When: Wednesday January 19, 2022 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Where: Denver Athletic Club | 1325 Glenarm Pl, Denver, CO 80204

Speaker: Laura Freeman, Managing Director, Highpoint Global Capital

Abstract:

You don’t have to look far to see a pretty dismal state of affairs in Oil and Gas M&A:

• Quarterly deal activity in number of transactions has collapsed by almost 90% from early 2017
• Public markets are getting hammered with Energy reported as the worst performing sector in the S&P 500 this year
• Public debt is in a major contraction with high-yield energy companies selling only about half the amount of corporate debt as they had at this time last year
• Private equity has largely dried up and many PE backers are stuck without exits and now looking to consolidate portfolio companies and even change mandates
• The wave of Consolidation that many predicted has never really taken off and the market reaction to the Oxy Anadarko deal has been a very clear message to would-be buyers with the seller’s stock going up from about $40 to $70 per share while the buyer went almost the opposite tanking from about $70 to $40 per share.
• Bankruptcy filings have had a large in both number and value since 2015 – with Oil and Gas bankruptcies leading 2019 filings vs other industries

Ms. Freeman will address the current state of M&A with an overview of activity and trends in several major US areas.  Specific topics will include changes in valuation metrics and the underlying valuation drivers from an asset and reserves perspective.  She will discuss the buyer-seller gap that has widened to the point of gridlock with specific examples of how well performance and resulting cash flows are driving the gap.

Bio:

Laura Freeman is a Managing Director at Highpoint Global Capital.  She has been an integral part of over $2 billion in acquisitions and divestitures including the high-profile acquisition of all of Hunt Oil Company’s Permian Basin Assets in 2021.  Laura specializes in technical valuation, financing, and navigating the complexities of deal-making.

Laura has a Master’s in Petroleum Engineering, an MBA, and a bachelor’s degree in Physics.  She has been featured as an expert on M&A, finance, and Reservoir Engineering for various magazines, industry events, and online publications including Oil and Gas Financial Journal, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), and Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT).

When: Thursday January 20, 2022 | 12:00 pm MT

Where: Online via RingCentral

Speaker:  Barry Jay Katz, Ph.D., Chevron Fellow and Dengen Zhou, Chevron Fellow

Abstract:
The oil and gas industry is undergoing change and the pace of change is accelerating. The changes are aimed at reducing emissions associated with fossil fuel use. These changes are clearly impacting the PetroTech community today. Higher levels of uncertainty are being felt but there will be new opportunities. First it must be stated that oil and gas will not be disappearing overnight. Projections are that oil and gas will be around for multiple decades into the future. The needed technologies to complete the energy transition have not yet been developed. Thus, oil and gas jobs will continue, but what is more interesting will be the new jobs for geologist, geophysicists and petroleum engineers. Resource assessment opportunities for geothermal, hydrogen (storage and naturally occurring hydrogen), and CCUS (opportunity identification, characterization, modeling and monitoring) will be growing. And what is most important is that the same skills that have developed for oil and gas exploration and development will translate to these new opportunities. A key will be learning how these skills will be further developed to work in this new space. This discussion will focus on how we are beginning to prepare our PetroTechs for this future.Registration is available on RMAG’s website here: RMAG

Bio:
Barry Katz received his B.S. in geology from Brooklyn College in 1974 and his Ph.D. from the University of Miami in 1979 in marine geology and geophysics. He joined Texaco in 1979. He continued with Chevron after the merger in 2001, where he has been part of the Chevron Technology Center. Barry has held various technical and supervisory positions. He currently serves as Principal Advisor in basin modeling and geochemistry. Recently, he has been named the primary point of contact in geology and geophysics in the energy transition. Barry has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed papers, has edited four books, and has presented at numerous international conferences. He has organized multiple AAPG Hedberg Research Conferences. He has served as editor of The Open Geology Journal, the Houston Geology Society Bulletin, the GCAGS Journal and the AAPG Bulletin, as well as being a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Mining and Geology and Interpretation. He is currently a member of the editorial boards of Marine and Petroleum Geology, Arabian Journal of Geoscience, and the AAPG Bulletin, and is the current Editor for Unconventional Resources. Barry is a member of AGU, AAPG, EAOG, Geochemical Society, Geological Society (London), GSA, HGS, International Association of Geochemistry, Paleontological Society and SEPM. Dr. Katz has served chairman of IODP’s Environmental Protection and Safety Panel since 2002. Barry was named a Texaco Fellow in 1998.

