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Technical Disciplines and Categories

SPE organizes many of its activities along eight primary technical disciplines. While many activities are interdisciplinary, it was necessary to make decisions about the "primary" place SPE would consider these activities. The following illustrates how SPE has described what falls into each technical discipline.

drilling icon 1. Drilling

  • Well Planning
  • Wellbore Design
  • Wellhead Design
  • Drillstring Design
  • Drill Bits
  • Drilling Operations
  • Pressure Management
  • Formation Damage
  • Wellbore Positioning
  • Drilling Equipment
  • Drilling Fluids and Materials
  • Drilling Measurement, Data Acquisition and Automation
  • Drilling Automation
  • Casing and Cementing
  • Fundamental Research in Drilling

completions icon 2. Completions

  • Completion Selection and Design
  • Completion Installation and Operations
  • Completion Monitoring Systems/Intelligent Wells
  • Sand Control
  • Hydraulic Fracturing
  • Acidizing
  • Completion Fluids
  • Completions Evaluation
  • Recompletion
  • Well Integrity
  • Fundamental Research in Well Completion

production icon 3. Production and Operations

  • Artificial Lift Systems
  • Well Operations and Optimization
  • Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring
  • Production Chemistry, Metallurgy and Biology
  • Well Intervention
  • Well Decommissioning
  • Fundamental Research in Production and Operations

Facilities icon 4. Projects, Facilities, and Construction

  • Processing Systems and Design
  • Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers
  • Flow Assurance
  • Measurement and Control
  • Offshore Facilities and Subsea Systems
  • Natural Gas Conversion and Storage
  • Unconventional Production Facilities
  • Facilities and Construction Project Management
  • Facilities Operations
  • Facilities Decommissioning and Site Remediation
  • Fundamental Research in Projects, Facilities, and Construction

reservoir icon 5. Reservoir

  • Reservoir Characterization
  • Fluid Characterization
  • Reservoir Fluid Dynamics
  • Improved and Enhanced Recovery
  • Reservoir Simulation
  • Formation Evaluation and Management
  • Reserves Evaluation
  • Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs
  • Non-Traditional Resources
  • Storage Reservoir Engineering
  • Fundamental Research in Reservoir Description and Dynamics

HSE icon 6. Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability

  • HSES Management
  • Health
  • Safety
  • Security
  • Environment
  • Sustainability/Social Responsibility
  • Fundamental Research in HSES

management icon 7. Management

  • Asset and Portfolio Management
  • Risk Management and Decision-Making
  • Strategic Planning and Management
  • Energy Economics
  • Professionalism, Training, and Education

DSEA icon 8. Data Science and Engineering Analytics

  • Information Management and Systems
  • Research and Development and Emerging Technology Programs