SPE event

After years of market shocks, technological breakthroughs, and rising uncertainty, ATCE 2026 will provide new insights on how industry leaders and technical experts are preparing for the next era of the upstream business.

As the pace of new discoveries slows and high-quality prospects become harder to find, oil companies may need to rely more heavily on mature fields to maintain production and support future supply.

Each year during its Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), SPE honors members whose outstanding contributions to the Society and the petroleum industry merit special distinction. Recipients will be recognized at the Annual Awards Banquet on 22 October.

At the inaugural SPE/ICoTA Asia Pacific Well Intervention and P&A Conference and Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, industry leaders highlighted how high-fidelity well data, real-time diagnostics, and predictive technologies are reshaping intervention planning and execution to improve well performance, reduce risk, and optimize late-life asset management.

SPE WA and Australian Energy Producers brought together more than 300 students and industry professionals in Timor-Leste for an energy transition seminar, leadership development activities, and the handover of future SPE events to the local section.

Panelists at the SPE Subsea Well Intervention Symposium discussed where AI is delivering value today, where risks remain, and how engineers can best determine its usefulness.

SPE Gulf Coast Section’s Career Advancement Network successfully expanded its reach into the geosciences community at IMAGE 2026, connecting 217 job seekers with employers and demonstrating growing demand for in-person energy industry hiring events.

Honorees Rajan Chokshi and Mike Poythress say the guidance they received, and later shared with others, helped shape decades of innovation and leadership in artificial lift.

As digital technologies become commonplace, industry leaders say core engineering knowledge remains essential for making informed decisions and avoiding costly mistakes.

While equipment run life and reliability remain core concerns, experts say operators are increasingly turning to real-time surveillance and autonomous optimization to unlock new production gains.