Privacy Policy

Introduction

This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes the information practices regarding how the Society of Petroleum Engineers (”SPE”), through its affiliated corporate entities, collects, uses, discloses, or transfers the Personal Information that you share with us or that we collect about you when you become an SPE member, attend one of our events, visit our websites, or use our mobile applications.

We care about the protection of your Personal Information, and this Policy also describes your data subject rights and choices regarding the Personal Information that you provide to us. Please read this Policy carefully before providing Personal Information to SPE.

Key Terms

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this Policy:

We, us, our, SPEI Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Inc.
Personal Information

Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

An 'identifiable natural person' is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.”

Special category Personal Information

Personal Information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership; genetic and biometric data; and data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation.

Group Company Structure

Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Inc. is the Data Controller for the purposes of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Society of Petroleum Engineers Europe Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SPEI and is the place of central administration for SPE in the European Union (“EU”) and as such is the “Main Establishment” for SPE in the EU. SPEI is located at 222 Palisades Creek Dr., Richardson, TX 75080-2040 USA.

SPE is a non-profit organization established to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge and to provide information-sharing opportunities concerning the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources for the public benefit. Integral to our mission is the facilitation of opportunities for energy professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence through education and networking events. We further offer opportunities for networking and education through our volunteer program which helps members enhance engineering skills and increase knowledge while sharing their expertise with others.

Accordingly, the Personal Information that we collect in furtherance of these objectives enables us to provide timely and relevant information and content based on individuals’ technical interests and geographic locations. This Policy will provide information regarding your choices and rights regarding how we use this Personal Information.

The scope of this Policy includes Personal Information collected through SPE websites and subdomains, SPE mobile applications, events, conferences, workshops, symposia, customer service call centers, email correspondence, and any offline mechanisms including paper-based correspondence and forms. Additionally, the scope of this Policy includes Personal Information submitted to SPE in pursuance of employment opportunities. Separate privacy policies exist for SPE employees, where appropriate. Some SPE affiliates may have their own privacy policy.

Collection of Personal Information

Personal Information that we collect directly from you

General - We collect Personal Information such as your address, email, telephone number(s), and other contact demographic and billing information.

Pursuing Employment at SPE - We may receive Personal Information from you including, but not limited to, resumes, CVs, cover letters and other correspondence when you provide this information in pursuance of employment at SPE.

Visiting Our Website - You may visit our website without registering. However, in order to provide you with personalized content, both members and non-members may register a profile on SPE.org. This Personal Information is provided by you on a voluntary basis and can be modified at any time by accessing your profile, contacting customer service (service@spe.org), or through any of the communication channels lists under Contact Us at the bottom of this policy. To have Personal Information permanently deleted, contact privacy@spe.org. Personal Information collected for your profile includes, but is not limited to, your name, address, email, employment, education, and technical discipline information. We also ask for your birthdate for identification purposes. If you are a member, further Personal Information collected includes information regarding your member section or chapter, activities, and attendance.

SPE Membership - Personal Information is collected during the application process and is required for membership. If your employer is paying for your membership through SPE’s Bulk Dues program, some of this Personal Information may be provided directly by your employer. Personal Information that is collected through the membership application process includes name, contact information, phone number, email address, physical address, employer, job title, education information for students and recent graduates, and date of birth.  

Education, Events, and Publications - In order to provide you with the most relevant information based on your technical discipline, geographic location, and specified event and publication interests, the preference center has been established to enable you to voluntarily provide additional information to tailor the information that is provided to you. Members and non-members can access the preference center and change or delete any information that has been provided as well as to change preferences. Additionally, all SPE newsletters and correspondence will provide you with a link to unsubscribe if you no longer prefer to receive future correspondence of this type. You may choose to opt out of receiving newsletters and other correspondence by email; however, please note that SPE may still process this Personal Information to contact you in connection with SPE official business where we are not relying on your consent for the processing. We also collect information that you voluntarily provide us when you register for an event or purchase an item from our bookstore. Personal Information can be collected on an order form, an event registration form, or in another manner when information is requested or products and services purchased from SPE. SPE collects contact information (address, phone number, etc.), payment information (an account or credit card number), and other information. This information is used to fulfill orders and to contact the customer as necessary.

