The SPE Podcast

The SPE Energy Transition Symposium is designed to address the critical challenges and opportunities the oil and gas industry faces as we move towards a lower-carbon future. Our goal is to foster discussions, share innovations, and collaborate on strategies to reduce carbon emissions while ensuring energy security. This SPE Live provides a sneak peek into the upcoming 2024 SPE Energy Transition Symposium, happening 12-14 August 2024 in Baytown, Texas. This symposium is a pivotal event for professionals across the oil and gas industry, focusing on the transition to a more sustainable energy future. We have an amazing and exciting lineup of keynote speakers, panel discussions, and technical sessions that you will not want to miss! Moderated by Simeon Eburi, Reservoir Management Advisor at Chevron. 2023 SPE North America Regional Director Speakers: • Tom Blasingame, Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. 2021 SPE President. • Jane Stricker, Houston Energy Transition Initiative SVP and Executive Director at Greater Houston Partnership • George Koperna, Vice President at Advanced Resources International, Inc. SPE CSRC Governance and Membership SC Chair and CSRC Chair-elect.

A major study from ERM, the global sustainability consulting firm, has produced a wealth of insight on a range of topical issues in the field of health and safety. ERM engaged 256 Health and Safety Function Leaders from companies that directly employ 11 million people in addition to many millions of contractors in the 2nd half of 2023. Over 36,000 H&S professionals work with the participating companies which have operations in more than 150 countries and combined revenues of US $7.2 trillion, equivalent to 7.2% of global GDP in 2022. The study builds on earlier studies undertaken in 2018 and 2021. The engagements with the Function Leaders addressed topical issues in H&S at this time, such as psychosocial risk and the application of AI in H&S, but also revisited a number of themes which were addressed in the earlier studies which are a source of persistent challenge for organizations; an opportunity to examine trends in areas including changing stakeholder expectations, investment in H&S and management of H&S for contractors which undertake higher risk activities in the workplace. Many fresh insights emerged from the engagements: useful lists of concerns, investments in H&S, uses of AI and approaches to address a broad range of challenges as well as data on ratios of H&S professionals to employees, reporting lines for the function and much more. What has become apparent is that many of the concerns that emerged from engagements with the Function Leaders in 2018 and 2021 emerged once again from the analysis of data in 2024. The context is the pace of change, not just in the field of H&S itself (stakeholder expectations, regulatory requirements, use of technology and more), but also in the nature of work, the composition of the workforce and where work is delivered. The pace of change has accelerated over the last 3 years. And it is clear expectations and impacts on business will continue to rise (the Function Leaders are virtually unanimous on this) and changes in the world of work will continue at a pace. It is not going to get easier. The data suggest meaningful progress in many areas but also strongly suggest the underlying issues identified in the earlier studies have not been resolved, despite increasing leadership engagement, higher levels of investment and widespread application of software solutions and new technologies. But, in some areas the gap has widened. H&S functions, catapulted into a new paradigm and challenged to access talent with the necessary skills, are stretched, as are the Function Leaders. Brian Kraus provides a high-level overview of the insights from this seminal study including a number of insights specific to upstream oil and gas. Moderated by Sue Staley, SPE HSES Technical Director, and Sustainability Director at vPSI Group LL Speaker: Brian Kraus, Associate Director at ERM

For his final podcast as 2024 SPE President, Terry is joined by his son Austin to take a look back at the last 12 months, as well as talk about the future of both SPE and the energy industry.

