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Honorary Membership is the highest honor SPE confers upon an individual. It is limited to 0.1% of SPE's total membership and is conferred on individuals for outstanding service to SPE or in recognition of distinguished scientific or engineering achievement in fields encompassed in SPE's technical scope. Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani is senior vice president of Saudi Aramco's downstream operations, which he assumed following his tenure as senior vice president of upstream operations. Since beginning his career with Aramco in 1983, he has served as president and CEO, Aramco Services Company; chief petroleum engineer; executive director and vice president, Petroleum Engineering and Development; vice president, Saudi Aramco Affairs; and vice president, Corporate Planning. In Al Qahtani's 35-year association with SPE, he has served as a board member of SPE International, honorary executive chairman of the SPE Saudi Arabia section, and executive committee chairman of the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) 2020 in Dhahran. He holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, and MS and PhD degrees in the same field from the University of Southern California. George V. Chilingar(ian) is professor emeritus of petroleum, civil, and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California, where he has taught for more than 60 years. Formerly, he served in the US Air Force as chief of the petroleum and chemicals laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Chilingar received the SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty and was named SPE Distinguished Member last year. He is the first American petroleum geologist ever elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Twice he served as senior adviser for petroleum engineering to the United Nations. Chilingar developed a way to identify oil-rich rocks by analyzing the ratio of calcium to magnesium content in carbonate rocks (dolomitization). Using this method, he discovered a large oil field in Iran which subsequently was named after him. The results of Chilingar's investigations are presented in more than 500 research articles and 73 books.
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