Dengen Zhou is a Chevron Fellow and senior advisor for gas enhanced oil recovery and carbon storage at Chevron Technology Center with R&D interests at fundamental understanding of fluid transport and thermodynamic interaction of natural gas, CO2, oil and water in conventional & unconventional formations for improving hydrocarbon recovery and carbon storage. He has been with Chevron for 25 years. Before joining Chevron, he was a research associate at Stanford University. He has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Technical University of Denmark. He has broad experience with green field development, brown field optimization & redevelopment, and EOR process piloting.    He is actively involved in SPE technical committees including applied technical workshops (ATW), technology forums and annual conferences.

When: Tuesday January 25, 2022 | 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Where: Dominion Tower, 600 17^th Street, Suite 2300 Denver, CO 80202

Title: "Oil & Gas Data is *Different* – Frameworks and Trends in Modernizing O&G Tech"

Speaker:  Zack Warren, Founder/Managing Partner, Velocity Insight

Registration Link

Abstract:

The oil & gas industry has been incredibly innovative in some areas of technology, while it’s notoriously old-school in others.  Why has upstream O&G been slow to adopt modern approaches for software and data science?  This presentation will introduce some frameworks to help explain what E&P companies (and their vendors!) need to be doing to bring the promise of O&G tech innovation closer to reality.  This also will be the rollout presentation for results of the 2021 E&P Software Survey, with important trends for both operators and vendors to watch.

Biography:

Zack Warren is a data analytics leader and reservoir engineer with over 18 years of experience.  In 2021, he founded Velocity Insight to be a full-stack, full-function data management/analytics consulting firm focused on upstream oil and gas.  Most recently, he was the Director of Strategic Studies & Analytics at Great Western Petroleum, leading data analytics and reservoir characterization efforts.  He started his career at ExxonMobil, with additional experience at Netherland, Sewell, & Associates and various tight oil operators.  Zack is a professional engineer in Texas and Colorado, a member of SPE, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers International.  Ask him about his 300-horsepower station wagon.

When: Wednesday February 26, 2021 | 11:30am-1:00pm

Where: Denver Athletic Club | 1325 Glenarm Pl, Denver, CO 80204 

Speaker:  Subash Kannan, Program Manager – Production Enhancement, Occidental Oil & Gas 

Abstract:

Artificial lift is a key component in oil and gas production.  Most of the unconventional wells end up in some form of Artificial lift in 2-3 years of their life.  Artificial lift related failure is one of the major attributes for unplanned downtime.  Managing artificial lift performance/ failure becomes very crucial for improved economics.  Due to rapid decline of the pressure and the flow rates in unconventional wells, understanding the well performance becomes key for optimization of the artificial lift.  With dropping well productivity and well becoming older, the maintenance and associated costs increases.  The only way to keep up with the efficiency is to reduce the operating cost (by reducing downtime, failures).  A process can be applied to cover the life cycle of the Artificial lift which includes selection or re-selection, redesign and proactive management of the lift system.

We discuss how an integrated life cycle approach for artificial lift is key and how it impacts the value to any organization influencing the bottom-line ($).  We highlight on how the production losses could be managed better and how technology is not being leveraged to the potential.  We will discuss examples and methodologies to estimate the well performance in Unconventional reservoirs for Artificial lift management.  The key take-away – Understanding and managing the Artificial lift performance is vital for well’s downtime reduction / uptime reliability.  A Life cycle approach for Artificial lift is worth considering from the field development stage.

Bio:

Subash K Kannan has 18 years experience in the petroleum industry with 15 years in reservoir, production, operations (onshore/ offshore-GoM/International).  At Anadarko’s Technology team, he strategically focused on well performance and (artificial lift) life cycle of unconventional wells and was one of the founder members of APC’s digital oil field.  He is currently the Program Manager for Production Enhancement across all Oxy’s Gulf of Mexico assets.  Previously, at Weatherford, he managed Nodal analysis and real-time optimization tools and his experience with Ziff Energy Group involved operating cost and artificial lift benchmarking. Mr. Kannan is one of the Oxy Subject Matter Experts for production Engineering and in-house trainer for his top-rated Well Performance analysis.  Mr. Kannan holds bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering.  Mr. Kannan served in the SPE-GCS board from 2010-2014 and is an active contributor to the varied committees of SPE GCS.  

