Post Doc.Research Associate, 2015-12017, Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

PhD. 2014, Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Masters of Science, 2007, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, India

Bachelor of Science, 2003, Chemical Engineering, Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, WB, India

Language Skills

• English

• Bengali

• Hindi

2017 Present Associate Editor – Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

2015 Outstanding reviewer – Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

2011 ConocoPhillips Fellowship ( 2011-1014)

2009 Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, NRC Award 3rd Best Paper

Rasoul Sorkhabi and Palash Panja, 2020, Data Analysis of the Permian Basin Wolfcamp and Bone Spring Leads to Better Understanding of Production Sweetspots, SPE-201730-MS, Accepted in Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), 5 – 7 October, Denver, Colorado, USA

Jerjes Porlles, Palash Panja, Rasoul Sorkhabi, John McLennan, 2020,  Estimation of the gas-in-place in the Muerto Formation of NW Peru: Application of the integrated porosity method to a shale reservoir, Under review in Journal of Gas Science and Engineering

Raul Velasco, Palash Panja, and Milind Deo, 2020, Production Prediction of Hydraulically Fractured Reservoirs Based on Dynamic Material Balances, Under review in AIChE Journal

Palash Panja, Jan Goral, John McLennan, Milind Deo,2020, Prediction of Geomechanical Properties from Elemental Analysis using Machine Learning Algorithm, Accepted in 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium (ARMA 2020), 28 June–1 July, Golden, Colorado, USA

Palash Panja, Sid Green, John McLennan,2020, Temperature and Pressure Profiles for Geothermal Battery Energy Storage in Sedimentary Basins, Accepted in 54th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium (ARMA 2020), 28 June–1 July, Golden, Colorado, USA

Palash Panja, Tyrell Xavier Pack, Milind Deo, 2020, Operational Optimization of Absorption Column in Capturing CO₂ from Flue gas in Coal-Fired Power Plant, Chemical Engineering Communications

Palash Panja, Raul Velasco, Milind Deo, 2020, Understanding and Modeling of Gas-Condensate Flow in Porous Media, Advance in Geo-Energy Research, 4(2), 173-186

Palash Panja, Pranay Asai, Raul Velasco, Milind Deo, 2020, Pre-processing Protocol for Nonlinear Regression of Uneven Spaced-Data, Journal of Modeling and Optimization, Journal of Modeling and Optimization, 12(1)

Dhrupad R. Beti, Palash Panja, Chunqing Jiang, Terry A. Ring, Raymond Levey, 2020, Hydrocarbon Distributions of Incremental S1 Peaks Corresponding to Different Boiling Point Ranges of Petroleum in Rock Samples, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Volume 191, Article 107174

Dhrupad R. Beti, Palash Panja, Chunqing Jiang, Marina Milovic, Rachel Robinson, Terry A. Ring, Raymond Levey, 2020, Change in Hydrocarbon Composition in Rock Samples as a Function of Time: A Thermodynamic Evaporation Model, Journal of Natural gas Science and Engineering, Volume 77, Article 103238

Jan Goral, Palash Panja, Milind Deo, Matthew Andrew, Sven Linden, Jens-Oliver Schwarz, and Andreas Wiegmann, 2020, Confinement Effect on Porosity and Permeability of Shales, Scientific Reports, 10:49

Palash Panja, and Mamata Mukhopadhyay, 2019, Extraction of Natural Sweetener from Stevia Leaves Using Pressurized Hot Water, Journal of Nutraceuticals and Food Science, Volume 4, Issue 1

Pranay Asai, Palash Panja, John McLennan, Milind Deo, 2019, Effect of Different Flow Schemes on Heat Recovery from Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), Energy, 175, 667-676

Pranay Asai, Palash Panja, John McLennan, Joseph Moore, 2019, Efficient Workflow for Simulation of Multifractured Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), Renewable Energy, 131, 763-777,

Palash Panja, Manas Pathak, Milind Deo, 2019, Productions of Volatile Oil and Gas-Condensate from Liquid Rich Shales, Advance in Geo-Energy Research, 3(1), 29-42

