Next* Magazine, Issue 4 - Chevron

Next GenerationLaura Verduzco: Carbon MitigatorCurrently, Laura Verduzco divides her time between Chevron Energy TechnologyCo. (ETC) and Catchlight Energy LLC, a Chevron-Weyerhaeuser joint venture todevelop the next generation of renewable, cellulose-based transportation fuels fromnonfood sources.As a lead planning engineer in ETC, Verduzco develops and supports a wide varietyof tools, models and work processes to aid decision making related to climatechange and sustainability. She helps identify potential improvements in greenhousegas mitigation and monitoring and assists with the implementation of governmentpolicies. At Catchlight, Verduzco coordinates policy between the two parent organizationsand various U.S. federal and state regulators to help avoid unnecessaryimpediments to the production of biomass and its conversion into biofuels.Among her recent accomplishments, Verduzco managed Chevron’s response tothe 2009 Carbon Disclosure Project, the world’s only global climate change reportingsystem. “It was a huge effort, requiring us to collect and collate data from everypart of the corporation,” said Verduzco. “Based on our comprehensive reporting,Chevron ranked first among energy companies on its level of carbon disclosure andwas fifth overall among all respondents.”Verduzco is a four-year Chevron employee. She has an undergraduate degreein chemical engineering from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and adoctorate in engineering management from the George Washington University inWashington, D.C.PHOTOS, FROM TOP: MARILYN HULBERT; PAUL S. HOWELLUmut Ozdogan: Global Field HopperUmut Ozdogan is the subsurface leader for the Kuito life-extension developmentin Angola’s deepwater Block 14, a major capital project with important reservesfor Chevron and its partners. In that role, Ozdogan works to optimize subsurfaceand subsea elements of field development by performing reservoir forecasting forfacility redesign.In his six years with Chevron, Ozdogan has been involved with a series ofmajor development optimizations, beginning with Tahiti in the deepwater Gulfof Mexico and continuing on to Tengiz in Kazakhstan and Agbami in Nigeria, thenback to the Gulf of Mexico for the Jack and St. Malo deepwater developments.He worked at Angola’s Takula Field, which has produced more than 700 millionbarrels of oil to date.“We have developed and deployed advanced, highly practical forecastingtechnologies to address key asset management and project decisions for bothbrownfield and greenfield development,” said Ozdogan. “But for me, whatmakes Chevron great is not just its strong portfolio of projects or the advancedtechnologies; it’s also the tremendous diversity of people who work here.”Ozdogan did his undergraduate work at Middle East Technical Universityin Turkey and has a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from StanfordUniversity in California.Next* | 47