Researcher biography
Brian joined the Centre from the University of Wyoming where he was Professor and CEAS Fellow for Hydrocarbon Energy Resources in the department of Petroleum Engineering. Wyoming was at the centre of the US coal bed methane boom in the early 1990s and Brian conducted research in CBM/CSG at that time. He is widely published across many technical areas of petroleum engineering. His research interests include reservoir engineering and simulation, well-bore integrity and enhanced oil recovery. He has authored three text books including a very highly regarded (by the Society of Petroleum Engineering) reservoir engineering text.
Brian is based in The University of Queensland’s School of Chemical Engineering. He extends the Centre’s petroleum engineering research program and manages the University’s Master of Science (Petroleum Engineering) coursework program.
Publications
Book
Towler, B. F. (2014). The Future of Energy. San Diego CA United States: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/C2013-0-19049-6
Journal Articles
Wu, Benjamin, Ribeiro, Ayrton Soares, Firouzi, Mahshid, Rufford, Thomas E. and Towler, Brian (2020). Use of pressure signal analysis to characterise counter-current two-phase flow regimes in annuli. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 153, 547-561. doi: 10.1016/j.cherd.2019.11.009
Towler, Brian, Hywel-Evans, Duncan and Firouzi, Mahshid (2020). Failure modes for hydrated bentonite plugs used in well decommissioning operations. Applied Clay Science, 184 105385, 105385. doi: 10.1016/j.clay.2019.105385
Towler, Brian, Firouzi, Mahshid and Wilkinson, Rick (2019). Australia’s gas resources and its new approaches. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 72 102970, 102970. doi: 10.1016/j.jngse.2019.102970
Wu, Benjamin, Firouzi, Mahshid, Rufford, Thomas E. and Towler, Brian (2019). Characteristics of counter-current gas-liquid two-phase flow and its limitations in vertical annuli. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 109 109899, 109899. doi: 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2019.109899
Balhasan, Saad A., Towler, Brian F., AlHadramy, Khaled O. and Biltayib, Biltayib M. (2019). Comparative risk evaluation and sensitivity analysis of the Libyan EPSA IV and its modified model LEPSA I. Petroleum, 6 (2), 206-213. doi: 10.1016/j.petlm.2019.03.003
Wu, Benjamin, Firouzi, Mahshid, Mitchell, Travis, Rufford, Thomas E., Leonardi, Christopher and Towler, Brian (2017). A critical review of flow maps for gas-liquid flows in vertical pipes and annuli. Chemical Engineering Journal, 326, 350-377. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2017.05.135
Qin, Tianzhu, Javanbakht, Gina, Goual, Lamia, Piri, Mohammad and Towler, Brian (2017). Microemulsion-enhanced displacement of oil in porous media containing carbonate cements. Colloids and Surfaces A, 530, 60-71. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2017.07.017
Zhang, Fan, Fan, Maohong, Huang, Xin, Argyle, Morris D., Zhang, Bo, Towler, Brian and Zhang, Yulong (2017). Catalytic gasification of a Powder River Basin coal with CO2 and H2O mixtures. Fuel Processing Technology, 161, 145-154. doi: 10.1016/j.fuproc.2017.03.010
Towler, Brian F., Lehr, Heidi L., Austin, Scott W., Bowthorpe, Brooks, Feldman, Jacob H., Forbis, Sabrina K., Germack, David and Firouzi, Mahshid (2017). Spontaneous imbibition experiments of enhanced oil recovery with surfactants and complex nano-fluids. Journal of Surfactants and Detergents, 20 (2), 1-11. doi: 10.1007/s11743-017-1924-1
Towler, Brian, Firouzi, Mahshid, Underschultz, James, Rifkin, Will, Garnett, Andrew, Schultz, Helen, Esterle, Joan, Tyson, Stephen and Witt, Katherine (2016). An overview of the coal seam gas developments in Queensland. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 31, 249-271. doi: 10.1016/j.jngse.2016.02.040
Firouzi, Mahshid, Towler, Brian and Rufford, Thomas (2016). Developing new mechanistic models for predicting pressure gradient in coal bed methane wells. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 33, 961-972. doi: 10.1016/j.jngse.2016.04.035
Conference Papers
Patel, Archana, Towler, Brian, Rudolph, Victor and Rufford, Thomas (2019). Swelling inhibition of bentonite clay by MgOH2 precipitation using different Mg salts. SPE/AAPG/SEG Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 18 – 19 November 2019. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTEC). doi: 10.15530/AP-URTEC-2019-198301
Rufford, Thomas E., Patel, Archana , Ge, Lei, Towler, Brian and Rudolph, Victor (2019). Methods to control swelling of clays in coal bed methane wells. 11th International Symposium on Nano and Supramolecular Chemistry and 3rd World Forum on Industrial Minerals, Qingyang, China, 12-16 October 2019.
