Charles M. Boyer, II

“In recognition of his life-long pursuit of coal and organic sediments and his contributions in the evaluation and characterization of CBM and shale reservoirs.”

Charles M. Boyer II (Chuck) began his interest in coal early, writing a high school paper on the Bakerstown coal, which crops out in his hometown of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Following high school he obtained his B.Sc. in Geological Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University, working under Drs. Spackman, Davis, and Traverse in the Coal Research Laboratory. Foregoing graduate school, he joined noted coal geologist/ petrographer Ralph Gray at the U.S. Steel Research Center as a palynologist, coal petrographer, and coal explorationist. He subsequently became manager of coalbed methane research at USS, which included the Oak Grove Degasification Field—the first commercial CBM field in the world (in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the U.S. Department of Energy). During this time he also returned to Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh to pursue graduate studies in Petroleum and Mining Engineering.

Following USS, Chuck co-founded Unconventional Energy Group, Inc., a consulting firm working CBM globally. He joined ICF Resources, Inc. to further pursue global CBM and shale gas development, where he assisted in the drilling of the first CBM wells in Australia and China. Chuck co-founded Advanced Resources International, Inc. where, in addition to assisting the domestic CBM industry, he continued working CBM globally, including being named the Chief Technical Officer for the UN Deep Coalbed Methane Development Program in China. He then started Dominion Energy Advisors and concentrated his effort in the development of CBM in China. At long last he returned to Pittsburgh, joining S.A. Holditch & Associates, Inc. (acquired by Schlumberger in 1997), where he is currently Scientific Advisor – Unconventional Reservoirs.

During his career, Chuck has had the great opportunity to work with coal and shale in over 30 countries, sharing his enthusiasm for these reservoirs with the global community. His stories, of living in the old Soviet-era apartment in Siberia and the loess cave in central China or stepping on the cobra in India, bring alive these locations. In addition to his current work in the Utica/Point Pleasant and Marcellus, this past winter he managed the first evaluation of shale gas in the Ahnet basin, southern Algeria – after all these years he still likes to be on the ground, touching the reservoir.

Chuck has authored and co-authored many technical papers and taught numerous short courses on coal geology, coalbed methane, and shale gas. He has been awarded the SPE Regional Service Award - Eastern North America and the Potential Gas Agency Distinguished Service Award; he’s been named a SPE Distinguished Author and a Centennial Fellow - College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (Penn State University); and he is a Professional Geologist in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and an AAPG-Certified Petroleum (#5733) and Coal Geologist (#19). He is married to Suzanne and has one daughter, Anna, pursuing her B.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. To close, after 58 years, he still picks up rocks and brings them home to our garden.

Citationists: Suzanne and Anna Boyer