Byron P. Cottingham, P.E.

Edmond, OK 

405-831-3354

cottinghamconsulting@gmail.com

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Education

• The University of Tulsa – Overall GPA: 3.75             

  • Masters of Energy Business

• The University of Oklahoma – Overall GPA: 3.37, Major GPA: 3.56

  • Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering, Minor in Geology

 

Work Experience

Cottingham Consulting – February 2020 to Present                                    Oklahoma City, OK

• President and CEO (February 2020 – Present):

  • Focused in value optimization for our clients in production and completions engineering, surface facilities, water management, and business development. 

  • Experienced in OCC hearings and expert witness testimony to support our clients.

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Roan Resources – 2018 to Present                                                                Oklahoma City, OK

• Production and Marketing Manager (April 2019 – Present):

  • Managed 4 engineers, 1 engineering tech, 3 superintendents, 2 marketing representatives, 2 marketing techs, and had a total of 41 direct/indirect employees.

  • Managed the following area of operations for Roan:  production operations, water management, flowback, facilities, surface damages, location construction, midstream, and marketing.

  • Managed a $60MM LOE program, $15MM AFE construction program, $6MM AFE pad construction program, and a $8MM AFE water sourcing program.

  • Since taking over production operations, we as a team were able to hit our production guidance for the first time.

  • Through focus and process improvement was able to reduce LOE by 18% in 6 months.

  • Generated the first set of goals for the production and marketing groups, while creating a vision for our groups to match our corporate goals and plan.

  • Negotiated and executed a 10 year oil gathering agreement that covers 9 townships and generates an NPV of $28MM for Roan.

  • Negotiated and executed a 12 year crude transport and blending agreement to aggregate, blend, and transport our barrels to Cushing generating an NPV of $16MM for Roan.

  • Negotiated and executed a 10 year water management agreement to transport, dispose, and recycle water for Roan, generating a NPV of $60MM

  • Built processes and standards for our operations in production, construction, pad construction, and marketing to increase efficiency and add value.

  • Evaluated and optimized our lease operators’ routes for efficiency and cost savings.

  • Evaluated and optimized our chemical program, and reduced our chemical spend by 15%.

  • Implemented a new process on compression tracking to optimize our utilization and manage our costs.

 

• Sr. Engineer (February 2018 – April 2019):

  • Through this role I was involved in leading a $250 MM capital completions program with 4 frac crew operations in the Midcontinent.

  • Managed 3 completions superintendents, and 26 completion consultants.

  • Mentored, trained, and oversaw two engineering technicians, a staff production engineer & staff completion engineer.

  • Managed and designed all our surface production facilities (6 to 8 surface facilities per month).

  • Managed all water management engineering and operations, including:  water sourcing & transfer, hauling, disposal, pipeline, and recycle. 

  • Oversaw and engineered the initial flowback, flowback analysis, and artificial lift installations of wells.

  • Managed and built processes for regulatory and reporting requirements for all completions and production operations:

    • Frac notifications, OCC guidelines, Air Permitting, GHG, and spill remediation/reporting.

  • Completions designs and implementation for the following plays:

    • Woodford (Central OK)

    • Mississippian/Meramac (Central & Northwest OK)

    • Hunton (Central OK)

 

• Sr. Reservoir/Business Development Engineer (February 2018 – October 2018):

  • Evaluated, built cases, and ran economics for all of our non-op wells and approvals.

  • Assisted our team in 11 evaluations of trades and deals.

  • RTA analysis on all new wells flowback.

  • Reservoir modeling in Sensor with Rexcel and Review.

  • Reservoir engineering expert witness at the OCC and in legal depositions.

  • Worked closely with our Business Information Systems group in order to select software, build processes, and roll out programs to the company.

  • Assisted with the onboarding of our accounting group and working with them to build out processes for operations accounting. 

  • Assist our team with well location selection and managing of the rig schedule.

 

Linn Energy – 2011 to 2018                                                             Oklahoma City, OK

 

• Sr. Completions Engineer (Midcon Division: 2013 – February 2018):

  • Through this role I was in charge of a $100 MM capital program, 2 frac crew completion program for operations in the Midcontinent division (OK, TX, & LA).

  • Manage 2 completions superintendents, 6 completion consultants and 8 flowback consultants.

