Chairmans Message

Friends & Colleagues,

It’s hard to believe it’s nearly the end of the year, it seems like yesterday we were enjoying the summertime. SPE Aberdeen work continues, with several recent events from our ongoing Continuing Education programme, from a fascinating D&I virtual lunchtime event, to a rather enjoyable evening in the company of Chris Lemons, a Deep Sea Diver who defied the odds when disaster struck.
Our output is always varied, and hopefully everyone finds something of interest, or something that touches on their own specific discipline, or subject of interest. If not, what are we missing, what would you like to see, hear and be part of? We’re always open to suggestions of topics, speakers and maybe even something we haven’t thought of so far.
There are several ongoing activities within the Section including a refresh and revamp of our website, hopefully due to launch around the turn of the year. It will still contain all the information and resources as before but with an improved user interface and one or two new features.
There are two items I want to highlight, further details below, both the Student Bursary Programme and the OAAs are seeking applications. We are committed to supporting both, those about to commence a career in the energy industry and seek to recognise the many individuals and companies that we admire for their high standards and achievements.
I’ll sign off for now but always welcome feedback and questions, my contact details can be found on our website.

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

Welcome to our October newsletter. We had a fantastic kick-off event last month, thanks to everyone that attended, where we laid out our plans for the coming session.

What always rings true for me is that we try to accommodate the wants and needs of the members affiliated with SPE Aberdeen. We ask, we listen, we act. Our recent member’s survey gave us a huge insight into what our members want, what areas of the industry, and topics you want us to focus on and hopefully we deliver accordingly.

Much of our upcoming programme is detailed in the newsletter. Of particular intertest is the launch of the Offshore Achievement Awards, now in its 36th year. Want to recognise the outstanding efforts of an individual or company? Please consider submitting an application.

Lastly to finish off this newsletter intro, it is with sadness I must report that our long-term administrator Louise Thomas is moving on to pastures new. Louise, who edits this newsletter amongst countless other things, has been responsible for the administration of the section for 8 years. Those involved with Section operations know and understand Louise’s impact and influence across so much of what we do. I hope you will all join with me in thanking Louise for her efforts and dedication over the years.

In the meantime, please feel free to get in touch with any queries, thoughts, or suggestions.

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

Our 2022/23 Session kick-off event took place this week at Aberdeen Science Centre (ASC); thanks to all who attended. We chose the Science centre as a venue, as a) it’s an excellent venue with lots of room, b) we’ve had a long association with the ASC, and c) there’s so many cool exhibits to interact with.

Our kick-off event has typically been a member only affair to cater to those who may consider lending some of their precious spare time in helping the section. This year we have recognised the huge number of partners and supporters who may or may not be members but contribute to SPE Aberdeen’s success in many ways.

The breadth and width of what we get involved in is unlikely to be understood by many as most have an engagement in a specific area. We thought it best to take the time to showcase our full suite of events and contributions to the energy industry, our upcoming next generation of engineers and scientists, and of course the rising stars of tomorrow who hopefully we can influence to have a career in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

If you attended this event, thank you. You will see/have seen the passion and commitment by our volunteers and members and I hope it has encouraged you to further your involvement or support to our common cause.

It was very nice to meet you; please get in touch should you require any further information.

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

Another new session is upon us after our summer break. Hopefully the 2022-23 session will be largely free of the challenges that the previous three had. We will be hosting a Section kick-off meeting in September, look out for details, where we will formally launch the activities that we intend to deliver this year. We intend to have a large-scale gathering and invite volunteers, members, partner societies, sponsors, and guests to see what makes SPE Aberdeen tick. I hope you can make it; details will be finalised in the coming weeks.

Industry wise things are picking up the pace. There are frequent press releases of field plans and investment plans being approved. The attacks on Ukraine from Russia and the subsequent sanctions have brought the energy security of the UK and Europe in sharp focus, and naturally our industry is key to reducing some of the challenges. Alongside current day-to-day activities there are significant plans for fully net-zero developments, electrification of older platforms and several low and zero carbon energy projects that we can all contribute our skills and expertise to.

I hope we can continue to count on your support and participation over the next 12 months. As always if you have any thoughts, comments or questions please do get in touch. Thanks,

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

This is the last newsletter before the summer break. I am glad to report that SPE Aberdeen is seeing a large-scale return to normality, reflected in our recent run of Continuing Education events, and the welcome return of the evening Technical Programme.

We have already begun planning for the 2022/23 session and this is where I ask for your help, and thoughts. We aim to have a members survey issued in the coming weeks where we reach out and ask your opinions and preferences for what and how we deliver the SPE Mission. The pandemic forced us to change our ways, but we learned a lot and now we can plan our next year of a mix of in-person, hybrid, and purely digital events. We’ll ask you what you would like to see us cover and how.

We’re also grateful that we can now return to visiting schools and universities. Our Student Development and Schools Career Guidance committees have been revitalised and are raring to go after the summer on the commencement of the new term.

The next session will of course be reflective of the needs of the industry and the membership, our vital Net Zero and Diversity & Inclusion committees have an influence in all of our output and how we do business sustainably in our often rapidly changing daily lives.

I wish you all a pleasant summer break and look forward to connecting with you again in August.

As always, comments, questions and queries are welcomed, please get in touch. Thanks,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

The run up to summer is always a busy time for the section, and thankfully a more familiar one with our largely full return to in-person events. Our last two board meetings have trialled a hybrid system and it has worked well, with many of the Section Board members choosing to meet up whilst still having a provision for those who can’t by location or prefer to participate remotely.

We’ve also had a good look at facilities and meeting places to accommodate the ongoing programme of events. The business landscape has changed somewhat since early 2020 and we need to find balance in the suitability of the facilities, location, and keeping costs in mind. We anticipate little or no change to the Continuing Education output as the fully re-opened P&J Live at TECA is an excellent facility which more than meets our requirements.

We have a host of events and activities, many of which are detailed below, hopefully there is something of interest to most. If there’s something we’re not covering, and you think we should then please get in touch via the usual means. If you want to get more involved with the behind the scenes of the section, again let us know. We are always welcoming of fresh eyes, fresh ideas, and a drive to share the work of the Aberdeen Section.

A big thanks to everyone who contributes so far and I welcome anyone who has an interest.

Until next time.

Thanks,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

We recently hosted the 35^th Offshore Achievement Awards, the return of this prestigious event was attended by over 400 representatives from across all sectors, and we recognised all of the great and the good within our industry. Full details of the finalists and winners can be found here. I’d also like to pass on the thanks of SPE Aberdeen Board and membership to Ian Phillips as he steps down as OAA Chair. Ian has maintained this position for 10 years, helping to build it into the gold standard event that it is, and spending countless hours over the years to seek out the very best our industry has to offer.

As always there’s much happening within the section, much of which is detailed below. We also intend to issue a member survey to gain your thoughts and opinions regarding the section’s activities and output. We adapted many of our programmes over the past couple of years and where we see some return to normality, we also see opportunities in continuing a digital offering and in many cases a hybrid delivery system.

Watch this space for the latest updates. Any thoughts, questions or comments are always welcome.

Until next time.

Thanks,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

It’s here. The 35^th Annual* Offshore Achievement Awards. Our night, where we recognise the huge achievements of individuals and companies who continue to innovate, inspire, and offer transformation and improvement to our industry, will be held at the P&J Live on Thursday evening. I anticipate a great evening of celebration, a chance to re-connect with those we’ve not had the fortune to meet in recent times. We will again be joined by our “resident” host Rachel Riley, who will doubtless keep us all in check and on time. If you are a finalist, congratulations, you are already a winner. If you are attending in support of a finalist or a sponsoring company, thank you, you make it possible to hold these events. If you are just visiting, your support is also appreciated so be sure to come and say hello to myself or any of the small army that makes up the judging panel and the organising team.

* The 34^th OAA was cruelly shut down at less than a week’s notice back in 2020; with the advantage of hindsight we had much more to worry about going forward than the postponement of an awards dinner. The 34^th event was rescheduled and ultimately delivered as a virtual occasion. This week’s event is the first live OAA since 2019 and a return to our regular “Annual” Offshore Achievement Awards.

In more regular news, the final lifting of most of the remaining restrictions opens the floodgates for us to return with a more regular programme, much of which is listed below. We’ll still be maintaining regular online content as it is often more suited to current working practices and allows us to reach a wider audience than we would otherwise.

If I don’t speak to you at the OAAs, I’ll hopefully speak to you at something else soon. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions about SPE Aberdeen are always welcome, get in touch via the links below.

Thanks,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Members, friends & colleagues,

I can barely believe it is February already. I trust everyone is well and not too badly affected by the recent storms we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Our calendar of events picks up pace as detailed below, and we are really excited to re-commence physical events in the near future. The first major in-person event is the 35th Offshore Achievement Awards on March 17th at P&J Live, we’ve been sitting on these awards for what seems like such a long time, and we are so close to announcing the winners. As I have said before, making the finalist list should be considered a win. I hope you can join us for the evening.

It’s the absolute last chance to recognise your colleagues and peers in the 2022 SPE Awards cycle, the International Award date has closed, but the Regional categories remain open until March 1st, there’s a huge variety of technical and service disciplines, so don’t delay https://www.spe.org/en/awards/

Further details and information have been released by SPEI regarding the upcoming vote on the proposed merger between SPE and AAPG. The voting opens on March 4th and will remain open for 2 months. This proposed merger will be solely on the will of the members, so if you feel particularly strongly either way it is imperative that you cast your vote. In the event the proposal is approved, it will have little impact in the short term to our work and efforts in the Aberdeen Section and we will continue to deliver our technical and out-reach programmes.

Until next month.

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends,

Happy New year to each and every one of you, hopefully you managed some down time over the year end break.

As we emerge in 2022, I am both optimistic and cautious. Optimistic that there seems to be an elevated feel around the industry and murmurings of project sanction and continued drilling contract awards, that’s where it all starts after all. Also cautious, as we’re not out of the woods yet. COVID-19 continues to be the major influencer in our daily lives and work. The postponed Offshore Europe has become the latest casualty to our industry events calendar, although in some ways I think most were disappointed but unsurprised. Are we past the worst?  Goodness I hope so, but I am reluctant to predict anything further than a week or so away given the ever changing landscape that we find ourselves in.

On a brighter note, we have a busy schedule up ahead irrespective of the current challenges. We’ve adapted and survived so far, and we will continue to do so. Our Technical and Continuing Education programmes continue with regular output, it’s currently virtually but as soon as it is safe to do so we’ll be back in person. See below and on our website for further details. Our Student Development group is currently engaged with judging submissions for our annual bursary awards which are expected to be announced in the coming months. I can’t mention every aspect of our committee’s activities here, but needless to say there’s a huge amount of effort going on, and it’s appreciated.

Our next milestone event is the Offshore Achievement Awards, back in its rightful place in March, I’m so looking forward to meeting up with everyone again and recognising all of the great things that companies and individuals continue to do throughout our industry.

Until next time.

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends,

December has come around again, all too quickly it feels. I’m proud of what the section has achieved over the year despite the challenges we all face. We started two new committees, Net Zero and Diversity & Inclusion, covering some of the most important aspects of our daily lives. Both committees have hit the ground running and are doing great work for the section and industry.

We delivered around 25 events, both solo efforts and collaborating with others, ranging from webinars to full virtual conferences, including one in person conference and exhibition. Hopefully a sign for things ahead. Thanks to everyone who presented, volunteered on one of the many committees, submitted an abstract, or just simply attended an event.

