Chandra S. Rai

Chandra Rai, Ph.D.

MARTIN MILLER ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP IN PETROLEUM AND GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING, PROFESSOR OF PETROLEUM AND GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

Email: crai@ou.edu
Office: SEC 1264

Education

Ph.D., Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii
M.S., Applied Geophysics, Indian School of Mines
B.S., Applied Geophysics, Indian School of Mines

Dr. Chandra S. Rai is Martin G. Miller Chair Professor at Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He joined the university in 1999 where he served as the director of the petroleum engineering department from 2007 to 2019. Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma, he worked at the Amoco Production Company research center in Tulsa for 18 years in various technical and management positions. During this period, he was associated with research and development in the areas of seismic rock properties, petrophysics, and reservoir characterization.

He currently conducts research on unconventional reservoir rocks, in particular shales, and in the areas of microstructural characterization, anisotropy, NMR, petrophysics, hydraulic fracturing, transport properties and seismic reservoir modeling. This research was funded by an industrial consortium which he jointly managed with Professor Carl Sondergeld. Recently, he has been associated with research in the area of enhanced oil recovery in unconventional reservoirs, and geostorage of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. He has published close to 200 technical papers and holds 14 U.S. patents. He is the recipient of Distinguished Technical Achievement Award from Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts and is Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Research Interests

Rock and mineral physics
Reservoir characterization
Petrophysics

Selected Publications

Gupta, I., Rai, C. S., Devegowda, D., Sondergeld, C. H. (2021). Fracture Hits in Unconventional Reservoirs: A Critical Review. SPEJ, 26(1), 412-434.
Mukherjee, S., Dang, S. T., Rai, C. S., Sondergeld, C. H. (2021). Pore-type partitioning in unconventional.
tight reservoirs: impact on formation damage and long-term production. SPE Res. Eval. & Engineering, 24(03), 514-522.
Gupta, I., Rai, C. S., Ousseini Tinni, A., Sondergeld, C. H. (2020). Using dry pyrolysis to understand crude oil production characteristics and calculate tortuosity in unconventional shales. J. Petrol. Sci. and Eng., 184, 1-11. doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2019.106540.
Gupta, I., Acosta, J., Sondergeld, C. H., Rai, C. S. (2020). Fracture toughness in shales using nano-indentation. J. Pet. Sci. and Eng., 191. doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2020.107222.
Gupta, I., Rai, C. S., Devegowda, D., Sondergeld, C. H. (2020). Haynesville Shale: Predicting Long-Term Production and Residual Analysis To Identify Well Interference and Fracture Hits. SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering. https://doi.org/10.2118/195673-PA.
Mohapatra, A., C. Rai, C. H. Sondergeld and T. Richards, 2019, Laboratory study of ultrasonic velocity variations during CO2 flooding in Tuscaloosa sandstone, SPE Res. Eval. & Eng., 520-530.