Designing production separators and actually achieving their desired performance levels in reality can be very challenging. In addition to the vessel size, internals suitable for the operating and flowing conditions, piping configuration, instrumentation, operating practices, and production chemicals all play a role in separator performance. This SPE Live will address some of these parameters assumed in the design, how reality can differ, and try to answer any related questions. Moderated by Henri Witteveen, Lead Process Engineer at Kranji Solutions. Speakers: o Logan Grim, Senior Oil Process Engineer at Saudi Aramco o Graeme Smith, Process Engineer at Murphy Oil

Join us for an SPE Live episode on Subsea Well Intervention with a preview of the upcoming SPE Subsea Well Intervention Symposium on 13-15 August 2024, in Galveston, Texas, where innovation meets the growing demand in this burgeoning market. This will be a live discussion with industry leaders from domestic and international operating companies about the methods they use to maximize the versatility of intervention processes and equipment to increase return on investment and decrease waste. Speakers: • Jack Sanford, Senior Advisor at Talos Energy • Agnaldo Magnum de Souza Silva, Implementer of Drilling Rig Technologies at Petrobras. Moderated by: Billy Pierce, Sr Account Manager at Gilmore 2024 Subsea Well Intervention

For his July podcast, SPE President Terry Palisch is joined by Simon Seaton, SPE CEO, to discuss the member value survey and what is new with ATCE.

This SPE Live introduces three prominent approaches to generative AI, followed by a presentation of a novel method utilizing two of these approaches to efficiently generate high-quality geomodels essential for understanding the probabilistic distributions of geological properties within a subsurface hydrocarbon play. By combining a hierarchical vector-quantized autoencoder with an autoregressive model, significant acceleration of both unconditional and conditional geomodel generation is achievable through this implementation of generative AI. Speaker: Dr. Siddharth Misra, Associate Professor at Texas A&M University. Moderated by Yusuf Ajibola Falola, PhD student, Department of Petroleum Engineering Texas A&M University.

Join us for an SPE Live episode on Energy Transition. Learn how the technical and scientific advancements in geo-engineering can contribute to meeting the challenges of the energy transition with a preview of the upcoming SPE Europe Energy Conference and Exhibition on 26-28 June 2024, in Torino-Italy. This event will join upstream oil and gas technology with clean energy efforts to discuss future pathways of discovery, providing the chance to establish a common ground across disciplines to highlight recent achievements, identifying needs to deploy the value chain of the energy transition, sharing proposed guidelines for optimizing integrated processes and procedures, and discussing the new targets of education in the energy sector. Guests: Professor Francesca Verga, Underground Energy Systems Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. Terry Palisch, 2024 SPE President. VP of Technology & Engineering at CARBO Ceramics Moderated by: Pierre-Emmanuel d’Huart, SPE Europe Regional Director. Head of Offshore Technological Development at Saipem SPE Europe Energy Conference and Exhibition 2024

For his June podcast, Terry focuses on the importance of soft skills for engineers, and how SPE can help you in developing these critical skills.

Join us for a conversation on current issues and challenges associated with biodiversity, and thoughts on the outcomes and opportunities from the COP 15 UN Biodiversity Conference. Speaker: John Finisdore, Principal Consultant, Biodiversity Water & Nature, ERM Moderator: David Shackleton, SaaS Product Manager Additional Resources: SPE Gaia Sustainability Program

Coming up with an idea and developing an initial product are only the first challenges a startup faces; getting that product into the market and getting feedback from early customers are important next steps. This SPE Live explores the different approaches to getting products in front of oil and gas customers. It will also look at how to structure those initial engagements, how to translate initial diligence discussions into trials/evaluations, and where one can get feedback on the product and progress to the next stages in the sales cycle. Large, independent, and national oil companies can be intimidating first customers, but many have programs or organizations designed to specifically engage with startups and small companies. Speakers: Bryant Mueller, SVP Sales – Western Hemisphere at Datagration. Ervell Boyd, Energy Ventures Analyst at Devon Energy Josh Evans – CEO at HiVolt Energy Moderated by Nayeem Chowdhury

Join us for an SPE Live on a brief introduction to the content that will be discussed at the upcoming SPE Virtual P&A Workshop. This event is intended to identify the technical and regulatory challenges our industry faces and discuss how we are tackling these now and planning for the future. During this SPE Live, we will have industry experts engage in long term well integrity methods and challenges to securing wells during final plugging and abandonment to ensure isolation and protection to the environment. We’ll also talk about adoption of new technologies and why the industry struggles to try new things, especially in the P&A space. Come see a glimpse of the incredible presenters we will have in the coming weeks! Speakers: Saulo Aleluia Barcelos, P&A Advisor, Petrobras Matteo Loizzo, Consultant Moderated by Bart Joppe, Well Abandonment Leader at Baker Hughes Additional Resources: SPE Webinar Series: Virtual Workshop – Transatlantic Plugging and Abandonment Operations

For his May podcast, Terry focuses on the academic side of things, what the future holds for petroleum engineering, and the importance of supporting our universities and students.

