Mustagh Resources :: Our People

Norm Cooper, P. Geoph. - President

Norm Cooper received his BSc with a major in Geophysics from U.B.C. in 1977.  After a short experience with the mining industry he joined Amoco Canada Petroleum Company.  With Amoco, he was allowed a free hand in experimenting with unique field and processing methods.  This practical experience, combined with Amoco's excellent training program, armed Norm with some solid geophysical tools.  Prior to leaving Amoco, he became involved with their training center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, periodically teaching courses as part of their geophysical training program.

In 1981 Norm moved to Voyager Petroleums Ltd.  There he became more directly involved with seismic field operations and program design in addition to his normal interpretation and exploration responsibilities. His field of experience was broadened to encompass all of Western Canada as well as minor exposure to the Beaufort, East Coast and Northern States.

By late 1983, Norm felt the urge for independence and founded Mustagh Resources Ltd. Since then he has been very active in geophysical consulting, survey design, and general exploration. He developed a series of courses focusing on fundamental seismic principles and adquisition and program design. Teaching now constitutes about 40% of Mustagh's business. Norm and his partner/wife Yajaira have presented a broad variety of courses to thousands of geophysicists and contractors around the world.

Mustagh’s principle business is design and management of 2D, 3D and 4D seismic programs and Norm and Yajaira have been responsible for more than 3000 projects in a great variety of basins.  Norm has been active in quality assurance of field operations and of high-tech processing techniques.  He has worked in areas as diverse as the Green Mountains of Libya to the Jungles of Borneo; from the Rocky Mountains of Canada to the basalt plains of Northern Ireland; and from the Arctic Islands to Tierra del Fuego.  He has worked on seismic programs in over 50 countries spanning six continents.

Norm is a member of the CSEG, SEG, CAGC, APEGGA, CSPG, and CWLS.  He has served two terms as a director of the CAGC, has been a vice-president of the CSEG, was a director of Genesis Exploration and has served on numerous committees serving the geophysical community.  He has received the CSEG Meritorious Service Award and several Best Paper awards.

Yajaira Herrera - Geophysicist

Yajaira earned a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Zulia in Venezuela in 1994. She worked from 1992 to 1995 in the Venezuelan oil industry where she applied her engineering background.

After moving to Canada in 1995, she obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Calgary in February of 1999. Then she started work full time with Mustagh in 1999 and also attended the University of Calgary in her spare time and completed another Masters degree in Geophysics by 2005.

 In addition to managing her own clients and projects in a variety of countries, she also shares in the development and presentation of the courses with Norm. She was the lead geophysicist in the research and authoring of “Geophysical Guidelines for Seismic Operations in Colombia” prepared under contract to ANH (The governing authority for exploration and development in Colombia).

For 15 years Yajaira has been a strong contributing geophysicist to Mustagh.  She has added her own professional style to much of our consulting work.  She has been an instrumental part of Mustagh’s rapid growth in the international marketplace.

Yajaira is a member of the CSEG, SEG and the ACGGP (Asociación Colombiana de Geólogos y Geofísicos del Petróleo). She has participated in CSEG education committees.

Michael Cooper - Senior Software Developer

An interest in developing simple models to describe complex situations led Michael to pursue a program in Physics and Pure Mathematics at the University of Calgary. He is currently completing degrees in these two fields while working full-time with Mustagh.

Michael has been working full-time with Mustagh, developing the DirectAid survey design software, since 1999. He has been programming computers for more than twenty years, mainly in C/C++. Michael has done extensive work with OpenGL, attempting to leverage developments in game-driven programming and hardware to solve visualization challenges.

Michael brings to Mustagh an innovative and ambitious approach to solving survey design and mapping software challenges.