Palash Panja, Raul Velasco, Milind Deo, 2018, SPE-191774-MS, Stimulated Oil Reservoir Volume Estimation of Prominent US Tight Oil Formations, SPE Liquids-Rich Basins Conference–North America, 5–6 September in Midland, Texas, USA

Pranay Asai, Palash Panja, Raul Velasco, John McLennan, Joseph Moore, 2018, Fluid Flow Distribution in Fractures for a Doublet System in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), Geothermics, 75, 171–179

Palash Panja, Raul Velasco, 2018, Production of Liquid Hydrocarbons from Shales, Encyclopedia of Petroleum Geoscience / Springer edited by Rasoul Sorkhabi

Palash Panja, Jing Zhou, Milind Deo, 2020, Simplification of Complex Fracture Morphology and Its Impact on Production, International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 23(2)

Pranay Asai, Palash Panja, John McLennan, Joseph Moore, 2018, Performance Evaluation of Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS): Surrogate models, Sensitivity study and Ranking Key Parameters, Renewable Energy, 122, 184-195

Raul Velasco, Palash Panja, Milind Deo, 2018, Simplification Workflow for Hydraulically Fractured Reservoirs, Petroleum, Petroleum 4 (2) 134-147

Palash Panja, Raul Velasco, Manas Pathak, Milind Deo, 2018, Application of Artificial Intelligence to Forecast Hydrocarbon Production from Shales, Petroleum, 4(1), pp 75-89

Raul Velasco, Palash Panja, Manas Pathak, Milind Deo, 2017, Analysis of North-American Tight Oil Production, AIChE Journal, 64(4), 1479-1484.

Palash Panja, 2017, Green Extraction Methods of Food Polyphenols from Vegetable Materials, Current Opinion in Food Science

Palash Panja, Manas Pathak, Raul Velasco, Milind Deo, 2017, Study Applied LSSVM to Tight Reservoirs, Trade Journal, Special Report: Shale Resource Science, The American Oil & Gas Reporter, March

William J. Ashley, Palash. Panja, Milind Deo, 2017, Surrogate Models for Production Performance from Heterogeneous Shales, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 159, 244-256

Manas Pathak, Palash Panja, Raymond Levey, Milind Deo, 2017 Effect of the Presence of Organic Matter on Bubble Points of Oils in Shales, AIChE Journal, 63(7), 3083-3095

Manas Pathak, Hyukmin Kweon, Palash Panja, Raul Velasco, Milind Deo, 2017, Suppression in the Bubble Points of Oils in Shales: Combined Effect of Presence of Organic Matter and Confinement, SPE-185080-MS, Society of Petroleum Engineers Canadian Unconventional Resources Conference, 15 – 16 February, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Manas Pathak, Raul Velasco, Palash Panja, Milind Deo, 2017, SPE-187067-MS, Experimental Verification of Changing Bubble Points of Oils in Shales: Effect of Preferential Absorption by Kerogen and Confinement of Fluids, Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), 9 – 11 October, San Antonio, Texas

Raul Velasco, Manas Pathak, Palash Panja, Milind Deo, 2017, What happens to permeability at the nanoscale? A molecular dynamics simulation study, Society of Petroleum Engineers Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC), 24- 26 July, Austin, Texas

Palash Panja, Tyler Conner and Milind Deo, 2016, Factors Controlling Production in Hydraulically Fractured Low Permeability Oil Reservoirs, International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 13(1)

Palash Panja, and Milind Deo, 2016, Unusual Behavior of Produced Gas Oil Ratio in Low Permeability Fractured Reservoirs, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 144, 76-83

Palash Panja, and Milind Deo, 2016, Factors that Control Condensate Production from Shales: Surrogate Reservoir Models and Uncertainty Analysis, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 19(1), SPE-179720-PA

Palash Panja, Manas Pathak, Raul Velasco, Milind Deo, 2016, Least Square Support Vector Machine: An Emerging Tool for Data Analysis, SPE-180202-MS, Society of Petroleum Engineers Low Permeability Symposium, 5-6 May, Denver, Colorado

