Where Artificial Lift Leaders Connect: The Expanding Impact of SPE’s ALTS

SPE technical sections bring together members from around the world who share a common interest in a specific technical interest, providing a forum to collaborate, exchange ideas, and work on projects related to their area of focus. Through open discussions, webinars, and events, technical sections foster knowledge sharing and drive progress with a focused, goal-oriented approach.

The Artificial Lift Technical Section (ALTS) exists to further the objectives of the SPE by enabling open discussion of all aspects related to artificial lift system design, operation, optimization, research and development, innovation, and lifecycle performance. It spans all the components between the reservoir-wellbore interface and the wellhead, as well as the surface components that power and keep the systems optimized.

Its mission is to elevate industry best practices, increase their visibility, and promote their adoption across regions and technical disciplines. The ALTS is part of the SPE Production and Operations discipline, led by Technical Director Gregory Stephenson.

The current executive committee is chaired by Shivani Vyas, with Ozan Sayman serving as vice chair. The leadership team also includes Ahmed Fadhl, communication and digital engagement lead; Simon Suarez, program and events lead; Jose Jaua, membership and engagement lead; Danny Perez, technical content and publications lead; and Daniel Croce, young professional liaison.

In addition, ALTS benefits from the support of numerous volunteers based in different locations worldwide who work behind the scenes alongside the leadership team to advance key projects and foster knowledge sharing for all members of the technical section.

Your Path Into the Technical Section

Joining the ALTS is an easy way to deepen your involvement in SPE’s Production and Operations community. Once you add ALTS to your SPE membership profile, you will receive updates on programs and opportunities to contribute.

For more details about how to join, visit us on our SPE Connect page.

What’s New in Artificial Lift?

A new practice in recent artificial lift conferences has been to invite paper proposals about hybrid systems, because the combination of systems has shown over the years to be helpful to preserve the benefits of current methods while proposing solutions to their limitations.

A good example is found in paper SPE 219568, “Downhole Peristaltic Pumps as a New Artificial Lift for Oil & Gas Wells.” The paper was presented by Danny Romero, a petroleum production engineer, at the 2024 SPE ALCE Americas, and previously at the 2022 Artificial Lift Research & Development Council Inventors of New Artificial Lift Technologies Forum.

Also known as Peristalift, because it describes a new form of artificial lift based on the principle of peristalsis, the system proposes a simple downhole solution with capability to handle sandy production, no gas interference, no rod string moving along the well, no downhole electric motor, potential to handle high deviation well profiles, and initial lifting or pumping potential of 200 to 500 BLPD.

This is achieved with the radial compression of a hose by pressurized fluid pumped from surface through smaller-diameter tubing adjacent to the production string installed in the well, followed by its expansion when reducing pressure in the downhole pump hydraulic chamber.

Another example is the paper SPE 219525, “Innovative Electric Submersible Plunger Pump System Driven by Linear Permanent Magnet Motor as A Technological Alternative for Conventional Rod Pumps San Joaquin Basin Wells,” which was also presented at the 2024 SPE ALCE Americas by Jairo Ocando et al.

In the case presented in the paper, it was shown that the new technology has been successfully deployed to reduce the number of repetitive failures in conventional rod pump systems and down production associated with failures by using an electric submersible plunger pump system with a linear permanent magnet motor actuating a downhole reciprocating pump.

Upcoming 2026 Events and Presentations

• Joint Presentation: SPE Colorado School of Mines and SPE ALTS: ESP Best Practices
• Artificial Lift Online Coffee Meetings
• SPE Workshop: Integrated Artificial Lift Excellence: Technologies, Operations, and the Digital Future (May, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• SPE Artificial Lift Conference & Exhibition – Americas (ALCE) (August, The Woodlands, Texas, USA)
• SPE Middle East Artificial Lift Conference & Exhibition (October, Manama, Bahrain)
• SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (October, Houston, Texas, USA)

For more details about upcoming events, you can also follow the SPE ALTS on LinkedIn.

Shivani Vyas, SPE, is Sales Manager at Odessa Separator Inc. and has more than 9 years of industry experience. She holds a BSc degree in petroleum engineering from Texas Tech University. Her background includes technical and commercial roles supporting production equipment and artificial lift applications in the Permian Basin. Vyas is active in SPE and currently serves as chair of the SPE Artificial Lift Technical Section (ALTS). She previously served as chair of the SPE Permian Basin Section. She has coauthored several technical papers for SPE and other artificial lift forums and participates in industry programs focused on production optimization and technology advancement. She strives to make a positive impact through her vision, technical skills and services.

Paola Martinez Villarreal, SPE, currently serves as the Customer Engagement Coordinator Manager for Rockies, California, and ExxonMobil for SLB. She has more than 16 years of experience in artificial lift systems across conventional and unconventional reservoirs. In her current role, she leads a team of design engineers supporting electric submersible pump (ESP) applications and focuses on technical performance and field execution. Martinez Villarreal has contributed significantly to ESP innovation, production optimization, and technology implementation projects across the US and Latin America. She has delivered industry presentations and coauthored technical publications on artificial lift applications. She is recognized for her leadership, problem-solving mindset, and commitment to advancing artificial lift technologies through cross-functional collaboration. Martinez Villarreal also serves on the SPE Artificial Lift Technical Section and mentors early-career engineers through SPE, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and SLB’s Eureka program. She also participates as a judge for professional awards and scholarship programs.