Tayfun Babadagli, PhD, PEng, FCAE

Area of Study / Keywords

Petroleum Engineering Reservoir Characterization Reservoir Description Unconventional Oil Recovery Heavy Oil Recovery Fracture Analysis Petroleum Engineering

About

Bio:

Dr. Tayfun Babadagli has been a professor at the University of Alberta, specifically working in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering under the School of Mining and Petroleum for nearly 20 years. He started at the University in 2002 working his way up to earning two consecutive NSERC IRC programs in Unconventional Oil Recovery. Before beginning his time at the University of Alberta, Dr. Babadagli received BS and MS degrees from Istanbul Technical University and MS and PhD degrees from University of Southern California, all in petroleum engineering.

Dr. Babadagli specializes in reservoir description and reservoir dynamics, with multiple programs revolving around his unconventional oil recovery research. 

He was awarded the McCalla Professorship from the University of Alberta from 2006-2007 and was later honoured with the Killam Annual Professorship from 2011-2012. Outside the University of Alberta, Dr. Babadagli has received a number of awards from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), noting his excellence in technical editorship, his impact as a distinguished lecturer, and eventually meriting him with their highest honour, the SPE and AIME honorary membership of which he received in 2020.  He was elected into the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2024.

Social Media: 

Please check out Dr. Babadagli’s research website at https://eogrrc.wixsite.com/eogrrc-ualberta for news and announcements, educational videos, a list of publications, and more information on what the research group has accomplished the last few years. His group also has a YouTube channel where prospective or new students can access videos guiding them through the planning process for a successful petroleum engineering career as well as some interesting research finds in unconventional oil recovery research. Join his EOGRRC Facebook group as a member to answer polls, look at research highlights, and cheer on the graduate students while they present their research at worldwide petroleum engineering conferences.

Research

Research Interests

Dr. Babadagli conducts research in petroleum, natural gas, and geothermal reservoir engineering, more specifically, characterizing and modeling of fractured reservoirs. Additionally, his work covers the optimization of EOR processes in non-fractured and fractured reservoirs, meaning waterflooding, thermal, nitrogen, heavy-oil recovery by low IFT and polymers. He and his EOGRRC group explore the experimental, stochastic and numerical modeling of fluid/heat flow in heterogeneous/fractured porous media and heavy-oil and bitumen recovery using steam, solvents, and nano/smart materials. In regard to enhanced oil recovery, Dr. Babadagli researches the optimal use of CO2 in enhanced oil recovery and sequestration and the subsequent application of thermal and solvent injection into heavy-oil sands and carbonates. The last important research area surrounds fluid flow in porous media, meaning that Dr. Babadagli and his EOGRRC group research the modeling of multiphase flow in fractal porous media and a single fracture considering the effect of surface roughness.

Research Currently in Progress:

Patents

• Babadagli, T. and Al-Bahlani, A.M.: "Hydrocarbon Recovery Process for Fractured Reservoirs" U.S. Patent, Application Serial No: 13/121,682 filed on March 29, 2011, granted on Aug. 26, 2014 (U.S. Patent No. 8,813,846).
• Babadagli, T. and Al-Bahlani, A.M.: "Hydrocarbon Recovery Process for Fractured Reservoirs" Canadian Patent, Application No: 2,681,823 filed on Oct. 5, 2009. Granted on Feb. 6, 2015.

