Otto Welper Founder/Managing Director

Mr. Welper is the founder of VIP (in 2001) and has over 25+ years in the oil and gas and seismic businesses. Between 1995 and 2001, Otto was the President and CEO of Integrated Seismic Solutions and Vanguard Inc. Integrated Seismic Solutions, Inc. (“ISS”) was a private, Houston-based full service 3-D seismic consulting company that specialized in 3-D seismic project management, from design through processing and interpretation to participation as a working interest partner at the invitation of its clients. Vanguard, a company he formed in 1995, provided permitting, surveying, and shot-hole drilling services for 3-D projects. The company became one of the largest providers of shot-hole drilling services in North America. During 1993 to 1996, Mr. Welper was President of 3-D Services, Inc., a service company specializing in 3-D seismic design, acquisition, processing, and interpretation. From 1992 to 1993, Otto was Geophysical Manger at Edge Petroleum, Inc. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Welper was Manager of Advanced Technology for Paramount Petroleum, Inc., where he was credited with the 3-D development of the Frisco City Field, the company’s single largest discovery. Prior to Paramount, Mr. Welper was employed in various positions with Seismograph Service Corporation (1983-1989); Prakla-Seismos, USA, Inc. (1982); Union Oil Company of California (1979-1982). Mr. Welper is the author of several articles on direct seismic hydrocarbon indicators, Processing using Coherence cubes and pre-stack migration, and is currently one of the foremost experts active today in the fields of processing and interpretation of 3-D seismic data. Mr. Welper received a B.S. in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Connecticut in 1978.


Dan Morris Managing Director

Mr. Morris has been involved in the oil and gas business for the last 20 years. Presently, Mr. Morris is the Co-Managing Partner of VIP, a position he began in 2003. He is primarily responsible for Contracts and Negotiation, Finance, and Marketing. From 1999 to 2002, Dan was President and Founder of eSeis, Inc., provider of lithology, porosity and pore pressure of exploration objectives. Mr. Morris created Harvest Exploration to exploit the lithology interpretation technology in an exploration setting, to gain advantaged position in exploration plays in return for a carried working interest. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Morris was the President and Founder of Coherence Technology Company (CTC), providing advanced seismic data interpretation technology. During that time, CTC generated $24 million and employed 125 staff in Houston, Dallas, Calgary, London, Lagos, and Jakarta. Mr. Morris negotiated corporate programs with Enron Oil and Gas, Anadarko, Saudi Aramco and Petronas Caragali (Malaysia), and negotiated a worldwide technology partnership with Western Geophysical. Mr. Morris directed the sale of Coherence Technology Company to Core Laboratories for $7 million (after debt), thereby providing an excellent return to its shareholders. From 1983 to 1990, Mr. Morris was a staff geophysicist with Halliburton Energy Services. During that time he was responsible for acquisition and processing of 3D data worldwide. From 1991 to 1994, Mr. Morris worked with Halliburton Corporate Planning group to evaluate performance improvements and business acquisitions and divestitures. Mr. Morris received his Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1983 and his Master of International Management degree from Thunderbird (American Graduate School of International Management, Glendale, Arizona) in 1991.