Ziad Bennour

Dr. Ziad Bennour

PhD, MSc, BSc.
Lecturer

Contact Details:
 Tel: +60 85 443939 Ext:2425
Fax: +60 85 630288
Location: Skylark 3.SK3 – Room 333
Email: z.bennour@curtin.edu.my

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=dUfWJ98AAAAJ&hl=en 
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ziad-Bennour 
SCOPUS: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?origin=resultslist&authorId=56204218200&zone=

Academic History

  • PhD in Civil adn Earth Resources Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan, 2017.
  • Diploma in Sustainability/Survivability Science GCoE Disaster Prevention Institute, Japan, 2017.
  • BSc in Petroleum Engineering, Tripoli University, Libya, 2009.

Research Interests

  • Reservoir Geo-mechanics.
  • Testing of geo-materials (tri-axial).
  • Hydraulic Fracturing.
  • Acoustic Emissions monitoring.
  • Rock and fluid mechanics.
  • Anisotropy, porosity and permeability of intact and fractured rocks.
  • Liquid and super critical carbon dioxide injection.
  • Microscopy of fractures in rocks.
  • Sustainability and Management.

Professional Experience

  • Drilling Operations Management, Waha Oil Company (Prev. Oasis) Gialo, Libya (2009-2010).
  • Field Operations and Development Program, Halliburton Energy Services, Berlin, Germany / Houston, Texas, USA (2010-2012)
  • Earth Crust Engineering Lab, Kyoto, Japan (2012-2017)

Environmental Studies

  • 2023-24: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study for Lang Lebah Development (Golok Field) CO2Sequestration Project, Sarawak – Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)Component
  • 2022-23: Reservoir Characterization Study for Proposed CO2 Sequestration Project in Darling Basin, WestAustralia – Lead Investigator and model Developer – Subject Matter Expert (SME) Reservoir Characterization.
  • 2021-22: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study for FDP SK 316 Gas Kasawari CO2 SequestrationProject, Sarawak for Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd – Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Carbon Capture andStorage (CCS) Component

Awards

  • 2024 Silver Award, Best International Final Year Projects within ASEAN (Geothermal Energy).
  • 2023 Best Paper Award in international conference GECOST23 (Machine learning / Reservoir Description)
  • 2015 MEXT Scholarship for PhD studies (Civil & Earth Resources Engineering) – MoHE/ Japan
  • 2012 MEXT Scholarship for Master studies (Civil & Earth Resources Engineering) – MoHE / Japan

Research Funds/Grants

  • 2023 Fundamental Research Grants Scheme/R1 (Malaysia Government) Project co-investigator
  • 2022 CMHDR/CMPRS22 Merit Scholarship-R2 (internal) Project leader
  • 2021 CMHDR/CMPRS21 Merit Scholarship-R1 (internal) Project leader
  • 2020 CMHDR/CMPRS20 Merit Scholarship-R1 (internal) Project co-investigator

Publications

Journal Publications

(English)

