Robert M. Pearson

Independent Petroleum Engineering Advisor

Robert (Bob) Pearson, SPE, is an independent petroleum engineering advisor. He has extensive experience includes field development planning and production engineering for onshore, shelf, and deepwater projects, as well as completions design for conventional and unconventional wells.

After working for 13 years for major operators, he has spent the last 40 years working as a consultant in Canada, Singapore, and Australia. He currently dividing his time between Canada and the UK and provides advisory and peer review services through Glynn Resources Ltd.

He joined the SPE Aberdeen Section in 1975 and was the 2019-2022 SPE Technical Director for Production & Facilities, and a former SPE Distinguished Lecturer. He currently serves as PetroWiki Interface on the Board of the SPE Hydrogen Technical Section.

He holds a BSc with honors in mining engineering from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK and is a registered professional engineer with APEGA in Alberta, Canada.

SPE News

Recent Advancements and Future Challenges in Flow Assurance, Carbon Reduction, and Digitalization

Texas A&M University-Qatar in collaboration with the SPE Qatar Section conducted a 2-day virtual workshop on flow assurance, carbon reduction, and digitalization. Participants included more than 200 professionals associated with academia, research institutes, and industry from 23 countries.

March 13, 2023 • Mohammad Azizur Rahman • Journal of Petroleum Technology
Decommissioning

Technical Director Insights: Moving Forward With Repurposing, Abandonment, and Decommissioning

Bob Pearson shares his thoughts on the repurposing or abandonment and decommissioning of wells that are unlikely to be repurposed or pose an environmental risk with emissions into the atmosphere or aquifers.

October 3, 2022 • Robert M. Pearson • Oil and Gas Facilities
Production

Technical Director Insights: Are We Delivering the Value of DSEA Information?

Data mining and modern data analysis techniques allow us to do a much better job in finding good field analogies where new approaches to well remediation and restimulation have proven to have a high probability of commercial success.

August 25, 2022 • Robert M. Pearson • Oil and Gas Facilities
SPE News

Horses for Courses—Getting Your Message to the Target Audience in the Most Effective Way

How can you most effectively share your insights about technologies, new concepts, and innovations with SPE members? In this column, Bob Pearson, technical director of Production and Facilities, presents a concise guide to the many alternatives SPE provides to its members.

July 12, 2022 • Robert M. Pearson • Oil and Gas Facilities
Human resources

21st-Century Jobs in the Oil and Gas Industry—The Role of Competency Matrices and CMT in Addressing Skills Gaps

How to use the new SPE Competency Matrices to prepare for the SPE Certification Exam and the SPE Competency Management Tool to address skills gaps to excel in the energy industry in the 21st century.

April 1, 2022 • Babatunde Anifowose • Journal of Petroleum Technology
Energy transition

Technical Director Insights: Lost and Found in Transition

The energy transition and digitalization transition are not to be feared. While the rate of change will accelerate, very little of true value will be lost and the transitions instead offer a variety of incremental opportunities, especially for members of the production and facilities community.

March 8, 2022 • Robert M. Pearson • Oil and Gas Facilities
SPE News

SPE Tech Director: Future for Young Facilities Engineers Is Bright in Energy Projects

With oil prices on the rise and calls for an energy transition growing louder, it's easy to get mixed signals about the future of the oil and gas business. SPE's TD for Production & Facilities Bob Pearson outlines the way forward for the discipline.

February 16, 2022 • Robert M. Pearson • Journal of Petroleum Technology
Emission management

Tech Director’s Column: Thoughts About Waste Avoidance, Emissions Reduction, and Transitioning

An overview of methane emissions and the changes anticipated with the energy transition highlight resources available to SPE members and plans for cross-discipline initiatives.

November 29, 2021 • Robert M. Pearson • Oil and Gas Facilities
Robotics/unmanned systems

Tech Director’s Column: Thoughts About Unmanned Vehicles, Drones, and Robots

Given the rapidly rising investments in robotics and drones, why is the SPE Unmanned Systems Technical Section struggling to find volunteers willing to form a new board and keep the rest of the Production and Facility Community up to date on the opportunities and challenges in applying these new tools in the field or at construction sites?

November 2, 2021 • Robert M. Pearson • Oil and Gas Facilities
Carbon capture and storage

Technical Director Insights: Revisiting the Upgraded Road to CCS and CCUS

Finding creative ways to drive down the CAPEX and discounted OPEX and define a realistic pathway and schedule to full-scale commercial operations is discussed.

June 2, 2021 • Robert M. Pearson • Oil and Gas Facilities

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