Dr. Muhammad Arif is working as an Assistant Professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department of Khalifa University. Previously, he worked at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia.
He holds a Ph.D. degree in Petroleum Engineering from Curtin University, Western Australia, and B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Petroleum Engineering. His teaching interests include Well Testing, Well Stimulation, and Enhanced Oil Recovery.
Dr. Arif is currently leading two research projects as a principal investigator – and the key focus of these projects is to understand the rock/fluid interactions at multiple scales. He has published 90+ articles in reputable journals with a citation h-index of 26, including publications in the Top 1 percent ranked journals. His research interests include enhanced oil recovery, CO2 and H2 geo-storage, and unconventional reservoirs.
Furthermore, he currently holds the honor of working as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering, Elsevier. He has also been a Guest Editor at Frontiers in Earth Science. He has chaired/co-chaired technical sessions at International conferences. Moreover, he is an active reviewer for several scientific journals. He has recently had the honor to be ranked in Stanford's list of the top 2 percent of scientists in the world in the field of Energy for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022).
He also received the prestigious award for Research Excellence in the College of Engineering at Khalifa University.
KU-KFUPM Twinning Research Program Award:
Systematic investigation of rock/fluid interactions at nano- to millimeter-scale
This project investigates rock/fluid interactions (and their implications on fluid flow in porous medium) for various systems and at various scales. As an example, wettability alteration is investigated at the micro-scale via SEM imaging while classical approaches are used to examine macro-scale wettability. Moreover, the fluid flow behavior of carbonate rocks (particularly anhydrite-rich) is evaluated.
I am leading this project as a Principal Investigator in collaboration with King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals and Edith Cowan University, Australia.
Faculty Start-up (FSU) Research Award:
This project investigates the wettability of a range of surfaces as a function of several influencing parameters including but not limited to, rock surface chemistry, surface roughness, and operating conditions of pressure, temperature, and salinity to gain a broader understanding.
I am leading this project as a Principal Investigator.
Khalifa University Research Excellence Grant Award:
This project is based on the KU research excellence grant and will be addressing the wide range of challenges related to the area of CO2 geo-storage.
