About Well Complete
Engineer. Innovator. Researcher.
ENGINEERING & CONSULTING
Well Complete is an engineering consulting firm that conducts fundamental research and develops software applications. We specialize in wellbore and wellbore completion problems, including wellbore thermal/flow simulation, drillstring mechanics, tubing buckling analysis, arctic well completions, tubular stress analysis and geomechanics.
Well Complete’s Principal, Robert Mitchell is well-known in the oil and gas industry for his numerous innovations from solid mechanics to thermodynamics.
Innovator
The first comprehensive analysis of the post-buckling equilibrium of tubulars posed as a boundary value problem
Developed the first software for wellbore thermal analysis, WellCat™ and StressCheck™, which has since become the industry standard
Designed the first dynamic casing/tubing stress analysis software
The first to accurately predict dynamic wellbore surge pressures
The first correct analysis of deep permafrost thaw subsidence and associated surface casing design
Granted seven patents and has six pending
Researcher/Problem Solver- Mechanics to Thermodynamics
He has over 100 published papers in industry journals on wellbore and well completion problems, wellbore thermal/flow simulation, drillstring mechanics, tubing buckling analysis, arctic well completions, tubular stress analysis and geomechanics.
For copies of papers, visit onepetro.org.
Experienced - Forty Years of Diverse Experience
He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. Today, he is Principal of Well Complete, which he founded in 2015. Prior to staring his own company, he was a Halliburton Technology Fellow in the Drilling and Evaluation Division from 1996 to 2014. He joined Halliburton when they acquired his previous company, Enertech Engineering and Research Company, where he was a principal and vice-president from 1980 – 1996. Prior to signing on with the start-up, Enertech, he was with Exxon Production Research from 1973 – 1980. His educational background includes a BA, MME, and Ph.D. degrees from Rice University. He was awarded the 2005 Society of Petroleum (SPE) Drilling and Completions Award and has been elected a Distinguished Member of SPE.
He is also known among his peers for his unique approach and unconventional insight into difficult problems, and for developing novel solutions. Some of the companies that have benefited from his expertise include:
Giver - Giving back and mentoring the next generation
Numerous volunteer positions with the Society of Petroleum Engineering (SPE):
Executive Editor, SPE Drilling and Completions Journal 2008 – 2009
Drilling Editor, SPE Petroleum Engineers Handbook
Technical Editor, SPE Computer Applications, SPE Drilling and Completions, and the SPE Journal
Involvement with the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME):
President of the Student Chapter at Rice University
Technical Editor, Applied Mechanics Review and The Journal of Energy Resources Technology
Served on American Petroleum’s Institute (API):
Agenda Item 1.93 Work Group
RP-96 Recommended Practices for Deepwater Drilling 2010- 2011
Author/editor of the following textbooks:
Co-editor/contributor, Advanced Drilling and Well Technology
Senior editor, Fundamentals of Drilling Engineering
Author, casing and tubing design chapter, Petroleum Well Construction
Advisor to the University of Tulsa drilling research engineering program where he serves on multiple thesis committees and counsels graduate students
“Rob has organized the chaos of what we empiricists made from drilling mechanics and dynamics data in the 1980’s and 90’s into an understanding in classical mathematics that will stand the test of time. His work in tubular buckling is the industry standard and a guide for all other areas of modeling work in well construction.”
“Rob’s development of software products for the analysis and design of well completions has had a significant impact on our industry. I suspect that these products have led to the development of thousands of sound well designs over the years. But Rob’s contributions to the industry go way beyond technical ones. He has been and continues to be generous with his knowledge and expertise by donating his time to work one-on-one with many of our doctoral engineering students at the University of Tulsa.”
“Investigation analyses of Deepwater Horizon had revealed that the buckled drill pipe caused the drill pipe to be off-center enough to prevent the blind shear blowout preventer from sealing, leading to the prolonged oil spill. Analyzing this behavior is very complex, and Rob Mitchell’s mathematical work supported expensive computer modeling (but unproven) on the shape of the buckled pipe. Forward on, his work provides engineers a practical way to assess and reduce this risk on their wells.”