Four thousand energy professionals from 66 countries attended the 2024 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Opening General Session, “Celebrating our Past, Powering our Future,” featured a CEO panel moderated by Elena Melchert with Energia Consulting. Prominent panelists included Jeff Miller, CEO, president, and chairman of Halliburton; Tayba Al Hashemi, CEO of ADNOC Offshore; John Lindsay, president and CEO of Helmerich & Payne; and Meg O’Neill, CEO of Woodside Energy. The panelists discussed a century of innovation within the oil and gas sector and the role of SPE in this journey.
“A century of innovation has grown our industry and Society to where we are today,” said 2024 SPE President Terry Palisch. “This year, ATCE rightfully celebrated the past—past ATCEs, past innovations, past inventors, and past pioneers of our industry. It is equally important that we look to the future, future innovations, future technologies, and future generations.”
In addition to the technical sessions, strategic panels, and special sessions, ATCE continued its tradition of celebrating the accomplishments of Society professionals. Forty-two members were honored at the Annual Reception and Banquet for their significant contributions to the oil and gas industry and SPE.
On 25 September, Palisch presented the State of the Society and his thoughts on his presidency at the President’s Luncheon and Annual Meeting of Members. “At the beginning of my term, I chose ‘Creating Our Energy Future’ as my presidential theme. This theme has two objectives that encapsulate the goals of our members and our Society. When SPE accomplishes its mission of connecting our members to technology, each other, and our external stakeholders, our members (and, by association, SPE) will create their energy future.”
At the luncheon, Palisch passed the gavel to Olivier Houzé, 2025 SPE President. Houzé, co-founder and managing director of KAPPA, shared his vision for the future of SPE and the industry, saying, “During my presidency, I will present a roadmap of five very different but somewhat related topics: energy transition, finances, governance, membership, and quality.”
The week was sponsored by SPE elite sponsors ADNOC, Aramco, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Halliburton, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, OXY, Abaco, AMPS, Baker Hughes, and Patterson-UTI.
SPE ATCE will be held in Dallas, Texas, from 6 to 8 October next year. For more information, visit www.atce.org.