The SPE Podcast

In her final podcast as SPE President, Jennifer Miskimins reflects on a year of service, celebrates the people behind SPE’s success, shares updates on the Society’s future, and encourages members to remain engaged in advancing the profession and the energy industry.

This SPE Live explores the intersection of HSES and Reservoir, two disciplines that increasingly shape the future of responsible and high performance subsurface operations. Our goal is to understand how these areas can jointly reduce uncertainty, improve performance, and support responsible development across the asset lifecycle.

Moderated by Trey Shaffer, 2014-2017 SPE HSE Technical Director. Vice President, Key Clients at Resource Environmental Solutions LLC

Speakers:
• Dr. Linda Battalora, SPE HSES Technical Director. Teaching Professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines
• Dr. Rahim Masoudi, SPE Reservoir Technical Director. Chief Technical Lead at EnQuest/Veri Energy

This SPE Live brings together the SPE Drilling and SPE Completions Technical Directors for a forward-looking discussion on how the profession is evolving to meet increasing technical complexity, cost pressures, and expectations for safer and more sustainable operations. The session will explore how advances in drilling and completions technologies—alongside digitalization, automation, and data-driven workflows—are reshaping well construction and delivery across conventional, unconventional, and emerging energy applications.

Beyond technology, the discussion will emphasize the people and leadership dimensions of technical excellence. The Technical Directors will share perspectives on cross-discipline integration, workforce capability development, and SPE’s role in fostering collaboration, knowledge transfer, and professional growth.

Attendees can expect insights on how the drilling and completions communities can work more effectively together to deliver value today while preparing the profession for the energy systems of tomorrow.

Moderated by Robin Macmillan, 2022-2025 SPE Drilling Technical Director. Consultant.

Speakers:
• Peggy Rijken, SPE Completions Technical Director. Chapter Manager, Geomechanics Technology Center at Chevron
• Sarah Kern, SPE Drilling Technical Director. Director of Strategic Engagement at EIC Rose Rock

This month’s column shares practical ideas gathered from professional sections and student chapters worldwide, including fresh approaches to communication and meeting formats as well as creative ways of building community and recognition. These real‑world examples highlight the diversity of SPE and offer plenty of “food for thought” for leaders looking to strengthen engagement and deliver more value to their members.

Production operations are evolving rapidly—from traditional SCADA monitoring to AI-enabled intelligence. In this SPE Live, the SPE DSEA Technical Director and the SPE Production and Facilities Technical Director explore how advances in data infrastructure, analytics, and machine learning are transforming operational decision-making, improving efficiency, safety and shaping the future of intelligent production systems.

Moderated by Silviu Livescu, 2020-2023 SPE DSEA Technical Director. Co-Founder and CTO at Bedrock Energy

Speakers:
• Sushma Bhan, SPE DSEA Technical Director. Former Shell CDO of Subsurface/Wells
• Greg Stephenson, SPE Production and Facilities Technical Director. Chief Production Engineer at Occidental Oil & Gas Co. (Oxy)