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Rand Gardner

I am a geoscientist and project manager currently leading a multidisciplinary team delivering congressionally mandated research and resource assessments.

Rand grew up in the oil patch where he learned the ins and outs of the energy industry. He worked for Big Oil as a wildcatter before joining the USGS in 2021 where he now leads a team doing research and resource assessments. He has done fieldwork and/or resource exploration in Suriname, Guyana, French Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Spain, France, Turkey, Mexico, USA, and Canada.

Professional Experience

  • Supervisory Geologist and Project Chief, USGS, 2021-Present

  • Senior Exploration Geoscientist, Total S.A., 2016-2021

  • Exploration Geologist, British Petroleum, 2012-2016

  • Geologist, SM Energy, Summer 2011

  • Geologist, Legend Natural Gas, Summer 2010

  • Teacher's Assistant - Petroleum Geology, Texas A&M University, 2010

  • Researcher and Field Assistant - Sedimentology Lab, Brigham Young University, 2008-2009

  • Humanitarian Missionary, Mozambique, 2004-2006

Education and Certifications

  • M.S. Geology, Texas A&M University

  • B.S. Geology, Brigham Young University

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • Houston Organic Geochemistry Society (HOGS)

  • American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

Honors and Awards

  • Awarded competitive two-year fellowship funded by British Petroleum, Texas A&M University

  • full tuition scholarship, Brigham Young University

  • Eagle Scout Award

Science and Products

Assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil and gas resources in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2022

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 143 million barrels of oil and 1,084 billion cubic feet of natural gas in conventional accumulations for the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation in the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
Justin E. Birdwell, Katherine J. Whidden, Stanley T. Paxton, Scott A. Kinney, Rand D. Gardner, Janet K. Pitman, Katherine L. French, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Christopher J. Schenk
By
Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center

Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast, 2022

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean continuous resources of 0.8 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast region.

Authors
Katherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Rand D. Gardner, Scott A. Kinney, Stanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk
By
Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center

Science and Products

Assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil and gas resources in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation, U.S. Gulf Coast, 2022

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 143 million barrels of oil and 1,084 billion cubic feet of natural gas in conventional accumulations for the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation in the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
Justin E. Birdwell, Katherine J. Whidden, Stanley T. Paxton, Scott A. Kinney, Rand D. Gardner, Janet K. Pitman, Katherine L. French, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Christopher J. Schenk
By
Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center

Assessment of continuous oil and gas resources in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast, 2022

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean continuous resources of 0.8 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation of the onshore U.S. Gulf Coast region.

Authors
Katherine J. Whidden, Justin E. Birdwell, Rand D. Gardner, Scott A. Kinney, Stanley T. Paxton, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk
By
Energy Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government