Next year’s plans are in full flow with a welcome return to more regular events in person although we still intend to keep a digital/hybrid element to benefit everyone who may not be able to make in person events.

Although it’s the end of the year there’s still much to do. The annual bursary competition is moving into the judging phase and as usual the breadth and depth of responses make some difficult decisions. There’s no OAA judging this December which usually takes place this time of year, but our delayed awards dinner will take place in March 2022.

That’s all for now and, without wanting to be too similar to 12 months ago, here’s hoping next year is where we can get back to some sort of normality. Look after yourself, look after each other, and we’ll speak again in the New Year.

Until next month,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends,

November is here with its colder days and longer nights. Rather than thinking about hibernation over the winter, we’re all emerging from what has been the toughest period in all of our lives. Likewise, SPE Aberdeen is gearing up for our return to what could be considered a more usual output. We’re slowly beginning to meet up with colleagues in small groups, planning some in-person committee meetings and generally feeling our way out of the past 19 months.

I want to highlight a couple of things this month. Firstly, we are ramping up and looking forward to the 35th Offshore Achievement Awards. This will be back to its usual live format and is being held in March at P&J live at TECA. The aim is to celebrate the Offshore industry, but I also believe a celebration of the return to less restricted living and socialising. I’m so looking forward to meeting up with a large number of you and recognising the companies and individuals who are deservedly up for awards. Even to be shortlisted should be considered a win.

Secondly, still on the recognition theme, it’s SPE Awards time again. As usual there are both Regional and International awards up for grabs, in both technical and service disciplines. I’d ask you all to consider nominating a colleague, peer, or mentor who is an expert in their field or consistently goes above and beyond. All the details of SPE Awards can be found here. Please send your suggestions to Irina, who leads this year’s Awards Steering group, at vice.chair@spe-uk.org. And also if you are interested to join the Steering group, let her know.

Until next month,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends,

Last month saw our well attended annual Session Kick-off event. It’s great to see new faces and old, albeit through the screen rather than in a more personal environment. In-person meetings are coming but in this instance we couldn’t make the logistics work given the time we had available. We had a quick-fire run through our committees and activities and for the first time we used the Pecha Kucha 20×20 (www.pechakucha.com) format to keep things lively and quick paced. This is a format we will revisit in future. Following the introductions we had a number of breakouts rooms for more focused chat and we welcomed several new volunteers into the fold.

Our technical and outreach programmes are gathering pace again, with a number of upcoming events scheduled. We’ve had and are looking forward to more interesting output from our Net Zero Committee, especially pertinent as we fast approach COP 26 which will have a huge influence on our energy outlook going forwards.

As always, we look to seek out the best from our industry and would welcome technical submissions for a variety of events. Full details and information can be seen below. We are also always interested in hearing suggestions for future events and topics and of course feedback on our current programme. Got something to say? Please get in touch.

Until next month,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Friends & Colleagues,

It’s the 1st day of September as I write this, where has the year gone? September is the traditional start of our new session in SPE Aberdeen. The feedback we received from our recent member’s survey was greatly appreciated and has given us pointers and valuable ideas on how to deliver the work of the Section. A huge thanks to everyone that responded and in case you missed it, the winner of the prize draw was Matthew Law of BP.

We often talk of our Mission “To collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence.” Equally important nowadays is our Vision, “Advance the oil and gas community’s ability to meet the world’s energy demands in a safe, environmentally responsible, and sustainable manner.” Our industry is under closer scrutiny by the public than we have ever seen, and in many cases under threat from individuals and groups with strong held beliefs. It is incumbent on all of us to deliver our Vision and demonstrate the Oil & Gas industry’s crucial position within the journey to Net Zero.

Over the next month or two we are dipping our toes into in-person meet ups and smaller events. We’ve been looking at suitable venues to host hybrid events to ensure that we provide a safe and comfortable environment to our members who either choose to join in person and those who opt to participate virtually. We’ve learned a great deal about the digital world and the feedback received will be taken onboard to further enhance inclusion and value from our various programmes.

Until next month,

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Last month my colleagues on the SPE Aberdeen board approved my selection and I ascended to the chair position, taking over the reins from Kenny McAllister. I took that first step into a larger world and am most grateful for the opportunity. Kenny has undoubtedly steered the SPE Aberdeen ship through the most difficult and strange times that I think every single one of us has ever experienced. Thankyou Kenny, it was a pleasure to serve with you and I hope I can call on your continued support in future.

Where are we now?

I hate to use the now hackneyed phrase of “unprecedented events”, but we really are looking at a totally different landscape and outlook to that of 18 months ago. We’ve all endured hardship and had to make sacrifices along the way, hopefully the latest news suggests a return of “normality” and certainly much more freedom to go about our daily lives. Our industry continues to attract negative press, exacerbated by the energy transition, whereas we “in-the-know” understand the vitally important part the Oil & Gas industry will play on the road to Net Zero.

I start my tenure as Chair with optimism given that we have just entered a new phase which sees the further reduction of restrictions from the past 18 months. Gradually things will gather pace, social and technical events will return, deferred projects will be greenlit and we can take stock and plan our course of action for the next few years.

When lockdown occurred, we transferred all our programmes to virtual and hosted several online events, we had two choices, go digital or shut down. I hope you agree we made the correct choice. Now that meeting in public and large gatherings are viable (and lawful), we have options for our output going forward. We learned a lot on how to organise and deliver webinars and digital events, and we’ve had very positive feedback. My question to the members is what do you want for this session and beyond? We could return to a familiar SPE Aberdeen diary, as we used to do, but we need to gauge the appetite for people jumping back into large scale events. We need to understand the Operator’s guidelines on attending events, whether exhibitors and delegates will show up in their numbers to make the event worthwhile for all involved. There’s a fine line in making conferences and exhibitions commercially viable. SPE Aberdeen is a not-for-profit society, but we do aim to generate surpluses to re-invest into outreach programmes for the next generation of engineers and scientists.

We will shortly announce a date for our annual Section kick-off event, you should receive a short survey asking a few questions about how we shape what we do. Please take the time to have a look and fill it in, we need member’s feedback and everyone that responds will be entered into a draw. If you would like to be involved with SPE Aberdeen either as a volunteer or simply contributing to one or more of our technical events, please get in touch.

I have always considered my volunteering with SPE as a hobby, something I enjoy and therefore have invested significant time and effort over the years. I fully appreciate not everyone has the luxury of time and therefore if you can only spare an hour a month, that hour would be greatly received and appreciated. We’re a member led society, each member has the same rights as everyone else, and each member can make a difference. I look forward to your support over the next session.

If I can be of any assistance to any member, please get in touch.

Stay happy and healthy in 2021,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Thank You

This is my last newsletter as SPE Aberdeen Chair. My two-year tenure is coming to an end and Graham Dallas has been confirmed as our incoming Chair with Irina Krylova as the new Vice Chair. Graham has been alongside me in all aspects of the ups and downs of the last two years and will take over with a clear view of the challenges and opportunities. I wish them both an enjoyable and successful tenure.

There are a number of people I must publicly thank before I hand over the baton. Firstly, our tremendous Contractor Team – Section Manager Diane Wood, Admin Assistant Louise Thomas and Treasurer Lorraine Mutch. Their dedication, personal sacrifice and positivity through challenging times has been an inspiration to me and so many others in the SPE Aberdeen team.

Secondly our supporters amongst the Operator and Supply Chain communities. SPE Aberdeen pivoted hard to continue our mission of technical exchange in an environment no one could have imagined.  Their support with technical contributions, employees time and consistent financial support allowed us to move forward.

Our Events Partners Mearns & Gill and the team at TECA need a special mention too. Events are part of our lives but for M&G and TECA it is their lives. They were turned upside down. We have sailed together through some choppy seas but their flexibility and solution focus has seen us through. I believe we have shared more than before about our goals, aspirations and constraints and through that have created a stronger partnership for the future.

Finally, my gratitude and admiration go to our team of volunteers. Finding time in their increasing busy lives to take decisions and actions that move the technical needle forward and allow themselves and the whole SPE community to build new connections.

Stay happy and healthy in 2021,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

New Volunteers – Wow, What a response!

I reported last month that we have had a great response to our call for volunteers and were looking forward to matching up the volunteers with opportunities.

What a great crop of new volunteers we have. In particular we have strengthened the recently formed Net Zero Committee and the D&I team and have new energy in our Programme and School and Career Guidance groups in particular.

Net Zero

The Net Zero committee have come out of the blocks at 100 miles an hour and are lining up five introductory presentations and a high-level panel discussion before we get to COP26 in November.

Diversity and Inclusion

Our Diversity and Inclusion committee have a number of new members with a range of personal experiences which will enable us to focus activities in the areas of race, gender and sexual orientation.

This month saw catcalling in the offshore environment as front page news. Initially shocked, I was angered and disappointed that we still have work to do to bring everyone on the journey to inclusivity. I commend Hazel Forgan for bravely calling this practice out and am delighted that she has accepted an invitation to join our D&I team.

Conference Season

As I write we are in the middle of the SPE Aberdeen Well Decommissioning Symposium. This is the 10th time we have run this event although the first time it has been digital. Next week we see Seismic 2021 and shortly thereafter DEVEX 2021 – both of these events have been designed from the outset to run digitally.

If you had suggested a digital conference a year ago no one would have understood what you were talking about. Now it is the norm – the “new normal”. Sometime soon this new normal will be challenged again as event venues start to open again. Will it be all digital vs all in-person or some kind of hybrid? You will decide!

Stay happy and healthy in 2021,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Great Response to our Call for Volunteers

I would like to thank everyone who responded to our call for volunteers. We have a wide range of respondents from those who have had leadership roles in SPE Chapters in other location to those looking for their first volunteering roles.

We are in the process of matching up candidates to the opportunities and I’m looking forward to the new ideas they will bring.

Recognising an Outstanding Volunteer – Colin Black

If any of our new volunteers were looking for inspiration, they couldn’t look for a better role model than Colin Black. He is one of the SPE volunteers I admire the most for his dedication and leadership. There is no better example than Colin’s invention and leadership of ‘NASA in Aberdeen’. In 2015 Colin was excited by a visit to the Johnson Space Centre and began to think about how he could bring that feeling to bear in inspiring the next generation of North East 21^st century explorers in oil, gas, energy and space. Colin’s drive and leadership blossomed into the invention of ‘NASA in Aberdeen’ which brings a Space Scientist and an Astronaut to visit the schools of the North East to inspire the students to continue with their STEM studies and demonstrates the links between Space exploration and the Energy Industry.
‘NASA in Aberdeen’ will move forward in a different context now as part of a wider Space in Energy initiative. I could not let this moment pass without recognising a hero of volunteering and an inspiration to me, the volunteering community and to thank him on behalf of all the students, teachers and NASA personnel who rightly hold Colin in such high regard.

What’s Coming Up

We are moving into our traditionally busy “Conference Season” with Well Decommissioning and Seismic taking place digitally in May followed by DEVEX and SPE international’s Oilfield Corrosion Conference taking place in June.

Stay happy and healthy in 2021,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Net Zero News

Our new Net Zero Committee has had its first meetings. Anna Petitt has agreed to lead the charge as Chair of the committee with Alex Crossland as Vice-Chair. The team is setting out a series of informative introductory technical webinars to bring SPE Aberdeen up to speed with the main topics of the Net Zero challenge and then will drill down into the technical and policy issues associated with the main threads.
This committee has given us further opportunity to build stronger links with our friends in other SPE sections in the UK. We will be sharing speakers and presentation topics with our colleagues in London in particular where their focus on policy and regulation compliments our more technical emphasis.

