Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal for Technical Leadership

The Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal for Technical Leadership honors distinguished achievement in the identification and development of new technology and concepts that will enhance the process of finding or producing petroleum. The Medal may be awarded from time to time upon affirmative advice from the Board of Directors of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and under the conditions as herein defined.

About Anthony F. Lucas

Anthony F. Lucas was born on 9 September 1855 in Split, Austria, the capital of the Province of Dalmatia which is located in present day Croatia. He was a mining engineer, often referred to as the father of petroleum engineering. His successful drilling of the famous Spindletop field near Beaumont, TX was one of the most important events in the history of the petroleum industry.

The Spindletop discovery in 1901 marked the beginning of the modern petroleum industry. It ushered in the development of the Texas Gulf Coast as a major oil-producing area. Lucas’s advanced knowledge of petroleum engineering principles was revealed when he revisited Spindletop in 1904 to find that 1200 wells had been drilled on 200 acres. Only 100 of these wells were still producing. Lucas then stated that a half dozen wells would have produced more than all those drilled, and he charged that the reservoir had been damaged by indiscriminate drilling activities.

Established in 1936 by AIME as the first major Institute Award to recognize contributions in petroleum engineering, the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal for Technical Leadership is SPE’s major technical award. It recognizes those responsible for developing new technology and concepts and demonstrating distinguished achievement in improving the technique and practice of finding and producing petroleum. The Medal may be presented to a non-member.

Eligibility Requirements

The conditions of eligibility are as follows:

• There are no limitations regarding membership in the Society of Petroleum Engineers, or otherwise. All other factors being equal, it is suggested that preference be given to professional members of the Society.

• Deceased members may not be nominated for SPE Awards. If a previously nominated candidate dies after 1 January in the year of presentation, and if duly selected for the award, the presentation shall be made posthumously in accordance with special procedures to be prescribed by the SPE Board of Directors. Posthumous award presentations are otherwise prohibited.

• The winner of the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal for Technical Leadership shall be ineligible for the Carll or Uren Award for a period of five years. If nominated for the other awards, nominators will be informed as to the ineligibility of the candidate. Additionally, the nominators will be required to resubmit the nominations with updated materials covering the intervening five years.

• No AIME Major Award winner is eligible to be nominated for another AIME Major Award until nine years shall have elapsed, and the nomination support package shall conspicuously reference work in a new field or significant new accomplishments in the field for which the original award was made. Thus recipients of the Charles F. Rand Memorial Medal and the Robert Earll McConnell Award are not eligible to be a candidate for the Anthony F. Lucas Medal for a period of nine years. The winner of the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal for Technical Leadership shall be ineligible for the Robert Earll McConnell Award and the Charles F. Rand Memorial Medal for a period of nine years.

• No officer or member of the International Board of Directors of the Society shall be eligible to receive any award while serving on the Board. In addition, he or she will not be eligible to receive any award during the calendar year in which his or her term ends, and for a period of two full calendar years following the expiration of his or her term of service on the Board.

• No member of the Award Selection Committee shall be eligible to receive the award while serving as a member of the award committee in which they are judging, and for a period of two full calendar years following the expiration of his or her term of service on the committee.

• No recipient of the SPE Honorary Member Award shall be eligible to receive the award.

• The award may only be presented to an individual for truly outstanding achievement.

• Past recipients of the award are ineligible to receive it a second time.

• Self-nominated candidates are not eligible.

   Submit a Nomination