SPE Event Portfolio Management Policy

Effective 26 January 2026

Introduction

A key enabler to achieving SPE’s mission is the delivery of high quality, well attended industry events. SPE events bring people together to exchange insights, spark innovation, and drive progress in the energy industry. More than gatherings, SPE events are opportunities to learn from world-class experts, exchange knowledge with peers, reconnect with colleagues and discover solutions that address our sector’s most pressing challenges.

For sponsors and exhibitors, SPE events provide access to industry participants, the opportunity to demonstrate thought leadership and showcase leading technological advances. For many event attendees, an SPE event is their first contact with the Society and SPE’s reputation is intrinsically linked with events bearing the SPE name and logo. This reputation is built on quality at every level, supported by robust peer selection of technical papers and well-designed event experiences that serve members and the industry at large.

For SPE, events represent a vital and significant source of revenue. Revenue from SPE-owned, managed and partner events consistently contributes around 70% of SPE’s total revenue. It is vital to protect SPE’s global portfolio of events to ensure the Society’s ongoing financial stability. 

To ensure that SPE can continue to produce high quality, financially successful events that reflect positively on the Society, the SPE Board has approved policies to govern the planning, conduct, and evaluation of any event wherever the SPE name and/or logo is used or where SPE is associated, either directly or indirectly.

All SPE sections, regions, events, funds, contracts and commitments are ultimately the responsibility of SPE Inc. As such, SPE maintains reasonable control over the affairs that affect all of its members. In addition, SPE provides many non-revenue-generating services to its members and the industry. 

The SPE Event Portfolio Management Policy applies to all events produced by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc. (SPEI), SPE sections (both geographical and technical), and SPE student chapters. It is written as a service for our membership to ensure consistency and quality of SPE-branded events. 
 
It intends to differentiate between events produced by SPEI and its staff, that provide revenue to the Society, and events produced by geographic or technical sections, or student chapters, where revenue is retained by the section or chapter.
 

SPE Branded Event Definitions

To ensure quality standards and attendee expectations are met, SPE has definitions and formats for SPE branded (SPEI and section) events that must be followed. Our customers, whether event attendees, speakers, exhibitors or sponsors, should know from the event title what content is covered and in what format. There should be no doubt who is the organizer of the event. 

Only SPEI is permitted to organize events that offer speakers the opportunity to publish papers on OnePetro (i.e. conferences and symposia). Sections that have previously been granted permission by the SPEI Board to publish papers at select events (prior to October 2025), may continue to run those events as conferences only under the process described in the Operational Guidelines for Publishing at Section-Managed Events (issued by SPE’s Technical Publishing Team). See Appendix A.

From October 2025 onwards, any new section events cannot publish papers. Sections seeking to publish papers at an existing event that meets the minimum criteria described in the event definitions must seek approval through the SPE Technical Content Board Committee using the Event Request Form and pay the applicable fee. See Appendix A and B.
 

Event Definitions and Minimum Criteria

Event Definitions
*Sections are only permitted to organize symposiums with no papers published (unless grandfathered). Only SPEI is permitted to run conferences and symposiums with papers published.

Section-organized events must feature the relevant SPE section logo, not the SPEI logo, and appear on appropriate section and/or region communication channels. Only SPEI-organized events will appear on the global event calendar on the spe.org website. 

Section-organized events should not occur in the week immediately before, during, or after the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE). 

Section-organized events should not be endorsed, sponsored or partnered with commercial event companies that may be considered competitors to SPEI events. 

Successful recurring events should have a consistent title that is relevant from year to year. 

Each of these events is defined so that the customer can expect a consistent quality of product or service. This naming convention will be consistent across all events using the SPE name and logo. This naming convention is also important component of ongoing initiatives regarding technical paper quality.
 

​Event Format Definitions​

Conference

An SPE Conference promotes the exchange of technical knowledge on current and proven technologies through technical paper presentations, and may include plenary sessions, panel sessions, and ePosters. Conferences also feature an exhibition of the latest products and services, offering attendees a chance to experience new equipment and technologies. Conferences can be focused on a specific topic or have a broad technical or regional scope. This technical information, including SPE technical papers, is further disseminated through publication in the conference proceedings and on OnePetro. Conferences are organized by SPEI Staff unless section volunteers are granted Board approval to organize.

To publish event papers on OnePetro, sections must submit a conference approval request to the Board’s Technical Content Committee prior to the event planning. See Appendix B (Section Conference Request Form). Sections granted approval may publish papers by working with SPE Technical Publishing, paying the applicable fee and complying with the same criteria and quality requirements as SPEI-managed conferences. 

Symposium

An SPE Symposium is a meeting of experts in a particular field. A Symposium serves as a transition event for a topic that has matured beyond the workshop format. Symposia can provide the opportunity for authors to publish papers, but the event may not be a fully papered program. The technical program committee may build their program from invited presenters and those selected through the Call for Speakers process, if offered. Programs may include paper presentations, no-paper presentations, plenary sessions, panel sessions, and ePosters. SPE manuscripts (if any) will be further disseminated through OnePetro. In many cases, symposia also feature an exhibition of the latest products and services, offering attendees a chance to experience new equipment and technologies in person. Symposia featuring papers are organized by SPEI staff. Section-organised symposia do not have published papers. 

