About Black Reiver Consulting
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Black Reiver Consulting is an organisation that specialises in well construction training for upstream disciplines.
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Consultancy for project feasibility, training and competency profiling and assessment.
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Expert witness services for disputes involving well construction operations and equipment.
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Competency assessment and management
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Expert oversight of third party training programmes
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Assistance with due diligence or well construction finance
Kevin Gray
DIRECTOR
Kevin can offer the experience of over 5000 days of operational experience gained at rig sites and operations support positions from an oilfield career of over 31 years as well as working as lead trainer for a multi award winning ERD engineering team based in Perth Scotland.
Kevin has been consistently the highest rated drilling training instructor in a major multinational training company over the last four years and throughout his offshore career was repeatedly graded in top 5% within both offshore and onshore positions for the largest oilfield service company.
Kevin has designed and overseen the delivery of multi week training programs for offshore drilling, well intervention and fluid supervisors for a number of clients. This has included competency assessment and skills gap analysis throughout the programs.
Kevin is also able to draw on his well documented teaching skills to deliver courses or programs in directional drilling and surveying, stuck pipe, extended reach drilling and various other drilling related subject areas. He wrote the first Operation support centre SOP for directional drilling which was later adopted globally. In addition, he has designed and delivered various 'Real Time Centre' training courses including human dynamics training. In his former role as directional drilling coordinator, based in Aberdeen he still holds a number of world records for drilling achievements with motor and RSS tools.
In his earlier career he led an offshore team that developed the first multi axis drill vibration measurement tool to report measurements in real time, and subsequently wrote the core documentation on vibration control for D&M.
Later he was responsible for the introduction and field testing of Powerdrive RSS tools and had considerable input into their re-design as the X5 variant. Kevin has led many teams into both new fields and mature field redevelopment. Outside the industry he enjoys skiing and exploring, taking these two activities to the extreme in 2015 when he skied to the South Pole dragging a sledge behind him.
Daria Ivakhnenko
TRAINING MANAGER
Daria is a multilingual manager in the petroleum industry with 19 years of experience in technical translation, interpreting and enabling cross-cultural and cross-departmental communication.
During her career, Daria has worked in various oil and gas project environments, including operator-controlled projects and joint activities at various development phases. She has built and managed the best practice translation and interpreting projects from the ground up, developing vast experience and knowledge of the energy sector, its technologies, regulations, contracting, HSE and other aspects.
Daria has delivered significant time-saving cost optimisation in high-risk, high-value projects through rendering translation, interpreting and communication services for her employers and customers. She is responsible for negotiation, organisation, and administration of the training courses, writing and editing training content, and linguistic support. She also manages the company’s communication and involvement in professional and industry associations, study, research and development of training modules and courses.
Tony Pink
GEOTHERMAL DRILLING CONSULTANT
Tony graduated with a BSC in Geology from University College of Wales Aberystwyth in 1990 and has a postgraduate diploma (GMP) from Harvard Business School.
He spent 5 years in the field as an MWD/LWD Engineer followed by 5 years as a Directional driller. He moved into management with Schlumberger in 2000 and worked in several posts including Drilling Training Manager and the Engineering Manager for US Land.
In June of 2011 Tony became the VP of Automated Drilling Applications with the objective of delivering an automated drilling solution for NOV and our industry. In 2014 He became the VP of services for a new division of NOV called Dynamic Drilling Solutions and is responsible for delivering Automated Drilling Solutions to NOV’s customers. He has also been an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS) including the role of program chairman.
In October 2018 of he became the CTO for NOV, Wellbore Technologies. Responsible for the digital strategy and technology portfolio for the segment including geothermal drilling technology. In March 2022 Tony moved into his current role responsible for Subsurface Technology particularly focussed on Geothermal and Carbon Storage. He has published and presented 13 SPE/IADC papers and has 5 US and EU Patents on Closed Loop Drilling Automation, Automated Directional Drilling, Early Kick Detection Particle Drilling and Insulated Drill Pipe.
Iain Hutichison
DRILLING EXPERT & BUSINESS GROWTH ADVISER
Iain is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and accomplished businessman. He founded, grew then exited Merlin ERD Ltd an expert drilling engineering business, which became international leaders in complex well engineering and gathered two Queens Awards for Enterprise on its exceptional growth journey.
Iain’s 30 year career in the energy industry has taken him around the world working for large corporate businesses and smaller disrupters on complex drilling projects.
