Annual Meeting Recaps

Attendance (approx.)

76 members, 27 non-members, 60 spouses and guests

Location

Newport Harbor Island Resort, Newport, Rhode Island, United States

Short Courses:

(1) Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage and the CO2 Storage Resources Management System (SRMS) – Rawdon Seager
(2) Monograph 5 – Jennifer Fitzgerlad & Richard Krenek
(3) Power BI for Reserves and Reservoir Engineering – Zack Warren

Technical Sessions:

10 Technical sessions held Monday and Tuesday
Click Here to View

Various Social Events:

Welcome Reception at the Rose Island Deck
Gala and Awards Dinner at the Waterfront Pavilion (Entertainment – Pat Cottrell)
Newport Food Tour – Taste of Newport
Aquarium Tour and Beach Day – Save the Bay
Mansion Tour: The Elms
Stroll at Cliff Walk and Kite Flying in Brenton Park
Mimosa Cruise
Mansion Tour: The Breakers
Museum of Art and Redwood Library Tour
Tennis Hall of Fame Tour
Scenic Bay Sail

Monday Night Gala and Awards Dinner

2023 Vice President and Annual Meeting Coordinator Dean Sergent

Awards were presented by 2022 SPEE Vice President Dean Sergent:

• Stephen E. Gardner was recognized for his leadership, significant contribution, and dedicated service as the SPEE Internet Chairman
• Brenda Brown was recognized for her significant contribution and dedicated service as a member of the SPEE Internet Committee
• Joe Young was recognized for his outstanding generous contribution as the 2022 President of the SPEE

Sunday Night Welcome Reception

Attendance (approx.)

75 members, 26 non-members, 49 spouses and guests

Location

The Meritage Resort and Spa, Napa Valley, California, United States

Short Courses:

(1) Prospective Resources: Process, Terms and PRMS Compliance –Tom Scott
(2) SEC Perspectives Update: Overview of Disclosure Issues –John Hodgin
(3) Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage and the CO2 Storage Resources Management System (SRMS) –Rawdon Seager

Technical Sessions:

Nine Technical sessions held Monday and Tuesday
Click Here to View

Various Social Events:

Welcome Reception at the Village Lawn
Gala and Awards Dinner (Entertainment – Busta Groove)
Downtown Napa Tour Walk
Gen7 Wine Tasting Experience
Paint & Sip: Painting in the Vineyard

Monday Night Gala and Awards Dinner

2022 Vice President and Annual Meeting Coordinator Attila Szabo

Awards were presented by 2022 SPEE President Joe Young:

• Neal Howard was recognized for his service on the Qualifications Committee as a Member from 2014 through 2017 and as its chairman from 2018 to 2020
• Steve Hendrickson was recognized for his service and leadership as Chairman of the Parameters Survey Committee, Survey Enhancements, and the Establishment of the Digital Rights Management platform
• Jennifer Fitzgerald was recognized for her outstanding contribution as the 2019 President of the SPEE
• Robert Green was recognized for his outstanding contribution as the 2020 President of the SPEE
• Charles Boyette was recognized for his outstanding generous contribution as the 2021 President of the SPEE
• Debbie Suter was given a token of appreciation for her services as the SPEE Executive Assistant from 2015 to 2022

Sunday Night Welcome Reception

Attendance (approx.)

99 members, 25 non-members, 83 spouses and guests

Location

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Lake Louise, Alberta Canada

Short Courses:

Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook 2018 (COGEH)
The History of the Canadian Rocky Mountains-Field Trip

Technical Sessions:

Nine Technical sessions held Monday and Tuesday
Click Here to View

Various Social Events:

Welcome Barbecue Dinner and Dance
Gala and Awards Dinner
Entertainment – Dueling Piano Kings
Banff Gondola and Tour
Afternoon Tea
Jewelry-Making Workshop
Photo Workshop for Smartphones

Monday Night Gala and Awards Dinner

2019 Vice President and Annual Meeting Coordinator Robert Green

Awards were presented by 2019 SPEE President Jennifer Fitzgerald:

Simon McDonald was recognized for his Outstanding Contribution as the 2018 SPEE President

Rod Sidle received an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award for his years of work on the Reserves Definition Committee

Rhonda Gathers receives an Award of Appreciation for her dedicated service as Chair of the SPEE Internet Committee

Rick Krenek receives an Award of Appreciation for his leadership and contribution to the Council of Past Presidents

Sunday Night Barbecue and Dance

I want to personally thank everyone who attended this year’s Annual Meeting.  I hope that you each enjoyed your time as much as I did.  We had an action packed four days, filled with technical sessions, short courses, group and guest activities, social events and the Monday evening Gala Dinner and Awards Banquet.  The conference was held at the beautiful Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, California, located on the natural Batiquitos Lagoon and just minutes away from the Pacific Ocean.

The broad theme for this year’s conference was “Embracing the Tides of Change.”  The strength of the technical presentations at each Annual Meeting are a tribute to SPEE’s mission to provide professional growth for evaluation specialists.  I hope you all agree that this year was no different.  Thanks to each of the presenters for the technical sessions.  Our President, Simon McDonald, began Monday morning with an overview of the current state of SPEE.  Steve Hendrickson, Survey Parameters Committee Chair, provided insight to the results of this year’s survey.  If you weren’t able to join us at the conference, be sure to visit the SPEE website to order your copy of the survey results.  Jorge Faz, building on lifelong lessons learned from his Grandmother, gave an engaging and entertaining ethics presentation.  Monday morning closed with a fireside chat by Al Walker, CEO of Anadarko, and Sean Gourley, CEO of Primer and Member of Anadarko Board of Directors.  A unique opportunity to participate in an exchange of thoughts for what it takes to change a company’s culture and the role of technology, in particular the grass roots effort to build from the bottom up a new culture that makes technology a part of a company’s DNA.

