Q&A With Stephen Ingram, OKC YP Committee President

Becoming a Tier-4 section in just 2 years is almost unbelievable. How did your team accomplish this in such a short time?

Dedication, persistence, and the goal of making a difference. The YPs of OKC needed an avenue to get involved; our YP organization enabled the creativity and resourcefulness of such wonderful individuals to expand and touch the oilfield community and the community at large. Once the group was formed, it just took on a life of its own. The executive evenings, where we have been honored to introduce leaders of major independent producers (such as Aubrey McClendon and Brian Jennings), have become premier events to our membership, giving them direct access to major decision makers in our area. Our Big 12 Conference baseball championship intern event and the Mardi Gras fundraiser for charity illustrate the power of creativity our membership has shown.   Having innovative minds is nothing new to the petroleum industry; we have created an organization to help guide them to do what they want. This was perfectly illustrated when Aaron Ketter, OKC YP member, was presented with the 2006 SPE Regional Outstanding Young Member Award for his role in the development of SPE OKC YPs.

The Texas Tech University SPE Student Section invited you to become an Ambassador Lecturer in April 2007. How does a YP become an Ambassador Lecturer, and what are the advantages?

In 2006, SPE launched a pilot program called the Ambassador Lecturer series, designed to allow YPs to present their personal insight on past experiences and future opportunities. These unbiased presentations give SPE student members access to a wide range of subjects reflecting the technological, social, and environmental responsibilities with which our industry is challenged. At Texas Tech, I spoke on my experiences working as a field service engineer and regional technical expert in the tight-gas and shale-gas markets, as well as the growing role of liquefied natural gas (LNG) globally and domestically, the possible future impact of these topics on the US domestic marketplace, and the logical future employment opportunities for young engineers like those at Texas Tech. Any SPE member with less then 10 years’ experience is welcome to apply to the Ambassador Lecturer program and can submit a resume to www.spe.org. Also, any SPE student section can request an Ambassador Lecturer this way, for individuals from SPE. A call for lecturers is issued each September.

We have heard that your educational program had a first recently, E&P Business Basics. What was that about?

While our technical luncheons have focused on the oil and gas industry, production, completions, drilling, etc., the spring of 2006 introduced our first financial/technical topic. Guest speaker Terry Shyer, vice president of Devon Energy’s Mergers and

Acquisition (M&A) group, shared his experiences and discussed how M&A can be used by operators to grow and diversify their asset base. With the expressed interest by our YPs, the YP Board expanded the technical-meeting forum to include a financial/technical set in 2007. Topics included the natural-gas futures market, financial derivatives, and the influence of LNG on the US natural-gas market. This set was well received by both our traditional and our nontraditional members, and we look forward to continuing this subject in 2008.