampton, England, worked in the USA, did her PhD research at TU Delft in Applied Earth Sciences (CiTg), became a Dutch citizen, and currently works in Norway. “I speak four and a half languages,” Badescu says in fluent Dutch. “The half is for the Norwegian language, but I get lessons every week.”
Last week Badescu defended her TU PhD thesis on the subject of ‘Thick-bedded deep-marine sandstones’. She has developed an alternative method for evaluating oil reservoirs. Her method is especially useful and relevant today, because companies are now looking for oil offshore instead of on land. Oil reservoirs on
land are running dry,” says Badescu “With the prices for a barrel of oil rising, companies are looking for oil at sea. But to drill there is very expensive.” Badescu thinks the Gulf of Mexico alone has reserves equivalent to up to 50 billion barrels (159 liter) of oil, while the North Sea and West Africa have ‘a bit’ less.
According to Badescu it costs $300,000 a day to drill offshore. “People, equipment, technology everything is floating, and that makes drilling for oil a lot more expensive than on land.”
Before the drilling for oil starts, oil drillers make several trial wells to ensure that the location is worth the investment. Data from these wells provides information about the lithology of the reservoir and the accumulation conditions. Performing these trials at sea is very expensive, so oil companies are therefore eager to look for ways of reducing these trials. Badescu’s economic evaluation tool makes this feasible.
Discovery
Geologists do know the places where oil is located underneath the sea. They are able to forecast oil depots with seismic (acoustic) information of the deep-marine ground. They examine rock properties, differences in sandstone versus clay ratio and are
able to estimate the volumes of oil in the reservoir. The problem is that the available data is never sufficient for an accurate appraisal of the oil field.
Badescu collected all these characteristics of deep marine beds for the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In combination with existing oil wells in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, she was able to make it possible to evaluate a new discovery without drilling unnecessary and expensive appraisal wells in the North
Sea or Gulf of Mexico. “In combination with my database, it’s now possible to compare a try-out oil well with an existing one. If
out of these comparisons it looks like the oil well is profitable enough, an oil company can start drilling without extra expensive trials.”
Betrayer
When her boyfriend got a job in Norway, Badescu followed him. “I was pregnant. I had a choice between being a single mother in Holland or having a family in Norway.” In Norway she wrote her thesis, which was a very difficult task after just having had a baby. “Like a ping pong ball, I traveled between Holland and
Norway,” she says.
During this time she also found a job. “I thought Norwegian companies only wanted Norwegian speaking people. I was afraid that I would have to learn the Norwegian language, in addition to finishing my thesis in Holland and caring for my baby.”
Somehow, Badescu managed and is now enjoying her new job at Norsk Hydro in Bergen, Norway, a leading energy and materials company, where she works in the oil and energy section. The company owns 15 huge oil and gas installations and is one of the world’s leading offshore oil companies. Here, she uses the database that she made in Delft. “It’s nice to combine my new job with my old work,” Badescu says. “From the very first moment I started my job at Norsk Hydro, I was able to use my North Sea database for the evaluation of a new discovery in the same area. The new discovery looked profitable enough and now we have started drilling. It will take 2 years before the reservoir will start to produce, however.”
Although Badescu now has a good job and a happy private life, there is something bothering her: “I feel like a betrayer. I was here in Holland when everything was pleasant. Good economy, no political unrest. I did my PhD research here, but now I have taken my knowledge to Norway, where I will pay my taxes and where I’m going to spend my money. But I’ll make it up someday. I will try to keep on speaking Dutch and reading the NRC (the Dutch newspaper) on the Internet.”
The Romanian Oana Badescu recently received her Phd from Delft and is now working in Norway, where she helps her company find offshore oil. Life is good for her, but she does feel that she’s betrayed the Netherlands
She considers herself a citizen of the world. Oana Badescu was born in Romania, studied in Southampton, England, worked in the USA, did her PhD research at TU Delft in Applied Earth Sciences (CiTg), became a Dutch citizen, and currently works in Norway. “I speak four and a half languages,” Badescu says in fluent Dutch. “The half is for the Norwegian language, but I get lessons every week.”
Last week Badescu defended her TU PhD thesis on the subject of ‘Thick-bedded deep-marine sandstones’. She has developed an alternative method for evaluating oil reservoirs. Her method is especially useful and relevant today, because companies are now looking for oil offshore instead of on land. Oil reservoirs on
land are running dry,” says Badescu “With the prices for a barrel of oil rising, companies are looking for oil at sea. But to drill there is very expensive.” Badescu thinks the Gulf of Mexico alone has reserves equivalent to up to 50 billion barrels (159 liter) of oil, while the North Sea and West Africa have ‘a bit’ less.
According to Badescu it costs $300,000 a day to drill offshore. “People, equipment, technology everything is floating, and that makes drilling for oil a lot more expensive than on land.”
Before the drilling for oil starts, oil drillers make several trial wells to ensure that the location is worth the investment. Data from these wells provides information about the lithology of the reservoir and the accumulation conditions. Performing these trials at sea is very expensive, so oil companies are therefore eager to look for ways of reducing these trials. Badescu’s economic evaluation tool makes this feasible.
Discovery
Geologists do know the places where oil is located underneath the sea. They are able to forecast oil depots with seismic (acoustic) information of the deep-marine ground. They examine rock properties, differences in sandstone versus clay ratio and are
able to estimate the volumes of oil in the reservoir. The problem is that the available data is never sufficient for an accurate appraisal of the oil field.
Badescu collected all these characteristics of deep marine beds for the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In combination with existing oil wells in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, she was able to make it possible to evaluate a new discovery without drilling unnecessary and expensive appraisal wells in the North
Sea or Gulf of Mexico. “In combination with my database, it’s now possible to compare a try-out oil well with an existing one. If
out of these comparisons it looks like the oil well is profitable enough, an oil company can start drilling without extra expensive trials.”
Betrayer
When her boyfriend got a job in Norway, Badescu followed him. “I was pregnant. I had a choice between being a single mother in Holland or having a family in Norway.” In Norway she wrote her thesis, which was a very difficult task after just having had a baby. “Like a ping pong ball, I traveled between Holland and
Norway,” she says.
During this time she also found a job. “I thought Norwegian companies only wanted Norwegian speaking people. I was afraid that I would have to learn the Norwegian language, in addition to finishing my thesis in Holland and caring for my baby.”
Somehow, Badescu managed and is now enjoying her new job at Norsk Hydro in Bergen, Norway, a leading energy and materials company, where she works in the oil and energy section. The company owns 15 huge oil and gas installations and is one of the world’s leading offshore oil companies. Here, she uses the database that she made in Delft. “It’s nice to combine my new job with my old work,” Badescu says. “From the very first moment I started my job at Norsk Hydro, I was able to use my North Sea database for the evaluation of a new discovery in the same area. The new discovery looked profitable enough and now we have started drilling. It will take 2 years before the reservoir will start to produce, however.”
Although Badescu now has a good job and a happy private life, there is something bothering her: “I feel like a betrayer. I was here in Holland when everything was pleasant. Good economy, no political unrest. I did my PhD research here, but now I have taken my knowledge to Norway, where I will pay my taxes and where I’m going to spend my money. But I’ll make it up someday. I will try to keep on speaking Dutch and reading the NRC (the Dutch newspaper) on the Internet.”

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