Speakers
In this event The South America Equatorial Margin Workshop - Exploration for a Sustainable Energy Transition, big names from the area were invited, composing an incredible team of Speakers. Discover them all below.:
Ana Clara Braga de Souza (UFC)
Professor at the Geology program at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), where she teaches Marine Mineral Resources and Field Practice in Geology. She obtained her Geology degree from UFC and pursued her postgraduate studies at the same institution. Academic interests include hydrocarbon source rocks, organic and inorganic geochemistry, unconventional petroleum systems, and oceanic anoxic events. Currently, her research focuses on the Brazilian Equatorial Margin, particularly the genesis of the hydrocarbon source rocks from Ceará, Potiguar, and Barreirinhas basins.
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Andre Defendi Arelaro (Petrobras)
Andre Arelaro holds a bachelors degree in Geophysics from Universidade de São Paulo and a masters degree in Geophysics from Observatório Nacional, André Defendi Arelaro has been working at the Multiphysics group in Petrobras since 2013.
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Ediane B. da Silva (LENEP/UENF)
Ediane Silva holds a Bachelors degree in Geology from the Universidade Federal do Pará and Masters degree in Reservoir and Exploration Engineering from Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro. Currently pursuing a Doctorate at the same esteemed institution, working with geochemical, geology and exploration geophysics, seismic stratigraphic interpretation of 2-D and 3-D seismic data, and exploratory wells in the basins of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin (Foz do Amazonas, Pará-Maranhão, Barreirinhas, Ceará and Potiguar).
Erik Neumann (Shearwater)
Erik Neumann obtained his PhD in geophysics at the Technical University of Clausthal in 1991. He started his professional career as seismic interpreter with Mobil in Germany. Since then, he held various positions with Mobil and ExxonMobil in Norway, Australia and the USA in seismic acquisition, processing and research. In June 2023 he joined Shearwater GeoServices as Sales Manager for Processing & Imaging in their Houston office.
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Francisco Nepomuceno Filho (UFC)
Professor at the Federal University of Ceará in the Department of Physics and coordinator of the Center of Excellence in Petroleum Geophysics. He has a master’s degree from University of Texas and a Ph.D. from UNICAMP. He worked at Petrobras for over 39 years as an executive manager for petroleum exploration and production in Brazil and as head of Petrobras’s London office dedicated to pre-salt technology. In the Center of Excellence in Petroleum Geophysics he coordinates several projects related to pre-salt and the Brazilian Equatorial Margin.
Frederico Melo (SLB)
Fred Melo has more than 17 years of experience in seismic signal processing, starting in WesternGeco Kuwait focused on land processing on single sensor acquisition systems. Fred is currently Global Geophysics Lead for Multiple Attenuation and Imaging at SLB based in Houston, providing technical support, workflow development and oversight to demultiple processes and complex imaging techniques. Freds main interests are pattern recognition, statistical inference and stochastic filtering techniques, along with the seismic multiple processing (internal and surface related), interpolation and imaging technologies.
Henri Houllevigue (TGS)
Henri Houllevigue has over 30 years of experience in the oil industry, primarily with OIC and several years in service companies. His expertise spans the full range of the Exploration & Production (E&P) process, from corporate roles to overseas exploration and development asset or project management, as well as transverse positions. Henri currently serves as Vice President of Geosciences for the Western Hemisphere at TGS. His notable previous roles at Total Energies include Angola Block 32 Exploration Manager, VP of Corporate Geophysics Operations and Technology, and VP of Americas Exploration Portfolio Management. Henri holds a Masters degree in Geophysics from the Ecole du Petrole et Moteur and a Masters degree in Geology from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Nancy.
Ian Cerdeira Souza (UFC)
Geologist holding a Master’s degree in Geoscience from UNICAMP and currently he is PhD researcher working with geological and geophysical characterization of deep-water submarine channels reservoirs. He has expertise in seismic interpretation and basin analysis focusing on petroleum exploration and field development, working in different projects and different basins, such as Foz do Amazonas, Ceará, Sergipe, Parnaíba, Barreirinhas and Potiguar Basins.
João Correa (ENERGEO and TGS)
João Correa is a geologist and geophysicist with over 30 years of experience in the oil industry. He has worked at notable companies including Petrobras and Halliburton, and has been with TGS do Brasil since 2014.
José Miguel Gorosabel Araus (University of Houston)
José Miguel Gorosabel is a dedicated geoscientist specializing in basin analysis and hydrocarbon prospectivity of the Equatorial and South Atlantic Margins. He holds an MSc in Geological Processes and Resources and a Ph.D. in Geology, completed in December 2020 at the Complutense University of Madrid. José has contributed to various projects at the Complutense University of Madrid focused on the hydrocarbon potential of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean region, collaborating on joint projects with local institutions and oil companies. Since March 2023, he has been advancing his scientific career with the CBTH Consortium (Conjugate Basins Tectonics and Hydrocarbons) at the University of Houston, where he focuses on deep-water sedimentary systems of the Equatorial and South Atlantic Margins, specializing in source rock characterization and basin modeling.
Julia Fonseca (University of Florence)
Julia holds a bachelors degree in Geophysics (University of Brasilia), a masters in Geodynamics (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte), and a PhD in Earth Sciences (University of Pisa, Italy). Since 2015, she has been working with 2D and 3D seismic interpretation along the Brazilian Equatorial Margin deep waters to investigate tectonic evolution and sediment dynamics.
Karen Leopoldino (UFC)
Professor and researcher at the Department of Geology of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), the Center of Excellence in Petroleum Geophysics, and the Laboratory of Geophysics at UFC. Affiliated with the AASPI consortium at the University of Oklahoma, she leads the Innovation and Research Group in Energy and Mineral Resources (GIPEM). Her expertise lies in Applied Geophysics, focusing on non-seismic methods (potential fields, MT, CSEM), seismic processing and interpretation, reservoir characterization, seismic attributes, and machine learning.
