The Society's Obligation to the Permanent Literature of Petroleum Engineering
Authors: Krause H.M. 
Published: December 2007

Introduction

The publication of the important literature is not just one function of theSociety of Petroleum Engineers of AIME; it is the primary reason for theSociety's existence. Our by-laws state that the object of SPE "shall be tofurnish a medium of cooperation among those interested in the petroleum-naturalgas industry and to promote the advancement of this branch of mineraltechnology through meetings to stimulate the preparation, reading, discussionand circulation of papers connected there- with".

The Society accomplishes this objective through the publication of technicalpapers for its meetings, through the monthly JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, through the quarterly SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL, through theannual Petroleum Transactions volume, and through Transactions Reprint bookletswhich are published as the need arises on specific subjects.

History of AIME Publications

The AIME has had a long history of publishing technical material, going backto 1873 with the publication of the first Transactions volume. This was theonly publication of the Institute until 1905 when a bimonthly publicationentitled The Bulletin was started. Then this publication became a monthlyjournal in 1908, and throughout its history it contained technical papers. In1919 The Bulletin was discontinued and replaced by a publication called Miningand Metallurgy which contained articles but no technical papers. Thispublication continued until 1948, and the distribution of technical papersduring the early part of this period was handled by mail with members whorequested copies of specific papers.

In 1934 the first of four Technologies was begun to complement Mining andMetallurgy and to handle technical papers. The first was Metals Technology in1934, Mining Technology in 1937, Petroleum Technology in 1938 and CoalTechnology in 1946. These publications were issued irregularly as bimonthliesor quarterlies. In 1949 the headquarters office of the Petroleum Branch of AIMEwas moved to Dallas and JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY was started as amonthly publication. The other societies of AIME also established their ownmonthly publications at that time. No further change in SPE publishing practicecame about until 1961 with the starting of the new quarterly journal, SOCIETYOF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL.

Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal

I had the pleasure of serving as chairman of the committee which recommendedto the SPE Board in 1960 that the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL beinaugurated. It was conceived as a quarterly publication devoted to theprinting of those important papers which should be recorded in the permanentliterature, but which do not have wide immediate interest among the membership.This new publication has fulfilled an important need. It was anticipated thatsome 200 pages would be published in 1961, the first year of its existence. Asit turned out, 330 pages were published in the first year. In 1962, 402 pageswere published in the quarterly. Many papers are now being submittedspecifically for consideration for publication in SOCIETY OF PETROLEUMENGINEERS JOURNAL. Its circulation is some 2500, including members who receiveit free of charge and nonmembers who pay $15.00 per year to receive it. Whopays for the publication of SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL? Each memberof the Society does so through his dues payment. In 1962 the cost of thepublication amounted to about 71 cents per member. Some members are notinterested in or are not concerned with the more theoretical literature whichis published in the quarterly, so they did not request and receive it. Thesemembers may ask, "Why should I pay for this since I do not receive it?" . . .And this leads to the title of this paper. The Society and the individual SPEmember have a definite responsibility to CONTRIBUTE toward the publication ofthe more important literature of the profession so that it will be recorded forthe future and will be available when needed by him or his successors. Much ofthe material now being recorded (and to some extent, presently disregarded) inthe quarterly will later become the basis for field applications of extremeimportance to the petroleum engineering profession.

Journal of Petroleum Technology

Some members may criticize the contents Of JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY as being a bit "long haired". From these comments, one might get the impressionthat many would like to see all of the SPE publications become "tradejournals", printing only "how-to-do-it" articles. There are three responses forthese critics:If we arc to keep from becoming technologically obsolescent, we must keepup with the literature-both the "how-to-do-it" articles and the morefundamental papers in our field. The latter requires great effort, but as theEJC Subcommittee on Engineering, Science and Education has stated: ". . .Unless a graduate of 10 years ago has systematically spent about 10 per cent ofhis time extending his knowledge beyond the level of development achieved inhis collegiate training, he will not have value in excess of that of a newgraduate". This fundamental material must be published-and we must forceourselves to keep up with it if we are to fulfill the role of engineers in thismost important industry.The Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME provides the only forum withinthe petroleum industry for publishing the more fundamental and theoreticalengineering papers.