Networking and Volunteering - SPE members are provided with additional opportunities for education and professional growth through networking and volunteer opportunities. In order to maximize the opportunity for SPE members and professionals, additional Personal Information may be requested in order to facilitate the coordination of the networking event and volunteer role. This information is voluntarily given by you.

Exhibition, Advertising, and Sponsorship Opportunities - We may collect Personal Information that we receive from you in connection with and for opportunities for you and/or the companies for which you work. These opportunities include exhibition, advertising, and sponsorship opportunities at our events and in our publications, as well as scholarships and awards for members.     

Contacting Customer Service or Other SPE Departments - We may collect Personal Information when received from you when you contact Customer Service or any other SPE department. This information will be used to address any customer service, membership, or other SPE-related issues.

Personal Information that we automatically collect

Internet Protocol (IP) Address - SPE.org automatically records the IP address of your computer when you access the site as well as the time and date of access. This information does not identify you personally, nor does it contain your name or email address.

Geolocation Information - When you visit our website, it is crucial for us to provide you with geographically-relevant information. Therefore, your IP address is collected, in order for us to serve you content regarding membership, events, and other content specific to your geographic region. If you do not want this geolocation information to be collected, please use Private Browsing or a proxy setting when visiting any SPE website. 

Website Usage - Additionally, we use a third-party vendor to track our SPE website usage traffic. Personal information is collected via third-party cookies, but the information is provided back to SPE in aggregate form only. This enables us to continue to analyze our web content and usage patterns while keeping the information anonymous within SPE. Furthermore, this information is kept in server logs that are separate from customer personal information for further protection. We may also track certain Personal Information using third-party analytics providers.

Cookies - We use cookies to provide personalized advertising and services on SPE’s and others’ websites, to personalize content, and to ensure you receive the services to which you have subscribed. Personalized advertising displayed on others’ websites can only be controlled through internet browser cookie settings or social media settings. More about our cookies and how to disable them can be found in our cookie policy here.

Application Data - If you use our mobile application(s) we may collect information if you choose to provide us with access or permission. We may request access or permission to track geolocation-based information from your mobile device, while you are using our mobile application(s), to provide certain location-based services. We may request access or permission to certain features from your mobile device, including your mobile device's calendar, camera, contacts, storage. and other features. We may request to send you push notifications regarding your account or certain features of the application(s). If you wish to opt out from receiving these types of communications or wish to change our geolocation/mobile device access or permissions, you may do so in your device settings.

Personal Information that we may collect indirectly

Recruitment and Employment - We may use public resume-hosting websites to obtain resumes or CVs for positions that SPE seeks to fill. We also receive resumes and CVs from staffing agencies, college career centers, employee referrals, through internal websites, and other submissions through the externally-facing SPE website. This Personal Information is processed as appropriate for the job opening and retained for a period of no longer than one year.

Third-Parties - While it is not our practice to buy details from external providers of marketing lists, there may still be occasions where we receive data about you from a third-party.

Application Data - We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate our mobile application(s). This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information. such as your device characteristics, operating system, device name, device model and other technical information. This information is primarily needed for our internal analytics, reporting, and support purposes.

Special Category Personal Information
It is not our intention to collect or process Special Category Personal Information. However, if we believe that it is necessary, we will only do so with your explicit consent.

How We Use your Personal Information

Under the GDPR, we can only use your personal information if we have a proper reason for doing so, e.g.:

  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
  • for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
  • for our legitimate interests or those of a third-party; or
  • where you have given consent.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

In more detail, we process certain types of Personal Information for the reasons below:

General - We use Personal Information about our members, customers, and attendees of our events in order to provide these individuals with services and goods in performance of our contract with them. 

IP Address - SPE uses your IP address to personalize information to the location from which you are browsing, for the purpose of diagnosing problems with the SPE server and to administer the website, or for some corporate subscribers, to determine access rights.

SPE Membership - SPE uses Personal Information in support of and to provide members with information in connection with their membership and with goods and services in which they have an interest, such as the Journal of Petroleum Technology® magazine, as well as catalogs and promotions of publications, events, and other products and information of interest to you.We have a legitimate interest in processing Personal Information for these reasons.

SPE uses location information in order to identify the member’s section or chapter that is in your geographic location. Date of birth is used for the purpose of account security verification, access to age based programs, and qualification for available discount programs. Credit card information may be collected and provided to a payment processor in order to facilitate billing but is not stored. We have a legitimate interest in processing Personal Information for these reasons.

