Lab Members

Research Area

• Unconventional reservoirs
• Enhanced Oil Recovery
• Wettability

Biography

Sunghyun Ko is a Ph.D. student in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his Master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Oklahoma. Since 2023, he has been collaborating with Professor Ryosuke Okuno on research related to unconventional reservoirs. Sunghyun’s current research focuses on Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) in shale oil reservoirs using aqueous ketone injection.

Education

• M.S. in Petroleum Engineering (2024), The University of Texas at Austin, USA
• B.S. in Petroleum Engineering (2022), University of Oklahoma, USA

Representative Publications

• Ko, S.; Fuentes-Ibarra, D.; Okuno, R.; Mirzaei Paiaman, A. Enhanced Oil Recovery from Siliceous Shale Reservoir Cores by Aqueous Ketone Solution. Energy Fuels 2025. DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5c02629.
• Lawal, T.; Fuentes-Ibarra, D.; Mirzaei-Paiaman, A.; Ko, S.; Okuno, R. Analysis of Oil Displacement by Aqueous Ketone Solution in High-Salinity-High-Temperature Carbonate Cores. J. Mol. Liq. 2025, 436, No. 128179. DOI:10.1016/j.molliq.2025.128179.
• Ko, S.; Fuentes-Ibarra, D.; Wang, H.; Okuno, R.; Mirzaei Paiaman, A. Wettability Alteration of Organic-Rich Siliceous Shale by Aqueous Ketone Solution. Energy Fuels 2025, 39 (19), 8871−8884. DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5c01106.
• Ko, S.; Ghassemi, A.; Uddenberg, M. Selection and Testing of Proppants for EGS. In: Proceedings, 48th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2024.