CSSR Celebrates Its First PhD Graduate!
We are very proud to announce a major milestone for the Centre for Sustainable Subsurface Resources (CSSR): on 10 November, Mathias Methlie Nilsen successfully defended his PhD thesis, “Optimization Methodology for Sustainable Reservoir Management,” becoming our very first PhD candidate funded by the centre.
About the Thesis
The research focuses on developing optimization methodologies for operational strategies in reservoir management and robust approaches for integrating offshore wind as an energy source in production. A key challenge addressed is the variability and uncertainty of wind power, requiring new optimization routines for production control. The work demonstrates how to balance emissions and economic gains for a reservoir field, both with and without access to offshore wind power.
“Mathias has proven to be an exceptionally productive and self-driven researcher. During his PhD, he contributed to several key areas within optimization and the use of renewable energy on the Norwegian continental shelf. He was a student who was easy to supervise, and collaborating with him has been highly rewarding. At the defense, there was strong support from colleagues and family, and Mathias presented his work in a clear and well-structured manner. He received excellent feedback from the opponents”, Rolf Lorentzen (WP3 leader)
About Mathias
Mathias holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in theoretical nuclear and particle physics from UiB. He began his PhD in applied mathematics at NORCE Research As , supervised by Rolf J. Lorentzen (NORCE), Jakub W. Both (UiB), and Olwijn Leeuwenburgh (TNO, Netherlands). At CSSR, Mathias contributed significantly to Work Package 3.
Defense Committee
- Opponents: Anahita Abadpour (TotalEnergies), Prof. Carl Fredrik Berg (NTNU)
- Chair: Prof. Kundan Kumar | Leader: Prof. Henrik Kalisch
Caption from left: Carl Fredrik Berg (NTNU), Rolf Johan Lorentzen(NORCE), Mathias Methlie Nilsen(NORCE), Olwijn Leeuwenburgh (TNO), Jakub Wiktor Both(UiB)
📸 Photo courtesy of UiB administration
A big thank you to everyone who supported this journey! Congratulations, Mathias, and best of luck in your future career at NORCE!