Khalil Buckmire / Portfolio 2026

Energy systems,
engineered in code.

PhD candidate in Energy & Mineral Engineering at Penn State. Open-source software for petroleum, geothermal, and mining systems — built from professional experience across the energy sector.

Based inState College, PA PhDPenn State (2026) khalil.h.buckmire@gmail.com
01About

I'm a PhD candidate in Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State, with a research focus on applying machine learning to subsurface fluid flow in heterogeneous media. My professional experience spans the energy sector — subsurface reserves development at Chevron, geothermal drilling efficiency at Bedrock Energy, mining and emissions engineering at Imerys, and reservoir engineering with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

The projects below are an extension of that work into open source — engineering tools written in Python that capture how I think about real problems in petroleum, geothermal, mining, and renewable energy systems.

02Featured Work

A trilogy of open-source projects spanning the petroleum value chain — upstream production forecasting, midstream pipeline hydraulics, and downstream refinery optimization. Each repository includes working code, validated test suites, and demonstration notebooks rendered on GitHub.

Upstream / Reservoir Engineering

Decline curve analysis & probabilistic reserves

Production forecasting and reserves estimation for oil & gas wells, with Bayesian inference (PyMC) extending the classical Arps framework to handle the b > 1 pathology in unconventional wells.

  • Arps decline curves plus modern shale models (Duong, modified hyperbolic, stretched exponential)
  • Probabilistic EUR reporting in SPE-PRMS P10 / P50 / P90 convention
  • Bayesian fitting with informative priors from analog wells
  • 54 passing tests; two demonstration notebooks
Repository → Notebook →
20-year production forecast fan chart with P10-P90 uncertainty bands around historical data
Midstream / Pipeline Engineering

Pipeline hydraulics simulator

Steady-state hydraulic simulation for liquid and gas pipelines, with elevation profiles, pump station modeling, and MAOP constraint checking. Renders the canonical two-panel hydraulic gradient diagram.

  • Colebrook-White friction factor (iterative) and Swamee-Jain (explicit)
  • Darcy-Weisbach for liquids; Weymouth and Panhandle B for gas pipelines
  • Multi-segment networks with pump stations and elevation handling
  • 35 passing tests; case study on 500-mile Cushing-to-Houston crude route
Repository → Notebook →
Hydraulic gradient diagram showing pressure profile with pump stations along a 500-mile pipeline
Downstream / Refinery Optimization

Refinery LP — crude slate optimization

Linear programming model for refinery operations: optimal crude slate selection, unit utilization, and product blending under capacity and quality constraints. Solves the canonical refinery planning problem.

  • PuLP-based LP with CBC solver (no external dependencies)
  • Crude assays for WTI, Brent, Arab Light, Maya — light sweet through heavy sour
  • Three configurations: hydroskimming, conversion, complex (with FCC)
  • 25 passing tests; Sankey diagrams of material flow through the refinery
Repository → Notebook →
Bar chart comparing refining margin per barrel across hydroskim, conversion, and complex refinery configurations
03Professional Experience
Jun — Aug 2025
Bedrock Energy
Geothermal Intern · U.S. Department of Energy GEODE Consortium

Authored technical reports on drilling efficiency based on near-surface lithology and rate of penetration. Transformed conventional geologic reviews into data-driven geothermal insights grounded in geomechanical properties.

May 2023 — Aug 2025
Imerys USA
Energy Engineering & GIS Internships · PMA NA Industrial Support Team

Built a standardized framework for Specific Energy Consumption reporting and improved its accuracy through comparative analysis. Earlier roles on the emissions and GIS teams produced a 30% increase in data accuracy for energy & emissions reporting under Paris Climate Accord standards, and operational dashboards for material recovery, drilling, and fleet efficiency across quarry operations.

Jun — Sep 2024
Chevron · CTC Innovation
Subsurface Intern

Developed a GIS / machine learning platform to evaluate P4–P6 reserves in the Wolfcamp A basin, with estimated resource impact in the tens of millions of barrels (~$450MM). Delivered an Intellectual Property document for the project's release.

Aug 2022 — May 2025
Society of Exploration Geophysicists
Reservoir Engineer · Geophysicist

Led energy exploration work in the Gulf of Mexico (Matagorda Island, Lower Miocene) including seismic-to-well tie, horizon mapping, and lead identification, achieving a 30% geologic chance of success. Previously led CO₂ sequestration modeling (Ship Shoal area) using CMG, with focus on multizone containment. Co-author on SEG conference paper on the Illinois Basin Decatur Project (Shodunke et al., 2023).

Aug 2021 — Dec 2024
The Pennsylvania State University
Research & Teaching Assistant · Energy and Mineral Engineering

Research with the PSGGMA group applying machine learning to predict geochemical fluid flow, with Python frameworks for 1-D fluid flow in heterogeneous media. Taught a 60-student capstone design class (Petrel, CMG) and assisted in a well logging course.

04Skills & Credentials

Programming

  • Python
  • R
  • MATLAB

Software

  • Petrel
  • CMG
  • ArcGIS
  • GAMS

Languages

  • English (native)
  • French (novice)
  • Japanese (beginner)

Certifications

  • PMI Project Management
  • ArcGIS