  • Mentored, trained and oversaw an engineering technician and a less experienced completion engineer. 

  • Completions designs and implementation for the following plays:

    • Woodford/Mississippian/Meramac/Hunton (Central & Northwest OK)

    • Bossier/Cotton Valley/Hosston (Louisiana)

    • Cotton Valley/Bossier/Cotton Valley Lime/Travis Peak/Pettit (East TX)

    • Granite Wash/Hogshooter (TX Panhandle & Western OK)

    • Cleveland/Tonkawa/Marmaton (TX Panhandle & Western OK)

  • Completed two mile HZ wells, one mile HZ wells, vertical wells, wildcat vertical wells, and managed all aspects of the completion, flowback, and production. 

  • Completed core analysis, cuttings analysis, and completions chemical testing to optimize our completions design and fluids packages.

  • Managed meetings with the asset teams to be adaptable and optimize our completions prior to each well to match the reservoir characteristics and rock mechanics.

 

• Sr. Water Management Engineer (Midcon Division: 2014 – February 2018):

  • Through this role I was in charge of a $9 MM capital program for two water facilities (LA and OK).

  • Managed all aspects of water management in the office and field.

  • Drilled, worked over, and oversaw the operations of a total of 8 SWD wells.

  • This role entailed water management (sourcing and transfer) for all well completions in TX, LA, and OK. 

  • Designed, coordinated, and ran economics on a 1.5 MM bbl water recycle facility in Oklahoma to support our drilling program and decrease cost of water while securing water source. 

  • Ran economics on all water sourcing and transfer to decrease our water costs and ensure reliability on the water source (delivered water with a 99.7% reliability). 

  • Coordinated the flowback with water hauling and decreased disposal costs by 20%.

  • Analyzed water flowback for scaling, bacteria, and quality to review our completions fluids.  I was able to adjust our completions biocide to ensure a full kill and decrease biocide costs.

 

• Production/Operations Engineer (Midcon Division:  2011 – 2016):

  • Through this role I was in charge of an average yearly capital program of $15 MM and additionally assisted in overseeing an average expense budget of $45 MM per year.  We were able to decrease our average LOE cost per well by an average of 15% per year from 2012 to 2014, and by 35% in 2014 and 2015 respectively. 

  • Oversaw and mentored two production technicians and their job evaluations.

  • Assisted in the development of four production foreman and their job evaluations. 

  • Reviewed and analyzed production, day to day operations, well workovers, and plugging wells.  Workovers included: Recompletes, Artificial Lift (gas lift, plunger lift, rod pump, and ESP), Snubbing Tubing, Casing Leaks, Tubing Leaks, Rod Redesigns, and Chemical Programs in the following areas:

    • East TX:  700 vertical and 50+ horizontal operated wells (2014 – 2017)

    • Texas Panhandle:  800 vertical and 200+ horizontal wells (2011 – 2014)

    • Western OK:  200 vertical and 30+ horizontal wells (2011 – 2014)

  • Assisted in a workover and recompletion capital program over five years with 625+ projects with an average rate of return of great than 50%.

  • Create the capital and expense budgets for my wells for each calendar year. 

  • Have been involved with several acquisition and divestiture projects, this included asset valuation and putting together a business development package to get approved.

  • Also, as an operations engineer I dealt with many day to day operations outside of well work including: Environmental Regulatory, Remediation and Reporting, Central Gas Marketing, Water Management, and Operational Oversight.

  • Designed and built a gas gathering system of 8” lines in Northern TX Panhandle in order to centralize our gas and increase our marketing power.

 

Halliburton – PE Intern - Summer 2010                                                         Alvarado, TX

           

• Field Engineer: Cementing and Production Enhancement

  • Designed and implemented cement and hydraulic fracturing designs in the Barnett.

 

Southern International, Inc. – PE Intern - Summers: 06, 07, & 08     Oklahoma City, OK

 

• Reservoir Engineering & Environmental Engineering Intern:

  • Volumetric calculations, wellbore drainage analysis, and economic analysis to consult on reservoir engineering projects for small independent companies. 

  • Reserve calculations for small company’s reserves reporting to their banks.

  • Analyzed accidents and environmental damages that were involved in litigation (expert witness).  Including research into API, NFPA, OSHA, and local state and federal laws.