Luiz Braga (SBGf and INVISION)
Luiz Braga is an exploration geophysicist with more than 20 years of experience in the O&G industry, and over 40 years in the Earth Sciences. He has been involved in acquisition, processing, and interpretation of almost all kind of geophysical data applied to petroleum exploration, with major experience in Multiphysics integrated to Seismic works. Dr. Braga has a strong involvement with most of the Geophysical Departments and Research Institutions in Brazil because of his former extensive cooperative work as a Professor, Thesis Advisor and/or member of thesis committee. He has worked with geophysical data of all Brazilian basins during the 14 years he spent at Petrobras as Field Supervisor, Processor, and Interpreter and, during the last 8 years before leaving the company in 1998, as Petrobras non-seismic division General Manager, spread over all its exploration branches, internationally. Dr. Braga is a founder member of the Brazilian Society of Geophysicists (SBGf) for which he was elected Secretary in 1999. He has been in the position of President of SBGf since 2023. He is also a SEG, EAGE, and AAPG member, and former member of AGU. From 2008 to 2013 he was based in Houston working for Fugro in the position of VP of Global Business Development, promoting the geoscience technologies offered by the Company worldwide. After the acquisition of Fugro Geosciences by CGG in early 2013, Dr. Braga returned to Brazil taking the position of VP and Geomarket Director for CGG Latin America. In Sept 2015 he was appointed Director Brazil for Seabed Geosolutions -JV CGG-Fugro. At present Dr. Braga is the R&D and New Ventures Director for Invision Geophysics.
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Max Magalhães Velasques (Petrobras)
Max Velasques has a bachelors degree in Physics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with a Masters degree in Geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines. He has worked as a geophysicist at Petrobras since 2006. He began his career in the Seismic Data Acquisition area, following several acquisition projects in onshore basins. Later, he migrated to the seismic data processing area, having worked as coordinator of seismic processing projects in the Santos Basin pre-salt between 2010 and 2018. Since 2020, he has been in charge of Geophysical Data Processing management of Petrobras, being responsible for managing all of the companys seismic processing activities.
Narelle Maia de Almeida (UFC)
Professor at Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Coordinator of the Marine and Applied to Energy Geology and Geophysics Laboratory (LGMA) and Researcher at the Center of Excellence in Petroleum Geophysics (CEGPG). PhD in Geology with a sandwich period at Cardiff University (UK). Member of the National Program of Marine Geology and Geophysics (PGGM) and Advisor of the AAPG student chapter at UFC. Her research focuses on Marine Geological Mapping, Advanced Seismic Interpretation, Petroleum Systems, Characterization and Modeling of Reservoirs, Geophysics applied to Energy Transition, CCUS and Brazilian Equatorial Margin.
Ole Jakob Birkeland (EMGS)
Ole Birkeland is a physicist with 16 years experience from energy and technology industry. Country manager of EMGS do Brasil with extensive background as a geophysicist working both with seismic processing and imaging, as well as with the CSEM method.
Paulo Johann (Petrobras)
Senior Consultant in Research and Innovation at Petrobras Research Center, holds a Ph.D. in Geophysics from the Sorbonne University (Paris VI). He has MBAs from COPPEAD and FGV, in addition to a degree in geology from UNISINOS. A member of SEG and EAGE, Johann was the pioneering honorary speaker for SEG in Latin America. Currently, he serves as the Secretary of Institutional Relations at SBGf.
Renato Darros (ATP)
Renato Darros is a distinguished academic and industry professional with extensive contributions to the study of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin, Northeast Brazilian Rifts, and the opening of the South Atlantic. After leaving Petrobras, he led oil and gas R&D at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), establishing applied research laboratories in geophysics and geology, funded by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and Petrobras. Renato also co-founded Flamoil Serviços Ltda., a seismic processing and E&P solutions provider focused on onshore exploration. As the E&P Director of various small independent onshore oil companies, he significantly contributed to Imetame Energia, helping it become a prominent operator in the Brazilian domestic E&P market. He later served as the Managing Director of Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA), where he was part of the inaugural board, managing production sharing agreements and representing the State in unitization agreements. Currently, Renato serves as the E&P Director of Azevedo Travassos Petróleo (ATP).
Ronan Ávila (AnP)
Ronan Ávila é Superintendente Adjunto de Avaliação Geológica e Econômica na Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP), onde ingressou em 2013. Além disso, trabalhou em terra e no mar para várias empresas no Brasil e em outros países, como Halliburton, Fugro, Paradigm Geophysical e Georesearch. Ademais, atuou para o Serviço Geológico do Brasil, a Empresa de Pesquisa Energética e as Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil no setor público. Ronan é Geólogo formado pela Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro; com MBA em Gestão de Projetos pela Universidade de São Paulo e mestrado em engenharia e ciência pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, onde iniciou no ano passado seu doutorado em planejamento energético com foco no Armazenamento Geológico de CO2.
Zhiping Yang (CGG)
Zhiping Yang, born in Shanghai, China, in 1979, obtained his bachelors degree from City University of Hong Kong in 2002, followed by a PhD in physics from UT Austin in 2009. Beginning his career as an imager at CGG USI in June 2009, he later transitioned to CGG EDA(Multiclient) as a technical project manager in April 2022. Outside of work, Zhiping finds joy in solitary movie-watching, playing chess with his children, and cultivating fruits and vegetables alongside his wife in their backyard. He embraces a philosophy of simplicity and abundance in life.
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