Profile

Mr. Koperna is Vice President of Engineering with Advanced Resources International, Inc. In this capacity, he oversees an interdisciplinary team of geologists, engineers, and economists conducting resource appraisal, field development and optimization, improved and enhanced recovery projects, and carbon storage applications. He has a long history of delivering public and private projects on time and within budget. Of note, Mr. Koperna continues the development of a regionally significant (>50 million metric tons) CO2 storage site in southeastern USA, under the US Department of Energy's Carbon Storage Assurance and Facility Enterprise initiative. Currently in year 4 and amid CO2 injection permitting efforts, this project looks to develop a regional CO2 storage hub.

Mr. Koperna has several related international activities. He was appointed by the SPE International Board of Directors to the Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilization and Sequestration Board in 2012. He oversaw the transition of the Board Committee to a Technical Section, Chairing it for two years (2015 and 2016). During his Chairmanship tenure, Mr. Koperna formed an ad hoc committee to develop a CO2 Storage Resources Management System (SRMS), which he continues to co-chair. Additionally, Mr. Koperna participates within the International Organization for Standardization, Technical Committee 265: Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport, and Geological Storage, where he is Convenor of Working Group 6 (CO2-EOR) and a member of Working Group 4 (Storage), focusing on quantification and verification of stored CO2.

Mr. Koperna holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science Degrees in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering awarded from West Virginia University.

Advanced Resources International

For over 40 years, Advanced Resources International (ARI) has been internationally recognized and respected for its expertise on EOR and unconventional oil and natural gas (coalbed methane, shale gas and shale, tight oil, and tight gas sands). ARI was an early entrant into the geologic storage arena, beginning with global sequestration capacity assessments in oil and gas reservoirs and coal seams for IEAGHG in the mid-1990s.

ARI supports commercial clients to permit CCS projects, including projects at ethanol facilities in the central US, gas processing facilities in the US Gulf Coast, and a cement plant in Colorado, and a midcontinent CO2 gathering pipeline and storage project. ARI is also working on projects to assess the feasibility of storage CO2 in saline formations near a producing oil field and are currently working to permit a Class VI injection facility in Mississippi under Department of Energy sponsorship. ARI has a long-standing record on advising the US Environmental Protection Agency, developing frameworks and an active participation in the development of both ISO CCUS standards and the CO2 Storage Resource Management System. ARI personnel serves as Subject Matter Experts on carbon capture and storage under the US Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.