  1. (2025) Porosity prediction using bagging ensemble machine learning in CCUS reservoirs. A case study: DarlingBasin, Australia. Earth Science Informatics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-024-01583-1
  2. (2024) Performance Analysis of Eco-Friendly Palm Oil Biodiesel as a Replacement for Diesel Oil in Drilling MudApplications. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition. https://doi.org/10.2118/221346-MS
  3. (2024) Application of Bagging Ensemble Machine Learning Models to Predict Porosity of Sandstone FormationsUsing Well Log Data. SPWLA Formation Evaluation Symposium of Japan. https://doi.org/SPWLA-JFES-24-A
  4. (2024) Unlocking Oil Reserves Sustainably: CO2 Injection for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) in the Sarir C-Field. SPE Symposium: Production Enhancement and Cost Optimization. https://doi.org/10.2118/220645-MS
  5. (2024) CO2-Driven Geothermal Energy Extraction in the Baram Basin, Sarawak: Insights from NumericalReservoir Simulations. SPE EOR Conference at Oil and Gas West Asia. https://doi.org/10.2118/218756-MS
  6. (2024) Porosity Prediction for Carbon Dioxide Storage Assessment Using Boosting Ensemble Machine LearningAlgorithms. Case Study: Darling Basin, Australia. 2024 International Conference on Green Energy, Computingand Sustainable Technology (GECOST) https://doi.org/10.1109/GECOST60902.2024.10474745
  7. (2024) Effects of Tuning Decision Trees in Random Forest Regression on Predicting Porosity of a HydrocarbonReservoir. Case Study: Volve Oil Field, North Sea. Energy Advances. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4YA00313F
  8. (2023) Geothermal Energy Production from an Abandoned Oil Field in North Sea. Fifth EAGE Conference onPetroleum Geostatistics. https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.202335038
  9. (2023) Studying Affecting Factors in Geothermal Energy Production from Depleted Oil Fields of OnshoreSarawak, Malaysia. Offshore Technology Conference Brazil. https://doi.org/10.4043/32923-MS
  10. (2023) A Feasibility Study of Geothermal Energy Extraction in the Baram Basin, Sarawak Using NumericalReservoir Simulation Based on Analogue Data. SPE Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition.https://doi.org/10.2118/215554-MS
  11. (2023) A review on the mechanisms of low salinity water/surfactant/nanoparticles and the potential synergisticapplication for c-EOR. Petroleum Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptlrs.2023.02.001
  12. (2023) Effects of Tuning Hyperparameters in Random Forest Regression on Reservoir’s Porosity Prediction.Case Study: Volve Oil Field, North Sea. ARMA US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium.https://doi.org/10.56952/ARMA-2023-0660
  13. (2023) Green and biodegradable surfactant-based shale inhibitors for water based fluids. Journal of MolecularLiquids. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2022.121106
  14. (2023) Wettability alteration and surfactant adsorption study of methyl ester sulphonate/nano-silica nanofluid onsandstone reservoir rock. MATEC Web of Conferences. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/202337701001
  15. (2022) Geochemical and physical alteration of clay-rich shales under supercritical CO2 conditions. AppliedGeochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2022.105291
  16. (2022) Geochemical Modelling of CO2-Brine-Shale Interaction: Kinetics of Mineral Dissolution and Precipitationat Geological Time Scales. Chemical Geology Volume 592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2022.120742
  17. (2022) The impact of supercritical CO2 on the pore structure and storage capacity of shales. Journal of NaturalGas Science and Engineering. Volume 98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2021.104394
  18. (2022) Application of Nanotechnology in Enhanced Oil Recovery. In: Nanotechnology for ElectronicApplications. Materials Horizons: From Nature to Nanomaterials. Springer, Singapore.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6022-1_5
  19. (2021) Effect of supercritical CO2 treatment on physical properties and functional groups of shales. Fuel 303,121310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2021.121310
  20. (2021) Surface wettability alteration of shales exposed to CO2: Implication for long-term integrity of geologicalstorage sites. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 110, 103426.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2021.103426
  21. (2021) Treatment Pressures on Clay-Rich Shales Properties for CO2 Storage Application. 6th InternationalConference on Oil & Gas Engineering and Technology (ICOGET), 1315 July. Virtual Congress.
  22. (2020) A Review of Fracturing Technologies Utilized in Shale Gas Resources. Intech Open, DOI:https://10.5772/intechopen.92366
  23. (2020) Relative Permeability of Heterogeneous Mixed-Wet Porous Media as Determined by Pore-Scale JBNBased Model. https://doi.org/10.4043/30201-MS
  24. (2020) Effect of Multiple Fracture Initiation on the Accuracy of Hydraulic Fracturing Simulation. Proceedings ofthe ASME 2020. https://doi.org/10.1115/OMAE2020-18590
  25. (2020) A Review on the Influence of CO2/Shale Interaction on Shale Properties: Implications of CCS in Shales.Energies, 13(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/en13123200
  26. (2020) Case Study of Petrophysical Evaluation Utilizing Well Logs Data with Optimization of Reservoir Cut-offParameters. Int Journal of Petroleum Technology 45-59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15377/2409-787X.2020.07.5
  27. (2018). Evaluation of Stimulated Reservoir Volume in Laboratory Hydraulic Fracturing with Oil, Water and LiquidCarbon Dioxide under Microscopy Using the Fluorescence Method. Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources. 4, 39–50 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-017-0073-3.
  28. (2016). Features of CO2 Fracturing Deduced from Acoustic Emission and Microscopy in LaboratoryExperiments, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 121, doi: https://10.1002/2016JB013365
  29. (2015) Crack extension in hydraulic fracturing of shale cores using viscous oil, water, and liquid carbon dioxide.Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 48 (4), 1463-1473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-015-0774-2

