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In September 2011, Albert joined Wildcat as an Application Geochemist/Geologist. Using his geochemical background, he has helped facilitate case studies and sales of the HAWK Instrument. His work on HAWK-PAM™, using multi-ramp and multi-zones, has sought to bring innovation on mobile/immobile oil questions for S1. With HAWK-PAM, he has developed methods for obtaining API Gravity prediction from core and drill cuttings.

 

Albert Maende obtained a B.Sc in Geology from the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In 1988, he was awarded M.Sc in Petroleum Geology by Aberdeen University in Scotland. After supervising the World Bank sponsored launching and operations of the National Oil Corporation of Kenya’s Laboratory and Cores Storage Facility, as well as working on basin studies and well-site duties, Albert served as the Exploration Manager for the Corporation. In a four year period, he was the designated secretary for the government of Kenya’s exploration blocks PSC contracts negotiation committee that awarded seven blocks to international oil companies. He also served as the secretary of the local organizing committee secretariat of the inaugural East African Petroleum Conference (EAPC 2003) that was held in Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Albert relocated to Australia where he had stints as an Explorationist with both Woodside and Ophir Energy companies in Perth during 2004. He participated in the evaluation of petroleum geology data of East and Central Africa’s basins including Lamu and Rovuma basins. For the next 2 years, Albert consulted for both Vangold and the National Oil Corporation of Kenya. In 2006, he moved to the USA to work at Humble Geochemical Services. One of the studies that he participated in was an oil company consortium of about 10,000 samples recovered from more than 600 wells that were drilled in 13 sedimentary basins of the Rocky Mountain region. For this study, he prepared geological log plots depicting source rock richness, potential and maturity. In 2007, he took up a geologist role at Weatherford Laboratories where he worked on geochemical data of shale gas and conventional oil prospects of a number of formations in the USA including their gas composition and carbon isotopes fingerprinting. In addition, he was involved in marketing and sales of their pyrolysis instrument. Albert’s pursuits included the petroleum geochemistry of the Black Warrior Basin that is located in Alabama as well as the Maverick Basin that is located in Texas.

 

Education and Training

M.Sc. Petroleum Geology 1988 Aberdeen University, Scotland, UK

 

B.Sc. Geology 1984 University of Nairobi, Kenya

 

Professional Experience

2011 to Present: Applications Geochemist/Geologist - Wildcat Technologies, LLC

2007 – 2011: Geologist – Weatherford Laboratories

2006 – 2007: Geologist/Geochemist – Humble Geochemical Services

2005: Project Consultant – National Oil Corporation of Kenya

2004: Explorationist – Ophir Energy Company, Perth, Australia

2001 – 2004: Exploration Manager – National Oil Corporation of Kenya

2000: Assistant Exploration Manager – National Oil Corporation of Kenya

1992 – 1999: Head of Geochemical & Petrophysical Section – National Oil Corporation of Kenya

1991: Team Leader, Coal Exploration Project – Office of the President, Kenya

1985 – 1990: Geologist/Geochemist – National Oil Corporation of Kenya

1984: Assistant Research Officer – Kenya Marine & Fisheries Research Institute

 

Primary Research Interest

2014 – “The Theory, Measurements, Interpretation and Applications of Pyrolysis & TOC Data” 2- days course presented to 2 geoscientists from Geocontrol s.r.l. of Neuquen, Argentina.

2015 – “The Theory, Measurements, Interpretation and Applications of Pyrolysis & TOC Data” 2- days course presented to 3 geoscientists and 1 engineer from V.I.Shpilman Research and Analytical Centre for the Rational Use of the Subsoil of Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia; Kazan State University, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia; Argosy Technologies Ltd., Moscow, Russia and Bashneft, Ufa, Russia.

 

The course includes aspects on:

Sedimentary deposition of organic matter

Kerogen types

Microbial activity, diagenesis and catagenesis

Kerogen structure and porosity

Thermal maturation

 

Analytical Method Developed by Albert Maende

Authored the HAWK Petroleum Assessment Method (HAWK-PAM) that utilizes five zones using multiple ramp and isotherm routines assigned during a single run sample analysis.A ramp rate of 25°C is utilized to generate five petroleum peaks – four on oil fractions and one on kerogen.Each isotherm has its own specific Tmax indicative of the maximum evolution temperatures. HAWK-PAM enables better quantification of volatile oil than was previously possible on pyrolysis instruments. In addition, this method enables prediction of API Gravity from drill cuttings and cores. In summary, HAWK-PAM which has now been developed as an integral feature of the HAWK Pyrolysis instrument that is manufactured by Wildcat Technologies enables:

 

Distinction of mobile oil (fluid saturation) from sorbed (immobile) oil.

Oil saturation calculations and identification of reservoirs and mobile oil sweet spots.

Prediction of API gravity from drill cuttings and cores and use of API gravity to decipher migration pathways, charging of reservoirs, reservoir compartments and ranking of drilling targets.