Events - The Personal Information SPE collects is used to allow SPE to communicate with you regarding an event, process your transaction effectively and efficiently, and plan future events, programs and services to better serve you. We have a legitimate interest in processing Personal Information for these reasons.

Email Marketing - When you first registered a profile with us, we asked you whether you would like us to email you selected SPE promotions about material goods and services, such as events, programs, and publications. If you opted in to receiving email promotions, we may share your Personal Information with companies such as Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., so that our promotions may be displayed to you on their websites. We rely on your consent to sending you these promotions.

If at any stage you wish to opt-out of receiving these promotions, please either go to the preference center and opt-out of the specific items you wish, or email us at privacy@spe.org to remove your name and email address from this database.

Interest-Based Advertisements - We sometimes work with third-party online advertisers (e.g. Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Feathr) to serve relevant advertisements to you. This type of advertising is known as interest-based advertising. We may also affiliate with other companies that serve advertisements on behalf of us and these affiliated organizations on non-affiliated websites.

To learn more about interest-based advertising and how to opt-out of this form of advertising by companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance self-regulatory program, please go to http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

To learn more about the advertising settings of these websites individually, please visit their websites.

Exhibition, Advertising, and Sponsorship Opportunities - We use Personal Information that we receive from you in connection with and for exhibitions, advertising, sponsorship, and other opportunities for you and/or the companies for which you work to facilitate the opportunity and to offer you additional opportunities. We have a legitimate interest in processing Personal Information for these reasons.

Pursuing Employment at SPE - Personal Information collected in pursuit of employment is used solely in connection with employment applications.  Resumes and CVs are kept for up to one year after the position has been filled. We have a legitimate interest in processing Personal Information for these reasons.

How We Share Your Personal Information

General - We do not sell Personal Information to anyone and only share it with third-parties in accordance with this Policy to facilitate SPE business and services or to provide you information on SPE products and services if you have consented to receive such material.

Service Providers - We work with carefully selected service providers that carry out certain functions on our behalf. These include, for example, companies that help us with technology services, storing and combining data, processing payments, and delivering orders. We only share personal data that enable our service providers to provide their services.

  • Hosted or Cloud-based (SaaS) Applications - We may use various third-party service providers who provide hosted or cloud-based (SaaS) applications. While we process your information using the tools on these third-party hosted sites, those third-parties do not access your Personal Information.
  • Third-Party Processors - We may use vendor partners to whom we provide your Personal Information in order to process it on our behalf, such as payment processing companies. These companies are carefully selected and do not have access to your Personal Information beyond the processing that we have defined for them. We also require these third-party processors to contractually agree to abide by our data protection and security requirements.
  • Third-Parties with Joint Responsibility - We have partners with whom we share your information for various services for which we have joint responsibility. Based on each processing situation, you may be asked to provide consent to one or both of us.

SPE Membership - SPE shares member Personal Information with data processors to facilitate membership activities related to join/renewal, dues payment, and profile updates.

Events and Purchases - We share your Personal Information to facilitate events that you choose to attend, exhibit, or sponsor; including sharing your Personal Information with hotels, catering companies, online event platforms, and payment processors.  Attendee Personal Information allows data processors to provide relevant marketing material for a specific event and insightful reporting to SPE Staff. Exhibitor Personal Information is provided to vendors to enable event facilitation.

By engaging with exhibition stands or sponsor content at online events, attendees are also consenting to exhibiting and sponsoring companies having access to the Personal Information collected for their public profile in the online event platform. Attendees will need to contact the exhibiting and sponsoring companies regarding their privacy policies and to request erasure.

Personal Information related to any transaction or purchase that you have made (such as a purchase from our bookstore, event registration, or membership dues) is reconciled with a data processor.

Education and Publications - We share Personal Information of members with data processors in order to facilitate learning opportunities through avenues that are self-driven (Competency Management Tool), fostered in relationships like eMentoring, and enriched in crowd-sourced industry knowledge like SPEConnectSM (online communities).

The Personal Information of authors is carefully gathered during the publication process and shared with data processors in order to build out a comprehensive library of content for purchase or download on OnePetro® online library. Photos of speakers and event attendees are sometimes made available publicly in online/print materials for promotional purposes and/or to recognize those individuals.