Join us for an SPE Live on Diversity & Inclusion addressing the advantages of mentoring programs for women. Our guests will discuss why companies are implementing these programs, share lessons learned, and share recommendations for starting this practice. Speakers: • Celina Gioja, Diversity and Inclusion Professional at Celi Gioja • Emily Firth, Europe Market and Business Analyst at Halliburton Moderated by Miral Tawfik, Reservoir Engineer at Chevron Additional Resources: SPE eMentoring Program

A hydrogen economy envisions using hydrogen as a clean, low-carbon, and versatile energy carrier and fuel. It offers benefits in terms of energy security, public health, and economic development. Initially, Blue Hydrogen manufactured from natural gas in combination with CCS could help diversify our market options while helping to reduce greenhouse emissions. It has the potential to generate new job opportunities for many of us in the O&G Industry. The global market for hydrogen and fuel cells is expected to grow from $5.5 billion in 2018 to $42.5 billion by 2026. However, Hydrogen is certainly not a silver bullet. A rapid expansion in hydrogen usage also requires that we collectively address several challenges and barriers especially in the areas of storage and transportation. Hydrogen and Ammonia should be seen as complementary energy delivery options that will rapidly expand alongside LNG, renewable, modular nuclear reactors, geothermal and small-scale hydro-projects. This SPE live will introduce the SPE Hydrogen Technical Section and discuss H2 as part of the energy mix, addressing the investment landscape and technical challenges and opportunities. Moderated by Zachary Evans, Sales Director Underground Storage, DarkVision. Speakers: Thomas Major, Managing Partner at MB Energy Partners Pedram Fanailoo, Director for the Low Carbon Segment for North America at DNV Additional resources via OnePetro Publications: Pore-Scale Investigation of Caprock Integrity in Underground Hydrogen Storage Predictive Power of Theoretical Adsorption Models for Hydrogen/Coal System: Implications for Hydrogen Geostorage Multiscale Model for Hydrogen Transport and Storage in Shale Reservoirs In-Situ Hydrogen Production from Natural Gas Wells with Subsurface Carbon Retention (Open Access)

For his April podcast, Terry focuses on how SPE engages with our external stakeholders, and more importantly, how we can help improve the industry's public image through programs like Energy4me.

During the last few years, there has been an increasing focus on automation solutions for drilling, with many of these solutions already in the market. Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are usually part of these solutions. During this SPE Live, we focus on AI systems that are targeting higher levels of automation, some reaching all the way to autonomy. One requirement for such systems to be taken into use is to be trustworthy. But what does this mean and how to achieve it? At the same time, drilling involves multiple providers, which reflects on the data and information flow, hence adding a new level of complexity for any automation solution. In drilling automation, usually several automation solutions from different providers need to seamlessly work together to ensure safe drilling operations. This raises several challenges when it comes to the stability of such a multi-agent system. The Verification and Validation subcommittee of the SPE Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section is focusing on how to address the verification and validation of the interplay in a multi-agent architecture with multiple providers and we discuss some of the current activities in this subcommittee. Speaker: Rodica Mihai, Senior Researcher in the energy modelling and automation group, at Norwegian Research Centre Moderated by Deep Joshi, Data Scientist at Quantum Capital Group. Additional Resources: JPT – Drilling Automation JPT – Drilling

Join us for an SPE Live episode on well intervention. Learn about the latest industry trends, innovations, and technologies with a preview of the SPE/ICoTA Well Intervention Conference and Exhibition on 19-20 March 2024, being held in the Woodlands, Texas - USA. A Q&A session will then follow with questions from the audience, answered by our guests: • Pierre Ramondenc, Coiled Tubing Domain Head at SLB • Eddie Valverde, VP of Corporate Development at Emerald Surf Sciences • Luis Castro, Asset Surveillance and Intervention Leader at Baker Hughes. Moderated by: Carlos Torres, Founder and Owner at Royal Oaks Energy Services

In this month's podcast, Terry discusses the content created and delivered by SPE'S Multimedia team available to SPE members to help enhance their professional growth and technical expertise.

