bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Membership Rolls Have Contained Many Notable Pioneers
Authors: Donnelly John 
Published: February 2015

Through its history, SPE has counted among its members many oil and gas pioneers, high-profile executives, noted educators, some politicians, and others who have made important contributions to the industry and to society. Many of these individuals belonged to both SPE and one of its predecessors and were honored with some of the society's top awards during their distinguished careers.
The work of many members helped shape petroleum engineering technology as we now know it, and much of it has been in the realm of reservoir engineering. Ralph J. Schilthuis, Jan Arps, and William Hurst were all pioneers in reservoir science; M.R.J. Wyllie made major advances in the interpretation of reservoir analytics; Sylvain Pirson wrote one of the first reservoir engineering textbooks; and A.F. van Everdingen did significant work in the mathematics of reservoir performance.
Other important contributions to oil and gas technology came from individuals such as noted educator and author Donald L. Katz; Stuart E. Buckley in petroleum conservation; Keith Coats, who helped create and introduce the first reservoir simulation software; Preston Moore and William C. Goins, who broke new ground in drilling engineering technology; Forest Dorn, credited with being the first to use waterflooding to boost recovery; and Joseph Clark, R. Floyd Farris, George C. Howard, and C. Robert Fast, who developed much of the fundamental work in hydraulic fracturing.
Many prominent industry executives have belonged to SPE over the years, including Robert O. Anderson, who merged Atlantic Refining with Richfield Oil to create Arco in the 1960s; Herbert C. Otis, the founder and chairman of Otis Engineering; Fritz Huntsinger, the founder of Vetco; J.L. Huitt, president of Gulf Oil Exploration and Production; Wayne Glenn, one-time president of Conoco; and John Browne, who recently stepped down as BP's chief executive officer (CEO), to name but a few.
The following list of notables is by no means a comprehensive one of all the members responsible for important advancements or who are deserving of recognition, but one that highlights some of those who have received special attention over the years for their contributions, in the industry and beyond.
Michel T. Halbouty's name was synonymous with the petroleum industry for decades. He was active in SPE, AIME, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) throughout his long and distinguished career, and he was recognized as one of the world's foremost geologists and petroleum engineers and an expert on exploration and production. The legendary wildcatter—he struck oil 6 weeks out of graduate school and was the first independent to explore in Alaska—received the society's Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal and the DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal, and he was an SPE Distinguished Member. He was among the first of SPE's Distinguished Lecturers. He died in 2004 at the age of 95.
Bold Decision To Launch OTC Brought Far-Reaching Results
Authors: Parshall Joel 
Published: February 2015

At the very beginning, its planners called it "a bold and significant step." Those were the words used by Joe Alford, executive secretary, SPE, in a May 1968 JPT article to describe "a new interdisciplinary meeting to be known as the Offshore Technology Conference" that would be held 1 year later, 19–21 May 1969, in the new Convention and Exhibit Center in downtown Houston. Nine major US engineering and scientific societies with a combined 370,000 members had agreed to sponsor the event. What the sponsors hoped to accomplish essentially is summarized in the following excerpt from the article:
"The new conference will provide a major forum of national importance and scope for the dissemination of technology related to offshore resources and environment. The total benefits and influence of the conference are now beyond prediction, but many knowledgeable persons feel that it will be of considerable value to the nation in our development of oceanography and resources from the oceans."
These were no small plans, but it is hard to believe that anyone among those original conference architects, no matter how visionary, foresaw how big, globally important, and even phenomenal that OTC would become. Yes, OTC is the way that most people would soon refer to it, but notably, the initials were not used in that first JPT article. They were used, however, by the time the conference preview article appeared the following April. From the beginning, OTC has been guided by a board of directors drawn from the sponsoring organizations (and later also from endorsing organizations). SPE has provided the principal management and staff resources to manage OTC yearly on behalf of the board.
The first conference drew 4,200 people, with 26 technical sessions and 125 technical papers presented, and 200 exhibitors occupying 38,500 square ft of exhibit space.
The very first presentation of the opening session, catalogued as OTC 1000, was "The Economics of Oil and Gas Operations Offshore U.S.A.," by Richard C. McCurdy, president of Shell Oil Company. Following this were the presentations "Our Nation and the Sea," by Julius Stratton, chairman of the Ford Foundation; "The Law Governing the Development of Undersea Mineral Resources," by Northcutt Ely of Ely and Duncan; and "Some Results of Deep Ocean Drilling," by Maurice Ewing, director of the Lamont Geological Observatory.
A partial list of the technical sessions includesSubsea Operations—How Legal, How Safe?Marine Mineral ExplorationPositioning and Vessel MotionCompletion and DrillingGeophysicsMooringMetallurgical Marine Structural and Operational Problems
SPE Foundation Supports, Augments Society Programs
Authors: Parshall Joel 
Published: February 2015