Networking and Volunteering - When you become an SPE member, you will be assigned to either a regional section or student member chapter. The Personal Information that you provided through the application process may be provided to the section/chapter officers for the purpose of involving you in the membership activities of that specific section/chapter. All section/chapter officers are required to read and abide by the Section Officers Resource Center guidelines, which include information regarding the requirements for the protection of your Personal Information. Your Personal Information is not shared beyond that specific member section/chapter. SPE may also provide access to Personal Information to an SPE committee, SPEConnectSM, or section officers in the interest of networking.

SPE shares member Personal Information with data processors to facilitate an entire volunteer program. Members who choose to volunteer can provide additional Personal Information at the time of signing up.

SPE‘s online directory provides access for members to contact other members through SPEConnectSM. Members can choose to exclude their Personal Information from the directory at any time. Members manage their Privacy Settings through their SPEConnectSM profile under the My Account option.

Security and Third-Party Links​

Security - The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. As such we make no warranties as to the level of security afforded to your data, except that we will always act in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations. We will ensure that in our contracts with data processors we are given all appropriate guarantees as to the use and security of your Personal Information and that the Personal Information may not be processed other than in accordance with our instructions.

It is important that you keep your SPE data and account profile information private in order to further protect your Personal Information.   

Third-Party Sites - SPE links to third-party sites. These sites contain privacy statements that govern the use of your Personal Information when you are using their websites. SPE does not have any responsibility regarding the processing of your Personal Information on these external websites. Please be sure to review the privacy policies on these third-party websites before sharing your Personal Information with them.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary to accomplish the purpose for which it was originally collected (or as otherwise set forth in this Policy) – unless we are required to hold the information in order to meet additional legal or regulatory requirements.

Personal Information provided for membership applications and renewals will be retained in order to communicate renewal opportunities for a period of at least 20 years of lapsed membership. We will not retain any more Personal Information than we need to identify if and when you were formerly a member of SPE. You always have the right to request us to delete your record entirely (see below).

Your Choices and Your Rights as a Data Subject

You have the right to obtain from SPE confirmation as to whether or not we hold Personal Information concerning you in our databases. You have the right to access any Personal Information that we hold on you (with certain restrictions) and, in addition, the rights below:

Access The right to be provided with a copy of your Personal Information (the right of access)
Rectification The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your Personal Information
To be forgotten The right to require us to delete your Personal Information—in certain situations
Restriction of processing The right to require us to restrict processing of your Personal Information—in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data
Data portability The right to receive the Personal Information you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third-party—in certain situations
To object

The right to object:


—at any time to your Personal Information being processed for direct marketing (including profiling);
—in certain other situations to our continued processing of your Personal Information, e.g. processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests

Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you

Transferring Data from the EU to the US

We have our main office in the United States (“US”). Personal Information that we collect from you will be processed in the US. We collect and transfer Personal Information to the US only with your consent, to perform a contract with you, or fulfill a legitimate interest of SPE in a manner that does not outweigh your rights. 

Children’s Privacy

SPE services are not designed to target children under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 16. By using our services, you represent that you are at least 16 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent's use of our services. If we become aware of Personal Information that was inadvertently obtained from children under the age of 16, we will eliminate this Personal Information immediately from our databases.  

Changes to This Policy

This Policy was last updated on the date indicated below. Your continued use of the SPE services after any changes or revisions to this after any changes or revisions to this Policy shall indicate your agreement with the terms of such revised Policy.

This Policy has been updated and is in effect as of 13 July, 2022. SPE reserves the right to change or update this Policy from time to time so please check back regularly to keep informed of updates.

Contact Information – Questions, Concerns or Complaints

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact us:

(a) by general mail at one of the addresses listed below
(b) using our website contact form
(c) by telephone at the telephone numbers listed below 
(d) by email, using privacy@spe.org.

Society of Petroleum Engineers
222 Palisades Creek Dr.
Richardson, TX 75080-2040 USA
Tel. +1.972.952.9393  or 1.800.456.6863
(Toll-free in the USA and Canada)

Society of Petroleum Engineers
Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa Office
Fourth Floor West
2 America Square
London EC3N 2LU
Tel. +44.20.7299.3300

Data subjects in the EU are encouraged to contact our London office regarding questions, concerns, or interests in exercising data subject rights as per the GDPR. We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. If not, contact the Information Commissioner at ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113 for further information about your rights and how to make a formal complaint.