When: Friday March 11th-13th, 2022

Where: Winter Park Resort, Colorado

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2022-ski-fast-energy-bash-tickets-229072200117

Description:

Welcome to the annual Ski Fast Energy Bash hosted by SPE International's Denver Section! If you're a ski or snowboard enthusiast in the oil & gas or energy industry, you won't want to this blast of an event! This year we'll be taking over the slopes of Winter Park on March 11th-13th, with tons of skiing, food, drinks, fun, and great company throughout the weekend!

We'll have a ski bus traveling up on Friday from downtown Denver, with the Main Event Après Ski Party on Friday afternoon. Several other events and networking opportunities are planned for the remainder of the weekend, including a restaurant take-over Saturday night and the now infamous shirts-optional ski run Saturday afternoon!Registration this year is a-la-carte. You have the option to take the bus up-and-back on Friday for a single day of skiing and Après, or to stay the weekend and enjoy the slopes, great people, and exciting events through Sunday. After purchasing your event tickets and/or bus tickets on this page, be sure to separately book your lodging and lift tickets. We will not be arranging lodging this year, but are always happy to help connect you with other in the group looking for weekend roommates. Take a look at our lodging recommendations below for additional ideas and suggestions, but be sure to book soon, as lodging options are filling up fast! Feel free to reach out to SPE YP Chair Andrew Johnson (AJohnson23@slb.com) with any questions.We also have plenty of opportunities to sponsor! Please reach out directly to Andrew (AJohnson23@slb.com) for more details. Note to sponsors: in order to have your logo on the branded neck gaiters and all ski trip posters, you must purchase your sponsorship and submit your logo no later than Feb. 14th, 2021.We look forward to seeing you again this year for the Ski Fast Energy Bash 2022!!!-SPE Denver, Young Professionals

When: TBD

Where: Dominion Tower, 600 17^th Street, Suite 2300 Denver, CO 80202

Registration Link

Speaker:  James Crompton Professor of Practice, Petroleum Engineering (Colorado School of Mines)

Discussion Topics:

Everyone is talking about methane emissions. The purpose of this talk is to help the SPE membership understand why methane emissions are important and what we all can do about this issue.  Methane, the chief component of natural gas, is released during oil and gas extraction and leaks into the atmosphere from the various pieces of equipment on an oil and gas site, such as storage tanks, valves, fittings, and pipelines.  The purpose of methane measurement technologies is twofold: to detect leaks so they can be fixed, and to figure out if those efforts are paying off in methane reductions in the atmosphere. 

Bio:  

Jim retired from Chevron in 2013 after almost 37 years with the major international oil & gas company. After moving from Houston to Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jim established the Reflections Data Consulting LLC to continue his work in the area of data management and analytics for Exploration and Production industry.

Jim was a Distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers in 2010-2011, speaking on the topic of “Putting the Focus on Data.” He is a frequent speaker at SPE conferences on Digital/Intelligent Energy and the Data Foundation. His interests lie in the full spectrum of the information value chain from data capture, data management, data visualization, data access, modeling and analytics, simulations and serious gaming.

Jim graduated from the Colorado School of Mines (BS in Geophysical Engineering in 1974 and MS in Geophysics in 1976) before joining Chevron in Denver, Colorado.  He later earned an MBA degree (1996) from Our Lady of the Lake University (San Antonio, Texas).

In 1999, Crompton was elected to the position of chair of the general committee of PIDX (Petroleum Industry Data Exchange), the API electronic commerce subcommittee. Jim was able to influence the direction of the standards setting activities towards emerging technologies, such as XML, and new electronic business models in the energy industry. Crompton worked on the IT merger integration organization study team in 2001 as part of the Chevron & Texaco merger which developed the IT organization structure and IT strategic direction for the corporation where he received a President’s Award for this activity.

In acknowledgement of his contributions in applications of information technology to business problems and in working to develop industry standards in electronic data exchange, Jim was named a Chevron Fellow in 2002 and served as the chair of the Fellows Network from 2006-2008.

