Dr. Ali AlYousef
Dean, Dean’s Office
Dr. Ali AlYousef is the second Dean of College of Petroleum Engineering & Geosciences (CPG), KFUPM. He was a Principal Petroleum Engineering Professional and Chief Technologist of Reservoir Engineering Technology Division at Saudi Aramco Upstream Research Centre. He has more than 30 years of experience in upstream research and technology, decarbonization, CCUS, Advanced reservoir evaluation and monitoring, Advanced Petrophysics, and Advanced Materials and IOR/EOR.
He has written over 100 technical papers, and has 61 granted patents. He is an active member of Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and received the Saudi Aramco President & CEO Excellence Award in 2015 in recognition of significant contributions towards IOR/EOR research. Dr. Ali AlYousef is also the recipient of IOR Pioneer Award received in 2016 for his significant contributions made to the advancement of recovery technologies. He is recognized by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in 2018 for his pioneering invention on SmartWater flooding technology. More recently, the technology on zero liquid discharge (ZLD) water management solution that he co-invented has received World Oil’s 2020 Best Water Management Technology Award. He is also recipient of International SPE’s Distinguished Membership at 2021 SPE ATCE for his technical commitment for the industry and the society. Dr. Ali AlYousef has also been elected as 2021 Fellow of Energy Institute (FEI).
Educational Qualification
- Ph.D., Petroleum Engineering, University of Texas at Austin – 2006
- M.S., Petroleum Engineering, University of Texas at Austin – 2001
- B.S., Chemical Engineering, KFUPM – 1995
Research Interests
- Reservoir Engineering
- Formation Evaluation
- Water flooding
- Improved/Enhanced Oil Recovery
- Nanotechnology
- Unconventional Resources
- Produced Water Management
- Mineral Extraction
- Carbon capture and sequestration
- CO2 mineralization
- Energy Transition
- Hydrogen
- Geothermal Energy
Selected Publications
- A. Yousef, M. Han, and S.H. Saleh; Oil recovery process for carbonate reservoirs; US Patent 8,550,164; 2013.
- A. Yousef and Ayirala, S.C; Smart water flooding processes for increasing hydrocarbon recovery; US Patent 10,000,687; 2018.
- C. Ayirala, A.M. Sofi, and A. A. Yousef; Oil recovery process using an oil recovery composition of aqueous salt solution and dilute polymer for carbonate reservoirs; US Patent 10,106,726; 2018.
- T. Kwak, A.A. Yousef and S.H. Saleh; Measuring connectivity between different pore types in porous media; US Patent No. 10,156,531; 2018.
- C. Ayirala, A.M. Sofi, A. A. Yousef and J. Wang; Polymer Flooding processes for viscous oil recovery in carbonates; US Patent No. 10,457,851; 2019.
- C. Ayirala and A. A. Yousef, Water treatment schemes for injection water flooding recovery processes in carbonate reservoirs, US Patent No. 10,479,928, 2019.
For detailed list of Publications, Patents, Text Books, Regional/International Awards, Journal Publications and Conference Papers click here.
Extended Publications (+)
- A. Yousef and S.C. Ayirala, Pressure pulse assisted injection water flooding processes for carbonate reservoirs; US Patent No. 10,738,233; 2020.
- C. Ayirala. M.A. Alsaud, and A.A. Yousef, Low PH-based Oil Recovery Method for Carbonate Reservoirs, US Patent No. 11214730, 2022.
- B. Otaibi, D.K. Cha, and A.A. Yousef, Artificial Rain to Support Water Flooding in Remote Oil Fields, US Patent No. 11274534; 2022.
- Al-Qasim, S.C. Ayirala, and A.A. Yousef, Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery with Electric Current, US Patent No. 11352867, 2022.
- Aljedaani, M.B. Alotaibi, S.C. Ayirala, and A.A. Yousef, Humidification and Dehumidification Processes using Waste Heat Extracted from Abandoned Well, US Patent No. 11548796, 2023.
- A. Abu Al-Saud, S.C. Ayirala, and A.A. Yousef, Multiscale Modeling Workflow of Advanced Waterflooding, US Patent No. 11604910, 2023.
- O. Alghamdi, S.C. Ayirala, and A.A. Yousef, Down-hole Selective Ion Removal Water Ionizer System for Subsurface Applications, US Patent No. 11,788,392, 2023.