Join us for an SPE Live episode on “The Future of Well Integrity” with a preview of the biennial SPE Europe Well Integrity Workshop on 5-6 March 2024, being held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. We will retrace 2023 from the Well Integrity Technical Section perspective and provide a summary of great discussions held at the annual dinner at ATCE. We will also briefly introduce the upcoming SPE Workshop “The Future of Well Integrity” and provide a short summary of each session: Setting the Scene for Well Integrity in the Energy Transition Leading practices within Well Integrity Understanding and Managing Risk The Challenges of Regulating Well Integrity Well Integrity for CCS Digital Well Integrity Measuring What Matters Future-Proofing Well Integrity A Q&A session will then follow with questions from the audience, answered by our guests: Michael Edwards , Founder and President at Edwards Energy Innovation, and Senior Executive Advisor at Partners in Performance. Kenny MacAllister, Managing Director, SealTite Kareem Shafi, Carbon Storage Manager, Global CCUS Projects, DRAX Moderated by: Pierre-Edouard Vincent, Completions and Well Interventions Manager, Trident Energy. SPE Europe Well Integrity Workshop

Join us for an SPE Live episode on “Innovation in Hydraulic Fracturing” with a preview of the SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition on 6-8 February 2024, being held in the Woodlands, Texas – USA. We will retrace 2023 from the Hydraulic Fracturing Technical Section perspective and briefly introduce the following topics (to learn more, register to attend the 2024 HFTC) • Stimulation and completion designs • Diagnostic utilization • Computational fluid dynamics • Machine learning algorithms A Q&A session will then follow with questions from the audience, answered by our guests. – Karen Olson, SPE Completions Technical Director, and Senior Completions Advisor at Well Data Labs – Mike Mayerhofer, Director of Technology at Liberty Energy – Kyle Haustveit, Manager of Devon Energy Ventures Moderated by: Peggy Rijken, Chapter Manager, Geomechanics in the Chevron Technology Center Additional Resources: SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition OnePetro Publications: Hydraulic Fracturing and Hydraulic Fracturing Fundamentals and Advancements

In this month's podcast, Terry will continue his discussion about the ways SPE connects our members to technology by focusing on SPE papers, JPT journals and other SPE publications.

As the need for global climate action gains scale and urgency, COP 28 provides a vital opportunity for countries to take stock of their progress, strengthen ambition and agree actions that increase the chances of meeting the aims of the Paris Agreement. This COP also marks a significant change of direction through its more inclusive approach to the oil and gas industry, which comes with high expectations. So how did it go and what does it mean for the oil and gas industry? COP28 is now upon us, and three key issues are playing out in the pre-negotiations and are likely to loom large over the proceedings. Setting a target to triple renewable energy supply globally by 2030. Agreeing language in the COP decisions on the ‘phase out of fossil fuels’. Operationalizing the Loss and Damage fund, agreed in principle at COP27, but so far without any details on implementation. Join us for a post-COP SPE Live Gaia Talk to hear how these issues landed and what the outcomes might mean for the oil and gas industry. Moderated by Trey Shaffer, SPE Sustainable Development Technical Section & Gaia Chair, and ERM Senior Partner Speakers: David Hone, Shell Brian Sullivan, Ipieca Arthur Lee, Chevron

