Jeffrey R. Hughes, P.E.
With over 45 years of experience, Mr. Hughes has an extensive background in the oil and gas industry that encompasses both domestic and international exploration, operations, and project management. Mr. Hughes is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas and holds a BS in petroleum engineering (1976) from Louisiana State University. He has served as both president and treasurer of the American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) Houston Chapter and as president of the AADE National Chapter and is a member of SPE, API, and IADC.
Mr. Hughes began his career at Placid Oil Company where he monitored both onshore and offshore Louisiana drilling operations for land rigs, inland barges, jack-ups, drillships, and semi-submersibles. Mr. Hughes had an active role in well planning, casing design, tubing design, preparing drilling and completion procedures, and updating Placid's operations manual. Mr. Hughes was eventually transferred to Texas where he planned and supervised the drilling and completion of seven deep wells (ranging from 15,000' to 25,000') in Austin County and Colorado County.
In 1981, Mr. Hughes worked as a drilling superintendent for Texoma Production Company where he supervised both onshore and offshore drilling operations in Texas and Louisiana. Notable projects include the installation of 21 conductors on a mudslide platform in Main Pass Block 151, supervising the drilling of a relief well, and the killing and capping of a blowout at South Marsh Island Block 95. In 1983, Mr. Hughes was chosen to visit the People's Republic of China as a member of the "People-to-People Petroleum Engineering Delegation," and presented his paper, Abnormal Pressure Detection, while there.
From 1984 to 1989, Mr. Hughes worked for Pelto Oil Company as a drilling manager and was responsible for its drilling operations in onshore and offshore Texas and Louisiana, as well as all land operations in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Alabama. While there, he planned and executed the drilling of 36 wells with on-site supervision provided by contract drilling supervisors.
In 1990, Mr. Hughes supervised onshore and offshore drilling operations for Greenhill Petroleum in Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico. Within the first six months of Greenhill's fiscal year, Mr. Hughes completed the drilling of 45 wells, including a 14,000' high pressure well in Wharton County, Texas.
In 1991, Mr. Hughes founded HTK Consultants, Inc., which offers wellsite supervision services and in-house consulting engineering services to the oil and gas industry. HTK has provided office and field staff support to startup companies in the Gulf of Mexico including General Atlantic Resources, Basin Exploration, Barrett Resources, Spinnaker Exploration, F-W Oil, and Sterling Energy, and has employed wellsite consultants and petroleum engineers to clients such as Anadarko, Apache, BP, Castleton Commodities, Forest Oil, Hilcorp, Maverick Resources, OXY, Range Resources, and Sanchez Oil and Gas.
While president of HTK, Mr. Hughes represented the United Nations as its Chief Technical Advisor to improve drilling efficiency in the Tarim Basin of the People's Republic of China in 1991. The following year, he designed and fabricated a cuttings slurrification unit for On Site Disposal Systems, Inc., of Houston to dispose of oil-base drill cuttings down the annulus.
In 1993, Mr. Hughes served as a consultant to Elf Aquitane on the semi-submersible SEDCO 701 to advise and oversee jetting in 30" drive pipe in 600' of water in offshore Congo. He also designed and fabricated subsea netguards and templates for HTK clients working in the Gulf of Mexico and New Zealand. Since founding HTK, Mr. Hughes has worked on numerous international ventures including special projects in Western China, Venezuela, Trinidad, and offshore Congo.