One of the best things about SPE is our wealth of members with extensive knowledge of every industry discipline. Sharing this knowledge with our colleagues and the next generation of engineers is the cornerstone of SPE membership. Founded by SPE members in 2013 to create an ever-evolving, online information encyclopedia specific to the oil and gas industry, PetroWiki was initially seeded with content from the Petroleum Engineering Handbook (Lake 2007). Over the years, PetroWiki has become a valuable resource for young and developing engineers interested in deepening their technical expertise. The short-form entries of wiki articles enable readers to quickly grasp the necessary information and terms vital to understanding our technology and processes.

One of the best things about SPE is our wealth of members with extensive knowledge of every industry discipline. Sharing this knowledge with our colleagues and the next generation of engineers is the cornerstone of SPE membership. Founded by SPE members in 2013 to create an ever-evolving, online information encyclopedia specific to the oil and gas industry, PetroWiki was initially seeded with content from the Petroleum Engineering Handbook (Lake 2007). Over the years, PetroWiki has become a valuable resource for young and developing engineers interested in deepening their technical expertise. The short-form entries of wiki articles enable readers to quickly grasp the necessary information and terms vital to understanding our technology and processes.

Technology has revolutionized the ways by which we access information and learn about topics that interest us. The emergence of mobile devices, information-sharing platforms, and apps have streamlined the conventional methods of learning and knowledge transfer. One of the most notable changes is the replacement of textbooks and encyclopedias with web-based knowledge-sharing portals such as SPE's PetroWiki--a digital portal for oil- and gas-related technical information. PetroWiki.org is a living, growing knowledge resource for oil and gas professionals, featuring more than 2,000 pages of content. Information about a topic can be easily gathered by entering the keyword in the search box.

You must log in to edit PetroWiki. Content of PetroWiki is intended for personal use only and to supplement, not replace, engineering judgment. SPE disclaims any and all liability for your use of such content. In the context of drilling fluid, yield is a measurement applied to clay dealing with the number of barrels of a set viscosity fluid that can be made from a given quantity of clay.

President's column

I must write my final column, before next month’s recap, on the most fundamental mission of SPE, our core purpose, our raison d’etre: the dissemination of technology. More precisely, I am talking about the part SPE plays in the dissemination of independent, unbiased, trusted, and reliable technical information and knowledge. SPE is recognized worldwide for its role in this area and it is the topic that makes up the heart of our mission statement, which incidentally has not changed in 35 years.

The rationale for quality technical information dissemination and knowledge sharing is at least twofold. Firstly, for individual members to progress in their career and take on more challenging roles of increasing responsibility, they must develop, maintain, and improve their skills and expertise through knowledge sharing and by having access to quality, reliable technical information. Secondly, the value proposition of most companies in our industry hinges on the technical expertise of its people, so it is necessary to continually develop employee expertise as a competitive advantage. A large part of this development comes from SPE-provided literature, training, and knowledge gained from conferences, workshops, and forums.

Many of our knowledge domains are undergoing rapid change, which elevates the importance of SPE’s ability to share technical information and knowledge in a timely manner. Deepwater exploration, shale gas and shale oil production, subsea development, and heavy oil recovery are a few examples of subjects for which yesterday’s technical information is inadequate. The globalization and remoteness of our industry’s workforce is another reason we must continually advance the ways in which we distribute technical information. Finally, the retirement of many of our longest-tenured experts requires that we accelerate the learning of the younger professionals and the efficient dissemination of quality technical information is the key.

Technical Quality

If your mission and livelihood is to disseminate technical information, the quality of the information is paramount and must override any measure of timeliness, affordability, accessibility, or availability. If you do not have the utmost confidence in the quality of the technical information or the knowledge being shared, it does not matter the user-friendliness of getting the information. There is no doubt that the number of technical presentations and papers being written has grown rapidly over the last decade, tied to the significant growth in the number of conferences and workshops.