Brian Towler
Professor
Chair in Petroleum Engineering
Centre for Coal Seam Gas
+61 7 3346 1233
Prior to joining the Centre, Brian was Professor and CEAS Fellow for Hydrocarbon Energy Resources in the department of Petroleum Engineering at The University of Wyoming. 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 and his new book, The Future of Energy has recently been published. His research interests include wells, well integrity and drilling technology. 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.
Publications
Book
Towler, B. F. The Future of Energy. San Diego CA United States: Elsevier, 2014. doi:10.1016/C2013-0-19049-6
Journal Articles
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
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. In: Proceedings of the 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference. 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, SA, Australia, (). 10 - 13 December 2018.
Towler, Brian, Firouzi, Mahshid and Wilkinson, Rick (2018). Australia's world scale gas resources, its markets and why new approaches are required. In: SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, (). 23 - 25 October 2018. 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. In: SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, (). 23-25 October 2018. doi:10.2118/191910-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. In: SPE Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition. SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Perth, Australia, (). 25-27 October 2016. doi:10.2118/182199-MS
Firouzi,Mahshid, Towler, Brian and Rufford, Thomas (2015). Mechanistic modelling of counter-current slug flows in vertical annuli. In: SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, (). 9-11 November 2015. doi:10.2118/176885-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. In: Abstracts of AAPG Asia Pacific Geoscience Technology Workshop (GTW) Opportunities and Advancements in Coal Bed Methane in the Asia Pacific. AAPG Opportunities and Advancements in Coal Bed Methane in the Asia Pacific, Brisbane / Brisbane Convention Centre, (). 12-13 February 2015.
Towler, Brian F., Firouzi, Mahshid, Mortezapour, Amin and Hywel-Evans, Paul D. (2015). Plugging CSG Wells with Bentonite: Review and Preliminary Lab Results. In: Society of Petroleum Engineers - SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition. SPE Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, (). 9-11 November 2015. doi:10.2118/176987-MS
Newspaper Article
Mahshid Firouzi, Towler, Brian and Wu, Benjamin (2018, September 04). Combining maths and bubbles to boost gas production. Australian Mining Review, p.1-1.
Research Reports
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