A restless desire to make things better and interest in efficiency, combine with his engineering and pilot training, to provide a highly driven individual, focused on the detail that delivers dependable success.
Having built a Spitfire replica during his time in Australia, which he now flies in the skies of Scotland, Iain leverages risk management, organisational and leadership techniques from the aerospace industry to deliver business results.
Iain leveraged skills developed in the oil and gas industry to build successful enterprises in forestry, hydro-electricity generation and geothermal energy, whilst remaining engaged with his Drilling roots. His core belief is that tomorrow should be a better version of today and that it’s up to each of us to make it so.
Daniel Bour
GEOTHERMAL DRILLING AND CEMENTING CONSULTANT
Daniel is a seasoned cementing consultant with extensive experience in the oil & gas industry. He has a sharp ability to think innovatively to create solutions that overcome operational challenges and reduce costs. Daniel is able to convey complex technical information to non-technical stakeholders and to help implement proposed solutions in the field.
Daniel has a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan College of Engineering, and a BA in Physics from Kalamazoo College, Michigan. Throughout a distinguished 40+ year career that has taken him around the world he has authored over 25 technical papers on cementing and drilling, alongside 21 patents and multiple provisional patents.
As Vice President of Wellfield Operation for AltaRock Energy Inc, Daniel developed a multi-zone rig-less stimulation technology for geothermal wells and mechanical isolation methods resulting in a 40-60% increase in production and injectivity in field trials. Four patents were awarded, and multiple provisional patents were filed.
In his role as Cementing Technical Advisor, Gulf of Mexico for Halliburton Energy Services, Daniel identified the root cause of cement job failure, which led to the adjusted practice of rheological modelling for well fluids. He determined the cause of the failure of liner cement job that led to a change in thermal modelling standard practices and developed, and taught, multiple oil well-cementing schools for well operator personnel.
Daniel’s core qualifications include cement job design and modelling, cement slurry formation, cement testing, oil & gas drilling, geothermal drilling and chemical engineering. As a knowledgeable trainer and teacher, Daniel is able to challenge the status quo when appropriate, and work effectively with different cultures.
Javier Alexander Romero
COMPLETION AND WELL INTERVENTION ENGINEER
Javier has over 30 years of extensive technical experience in the oil & gas industry and over 20 years of experience in completion and well intervention. He has a solid knowledge of designing well completions and intervention programs, determining successful solutions, minimising wastes, and ensuring ongoing improvement in operational efficiency.
Javier has a proven track record in directing successful well-engineering projects from inception to completion, delivering those within set time and budgets. He is a resourceful professional committed to corporate objectives and goals with practical analytical, communication and problem-solving skills.
As Completion & Workover operation Engineer for Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO), Javier led a campaign on vertical and horizontal deep gas and oil exploration wells by designing and executing the well testing programs. He conducted the well testing operation in vertical and horizontal wells, including perforating, testing, CT N2 lift, and Acid Stim. Javier designed and executed the Snubbing and Coiled Tubing intervention program and provided guidance on well control and integrity restoration. He identified the best solution for well integrity restoration using various technologies available in the market.
His exceptional work was recognized with the Director Gold Award and citations for accruing a significant saving of around $50MM, which had a positive impact on gas production, amounting to approximately 5 M m3/day.
Additionally, Javier developed a Velocity String Master Plan, which resulted in ongoing improvement and cost savings of $9MM annually, and installed over 100 Velocity string completions in gas wells.
He formulated the first Shell snubbing manual together with Tom Keltner Shell Snubbing PTE and developed the technical specs for a Multi-Stage Frac completion on three Horizontal wells in an Unconventional Gas Reservoir. Javier provided technical support to a Capillary string completion for foam injection in Unconventional Depleted Gas wells and participated as a Shell Snubbing SME in the team to develop the first Shell Snubbing operational manual
Javier has authored several SPE papers including SPE-178189-MS “Enhanced Hydraulic Work Over for Well Integrity Restoration”, SPE-176766-MS, “LEAN Methodology in a Long Term Velocity String Campaign, a Step Forward in Snubbing Operations” and SPE-166728-MS: “External Casing Patch: a new Approach to Recomplete the Gas Wells with Cemented Completions”.
Currently pursuing a Masters in Petroleum Engineering at Heriot Watt University, Javier is a strategy-orientated and technically focussed individual with expertise in determining appropriate solutions. With excellent leadership, managerial traits and a strong teamwork philosophy, Javier is experienced in working with multidisciplinary and multicultural workgroups.