PhD Opportunities

Fully funded PhD studentships advertised throughout the year: Visit the North Africa Research Group website for details:  www.narg.org.uk

BSc Geology (Chelsea College, Univ. of London) 1984; PhD Subsurface Analysis of Permo-Carboniferous Glacial Sediments, Canning Basin, WA. (Bristol) 1990;

PhD Students

Current PhDs:

1. Hannah Rawson (3rd Year): Controls on kerogen kinetics and source rock distribution, Porcupine Basin, Ireland
2. Ashong Erieshibe (3rd year): Deepwater Niger Delta, regional tectonstratigraphy, geochemistry using surface samples and extensiove 3D. Defining the petroleum systems
3. Ola Rashad (2nd year) -Joint with Cairo University, Cretaceous Source to Sink Western Destern and Herodotus Basin, Egypt

Completed PhDs: 

1. 2000: Dr Mohammed Sher (now with Pakistan Petroleum Limited):  Seismic interpretation and sequence stratigraphy of the offshore Indus basin of Pakistan.   PPL Funded
2. 2005: Dr Stefan Lubeseder (now working for Wintershall, Germany): Third order sequence stratigraphic framework for the Palaeozoic reservoirs of North Africa. NARG Funded
3. 2006: Dr Ruth Underdown (now a teacher in Manchester): Assessing the impact of regional unconformities on the maturation and migration of hydrocarbons within the Ghadames Basin, North Africa.  NARG Funded
4. 2006: Dr Nadine Mader (now working for Maersk, Norway): Sedimentology, third order sequence stratigraphy and controlling factors on facies distribution in the Triassic of North Africa. NARG Funded
5. 2008: Dr Joe Martin (now working in Shell International ): Sedimentology, provenance and ice-sheet dynamics of the Late Palaeozoic glaciation in Oman and the Canning Basin (West Australia): An integrated outcrop and subsurface study of the Permo-Carboniferous glaciogenic suites of Arabia and Western Australia.  NERC / Shell Funded
6. 2009: Dr Mustafa Karer (now with Haliburton Libya): Nubian Sandstones, Hameitmat Trough, Sirte Basin Libya, Evaluating the sedimentology, reservoir characteristics and distribution, and the interbedded igneous units, their origin, distribution and impact on reservoir quality. Libya Gov. Funded
7. 2009: Dr Ivan Fabuel Perez (now in Exxon, Houston): 3D Modelling of Late  Triassic Continental mixed fluvial systems; integrating LIDAR with high resolution sedimentology of fluvial facies: High Atlas, Morocco  NARG Funded
8. 2009: Dr Xian Bin Zeng (now with Melrose Resources, Edinburgh) Characteristing deep water slope systems, offshore Vietnam
9. 2010: Dr Victoria Catterall (now with ExxonMobil, Houston):  Evolution and morphology or deepwater channels, offshore Nile Delta, Egypt.  NERC / BG Group Case funded
10. 2011: Dr Xavier Van Lanen (now with Statoil, Norway): Quantitative Outcrop Analysis / Integrated Reservoir Modelling of Triassic Fluvial Facies, Minas Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada.  Shell International funded
11. 2011: Dr Myron Thomas (now with Shell International): Sedimentology of the Nummidian Flysch – Narg Sponsored
12. 2011: Dr Anh Le Ngoh (now Lecturing Hanoi University): Stratigraphic evolution and plumbing in the Cameroon Margin, West Africa Vietnam Gov. Univ Manchester and Sterling Energy sponsored.
13. 2012: Dr Laurent Petitpierre (now with Statoil): Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Early Carboniferous Marar Formation in Western Libya. NARG sponsored.
14. 2012: Dr Jonathan Wood (now with Shell International): Sedimentological characterization and regional palaeo-environmental implications of the Messak Fm, SW Libya. Narg Sponsored
15. 2014: Dr Jalal Al Hinai (now with PDO Oman): Permo-Carboniferous glacial systems of the Canning Basin, Western Australia: controls on ice sheet dynamics and sedimentation (PDO Oman Sponsored)
16. 2014: Richard Newport (now with Shell International): Controls of dolomitisation in Late Cretaceous carbonates.
17. 2016: Dr Georgina Heldreich: Controls on Geobody Geometries within the Fluvio-Deltaic Mungaroo Formation, NW Australia: developing improved reservoir models in fluvio deltaic channels sequences.(Funded by Shell International, now a PostDoc at Heriot Watt))
18. 2017 Kara English (Final Year): Diagenesis and thermal history of the Illizi Basin during the Ordovician, Algeria . (Funded by Petroceltic)
19. 2017 Tim Luber (Final year): Passive Margin evolution and controls on depositional facies: Early Cretaceous of the Atlantic margin (Morocco): (NARG Funded) now with Statoil (Equinor)
20. 2018 Mohammed Salem (Passed with corrections): Controls on carbonate reservoir development, Kotla Graben, Sirt Basin, Libya. (Libyan Gov. Funded now Lecturer Benghazi University, Libya)
21. 2018 Remi Charton (Tu Delft): Phanerozoic Vertical Movements in Morocco. (NARG Funded, now post doc)
22. 2018 Angel Arantegui Controls on Early Cretaceous facies evolution in southern Morocco along the of the Atlantic margin (NARG funded, now Adminstrator NHS).
23. 2018 Ginney Bradley, Reservoir Architecture of pre land plant depositional systems: Tumblagooda Fm, Western Australia (Nerc Oil Gas DTP Funded, now a research associate)
24. 2018: Leonardo Muniz Pichel, Atlantic margin Salt development. (Brazil Gov Funded, now a postdoc, IC)
25. 2019 Jianpeng Wang, Cenomanian / Turonoian Source rock development, offshore Morocco. (Chinese Gov Funded, now a PostDoc)
26. 2020 Aude Dival-Arnould : Controls on stratigraphic development and reservoir distribution of shelf margin carbonates: Jurassic Atlantic margin - western Morocco (NARG funded, now PostDoc)
27. 2020 Max Casson:Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the MSGBC basin, NW Africa (NARG funded, joined Equinor).
28. 2021 Emmanuelle Roquette (2021): New constraints on Jurassic-Cretaceous source to sink systems along the central Atlantic margin of Morocco
29. 2021 Nawwar Al-Sinawi (2021): Dolomitization of Jurassic carbonates in the Western High Atlas of Morocco: processes and implications for reservoir properties (joined PDO Oman)
30. 2023 Orrin Bryers: Early Cretaceous Stratigraphy and depositional systems, coral carpets, Essaouira Agadir Basin, Morocco
31. 2023 James Lovell-Kennedy : Triassic (TAGI) source to sink, High Plateaux, Morocco
32. 2024 Ian Mounteney: Cretaceous Source to Sink, MSGBC Basin, Senegal
33. 2024 Selin Coskun: 3D seismic tectonostratigraphy and depositional systems, offshore Senegal