 

Workplace Accomplishments

• Emerging Potential Leadership Program – I was selected in 2015 to be a part of the inaugural emerging potentials leadership program within Linn Energy.  This included three days of training on being a leader and soft skills workshop.  Additionally, this program included leading a project in our breakthrough initiatives.

• Recruiting Team – I have been on the Linn Energy and Roan Resources recruiting team since 2012 and have been involved with the interview and candidate selection process (hired 10 full time employees and 12 interns).

• Intern Mentoring Program – I have been a mentor within the internship program since 2012 and my intern has been extended an offer to return each year since starting.

  • Mentoring Steering Committee – I played an active role on the steering committee.

 

Professional Accomplishments

• Professional Engineer – Oklahoma State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, PE 14946, 1/12/2017.  I passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam (FE), and the Professional Engineering Exam (PE).

• Expert Witness at OCC – Cause No’s: 201804456, 201804457, 201804717, 201804178, 20185567, 20185569, 20185570, 20185714, 20185715, 20185716, 20185717, 20185718, 20187814, 20187816, 20187815, 20187817, 20187149, 20187153, 20187150, and 20187154

• Wrote and presented an SPE paper at URTeC 2018 – Rapid Evaluation of Diverter ‘Effectiveness From Poroelastic Pressure Response in Offset Wells 2902114

• Wrote and presented an SPE paper at URTeC 2018 – A Simple and Cost-Effective Workflow for Engineered Perforations. URTeC:  2875442

• Wrote and presented an SPE paper at URTeC 2016 – A novel Tight Gas Evaluation Workflow for Targeting and Optimizing the Emerging Horizontal Lower Cotton Valley Play in Northern Louisiana.  URTeC: 245628

• Keynote Speaker at the 2020 ALRDC Artificial Lift Workshop

• Panelist at the 2019 Tri-State Oil & Gas Convention – Operators Panel

• Presented at the 2018 Shale Development Workshop - Application of Pressure Based Fracture Mapping Technology for Completion Optimization.

• Panelist at the 2018 Oklahoma Shale Cost-Effective Water Management Congress: SCOOP/STACK 2018

• Keynote Panelist at the 2019 Oklahoma Shale Cost-Effective Water Management Congress: SCOOP/STACK 2019

• Presented at the 2017 SPE & AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting - A Simple and Cost-Effective Workflow for Engineered Perforations. 

• Presented twice to a master’s level Subsurface Production class (OU) – 2015, 2016

• Presented at a SPE technical meeting on gas lift and its application in HZ wells – Jan. 2014

• Presented at a SPE YP Industry Panel on career growth at OU – 2017, 2018, & 2019

• Presented on an Industry Panel through SPE at the Missouri S&T Symposium – April 2017

 

Activities - Active and Past Memberships

• Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

• SPE YP Board Member

  • 2018-2019:  Chairman for the SPE YP Board. 

  • 2017-2018:  Chairman for the SPE YP Board.

  • 2016-2017:  Chapter Chair for the SPE YP Board. 

• SPE Board Member

  • 2019-2020:  Director for the SPE Board.  In charge the future development of special events and sponsorship.

• The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma (OIPA & OKOGA)

• Future Leaders Advisory Council (2017 - Present) – Provide a direction for the OIPA from a young professional standpoint and coordinate efforts in hosting events that are focused on young professional in the oil and gas industry. 

• SCOOP/STACK Seismicity Committee (2017 – Present) – Active Member

• Natural Gas Committee Member (2016 - 2018) – Represented the members of OIPA on matters of natural gas and the topics of concern for 2016 & 2017.

• SCOOP/STACK Technical Water Group – Active Member

• Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) - Member

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) – Oklahoma State University

• Success Coach – Mentor to over 25 freshman in mechanical engineering.

• Phi Delta Theta Fraternity – Oklahoma State University

• Homecoming Chairman – In charge of 120 members and the completion of homecoming.

• Scholarship Chairman – In charge of 40 freshman’s academics.

• University of Oklahoma Lacrosse

• Sponsorship Chairman – I was the creator of the sponsorship chairman and in this role I developed several methods to get donations from alumni, and local businesses.

 

Awards & Honors

• 2018 SPE OKC Officer of the Year

• Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering Scholarship – 2009-2011

• Oklahoma All-State Tennis Player – Spring 2005

• Eagle Scout – 2003

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