Dr. Dilhan Ilk
Executive Vice President, Division Manager of North America

Dilhan Ilk joined DeGolyer and MacNaughton in 2010 with a strong background in analysis and interpretation of well-test and production data in conventional and unconventional reservoirs. Ilk has extensive worldwide experience in well performance assessment of tight and shale oil and gas reservoirs and conventional oil and gas reservoir engineering. He specializes in assisting clients with the assessment of unconventional resources, well performance evaluation, and forecasting using a systematic workflow that combines diagnostic methods with analytical and numerical techniques. In July 2020, he became Division Manager of the firm’s North America Division. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Texas.

Ilk earned a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering in 2003 from Istanbul Technical University. In 2005, he received a master’s degree in petroleum engineering, and in 2010 he was awarded a doctorate in petroleum engineering, both from Texas A&M University. Ilk was awarded the Petroleum Engineering Faculty Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research by the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. Ilk is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Ilk has published more than 30 articles, and has taught industry short courses in production data analysis and forecasting in unconventional reservoirs. He serves as a technical editor of the SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering Journal and the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering and regularly serves in leadership roles at SPE events. He is a member of the SPE Reservoir Description and Dynamics advisory committee. He is a contributing author of SPEE Monograph IV. He was also a co-editor of the SPE digital publication series “Performance Forecasting in Shale Reservoirs.” He was named Executive Vice President of D&M in 2022.

Geographical Experience

• Algeria
• Argentina
• Australia
• Bahrain
• Brazil
• Canada
• Chile
• China
• Colombia
• Kuwait
• Mexico
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Tunisia
• Turkey
• United States
• Venezuela

Topical Areas of Expertise

• Oil and gas reservoir engineering
• Well performance analysis
• Production forecasting
• Pressure transient analysis
• Assessments of unconventional reservoirs
• Field development studies
• Reserves and resources estimations

Major Projects

Ilk coordinates projects related to integrated assessments of unconventional reservoirs including field development studies, due diligence, completion evaluation, model-based well performance analysis and forecasting, and estimation of reserves and resources. Recent work has included almost all tight/shale gas and oil plays in North America, Argentina, Australia, and China as well as emerging unconventional resources plays in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.

Ilk routinely performs simulation studies in shale plays to assess well spacing using multi-well production analysis and modeling techniques. Ilk led D&M’s efforts in the development of software tools for analyzing and forecasting data in unconventional resources. In particular, Ilk was involved in the original development of the Citrine software, which is currently marketed by Kappa Engineering.