The SPE Foundation has a single purpose: to support and augment society programs through supplementing the normal funding capabilities of SPE. In carrying out its mission, the foundation helps to ensure excellence in SPE programs through a partnership among individuals, industry, and the society. The foundation is composed of all living past presidents of SPE and is directed by an executive committee comprising a president, past president, secretary, treasurer, and two vice presidents, as well as the sitting president and immediate past president of SPE.
Established in 1977 and legally incorporated as a nonprofit entity separate from SPE, the foundation raised the funds to build a permanent home for the society in Richardson, Texas. The Richardson office building was completed in 1984 and is owned by the SPE Foundation, which leases it to the society. Approximately 85% of the lease revenue is given back to SPE to support its programs. A major beneficiary is the Distinguished Lecturer program, which receives 50% of its yearly budget from the foundation. Voluntary contributions from SPE members help to support the foundation. While the foundation receives no funds from SPE members' annual dues, a dues-statement-checkoff option has facilitated contributions by enabling members to elect to contribute concurrently with their dues payments.
The foundation funds and administers the Gus Archie Memorial Scholarships, awarded to outstanding incoming college freshmen undertaking petroleum engineering curricula, and the Nico van Wingen Memorial Graduate Fellowships in Petroleum Engineering, awarded to SPE student chapter members at the PhD level who intend to pursue careers in academia.
When special SPE projects arise, the society can call upon the foundation to help fund them. During the 1990s, funds from the foundation helped to finance a society initiative to place all SPE technical papers on CD-ROMs. Then came the biggest project undertaken by the SPE Foundation since construction of the Richardson office—the highly successful effort to raise the funds needed to upgrade the spe.org website into a comprehensive knowledge portal connecting users online with the full spectrum of society, career, technical, educational, and industry resources available through SPE. Having committed USD 5 million of SPE funds to the project, the society turned to the foundation in 2000 to raise an equal amount to finance the balance of the initiative.
"We were delighted to see this come along; this was just the kind of thing we had wanted to do," said Dennis Gregg, then immediate past president of the SPE Foundation and cochairperson of the fund-raising campaign along with Don Stacy, foundation president at the time.
In keeping with a foundation decision made at the outset, all funds solicitation was done by members of the SPE Foundation or the society. The foundation selected a campaign cabinet to carry out the funding drive and worked with a fund-raising consultant, who provided strategic advice.
Technology To Meet the Challenge of Future Energy Supplies
Authors: Paul Donald L. 
Published: February 2015

The past 50 years of our industry has spanned an incredible period of change in the global economy, technology, and the role of energy. The energy supply system requires large, sustained, long-term investments in technology, resource development, and infrastructure to deliver reliable and affordable supplies of energy on an immense global scale. Our industry has continuously delivered on this critical mission.
In the decades ahead, however, there will be increasing challenges to the capacity of the traditional oil and gas supply system to meet the level of expected growth in global energy demand arising from increasing populations and expanding economic prosperity. The scale and time frame of the energy system will require a multidimensional approach to meeting the future supply challenge. There is simply no "silver bullet" as some might wish, and all elements of the solution involve a combination of increasingly complex technical, economic, political, and environmental factors. Fortunately, there is a very large energy resource base and many corresponding opportunities for increasing supply, includingIncreasing the performance of current producing assetsImproving the capital investment performance for new developmentsFinding and developing major new producing frontiersExpanding and diversifying the energy resource base.
In parallel, the industry will also need to meet two new challenges that will broadly impact many aspects of energy:Delivering solutions for carbon managementDeveloping the next generation of energy professionals.

