Speakers at the inaugural ATCE Women in Energy breakfast included: Melanie Popp, geoLOGIC systems director of engineering (far left); Lijs Groenendaal, Shell International Lake Charles transition manager; Shauna Noonan, Occidental Petroleum director of artificial lift engineering and 2020 SPE president; Linda Battalora, teaching professor in Colorado School of Mines' petroleum engineering department and Women in Energy event chair at ATCE 2019; and Helen Chang, Alberta Energy Regulator chief engineer (far right). The real challenge of attracting and retaining women in the upstream oil and gas industry has nothing to do with gender, said four industry leaders at the inaugural SPE Women in Engineering Committee Breakfast at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. The event was held 30 September in Calgary. In the course of the discussion, the panelists agreed that the real challenge of attracting and retaining all talent—not just women—is tied to the industry’s unintentional “brand” among people outside it. That brand is characterized by the following. The consensus among the panelists was that the role of women in petroleum engineering is evolving.

Speakers at the inaugural ATCE Women in Energy breakfast included: Melanie Popp, geoLOGIC systems director of engineering (far left); Lijs Groenendaal, Shell International Lake Charles transition manager; Shauna Noonan, Occidental Petroleum director of artificial lift engineering and 2020 SPE president; Linda Battalora, teaching professor in Colorado School of Mines' petroleum engineering department and Women in Energy event chair at ATCE 2019; and Helen Chang, Alberta Energy Regulator chief engineer (far right). The real challenge of attracting and retaining women in the upstream oil and gas industry has nothing to do with gender, said four industry leaders at the inaugural SPE Women in Engineering Committee Breakfast at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. The event was held 30 September in Calgary. The four—incoming SPE President Shauna Noonan, director of artificial lift engineering for Occidental Petroleum; Helen Chang, chief engineer for Alberta Energy Regulator; Lijs Groenendaal, venture planning transition manager for Shell Exploration & Production; and panel moderator Melanie Popp, director of engineering for geoLOGIC systems—came together to share their thoughts about personal and professional engagement, empowerment, and success with existing and new SPE members. In the course of the discussion, the panelists agreed that the real challenge of attracting and retaining all talent—not just women—is tied to the industry’s unintentional “brand” among people outside it.

Copyright 2013, Society of Petroleum Engineers This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 30 September-2 October 2013. This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited.

Times are turbulent across the globe as the ongoing responses to the pandemic remain varied. The oil and gas industry—and SPE members—remain affected personally and professionally by its effects on the supply/demand balance, the oil price, and the energy transition. To support SPE members in this time of change, the SPE Women in Energy (WIN) committee sponsored two special sessions at the 2020 SPE Virtual Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition on 27 October. The first panel event was entitled, “Do We Have the Skills and People Needed for the Global Energy Transition?” Four well respected panelists were featured, including 2020 SPE President Shauna Noonan, director of artificial lift engineering at Occidental Petroleum Corp.; César Patiño, technical management, Ecopetrol, and SPE Regional Director Latin America and the Caribbean 2018–2020; Susan Howes, vice president of engineering at Subsurface Consultants & Associates LLC; and Sarah Saltzer, managing director of the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage and the Stanford Carbon Removal Initiative. Peggy Rijken, chapter manager, geomechanics, at Chevron, served as moderator of the panel.

One of the goals cherished by modern organizations is gender balance, as a proven way to enhance productivity, boost the motivation of employees and enrich the leadership pipelines of internal succession plans. The energy sector follows closely this trend, inclusive of major organizations of operations and services, especially in Oil and Gas. And in no other region of the world this is now more visible than in the Middle East, one of the most active and traditionally leading and strategic regions in the segment. This paper summarizes what factors were fundamental for the very visible blooming of the female leadership, particularly in the oil and gas sectorin the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC countries. Certainly, middle-eastern women do not account yet for a large or representative number inthe highest roles of private or National Oil Companiesof their countries, but things are rapidly changing, and the blooming is real.

A comparison of key elements considered diagnostic about the empowerment of women, like female workforce percentages, gender gap indexes, and representation of women in leadership roles in oil and gas are herein analyzed for the GCC, comparing those with figures of other regions of the World. Other indicators were included in the analysis, which proved to be key for developing women's leadership, in particular, communication strategies, empowering plans, training, active and visible endorsement of top leaders and other strategies of governmental agencies and corporations. Definitively, the Middle East, and particularly the GCC countries, in which our study is centered, have boldly address cultural issues and traditional barriers, to produce step-changes that are quickly transforming the oil and organizations in all countries of the region. A forecast of opportunities for women's leadership in the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry in the future is proposed, in a story of learned best practices worth sharing.

The paper includes a summary of the standing and utilization of social media channels by main organizations in oil and gas. A frame of the current trends analyzed resulted in the identification of the organizations more successful in the utilization of these key channels, so relevant for the general audiences and the new generations. Some unexpected findingsshaped our conclusions about strategies instrumental for step-changes needed in political or cultural settings that may be challenging for boosting women's empowerment.