Pressure transient analysis (PTA) is an important tool for petroleum engineers to characterize and evaluate oil and gas reservoirs. This is particularly true during the exploration and appraisal stages of a project to understand the nature of the reservoir and derive some of its critical properties but is also very valuable as a monitoring tool to track the evolution of properties altered by production operations or fluid fronts. The associated literature is rich in models, tools and methodologies that have been built over decades. Similar questions need to be answered in CO2 injection projects to characterize injectivity, formation petrophysical properties, reservoir extent or fluid front movements, however PTA does not appear to have garnered much interest for those applications. Be it in saline aquifers or in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, the application of PTA techniques either as evaluation or monitoring tools does not appear to have been studied extensively, even though physical phenomenon can potentially be more complex considering relative permeability changes, miscibility effects, phase changes, geochemical or geomechanical effects that can impact CO2 injection processes. This SPE Live aims at reviewing the state of the art and the current limitations of PTA usage for CCUS applications, determining areas of future research to better understand the impact of the physical phenomena involved, as well as outline best operational practices and interpretation tools that would unlock the value of transient flow tests in that field. Moderated by Florian Hollaender, Scientific Advisor at SLB. Speakers: o Mehdi Zeidouni, Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering Louisiana State University o Anton Shchipanov, NORCE o Jordan Mimoun, Empire Well Test Consulting

In this episode, SPE Completions Technical Director Karen Olsen joins Terry Palisch to talk about how SPE facilitates technical collaboration, particularly with respect to the SPE Technical Sections.

Optimization of producing oil and gas wells has always been important for managing operating expenses and continues to be an important part of production management. Production surveillance and inflow and outflow flow assurance remain key technology areas. As our industry increasingly focuses on the climate impacts of our operations, there is a growing emphasis on optimizing emissions from our operations and on the usage of water. New areas of energy development such as carbon capture and storage, geothermal energy, and subsurface energy storage are built upon skills developed from years of oil and gas production. Digitalization has become an integral part of our ways of working. This SPE Live focuses on production optimization of producing oil and gas wells, and explores use of similar techniques and skills for new energy applications. Experts address both the status of golden oldies such as flow assurance and artificial lift, and the impact of developments in digitalization and sustainability. The panel also previews the upcoming SPE Workshop on Production Optimisation in Oil and Gas Assets, to be held 23–24 January 2024 in Vienna, Austria. Speakers: • Anthony Allison, Senior Artificial Lift Advisor, Oxy • Wouter Botermans, Petroleum Engineer, B-PES • Akos Kiss, Production Technologist, OMV Moderated by Kees Veeken, Principal Consultant, Mature Gas Well Technology SPE Workshop: Production Optimisation in Oil and Gas Assets

Over the last three decades, the world of fiber-optic sensing has undergone a remarkable transformation, propelling us from the pioneering days of distributed temperature sensing (DTS) in the 1990s to the cutting-edge inclusion of optical-based pressure gauges, seismic accelerometers, flowmeters, and an array of innovative point sensors in the 2000s. Fast forward to the 2010s, and the introduction of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has further revolutionized the optical sensing system, encompassing fibers, cables, sensors, deployment, processing, and interpretation technologies. The result? Astoundingly improved and novel quantitative well and reservoir monitoring that has not only elevated early project stages but also enriched the entire asset lifetime. Join us for this SPE Live on Addressing the Energy Challenge with Fiber-Optic Sensing as a preamble of the SPE Workshop Fiber-Optic Sensing Applications for Field Development, Integrity & Optimisation, where we’ll delve into the world of fiber-optic monitoring technologies, unlocking their immense potential in optimizing reservoir and field development and operations. Speakers: • Andres Chavarria, LUNA OptaSense • Pierre Bettinelli, SLB • Garth Naldrett, Silixa Moderated by Dennis Dria, Myden Energy Consulting

In this podcast episode, SPE President Terry Palisch talks about the benefits of joining and being involved with the local SPE sections.

We are excited to host four 2023 Energy Influencers selected by The Way Ahead for outstanding technical, entrepreneurial, and service contributions by young professionals. In this SPE Live, we discuss with our guest speakers what made them choose their respective career paths as generalist or specialist. Our guests, Akos Kiss, Barasha Deka, Gabrijel Grubac, and Tarek Nigim have years of experience championing niche technologies in the fields of production and completions, have authored multiple patents and publications, and are ready to share their perspectives and answer your questions. Moderated by: Indira Saripally, Reservoir Engineer at Occidental Oil and Gas Co. TWA Energy Influencers 2023.