Technology in the Critical Path
At the core of capturing these opportunities and meeting the challenges is the expanded application and integration of technology at scale. Many in-place technologies will continue to undergo steady advances to have important cumulative impacts on performance. In addition, significant shifts in the technology base are poised to arise from major advances in fundamental technologies.
Next-Generation Seismic Imaging and Reservoir Simulation. The industry has been notably successful in riding the exponential growth curve of information technology. E&P technologies are among the most computationally demanding and data intensive of all industrial technical applications, led by seismic imaging and reservoir simulation. The combination of new seismic measurements, such as wide-azimuth multicomponent recording and cost-effective cluster computing, is already providing unprecedented subsalt images. As the newest generation of advanced scientific computers is installed for government and university research, the stage is set for commercially viable deployments in a decade or less. Combined with the commensurate 100-fold leap in transfer rates and data volumes, broad new classes of imaging and modeling applications will become commercially practical. Increasing recoveries from developed reservoirs, reducing capital risk, and finding the next major producing trends will all depend on continued advancement in these major industry technologies.
Technology Focus: Field Development Projects (November 2008)
Authors: Cunha J.C. 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
We all are aware of, and have been affected by, the large swing in oil prices over the past 4 years. I have asserted the importance of evaluation and management of uncertainties when planning the development of a new field or even when revisiting options for mature fields. Higher oil prices may reduce financial risks temporarily for a certain project; however, the complex decisions involved in field development, as well as the many variables to be dealt with, will make almost every project extremely risky. Ultimately, decisions taken in earlier stages, when uncertainties abound, are among the main factors that will determine the level of success of a project.
Higher prices may improve the results, eventually, of a project that otherwise would be considered a failure, but the fact is, among the various uncertainties in our business, oil price is paramount. With that in mind, we should give utmost attention in management of uncertainties existing in other factors related to field development, ranging from well drilling to reservoir characteristics. Many in our industry agree, which can be seen by new approaches and recent development of various creative and exciting risk-management tools. Our featured papers this month have some wonderful examples.
On a personal note, I would like to mention that after 5 years of writing this column, initially for Subsea Completion and later for Field Development, in October 2008, I will replace Ed May as Chairperson of the JPT Editorial Committee. Ed did a fantastic job of chairing over the last 4 years, and I will do my best to follow his steps, maintaining JPT's status as the primary publication in our industry. I must thank all of you for your constant encouragement and so many thought-provoking emails. Please feel free to continuing writing to me. Thank you.
Field Development Projects additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org
SPE 108891 • "Using Geomechanics To Optimize Field-Development Strategy of Deep Gas Reservoir in Saudi Arabia" by Mahbub S. Ahmed, SPE, Saudi Aramco, et al. See JPT April 2008, page 78.
SPE 113831 • "The Benefits of Integrated Asset Modeling: Lesson Learned From Field Cases" by M. Rotondi, Eni, et al.
SPE 113554 • "Selecting an Optimal Field-Development Strategy for the Vankor Oil Field Using an Integrated-Asset-Modeling Approach" by D.A. Antonenko, OJSC Rosneft Oil Company, et al.
Additional reading available at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org
OTC 19254 • "An Overview of the Roncador Field Development, a Case in Petrobras Deepwater Production" by E. Bordieri, Petrobras, et al.
Probabilistic Field Development in the Presence of Uncertainty
Authors: Denney Dennis 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper IPTC 11294, "Probabilistic Field Development in Presence of Uncertainty," by Sara Passone, SPE, BP plc, and Gregory J. McRae, SPE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, prepared for the 2007 International Petroleum Technology Conference, Dubai, 4-6 December. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Field developments are characterized by high levels of uncertainty and dynamic interconnected decisions having complex value descriptions. A unified fully Bayesian design-optimization methodology helps with the complexity of decision making in field development. The proposed scheme can be customized with respect to the decision components: the metrics chosen, objective function, and associated uncertainties.

Introduction
Various methods are used in decision making in the oil industry. Methods include worst-case/best-case scenarios, tornado graphs, Boston grid, expected net present value, decision trees, Monte Carlo simulation, and real options. These methods have different degrees of complexity and specific theoretical assumptions. For example, the decision-tree technique is a standard tool, but it is affected by important limitations. The number of decisions considered complicates the tree very quickly, especially when the decision tree is used to represent the whole-project design over time. Also, because decision trees provide only the maximum expected net present value of a project, they do not offer a way to quantify the volatility of the estimate.
Some decision-making methods model the decision process only partially. Monte Carlo simulation, for example, is a formal probabilistic technique in which different types of knowledge can be combined and uncertainty can be propagated. Various problems characterize the application. For example, correlation between uncertain variables can be modeled with Monte Carlo simulation, but it requires complicated mathematical algorithms. Monte Carlo simulation is not suitable for incorporating management flexibility or analyzing the value added by new available information.
Overall, current decision-making methods do not integrate the ability to represent uncertain factors efficiently, their contribution to uncertainty propagation and their correlation effect, or the possibility of managing flexibility in the presence of project irreversibility and proactive information gathering. The decision-making approach presented in this paper aims to overcome such limitations by providing a way of framing and designing decisions and objectives that can be used in a variety of contexts, from the design of experiments to exploratory wells to a company's portfolio.
Rock Typing - Understanding Productivity in Tight Gas Sands
Authors: Denney Dennis 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 114164, "Rock Typing - Keys to Understanding Productivity in Tight Gas Sands," by J.A. Rushing, SPE, Anadarko Petroleum, K.E. Newsham, SPE, Apache, and T.A. Blasingame, SPE, Texas A&M University, prepared for the 2008 SPE Unconventional Reservoirs Conference, Keystone, Colorado, 10-12 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
A workflow process is presented to describe and characterize tight gas sands. The ultimate objective is to provide a consistent methodology to integrate both large-scale geologic elements and small-scale rock petrology systematically with the rock physical properties for low-permeability sandstone reservoirs. To that end, the workflow integrates multiple data-evaluation techniques and multiple data scales by use of a core-based rock-typing approach designed to capture rock properties that are characteristic of tight gas sands.

