Frank Mango, Ph.D. – Founder, President & CEO Retired Research Scientist – Shell Development Co Adjunct Professor Geology & Geophysics Dept. – Rice U Research Scientist & Principle Investigator, Chem. Engr. – Rice U PhD Organic Chemistry – Stanford University Dan Jarvie – Co-Founder & Senior Technical Advisor President & CEO Humble Geochemical Services Larry Evans – Senior Advisor Founder, former Chairman & CEO – Aspen Technology, 1981-2002 Elected President, Amer. Institute Chem. Engineers, 2005 Elected to National Academy of Engineering, 2001 Named one of seven Heroes of US Manufacturing by Fortune Magazine, 1999 Professor of Chemical Engineering MIT, 1970 – 1981

Frank D. Mango
Founder and CEO Petroleum Habitats, LLC

Frank received his Ph.D. in 1963 in organic chemistry at Stanford University under William A. Bonner.  He joined Shell Development Company that same year at their Emeryville laboratory in California, working in transition metal catalysis, petroleum processing and polymer chemistry.  His research shifted to organic geochemistry in 1975 at the Bellaire Research Center, in Houston, TX.  Frank has working experience in metal catalysis, petroleum chemistry and organic geochemistry. 

He retired from Shell in 1991 and joined Rice University as Adjunct Professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics.  Frank published a Note in Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta in 1992 disclosing his hypothesis on the catalytic origin of natural gas, a milestone in his subsequent research.  The idea was purely theoretical at that time, without empirical support.  To test it experimentally, he joined Joe Hightower in the Chemical Engineering Department that same year as a Research Scientist and Principle Investigator on three consecutive DOE grants (Transition Metal Catalysis in the Generation of Oil and Natural Gas) (1992 to 2002).  His research at Rice verified that low-valent transition metals in sedimentary rocks were indeed catalytic converting oil to natural gas under realistic basin conditions, thus duplicating, for the first time in the laboratory, the natural evolution of oil to natural gas. 

He has published widely in catalysis (19 publications and 8 patents) and geochemistry (18 publications, one awarded Best Paper, 1990, by the Geochemical Society, Organic Geochemistry).  In 2004, Frank created Petroleum Habitats, a consulting company for predicting oil or gas in target reservoirs based on his catalytic model for gas generation and proprietary rock assays. 

Publications: the Origin of Oil & Natural Gas

Mango, F. D. (2002) Comment on “Natural gas composition in a geological environment and the implications for the processes of generation and preservation,” Lloyd R. Snowdon, 2001, Org. Geochem. 32, 913, Org. Geochem. 33, 81-83.

Mango, F. D. (2001) Methane concentrations in natural gas: the genetic implications. Org. Geochem. 32, 1283-1287.

Mango, F. D. (2000) Carbon isotopic evidence for the catalytic origin of light hydrocarbons. Geochem. Trans,. 6.

Mango, F. D. (2000) The origin of light hydrocarbons. Geochimica. Cosmochim. Acta 64, 1265-1277.

Mango, F. D., and Elrod, L. W. (1999) The carbon isotopic composition of catalytic gas: A comparative analysis of natural gas. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 63, 1097-1106.

Mango, F. D., and Hightower (1997) The catalytic decomposition of petroleum into natural gas. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 24, 5347-5350. 

Mango, F. D. (1997) The light hydrocarbons in petroleum: A critical review. Org. Geochem. 26, 417-440.

Mango, F. D. (1996) Transition metal catalysis in the generation of natural gas. Org. Geochem. 24, 977-984. 

Mango, F. D., Hightower, J. W., and James, A. T. (1994) Role of transition-metal catalysis in the formation of natural gas. Nature, 368, 536-538.

Mango, F. D. (1994) The origin of light hydrocarbons in petroleum: Ring preference in the closure of carbocyclic rings. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 58, 895-901.

Mango, F. D. (1992) Transition metal catalysis in the generation of petroleum: A genetic anomaly in Ordovician oils. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 56, 3851-3854.

Mango, F. D. (1992) Transition metal catalysis in the generation of petroleum and natural gas. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 56, 553-555.

Mango, F. D. (1991) The stability of hydrocarbons under the time-temperature conditions of petroleum genesis. Nature 352, 146-148.

Mango, F. D. (1990) The origin of light hydrocarbons in petroleum: A kinetic test of the steady-state catalytic hypothesis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 54, 1315-1323. Awarded Best Paper by the Geochemical Society (Organic Geochemistry) for 1990.

Mango, F. D. (1990) The origin of light cycloalkanes in petroleum. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 54, 23-27.

Mango, F. D. (1989) Pre-steady-state kinetics at the onset of petroleum generation. Org. Geochem. 16, 41-48.

Mango, F. D. (1987) An invariance in the isoheptanes of petroleum. Science 237, 514-517.

Mango, F. D. (1983) The diagenesis of carbohydrates by hydrogen sulfide. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 47, 1433-1441.

Professional Activities

Member executive committee The Geochemical Society, Organic Geochemistry Division, 1991-1993.

Member SEPM Technical Program Committee (Organic Geochemistry) for the 1995 AAPG/SEPM meeting, Houston. 

Petroleum Habitats receives technology strategy support from

Hamilton Technology Advisors