The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) recently launched the Separations Technology Technical Section for its members. SPE’s Technical Sections are groups of SPE members with a common interest in a technical area who join together to share ideas, promote competence, and develop projects related to their technical interests.
Technical Sections tend to be task-oriented and span geographic areas. Structured as formal self-operating SPE groups with officers and members, they meet virtually for the most part, but are encouraged to hold a face-to-face meeting at least once a year.
The creation of the Separations Technology Technical Section sprang from SPE’s expansion of its PFC-related content, combined with recent discussions among SPE members regarding the desire for sharing of knowledge about emerging separations technology and its challenging applications, e.g., weight and space issues in transporting equipment to the Arctic and other remote regions; gas and oil treatment and oil/water treatment; and advances in cyclonic separation technologies.
Topics and speakers are currently being identified for 2012 Web events related to separations technology.
SPE’s Technical Interest Groups (TIG) offer another means by which groups of professionals can network through an electronic community to share information and ideas, share documents, and answer questions posed by other community members. PFC-related TIGs include: Projects, Facilities, and Construction; Offshore Operations; Oilfield Chemistry and Corrosion; and Environment, Health, Safety, and Security.
Technical Section and TIG membership is open to any interested SPE member. All SPE members are welcome to read and browse any Technical Section or TIG in which they are interested without joining. To participate in posting discussion items, uploading files, and scheduling events, SPE members must join the Technical Section or TIG in which they are interested. For additional information about these networks, visit www.spe.org/network/.