In that collaborative spirit SPE London are running a survey of members regarding Net Zero initiatives which they have opened up to our members too; access survey here.

SPE International have launched the SPE Gaia Initiative. This addresses the issues of our developing relationship with the planet. I encourage you to sign up and keep in touch with SPE’s global drive; more details here.

Geothermal Energy Symposium

There is huge potential for geothermal energy to help achieve net zero targets. With the crossover of expertise within the oil and gas sector, the section is keen to deliver a conference focusing on geothermal energy. Would you be interested in getting involved and help shape this event? If so we would be delighted to hear from you.

Volunteering / Opportunities to Lead

The theme of our last SPE Aberdeen Board Meeting was “Light at the end of the tunnel”. We are all optimistic about the opportunities to meet in person in the foreseeable future in addition to our online life. We are actively encouraging the blurring of lines between our digital and physical interactions. We need new volunteers to bring new ideas into SPE Aberdeen. Please get in touch if you have an interest in either the development of our technical events or in our outreach work to schools and universities. We will find a role that will match your interests and time commitments.

Committee Chair roles have a normal two-year tenure. A number of positions will be up for renewal in the coming months. My tenure as Section Chair will come to an end in July and with the expectation that Graham Dallas will step up from Vice-Chair we are looking for a new Section Vice-Chair. We will need to replace Graham in the Membership and Marketing Role. Further Vice-Chair positions in Programme and Offshore Achievement Awards are available.

Operating Manual

Our Operating Manual has been updated and will be sent out to you shortly. It will be posted on the website too with the commercial elements redacted. The operating manual sets out how the section is run and if you have any questions or suggestion please get in touch.

Stay happy and healthy in 2021,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Student Bursary Programme

This month sees one of the most enjoyable parts of my year. I joined SPE Aberdeen event sponsors, Student Development Committee members and members of the SPE Aberdeen Board to listen to presentations from the top ranked Student Bursary submissions.  It is a joy to see the innovation and creative problem solving these young people apply to some of the biggest issues facing our industry.

There was a time when we thought this day would not happen. Like all charities SPE Aberdeen’s income has been hit by the change is activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to look at reductions in all areas of expenditure. I would like to recognise all the members of the SPE Aberdeen Board and our contractors for their pragmatic and active approach to these challenges. At its core SPE Aberdeen is committed to the next generation of energy engineers and the Student Bursary Awards is a key part of that. With the Board’s support we have moved forward this academic year with a reduced budget but the same number of awards. We recognise that the process of assessment, interaction with industry leaders and acknowledgement is as valuable to the recipients as the cash value.

In total 19 students received awards. The students with five highest scores from their written submission were invited to present to a panel and a top award winner selected. Congratulations to all the finalists – Aaron Tung, Milena Zagulak, Emmanuel Eke and Yevgeniya Morrice and especially to top award winner Georgy Borisochev.

You will be hearing their presentations at events over the coming months.

Continuing Education Events

As I write the EuALF Artificial Lift Seminar is in progress with around 100 attendees. The format is digital delivery over 5 days with 2-3 hours of sessions each day. This format appears to work best for our attendees as we continue to learn about the new normal.

Next is our joint event with IMechE: “Hot and Cold – Assuring fit for purpose joints – Welded and Non-Welded Connections”. It is a fascinating area of innovation.

Offshore Achievement Awards

Nominations are open for all the award categories. If you know of a person, company or technology that deserves recognition please encourage them to apply or nominate them yourself.

Visit of SPE President Tom Blasingame 

Tom visited us virtually from COVID-19 free New Zealand twice in January. First to give his presentation and discuss the future of the SPE and the Energy Industry. He returned to attend our Board meeting which helped us understand how SPE Aberdeen’s journey compared to other SPE sections. We thank him for that insight.

Stay happy and healthy in 2021,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Happy New Year

May I wish you all a very happy new year and I hope you all stay healthy in 2021.

It will be another year of rapid change for the Energy Industry and therefore an exciting time for SPE as we continue to lead the way in quality technical exchange.

SPE International President’s “Visit”

For the second year in a row January sees the visit of a SPE International President. Last year Shauna Noonan spoke to our Aberdeen Student Chapter about their careers as Energy Engineers before attending our Evening Technical Meeting and taking part in a discussion of the Energy Transition.
On January 20^th current SPE president Tom Blasingame will talk to us about the Road Ahead for the Energy Industry and the SPE. Tom is an entertaining and charismatic speaker and will stimulate lively debate – even over Zoom!

The Digital Journey

I have regular meetings with TECA. Live conference-style events cannot take place until we are in Tier 0. As I write the whole of the Scottish mainland is in Tier 4. It is unlikely that we will have any live in-person events before the end of this year’s session in July, although we are hopeful that the vaccines will make an affecting impact.

We are learning to format our conference-style events to match everyone’s new ways of working. Also we are finding elements that attendees prefer to be delivered digitally. It is a cycle of feedback and improvement which the Continuing Education teams are driving forward with enthusiasm.

Digital delivery is a permanent part of our future.

Student Bursary Awards

Even in these challenging economic times SPE Aberdeen’s commitments to Student Bursary programmes continues. We recognise the worth of winning an SPE Aberdeen award is at least as valuable to students as the financial value of the award. Therefore, we are reducing the financial value of each award while maintaining the number of awards. The Student Bursary submissions are in and judging has begun.

Stay happy and healthy in 2021,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

A Year Like No Other

Those of us with a greyer thatch have been through rapid industry changes before but nothing quite like 2020. I am so glad that we are ending 2020 with some positive news about a COVID-19 vaccine and looking forward to a 2021 of recovery and growth. I hope you and your families have remained healthy through 2020.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our SPE volunteers for keeping the ship moving forward through some very choppy waters. We have all had to adjust to living without meeting face-to-face at technical events and conferences.  Everything from STEM visits to schools to Board Meetings have been conducted over Zoom (other platforms are available).

Our direct contractors Diane, Louise and Lorraine have been amazing this year reacting to everything the year has thrown at us and reacted with their typical fortitude.

Our event partners Mearns & Gill and TECA have had their worlds turned upside down. Their flexibility and commitment to maintaining a long-term relationship has been a case study in customer service. And you know how much SPE Aberdeen loves a case study!

This is a traditional time of year to reflect but we shouldn’t miss to opportunity to look forward. We are stepping forward boldly to embrace and drive the Target Net Zero agenda, broaden our Diversity and Inclusion and continue on our Digitalisation journey. SPE Aberdeen will continue to be front and centre on the great questions in our industry.

We can’t deny that there has been less fun this year than we normally experience in the SPE family. However we are going to finish on a high. The Quiz Master Extraordinaire and champion of the Student Bursary programme Rob Lee will be running the Christmas Quiz on December 17^th – sign up it will be great fun.

Merry Christmas, Best wishes and stay safe,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Kenny is taking some well-earned leave and has asked me to provide this month’s missive, so having been handed the keys to the Sweetie Shop here goes.

Where do we see ourselves over the next 6, 12, or even 18 months? To answer this, I will take a quote from The Empire Strikes Back (40 years old last month), “Difficult to see, always in motion is the future”.

One thing is for sure, we are in transition. Home/work life is transitioning to the new normal, we have a digital transition as we harness and develop new technologies, and of course the Energy Transition where the world requires us to scale back fossil fuels and move further into renewables in order to meet the Net Zero targets.

I’ve recently been tasked with starting an Energy Transition committee within SPE Aberdeen to make sure we have a seat at the table in this debate, and to ensure we can steer our members and stay at the forefront of this changing landscape. I put a call out to the board with a reasonable idea in my head what we could/should do under this banner. I could not have been further from the truth. In a few hours I had many responses, lists of topics, technical focus areas, technology development ideas, and much more besides. We need to correlate these thoughts and ideas, set out some goals and objectives, and get after it. This will be one of the most critical and certainly exciting committees as we move forward in this transition. Want to be a part of it? Please get in touch, we want to hear from you, especially the YPs as its your generation that will be impacted most.

I’ll sign off with another cheeky quote from the same character as earlier as it reflects Kenny’s from last month and fits well with one of the SPE’s core values. “Pass on what you have learned”.

Stay safe and speak soon.

Graham

Graham Dallas

SPE Aberdeen Vice Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Is this the new normal?

This month saw the DEVEX and Seismic conferences conducted virtually and the continuation of our Technical Programme Webinars; all digitally delivered technical exchange. The feedback from our first digitally delivered conferences has been a mature assessment of a different reality. Attendees are missing personal contact and for the foreseeable future that is a pain that we need to accept. However, there were some distinct upsides which our attendees graciously shared. In particular, the sound clarity and the ability to see the slides was enhanced by digital delivery. This is a challenge to be addressed when our larger in person events return – perhaps we will see multiple screens around the hall.

We are receiving positive feedback about our Technical Webinars. The rescheduling to lunchtime meets the needs of many more of our members. I expect that these will continue even when in person Technical Meetings return.

We are always learning; we continue to learn about our industry from our technical exchange events. This year more than ever we are learning about learning.

NASA In Aberdeen

Colin Black and the NASA in Aberdeen Team have been busy adjusting to the new normal. There are plans to bring a NASA engineer and an astronaut to Aberdeenshire in 2021. Please subscribe to the Nasa In Aberdeen page on LinkedIn to keep up to date with everything under the banner “Inspiring the next generation of 21st Century Explorers”

Best wishes and stay safe,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

This month we re-imagined the section’s Kick Off meeting to formally start our journey to Re-Imagining SPE Aberdeen.

These are challenging times for our industry in terms of its identity, relevance and economics. To meet these challenges SPE Aberdeen has launched an initiative to ask itself fundamental questions about its purpose and actions to ensure we have an SPE Aberdeen that is fit for purpose for the coming decades. At this months kick off meeting we asked challenging questions about our response to the Energy Transition debate, how we know if we have Diversity and Inclusion right, how do we generate funds to support our outreach responsibilities when our traditional funding model has broken down and how we should be organised to face the challenges of 2020.

An enthusiastic team of SPE Aberdeen volunteers facilitated by members of our Young Professionals community generated ideas and insight on these topics which will be the core of our Board Meeting discussions over the coming months. The world is changing rapidly and I am very grateful to those who gave their time and energy to steer the SPE Aberdeen ship into the future.

We are not the only ones asking ourselves the big questions. I would encourage you to read 2021 SPE President Thomas Blasingame’s interview in this month’s JPT. You will receive this newsletter during “BP Week” where Bernard Looney and his colleagues will set out BP’s vision of the future.

Best wishes and stay safe,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

It’s time to get involved!

SPE Aberdeen launches the 2020-2021 session on Wednesday September 2^nd with our annual Kick Off meeting. The main aim of the evening is to give attendees the opportunity to learn more about what SPE Aberdeen does and find a volunteering opportunity that matches their interests and time commitments. We know that some members love the technical exchange work of SPE and are passionate about finding the right speakers that keep us at the forefront of the current industry debates. Others love to pass their love of an engineering career on to the next generation – we have opportunities to talk to students of all ages from primary school to PhD!

