They are also looking for oil in Budvanin's way

From a promising tourismologist who worked in leading hotels in the Montenegrin metropolis of tourism, to today a successful geologist, signatory of a scientific geological model in the oil industry that is being applied on a trial basis in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, some of the largest oil basins in the world.

It is the story of Nikola Bjelica from Budva, who a decade ago, after meeting the woman of his life in Budva, went to her native Houston and started a family, and discovered geology as a life calling. Today, he is finishing his master's studies at the University of Houston and is engaged in scientific work.

That science has become his life's choice, Bjelica also confirms with great success - with four colleagues from the University of Houston, he recently participated in the world's largest Imperial Barrel Award (IBA) competition, in which students of geosciences (geology, geophysics, geochemistry, petrophysics, oil engineers...) with more than a thousand faculties from all over the world, won second place.

"I am a child from Budva. I grew up in Budva and in 2010 I moved to America, to Houston. I graduated from the University of Belgrade in tourism and hotel management. In Houston, I become the father of two boys. However, I soon realize that I want to go back to studying and in 2014 I decide to start all over again. At Houston Community College, I am entering the Graduate School of Engineering as a prerequisite for geology and I will graduate in 2017. And in the summer of 2017, I transferred to the University of Houston and in December 2019 I graduated with an undergraduate degree. I started my master's degree in September 2020," Bjelica told "Vijesti".

He points out that he fell in love with geology at first sight.

He says that during his undergraduate studies, he worked with Dr. Paul Men all the time, on investigations of the seabed of Brazil, Argentina, Guyana, Suriname, Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon and the Caribbean.

"Working with him recommended me to Hilcorp Energy, which is the largest private oil company in America. After working for them for a while, I came up with the idea of ​​making a geological model to be used in the oil industry (and maybe in the geothermal and nuclear industry as well). In order to turn the idea into reality, I had to contact a lot of professors and scientists who would be willing to work with me and help realize the idea".

He states that after some time and searching, he found a common language with the Italian, doctor Lorenzo Coli, who, as he says, is fortunately a regular professor at his university. He points out that the professor was ready to give him a chance.

"Although he is a physicist and geophysicist by nature, he decided to venture into the geological model and give it a geophysical touch. When we started to work on the model, we discovered that the chance of the model succeeding was getting bigger and bigger, so we included University professor Dr. Magdalena Kuri and Dr. Andrew Madoff from one of the largest oil companies in the world - Chevron. That was the key thing in the end, to have such a strong company behind you - to support you. The model is something that is being applied for the first time in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, the world's largest oil and gas basins in the world," emphasizes Bjelica.

He explains that their model analyzes the dynamic topography and looks at the region in the big picture, that is, that it does not attach importance to the local level, but to the regional level.

“Dynamic topography has never been analyzed in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. The model tracks sedimentation and erosion over time and follows the evolution of the space for sediment accumulation. This is very important because it calculates how much sediment of interest has been deposited at a site. Therefore, it saves both time and money for the company when doing research in the region. Another thing the model provides is the answer to how strong the lithosphere is in some places in the world. This is also important because it gives a very clear picture of the formation of a basin, which automatically saves time and money for the company when doing research. The model has so far passed the first two stages of approval. We still have a year left to finish, but I have already received several calls from oil companies, as well as geothermal and nuclear companies, to give them a lecture on the preliminary results", Budvanin points out and adds that his idea is that when he finishes the model for Texas and Mexico bay, use the same operating principle and create a global model for every basin in the world.

He says that he tried his hand at scientific research at the world's largest competition, the Imperial Barrel Award (IBA), which is held every year from January to May.