Raul Velasco, Palash. Panja, Milind Deo, 2016, New Production Performance and Prediction Tool for Unconventional Reservoirs, Society of Petroleum Engineers  Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC), 1- 3 August, San Antonio, Texas

Richard Roehner, Palash Panja, and Milind Deo, 2016, Reducing Gas Flaring in Oil Production from Shales, Energy & Fuels, 30 (9), pp 7524–7531

Manas Pathak, Palash Panja, Hai Huang, Milind Deo, 2016, Enhanced Recovery in Shales: Molecular Investigation of CO₂ Energized Fluid for Re-Fracturing Shale Formations, Society of Petroleum Engineers  Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC), 1- 3 August, San Antonio, Texas

Manas Pathak, Milind Deo, Palash Panja, Raymond Levey, 2015, The Effect of Kerogen-hydrocarbons  Interaction on the PVT Properties in Liquid Rich Shale Plays, Society of Petroleum Engineers   Unconventional Resource Conference, 20-22 October, Calgary, Canada

Palash Panja, Tyler Conner and Milind Deo, 2013, Grid Sensitivity Studies in Hydraulically Fractured Low Permeability Reservoirs, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 112, 78-87.

Mamata Mukhopadhyay and Palash Panja, 2009, Pressurized Hot Water as a Novel Extractant of Natural Products-A Review, Indian Chemical Engineers Volume 51, Issue 4, pages 311-32.

Mamata Mukhopadhyay and Palash Panja, 2008, A novel process for extraction of natural sweetener from licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) roots, Separation and Purification Technology, Volume 63, Issue 3, 3 November, Pages 539-545.

Mamata Mukhopadhyay and Palash Panja, 2008, Recovery of phytochemicals from kokum (Garcinia indica choisy) using pressurized hot water, International Journal of Food Engineering: 4(8), Article 13.

Research Interests

• Improved liquid recovery from shale
• Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS)
• CO2 capture & injection
• Machine learning
• Molecular dynamics in nanopores
• Rock on a chip
• Food, Energy & Water nexus

Palash Panja joined EGI in 2015 as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate. He is an instructor in the Department of Chemical Engineering teaching courses for BS in Chemical Engineering and MS in Petroleum Engineering. He is working closely with EGI Affiliate Scientist Dr. Milind Deo on the Improved Liquid Recovery in Shales project, Palash is examining various reservoir engineering aspects of conventional and unconventional reservoirs as well as working on existing EGI projects and developing new projects in collaboration with EGI staff and Corporate Associates.

After receiving his Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Palash earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah, specializing in petroleum and reservoir engineering.

Palash has worked 5 years with a variety of companies ranging from downstream companies to upstream production companies to University research. He worked for three years for ONGC, India’s largest public E&P Company, serving as a production engineer on an offshore gas and condensate production platform.

As a graduate research assistant at the University of Utah, Palash worked on EGI’s Liquids from Shales Phase 1 and 2 projects, enhancing his global oil and gas understanding through direct experience with a variety of unconventional plays throughout the United States, including the Bakken, Barnett, Eagle Ford and Niobrara.

Panja’s current interests include production optimization from unconventional reservoirs while minimizing the environmental impacts, improved hydrocarbon recovery, CO2 capture and injection, geothermal field development, interactions between flow and thermodynamics, surrogate model development, data analysis using machine learning etc. He has published more than 20 articles in journals and conferences.

Research Experience & Focus:

Generate surrogate models for black oil and condensates in shales for quick production forecast, sensitivity study, and to assess the uncertainties in recoveries.

• Understand the flow and thermodynamic behaviors of hydrocarbons in nanopores through molecular dynamics simulation.

• Develop model for completion and production from fractured basement reservoirs.

• Study the importance of petrophysical and other parameters on production and recovery from shales.

• Design an efficient system to extract heat from an enhanced geothermal system (EGS)

• Apply machine learning in various aspects of reservoir characterization, field development, completion, production and completion operational strategies.

• Develop and improve modules of University developed in-house reservoir simulator A.R.T.S.