When it comes to time commitments, we know that volunteering can never be anyone’s first priority. So we have a range of volunteering opportunities to suit the time commitment individuals can afford. Some people can only participate outside of normal office hours, others work for companies that allow a volunteering day once a year while others can align their SPE meetings around other elements of their schedules. Volunteers at the kick off meeting know about these challenges and can help you find the right opportunity for you.

This year’s event will be digital. The format will be a short(!) introduction to SPE Aberdeen and then the opportunity to join virtual break-out rooms where you will have the opportunity to hear about the different committees’ work from active volunteers and be in a small enough group to ask all the questions you have.

It is going to be a great evening; you don’t have to be a current SPE member to attend the kick off meeting and you can sign up here.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Best wishes and stay safe,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

What an amazing group of people work in this industry. The resilience and positive, can-do attitude constantly delights and inspires me.  There are two particular events that brought this to the front of my mind this month. You may have seen the Serica Energy’s video which SPE Aberdeen shared on social media showing their adaptations to keep personnel safe while continuing to deliver energy to the UK during the COVID19 crisis. It’s a great watch.

Serica Energy are one of the award sponsors of the Offshore Achievement Awards.  In the OAAs we have seen the adaptability of SPE Aberdeen, our events partner Mearns & Gill and venue TECA coupled with the resilience and support of our sponsors which has been vital to ensure that we continue to recognise and celebrate the individuals and companies that make this industry great. Through the ingenuity of the team we will be bringing an OAA event to you digitally this year. Hosted once again by Rachel Riley the event will run on Friday August 14^th.  Awards winners will join the celebration “via satellite” as they sometimes do at the Oscars. This could not happen without the continued support of the OAAs sponsors led by main sponsor TAQA.

Best wishes and stay safe.

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

I hope this newsletter finds you and yours in good health.

One of the SPE’s technical themes is the Digital Oilfield. It’s happening and there is no going back!

We have been forced to replace our face to face discussions with digital pixels and laptop speakers. Personally, I miss a handshake and the nuances in the reactions of a life-sized face. Nothing will fully replace the visceral experience of a face to face discussion. Yet there are opportunities to build deeper relationships in the unprecedented times. Zoom / GoToMeeting / Skype and Teams have allowed us to meet the partners, children and pets of our industry colleagues – not always intentionally. My black Labrador Ghillie has made a few appearances – a couple on camera but mostly sonically– who knew he snored that loudly?! In addition, we have learned about the extra-curricular passions through the backgrounds – real and imposed.

This month has seen our first Evening Technical Meeting delivered remotely. The digital delivery wasn’t as simple as running the same event over the internet earlier in the day. The team practiced the intro, handovers and had worked their plan to manage the Q&A session. I congratulate the team for delivering a very professional, fun and booked out event.

Always innovative, the Topsides conference committee replaced their hugely successful business breakfasts with a coffee and a chat format delivered digitally. The feedback was incredible and we are looking for opportunities for other conference events to keep their communities engaged throughout the year.

We continue to work on the delivery of the Continuing Education programme, working with TECA, Mearns & Gill and others to explore fully digital, in person and mixed events. One of the things we have learned is there is no going back – some of our delivery will be remote – both remote presenters and exhibitors and remote attendance. We have seen the opportunities in delivering our technical programme in the digital domain – the inclusion of those with mobility challenges and the inclusion of world class presenters without the need for travel.

Finally, I would like to thank all of my SPE friends and colleagues involved in our annual report to the SPE. I think the final submission reflected the excellent work done all through the year.

Best wishes and stay safe.

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

I hope this newsletter finds you and yours in good health.

This month we have been finding new opportunities in these changing times and I am delighted to announce that the first Technical Webinar will take place on 27^th May. It is the same Dana presentation we had scheduled for an Evening Technical Meeting in May but delivered earlier in the day and remotely; this webinar is free to attend. The quality of the meal afterwards is up to you not the Sandman Hotel!

We have been in discussion with TECA / P&J Live to learn about their plans for reopening. Their operations team is working on several threads – using instant testing to have COVID-19 free meetings, conferences with social distancing, all digital and partly remote conferences. It was great to hear their ideas. They are continuing to work flexibly on our contracts minimising our financial exposure and we are grateful that they are focussing on the long-term relationship. We will continue to have regular meetings along with our conference partners, ICoTA, PESGB, AFES and of course Mearns & Gill.

You will be able to keep up to date with all our events at www.spe-aberdeen.org

The SPE Annual Report is due to be submitted shortly and I would like to express my gratitude not only to the committee chairs and vice-chair that have worked on the submission but to all the SPE Aberdeen volunteers whose work is described in the review, for the countless hours of volunteering to deliver our technical programmes and our outreach work. I am proud of and grateful to you all.

Best wishes and stay safe.

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Wow, the world has turned upside down since our last newsletter. A month ago I had never heard of Zoom and now I seem to be living my life over it. Joking aside it has been a tough month for all of us in varying degrees and I sincerely hope you have avoided the consequences of the COVID19 outbreak.

My gratitude goes out to all those workers in our health and other services who are working so hard to keep us all safe and well physically and mentally.

Entering Q2 we were about to hit the busiest period of 2020 for SPE Aberdeen events. Within 10 days we went from a statement of Business as Usual and preparing for a busy week of NASA in Aberdeen to being just 8 days away from the Offshore Achievement Awards when we were forced to postpone not just the OAAs but seven Continuing Education events and all our YP and Evening Technical Meetings. Might I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the team who have been working tirelessly to reschedule, renegotiate and reimagine our events. From Suzanne Robertson and her team at Mearns & Gill, our OAA, Continuing Education, SCG, Programme and YP teams and our support team Diane, Louise and Lorraine there has been an unswerving determination to reschedule events, maximise technical exchange and minimise the financial impact to SPE Aberdeen. Thank you all.

You will be able to keep up to date with all our events at www.spe-aberdeen.org.

Plato told us necessity is the mother of invention and the Programme Committee is taking that to heart. We are trialling webinar applications and you can expect an announcement about a new form of Technical Meeting presentation shortly.

Fortunately, the last bit of normality before the shutdown allowed me to attend the Student Bursary Award ceremony. It was a great celebration of the talent entering the industry and you may have seen some great coverage in the press.

Best wishes and stay safe,

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

January saw SPE Aberdeen receive a visit from 2020 SPE President Shauna Noonan. Shauna met with the University of Aberdeen’s SPE Student Chapter and told them how SPE membership and participation in events helped shape her career. She discussed the changing role of petroleum and energy engineers and the importance of the digital transformation in their careers. Shauna also attended the SPE Aberdeen Board meeting; we were surprised to find this was the first section meeting Shauna had ever attended.

January’s Evening Technical Meeting was presented by SPE Aberdeen’s former chair Ian Phillips leading a discussion of the Energy Transition. This event was a sell out and there was a very lively debate during the session which continued over dinner. Thanks to everyone who attended.

Ian’s presentation replaced Shell’s Brent P&A presentation which has had to be rescheduled – we will let you know when that will be.

Our Young Professional team held their first Tech Tour of 2020 at TechnipFMC ROV. The photos were amazing and there has been some excellent feedback.

This is the busiest month for abstracts for our Continuing Education events. Please get scribbling!

At this stage all we need is 200 words describing your proposed presentation for:

DEVEX 2020, Hot and Cold – Welded and Non-Welded Connections, EuALF 2020 European Artificial Lift Forum, SPE Aberdeen Well Abandonment 2020. The call for abstracts has also just opened for our inaugural Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage conference.

Go on, have a go!

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Happy New Year Everyone!

We have a very exciting start to 2020 with the visit of SPE President Shauna Noonan on January 22nd. Shauna will be attending the SPE Aberdeen Board meeting and will also give a short talk before the main Evening Technical presentation. It is a great opportunity to hear the direction of the SPE in these challenging times for the industry.

The Evening Technical presentation will be given by Ian Phillips who will be discussing the Energy Transition and the future of the oil and gas industry; we expect a lively debate to ensue after the presentation!

Our Young Professional team will be taking their first Tech Tour of 2020 to TechnipFMC ROV. We are grateful to all the companies that host these Tech Tours; a lot of work goes into preparing for the tours and ensuring everyone is safe through the visit. Also, they are often conducted outside of normal working hours. TechnipFMC will be letting our YPs loose on their ROV simulator – what a great opportunity. Perhaps TechnipFMC are aiming to obtain a few “before“ videos for their training programme.

Continuing Education are working on a couple of new symposium themes for 2020; we are hoping to make some announcements shortly. In the meantime there are calls for abstracts open for Seismic 2020, DEVEX 2020, Topsides UK 2020, EuALF 2020, Alternatives to Welding and Well Abandonment 2020.

If you haven’t spoken at one of our events before then make 2020 your year. It starts with the submission of a 200-word abstract and there will be plenty of support from SPE Aberdeen and the event committees to help you share your expertise with the industry. Go on, have a go!

Have a great 2020.

Kenny

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

One of the great things about being part of this industry is the constant challenge. Members of the SPE are problem solvers by instinct and preference. This industry offers an array of technical challenges from squeezing the last economic drop from our mature basins to leaving the remaining hydrocarbons safely in place after wells have passed their useful life through to the reuse of wells and reservoirs and addressing the big questions of energy mix.

We are a technical body not a political one. Our role is to share information about HOW things can be done. It is our role to be well informed of the direction of travel and discuss the practical implementation of changes in direction. In November we took on the big questions facing the industry.

The Young Professionals heard from OGTC about the technology requirements to take the industry towards Net Zero Emissions.  This helps inform our discussions and provide new ways to think about energy use and generation on our offshore platform as well as reuse and repurposing of our asset and the continuing need for indigenous hydrocarbon production for decades to come. 

Helping us see the need for different attitudes to getting those necessary barrels was David Moseley of Westwood Global Energy when he delivered his Evening Technical Presentation. David argued that commitment to MER requires an increase to exploration drilling. 

We took some of the best presentations from the SPE Aberdeen Well Abandonment conference to the Decommissioning Conference 2019 with our friends in the industry Decom UK and OGUK. Our ability to safely and permanently seal our wells, isolate reservoirs and demonstrate our effectiveness and cost efficiency are crucial to the continuing support of decision makers. 

As we continue to look to the technological challenges to meet the future of our industry one of the areas of growth is likely carbon capture utilisation and storage. The Continuing Education team are developing a one-day seminar on this subject for 2020.

Being part of SPE Aberdeen is being part of the future of the industry. 

We look forward to discussing the big questions with SPE President Shauna Noonan when she visits us in January 2020. Please come along to the Evening Technical Meeting to meet Shauna where she will be giving a short talk before the main technical presentation.  

See you there.

Kenny

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

The nights are drawing in and SPE Aberdeen activity is picking up. 

Our newly formed WIN (Women in Energy) committee hosted its first presentation event. This event, presented by Laura Ross of Thorpe Molloy was sold out and there were plenty of questions and discussion in the networking session that followed. We will be booking a bigger room for the upcoming Female Role Models session.  

About a quarter of the members of SPE Aberdeen are students. Our Young Professional’s team arranged an evening event aimed at welcoming new graduates into the SPE professional family. This was another sold out event and a host of new connections were made amongst new graduates starting their careers in and around Aberdeen.

Our Continuing Education Committee delivered a join conference with InstMC (Institute of Measurement and Control) concentrating on Cyber Security. It was a lively affair with some surprising insights into the security of offshore assets, their vulnerabilities and the risk mitigation.

Our Programme Committee hosted an excellent presentation on Maximising Economic Recovery in action with speaker David Kemp telling the story of Serica Energy’s Columbus Development.