(Japanese)

  1. 石田毅, 永谷侑也, 乾周平, Bennour Z., 陳友晴, 陳渠， 中山芳樹 (2015) 超臨界二酸化炭素と水及び粘度の大きな油による水圧破砕実験, Journal of MMIJ 131 (4), 115-121.

Conference Publications

  1. Bennour Z., Tomita K., Nagaya Y., Inui S., Nara Y., Ishida T., Chen Y., Suzuki T., Kusuda H., Sekine K., Nagano Y., Chen Q. and Nakayama Y. (2013). Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Crack Extension in Hydraulic Fracturing of Shale Samples. Proc. of MMIJ (The Mining and Material Processing Institute of Japan) Spring Meeting，pp.65-68.
  2. Bennour Z., Tomita K., Nagaya Y., Ishida T., Suzuki T., Chen Y., Kusuda H., Sekine K. and Chen Q. (2013). Crack Development in Hydraulic Fracturing Experiments of Shale Cores. Proc. of spring meeting of The Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology，p.110，June 2013.
  3. Chen Y., Suzuki T., Kusuda H., Bennour Z., Tomita K., Nagaya Y., Inui S., Nara Y., Ishida T., Sekine K., Nagano Y., Chen Q. and Nakayama Y. (2013). Crack Observation of Cracks Extended by Hydraulic Fracturing in Shale Samples. Proc. of MMIJ (The Mining and Material Processing Institute of Japan) Spring Meeting，pp.69-70.
  4. Bennour Z., Ishida T., Nagaya Y., Chen Y. and. Nara Y., Chen Q., Nakayama Y., Sekine K. and Nagano Y. (2014). Fracture Development and Mechanism in Shale Cores by Viscous Oil, Water and L-CO2 Injection. 48th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics. June 1st-4th, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
  5. Chen, Y., Bennour, Z., Nagaya, Y., Yano, S., Suzuki, T., Ishida, T. and Takagi, S. (2015,). An Approach to Observe Fractures Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing. International Society for Rock Mechanics. 13th ISRM International Congress of Rock Mechanics, 10-13 May, Montreal, Canada.
  6. Chen Y., Bennour Z., Nagaya Y., Yano S., Suzuki T., Ishida T., Akai T. and Takagi S. (2015). Characteristics of Fractures Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing. International Society for Rock Mechanics. 13th ISRM International Congress of Rock Mechanics, 10-13 May, Montreal, Canada.
  7. Bennour Z., Watanabe S., Chen Y., Ishida T. and Akai T. (2016). Evaluation of Stimulated Reservoir Volume Using the Fluorescence Method in Hydraulic Fracturing of Shale Cores, International Conference on Geo mechanics, Geo-energy and Geo-resources IC3G, September 27-29th, Melbourne, Australia.

Speaker Presentations

  • 2021 How to digitalize exploration and wells. Digital Energy (Virtual).
  • 2020 Geological attributes of Sarawak’s Oil and Gas. The fifth SPG annual general meeting and forum (Miri).
  • 2020 Effect of Multiple Fracture Initiation on the Accuracy of Hydraulic Fracturing Simulation. International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, ASME (Virtual). 
  • 2020 Relative Permeability of Heterogeneous Mixed-Wet Porous Media. Offshore Technology Conference Asia(Virtual).
  • 2019 Prospects of Offshore carbon sequestration in offshore Sarawak. Sarawak Oil & Gas Seminar & Exhibition 2019 (Miri).

Professional Affiliations

  • 2007- 2025 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
  • 2012- 2025 Japanese Association for Petroleum Technology (JAPT)
  • 2015- 2025 American Institute of Petroleum Geologists (AIPG)
  • 2015- 2025 American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • 2018- 2025 Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM)