Gabrielle Guerre
ExxonMobil
Nominated by the Society of Petroleum Engineers

Gabrielle Guerre is currently a Reservoir Engineer for ExxonMobil in Houston working a California steamflood and waterflood.  She describes her work: “I inject steam into the ground to get the oil to move.  Think of what happens to a jar of peanut butter if you flipped the jar upside down.  Not much, right?  The peanut butter barely moves, if at all.  Then think of what would happen if you heated that peanut butter up.  Just like that, the peanut butter starts to melt.”

“Picture the peanut butter in a pan on the stove.  As the peanut butter melts, it begins to move around quite easily.  It’s not difficult to stir. The heat from the stove is causing all of those changes to take place.  I do the same thing to the oil I am in charge of because it is so thick.  It doesn’t want to move on its own.  Therefore, I have to heat up the oil with hot steam to help it come out of the ground.  It’s very challenging to control steam 1000 feet underground when you can’t see it.  That’s 3 football fields away!”

A graduate of Kansas State University (KSU) in Manhattan, Kansas, Ms. Guerre holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. While at Kansas State she was a member of the 2003 Big XII Volleyball Championship team and received Honorable Mention All-American Honors. She served as Captain of the team in 2004.  Gabby won the Most Outstanding Senior Award and Extraordinary Leadership Award for the KSU Mechanical Engineering Department.  She also served as the KSU chapter President of Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society and was a member of the Dean’s list most of her college career.  Also during college, she volunteered at local elementary schools educating students about engineering.

Gabrielle currently serves as the SPE Gulf Coast Section (GCS) Drilling Study Group treasurer.  Prior GCS experience includes serving on the Young Professionals (YP) Board and organizing the Roughneck Camp for Houston area Oil and Gas new hires and interns.  She also was a volunteer for the annual Young Professionals Emerging Engineers Conference.  At ExxonMobil she has been instrumental in recruiting volunteers for Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, Science Ambassadors, United Way, and Junior Achievement.

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