Research Projects and Grants - Completed

• Pore to Field Scale Investigation of CO2 Sequestration in Oil Reservoirs. University of Alberta, Fund for Support of International Development Activities. Jan. 2005 – Jan. 2006.
• Fluid Flow Characteristics of Heterogeneous and Fractured Porous Media. NSERC Grant. April 2003 – April 2007.
• Modeling Fluid and Heat Flow in Fractured/Porous Media. CFI New Opportunities Grant. June 2003. June 2005.
• Improvement of the Efficiency of Heavy-Oil Recovery. University of Alberta International Partnership Fund (IPF) April 2006 – April 2007.
• Interfacial Properties of Heavy Oil. Schlumberger DBR Grant. May 1, 2007 – July 11, 2007.
• Improvement of In-Situ Bitumen Recovery by Ozone and SO2 Injection. APEX Eng. Grant. Feb. 1, 2006 – April 1, 2008.
• Investigations on the Greenhouse Gas Storage Capacity of Oil Reservoirs (with Dr. Zhenghe Xu). NSERC Strategic Grant. Jan. 2006 – April 2009. Apache Canada Ltd. Oct. 2006 – Dec. 2008.
• One Dimensional Steam Displacement of Oil Sands Bitumen. APEX Eng. July 1, 2008 – Oct. 31, 2009.
• Increasing the Efficiency of Heavy-Oil/Bitumen Recovery. NSERC Discovery Grant. April 2007 – April 2012.
• Experimental Analysis of the Steam and CO2 EOR Potential of the Gorisht Field. Stream Oil and Gas Ltd. Sept. 2010 – Sept. 2011.
• Steam Injection Potential of Fractured Carbonates Containing Bitumen. Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. Jan. 2011 – Mar. 2012.
• Recovery of Bitumen from Sandstone and Carbonate Reservoirs by Hot Solvent Injection. Laricina Energy Project. Sept. 2009 – Oct. 2012.
• Bitumen Recovery from Grosmont Carbonates by Low Pressure Solvent and Hot Water Injection. Husky Energy Project. Sept. 2009 – Sept. 2011.
• Recovery of Bitumen from Sandstone and Carbonate Reservoirs by Hot Solvent Injection. NSERC Collaborative Research Development (CRD), with support of Laricina Energy. July 2010 – Oct. 2012.
• Bitumen Recovery from Grosmont Carbonates by Low Pressure Solvent and Hot Water Injection. NSERC Collaborative Research Development (CRD), with support of Husky Energy. July 2010 – July 2012.
• Integrated Research to Evaluate the Potential for Developing Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) in Alberta: Reservoir Simulation of Heat Production from an EGS in Northern Alberta Granites (with eight University of Alberta professors and three GFZ Potsdam researchers. Sept. 2010-Dec. 2015.
• Chromatographic analysis of gas and gas condensate samples. Suncor Energy. Nov. 1, 2016 – Dec. 31, 2016.
• Unconventional Oil Recovery. NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC). July 1, 2011– Nov. 1, 2016.
• Optimal Use of Solvents and Nanomaterials in Thermal Recovery of Heavy-Oil/Bitumen in Oilsands and Carbonates. NSERC Discovery Grant. April 2012 – April 2017.
• Impact of Residual Oil Saturation on the CO2 Storage Capacity in Depleted Reservoirs (with Dr. H. Andy Li of University of Alberta and Dr. J. Qin of RIPED). China Opportunity Fund. May 1, 2016 – April 30, 2018.
• Partial Up-Grading Using Nano Metal Catalysts by Microwave Heating Assisted Aquathermolysis. Suncor Energy Inc. Jan. 1, 2019 – Mar. 1, 2019.

Research Projects and Grants - Continuing

• Improvement of Heavy-Oil/Bitumen Recovery Efficiency by New Generation Chemicals and Optimization Models. NSERC Discovery Grant. April 2017 – April 2022.
• New Chemical Flooding Technology of Thermal Recovery. PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, RIPED. Dec. 1, 2019-Dec. 31, 2021.
• The Simulation and Behavioral Research on Proppant Transport and Placement in the Fracture with Complex Wall of Tight Sandstone Oil Reservoir (with Dr. H Andy Li of the University of Alberta, and Dr. Hai Huang from Xi’an Shiyou University). National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSF). Jan. 1, 2019 – Jan. 1, 2022.
• Laboratory Scale Modeling of Proppant Transportation and Settlement on Transparent Rough Fracture Replicas Generated from Tight Sands and Shales Gas Reservoirs in the Thrace Region, Turkey (with Dr. Kayhan Develi of Istanbul Technical University). Istanbul Technical University, Scientific Research Project Coordination Unit. Apr. 22, 2020 – Jan. 1, 2022.
• Unconventional Oil Recovery. NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC). Nov. 1, 2016– Nov. 1, 2021.

Selected Publications - Refereed Journals

For an extensive list of Dr. Babadagli’s publications, check out the publications page on the EOGRRC website using this link here.

PET E 471 - Enhanced Oil Recovery

Classification of EOR methods, areal, vertical and volumetric sweep efficiencies, predictive models for immiscible displacement. Frontal advance theory and Buckley-Leverett-Weldge approach. Chemical (alkaline, polymer, surfactant, micellar injection) flooding. Miscible-immiscible gas (hydrocarbon and CO2) injection. Prerequisite: PET E 295 or PET E 373.

PET E 496 - Petroleum Engineering Design Project

Designed to deal with special case studies in the mining and petroleum industries; an analysis of reserves; the prediction of production and operating procedures related to the project; the application of economics in the analysis of profitability; economics and planning as tools for a management position. Prerequisite: PET E 484. Note: Restricted to fourth-year traditional and fifth-year co-op engineering students.

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