Applications are open now for the 2020 Offshore Achievement Awards at www.spe-oaa.org. There you will find application forms along with videos of last year’s competition including interviews with the finalists as well as footage of the award ceremony itself.

Talking of recognising success, our Student Bursary programme has been launched and applications are now open; students can apply through the SPE Aberdeen website. Last year saw students receiving awards totalling £30,000. They are challenged to respond to current topics in the industry. Following review of the application forms some students will be invited to present their ideas to a panel of industry experts.

Earlier this week was our joint conference with ICOTA. This event is in its 25th year and was bigger than ever. Alongside the strong technical programme, was an improved operator stand which was a centre piece of the exhibition.

This month our Evening Technical Meeting will be a presentation by David Moseley of Westwood Global Energy who will be discussing how to unlock the potential in the UKCS to meet our future energy needs.

Lots to get involved with, see you there!

Kenny

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

SPE Aberdeen kicked of the new session with several looks towards the future of the North Sea Basin. The evening technical presentation was given by members of the Outer Moray Firth Special Interest Group demonstrating MER collaboration in action. Meanwhile our YPs were learning how to manage corrosion in our ageing North Sea assets. The digitisation of the oilfield will be enabled by Inwell Surveillance and Monitoring technologies and methods which were discussed at this month’s Continuing Education seminar.

Talking of collaboration, technological and process innovation. If you have a story to tell about your successes then what better way to celebrate them than participate in the 34th Offshore Achievements Awards. This is the most prestigious award ceremony recognising the UK Offshore industries.

Alongside the traditional awards for individuals, companies and technologies which are making an impact on our local industry there is a new award sponsored by CNOOC: Energy Transition for Future Generations. It will be fascinating to see what innovations the applicants will bring to this new category.

Applications are open now at www.spe-oaa.org; you will find application forms along with videos of last year’s competition containing interviews with the finalists as well as footage of the award ceremony itself.

You can become involved in other ways. We are grateful to TAQA for continuing their principal sponsorship of the Offshore Achievement Awards. There are opportunities to sponsor individual achievement awards – about half have already gone so don’t leave it too late. Of course, you can attend the Offshore Achievement Awards on March 19th 2020 either by booking a table or an individual place. It is a great evening of celebration and inspiration. I hope I will see many of you there.

In the coming weeks the YPs will be engaging with new professionals in the industry at their New Members Night. We will continue to address the digitisation of the oilfield with our Cyber Security Conference – How Safe is your Asset? The Evening Technical Meetings will continue on the MER theme with Serica Energy presenting What’s in the Margin? Rising to the Challenge of Developing Marginal Reserves.

Lots to get involved with, see you there!

Kenny

Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Wow, what a month it is has been. In the last few weeks we have enjoyed our session launch, the Young Professionals (YPs) summer BBQ and then the Offshore Europe 2019 juggernaut rolled into town.

Our session launch event attracted new volunteers into the section and some necessary changes in the committee chairs as some of our YPs gained promotions and new jobs outside the SPE Aberdeen catchment area. I am both delighted to see their progress and sad to see them go.

About 10% of the section’s professional membership gives back through volunteering such as serving on a symposium committee, performing outreach activities through the Schools and Career Guidance committee or other routes. I think that number is staggering given the pressures on those working the oil and gas industry alongside the competing calls on an individual’s time.

The Programme Committee launched its Evening Technical Session programme for the year. There is a tremendous mix of SPE Distinguished Lectures and local experts sharing their experiences. We have presentations ranging right through a development lifecycle. Dana Petroleum will take us from Section to Development, BP will tell us about the first year of the Clair Ridge production and we have several presentations on production challenges such as scale through to Shell sharing their lessons on the P&A of Brent Alpha. It is a programme so full we have added a 9th presentation this year.

Offshore Europe brought the industry’s leadership big hitters into Aberdeen for the first time at the new P&J Live. I loved the new venue. The central foyer gave easy access to the conference and all the exhibition halls. The protection from the weather was a boon to exhibitors who will be glad to see the back of the bad old days of the tents at the AECC.

We were fortunate to have SPE President Sami Al Nuaim participate in our Awards event during OE2019 celebrating the contributions of our SPE volunteers. The event included a presentation by SPE International WIN (Women in Energy) Chair Nihal Mounir to inspire our newly launched SPE Aberdeen WIN Committee. Sami and Nihal had participated in the inaugural WIN event at OE2019 earlier in the day. We also launched the 2020 Offshore Achievement Awards at this event.

Those who attended the opening plenary sessions of the conference will have heard about the industry being on the front foot of two issues key to the future of North Sea Basin – Energy Transition and Diversity.

Of course, SPE Aberdeen volunteers were out in force at OE2019; on the SPE stand, participating in the YPs Emerging Engineers Forum, conducting Schools tours for both teachers and pupils and at the launch of the WIN Committee.

The new Continuing Education session starts in earnest next month with our first seminar Inwell Monitoring & Surveillance on October 2nd and we address cyber security at the Transforming Controls Safety and Security – How Safe is your Asset? seminar on October 30th.

There’s plenty to engage in this month. See you there.

Kind regards – Kenny McAllister

SPE Aberdeen Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

As the new session of SPE activities gets underway it is a time of reflection, renewal and anticipation and with this in mind I am delighted to take on the position of Aberdeen Section Chair.

The industry has been through some difficult years and Ian Phillips performed the unenviable task of sailing the SPE Aberdeen ship through the choppy waters of the last four years when the industry’s ability to support education not-for-profits such as the SPE have been severely tested.

Like the other survivors in the industry SPE Aberdeen has looked more intensely at our core purpose and the costs to deliver our programmes. We are emerging from the downturn fitter and better serving our audience. SPE Aberdeen has assembled a record number of technical conferences responding to the local industry’s desire to continue learning and sharing without the cost of international travel. Fittingly our last conference at the AECC focussed on decommissioning – wells in our case but the AECC had their own decommissioning project shortly thereafter. The first conference of the new session will concentrate on the new. SPE Aberdeen Inwell Monitoring & Surveillance Seminar 2019 will focus on applying the gifts of the data age to the search and recovery of prehistoric resources.

Looking forward, the energy market is changing and so is the public view of the oil & gas industry. It is not the role of the SPE to engage or comment on the government policy. That said, our members will be sharing technical information around some of the key areas of fracturing, emissions targets, North Sea gas as a feed stock for hydrogen as a fuel, maximising economic recovery from the North Sea and how we safely decommission our infrastructure and wells at conferences.

The SPE is a meritocracy with the best papers with the freshest ideas aired at conference and technical meetings. Our board and volunteers demonstrate diversity in gender and ethnic identity. There is no room for complacency, and we will be searching for an appropriate independent third party to guide and inform our policies to ensure that there are no unwitting perceived barriers to inclusion and participation.

If you would like to volunteer in SPE Aberdeen and get involved in our conferences, evening technical meetings, student chapters, schools careers guidance team or any aspect, we are holding a launch event on August 28th – see details below. I look forward to seeing you there.

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Last month the finalists of the 33rd Offshore Achievement Awards were announced, and the winners will be revealed at the ever popular black tie event on 14th March. The standard of entries this year was outstanding, leading to a challenging and rewarding judging process! Thanks to the outstanding support from our members and the wider community, this event, along with our other events, continue to go from strength to strength.  We use the modest surpluses that we make to give back to our community and to inspire the next generation of industry professionals, from primary school pupils to university students. This has always been a high priority for the section.

At this time of year pupils are making decision on subject choices and careers and our volunteers are very much in demand to attend careers events in school across Aberdeen city and shire to share their experience and expertise. We work closely with Aberdeen Science Centre on a number of projects; through ASC we roll out Energy4me, SPE’s global energy education programme, to schools across Scotland. Last summer we sponsored the Summer of Engineering, an event that ran for 6 weeks and attracted 5000 visitors; this will be repeated again in 2019. We also work closely with TechFest, supporting Maths in the Pipeline and TechFest Science Festival.

Next month we will be welcoming former NASA astronaut Carl Walz and NASA scientist Heather Paul to Aberdeen as part of the NASA in Aberdeen project, now in its 3rd year. Primary and secondary schools and the general public will have the opportunity to hear from the team at a variety of events. This hugely successful project is a collaboration with Energy Institute (EI) and the Society of Underwater Technology (SUT).

Our annual student bursary awards have been running for over 20 years supporting students studying oil and gas subjects. This year we are delighted to be in the position to award bursaries up to a total of £30,000 – the applications are being judged right now. We support five student chapters across Scotland and this support includes helping with transport costs to attend our events in Aberdeen and also offer substantial discounted rates at our events.

In addition to these ongoing projects we have also supported a number of “one off” projects over the years. These include funding exhibits at Aberdeen’s Maritime Museum to mark our 30th anniversary and supporting “Inside Industry”, a career guidance website, the only tool of its kind focused on providing first class oil and gas industry career information and advice, now in over 300 schools in Scotland. We also played a key role in developing a virtual tour of the Captain platform – a resource that is used widely in schools including TechFest’s Maths in the Pipeline. We also helped establish the Northsound 1 Energy Schools Challenge which has been running since 1997.

Supporting this wide range of activities and initiatives is completely dependent on our volunteers’ time, expertise and enthusiasm – I’d like to say a huge “Thank you” to them for their continued support. If you’d be interested in contributing to these great initiatives – or have other ideas on how we could do more, please get in touch at aberdeen.chair@spe-uk.org .

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Now that the new school term is underway, our Schools Career Guidance committee have a busy session ahead inspiring the next generation. They will be attending careers fairs in school across Aberdeen city and shire; giving the pupils the benefit of their experience to help them make decisions about careers and subject choices.

There are a variety of other activities in the schools which the committee and volunteers support This including mentoring S5 and S6 pupils and inviting teachers to conference tours which provide the schools with the opportunity to establish and maintain links with industry; a very successful teacher show around was held at the recent SPE ICoTA Well Intervention conference. The committee has also developed and delivers its own CV and interview skills workshop.

Maths orientated activities are also a key focus of the committee. We have long supported TechFest’s Maths in the Pipeline; this one-day event involves real life practical applications of maths for able and enthusiastic S4 pupils. The committee are also developing their own maths programme called ‘Maths in Energy – What’s the Point?, aimed at pupils who need extra support this programme will be rolled out to schools in the area later this year.

The committee has a very successful partnership with both Aberdeen Science Centre and TechFest. Last summer we sponsored and supported the Summer of Engineering at Aberdeen Science Centre. This ran for 6 weeks and included a range of activities and workshops showing the wide variety of ways engineering helps shape our world. This event attracted over 5000 visitors and will be repeated again in 2019. Our volunteers were also on hand during the summer to help at TechFest’s Science Festival, now in its 25th year.

The Schools Career Guidance committee’s flagship event is NASA in Aberdeen which is organised jointly with the Energy Institute and the Society for Underwater Technology. March 2019 will see a NASA team comprising of an astronaut & space scientist visit Aberdeen for the third year in a row. This year the theme is drilling – on Earth and on Mars – and planning is well underway.

The fantastic support which our meetings and conferences receive throughout the year makes it possible for us to continue supporting these activities. With such a wide range of activities the committee is always delighted to hear from members who would like to be involved. If you would like to be involved or find out more, please contact the chair of the committee at SCG.chair@spe-uk.org

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

SPE is the largest individual-member organisation serving managers, engineers, scientists and other professionals worldwide in the upstream oil and gas industry. SPE is for all of today’s industry professionals, regardless of experience or area of expertise. Although engineers are the core of SPE’s membership, not all SPE members are engineers and indeed the engineers are not all petroleum engineers!