Engineering professionals must possess both technical and leadership skills to succeed in their careers. Mastering communication, understanding finance fundamentals, and being knowledgeable about sustainability are all key aspects of leadership. The panelists will discuss the importance of developing these skills for career transition and/or progression. Speakers: • Jeanne Perdue, Technical Writer at Occidental Petroleum • Shree Vikas, Manager, Market Intelligence & Business Analysis at ConocoPhillips Moderated by: Patricia E. Carreras, General Director at Blue Moon Strategies

We are excited to host three 2023 Energy Influencers selected by The Way Ahead for outstanding technical, entrepreneurial, and service contributions by young professionals. In this SPE Live, we discuss the growing research and implementation of reservoirs/ depleted reservoirs for sequestration of CO2 and storage for Hydrogen. What are the requirements and how reservoir engineers train themselves in this direction? Our three guests, Choja Ojanomare, Oghenerume Ogolo, and Abhijith Suboyin have years of experience championing new technologies to improve field management, economics, developing and mentoring authors, have authored multiple patents and publications, and are ready to share their perspectives and answer your questions. Moderated by Mani Bansal, Lead Content Creator for Next-in-energy at SPE The Way Ahead, and Technical Specialist- RE at Shell India

In this podcast episode, Terry Palisch talks about the impact of the energy transition on the industry and technology and how SPE is helping its members adjust to the shifting landscape.

All offshore platforms will need to be decommissioned at some point, bearing many millions of dollars of cost. A field-proven alternative is to convert those assets into thriving reef ecosystems that align with regulatory requirements, don’t create pollution, or obstruct any waterways, and can substantially reduce cost and greenhouse gas emissions. Come join us to learn about a rare triple-win for companies, the public, and ocean ecosystems. This SPE Live Gaia Talk explores the value proposition and preparation for turning offshore infrastructure into fecund fisheries. Speakers: • Emily Hazelwood, Blue Latitudes LLC • Amber Sparks, Blue Latitudes LLC Moderated by Dwayne Purvis, Founder and Principal Advisor at Purvis Energy Advisors

Delve into the transformative domain of sustainability and innovation in the oil and gas industry. This SPE Live provides a sneak peek into the ATCE conference’s theme through a dynamic panel discussion that explores tangible routes to achieve net zero carbon emissions, leveraging innovations like emissions mitigation, CCUS, DAC, renewable energy advancements, and advanced storage systems. Simultaneously, uncover the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a catalyst for driving Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSSE), and Sustainability goals within organizations. Explore AI’s potential to enhance safety, reduce incidents, optimize operations, and foster sustainability, alongside addressing challenges and strategies for effective AI integration in HSSE practices. Join us to gain insight into these transformative industry topics and set the stage for the enriching conversations that await at the Society of Petroleum Engineers ATCE in San Antonio, Texas on the 16-18 of October 2023. Your participation is instrumental as we collectively propel towards a more sustainable and secure future. Moderated by: Philippe Herve, Director at PGNRG. Speakers: o Wafik Beydoun, Director Americas at IOGP o Darcy Spady, Managing Partner at Carbon Connect International

2024 SPE President Terry Palisch shares his thoughts about the evolution of the energy transition, what the future of petroleum engineering looks like, and how SPE fits in. Terry also explains why he says there is no transition without the engineers and scientists in our industry.

