Description

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Colorado School of Mines SPE student chapter PetroBowl Night, with food and prizes.

Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 5:00-7:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

Location and attendance details to be announced.

John Schopp, What Petroleum Engineers Should Know About Climate Science

Abstract:

Petroleum Engineers should have a basic grasp of climate science. While alarmists in the media have caused many of us to tune-out, the science can be quite interesting. This 30- minute presentation reviews the basic physics, some learnings from paleo reconstruction, recent temperature trends, and then teaches how engineers can make their own future warming calculations. You may be surprised how similar are projections between the scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other well-known scientists branded as skeptics. Often missing from the climate narrative is perspective on climate shift versus natural weather variability, for both temperature and storms. This presentation tries to frame this distinction for you so you can make up your own mind on urgency. The climate narrative will always be ubiquitous for the oil and gas business, so hopefully by having a grasp on the science we engineers can better influence the narrative, and quantitatively understand how our actions can be helpful.

Biography:

John Schopp, SPE, was Vice President at Encana for 15 years, and then Senior Advisor to private equity company Blackstone Group for 5 years before retiring in 2021. He is a lifetime weather enthusiast, and upon retirement found the time to read the 2400 page Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report as well as a number of books and technical articles on climate science. John penned the JPT article “Engineer Raises Climate Science Above the Din” in 2023 and recently taught an SPE Masterclass titled “Climate Science for Engineers”.

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Join the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Denver Section, for an October Technical Happy Hour featuring Garrett Fowler, Chief Operating Officer at ResFrac. Connect with colleagues and hear about predictive modeling and economic optimization of well refracturing in the Bakken and Permian Basin.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Time: 4:00–6:00 p.m. Mountain Time
Location: Liberty Energy, 950 17th St, Suite 2400, Denver, CO 80202
Host: Society of Petroleum Engineers, Denver Section
Sponsor: Liberty Energy
Study Group: Reservoir and Completions

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Please reserve your spot through Humanitix.

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Schedule

• 4:00 p.m.: Happy hour and networking begin
• 4:30 p.m.: Technical presentation
• Following the presentation: Social and networking time until 6:00 p.m.

Presentation

Predictive Modeling, Sensitivity Analysis, and Economic Optimization of Well Refracturing in the Bakken and Permian Basin

Speaker: Garrett Fowler, Chief Operating Officer, ResFrac

Abstract

Refracturing depleted unconventional wells can yield lower-capital, high-ROI inventory, but unpredictable field results can challenge planning and budget justification. By combining physics-based hydraulic fracturing, geomechanics, and reservoir simulation across the Bakken and Permian Basin, we show that refrac outcomes are highly predictable—achieving blind-test forecasts that matched actual one-year production uplifts with an average mismatch of just 3.7%.

Model sensitivity analysis shows that short-term refrac gains are driven by pre-refrac recovery factors and well age, while long-term EUR uplift is governed by infill well distance, overall well spacing, and original cluster spacing. Poroelastic stress changes from depletion influence refrac performance, as uneven stress profiles cause fluid to simply reactivate old fractures instead of creating fresh rock surface.

Economic optimization shows that the “right” refrac design is a function of depletion and fracture height containment. The easy refrac candidates are older wells with wide original cluster spacing, large unstimulated lateral gaps, low recovery factors, and wide well spacing—we show that there is opportunity in less obvious candidates when evaluated carefully!

About the Speaker

Garrett Fowler is Chief Operating Officer at ResFrac, where he leads global business strategy, commercial operations, and professional services across shale, geothermal, and CCUS projects. An engineer himself, Garrett has performed and directed studies in every major shale basin worldwide. Prior to ResFrac, he held reservoir engineering roles at Oxy and Tachyus, focusing on EOR and waterflooding.

Garrett graduated with distinction from Stanford University with a BS in Energy Resources Engineering and an MS in Petroleum Engineering. He has authored and co-authored more than 30 technical papers, earned the 2022 SPE Regional Completions Optimization and Technology Award, and is an Eagle Scout, search and rescue diver, and multi-time Ironman finisher.

The Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE) presents a symposium on automated and assisted decline curve analysis. Engineers, software developers, and industry participants will discuss forecasting tools, reserves evaluation, and the role of expert judgment.

Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Time: 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Central Time
Location: Oxy Tower, The Woodlands, Texas

Registration closes October 2. Visit SPEE for registration and event information.

This is an SPEE event in Texas, shared with the Denver SPE community.