John Mason

John has over 35 years of industry experience with major operators and service companies, building global knowledge of completions and petroleum engineering across subsea, platform and land wells. He builds strong and honest relationships to help understand the engineering details and the bigger picture, to ensure decisions are thoughtful, considered and objective.

A degree in physics and a passion for learning and educating took his career into well engineering with a focus on completions. He has supported the SPE throughout his career, with many years as a peer reviewer and Associate Editor for SPE Drilling and Completions. He has published 7 papers and holds a patent for CO2 injection well design. As the Global Manager for Well Completions in bp, he advised on many well engineering activities, his team being the company’s focus for the ‘awkward challenges’. Since 2019, John has consulted as a Wells Advisor for Three60 Energy, with clients including Shell, DNO, Noble Energy, Wintershall and Weatherford, covering subjects such as wet gas lift, remedial sand control, liner hanger failures, HPHT well failures and water injection well designs. His work in education includes tutoring students, lecturing for University courses and delivering training schools including well productivity, gas lift, explosives safety and well stimulation.

John has always had angst about wellsite safety and well control hazards during completions and interventions, which led to working as a technical advisor for the IWCF. Well technology has featured strongly in John’s career, including R&D work in hard rock perforating, drilling fluid designs for mitigating formation damage, development of nodal analysis software and development of new tools such as well barrier valves and hydrostatic-set packers.