Don Condie - Senior Partner, Vice President Engineering
Don was born in Wyoming and, after growing up in a coal mining environment, attended the University of Wyoming where he graduated in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering.
Don start his career with Union Pacific Railroad Company (UPRC), and worked intensively both in the field operations and the reservoir evaluations areas. The program at UPRC involved a lot of hands on experience, working closely with geologists. Early on Don was responsible for designing and implementing waterflood programs. He was exposed to and gained experience from the "start of cradle to grave" petroleum engineering production techniques and management.
In 1961, Don went to work for Champlin Petroleum Company in Midland, Texas, where he was the district engineering manager. His responsibilities included secondary recovery management and heavy reserve evaluations of drilling prospects.
From 1976 to 1979, Don was the engineer managing the Rocky Mountain production for Tipperary in Colorado. Don directed all of the drilling and completion programs with wildcat and development wells and managed the district office.
Don’s experience in tite gas sands, onsite drilling and completion, planning and supervision, reservoir evaluations, and all phases of operations carried him to CalEnergy Operating Company based in California. There Don’s wealth of engineering and management abilities were needed for the annual budget of $25-30M in the drilling and production of 70 geothermal wells used for power plant use with severe drilling and production conditions including 500 degree brine.