"It is a student competition with more than 1.000 faculties from all over the world. The teams are engaged in evaluating the prospective basin assigned by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). These are usually three very interesting basins from different parts of the world. The competition is very rigorous and the teams fight to promote petroleum geoscience in the world and to promote the careers of participating students. The teams analyze a set of information from geology, geophysics, geochemistry, petrophysics, earth, production materials and other related materials. They have eight weeks to complete the project they are given. They have to present their project in 25 minutes. If literally one second goes over those 25 minutes, the team is automatically disqualified. Project presentation is done in front of 10 to 18 judges. Judges are scientists of geology, geophysics, geochemistry, petrophysics, petroleum engineering and other sciences, who work for the largest oil companies in the world... These are usually people who are listed very high in those companies. The winner was decided on the basis of the technical expertise obtained after those eight weeks of very rigorous and demanding work, on the basis of the purity of speech in the presentation and on the basis of the originality of the presentation".

It should be noted that in the past ten years, the University of Houston won the competition twice, in 2017 and 2019.

"Each faculty chooses the five best students who will be their representatives. In most cases, students applying for master's and doctorate degrees, because the subject matter is generally very complex. That selection of students is a very rigorous process in which a group of mentors decides who will enter the top five. The first qualification item is that the student has good grades in subjects related to geoscience. The second item is that the student has experience in research. The third item is whether the student has industry experience or not and the last, fourth item is for the student to present their current research. When the school chooses its team, then registration for the competition starts, and there is another way of selection, this time the schools that will compete are selected. That's what the American Association of Petroleum Geologists does... They select 5 to 10 of the best faculty from each region to compete for the winner of the region (section) in which the faculty is located. When the faculties are chosen, then the eight-week preparation finally begins, where the students do everything they can to present the project in the best possible light," says Bjelica.

The team he was part of had five members - four master's students and one doctoral student.

"Our main mentor was Dr. Paul Man, who is one of the best petroleum geologists in the world. The team included Brian Moore, in charge of seismic and subsurface interpretation, Daniela Gutierrez Ezley, in charge of geochemistry, Rachel Ronquil, in charge of historical geography, Michael Martinez, in charge of assisting Brian with seismic and assisting me with the collection of wells and information that I needed them. I was in charge of petrophysics and seismic. The region assigned to us was the Faroe Islands. More specifically, the part between the Faroe Islands (belonging to Denmark) and the Shetland Islands (belonging to Scotland). The research was carried out in the water margin, under the sea. The part belonging to the Faroe Islands has not been explored very much because there is a lot of volcanic rock underground. Those volcanic rocks can harm the oil and gas and make it evaporate, and burn everything completely. However, on the other side, where the Shetland Islands are, a lot of oil has been found and has been produced there for the past 30 years. One of the largest regions for oil in the Atlantic Ocean", said Bjelica.

He points out that the investigation established that there are great chances to find oil and gas in the region belonging to the Faroe Islands and presented very strong evidence for this.

"Judges and people from the industry are very satisfied with what we found because we are the only team that has 'attacked' what is under the volcanic rock. Unfortunately, we did not manage to win in the strongest section in the world, we ended up in second place, which is also a phenomenal success, when you know which faculties are competing. In the final, we were defeated by the team from the University of Louisiana from Lafayette, which has been the world champion three times so far. What is very important is that the big world oil companies, after seeing our presentation, decided to contact us. We all received invitations individually from the companies, to join the work in the near future and be in charge of the investigation under the volcanic rock in this region".

It supports research in Montenegro with strict adherence to all recommendations

When asked how he sees the expression of the Montenegrin seabed when it comes to oil, Bjelica says that he "certainly supports every form of valorization of Montenegrin natural resources, with the aim of strengthening the economic solvency of the country from which it originates."

"But only and exclusively with strict and responsible compliance with all the recommendations of eminent scientists related to the preservation of the environment and Montenegro as an ecological state," said Bjelica.

He points out that Budva and Montenegro are always in his heart and that he tries to present them at every step, in the best light.

"The pictures of Budva and Montenegrin nature will be present at the University of Houston very soon because I urged it, because I often represent the faculty at the international level. I try to introduce as many people as possible to our region because it has given birth to many good people in the world", says Bjelica.