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Ben Hilton

Senior Geologist & Subsurface Integrator | Founder, K'nexion Energy

Katy, TX

Ben Hilton with his family, a large group of all ages, standing together in a church hallway
Family at Ton's mission homecoming.

Background

  • Sedimentologist turned Structural Geomodeler
  • Gulf of America specialist in salt-related box folds and complex salt-withdrawal minibasin stratigraphy, especially the Miocene.
  • 17 years of industry geoscience (since 2009), much of it in the Gulf of America.
  • Petrel + RMS
  • Spanish: intermediate fluency
  • NOVA 2026 talk: OSDU as the Bridge to AI-Enabled Subsurface Decisions: Accelerating Exploration, Development & Production (7 Oct 2026)
  • Katy, TX

Career timeline

Education

  1. B.S. Geology, Brigham Young University
  2. M.S. Geology, University of Houston

Early career

  1. BYU Geology research assistant
  2. Halliburton Landmark software tester
  3. Devon Energy geology intern
  4. El Paso (EP Energy) geology intern
  5. ExxonMobil Upstream Research geoscience intern

BP America (Gulf of America deepwater)

  1. Integrated Geologist, Challenger program incl. Barbados Trough exploration
  2. Reservoir Management Geologist
  3. Senior Geologist, Full-Field Geomodelling Lead

Post-BP

  1. IGI Energy, subsurface area manager / chief geologist (pending)
  2. RockNRG Consulting, President (appointed June 2026)
  3. now K'nexion Energy, Founder

Beyond the deepwater

Early in my BP career I delivered a regional subsurface and petroleum-systems evaluation of the deepwater Barbados Trough, covering timing and key risk elements, and presented the results in person to Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs. Before BP, internships with ExxonMobil Upstream Research, Devon Energy and El Paso took me from deepwater distributary-lobe modeling to ArkLaTex well-top correlation, mapping and secondary-target recommendations, while two years testing Landmark's DecisionSpace and GeoProbe taught me how software supports geologic judgment.

In 2026 I also began working with IGI Energy as subsurface area manager / chief geologist (engagement pending), framing a subsurface exploration and appraisal program for South American shelfal blocks.

Ben Hilton in a high-visibility jacket holding up a sketch below pale sandstone cliffs
Leading a BP field trip, Castlegate Sandstone, Sept 2024.
Two geologists holding up a poster of the Neilson Wash, Utah, thesis area among sandstone boulders under a blue sky
Neilson Wash, UT: my thesis area, emphasizing compound incised valley fills.
Ben Hilton with two RockNRG colleagues in navy polo shirts, outdoors on a sunny day
With the RockNRG team.

A New Chapter

After helping build RockNRG Consulting alongside great colleagues, I stepped down as President in October 2026 to focus on the work I do best: hands-on geoscience for operators. I'm grateful for the team and what we built together. K'nexion Energy is the next chapter, an independent consulting firm open now for contract and full-time engagements.

Credentials

  • Memberships SPE and AAPG
  • Texas Professional Geoscientist (PG) certification in progress.

Self-starting workhorse of epic proportions.

Geology Supervisor

Associates

I have access to a bench of individuals totaling over 200 collective years of experience in the industry. Whatever your need, I can bring in the right folks.

How we work

  • An NDA on every engagement.
  • HSE and drug-and-alcohol compliance available on request.

Master's Research

Mapping the Hidden Architecture of an Ancient River Valley

Before I mapped reservoirs in the subsurface, I mapped one in three dimensions on the outcrop, to see how a buried valley system really fills.

