It is with humility and more than a little trepidation that I am taking over the role of Technical Director for Production and Facilities as Hisham Saadawi’s term has been completed.
My background is in subsurface production engineering and production—completions optimization. However, over the past 2 decades, I have been heavily involved in integrated field development planning studies for offshore, onshore, and frontier conventional developments in many parts of the world, and unconventional oil and gas exploration and development, primarily in Australia and Canada.
After working for operating companies in Southeast Asia, the North Sea, and Canada for the first 12.5 years of my career, I cofounded a small independent consulting company, APA Engineering, that is now part of the RPS Group. I worked for RPS in Singapore and Brisbane; and then as an independent engineer with Tactical Gas Services in Australia and then through Glynn Resources Ltd. back in Calgary.
Many of you will recognize my name from my postings on SPE Connect for not only our community, but the Completions and Reservoir Communities.
I encourage you to participate in these chat rooms. I dedicate some 4 hours per week and find it a great way for a senior professional to share experiences and knowledge and to keep current about the issues of the day.
I am also currently heavily involved in nominating deserving colleagues for SPE Regional and International Awards. The past award recipients can be found as a dropdown list on each individual award page.
The Projects, Facilities, and Construction Award recipients, both International and Regional, are listed.
Recognizing those who embody our core values of technical excellence, outstanding volunteerism, and community service is an integral component of SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition that starts with a grassroots effort by the active members to identify those of our peers who merit consideration by the Awards Committee.
I have always found that the nomination process takes longer than I had expected, so that it is advantageous to start early given the hard deadlines.
- International Award Nominations close on 15 February 2020.
- Regional Award Nominations close on 1 March 2020.
My personal target is to nominate
- At least two candidates for an International Award, as well as refresh the existing materials on last year’s Regional Award winners.
- Two or three deserving members for Regional Awards covering the entire demographic cross-section of my associates both within our function and in Western Canada from young professionals to senior professionals.
There is a briefing video on YouTube about the nominations process and expectations featuring experienced award program experts Rajan Chokshi and Susan Howes.
Over the past few months, I have been working hard to get up to speed on
- The most pressing issues facing our discipline, including the implementation of digital oilfield technologies to brownfield operations and EOR projects
- The support that we will need to provide to sustainability initiatives including improved water life cycle management and carbon capture, storage, sequestration and utilization, especially in EOR projects
- How the Production and Facilities Advisory Committee (P&FAC) and the various Technical Sections and Communities are structured and function
My initial initiative with the P&FAC is to define the scope and terms of reference for a green paper that is aimed to envisage what production, operations, and facilities will be like in 2025 and beyond; and, hence, the gaps technology, training, and continual professional development resources available through the SPE.
This project will likely take us about year and will, hopefully, be available for a wider discussion at the ATCE in Denver in 2020. In the interim, your input will be solicited by open-ended questions posted by the team leads to the Production and Operations and Project, Facilities, and Construction Communities via SPE Connect.
