Gioia Falcone

Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering

Holder of the Chevron Faculty Fellowship in Petroleum Engineering

407 H Richardson Building

College Station, TX 77843-3116

Phone: (979) 847-8912

e-mail: gioia.falcone@pe.tamu.edu

 

Course syllabus

Gioia Falcone joined the faculty in 2006 as an Assistant Professor. She holds a “Laurea Cum Laude” in Environmental-Petroleum Engineering from the University “La Sapienza” of Rome, an M.Sc. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London. Prior to joining Texas A&M, she worked with ENI-Agip, Enterprise Oil UK, Shell E&P UK and TOTAL E&P UK, covering both offshore and onshore assignments. 

• Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, London, 2006
• M.Sc., DIC, Petroleum Engineering, Imperial College, London, 1999
• Laurea degree summa cum laude, Environmental/Petroleum Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 1998

• Feb 03 – Nov 05: Research Reservoir Engineer, Geoscience Research Centre, TOTAL E&P, London (UK).
• Dec 02-Jan 03: Production Technologist, Shell E&P, Aberdeen (UK), post acquisition of Enterprise Oil.
• Sep 99-Nov 02: Petroleum Engineer, Enterprise Oil, Aberdeen (UK).
• May 99-Sep 99: Temporary employment with Enterprise Oil, London (UK)
• Sep 97-May 98: Temporary employment with ENI-Agip, Milan (IT).

• Production Optimization
• Well Performance
• Production Allocation and Metering
• Multiphase Flow Modeling
• Liquid Unloading in Gas Wells
• Dynamic Link Reservoir/Wellbore
• Geothermal Systems

• Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE): Member (1998 to present); Reviewer for "SPE Journal" (2009); Member of Program Committee for the LACPEC (2009); Technical Editor for "Projects, Facilities and Construction Journal" (2006 to present); Memberships Chairperson for R&D Technical Section (2007-2008); Member of ATCE Technical Subcommittee for Well Operations (2003-2007); Member of ATCE Technical Programme Committee (Chairperson of the Technical Subcommittee for Well Operations) (2005); Chairperson of Production Management session at the ATCE (2004); Chairperson of the Integrated Gas technologies Management session at the LACPEC (2009).
• Natural Resources Research: Reviewer (2009).
• Research Council of Norway: Member of Expert Panel on Integrated Operations (2008).
• Sapienza University of Rome, Dept. of Chemical, Materials and Environmental Engineering: Visiting Lecturer (2007-2009).
• Nuclear Engineering and Design Journal: Reviewer (2008).
• Scientific Journals International: Member of Editorial Advisory Board (2006 to present).
• BHR Group Limited - International Conference on Multiphase Production Technology: Referee (2007).
• The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME International) – OMAE Conference: Chairperson of the Pumping and Metering Challenges in Complex Production Systems session (2007).
• Multiphase Measurement Roundtable: Member of Advisory Board (2006-2008); Chair of Advisory Board (2009); Chairperson of the Use of Multiphase Meter Data for Production Optimization and Reservoir Engineering session (2008-2009).
• Multiphase User Roundtable South America: Member Advisory Board (2007-present).
• Ocean Drilling and Sustainable Earth Science (ODASES) partnership, Texas A&M University: Faculty Member (2006 to present).
• Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Texas A&M University: Member (2006-2009).
• Graduate Teaching Academy (GTA), Teaching Mentor Program, Texas A&M University: Teaching Mentor (2009).

• SPE Young Professional Paper Certificate Recipient, SPE ATCE Conference, 2nd Annual ATCE YP Paper Contest, best paper written primarily by a YP in the Well Operations discipline (2009).
• SPE Young Professional Paper Certificate Recipient, SPE ATCE Conference, in recognition of "exemplary paper contribution to the technical discipline of Projects, Facilities, and Construction" (2008).
• Chevron Faculty Fellowship at Texas A&M University, Appointed as the inaugural holder (2008).
• Environmental Drilling Project - Disappearing Roads Contest, Co-advisor of second place undergraduate team, sponsored by NETL, TTI, GPRI, HARC (with Dr. C. Teodoriu) (2008).

• United States Patent 7591191 "Multiphase flow meter for high gas volume fraction systems." Inventors: G.F. Hewitt, G. Falcone. Application Number: 10/558612. Publication date: Sep. 2009.
• International Patent Application PCT/GB2004/002314 relating to "Multiphase Flowmeter." International Publication Number WO2004/106861. Inventors: G.F. Hewitt, G. Falcone (2004).

• Research support from Enterprise Oil, Shell and Total for the Ph.D. (2000-2005).
• Scholarship from ENI-Agip for the M.Sc. course at Imperial College (1998-1999).
• Three annual scholarships from ENI-Agip for special commitment and achievements in the petroleum engineering education, National Professional Petroleum Competition ("Premio Professione Petrolio") (1994-1997).

