For the past 6 months, you have read, watched, and heard about adaptation in personal lives and businesses and many of you have experienced it firsthand to some degree—ranging from minor to life-changing events.
SPE recognizes that as our members adapt, so too must our ability to continue to serve members and advance our mission “to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources and related technologies for the public benefit and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence.”
Ramping up technical knowledge and professional competence is in many ways more important now than ever. Yes, it has always been important to our members to stay updated in advances in technology and in the innovative use of existing technologies. Today, as the oil and gas industry—down-, mid- and upstream—changes and will be changed, members in all disciplines seek unbiased professional resources that are high quality and trustworthy. Staying current and relevant within an adapting and advancing industry is challenging but critical.
SPE quickly pivoted to virtual delivery of technical knowledge. Among the offerings were the SPE Live broadcasts on LinkedIn, the first of which was streamed on 7 April. Join a live session by visiting www.spe.org/events/live-events/ to learn about upcoming events and find the on-demand broadcasts. The event formats range from 1-on-1 interviews with subject matter experts to moderated panel discussions.
The SPE Podcast (www.spe.org/podcasts/) also offers a variety of topics presented as interviews with industry experts about technical subjects and career advice. New SPE podcasts are released every 1 to 2 weeks.
SPE Webinars (https://webevents.spe.org/) are another means of staying in the know and expanding your technical knowledge in all technical disciplines.
Although global oil and gas production has been reduced, onshore and offshore upstream operations and production continue. The JPT editors are committed to providing technical information that is useful to our members in their work. Our feature articles and technical paper synopses focus on topics from all disciplines, from both “boots on the ground” and forward-looking views. Our news briefs and in-depth articles online and in the magazine also provide insights about the business of oil and gas—which has been a moving target over the past few months.
SPE events remain an important means of advancing your technical knowledge and staying connected within the industry. A member shared this comment about an advantage of virtual events: the opportunity to “attend” an event that would not have been possible due to time and budget constraints.
For example, the SPE International Conference and Exhibition on Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability (HSES) and the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference (LACPEC) were held virtually in late July after the in-person event to be held in Bogota, Colombia, was postponed in March. Over 5 days of virtual programming, there were 250 technical papers, 78 technical sessions, 13 live panels, and 9 exhibitors. HSES had 454 registrants from 42 countries and LACPEC had 804 registrants from 33 countries, which exceeded expectations for a first-time virtual event.
I encourage you to visit www.spe.org/events to plan your armchair travel and to enhance your knowledge.