The technical sessions continued Tuesday morning, beginning with reserves regulations and definitions.  Rod Sidle began the day providing insight and his perspectives of the PRMS update.  The 2018 update of PRMS is now finalized and available for download on the SPEE website.  Next, we heard from Doug Wright regarding the on-going efforts and focus areas for the 2018 update of COGEH.  Craig Burns from the Alberta Securities Commission discussed commerciality and the quantification of probability of development.  Gary Gonzenbach provided an introduction and overview of the on-going efforts for Monograph 5, a practical guide to type well profiles.  We closed the technical sessions with Creties Jenkins and his presentation about how to avoid squandering billions while appraising unconventional reservoirs.

In addition to the technical sessions, this year’s Annual Meeting included three insightful short courses, all of which were well attended.  Jim Gouveia and Bertrand Groulx started the conference with a full-day course focused on the application of Statistics, Uncertainty and Aggregation Principles.  Attendees next had the opportunity to spend the day at the Sunday short course with John Hodgin from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gaining an in-depth perspective on the SEC reserve reporting requirements.  I’m proud to say that this full-day short course was a first for SPEE, and a very beneficial opportunity for the many who attended.  This year’s final short course, taught by David Fulford, focused on utilization of the Transient Hyperbolic Model to forecast unconventional low-permeability wells.

The pinnacle social event of this year’s Annual Meeting was the Gala Dinner and Awards Banquet.  The exciting evening included food and drinks with time to catch up with great friends.  As I prepared for this year’s meeting, I reached out to several of our distinguished members asking them to share their thoughts, stories and insights.  I want to thank each of them for taking the time to share so much.  I hope you all enjoyed the walk down memory lane.  What I found most interesting were the common threads in their comments.  In particular the exact phrasing that was shared by almost all is that they consider active participation in SPEE to be an honor and privilege.  As many of them noted, and I hope you would agree, SPEE members as a group are some of the smartest, warmest and most generous professionals.  I know that many of us continue to engage in this organization for the opportunity to be surrounded by people smarter than ourselves.  Although we don’t expect anything in return, we ultimately get back so much more than we give.

Simon McDonald had the pleasure of presenting several awards to our membership.  Congratulations to Brent Hale, Tom Collier, Joe Young, and Past President Floyd Siegle for their awards of service to SPEE.  We also recognized the many contributions and ongoing commitment by John Wright with an Honorary Lifetime Membership.  The evening featured a unique entertainment experience, performed by speed painter Dan Dunn, culminating in a live auction to generate donations for our various scholarship funds.  It is my absolute pleasure to announce that we raised $16,500 for our scholarship funds!  A big thank you to Marshall and Angela Watson, our very skilled auctioneers.  A great evening was had by all and a lot of money was raised for a good cause.

Thank you to all who attended this year’s conference.  And thank you for the generous contributions from our many sponsors.  Your continued support of the SPEE allows us to deliver on new and existing initiatives at the core of our mission.  And I would be remis if I didn’t thank Debbie Suter for all of her help and hard work.  It was my honor and pleasure to serve as this year’s Annual Meeting Chairman.  And I am looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

Jennifer Fitzgerald, 2018 Vice President

Attendance (approximate):

83 members, 66 non-members, 36 spouses and guests

Location:

London, England

Short Courses:

• Managing Your Business Using PRMS
• SEC Forum & Panel Discussion: Lessons From Recent Examples of Guidance Given by the SEC

Technical Sessions:

Seventeen technical sessions and 2 panel sessions held Monday and Tuesday at the Geological Society of London

Click here to view proceedings on Technical Sessions

Various Social Events:

• Afternoon Tea at the Corinthia Hotel
• Cocktail Reception at the Royal Institution
• Awards Banquet at the Institute of Engineering and Technology Savoy Place
• Day Trip to Windsor Castle
• The London Eye
• Open Top Bus Scenic Tour
• Boat Trip to the Tower of London
• Walking Tour of London
• British Museum Tour

Vice President and Annual Meeting Coordinator Simon McDonald

Monday Night Awards Banquet

Dee Patterson was recognized for his Outstanding Contribution as the 2016 President of SPEE

Attendance (approx.):

91 members, 24 non-members, 56 spouses and guests

Location:

The Ritz-Carlton-Lake Tahoe, Truckee, California

Short Courses:

• Type Well Technology: The State of the Art
• SPEE Monograph 4 – Estimating Developed Reserves in Unconventional Reservoirs

Technical Sessions:

Nine Technical sessions held Monday and Tuesday

Click here to view Proceedings on the Technical Sessions

Various Social Events:

• Golf Tournament
• Cocktail Reception
• Awards Banquet
• Paddlewheel Charter
• Thunderbird Lodge Tour
• Fly Fishing
• Truckee River Winery & Shopping
• Oil & Vinegar Tasting / Tea Blending
• Truckee River Whitewater Rafting

Vice President and Annual Meeting Coordinator Floyd Siegle

Jennifer Fitzgerald receives an Award of Appreciation for her work on Training and the 2015 Software Symposium

Rod Sidle Receives an Award of Appreciation for his work on the Reserves Definition Committee