Introduction
Unconventional natural-gas resources—tight gas sands, naturally fractured gas shales, and coalbed-methane reservoirs—comprise a significant percentage of the North American natural-gas resource base. Unlike conventional reservoirs, unconventional gas reservoirs typically exhibit gas-storage and -flow characteristics that are tied to geology (i.e., deposition and diagenetic processes). Effective resource exploitation requires a comprehensive reservoir-description and -characterization program to quantify gas in place and to identify the reservoir properties that control production. Although many unconventional natural-gas resources are characterized by low permeability, this paper addresses only low-permeability sandstone reservoirs (i.e., tight gas sands).
Understanding the pore structure and properties is critical in tight gas sands because diagenesis often modifies the original pore structure and reduces the average pore-throat diameter, typically causing an increase in both tortuosity and the number of isolated and/or disconnected pores. Some forms of diagenesis may increase porosity by creating secondary porosity, or microporosity. Regardless of the type of diagenesis, all tight gas sands retain some underlying traits of the depositional system, even though the original rock properties may have been altered (significantly). However, well productivity cannot be predicted accurately solely on the basis of the rock properties expected for those specific depositional environments and conditions. Therefore, a rock-typing work-flow process was developed specifically for tight gas sands.
Many basin-centered gas-reservoir systems can be classified as tight gas sands. However, the characterization of basin-centered gas systems typically requires knowledge of the rock and multiphase-fluid properties and of the role of shale. Although basin-centered gas-reservoir systems are not specifically addressed in this paper, the proposed rock-typing approach is applicable to basin-centered gas systems.
Comments: The Future Continues
Authors: Donnelly John 
Published: February 2015

Editor's column
A year ago, BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward—amid an environment of a world steeped in recession and oil prices that had crashed more than USD 100/bbl—said that the future had not been canceled, only perhaps postponed a year or so. That prognosis appears to be coming true. Oil prices have rebounded to approximately USD 70/bbl, which appears to please producers as well as operators, and demand seems to be on the rise again.
Recent economic data indicate the recession is easing and oil consumption returning, particularly in China and parts of Asia. Global demand is rising for the first time in a year, and Chinese demand grew by 6% in August, with industrial output surging. Those figures have taken the pressure off of OPEC to tighten supply, and it voted during its meeting last month to keep member production quotas unchanged. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said during the meeting that, at least for now, the price of oil would be driven by economic growth.
In a report released last month, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) predicted that world oil demand would grow next year for the first time since 2007, and then return to prerecession levels by 2012. The recovery will be quicker than previous industry recoveries because of the strength of emerging markets and lack of adequate alternatives for hydrocarbons. IHS CERA expects oil demand growth to increase 900,000 BOPD in 2010 and return to its 2007 high of 86.5 million BOPD by 2012. That would be a much quicker recovery than from the major collapse that occurred in the 1980s.
The futures market currently values oil closer to USD 90/bbl, although there is much industry convergence around a price closer to USD 70/bbl, Paul Horsnell, managing director and head of commodities research at Barclays Commercial, told an audience at the Offshore Europe conference last month. Not only does Saudi Arabia currently favor a USD 75/bbl oil price, but the costs of incremental production, the price that brings about alternative energy investment such as Canadian oil sands, and the break-even price on new investment that generates a 15% rate of return, are all approximately USD 65–75/bbl, he said.
The past year may have been a time for the industry to catch its collective breath. This recent rise in demand is good news but a reminder of the daunting predictions that government agencies, analysts, and operators have made about the immediate to long-term future—sharply rising demand, more difficult to find oil, and shortages of technical talent. Recently announced discoveries—Occidental's California find, BP's Tiber in the Gulf of Mexico, and several big discoveries in Brazil—will only help, and are proof that E&P investment in times of both low and high oil prices pays off.