By Darcy Spady
I have recently been given the immense privilege of being elected as the 2018 worldwide president of the 165,000-member Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). First time ever for a Canadian, and first time ever for someone from Three Hills!
Part of the obligation of leading this organization is participating on a 30-member board that determines the direction of the Society. We publish a lot of technical papers and run a couple of huge conferences, and I get to address crowds bigger than my entire hometown. Daunting.
One of the benefits, however, is the chance to get a glimpse of our global industry from the inside. I’m often asked to predict the price of oil, or what will the next 20 years look like for petroleum engineers. I’m learning to give a pretty standard answer. First, there are three regions that can affect the price of oil more than any other, and a fourth with an honourable mention. The three: Saudi, Iran, and Russia. The fourth, with an honourable mention for the ability to cause prices to drop, but never to rise given the independent, publically traded nature of the operators, is the USA. Keep your eye on these four and you will be moderately accurate at understanding the price of oil.
When asked about what has impressed me most in my travels so far, two of these groups stand out — the Russians and Saudis.
First, Russia. Gone are the days of easy oil and gas exploration and lazy production and shipping practices based on the government of the day. The Russians are probably the most advanced that I have seen on reservoir understanding, predictive modelling (weren’t they always really good at math?), artificial intelligence, and utilizing technology. This might come as a surprise, but they have also always been very good at keeping secrets within their corporate walls.
In addition to excellence in science and engineering from a corporate point of view, they are producing the best and brightest students from some of the best institutions, and most of them speak great English. In fact, at a recent student-run technical conference at Moscow’s Gubkin University, I was impressed the conference was in English and (the few) Russian speakers were translated into English. This was in Moscow.
In Russia, the big producing companies are filled with happy employees, shareholders, and technology gurus who are changing the face of corporate Russia. They sponsor events in major cities, they commission art, and they make lots of money. I realize that producers need the guy in the field to come to work ready, and can’t absorb losses through theft or misrepresentation, and that pipelines should not leak, but watching the awakening of talent and resource is an amazing sight. And a surprise!
Next, the Saudis. Saudi Aramco is probably the best oil company on earth. Period. They are certainly the biggest, by a factor of five or 10, but they are also the best. From a technical point of view, they own their future. They have recently opened nine major, let me re-iterate MAJOR, research centres around the globe, not just the two in the Kingdom, but in Paris, Delft, Beijing, Daejeon, Boston, Houston, and Detroit. Yes, Detroit.
Let’s name how many major research centres our Canadian independent producers have! Hard to come up with one stand-alone campus of research. The Saudis are hiring the best and brightest from around the world. They are owning the R&D and IP (intellectual property) space today, and when they need it in the next generation, it will be ready. This penchant for technical excellence starts at the very top.
Aramco’s CEO, Amin Nasser, will sometimes turn up at our local SPE technical talks. If you combine the best Saudi technical minds, give them good leadership skills and management experience, add strong environmental stewardship (the Manifa offshore island project), and generational thinking, you will create the best energy company on earth.
Jealousy will get us nowhere, let’s be impressed and learn something about embracing our resources.
So, there you have it, my global musings. For a guy from Three Hills, I am proud of our Canadian technological and innovative reputation in the world. Let’s not rest on our laurels, the race has just gone from a horserace to a F1 race, and we need to get back that innovation driven from desperation. The big guys don’t always win, but they do spit some dust in our eyes when they pass us!
Darcy Spady is with Broadview Energy in Calgary, is the 2018 president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers International (SPE), chairs the boards of Green Imaging (Fredericton) and Crestwynd Exploration (Calgary), and is a board member of MNP Petroleum (Zurich). He has worked with Columbia Natural Resources / Triana Energy group of Charleston, WV; as well as a decade for Schlumberger in their wireline and pressure pumping segments. He served as CEO of Contact Exploration in Canada and was head of sales for Sanjel Corporation. Spady holds a BSc. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and is a professional engineer in Alberta and New Brunswick.
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