W. Aaron Burton’s career has been focused on the completion of shales and similar unconventional plays that require multistage hydraulic fracturing. Burton joined Baker Hughes as a field engineer trainee for completion tools after graduation in 2007. During his time in operations, he held the roles of field engineer, operations coordinator, and application engineer. He has completed wells in several unconventional plays in US Land, including the Bakken, Marcellus, and the Lower Huron and also installed two of the first ball-activated completion systems in China. Outside of operations he has been Product Line Strategist, Completions Manager for the Unconventional Resource Team, and Product Line Manager for unconventional multistage completions. These roles were focused on projects and products that would grow business in mature markets and in emerging markets. He also has a solid understanding of reservoir properties and stimulation design that are used in a data-driven approach to more effectively design completions in unconventional wells.

He is also very active in the industry authoring and instructing on the subject of unconventional completions. He has authored and coauthored three SPE papers, and continues to teach two SPE continuing education courses. He has written a variety of other documents including magazine articles and newsletters, and taught numerous classes in many different venues to operators and service company personnel. Also, he has been a discussion leader, presenter, panelist, and participated in many other roles in industry events.

Burton holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Mississippi State University.

Sergey Kotov is the product line Manager for Unconventional Fracturing, Production Enhancement at Baker Hughes. Kotov spent 19 years in oil and gas industry primarily specializing in production enhancement.

He started his career in Russia, participating in all aspects of pumping operations in the most of the major oil and gas basins from the South of the Arctic Circle. As an application engineer of BJ Services Technology Research Center, he participated in the development and optimization of new stimulation technologies. As a senior stimulation specialist, Kotov worked in North Africa. He was involved in many stimulation projects around the world. In recent years Kotov has specialized in unconventional stimulation as a Region Engineer in the US, Sr. Stimulation Advisor/Stimulation Manager for the Unconventional Resources, and as a Product Line Manager for Unconventional Fracturing, providing technical expertise and leadership globally.

He is an active member of the SPE. He participated in numerous industry events as a speaker and a panelist. Kotov is as instructor for the “Unconventional Completions and Fracturing” SPE course, he is also a co-author of Baker Hughes Recommended Practices / Data-Driven Solutions for Shale Gas/Oil Analysis and Development, and a co-author and instructor for Baker Hughes Shale Academy.

Kotov holds an MS in petroleum engineering/oils and gas geology (Russia), he also earned an honors MA in linguistics (Russia).