Digital rocks include various subsurface formation imaging such as logging while drilling, wireline logging, and seismic imaging, as well as imaging rock samples on the surface. The focus of this SPE Live meeting is on digital rocks that are derived from formation samples (cores, sidewalls, cuttings) on the surface. The term “digital rock” means that we build multi-dimensional multi-scale digital description of a rock that allows us to compute various properties such as: fluid flow, mechanical, electrical, magnetic, acoustic, and mineralogical, to name a few. We discuss how does digital rock analysis fit into the formation evaluation and reservoir engineering processes. It is a relatively new technology, and its advantages and limitations need to be considered. Multi-dimensional simulations of physical processes provide the option to derive properties for difficult rocks, explore the effects of parameter variabilities, reduce/quantify uncertainties, and leverage complex laboratory-derived data. Digital rock analysis is here to stay, and we believe it will eventually become an integral part of core analysis programs. Moderated by Zoya Heidari, Associate Professor at UT Austin. Speaker: – Denis Klemin, Digital Rock Domain Champion at SLB

Geothermal is hot around the world. Geothermal Rising and the Society of Petroleum engineers collaborate to inspire the future workforce and enable critical factors for geothermal to be developed at large scale. Bryant Jones, Executive Director at Geothermal Rising will share his view on the industry, current efforts, and the collaboration with SPE which will play a critical role going forward. Moderated by Camilo Mejia, SPE Geothermal Technical Section Chair, and CEO at Enovate Upstream

2024 SPE President Terry Palisch discusses his views on the challenges facing our industry and SPE members, his outlook for our industry, and what his goals will be during his presidency.

AI has been around for about five decades. However, in the past few months, there is a renewed buzz about Artificial Intelligence and its applications for all businesses due to the emergence of Generative AI. As exciting are the opportunities, there are also concerns about managing AI effectively, the need for legal and regulatory safeguards, and more use cases. Today we want to briefly explore “How generative AI can create value for the energy industry?”. Our panelists share their insights, and we have a more detailed panel discussion at the ATCE at DSEATS dinner speaker event on 16 October 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. Moderated by Sushma Bhan, SPE Data Science and Engineering Analytics Technical Section Chair Speakers: Mehdi Far, AWS Energy and Utilities Professional Services; Feng Xiao, ExxonMobil; Joshua Eckroth, i2k Connect

During this SPE Live on The Energy Transition – Envisioning a Lower Carbon Future, we talk about various key elements that have a significant impact on the energy transition, including the decarbonization of Oil and Gas and other industries, the role of all energy forms and technology innovation in a lower carbon future, the role of energy industry partners in the financial and regulatory areas, as well the role of education, training and transferable skills required. The panel focuses on these topics and why it is important that the energy industry and partner organizations collaborate and form strategic partnerships to meet the global energy demand while ensuring a lower carbon future. Moderated by Mervin Azeta, SLB Speakers: • David Reid, NOV • Allyson Book, Baker Hughes • Alexei Vyssotski, Chevron

Join this SPE Live with Professor Sid Misra and discover the transformative power of causal inferencing in subsurface engineering. While widely employed in fields like medicine and econometrics, the application of causal inference in the oil industry remains untapped. In this SPE Live, we explore how causal inference techniques can unlock invaluable insights and optimize processes, particularly in microseismic data analysis and fracture monitoring.

We are in a period of energy evolution where technological advancements and private investments cause innovation to bloom and become the centerpiece of human progression. During this SPE Live, the URTeC 2023 technical program co-chairs share their thoughts on how unconventional reservoir technology evolved over the years. Observations from the last 10 years of attending the conference provided a great environment for bringing technology to the forefront of this new era of energy transformation Speakers: – Johannes Alvarez, EOR and CO2 Advisor in the Mid-Continent Business Unit at Chevron Americas Exploration and Production. – Scott Singleton, SEG Technical Co-Chair for URTeC and a Reservoir Geophysicist with NextEra Energy. – Katerina Yared, Senior Petrophysicist at SM Energy. Moderated by Alex Valdés-Pérez, SPE Reservoir Advisory Committee member.

Join us for this SPE Live Gaia Talk with industry thought leader Tisha Schuller, founder of Adamantine Energy, for a thought-provoking and optimistic conversation on the future of energy.

Completions and Production community members face numerous common challenges when attempting to maximize the value and life of completions. In this SPE Live, Technical Directors discuss the importance of the worldwide reach of the various SPE Technical Sections in this context.

