Michael Nole

Senior Reservoir Simulation Engineer

[email protected]

Michael Nole is a Senior Reservoir Simulation Engineer at ResFrac.

Prior to joining ResFrac, Michael was a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he developed reservoir simulation software to study coupled multiphase flow and reactive transport processes in the subsurface. Here he worked on developing capabilities to model carbon storage and mineralization, critical mineral recovery, and geothermal energy.

Prior to this, he was a staff scientist at Sandia National Laboratories developing simulation software to model fluid flow and reactive transport processes associated with deep geologic disposal of radioactive waste, led a formal QA of software for use as a safety assessment code for an operating geologic repository, and developed software capabilities for modeling methane accumulation in marine and Arctic permafrost environments.

Michael obtained a B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.S. and Ph.D in Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

In his free time, Michael loves to bike, swim, hike, ski, and tolerates running so that he can train to race triathlons.

Michael's posts

Abstract illustration with multiple outlined maps over a green-to-yellow gradient and light beams.

The influence of well configuration on water loss in Enhanced Geothermal Systems

Recently, ‘water loss’ has been a hot topic of discussion for EGS. Fervo reported that they have been producing only 70% of the fluid volumes that they have been injecting at their Project Red. The FORGE project reported a roughly 10% water loss rate. Because projects will have finite water rights, these results have led to concern that growth of EGS will be limited by excessive water consumption. This is a valid concern, and water availability is a legitimate factor in site-selection and project engineering. However, I believe that the problem has been overstated.

Large conference room with a speaker presenting a slide deck to an audience seated around circular tables.

2026 ResFrac Annual Symposium Recap

On June 25, 2026, we got the ResFrac community together both in-person at the ExxonMobil campus in Spring, Texas, and virtually around the globe for our Annual Symposium. With our community growing as fast as it is, the energy in the room was absolutely buzzing. We had a jam-packed day of operator case studies, deep-dive technical sessions, and some incredible geomechanical insights from industry legends.

ResApps FracTest interface showing a Stress interpretation section with an Auto-interpret button and contact options, next to a Stress Diagnostic Chart.

FracTest – An Online Tool for DFIT Interpretation

This week, we are releasing FracTest, a web-based application for interpretation of diagnostic fracture injection tests (DFITs). FracTest is available at resapps.resfrac.com, alongside our other two ResApps, StageOpt and IntTest. DFITs are small-volume fracture injection tests used to estimate stress, pore pressure, and permeability. These quantities form the foundation of the fracture and reservoir engineering work that we do in ResFrac, and so we view DFIT interpretation as one of the most important parts of our workflow.

Michael Nole

Senior Reservoir Simulation Engineer

Michael Nole is a Senior Reservoir Simulation Engineer at ResFrac.

Michael's posts

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