 

Primary Research Interests

Pyrolysis applications to unconventional and conventional petroleum resources prospecting and development. I have authored the HAWK Petroleum Assessment Method (HAWK-PAM) that is currently being utilized for analysis of drill cuttings and cores in unconventional and conventional resources prospecting by some oil companies in the USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

 

Selected Projects

Served as the geochemist on a six months I Energy Unconventional Resources Project targeting Niobrara (Denver-Julesburg basin), Utica & Point Pleasant (Appalachian basin), Woodford (Anadarko and Ardmore basins), Duvernay (Western Canada Sedimentary basin) and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (Gulf Coast region) formations that are located within the USA and Canada: For this Shale oil project, I generated maturity maps (maps showing areal extent of immature, oil window, gas window and post mature zones), and isopach maps (net and gross shale thickness maps) using Petra software. Computed an estimate of the shale formation’s oil generation potential together with Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR) for Niobrara, Utica and Point Pleasant, Woodford, Duvernay and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.

Prepared geochemistry interpretive reports for clients who were prospecting the following shale formations:

Blue Mountain/Collingwood and A1 Carbonate Formations located in the Southwestern Ontario area of Canada.

The Kreyenhagen, Antelope and McDonald Shale Formations in the San Joaquin basin of the USA.

The Natih Formation that is in Oman within the Middle East region.

As the representative for Wildcat Technologies, worked on a joint study with Halliburton and Noble Energy on an analysis of a core from the Marcellus Formation of Western Pennsylvania, USA using X-Ray Fluorescence, Scanning Electron Microscopy and the HAWK Pyrolysis instruments to decipher organic richness, hydrocarbons generation, oil saturation, and reservoir sequences. We determined that a 14 ft thick zone of lowest argillaceous but highest siliceous content located in the Lower Marcellus Transgressive System Tract also contained the highest porosity and highest oil saturation and was therefore the best prospective sweet spot.

 

Selected Publications

Maende A., B. Horsfield, S. Kuske, B. Jarvie, D. Jarvie, and W.D. Weldon, 2020, Investigation and Identification of Pyrolysis Attributes that Can Assist in Predicting Producible Hydrocarbon in the Unconventional Eagle Ford Formation, AAPG Search and Discovery Article# 80733 (2020) downloaded from  https://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2020/80733maende/ndx_maende.pdf.html?q=%252BauthorStrip%253Amaende+-isMeetingAbstract%253Amtgabsyes

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Maende, A., A. Pepper, D. M. Jarvie, and W. D. Weldon, 2017, Advanced Pyrolysis Data and Interpretation Methods to Identify Unconventional Reservoir Sweet Spots in Fluid Phase Saturation and Fluid Properties (API Gravity) From Drill Cuttings and Cores, AAPG Search and Discovery Article #80596 (2017) downloaded on August 8th, 2017 from https://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2017/80596maende/ndx_maende.pdf.html

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Maende, A, 2016, Wildcat Compositional Analysis for Conventional and Unconventional Reservoir Assessments, HAWK Petroleum Assessment Method (HAWK-PAM), Application Note 052016-1, 11p. Downloaded on September 5th, 2017 from https://www.wildcattechnologies.com/post/hawk-petroleum-assessment-method-hawk-pam

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Jarvie, D. M. and A. Maende, 2016, Mexico’s Upper Jurassic ‘Shales’:Potential for Unconventional Production: URTeC, San Antonio, 1st – 3rd August, 2016, AAPG.

 

Comet, P., C. Stringer, C. Scheibe, A. Maende, and E. Boice, 2015, Using XRF, SEM, and Pyrolysis for an Economic Appraisal of the Marcellus Formation of Western Virginia for Hydraulic Fracturing Purposes: AAPG Search and Discovery Article #41629 (2015). Downloaded on September 5th, 2017 from https://www.searchanddiscovery.com/pdfz/documents/2015/41629comet/ndx_comet.pdf.html

 

Maende, A., and W. D. Weldon, 2013, Pyrolysis and TOC Identification of Tight Oil Sweet Spots, presented at URTeC, 12-14 August 2013, Denver, Colorado.

 

Maende, A., 1996, Source Rock Potential of Lamu Basin, in ‘Proceedings of the 4th Conference of the Afro-Asian Association of Petroleum Geochemists’, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation, Dar es Salaam.

 

Activities and Awards

Outstanding Achievement Award presented to Mr. Albert Maende in appreciation for pioneering the establishment of the East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (EAPCE) by H.E. Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, 6th February, 2013.

 

East African Community Certificate of Recognition awarded to Mr. Albert Maende for pioneering the establishment of the East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (EAPCE) by H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda and Chairperson of the Summit of East African Community Heads of State, awarded on 6th February, 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania.

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Head of the Local Organizing Committee Secretariat for the inaugural East African Petroleum Conference (EAPC) that was held in Nairobi, Kenya on March 5th – 7th, 2003.

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