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Vol. 58 No. 6
June 2006
2006 SPE President Eve Sprunt (right) presents a plaque recognizing the establishment of the SPE Student Chapter at Xi’an Petroleum U. in China to Wang Jianli, Deputy Secretary of the Xi’an Shiyou U. Committee of the Communist Party of China and Professor of Xi’an Petroleum U. Sprunt was named a visiting professor by Zhang Ningsheng, President of the university. During her visit to the country in March, Sprunt also presented plaques recognizing the formation of student chapters to the China U. of Petroleum in Beijing and the Daqing Petroleum Inst.
New Group Formed for IT Professionals
A new group within SPE will focus on the needs of information technologists working in the oil and gas industry. The Information Technology (IT) Technical Section provides a framework for professionals to communicate and work together to promote innovation and best practices for IT in the oil and gas industry. The section also will work to build and improve SPE programs to meet the needs of oil and gas industry IT professionals.
“The growing role of IT in the oil and gas industry has resulted in a need for an industry forum to facilitate learning, exchange of best practices, and IT thought leadership,” said Mehrzad Mahdavi, Vice President–Global Security for Schlumberger Information Solutions, who chairs the new technical section. “I am delighted to announce the formation of the SPE IT Technical Section, an international forum managed by industry leaders to serve the oil and gas community.”
Section membership is open to all SPE members. More information on the technical section and how to join can be found at http://www.spe.org/web/techsect/it.html. An Advisory Committee made up of Chief Information Officers of oil industry companies is being formed to provide advice on industry needs to help guide the activities of the section.
Goals of the section include facilitating the exchange of information and best practices among peers involved in IT, establishing IT and digital security as integral parts of the oil and gas industry, and developing events and conferences focused on oil and gas industry IT issues and challenges.
Formation of the section follows several successful SPE IT-focused events. More than 1,200 professionals attended the most recent of these, the 2006 SPE Intelligent Energy Conference and Exhibition held 11–13 April in Amsterdam. SPE also held Digital Energy 2006 in Houston in February and two Oil and Gas Digital Security conferences in 2005.
The Billings Petroleum Section recently hosted Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who shared his vision for Montana’s energy future and opened the floor to questions regarding coalbed-methane production, pipeline capacity, mineral ownership, access to public land, and clean coal technology. Pictured, from left, are Justin Balkenbush (Secretary), Joy Stevens (Scholarship Chairperson), Pascual Laborda (Treasurer), Schweitzer, Adam Gollofon (Chairperson), Jan Gilblom (Program Cochairperson), and Tim Gilblom (Program Cochairperson). Also in attendance was Tanner Egan, Membership Chairperson.