Workshop

An SPE Workshop maximizes the exchange of ideas among attendees and presenters through brief technical presentations followed by extended Q&A periods. Highly focused topics attract an informed audience eager to discuss issues critical to advancing both technology and best practices. Workshop topics must not overlap or conflict with those of other events. The technical program is comprised of presentations solicited by the program committee as opposed to a general Call for Papers or presentations. 

Many of the presentations take the form of case studies, highlighting engineering achievements and lessons learned. To stimulate frank discussion, no proceedings are published, and members of the press are not invited to attend. Presentations that have been authorized for release are compiled and released to attendees after the workshop.

Workshops may be organized by SPEI staff or sections without Board approval. 

Forum

An SPE Forum is an invitation-only SPEI event, developed and approved through the Forum Series Coordination Committee and the Forum Series Implementation Committee. Forums unite top technologists, innovators, and managers to explore a specific and emerging industry challenge not already addressed in existing SPE Conferences, Workshops, and Symposia. Participants are encouraged to come prepared to contribute their experience and knowledge rather than be spectators or students. The objective is to create a collaborative, idea-generating arena that stimulates new ideas and innovation about future challenges facing the E&P industry.

A written summary may be prepared and distributed to the participants after the forum and at the discretion of the program committee and SPE approval. 

Forums do not offer a Call for Papers, published presentations, or exhibitions. 

Summit

An SPE Summit is a one- to three-day, invitation-only SPEI event with specific, predefined objectives. It is a fast-track response to emerging issues, problems, technologies, and strategies of broad significance to the industry. Written records of the discussions and conclusions are published, with the intent of providing a deliverable that benefits the industry and has the potential to lead to further initiatives. Note, approval by the Technical Content Committee is required for a Technical Report of the summit to be published.

There is neither a Call for Papers nor presentations offered. 

Training Course

Training courses are usually lecture-based and taught by instructors who are subject matter experts. These courses may cover practical, hands-on introductory, intermediate, and advanced engineering topics across all SPE technical disciplines as well as several non-technical topics. 

Training courses are offered by SPE sections as a service to members.

 

APPENDIX A

Section-Managed Events: Technical Publishing Operational Guide

Approved at the October 2025 Board of Directors meeting, section events previously co-organized with SPEI will now be exclusively organized by the section. Section events impacted by this change are listed below and are grandfathered into this Board decision if they choose to publish papers directly with the Technical Publishing Department. Any other events will need Board approval as outlined in the SPE Event Portfolio Management Policy. Sections have two options to publish, and this guide will explain the operational plan for each option. Questions on this process can be sent to Bryan Hibbard.
 

Approved Events

Events affected by this change and which have approval to use these publishing options:

  • Western Regional Meeting
  • SPE Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition
  • Improved Oil Recovery Conference
  • International Conf and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control
  • OKC Oil & Gas Symposium
  • Eastern Regional Meeting
  • Low Permeability Symposium
  • SPE Trinidad & Tobago Section Energy Resources Conference
  • Gulf Coast Section Electric Submersible Pumps Symposium
  • SPE Argentina E&P of Unconventional Resources Symposium
  • SPE Argentina Region YP Symposium
  • SPE/AAPG/SEG Washington Symposium Energy in Transition
     

Publishing Options

Option 1. Traditional Publishing: Work directly with SPE Technical Publishing to publish the conference papers in OnePetro. Sections pay a flat fee of USD 2,500 for the first 50 papers and USD 50 per paper thereafter, up to a maximum of 250 papers.

Option 2. Open Access Publishing: Work directly with SPE Technical Publishing to publish the conference papers as open access on OnePetro. Papers will be available for free and outside of the paywall. All authors and papers must opt in, and the section pays a processing fee of USD 500 per paper.
 

Section-Managed Events Path to Publish

If Board-approved, sections wishing to proceed should fill out this questionnaire:

SPE Section Event Technical Paper Questionnaire – Fill out form

Technical Publications must receive this completed form no later than 90 days before the event date to guarantee papers are published in conjunction with the event. Otherwise, paper publication will be up to 90 days from the form completion. 

When completed form is received, SPE Technical Publishing will provide event organizer(s) with guidelines for paper submission and submission materials which will include:

Within a week of receiving final submission files for all papers, SPE Technical Publishing will send invoice for paper processing charges (flat fee + plus per-paper charges, if applicable).

Section must pay publishing charges before the final publication date (45-60 days after receiving invoice). If an invoice is outstanding, paper publication will be delayed until payment is received.
 

Publishing Timeline

  • 90+ days before event: Send completed form to Technical Publications.
  • 60+ days before event: Final paper deadline. Section meeting organizer may send finalized paper count to Technical Publications at this time to receive invoice early. Note: The number of papers should be finalized before a request for invoice is sent.
  • 45+ days before event: Final paper files (.docx or .pdf only), along with signed Transfer of Copyright forms and Paper Information Forms, sent to Technical Publications for production. Within 3 business days of receipt of the files, Technical Publications will supply an invoice to the section meeting organizer.
  • 1 week before event: Final files are ready for publishing on OnePetro.org.

Assuming the timeline is followed on schedule, papers will be published by the first day of the event.

 

APPENDIX B

Section-Managed Conference Request Form

View and download form.

Submit Form to Gail Smith, Technical Content Committee Staff Liaison.