Ahmed Chaouche

Ahmed Chaouche - Taking a Different Path
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Ahmed Chaouche - Taking a Different Path
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Ahmed Chaouche
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As the company's first of only two geochemists, Ahmed Chaouche takes a different path to reach the ultimate destination of finding oil and gas reserves.
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After receiving a bachelor's degree in geology and a master's in petroleum geology, Ahmed majored in geochemistry at the French Petroleum Institute of Paris, where he met world-class scientists who helped him learn organic geochemistry.He received his Ph.D. in organic geochemistry at Michel de Montaigne University in Bordeaux and went to work in research and development for Sonatrach, the national oil and gas enterprise of Algeria.He would eventually become manager of Sonatrach's R&D center, managing 350 geologists, reservoir engineers and petrophysicists, and earning an acclaimed reputation among the industry for his geochemistry expertise.

Social and political unrest in his native Algeria continued to build and Ahmed decided to flee.He and his family moved to France in the early 1990s, where he worked as a consultant, including some work for Anadarko.In 1996, he joined Anadarko fulltime and moved to Houston.He's been making converts to the value of geochemistry ever since.
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Ahmed also studies seismic maps and analyzes samples and data from the exploration teams for his own unique analysis.

Working with a team in the Gulf of Mexico, Ahmed recommended using a sea-floor coring technique that proved instrumental in the Marco Polo discovery.The innovative technique continues to be used today to identify prospects in the Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 181, offshore West Africa and the North Sea.

His expertise also plays an important role in production.Studying geochemical data, Ahmed can help determine whether a field is broken into multiple compartments to help predict flow rates.

Ahmed enjoys the variety of his job where a typical day has him consulting on multiple projects located around the world."From Australia, to the North Sea, to the Gulf of Mexico … for me there are no borders - it's the whole earth.No customs, no passport needed, just free thinking.That's the part I love the most," he says.