Regional Director's Brief — United States and Mexico
May 2023
Dear SPE members,
I hope you are having a great year so far. I will share updates on the SPE Strategic Plan, SPE Bylaws amendments, and summaries of the 2022 ATCE in Houston, the 2023 North America Student Symposium (NASS), and other events in North America.
The SPE board worked hard to update the strategic plan for several months and sought member feedback throughout the process. At the January 2023 SPE Board meeting, the board approved the final version of the strategic plan available to all members in the SPE website. As a result of the strategic plan update, new mission and vision statements were adopted. See JPT article: "SPE Board of Directors Approves 2023 Strategic Plan"
The SPE Board also approved amendments to the bylaws. The process to petition for member elections for Board positions had not been modified since the original draft in 1957, and several areas needed updating. See the JPT article "SPE Bylaws Changes Approved by the SPE Board of Directors" with explanation of the changes and link to the updated bylaws document.
A flagship event I want to recap is the 2022 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) or Annual Meeting of Members. The event took place in the SPE North America Region, specifically in Houston, TX in October. Over 5500 members and affiliates attended the event, and for me, it felt great to be back to this large in-person event to meet and network with SPE members from across the world. The energy, networking, connections, and the feeling of “it is great to be back and see everyone in-person again” after a few years where the world shut down due to the pandemic was great. SPE’s top flagship event is back, and I look forward to seeing you at the 2023 ATCE in San Antonio, TX, also in the SPE North America Region. Register here: SPE ATCE 2023 | Conference & Exhibition | 16-18 October 2023
Early in February, I had the pleasure to attend the 2023 SPE North America Student Symposium (NASS). This is an annual event organized by SPE Students for SPE Students with support from SPE North America Regional directors and SPE regional staff. The event featured industry leaders from major integrated energy companies, mid-size and private companies and technical professionals from various technical disciplines. Med Kamal, 2023 SPE President, and Terry Palisch, 2024 SPE President, were in attendance and gave the closing remarks.
In March, SPE student chapters in the region competed in the North America Regional Petrobowl Qualifiers. The two automatic qualifiers were OU and CSM and the 5 schools that qualified to compete at the SPE International Petrobowl at ATCE San Antonio were UT Austin, UNAM, TAMU, MUN, and Marietta College.
In April, the SPE Student Paper Contest for Gulf Coast North America and Southwest North America regions was held in Texas A&M College Station Campus, and the top students advanced to compete at the SPE International student paper contest at ATCE San Antonio.
I hope this summary of past events was informative. The one upcoming event I would highlight is the inaugural SPE Energy Transition Symposium in Houston, TX in August 2023. I am co-chairing this event with my esteemed colleague and SPE Technical Director, Silviu Livescu. Please join us: 22 - 23 Aug 2023 | Houston, Texas, USA - SPE Energy Transition Symposium
Until next time,
Simeon Eburi
SPE Regional Director - North America (GC/SWNA/WNA)