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On June 17th, we announced on JPT the Board approved slate of candidates for open Board positions, including Robert Martinez as Regional Director for North America, Hamad Al-Marri as Production and Facilities Technical Director, and Robin Macmillan as Drilling Technical Director. As you may be aware, SPE received a petition from SPE member Marc Haci to add three candidates as nominees for those open positions on the Board of Directors. After a simple validation of signatures collected, SPE has determined that all three petition candidates exceeded the threshold number of signatures. Based on these results, an election will be held to determine the representative for these three Board positions. The successful petition candidates were Marco Thiele as Regional Director for North America, Cem Sarica for Production and Facilities Technical Director, and Marc Haci for Drilling Technical Director.
Another major round of layoffs hit exploration and production workers late last year, as companies came to the painful conclusion that a recovery is not coming any time soon. The cost pressures behind those cuts are also a force for more positive changes in the industry, such as simplified project designs, revised completion designs, and the application of unconventional innovations to conventional exploration and production. The seven technical directors on the SPE Board of Directors are concerned about the long-term impact of this wrenching period. They addressed the issue during a panel discussion on "Managing the Future Impact of Current Cost Cutting" at the 2015 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. And it was on their minds as they talked about the industry's future for this article. One danger they cite is that money saved now by reducing the number of experienced petroleum engineers could have financial consequences later in the form of more expensive wells that are less productive, or shortages of skilled professionals. "It is very hard for any professional in the industry to lose his or her job," said J.C. Cunha, SPE's technical director for Management and Information, adding, "These people are capable of doing a lot of other things. They will not sit and wait 2 to 3 years when the industry begins to look for them."
Drilling has made significant progress in all aspects of HSES but the preservation of our license to operate demands that we do better. During this SPE Live, the SPE HSES Technical Director and the SPE Drilling Technical Director address the following question among other interesting talking points: Should we employ more technology, and what can we learn from other industries and other disciplines? What do you see are the areas for collaboration between HSES and the drilling community?
A trio of SPE's Technical Directors will discuss how SPE, its members and industry can better engage with academia and vice versa to address the challenges facing oil and gas. Key talking points revolve around increasing access to knowledge, increasing inclusivity and competency and building relevant capacity. What vehicles for engagement are missing? How do we meet increasing consumption for energy and petrochemicals originating from global economic growth without burning our resources for the next generation? An industry facing pressures – economic, resiliency, sustainability & energy transition/climate – how do we address these needs from academia to industry thru SPE?