Our membership reflects the diversity of careers available in this industry. In addition to our members doing subsurface and well engineering with operators and service companies, our members include other branches of engineering such as subsea, process, structural and operations, and are also involved in the digital analytics, banking, accountancy, intellectual property and law sectors.  Our executive committee (the committee that runs the section and made up our committee chairs and vice chairs) bears this out; they range from a scientist to an engineer to an energy law professor, and from CEOs and MDs to early career engineers and other specialists.

Each year our committees strive to put together a programme of events which meet the needs and interests of our members. Over the years as the demographics of our membership has changed, our programme of events has also evolved and diversified.  Our Seismic conference, started in 2017, is very popular with the development geoscience community and grows from strength to strength; we have had to move it to a bigger venue for 2019. Earlier this month we held our first Petroleum Economics Conference and this is followed in 2019 with a number of new events including the cross-sector Pump and Pipes UK event (involving the NHS and space sciences) and the Alternatives to Welding event being developed jointly with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. These events are aimed at sectors of the oil and gas industry that we have not catered for in the past, involving industries which share technology with oil and gas industry. This collaborative approach is hugely valuable to help deliver quality events – we have being organising such joint events very successfully with other societies for many years, including successful events such as DEVEX (jointly with PESGB and AFES) and joint SPE / ICoTA Well Intervention.

SPE is for all professionals in the oil and gas industry and we endeavour to support and cater for all with our events. If there are areas you would like to see covered by our events please get in touch aberdeen.chair@spe-uk.org

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Student members are an integral part of our section, with almost 25% of our membership being made up of students studying oil and gas related courses at the universities of Aberdeen, RGU, Dundee, Heriot Watt and Strathclyde.

They are supported by the section through the Student Development Committee. Now that the new academic year is well underway the committee is busy visiting the student chapters, introducing them to the SPE and the benefits of being a student member.

Earlier this month we were delighted to launch our annual student bursary awards. This programme is now in its 25th year and over the years we have awarded over £450,000 to support students studying oil and gas related courses. These bursaries are awarded to student members in our 5 student chapters. This year we are proud to be able to provide £30,000 worth of scholarships.  The closing date for application is 10th December 2018 – and I would encourage any student members to apply and wish you all the best.

The student chapters operate as largely independent groups, usually registered as a “society” at their university. They organise a wide variety of professional and social activities for their individual members – for example students from the University of Aberdeen SPE Student Chapter recently visited the Maersk Gallant Offshore Rig. The chapters also collaborate with each other – earlier this month student officers from the SPE Student Chapter at the University of Aberdeen visited Portsmouth University (who are supported by the SPE London Section) to participate in their SPE week.  

For the second year in a row, a team from the Heriot Watt Student Chapter reached the finals of the SPE International Petrobowl industry quiz competition.  They reached the final 8 (out of 32) in this very competitive international competition, held at the SPE ATCE 2018 in Dallas – a fantastic achievement All five chapters are currently taking part in the Petrobowl 2019 qualifiers – good luck to all.

All our events are made as accessible as possible to our student members. There is a reduced rate for students to attend all our events and we also help with the financial cost of transportation for students from outside Aberdeen.

The individual chapters regularly have industry professionals join them and give presentations. They are always keen to hear from SPE members interested in visiting their university. If you would like to be involved – or indeed join the Student Development Committee – please contact committee chair Ritika Pawar at SD.chair@spe-uk.org. More details about the Student Development committee are on the section’s website.

I would like to thank you for supporting all our events during the year – the small surpluses that we make enable us to continue to support our student members.

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Last month we were delighted to launch the 33rd Offshore Achievement Awards; nominations are now open and close on 16th November. This is the eighth year that SPE Aberdeen has managed the OAA’s and we are very proud of how this event goes from strength to strength each year and remains the gold standard of industry awards in the North Sea.

The awards recognise and celebrate success in the offshore oil & gas and renewables industry.  In total there are 11 award categories, with the winners announced at the black tie event on 14 March 2019. The award categories are made up of 4 technology awards (including the Emerging Technology and the Innovator Awards), 4 corporate awards (including the Outstanding Skills Development Award), and 3 individual awards including the hugely popular Young Professional Award and the prestigious Significant Contribution Award.

All nominations go through a robust peer review process, with every category reviewed by 6-8 separate judges.  Every year the judging panel remarks on the extremely high standard of applications which provides them with quite a task in shortlisting the finalists.

The panel is also involved in judging the Gray’s School of Art competition to design the trophy; a process which is now embedded in the 3D Graphic Design degree curriculum.

Previous finalists and winners consistently comment on the value of entering the OAAs. As far as the 2018 winner of the Export Achievement Award, Coretrax, are concerned the OAAs are the perfect platform to showcase the skills, expertise and dedication of the team. This was echoed by Blaze Manufacturing Ltd, shortlisted for the Great (SME) Company award in 2018; this accolade increased awareness of the company and gave staff richly deserved recognition for all their hard work.

Any surplus from this event is invested in a wide range of initiatives designed to inspire the industry to continue evolving. This summer we were delighted to be in a position to sponsor the Summer of Engineering at Aberdeen Science Centre, an event that ran July – August and attracted over 5000 visitors.

The OAAs have a dedicated website which will keep you up to date with all the news and how you can get involved.

If you know a company or a person who you think deserves recognition, please suggest that they make an entry.  In my experience a suggestion from a colleague or a client is the best way to encourage people to enter.

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of our members, we have a very active section and all our events continue to attract a great turnout. As a result the section has an annual turnover similar to that of a small company.  Although we are a not-for-profit organisation, we do make a modest surplus each year – mainly from our Continuing Education conferences and the Offshore Achievement Awards. These surpluses mean that we have some funds available to invest in the future of our industry.  We do this mainly through our School and Career Guidance and Student Development Committees.

Our biggest and longest running programme is our annual student bursary award scheme, which was set up 25 years ago. Over the last 25 years we have awarded over £450k to students in our 5 university student chapters, helping young people through a financially challenging time in their careers.  We are particularly proud that we were able to sustain this scheme even through the recent industry downturn. The section also helps with transport costs to facilitate student attendance at our events, and are pleased to be able to support students when a specific opportunity arises – most recently helping with the travel costs of the Heriot-Watt team to take part in the PetroBowl finals in Dallas later this month!

Encouraging young people to study STEM subjects and consider STEM careers is at the heart of many of our outreach activities.   These range from providing volunteers to talk about our industry at career events in schools across the region to being long standing supporters of TechFest’s “Science Festival” and “Maths in the Pipeline” initiatives.

This summer we were delighted to sponsor Aberdeen Science Centre’s Summer of Engineering. Over an 8 week period there was a wide variety of activities showcasing the ways in which engineering helps shape our world.

In collaboration with Energy Institute and the Society of Underwater Technology, we are proud to be involved in the NASA in Aberdeen initiative. A team from NASA comprising of a NASA astronaut and a space scientist visits Aberdeen and delivers events that include a public lecture, primary and secondary school engagement and a family activity weekend.  This year almost 2000 people attended these events. March 2019 will see a NASA team visit Aberdeen for the third year in a row – this year the theme is drilling – in the oil and gas sector and on Mars.

We also support “Inside Industry”, a career guidance website, which aims specifically to attract young people to the energy industry. It is the only tool of its kind focused on providing first class industry driven career information and advice and has been rolled out across more than 300 schools in Scotland.

Over the years we have supported the creation of the Northsound “Oil and Gas Schools Challenge”, an online visual tour of the “Captain” platform and exhibits at the Aberdeen Maritime Museum.

With such an active section, managing and running all the section’s events and keeping our members and the wider community up date is quite a task. Our volunteers play an immense role and they are supported by a number of contractors. These include section manager Diane Wood, section administration assistant Louise Thomas, section accountant Lorraine Mutch, event management company Mearns & Gill, website and IT support  Neil Weightman Digital Media, marketing and PR assistance ThinkPR.

I want to thank all our volunteers, and our support team, for working so effectively together to deliver SPE’s mission in Aberdeen and across Scotland.

Ian Phillips

Section Chair

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

I hope you have all been enjoying the summer break and are now ready for the SPE Aberdeen Section 2018 – 2019 session.

As in previous years we have a full calendar of events lined up for the coming session, covering a wide range of topics. We start with our annual kick off meeting later this month, (1730 on 29th August at the Jurys Inn in Union Square). This is a great way to find out more about what is lined up for the coming year and also how to become more involved in the section; more details about this event including the booking link are below.

Our Continuing Education committee is constantly ensuring that their events meet the needs and interests of our members and as a result have added 2 new events to their calendar. In December we will be holding the first Petroleum Economics conference and then in February 2019 we have the first Pumps and Pipes UK conference which will bring together technologies from the oil & gas, medical, space and aerospace industries.

Our Programme Committee have finalised their schedule of evening dinner meetings for the coming sessions. The line-up includes 3 SPE Distinguished Lecturers as well as presentations from BP, CNR, Expro and Premier Oil. Details of all these events and more are available on our website.

It was great to see our 2017 – 2018 events so well attended.  As a direct result we made a modest surplus and are able to support some great initiatives aimed at inspiring the next generation; this continues to be a priority for the section as a whole. We are delighted to be the principal sponsors of the Summer of Engineering at Aberdeen Science Centre. Running for 8 weeks over the summer, they have a packed programme with a wide variety of activities showcasing the ways in which engineering helps shape our world. This summer we will also be supporting TechFest’s Festival of Science, now in its 25th year.  We are also very excited about the return of the NASA in Aberdeen project for the 3rd year in March 2019 – the theme this year is drilling – for oil and on other worlds.

We very much value the collaborations we have with the local branches of many other societies and look forward to continuing to work with them over the coming session. We will also explore other potential collaborations to ensure we continue to serve the industry and community in a coordinated manner.

As the new session get underway there have been some new appointments to the positions of chair and vice chair of our committees and we look forward to working with them. Equally, on behalf of the section, I would like to thank those who have moved on from these positions for all their input and enthusiasm over the last session.

I look forward to seeing you at our events over the coming year.

June 2018 Newsletter – Chair’s Address

Hello everyone

SPE’s mission is to share technical knowledge – both with fellow professionals and with the wider public.

The life blood of the SPE Aberdeen Section are the ~150 people who volunteer their time to support our efforts to deliver on this mission, and to make all our activities actually happen. 

Some people give a modest amount of time – maybe serving on a technical committee developing one of our excellent technical conferences.  They might attend one or two meetings, and do some reviewing of abstracts on their computer – maybe 10-15 hours spread out over 6 months.   This sort of input makes our technical events topical and relevant to the needs of our industry here in Aberdeen.

Others might offer to represent the industry at a schools careers fair – a commitment of one or two evenings each year.  This sort of outreach is crucial – and we have continued to do this throughout the downturn – encouraging the next generation to think about science and technology – and specifically about the oil and gas industry as a valid career choice.

Some people choose to give more time – and SPE provides the infrastructure to make the most of this.  Major initiatives such as the energy4me programme are driven by a small number of people passionate about the idea – we have converted a US educational tool for use in Scotland, and have a rolling programme of training more and more teachers.  Another great example is the NASA in Aberdeen initiative where we bring a NASA astronaut and a space scientist to Aberdeen once per year to inspire primary school and early secondary school students to be interested in science.

