Ibrahim Gomaa

Dynamic and results-driven professional specializing in petrophysics and reservoir characterization. Proven expertise in molecular dynamics modeling and well log analysis, complemented by strong leadership skills. Successfully developed innovative workflows for CO2 storage, enhancing project efficiency and risk assessment strategies.

(2024 – 2025): First Place - ENERGY A.I. HACKATHON

My team won the first place in the Energy AI Hackathon organized by the Hildebrand Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department, UT Austin. The competition had more than 200 students with more than 15 teams analyzing field data from ExxonMobil building machine learning model to optimize hydraulic fracturing activities.

(2022 – 2023): First Place at Chevron E-Week Student Competition

The theme that year was “The role of the petroleum industry in energy transition” We presented novel and multiscale solutions for carbon storage, sedimentary geothermal for direct use applications and improved wellbore stability modeling.

(2022 – 2023): Outstanding Student Poster Winner – The 𝐒𝐏𝐄 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩: 𝐎𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭-𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 –𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞

My poster about the potential for using unconventional shale gas reservoir for storing CO2 in the adsorption phase got the best poster award among other 22 MSc, Ph.D., and Post Doctoral researchers.

(2019 – 2020): First Place at SPE - MENA Regional Student Paper Contest (MSc Level)

My research paper “Sandstone Acidizing using In-Situ Generated Hydrofluoric Acid with The Aid of
Thermochemical Fluids” got the first place in the SPE – MENA Regional Paper Contest. The competition consisted of 6 contestants from different four universities in the Middle East and North Africa. I was qualified to participate in the international competition.

(2018 – 2019): First Place at SPWLA-KSA Regional Student Paper Contest (MS Level):

My research study “Comprehensive Study for the Effect of Phase Saturation and Pore Structure on the Acoustic `Properties of Carbonate Rocks” got the first place in the SPWLA paper contest competition, KSA section. I was qualified and participated in the international competition held in the 2019 Annual Symposium in The Woodlands, Texas, USA.

(2018-2019): Third Place at SPE Middle East & North Africa Regional Petrobowl Competition:

This competition took place in Bahrain between more than 16 teams from different universities around the Middle East and North Africa. This is a technical competition in the oil field where the teams are asked different questions about different aspects of the O&G discipline.

(2014-2015): Third place at Trivia Egypt competition:

This a technical competition between all the SPE student chapters took place at AUC. I joined this competition in my grade 2 and achieved the third place among nine teams most of them were senior students.

• 2025, University Graduate Continuing Fellowship of $38K
• 2024, UT Chevron Energy Graduate Fellowship of $10K, Chevron and the Energy Institute at UT Austin
• 2024, SPWLA Research Grant of $3.5K, Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts Foundation
• 2023, Henry DeWitt Smith Fellowship of $5K, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
• 2023, S.P. Yates Memorial Endowment for Graduate Fellowships in Petroleum Engineering of $4.5K, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
• 2022, John and Kelli Weinzierl Endowed Presidential Fellowship in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering of $4.5K, The University of Texas at Austin
• 2021, The Hildebrand Excellence Fellowship of $2K, Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
• 2018, Full Graduate Research Assistantship, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
• 2011, Full Undergraduate Scholarship, The British University in Egypt

(2024 – 2025): UT PGE Energy Net Mentor

Guiding a group of freshly admitted grad students and facilitate their transition to the graduate school life within the Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering department at UT Austin.

(2022 – 2024): VP of SPWLA UT Student Chapter

Leading a team of enthusiastic UT students over two years to carry out technical and non-technical activities such as SPWLA distinguished speakers sessions and recreational events.

(2014-2015): Mentor and academic instructor at “Mentoring Project” SPE Cairo University SC:

Worked as a leader for 4 undergraduate students to train a group of 14 engineering students on the basics of Well Control. We conduct more than 5 technical sessions under the name of (Tame the Well Study Group). By the end, we had 12 graduates from this program.

(2014-2015): High board member at SPE BUE SC.:

Organizing many technical events such as; Deep water drilling sessions, Drilling bits types and concepts, a 6-day field trip to Agiba petroleum company.

(2014-2015): Trainee at Schlumberger :

Spent two weeks of the summer at SIS, Schlumberger Information Solutions, working on the basics of ECLIPSE, PETREL and PIPESIM software. During the training, four presentations were performed by the trainees to conclude the delivered information and improve our presentation skills.

Book Chapters

Mahmoud, M., Gomaa, I., (2021). “Sandstone Matrix Stimulation” ch.9. In Q. Wang (Ed.1). “Fluid Chemistry, Drilling and Completion”. Gulf Professional Publishing.

U.S. Patents

1.Ba Geri, B., Gomaa, I.., Mahmoud, M., and Patil, S. (2021). “In-Situ Barite-Quartz and Calcite-Quartz Filter Cake Removal Method”. US20210024809A1

2.Gomaa, I., Mahmoud, M., Abdelgawad, K.Z., Hasan, A., and Al-Shehri, D. (2021). “Acidizing of Subterranean Formation Using In-Situ Generated HF”. US20210062073A1.

