SPE-GCS Blog

March 1st, 2021

What’s Happening in the Section?

This month marks almost a year since the world changed due to the pandemic. I want to encourage all our members to hang in there, because with each passing day, we are closer to the end than we are to the beginning. Our section members are ready to return to normal, even if it’s just a “new normal.” I would normally write about our upcoming flagship one-day conferences and events scheduled for the spring, but nothing is normal. I will share how our study group and committee leaders have been managing events and venue contracts for the larger conferences with all the uncertainty, and highlight recent and upcoming events.

Most of our major in-person one-day conferences in 2020 were postponed as much as one year later, and the venues were very accommodating and understanding. Now, a year …

February 1st, 2021

How to Volunteer with SPE?

It is the second month of the year, and while we are all hoping for positive changes in our personal lives, around the industry and around the world, we will need to continue to be patient and resilient for a little longer. On the positive side, some COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and are being administered to front-line workers and a prioritized list of individuals. This gives us hope that one day soon, the pandemic will end or at least be under control, but we should all continue to be safe. I also know that many companies in our industry had to make difficult personnel decisions last year to survive, and therefore some of our affected members are actively looking for new opportunities. For those members in transition, I want to remind you that the section has a Members …

January 1st, 2021

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

It is the beginning of a new year and I want to wish all our SPE-GCS members and affiliates a Happy New Year 2021! I hope everyone had safe and joyful holidays. Like many people, I hope this year brings the end of the pandemic, full recovery for the energy industry and the return to normal life. This month also symbolizes the halfway mark of the Gulf Coast Section’s fiscal term. I will share a progress update on a few of the initiatives planned for the fiscal year, including the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) initiative and the Mobile App proposal.

The SPE International Diversity and Inclusion Committee launched during ATCE in 2020 with the vision of advancing the society’s commitment to diversity and inclusion within the oil and gas community through advocacy, collaboration and education. SPEI transitioned the …

December 1st, 2020

¡Adios 2020! and Scholarship

Endowment Fund Update

When we rang in the new year and the beginning of a decade back in January, no one anticipated that 2020 would turn out to be the year it has been. It is typical around the world for people to hope for a new year full of blessings, good health, prosperity and happiness. There is no question that 2020 has been a challenging year because of the pandemic and industry downturn. I could write this entire article about the year’s challenges, but as we enter the holiday season, I will focus on the positive side of 2020 and provide an update on our SPE-GCS Scholarship Endowment Fund (SEF) efforts.

Here are some of the unexpected benefits that 2020 brought: Since around March, some companies in our industry have allowed employees to work full time and remotely …

November 1st, 2020

SPE MEMBERSHIP AND BENEFITS

It's hard to believe we are one month away from the end of 2020. I suspect a lot of people in the United States and around the world would like this year to be over soon. There is hope that next year will bring a fresh start, the end of the pandemic and the beginning or continuation of a global economic recovery for many industries, including energy. This month, I will talk about SPE membership, its benefits and the GCS enhanced on-demand content library.

If you are an SPE member, you should have received your share of SPE membership renewal reminders for 2021. I encourage all SPE members to renew their membership and continue to enjoy membership benefits. If you are not an SPE member, I encourage you to join at spe.org/join.

I have been an …

October 1st, 2020

SPE Volunteerism During Unprecedented Times

I was asked a few months ago why SPE-GCS charges a registration fee for its webinars. Shouldn’t webinars or virtual events be free if there’s no in-person networking or lunch provided? If someone is attending from the comfort of their couch at home, should they pay? These are all relevant questions. I will share a few thoughts on event finances, the scholarship program and volunteering with SPE.

SPE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. SPE-GCS relies on the proceeds from events organized by volunteers to operate, carry out the mission of SPE and support the scholarship program. During great times, the section benefits from strong sponsorship support from companies. Sponsorships help balance our event revenue and expenses, lower registration fees and allow our events to be more profitable. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and during industry downturns, we receive fewer …

September 1st, 2020

CREATIVITY AND RESILIENCY

Last month, we held the SPE-GCS annual kickoff meeting virtually, where we formally thanked the outgoing board and welcomed new board members. Special thanks go to Gabby Morrow, past chair, for an excellent job during her term. I know I have big shoes to fill, and she has done a great job transitioning the chair role. During the kickoff, I also shared more details on the section goals. Here is a summary:

• Deliver more virtual and hybrid (virtual and in-person) events for greater flexibility.
• Enhance the online “On-Demand Content Library” and add more content with event recordings.
• Advance digital efforts by evaluating and proposing an SPE-GCS mobile app and deliver a podcast initiative.
• Look for opportunities to collaborate with other SPE sections and external organizations.
• Deliver diversity and inclusion (D&I) soft skills sessions to our members.

The kickoff was …

August 1st, 2020

The SPE-GCS extends a warm welcome to our new chair, Simeon Eburi. We thought we’d introduce him by sharing part of our conversation.

Connect: Where are you originally from, and how did you wind up in Houston, Texas?

Simeon: I was born in Malabo, the capital city of Equatorial Guinea, which is located on the west coast of Central Africa. Equatorial Guinea is among the top oil producers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Growing up, I saw an influx of offshore oil and gas exploration and production companies, which influenced my decision to study petroleum engineering. I attended Texas Tech University, where I earned both a bachelor's degree and a master of science degree in petroleum engineering. After graduate school, I accepted a job with Chevron in Houston. I have been in Houston for most of my professional career, except for …

July 1st, 2020

Keep Learning

This will be my last article before I pass the torch on to the vice chair of the SPE- GCS, Simeon Eburi.

Simeon will be the new board of directors chair beginning August 1, 2020.

I am very proud to have served in this capacity for my community and the industry over the past year, and I wish Simeon and the GCS all the best in the months and years to come. With that said, here are a couple of events the GCS is hosting before my term concludes.

The Data Analytics Study Group and Members in Transition (MiT) Committee have collaborated with NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (NVIDIA DLI) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to present an exciting opportunity for SPE MiT members and students to develop and gain practical skills in deep learning through online courses.

These …

June 1st, 2020

A Virtual GCS

I am pleased to announce one of our goals this year is finally complete. The Gulf Coast Section has added an online content library to its website platform. Over time, we plan to build this library into a robust learning center that is applicable to all of our SPE members. The library can be found online at spegcs.org/on-demand-content-library/.

I encourage everyone to look at this new learning outreach site and create a bookmark on your browser so you can easily find courses of interest. This content library is in addition to the webinars our study groups and committees offer. The funds raised from our online library will go toward our Scholarship Endowment Fund, and directly assist local high school students attending university who wish to pursue careers in the oil and gas industry.

Most of our initial library …