Research Group(s)

• Basin Studies and Petroleum Geoscience
• North Africa Research Group (NARG)

I teach at both undergraduate and MSc level, and lead field courses and tutorials

MSc Teaching

Fundamentals of Petroleum Geoscience: module leader

Prospect Evaluation and Petroleum Economics: module leader

NE England Field Course: Leader

Mallorca Field Course: Leader

Morocco Field Course: Leader

MSc Research Projects; typically 5-6 per year

Undergraduate

Module Leader for EART34102 Geoenergy (3rd Years) 

Personal Tutor

Professor of Petroleum Geoscience,  Director of the Energy Geoscience MSc Programmes  at the University of Manchester.  Director of the North Africa Research Group, funded by a consortium of international oil companies.  For details of North Africa Research Group go to http://narg.org.uk.

Also co-founder of the Centre for Masters Training (CMT) in Energy Transition (www.energy-transition.co.uk)

Background:  I graduated from Chelsea College, University of London with a BSc (Hons) in Geology and joined Fina UK as a geologist working on North Sea exploration.  After 3 years I undertook a PhD at Bristol University on the Sedimentology of the Glaciogenic Permo-Carboniferous Grant Group of the Canning Basin, Western Australia.  After completing my PhD I returned to the oil industry for 12 years with Fina and later Amerada Hess, working in the UK, North Africa (Libya) and S.E Asia (Singapre, Vietnam) and Europe (Italy).  With Hess I was working in international new ventures globally and finally became Chief Geologist for Hess Indonesia.  

Since 1998 I have been an academic (initially at Oxford Brookes University and since 2003 at the University of Manchester). I became a professor in 2006. I continue to have close links to the energy industry, supervising funded PhDs, running the leading North Africa Research Group and as a consultant working with leading companies on a variety of projects.  I founded the Petroleum Geoscience MSc at Manchester, which has been running since 2003, and currently act as the Director of the Energy MSc Programmes, which now also includes a Sustainable Geoscience MSc.

I am a Fellow of the Geological Society (FGS), and Chartered Geologist (CGeol), a member of the AAPG, PESGB, IAS and EAGE, I am Editor in Chief of Petroleum Geoscience (a Geological Socierty of London / EAGE Journal) and was founder Editor of Geoenergy.  I am also on the editorial board of the Journal of Petroleum Geology

Research: I founded the North Africa Research Group: established to undertake broad basin analysis projects in North Africa (http://www.narg.org.uk/).  

Research interests:

My research interests cover a broad spectrum from basin analysis and modelling, applied clastic sedimentology (fluvial and glacial), petroleum system analysis, regional geology of North Africa and SE Asia.

Sedimentology, ancient glacial systems, basin analysis, petroleum geoscience