In 2017, Jim was named as the PNEC Cornerstone award winner for career accomplishments in data management. Jim was also selected to be on the board of the SPE Digital Energy Technology Section (DETS) and is chair of the Digital Transformation committee under DETS.

When: Thursday December 16th, 2021 | 12:00 pm

Where: Online via RingCentral

Description: 
At the recent COP26 meetings, it was evident that there is an ever-increasing global demand for economically viable carbon capture technology. Using nature’s own design, our proprietary CCUS technology offers scalable solutions for owner/operators of CO₂-emitting facilities located near suitable sources of subsurface brines. These mineral-rich brines can be sourced from new or targeted brine exploration areas, or from a large inventory of existing mine sites and oil and gas production operations. It is our goal to advance the use of CCUS processing technology that, on a global scale, provides an ESG-compliant future for a “Sustainable Energy Industry.”

Registration is available on RMAG’s website here: RMAG

About the Speaker:
Tom is a registered petroleum engineer who has over 37 years of upstream operations, reservoir, and M&A experience. He joined Marathon Oil in 1981 and spent the next 29 years overseeing operations in Wyoming, Utah, Texas, and Colorado. In 2010, he assumed a position as Business Development Manager for Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation, focusing on drilling JV’s and in Acquisitions and Divestitures which has successfully led to over $1 Billion in business transactions in the Bakken, DJ, Green River, and Uinta Basins.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from Montana Tech (1981), and is a registered Petroleum Engineer in Wyoming since 1986. He has been a member of SPE since 1978 and is active in several professional organizations and associations.

When: Wednesday, December 15, 2021 | 11:30 am-1:00 pm

Where: Denver Athletic Club | 1325 Glenarm Pl, Denver, CO 80204

Title: "SPE Gaia Sustainability Program Overview & Panel Session -
Perspectives on Sustainability in Oil and Gas"

Speakers:
Josh Etkind, Global Deepwater Digital Transformation Manager at Shell;  SPE
Gaia Chair
Johana Dunlop, IOGP Membership Engagement Manager; Founder and 2019-
2021 Chair - SPE Gaia Sustainability Program
Panelists:
Jim Crompton, Professor of Practice, Colorado School of Mines
David Stewart, VP Environmental Solutions and Regulatory Affairs, Project
Canary
Title: SPE Gaia Sustainability Program Overview & Panel Session -
Perspectives on Sustainability in Oil and Gas
Abstract:
As the world charts a path to net zero, the oil and gas industry is at the
epicenter of the pressure to change. A stark example is the need to address
methane emissions across exploration, production, processing, and

Abstract:
As the world charts a path to net zero, the oil and gas industry is at the
epicenter of the pressure to change. A stark example is the need to address
methane emissions across exploration, production, processing, and
distribution activities. Innovation is improving our ability to detect
emissions. The ability to measure what matters is providing engineers and
scientists with the data necessary to take corrective actions. Listening to
the challenges and communicating our progress is essential to establishing
credibility in a world with increasing focus on environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) responsibility. And, this goes far beyond methane
emission to include other challenges such as water stewardship, land
conservation, and the need to invent systems to support the energy
transformation.

This is a 2-pronged sustainability event:

1) Hear how the SPE Gaia Sustainability Program aims to empower those
at all levels within organizations to help address the planet’s
sustainability challenges.
2) Get panelist perspectives on sustainability activities that are impacting
the oil and gas industry. Colorado is active with initiatives that are
helping to make our industry more sustainable.

When: Thursday December 9th, 2021 | 12:00 pm MT

Where: Online AAPG Zoom

Description: 
The goal of this presentation is to identify opportunities to obtain funding or participate in a funded grant or federally funded contract that was awarded based on a response to a Call for Proposals. During the webinar, attendees will learn

• Key features of a grant
• Key features of a contract awarded in response to a Call for Proposals
• Who awards grants and contracts
• Eligibility for grants and contracts
• Where to find grant-makers and Calls for Proposals
• How to read a Call for Proposals
• The anatomy of a proposal
• Representations and certifications documentation
• Making connections and networking to learn of upcoming opportunities

 Registration is available on RMAG’s website here: Link
About the Speaker:
Susan Nash is currently Director of Innovation, Emerging Science and Technology at AAPG. She has many years of experience in writing and implementing both grants and contracts awarded by government and private sources.