Wu, Benjamin, Firouzi, Mahshid, Ribeiro, Ayrton S., Rufford, Thomas E. and Towler, Brian (2019). Investigating the Effect of Salinity on Counter-Current Two-Phase Flow Regimes in Annuli. Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTEC), Brisbane, QLD Australia, 18 - 19 November 2019. Tulsa, OK United States: Unconventional Resources Technology Conference. doi: 10.15530/ap-urtec-2019-198228
Mitchell, Travis, Leonardi, Chris, Firouzi, Mahshid and Towler, Brian (2018). Towards closure relations for the rise velocity of Taylor bubbles in annular piping using phase-field lattice Boltzmann techniques. 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 10 - 13 December 2018. Hawthorn, VIC, Australia: Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.
Towler, Brian, Firouzi, Mahshid and Wilkinson, Rick (2018). Australia's world scale gas resources, its markets and why new approaches are required. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 23 - 25 October 2018. Richardson, TX, United States: Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi: 10.2118/191895-ms
Wu, Benjamin, Firouzi, Mahshid, Rufford, Thomas E. and Towler, Brian (2018). Mitigating the failure of downhole pumps due to gas interference in coal seam gas wells. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, 23-25 October 2018. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi: 10.2118/191910-ms
Altaf, Iftikhar, Towler, Brian, Underschultz, James, Hurter, Suzanne and Johnson, Raymond (2018). A review of current knowledge with geomechanical fault reactivation modelling: The importance of CO2 mechano-chemical effects for CO2 sequestration. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition 2018, APOGCE 2018, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 23 - 25 October 2018. Richardson, TX United States: Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi: 10.2118/192024-MS
Patel, Archana, Goh, Clarice, Towler, Brian, Rudolph, Victor and Rufford, Thomas E. (2016). Screening of nanoparticles to control clay swelling in coal bed methane wells. International Petroleum Technology Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 14-16 November 2016. IPTC. doi: 10.2523/iptc-18713-ms
Towler, Brian F., Firouzi, Mahshid, Holl, Heinz-Gerd, Gandhi, Randeep and Thomas, Anthony (2016). Field trials of plugging oil and gas wells with hydrated bentonite. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Perth, Australia, 25-27 October 2016. Richardson, TX, United States: Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi: 10.2118/182199-MS
Khan, Charwarwan, Ge, Lei, Mahoney, Shilo, Rufford, Tom, Rudolph, Victor, Steel, Karen, Towler, Brian and Honari, Vahab (2015). Coal bed methane reservoir simulation study. AAPG Opportunities and Advancements in Coal Bed Methane in the Asia Pacific, Brisbane / Brisbane Convention Centre, 12-13 February 2015. Tulsa, OK United States: Datapages.
Firouzi,Mahshid, Towler, Brian and Rufford, Thomas (2015). Mechanistic modelling of counter-current slug flows in vertical annuli. SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 9-11 November 2015. Richardson, TX, United States: Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). doi: 10.2118/176885-MS
Towler, Brian F., Firouzi, Mahshid, Mortezapour, Amin and Hywel-Evans, Paul D. (2015). Plugging CSG Wells with Bentonite: Review and Preliminary Lab Results. SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, 9-11 November 2015. SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition,: Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi: 10.2118/176987-MS
Newspaper Article
Mahshid Firouzi, Towler, Brian and Wu, Benjamin (2018, 09 04). Combining maths and bubbles to boost gas production Australian Mining Review 1-1.
Research Reports
Holl, Heinz-Gerd and Towler, Brian (2019). Bentonite abandonment plugs: final report Advanced Queensland Innovation Partnership (AQIP) project. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: UQ Centre for Natural Gas.
Rufford, Thomas, Patel, Archana, Giroy, Jose, Ge, Lei, Rudolph, Victor and Towler, Brian (2018). CCSG1204 nanotechnologies to stabilise clays in coal seam gas producing wells. University of Queensland: UQ School of Chemical Enigneering.
Patel, Archana, Tom Rufford, Ge, Lei, Yao, Zheng, Rudolph, Victor and Towler, Brian (2017). Interim report stage 3 - CCSG1204 nanotechnologies to stabilise clays in coal seam gas producing wells. University of Queensland: UQ School of Chemical Engineering.