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Terra Team![]()
| The Terra Executive Team |
Dr. Agaian is a published scientific researcher, serial entrepreneur, and accomplished company builder. Since 2003, he has concentrated his energies on natural resource exploration, finance and development. He has structured, raised and deployed more than US$100 million over this time for projects related to oil & gas as well as gold mining. Along with the board and executive management team of Terra, Dr. Agaian currently oversees all aspects of Terra’s various business interests including exploration services for oil and mining companies, proprietary resource acquisition and development, as well as technology research, development and acquisition. Given his long history of starting and building companies, he devotes considerable time scouting, evaluating and modelling potential prospects for Terra’s acquisition and development. Since July, 2008, he has served as Terra’s President, Principal Financial Officer and also as a board member, becoming Chairman in April 2009. He co-founded, in May 2007, Helios Petroleum Holding, AG, a Swiss company developing and operating mini-refineries in Russia, and serves as its President and as a member of its Board of Directors. From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Agaian, through his private consulting company, Balance Capital, LLC, participated in structuring several oil and gold projects in Kazakhstan and Ukraine. From May 2003 to July 2005, Dr. Agaian served as President and Chief Executive Officer of BMB Munai, Inc., a publicly trade oil and gas exploration and production company which reached revenues of US$100 million while Dr. Agaian was at the helm. He was one of the founders and a board member of BMB Munai. In 1994, Dr. Agaian founded ANBI Corporation, a New Jersey corporation with business interests and relationships in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In 1989, Dr. Agaian co-founded the All-Russian Association of Commercial Banks, a non-commercial organization in the former Soviet Union, and served as Vice President until 1992. In 1988, Dr. Agaian founded the first commercial bank in the USSR, The Innovation Bank of Saint Petersburg, and served as its Chief Executive Officer until 1994. In 1993, Dr. Agaian was elected as a Corresponding Member of the Engineering Academy of St. Petersburg (Russia). From 1985 to 1988, Dr. Agaian served as Chief Information Officer at the Bank for Industry and Construction. From 1973 until 1985, Dr. Agaian performed scientific work at different research centers and institutes in Tbilissi, Moscow and Leningrad. Dr. Agaian graduated from the State University of Tbilissi (Georgia, former USSR) in 1973, summa cum laude, with a degree in applied cybernetics. He received a Ph.D. in 1980 from The Academy of Science in Moscow in the field of computer networking. He lives with his wife and son on the Upper Eastside of Manhattan in NY and enjoys the natural outdoors whenever he can.
Dmitry Vilbaum, Chief Executive Officer, Terra Energy & Resource Technologies, Inc.
Dmitry Vilbaum is an accomplished information technology engineer, entrepreneur and oil man. He has drilled several wells in Texas and Nevada, structured and raised millions of dollars for oil projects, and technology acquisitions. Along with the board and executive management team of Terra, Mr. Vilbaum currently oversees all aspects of Terra’s various business interests including exploration services for oil and mining companies, proprietary resource acquisition and development, as well as technology research, development and acquisition. Mr. Vilbaum’s vision has been to put the Terra Technologies “on the map” by establishing credibility among the conservative community of exploration geologists and company executives. A great deal of the traction that Terra has gained in the exploration industry outside of Russia can be attributed to Mr. Vilbaum’s efforts on behalf of Terra which have focused on providing exploration services to the oil & gas and mining industries; i.e. helping others find natural resources on a fee for service basis. He believes that resource acquisition and joint venture opportunities will naturally develop in time as Terra helps others to be successful in their exploration efforts. He has served as CEO and as a board member since 2007 and prior to that he served as Terra’s Chief Operating Officer from the company’s inception in 2005. From March 2001 to June 2005, Mr. Vilbaum was a vice president in the information technology department of Deutsche Bank where he ran large teams and managed varied and often mission-critical projects. From January 1996 through March of 2001, Mr. Vilbaum served as the president of Anyent, Inc., a consulting company providing enterprise-wide, information technology services to major Wall Street corporations, such as Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Newbridge Securities, Deloitte & Touche LLP., as well as technology companies, such as Compaq and MatchBlade Technologies. Mr. Vilbaum received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1995 from the City University of New York. He lives in Forest Hills, New York with his wife and two children and enjoys fishing, scuba diving and managing his backyard Koi fish pond.