- A. Yousef and L.W. Lake, A Capacitance Model to Infer Interwell Connectivity from Production and Injection Rate Fluctuations, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering Journal, 9 (5): 630-646. 2006.
- A. Yousef, S. Saleh, A. Al-Kaabi, and M. Al-Jawfi, Laboratory Investigation of the Impact of Injection-Water Salinity and Ionic Content on Oil Recovery from Carbonate Reservoirs, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 2011.
- C. Ayirala and A.A. Yousef; A State-of-the-Art Review to Develop Injection Water Chemistry Requirement Guidelines for IOR/EOR Projects, SPE Production and Operations, 2015
- B. AlOtaibi and A.A. Yousef, A.A; The Role of Individual and Combined Ions in Waterflooding Carbonate Reservoirs: Electokinetic Study. SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 2017
- Chen, Y. Kaufman, K. Kristiansen, D. Seo, A.M. Schrader, M.B. Alotaibi, H.A. Dobbs, N.A. Cadirov, J.R. Boles, S.C. Ayirala, J.N. Israelachvili, and A.A Yousef; Effects of salinity on oil recovery (the ‘dilution effect’): Experimental and theoretical studies of crude oil/brine/carbonate surface restructuring and associated physico-chemical interactions, Energy & Fuels, 2017
- C. Ayirala, A.A. Yousef, Z. Li and Z. Xu; Water Ion Interactions at Crude Oil-Water Interface and their Implications on SmartWater Flooding in Carbonates, SPE Journal, 2018
- Mahzari, P. Tsolis, M. Sohrabi, S. Enezi, A.A. Yousef and A. Eidan, Carbonated Water Injection Under Reservoir Conditions; In-Situ WAG-type EOR, Fuel, 2018
- M. AlSofi, J. Wang, AlBoqmi, A.M., AlOtaibi, M.B., Ayirala, S.C. and Yousef, A.A. Smartwater Synergy with Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery: Polymer Effects on Smartwater, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 2019
- C. Ayirala, A. Alghamdi, A. Gmira, D.K. Cha, Abu Alsaud, and A.A. Yousef. Linking Pore Scale Mechanisms with Macroscopic to Core Scale Effects in Controlled Ionic Composition Low Salinity Waterflooding Processes, Fuel, March 2020.
- Rao, S. Kumar, C. Annink, D. Le-Anh, S.C. Ayirala, M.B. Alotaibi, I. Siretanu, M. H.G. Duits, A.A. Yousef, and F. Mugele, Mineral Interfaces and Oil Recovery: A Microscopic View on Surface Reconstruction, Organic Modification, and Wettability Alteration of Carbonates, Energy & Fuels, April 2020.
- Li, S.C. Ayirala, R. Mariath, A.M. AlSofi, Z. Xu, and A.A. Yousef. Microscale Effects of Polymer on Wettability Alteration in Carbonates, SPE Journal, August 2020.
- Rao, S. Kumar, C. Annink, D. Le-Anh, S.C. Ayirala, M.B. AlOtaibi, I. Siretanu, M. H.G. Duits, A.A. Yousef, and F. Mugele Artificial Diagenesis of Carbonates: Temperature-Dependent Inorganic and Organic Modifications in Reservoir Mimetic Fluids, SPE Journal, 2020.
- Fenter, T. Qin, S. Soo Lee, M.B. AlOtaibi, S.C. Ayirala and A.A. Yousef, Molecular-Scale Origins of Wettability at Petroleum-Brine-Carbonate Interfaces, Nature Scientific Reports, 2020.
- Kumar, A. Rao, M.B. Alotaibi, S.C. Ayirala, A.A. Yousef, I. Siretanu, and F. Mugele, Response of Crude Oil Deposited Organic Layers to Brines of Different Salinity: An Atomic Force Microscopy Study on Carbonate Surfaces, Fuel, 2021.
- Rao, S. C. Ayirala, M.B. Alotaibi, M. H. G. Duits, A. A. Yousef, F. Mugele, Nonmonotonic Coupled Dissolution-Precipitation Reactions at the Mineral–Water Interface. 2021, Advanced Functional Materials 31 (51): 2106396
- O. Alghamdi, S.C. Ayirala, M.B. Al-Otaibi, and A.A. Yousef, Electro-kinetically tailored interfaces for chemical enhanced oil recovery in carbonates, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2021.
