Prince Henry Eduam (BSc ’22) has emerged first in the postgraduate category of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Eastern and Mid-Continent Regional Paper Contest, held at The Ohio State University.

Eduam, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from KNUST, is now a doctoral student at The Ohio State University, conducting research on carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration in shale formations. The SPE Student Paper Contest is the organisation’s premier platform for showcasing students’ individual technical expertise.

As a first-place winner, Eduam has earned an all-expenses-paid trip to Houston, Texas, from 20–22 October, where he will present his full technical paper to an international panel of judges at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE). He will also have the opportunity to publish his research in OnePetro, a leading online library of technical literature for the oil and gas exploration and production industry.

Eduam expressed excitement about his work being shared on a global stage.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to share my work on a global stage among other top students worldwide,” he said.

His winning paper, titled "Empirical Evaluation of the Dynamic Response of CO₂ to Shale Permeability for Efficient Geo-Sequestration in the Appalachian Basin," presents findings from his research in the Marcellus Shale region of the Appalachian Basin.

He explained that the study investigates how CO₂ interacts with shale formations using pressure-pulse decay core flood tests and other techniques to assess changes in permeability, adsorption behavior, and structural alterations of the shale.

“The goal is to assess the feasibility and long-term reliability of using shale reservoirs as viable sinks for CO₂ storage,” he explained.

Eduam shared his passion for the research, noting its global relevance given the continued reliance on fossil fuels.

“This work is important to me because, despite efforts, fossil fuels are still the primary source of energy globally,” he said. “No matter how hard we try, oil and gas remain central to our energy production, and the world hasn't yet found a suitable, sustainable alternative. So, in the meantime, my advisor and I are working toward the most effective way of increasing the sustainability of fossil fuel use by implementing geo-sequestration.”

He further elaborated on the motivation behind focusing on shale formations rather than conventional porous rocks.

“Conventionally, CO₂ has been sequestered in highly porous and permeable rocks, and while this has proven efficient, there has been some backlash,” he said. “Concerns such as carbon dioxide leakage motivated us to explore unconventional reservoirs and tight sandstones with low porosity and low permeability to ultimately address the leakage problem and provide a broader avenue for CO₂ geo-sequestration.”