Books (Author and Contributor)

1. Falcone, G., Hewitt, G.F., Alimonti, C. Multiphase Flow Metering: principles and applications. Elsevier, Textbook for the Developments of Petroleum Science series. Complete manuscript submitted to Elsevier in March 2009. Publication Date: October 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0-444-52991-6, ISBN-10: 0-444-52991-8.
2. Falcone, G., Alimonti, C., Hewitt, G.F., Harrison, B. Multiphase Flow Metering: Current Trends and Future Developments, in Offshore Multiphase Production Operations, SPE Reprint Series No. 58, Vol. 2, Part IV, Dec 2004, ISBN: 978-1-55563-103-1.

Journal Articles

1. Park, H.Y., Falcone, G., Teodoriu C. Decision matrix for liquid loading in gas wells for cost/benefit analyses of lifting options. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, Volume 1, Issue 3, September 2009, 72-83.
2. Surendra, M., Falcone, G., Teodoriu, C. Investigation of Swirl Flows Applied to the Oil and Gas Industry. SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction Journal, Vol. 4, No.1, March 2009, 1-6.
3. Teodoriu, C., Falcone, G. Low Cost Completion for Steam Injections Wells: Theoretical and Experimental Results. Romanian Journal of Petroleum (RJP), Vol.15, No.1, January - June 2008.
4. Teodoriu C., Falcone, G. Comparing completion design in hydrocarbon and geothermal wells: The need to evaluate the integrity of casing connections subject to thermal stresses. Geothermics journal, doi:10.1016/j.geothermics.2008.11.006, available online 9 January 2009.
5. Costantini, A., Falcone, G., Hewitt, G.F., Alimonti, C. Using Transient Inflow Performance Relationships to Model the Dynamic Interaction Between Reservoir and Wellbore During Pressure Testing. ASME Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Vol.130, Iss.4, December 2008 issue, DOI: 10.1115/1.3000128.
6. Falcone, G., Teodoriu, C., Reinicke, K.M., Bello, O.O. Multiphase Flow Modelling Based on Experimental Testing: A Comprehensive Overview of Research Facilities Worldwide and the Need for Future Developments. SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction Journal, September 2008 issue.
7. Al-Darmaki, S., Falcone, G., Hale, C.P., Hewitt, G.F. Experimental Investigation and Modeling of the Effects of Rising Gas Bubbles in a Closed Pipe. SPE Journal, September 2008 issue.
8. Teodoriu C., Falcone, G. Labyrinth Packer Lowers the Costs for Steam Injections Wells: Theoretical and Experimental Results. Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT), September 2008 issue.
9. Teodoriu, C., Falcone, G. Increasing Geothermal Energy Demand: the Need for Urbanization of the Drilling Industry. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 2008, volume 28, No. 3, Special Issue, Part 2: The Age of Alternative Energy: Is the Future Renewable?, DOI:10.1177/0270467608315531, 16 April 2008.
10. Falcone, G., Harrison, B., Teodoriu, C. Can We Be More Efficient in Oil and Gas Exploitation? A Review of the Shortcomings of Recovery Factor and the Need for an Open Worldwide Production Database. Journal of Physical and Natural Sciences, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2007.
11. Alimonti, C., Falcone, G. Integration of Multiphase Flow Metering, Artificial Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic in Field Performance Monitoring. SPE Production & Facilities, Feb 2004, 25-32.
12. Falcone, G., Alimonti, C., Hewitt, G.F., Harrison, B. Multiphase Flow Metering: Current Trends and Future Developments. Distinguished Author Series, Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT), Apr 2002, 77-84.
13. Falcone, G., Harrison, B. Model predicts more accurate PI over a field's life. Oil & Gas Journal, 19 Mar 2001, 41-45.

Accepted, but not published:

14. Fernandez, J., Falcone, G., Teodoriu, C. Design of a High-Pressure Research Flow Loop for the Experimental Investigation of Liquid Loading in Gas Wells. Accepted in March 2009 for publication in the SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction Journal.
15. Falcone, G., Chava, G., Teodoriu. C. Plunger Lift Modeling Toward Efficient Liquid Unloading in Gas Wells. Accepted in October 2009 for publication in the SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction Journal.

Submitted, pending review:

16. Alimonti, C., Falcone, G., Bello, O.O. Two-Phase Flow Characteristics in Multiple Orifice Valves. Submitted to the Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science journal in October 2009.
17. Limpasurat, A., Falcone, G., Teodoriu, C., Barrufet, M.A., Bello, O. Artificial Geothermal Energy Potential of Steam-Flooded Heavy Oil Reservoirs. Submitted to the Int. J. Oil, Gas and Coal Technology in September 2009.

Conference Papers