Robert P. Jones, Special Consultant – Exploration Operations
Robert P. Jones has 41 years of oil and gas experience and has drilled 100's of wells managing multimillion budgets while supervising large teams of oil & gas drilling, engineering and operations professionals. Initially in engineering and field supervision, Mr. Jones has been in drilling and operations management since 1978. Domestic experience includes drilling, completions, and work-overs in Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, Nevada, and other oil producing states. International experience includes the North Sea (UK and Norway), offshore West Africa and China. During his lengthy career, he has drilled, completed, and performed work-overs on hundreds of exploratory and developmental wells both on land and offshore. Mr. Jones has experience with jack-ups, semi-submersibles, drill ships, platform rigs, land rigs, work over rigs, snubbing units and coil-tubing units. Recently, Mr. Jones worked as operational field manager for Repsol for onshore US Drilling in the United States. In the past, he was Drilling Superintendent for Mariner Energy and Gryphon Exploration Company. Prior to Gryphon Exploration, Mr. Jones was Drilling Manager for Cheniere Energy. Prior to employment by Cheniere, he was Senior Operations Consultant for Houston Drilling Management working for several independent oil and gas companies. Mr. Jones began his career with Phillips Petroleum Company in 1969 and remained with Phillips until 1998. While with Phillips, he supervised operations in water depths to 1,500 feet and supervised the first sub-sea dual frac-pack completion in the Gulf of Mexico.
| The Terra Technologies Scientific
Team |
Terra employs some of the leading scientists in the field today for remote sensing geoscience, adsorbed gas geochemical analysis and alternative geophysics. Combined, the overall team possesses over 400+ years of experience in geoscience research, development and commercial application. Its scientists hail from the most prestigious universities in Russia and Eastern Europe such as Moscow State University (The Harvard of Russia), the Moscow State Engineering – Physics Institute (the MIT of Russia), the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute, Tashkent University (Top University in Uzbekistan) and The Kiev State University (Top university in the Ukraine). The Terra Technologies Scientific Team is comprised of smaller teams that are associated with the specific sub disciplines. They are active members and serve on the boards of the most prestigious academic and scientific research institutes and universities in Russia, the Ukraine and Eastern Europe. They have been recognized by their peers with PhDs, honors and in several cases, patent awards.
The Geodynamic Analysis Department
This group has three primary team members possessing 100 years’ combined experience in applied geoscience, specializing in remote sensing, satellite image interpretation and structure-geodynamic analysis of the Earth in regards to hydrocarbon and mineral exploration. The model’s inventor leads the team and is a PhD in Geological and Mineralogical Science. They have been with Terra since 2006 and provide critical analysis of target areas using this unique, mathematically-based model. The model incorporates mantle plume theory, advances the understanding of tectonics and identifies the major minerogenic source structures on the planet, the so called “oil and mineral kitchens”, which are thought to convey hydrocarbons and other minerals to the upper horizons of the Earth’s crust.
Structure-Metric Analysis Department
This group has two primary team members possessing 55 years’ combined experience in applied geology and a remote sensing and is responsible for a number of discoveries in oil and gas and other minerals. The founder of the method leads the group which has been employed by Terra since 2005. They have taken part in all of the Company’s remote sensing projects.
Spectrometric and Morphometric Analysis Department
This group has three primary team members possessing 55 years’ combined experience and two PhDs in geoinformatics. They specialize in pattern recognition using artificial neural nets and wavelet analysis in oil and gas exploration as well as remote sensing and multispectral analysis utilizing SARScape, Global Mapper, ENVI, Matlab, and Wolfram Mathematica. Their work includes data processing using radiometric, spatial, geometric corrective, and orthotransformation methods, creation of stereoscopic pairs, 3D digital stereophotogrammetry, and the design of pattern recognition techniques using Matlab, ArcGis, MapInfo, Global Mapper, Erdas Imaging, and Quantum GIS. They have also automated some morphometric methods using ArcGis that previously required manual computation, significantly enhancing the method’s capabilities.
Paleo-reconstruction Department
This group has two primary team members possessing 40 years’ combined experience in paleo-reconstruction and relief plasticity studies. The group’s leader has a PhD in the application of surface maps on channel structures in geology several published scientific articles to her credit. They are among the founding developers of the paleo-reconstruction/relief plasticity method. They have been with Terra since 2007 and perform their important brand of analysis on all Terra hydrocarbon services projects when applicable. This method is especially useful in determining the migratory trend for hydrocarbons.
Geochemical Analysis Department
This group has four team members and possesses 115 years’ combined experience in applied geoscience and gas-geochemistry related to oil and gas exploration. The group’s leader is the founding developer of the naturally adsorbed gas survey analytical method. He received a PhD in 1972 on the relation of gas-geochemistry to oil and gas fields and has published numerous scientific articles on related topics. He has received recognition from his peers and numerous awards for his contribution to solving urgent problems of the geological sciences. They have been with Terra since 2006 and perform geochemical survey analysis, interpretation of results and correlation of STeP-derived remote sensing anomalies with NAGS findings.
Integration and GIS Department
This group has three team members and possesses 30 years’ combined experience in geosciences. The team leader received his PhD on the Geological structure and formation conditions of the Shumilov deposit and is the author of several scientific articles. They have been with Terra since 2009, and are involved in all projects. The group’s responsibilities include the collection and interpretation of geological data, the integration of results obtained via the STeP, NAGS and other methods.