Validating Engineering Competence

The SPE Skills Matrix and the U.S. Professional Engineers (PE) exam have undergone changes to reflect input from practicing professionals about the required breadth of knowledge, depth, and expert skill sets for petroleum engineers. Where previously there were four disciplines represented, there are now three—drilling, reservoir, and production. Formation evaluation associated with the use of openhole logging and petrophysical data to support reservoir modeling/optimization are now part of the reservoir-engineering skill set; well testing and logging associated with modeling in the production phase are now included in the production-engineering skill set. “There has not been any knowledge or competency lost,” said James Bobo, SPE liaison to the Natl. Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. “Drilling continues to be a distinct discipline as reflected in most organizations.”

The changes were derived from results of a Professional Activities and Knowledge (PAK) Survey done in 1997 and from additional interviews conducted by the SPE Task Force on Minimal Competency of key managers and supervisors for the purpose of composing the SPE Skills Matrix. The SPE Skills Matrix, distributed by the SPE Engineering Professionalism Committee, is used by the SPE U.S. Engineering Subcommittee as the basis for the U.S. PE exam. The exam is focused on assessing the competency of 4-year post-graduates for licensing.

Thorough evaluation of responses from more than 800 licensed engineers to a follow-up online PAK survey conducted in 2006 compiled by Thomson Prometric, a global leader in testing and assessment services, confirmed this breakdown of management expectations and competencies.

Clarification
Henri Doll ran the first wireline log in 1927. An article on p. 48 of the May JPT stated that brothers Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger ran the first log. In fact, Conrad hired Doll, his son-in-law, to perform the work.