Gender diversity and inclusion in the oil and gas industry has been widely promoted in the last decade to advance women in leadership roles. Following this, the SPE Java Section launched an initiative to encourage and empower women in the industry. The section held a webinar in November, which was moderated by Niesharsa Triaswari from BP Indonesia. In the webinar four high-profile women discussed and shared their leadership and experience in the oil and industry: Shauna Noonan, 2020 SPE president and director of artificial lift engineering at Oxy; Evita H. Legowo, general director of Oil and Gas Government of Indonesia (2008-2012) and professor at Swiss German University; Melanie Cook, president of ExxonMobil Indonesia; and Dian Andyasuri, president of Shell Indonesia. The opening session was led by Shauna Noonan, who shared her experience and first steps in the industry when she first came to Indonesia working for Chevron.

In recognition of his drive, support, and empowerment of young professional (YP) members across SPE, the SPE Board of Directors renamed the Young Member Outstanding Service award in honor of Giovanni Paccaloni. Beginning with the 2021 presentations and in the future, the international award will be known as the “Giovanni Paccaloni Young Professional Service Award.” The equivalent regional award is renamed the Regional Young Professional Outstanding Service Award, and recipients of the regional award will continue as candidates for the international award. The award is intended to encourage interests among SPE YP members that are broader than the profession, primarily recognizing excellence and leadership in service to the public and the community, as well as service to the SPE, the profession of petroleum engineering, or the petroleum industry. Giovanni Paccaloni was the 2005 SPE President, an Honorary Member of SPE, a towering mentor, and a beloved inspirational figure for YPs around the world.

This year obviously has seen tremendous changes in our industry. No one could have anticipated the pandemic that has drastically reduced oil and gas demand globally. What is almost certain is that this pandemic has triggered an acceleration of the digitalization and automation of the industry, a probable transformation of our work environment, and a possible quicker transition toward cleaner energy. If drilling an oil well still requires the physical presence of a crew, the drilling industry surprised itself at seeing that drilling activity could be operated and supported remotely and efficiently from home. More and more wells are already drilled with different levels of automation that produce fantastic and consistent performance.

Tom Blasingame, the SPE 2020 President, holds the gavel for the first time at the SPE Annual Technology Conference and Exhibition. Ever since Tom Blasingame was announced as the 2021 SPE President more than a year ago he had been looking forward to the day he would officially assume the highest-ranking volunteer position within the organization. That moment finally came, but not quite as he or anyone else expected. Blasingame, an SPE Distinguished Member and petroleum engineering professor at Texas A&M University, officially assumed his new duties during a small ceremony attended by invited guests and SPE staff in Houston on Monday. The event helped kickoff the SPE’s Annual Technology Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) that runs for most of this week.

Greetings to all of you across the country, from Vancouver to Halifax and St. Johns and even to our soon to be new section in Southern Ontario! Here we are again with autumn upon us and ATCE about to take place in the next few days... Read more. SPE President Shauna Noonan joins The SPE Podcast to discuss this month's President's Column – Strengthening Core Disciplines. SPE members can support the SPECEF through one-time or monthly donations. Charitable contributions to SPECEF are tax deductible.

History of SPE In 1957, the organization was officially founded as SPE, a constituent society of AIME. SPE became a separately incorporated organization in 1985. Our history begins within the American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME). AIME was founded in 1871 in Pennsylvania, USA, to advance the production of metals, minerals, and energy resources through the application of engineering. In 1913, a standing committee on oil and gas was created within AIME and proved to be the genesis of SPE.

Veros Systems took top honors at a competition involving energy startups. How can AI systems incorporate processes mimicking the slower logic- and causality-based reasoning patterns of the left brain? The technical directors’ special session at SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition presented challenges on the E&P frontier in an industry grinding through a period of deep cost reductions. R&D may be the key to the survival of companies as the new economics of the industry take hold. BHGE shared its plans for the integration of its services, products, and digital platforms for upstream to downstream applications.

John Etherington, a petroleum reserves champion and an SPE Distinguished Member, died 19 September. Eni appointed Claudio Descalzi, SPE, as CEO and general manager. Cline is the cofounder of Gaffney, C... Valery I. Graifer, SPE Honorary Member and a founding father of the Russian oil industry, died 24 Ap... Occidental Petroleum elected Stephen I. Chazen, SPE, chairman and CEO of Magnolia Oil and Gas Corp.,... Quality Companies appointed Derek Bollom as vice president of offshore and offsite operations for Qu... Shell announced that it will propose appointment of Andrew Mackenzie, SPE, as a nonexecutive directo... Clarence N. (Tom) Tinker, life member of SPE, and a geology evangelist died 11 March. Jim McGowin, SPE, was appointed vice president for North and South America at Tendeka. MGB Oilfield Solutions appointed Barry Ekstrand, SPE, as vice president of strategy and commercializ... Michael J. Fetkovich, SPE Distinguished Member and developer of the widely used Fetkovich type curve...

Most of you reading this are thinking, okay, he’s SPE President, he must know something I don’t know, see something I don’t see, etc. The truth is we are all in the same storm of pandemic+economic crisis=chaos. I am both sad and joyous that this will be my last JPT column as your SPE President. Of all the programs that SPE offers, the most rewarding and enjoyable ones for me personally are the conferences. I love walking the floor of an exhibition hall, discovering the latest technology advancements, and listening to the various product demonstrations. From the beginning, SPE has focused on knowledge dissemination in four fundamental areas, which I refer to as the core disciplines: drilling, completions, reservoir (including geosciences), and production operations.

Mark Ellis, CEO of Linn Energy, shares the details of his journey from being a petroleum engineer to becoming a CEO and an M&A market leader.