In this SPE Live, we discuss the challenges faced by startups and innovative entrepreneurs in the oil and gas industry, as well as funding options available to them. One of the main challenges faced by startups in the oil and gas industry is the high capital costs and long development cycles associated with the industry. Other challenges include navigating complex regulations and the need to build relationships with established industry players. Regarding funding options, the conversation will explore different routes such as venture capital, angel investment, government grants, and strategic partnerships with established companies in the industry. The SPE Live also delves into the SPE ATCE startup village, an initiative that supports and connects startups with industry leaders, providing a platform for startups to showcase their technology and network with potential investors and customers. Finally, we discuss the importance of startups in promoting innovation in the oil and gas industry, provide some fresh perspectives and discuss how disruptive technologies that can transform the industry and drive progress toward a more sustainable future. Speakers: • Bryant Mueller, Area Director of Sales, Aspen Technology. • Ian Dickinson, CEO, Longpath Technologies. • Aaron Lazarus, Pioneer Natural Resources Moderated by Nayeem Chowdhury, Head of CCUS at Project Canary.

Addressing the challenges in the evolving field of Energy Engineering requires the development of new tools and solutions for reliable characterization of subsurface rocks. This demands training engineers and scientists who can think out of the box to develop sustainable and creative bridges to the future of Energy Engineering. This SPE Live Podcast focuses on discussing directions to tackle challenges, developments, and data integration in the field of reservoir characterization and core analysis, from a geoscientist perspective. It also opens up the discussion on the tools and preparations needed to thrive and to enjoy this journey. Speaker: Zoya Heidari, Associate Professor at University of Texas in Austin. Moderated by Stefano Pruno Technical Advisor for Core Analysis at Stratum Reservoir.

Predictive statistical models with natural language processing (NLP) rules and knowledge representations can deliver enhanced results for use cases in subsurface and wells disciplines. These range from helping identify bypassed pay, mitigating cognitive bias in well planning, reservoir and field analogue generation, early identification of drilling issues, to generating optimal completion design for petroleum engineers, competitor intelligence, improving search ranking & suggestions, stimulating serendipity, and discovery of new knowledge. When the new DSEA Technical Section was created in 2022, we started planning a newsletter series, the first of which appeared on December 1, 2022. Paul Cleverley had the privilege of writing the first article of substance of that inaugural issue. The title was Natural Language Processing in the Subsurface and Wells Disciplines, and the article was really an elaborate 13-page paper with figures and references. During this SPE Live, we dig deeper into Paul’s knowledge of how AI applies to Oil & Gas. Speaker: Dr. Paul Cleverley, from Infoscience Technologies Ltd. in the UK. Moderated by: Claude Baudoin, independent consultant in IT and Knowledge Management, and member of the SPE Data Science and Engineering Analytics Technical Section.

The oil industry has a great experience with the applications of Data Analytics/ Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (DA/AI/ML) in the Reservoir Engineering Discipline, specifically in reservoir surveillance and reservoir modeling and performance prediction. This situation is like what is occurring in other reservoir subdisciplines, for example in reservoir characterization, reservoir management, and other petroleum engineering disciplines. Despite the wide range of data science and engineering applications, there is still room for improvement for the number of applications to be even greater and to improve future applications. In this SPE Live, the SPE DSEA Technical Director and the SPE Reservoir Technical Director address some of the challenges in the application of DA/AI/ML to several reservoir engineering problems, and answer some of the questions related to DA/AI/ML applications in reservoir modeling & performance prediction. Speakers: Rodolfo Camacho and Silviu Livescu. Moderated by: Birol Dindoruk

In this SPE Live, Gioia Falcone, rankine chair of energy engineering at the University of Glasgow, discusses the application of the United Nations Framework Classification to geothermal energy resources. Gioia discusses why we need a resource assessment framework for geothermal, presents a real-life example, and synergies with the oil and gas sector.

This SPE Live Podcast episode discusses some of the unique chemical and geochemical considerations of CCUS and new energy source development.