This whole range of activities is co-ordinated by an Executive Committee, where the volunteers who chair our individual committees meet to steer and guide the whole operation.

As we bring our operational year to a close I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who supports the sections activities – everyone’s time, everyone’s experience and everyone’s enthusiasm is valuable, is appreciated, and helps make the SPE Aberdeen Section the success that it is.

I wish you all an enjoyable summer break, and look forward to seeing you ate one of our events when we resume in September.

Kind regards – Ian Phillips

P.S. Given the scale of our activities we have a number of people who support what we do – Diane Wood who is our Section Manager, Louise Thomas who is our Section Administrator, Lorraine Mutch who is our Section Accountant, the team at Mearns & Gill who manage our conferences and the Offshore Achievement Awards, the team at think who support our communications effort, and Neil Weightman Digital Media who manage our website.  All these individuals and companies are paid for their services – and all embrace the spirit of the sections volunteers and routinely go the extra mile to make what we do that bit more special. A big thank you to all of them as well.

The 2017 – 2018 programme of evening dinner meetings draws to a close later this month; Marcos Monteferrante, Premier Oil, will be discussing subsea storage on the Solan oil field.

The Programme Committee is responsible for this series of events and each year they put together an excellent programme of technical meetings covering a variety of topics reflective of our members’ areas of interest.

There are 8 of these events per session (Sept – Nov, Jan – May) and they are held on the 4th Wednesday of the month. The format consists of a technical presentation followed by networking dinner; so not only do these events provide a platform for the exchange of technical knowledge and best practises but also a valuable networking opportunity. This session the events were kindly sponsored by Expro and Premier Oil.

Asset management, particularly in relation to mature assets which is very pertinent to the North Sea, featured in a number of presentations this session. Christopher Bennie, Expro, described their approach to debottlenecking and their ability to remove 80 % of produced water from a well stream. More recently Anne Valentine of Schlumberger (and an SPE Distinguished Lecturer), shared her experience in increasing recovery rates from mature assets.

Through the SPE Distinguished Lecturer programme, created in 1961, the committee has access to global experts. These lecturers are nominated by their peers and selected by the global SPE Distinguished Lecturer Committee for quality, timeliness and relevance of presentations. In addition to Anne Valentine, this session we also hosted Steve Cuddy another SPE Distinguished Lecturer. Using the North Sea as an example, Steve discussed fractals and their use as an indicator of hydrocarbon volume.

There were also a number of presentations which related to plug and abandonment, another popular topic with our members. Mike Richardson of Spirit Energy, described the revolutionary P&A technology where the rock and components are melted at 3000⁰C using a thermite charge to form a seal.  Last month, Donald Horsfall, Expro, described their wireless monitoring technology which has applications in monitoring both active and decommissioned reservoirs .

The programme committee are currently finalising the details of their 2018 – 2019 events – full details will soon be posted on our website, and will include operator case studies from both BP and Premier Oil. 

If you missed any of the presentations in this session, they are available on the knowledge section of our website.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see covered in these events please get in touch the chair of the Programme Committee, programme.chair@spe-uk.org. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.

Ian Phillips

SPE Aberdeen Chairman

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Every year our Continuing Education committee puts together an exciting and interesting programme of events, reflecting our members’ areas of interests, and this year is no exception.

The 2018 events kicked off last month with the 8th Sand Management Euroforum, organised jointly by the section and the Sand Management Network. This year’s theme was Innovative Technologies and Case Studies that Drive Value and Performance.

Next month, Seismic 2018, DEVEX 2018 and Topsides UK all take place. Last year’s one day Seismic event was a new addition to the calendar and such was its success, this year it is a two day event focussing on Seismic through the asset lifecycle – building for the future. Due to popularity, this event is currently sold out! DEVEX 2018, Working together from pore space to pipeline, is now in its 15th year and continues to go from strength to strength. This is jointly organised with PESGB and AFES and we are delighted that again this year, with the support of the event partners, we were able to offer 300 free delegate places. These places were released last month and were snapped up in an impressive 3 hours! The programme of events includes expert-led workshops, core on display, a Young Professionals event and the ever popular field trip. Finishing off a busy month will be Topsides UK 2018, and building on last year’s event there will be a strong focus on maximising economic recovery.

The biennial EuALF Artificial Lift Euroforum takes place in June with Maximising Economic Lift as its theme. During the early planning stages an exclusive survey was conducted by the SPE EuALF committee which identified the top 5 Artificial Lift issues for today’s operators – all of these issues will be discussed at this event.

The calendar of events wouldn’t be complete without our ever popular Well Abandonment seminar. Now in its 8th year, the focus for this year’s Well Late Life and Well Abandonment conference will be Managing Late Life Wells to Maximise Value & Optimise Abandonment. Already the exhibition space at this event is sold out!

The technical programmes for all these events are available on the section’s website and bookings are being taken.

Last but not least for 2018 will be the annual SPE ICoTA Well Intervention conference in November: Collaborate & Educate to Reinstate, Rejuvenate & Optimise Production. This annual event is now in its 24th year and abstracts are now being sought.

The section are always looking to add new events and looking ahead, 2019 will see the launch of Pump and Pipes UK which we are very excited about. This event has run successfully in Houston for the last 10 years, and will provide a platform for the oil & gas, medical and space industries to share technologies. Keep an eye on the section’s website for updates on this event.

Also under development is a new Petroleum Economics conference – again keep an eye on the section’s website for information on this event

Details of all these events, including sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, can be found on the section website www.spe-aberdeen.org. If there is a specific topic you would like to see featured at one of our events please get in touch the chair of our Continuing Education committee at CE.chair@spe-uk.org. I look forward to seeing you at our events.

Hello everyone

This month I’d like to focus on some of the great work that our Young Professionals Committee does.  A “Young Professional” (or “YP”) in SPE’s world means an industry professional under the age of 35 – although their activities are open to all members

Their flagship programme is the monthly Simplified Series which presents a wide range of technical and technology subjects in an easy to understand way.  This year they started with a presentation from RigQuip where attendees got a chance to go on a VR tour of a rig. Other speakers have included Dr Patrick O’Brien from ITF and Mike Backus from Nexen; their presentations are on available on the knowledge section of our website. Already confirmed for the rest of the year are speakers from Expro, Agiletek and 1CSI. If you’d be interested in demystifying a technology as part of this series please contact yp.chair@spe-uk.org

Their other programme is Unplugged 360 – delivering presentations covering soft skills and personal development such as the recent workshop with Mark Cowieson from Archer and David Robertson from Wild Thinking which was very successful and popular. Watch out for further similar workshops in 2018.

Last year the YP’s organised the Emerging Engineers Forum at Offshore Europe with theme of Innovation and encouraging young professionals in industry to adopt an innovative mind-set to develop new technologies. Speakers from Frontrow Technology Group, EC_OG and Cyberhawk Innovations shared their knowledge and experience; click here to hear from one of the attendees.

The YP’s also work closely with others to promote our industry to young people, supporting the Schools and Careers Guidance (SCG) committee to inspire next generation by visiting schools careers fairs representing the industry.

Our thanks go to Expro Group for their continued support of our YP programme.  The committee is seeking additional sponsorship to enable them to deliver more events of value to our Young Professionals – if you can help please contact yp.chair@spe-uk.org

Details of all the upcoming YP events can be found on the section’s website and we look forward to seeing you at the events.

February 2018 Newsletter

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Plans are well under way for the 32nd Offshore Achievement Awards; the finalists were revealed last month and the winners will be announced at the black tie event on 22nd March – more details below. This event continues to be the biggest and longest established industry awards for the UK offshore energy sector, and its success ensures we are able to continue our work to inspire the next generation to think about the oil and gas industry as an attractive career choice.

The activities and initiatives that we support are wide ranging and I would like to highlight just some of these.

Our annual student bursary awards have been supporting students studying oil and gas subjects for over 20 years, and we are delighted to, again, be in a position to award bursaries up to a total of £20,000. Winners of this year’s awards will be announced later this month. We also support five student chapters across Scotland to ensure they can attend our events in Aberdeen.

This is a busy time of year for pupils choosing subjects for further study and making decisions about their futures.  Our volunteers are on hand to help them – attending careers events in schools from Peterhead to Portlethen. Our SCG committee continues to work closely with Aberdeen Science Centre to roll out Energy4me, SPE’s global energy education programme for schools, across Scotland.

Last year we were delighted to work with the Energy Institute (EI) and the Society of Underwater Technology (SUT) to create the hugely successful “NASA in Aberdeen” project – bringing a NASA astronaut and space scientist to Aberdeen and inspiring over 3000 school children by showing them how cool technology can be. This project is now an annual fixture in our calendar. In 2018 our theme is robotics – in space and in the oil and gas industry – and we are pleased to be welcoming another NASA astronaut and a robotics engineer to Aberdeen in late March. Details of the events will be posted on our website.

Giving back to our community has always been a priority for the section, and in addition to the projects described above we have also supported a number of “one off” projects over the years. These include funding exhibits at Aberdeen’s Maritime Museum to mark our 30th anniversary and supporting “Inside Industry”, a career guidance website, the only tool of its kind focused on providing first class oil and gas industry career information and advice. This has now been rolled out across more than 300 schools in Scotland.

We were also pivotal in developing a virtual tour of the Captain platform – a resource that is used widely in schools and is part of the materials used in TechFest’s very successful Maths in the Pipeline, an event which we continue to support. We have also been keen supporters of the Northsound 1 Energy Schools Challenge. Running since 1997, this successful initiative encourages school pupils to look at the oil and gas industry as an attractive career option.

If you’d be interested in contributing to these great initiatives – or have other ideas that we might back, then please get in touch at aberdeen.chair@spe-uk.org .

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Happy New Year to you all and welcome to our first newsletter of 2018. We have an exciting calendar of events coming up over the course of the year and I invite you to visit our website where you will find all the details.

In addition to these events, our School Career Guidance Committee will continue to work to inspire the next generation through a wide range of activities; encouraging young people to study STEM subjects and consider STEM careers is at the heart of many of these activities.

The committee regularly attends career fairs in schools in Aberdeen city and shire where they engage with pupils, parents and teachers and share their experience and advice.  They also actively help forge links between schools and the industry by organising teachers show arounds at our conferences. At the end of last year the committee developed and delivered their own CV and interview skills workshop; they are looking forward to delivering more of these workshops throughout 2018.

Each year the committee supports and sponsors the ever popular TechFest’s “Maths in the Pipeline” programme and the TechFest annual “Festival of Science”; 2017 celebrated the 24th anniversary of this science festival.

One of the committee’s highlights of 2017 was the hugely successful “NASA in Aberdeen” project; a joint activity organised by SPE Aberdeen Section, The Energy Institute (EI), the Society of Underwater Technology (SUT), Aberdeen Science Centre and TechFest. This is now an annual event for the next 3 years and the SCG committee are busy helping plan the 2018 event; the theme of which is robotics. Similar to last year, a team from NASA will visit Aberdeen and the events that they will deliver will include a public lecture, primary and secondary school engagement and a family activity weekend. Details of the NASA team and key dates will be announced shortly on our website and social media pages.  We are grateful to Statoil who sponsored the 2017 programme, and who are again sponsoring the 2018 programme along with Apollo, BP, Nexen, Oceaneering, and Taqa.