- C. Ayirala, A.M. AlSofi, Z. AlYousef, J. Wang, M.A. Alsaud, A.A. Yousef, SmartWater based synergistic technologies for enhanced oil recovery, Fuel, 2022.
- Le-Anh, A. Rao, S. Schlautmann, A. Stetten, S.C. Ayirala, M.B. Alotaibi, M. Duits, H. Gardeniers, A.A. Yousef, and F. Mugele, Effects of fluid aging and reservoir temperature on waterflooding in 2.5D glass micromodels, Energy & Fuels, 2022.
- Kumar, P. Cats, M.B. Alotaibi, S.C. Ayirala, A.A. Yousef, R. van Roij, I. Siretanu, F. Mugele, Absence of anomalous underscreening in highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes confined between smooth silica surfaces, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2022.
- Binabdi, T. Solling, A. El Zohry, S.C. Ayirala; A. Gmira, A.A. Yousef, Fundamentals of Crystallization at Oil-Brine Interfaces for Conformance Control and Oil Spill Remediation Applications, Journal of Geoenergy Science and Engineering, 2023.
- Duits, D. Le-Anh, S.C. Ayirala, M.B. AlOtaibi, H. Gardeniers, A.A, Yousef, and F. Mugele, Microfluidics for Carbonate Rock IOR: Some Lessons from Fabrication, Operation and Image Analysis, SPE Journal, Sept. 2023.
- Qin, P. Fenter, M. B. AlOtaibi, S.C. Ayirala, and A.A. Yousef, Is Enhanced Oil Recovery Controlled by Ion Adsorption at the Carbonate-Brine Interface? Scientific Reports, 2023.
- AlOmier, D.K. Cha, S.C. Ayirala, A.A Yousef, and H. Hoteit, Novel Fabrication of Mixed Wettability Micromodels for Pore-Scale Studies of Fluid-Rock Interactions, Lab On a Chip, 2024
- Rao, S. Guo, X. He, H. Kwak, A.A Yousef, H. Hoteit, Hybrid Mimetic Finite Difference and Streamline Methods for Numerical Simulation of Two-phase Flow in Fractured Reservoirs, 2024, Computers and Geotechnics 166: 106048.
- Abdel-Azeim, A. Al-Yaseri, K. Norrman, P. Patil, A. Qasim, A.A. Yousef, Wettability of Caprock–H2–Water: Insights from Molecular Dynamic Simulations and Sessile-Drop Experiment, 2023, Energy Fuels 37 (23): 19348–19356.
- Rao, X. He, H. Kwak, A.A Yousef, H. Hoteit, A Novel Streamline Simulation Method for Fractured Reservoirs with Full-tensor Permeability, 2024, Physics of Fluids 36: 013107.
Awards & Honors
- 2024 Hart Energy Special Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation (MEA) on the World’s First Produced Water Management Project with Unconventional Frac Flow-Back Water
- 2023 Global Energy Show Suzanne West Environmental Excellence Award for A Sustainable Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Produced Water Management Solution for Recycling of Wastewater Streams
- 2023 Hart Energy Special Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation (MEA) on the Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Produced Water Management Project
- 2023 Gulf Energy Excellence Award for the Best EOR Technology on SmartWater Flooding- A Sustainable EOR Technology
- 2023 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Distinguished Service Award
- 2022 Saudi Aramco Excellence Award for the Innovation and Field Demonstration of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Produced Water Management Technology
- 2022 World Oil Award for the Best Water Management Technology on Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Produced Water Management Field Demonstration Project
- 2021 Fellow of Energy Institute (FEI), the highest level of EI recognition awarded to Energy’s leaders and influencers.
- 2020 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Distinguished Membership Award
- 2020 World Oil Award for the Best Water Management Technology on Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Produced Water Management Innovation
- 2017 Custodian of Two Holy Mosques Award for Inventors and the Gifted in recognition of the breakthrough invention on SmartWater flooding technology
- 2016 SPE IOR Pioneer Award for pioneering contributions made to the advancement of recovery technologies in the field of IOR/EOR
- 2015 Saudi Aramco President & CEO Excellence Award on IOR/EOR research advancements
- 2011 ADIPEC Best Oil and Gas Innovation and Technology Award for SmartWater Flooding technology