Download my thesis (PDF) PDF, ~204 MB (opens in a new tab)

Incised valleys host some of the world's largest stratigraphic reservoirs, yet most facies models describe only the main trunk valley and overlook the tributaries that feed it. My master's research tested that gap in the Turonian Ferron Sandstone (Notom Delta) along Neilson Wash, Utah. I combined 56 measured sections with an aerial LiDAR survey to rebuild the valley fill in 3D using allostratigraphic methods: correlation panels, restored and preserved isopach maps, paleogeographic reconstructions and a composite geologic map. The work documented younger cut-and-fill sequences missed by earlier studies, showed that the composite sequence boundary formed over time rather than at once, and demonstrated that tributary fills differ from trunk fills in width-to-thickness, grain size and facies. Confined valleys are sand-rich; less-confined valleys preserve floodplain mud. For operators, that heterogeneity is what controls baffles, connectivity and recovery.

  • 3D, data-driven: 56 measured sections + aerial LiDAR integrated into one allostratigraphic framework.
  • Tributary valleys are not small trunk valleys: they differ in geometry, grain size, sedimentary structures and facies mix.
  • Confinement predicts sand: confined valleys fill sand-dominated, while less-confined valleys preserve floodplain baffles that compartmentalize flow.
Color-coded west-to-east correlation panel of stacked incised-valley units with measured sections and sequence-boundary lines.
Fig. 1 Strike cross section #3 across the valley fill. Muddy V2B deposits were eroded by a later sea-level fall and refilled with V2A floodplain facies; younger units onlap older ones. Vertical exaggeration 10x.
Five stacked color-coded cross sections above an aerial photo showing the five section lines.
Fig. 2 Five strike cross sections, north (downstream) to south (upstream), with a map of their locations. The valley widens downstream. Vertical exaggeration 2x.
Map of a meandering river belt with yellow point bars, blue channels, brown floodplain, a black coal swamp and hatched interfluves.
Fig. 3 Paleogeographic reconstruction of the V2A valley at 21 m above datum, built from measured-section facies and paleocurrents: meandering channels, point bars, floodplain, coal swamp and interfluves.
Five side-by-side maps over aerial imagery: an elevation map and four thickness maps colored blue to red.
Fig. 4 The valley floor surface and restored vs. preserved thickness (isopach) maps for valley units V3B and V3A, showing valley axes, terraces and how much later erosion removed.
Color geologic map of a winding wash with orange, blue, pink, green and black map units and a legend.
Fig. 5 Composite geologic map of Neilson Wash, Utah, showing the marine parasequences and valley units, built by integrating field mapping, aerial imagery and elevation data in GIS.

Download my thesis (PDF) PDF, ~204 MB (opens in a new tab)

Media (under construction)

Talks, photos and the podcast will live here. For anything in the meantime, get in touch.

Contact Ben

Away from the Rocks

Away from the rocks, our family bought Bahama Mama's Shaved Ice in January 2023, and my wife runs the shop. On a good summer night the lot is full and the line wraps past the umbrellas. Running a small business alongside geoscience has taught me a lot about customers, cash flow and showing up every day.

Cars filling the gravel lot at Bahama Mama's Shaved Ice under a blue summer sky
A full lot at Bahama Mama's Shaved Ice.
Two children enjoying shave ice on a wooden bench
Shave ice season
A night crowd waiting under teal umbrellas and string lights
Summer nights under the umbrellas.
  • Ben Hilton and his wife Michelle taking a selfie on a mountain lookout at sunset
    With my wife Michelle, Hawaii, Feb 2026: going on 18 years.
  • Ben Hilton's family in matching blue shirts on a white-sand beach
    Family, Panama City Beach, FL, Nov 2024.
  • Ben Hilton taking a selfie with his daughters, both making faces
    I love being a dad: Lily and Melody.
  • Ben Hilton and his daughter Kylee smiling at sunset
    Dad with Kylee.
  • Ben Hilton with two of his children holding race medals at a finish-line arch
    Running a 10K with Emily and Benson.
  • Members of a woodworking club gathered around a workbench in a garage workshop
    Woodworking club: first Saturday of each month.
  • A rider in the air on a dirt bike above a red sandstone slope
    Flying on my old Honda XR250, St. George, UT (hometown).

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