Journal Papers

1.Gomaa, I. et al. (2025). Impacts of rock components on the competitive adsorption of carbon dioxide and methane in organic shales. Gas Science and Engineering

2.Gomaa, I. et al. (2023). Experimental Measurements and Molecular Simulation of Carbon Dioxide Adsorption on Carbon Surface. SPE Res Eval & Eng

3.Gomaa, I.et al. (2021). “The prediction of wellhead pressure for multiphase flow of vertical wells using artificial neural networks”. Arab. J. Geosci.

4.Gomaa, I. et al. (2020). "Sandstone Acidizing Using A Low-Reaction Acid System." ASME. J. Energy Resour. Technol.

5.Gomaa, I., and Mahmoud, M. (2020). “Stimulating illitic sandstone reservoirs using in-situ generated HF with the aid of thermochemicals”. J. Pet. Sci. Eng.

6. Gomaa, I. et al. (2020). “Novel Approach for Sandstone Acidizing Using in Situ-Generated Hydrofluoric Acid with the Aid of Thermochemicals”. ACS Omega.

7.Bageri, B. S., Gomaa, I., et al. (2020). “Complex barite filter cake removal using in-situ generated acids by thermochemicals”. Scientific Reports

8.Gomaa, I. et al. (2020). “Real-Time Determination of Rheological Properties of High Over-Balanced Drilling Fluid Used for Drilling Ultra-Deep Gas Wells Using Artificial Neural Network”. J Nat Gas Sci Eng .

9.Onaizi, S. A., Gawish, M. A., Murtaza, M., Gomaa, I., Tariq, Z., & Mahmoud, M. (2020). “H2S Scavenging Capacity and Rheological Properties of Water-Based Drilling Muds”. ACS Omega.

Conference Papers

1.El Masry, J., Gomaa, I., Maalouf, E., and Heidari, Z. (2025). Quantifying the Impacts of CO2 Adsorption on the Elasticity of Organic-Rich Mudrocks. Paper presented at the URTeC, Houston, Texas, USA.

2.El Masry, J., Gomaa, I., Maalouf, E., and Heidari, Z. (2025). Quantification of Mechanical Integrity of Clay Minerals in Clay-Rich Rocks Under CO2 Geological Storage. Paper presented at the SPWLA 66th Annual Logging Symposium, UAE.

3.El Masry, J., Gomaa, I., Maalouf, E., and Heidari, Z. (2025). Impacts of CO2 Adsorption on the Elastic Properties of Kerogen in Organic-Rich Mudrocks. Paper presented at the SPWLA 66th Annual Logging Symposium, Dubai, UAE.

4.Gomaa, I., Heidari, Z., and Hassan, A. (2024). Quantifying The Impacts of Reservoir Geochemistry and Pore Structure on The CO2 Diffusion and Leakage in Organic-rich Mudrock Formations and Caprocks. Paper presented at the SPWLA 65th Annual Logging Symposium,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

5.Silveira, I., Gomaa, I., and Heidari, Z. (2024). Quantifying CO2-Fluid-Mineral Interfacial Interactions: Implications to CO2-Enhanced Oil Recovery. Paper presented at the SPWLA 65th Annual Logging Symposium,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

6.Gomaa, I., Heidari, Z., and Hassan, A. (2024). Impacts of Reservoir Fluids and Matrix Composition on Hydrogen Adsorption and Diffusion in Rocks with Complex Composition and Pore Structure. Paper presented at the URTeC, Houston, Texas, USA.

7.Gomaa, I., Heidari, Z., and Espinoza, D. N. (2023). Molecular-Scale Quantitative Evaluation of the Competitive Sorption of Methane and Carbon Dioxide on the Different Constituents of Organic-Rich Mudrocks. Paper presented at the SPWLA 64th Annual Logging Symposium, Lake Conroe, Texas, USA.

8.Gomaa, I., Silveira, I., Heidari, Z., and Espinoza, D. N. (2023). Molecular Simulation Study of the Competitive Adsorption of Carbon Dioxide and Methane in Organic Shale – Implication for Enhanced Gas Recovery. Paper presented at the SPE/AAPG/SEG Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, Denver, Colorado..

9.Gomaa, I., Azizoglu, Z., and Heidari, Z. (2023). Quantifying the Sensitivity of Dielectric Dispersion Data to Fracture Properties in Fractured Rocks. Paper presented at the SPWLA 64th Annual Logging Symposium, Lake Conroe, Texas, USA.

10.Gomaa, I., Guerrero, J., Heidari, Z., and Espinoza, D. N. (2022). Experimental Measurements and Molecular Simulation of Carbon Dioxide Adsorption on Carbon Surface. Paper presented at the SPE ATCE, Houston, Texas, USA.

11. Gomaa, I. (2020). Formation Integrity and Pore System Evaluation for Stimulated Sandstone Formation Using In-Situ Generated Acid Catalyzed by A Fused Chemical Reaction. Paper presented at SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 26-29 October, Virtual.

12.Gomaa, I., Elkatatny, S., Abdulraheem, A., and Mahmoud, M. (2019). Real-Time Determination of the Rheological Properties of High Over-Balanced Drilling Fluid Using Artificial intelligence.. AADE National Technical Conference and Exhibition, April 9 -10, Denver, Colorado, USA.