The SCG committee continues to champion Energy4me, SPE’s global energy schools programme (primary and secondary), at all the events that they attend. Additionally, Continuous Personal Development (CPD) sessions for teacher are run through Aberdeen Science Centre ensuring that the reach continues to grow. Such has been the success of energy4me in Aberdeen that SPE International is keen for other sections to use our model; a testament to the huge input from our members and volunteers.

The modest surplus from our conferences and awards dinner events held throughout the year provide us with the funds to support and sponsor this wide range of activities. Also key to the success of these activities is the unwavering support of our volunteers. The SCG committee is always looking for volunteers to get involved. If you are interested in volunteering or finding out more about any of their activities please contact the committee chairs at SCG.chair@spe-uk.org

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Student members make up about 25% of our membership, As the future of our industry, they are a much-valued part of our section.

We support 5 student chapters in universities across Scotland (Aberdeen, RGU, Dundee, Heriot Watt and Strathclyde). At our section awards ceremony held during Offshore Europe, the Heriot Watt team was presented with the best student chapter award,  with the University of Dundee student chapter being highly commended – well done to both.

The student chapters are supported by the section through the Student Development Committee. Now that the new academic year is well underway this Committee is busy visiting all the student chapters, introducing them to SPE and explaining the benefits of being a student member. More details on how the committee supports the students are available on our website.

The student chapters operate as largely independent groups – usually registered as a “society” at their university.  They organise a wide variety of professional and social activities. A number of field trips have taken place this year – to the PX Limited Gas Plant at St Fergus, Shell’s Mossmoran NGL Plant and to Maersk Oil’s facilities in Aberdeen. The team from Heriot Watt made it all the way to the finals of Petrobowl at ATCE 2017 – a fantastic achievement and the only team from the UK to do so.  Each chapter regularly has industry professionals joining them and give presentations. They are always interested in hearing from members interested in visiting, giving presentations and talking to the students so please let me know if you would like to be involved (aberdeen-chair@spe-uk.org).

Our annual student bursary awards were launched at the end of last month; the deadline for receipt of applications is 27 November with the awards made early 2018. We are proud that this year, we are again in a position to award up to £20,000 – 3 x £2500 scholarships and 15 x £500 awards.  This is made possible by the modest surplus that we make from some of the events we hold throughout the year. Good luck to all the applicants!

If you are interested in getting involved with the Student Development Committee and helping support our students please contact the committee chair Ritika Pawer at SD.chair@spe-uk.org

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

We were delighted to launch the 32^nd Offshore Achievement Awards at last month’s Offshore Europe. Nominations are now open! This event remains the biggest and longest established oil, gas and renewables industry awards for the UK offshore energy sector, covering all aspects from supply to upstream operations and offshore renewables. This is the seventh year that the SPE Aberdeen Section has managed the event, and it continues to grow in scale and in reputation.

As in previous years the trophy design is being created by students at Gray’s School of Art where the competition is now embedded in their curriculum. Each year the students consistently come up with remarkably creative and innovative designs which lead to a very difficult decision for the judges!

This year there are 11 award categories, and the winners will be announced at the black tie event on March 22 2018 at AECC. The categories include 4 technology awards (including the Emerging Technology and the Innovator Awards), 4 corporate awards (including the Outstanding Skills Development Award), and 3 individual awards including the hugely popular Young Professional Award and Significant Contribution Award where recent winners include Trevor Garlick and Oonagh Werngren. New for this year is the HSE Innovation award which combines the previous Safety Innovation and Environmental Innovation awards.

The awards are an excellent way to showcase your achievements. JDR Cables, winners of the 2017 Export Achievement Award commented that being part of the OAA’s was a fantastic way of increasing their company profile. Enpro Subsea, winners of the 2017 Great Company Award, felt that the weight that the awards carry helped them to break into new markets and regions.

Please visit the OAA website for news updates and how you can get involved. Any surplus from this event is invested in a wide range of initiatives designed to inspire the industry to continue evolving.

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

I am absolutely delighted to start the SPE Aberdeen 2017-2018 session with the fantastic news that our section has won the SPE President’s Award for Section Excellence and have done so for an unprecedented 8 years in a row. This prestigious award recognises SPE sections with exceptional programs in technical knowledge dissemination, communication, membership development, student interaction, community and society outreach, innovation, and more.

This award is a testament to the huge energy and enthusiasm from everyone on our committees who conceive, organise and deliver a wide range of events and activities that meet the needs of our members needs and of the industry as a whole. As in previous years, we had a packed calendar of events all of which contributed to us winning this award.

Our Continuing Education committee continued to improve our conference programme, enhancing firm favourites such has Well Abandonment and DEVEX whilst developing some new events such as Seismic 2017, which was a huge success and will feature again in 2018.

Our Programme Committee organises our evening dinner meetings which continue to be very popular and cover a range of topics. The presentations from last year’s session are available in the knowledge section of our website and information on our upcoming meetings is now available on our website.

In March we held the 31st Offshore Achievement Awards, celebrating and encouraging innovation and collaboration in the oil & gas and renewables industry in the North Sea. This event is the biggest and longest established oil, gas and renewables industry awards for the UK offshore energy sector, and continues to be the “gold standard” that companies aspire to win.  Plans are already under way for 2018!

The success of all these events means that we have a modest surplus that we use to support our outreach and educational projects.  The Student Bursary Awards are the highlight of the Student Development Committee’s annual activity, and this year the section awarded £20,000 to students studying oil and gas related topics at 5 universities across Scotland. Our Schools and Career Guidance committee continues to inspire the next generation through numerous  projects and initiatives.  These include attending career events in school across the north east of Scotland, Maths in the Pipeline, sponsoring TechFest, supporting numerous events at Aberdeen Science Centre and running the hugely popular NASA in Aberdeen project.

The year ahead promises to be equally busy, exciting and useful. To keep up-to-date with our calendar of events do visit the section’s website regularly, and follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). If you are interested in getting involved in our award winning section please contact me at aberdeen.chair@spe-uk

Dear SPE Aberdeen members, colleagues and friends,

Our student membership is an integral part of our section and of the SPE – quite literally they are the future of our industry.

The section supports 5 student chapters in universities across Scotland (Aberdeen, RGU, Dundee, Heriot Watt and Strathclyde); our student members make up just over a quarter of our membership. The student chapters are involved in and organise a wide variety of activities all of which are supported by the section through the Student Development committee.

This committee consists of industry members, officers of the SPE Student Chapters and academic sponsors from the 5 universities registered under our section. The committee’s aim is to encourage all the students to pursue and develop a successful career in the oil & gas and energy industry. More details on the support they we provide to students are on our website.

The Student Bursary Awards are the highlight of the committee’s annual activity; this year the section awarded £20,000 through this scheme. Yet again the judges faced the challenge of selecting the winners from very high-quality applications. We are extremely proud that we have been able to continue running our student bursary programme throughout the downturn, ploughing our modest surplus funds back into the future of the industry.

We have helped organise a number of student field trips this year to facilities such as the St Fergus Gas Plant and Shell’s Mossmorran NGL plant. The students have also been busy taking part in the Petronomics competition, testing their knowledge on engineering, economics, and the industry in general, and also testing their football skills in Petroball! On an international level, the Heriot Watt student team has reached the finals of SPE PetroBowl – a worldwide industry quiz contest. This is a fantastic achievement and they are the only UK team to progress to the finals later this year at ATCE. SPE Aberdeen Section is part-sponsoring their trip to the finals – if your company can help sponsor this trip please contact me at aberdeen.chair@spe-uk.org

If you are interested in getting involved with the Student Development Committee and helping support our students please contact the committee chairs at SD.chair@spe-uk.org

Engaging and developing the next generation is at the heart of SPE Aberdeen’s activities. Young professionals (YPs) are a big part of that, and have been busy in 2017 with a programme of events tailored specifically to the younger SPE Aberdeen members – those under 35.

The Simplified Series (SS) is one of the main programmes of the YPs – it is a knowledge sharing series focussed on both technical and hot industry topics. It has grown in popularity over the years and continues to encourage YPs to develop themselves beyond the realms of their professional discipline; network with peers in the industry out-with their office environment and get inspired to take action about what is learned.

The series kicked off with a critical look at the future competitiveness and sustainability of the UKCS. This was delivered by Chris Bird, non-Executive director & investor at P3L Fusion and Brenda Wylie, Area Manager, Oil & Gas Authority respectively. More recent presentations include an interactive presentation on “Reservoir Engineering from Seismic to Surface” by Mike Smith of Rock Flow Dynamics, and  a joint presentation by Bill Latham (Premier Oil) and Cherie Henshaw (Expro) who discussed how to leverage software to manage well integrity. More interesting talks have been scheduled for the rest of the year and can be viewed on the events section of the website here.

The YPs also organise a series of soft skills and personal development events under the heading “Unplugged 360”. Topics covered this year include “The Psychology of Great Presentations” and “Enhancing your Employability” by Dr Bill Robb, Director of Safety Improvers, and Campbell Urquhart, Managing Director at White Cube Consulting respectively.

These events attract not only YPs, but also students and experienced professionals from Aberdeen and sometimes further afield. The presentation slides are available in the knowledge section of the website here.

At this years Offshore Europe conference in September, YPs will be having their annual Emerging Engineers round-table style event with a focus on new technology. YPs will also be working with the Schools Career Guidance committee to inspire school children to pursue careers in oil and gas by sharing their knowledge of the industry and why they chose an engineering career path.

It’s not always about talks and presentations, as the YP’s occasionally organise social events to unwind. Recently they had a curling social in collaboration with YPs from other institutions.

These events are organised by a team of dedicated young professionals and students who volunteer their time, advancing the mission of the SPE in Aberdeen. If you would like to get involved, please contact yp.chair@spe-uk.org

Sharing technical knowledge is at the heart of our evening meeting programme. Each year the Programme Committee do an outstanding job of putting together an exciting, stimulating and very relevant programme of evening meetings which reflects a broad range of technical interests. The success of these events is reflected in the continued popularity of these meetings. There are 8 of these events per year (Sept – Nov, Jan – May), held on the 4th Wednesday of the month. The format is a technical presentation followed by dinner which provides a valuable networking opportunity for attendees. This year our technical programme is kindly sponsored by Expro and Premier Oil.

The 2016 – 2017 session kicked off with Katy Heidenreich of Oil & Gas UK, describing the significant work the industry is doing through the Technology Leadership Board (TLB) to address the well cost reduction challenge. Field development has featured at several events. In November Martin O’Donnell and Matt Gibson of Premier Oil provided a fascinating insight into the ongoing development of Premier’s Catcher Field, whilst Markel Hübinette of ConocoPhillips described the changing face of asset development and management through the history of the Britannia field.

In addition to local industry experts the programme also includes SPE Distinguished Lecturers. These lecturers are recognised global experts nominated by their peers and selected by the global SPE Distinguished Lecturer Committee for quality, timeliness and relevance of presentations. Last month Steve Mackie, now with Geosim Consulting Pty Ltd., discussing the lessons learnt from occasional failures during his career in the upstream petroleum industry. This month we welcome Daniel McKinney of Sarawak Shell, who will talk about operational geochemistry.

Details of the events still to come in this session are available on our new website here. After the event the presentations are available on the knowledge section of the website – so if you miss any you can view the presentations afterwards.

The Programme Committee have already turned their attention to the 2017 – 2018 session, so if you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see covered please get in touch with Kenny McAllister, chair of our Programme Committee, programme.chair@spe-uk.org. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.