While Saudi Aramco received top billing for its mega-project achievements and sponsored key functions at the 2006 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held recently in San Antonio, one of its own official also reached the highest office of SPE for the coming year - president. Abdul Jaleel A. Al-Khalifa, earlier honored by SPE as a distinguished lecturer and distinguished member, was formally installed as the society's incoming leader, to serve the next 12 months - a period of high excitement and expectations for the global petroleum industry. He is the first SPE president from Asia and Africa. Al-Khalifa, manager of the Petroleum Engineering Department, will preside over conferences and board meetings in addition to setting strategies. "What a magnificent legacy I am inheriting," Al-Khalifa told an audience of 1,000 members at the Presidential Luncheon and Annual Meeting. "I am following in the footsteps of shining stars in the oil industry." Al-Khalifa credited his predecessors and the nearly 70,000 members of SPE for continuing the quest toward technical progress. But more focus will be needed, he said, on such "people issues" as career planning, ethics, leadership and mentoring. Those will receive close attention during his term. Al-Khalifa also outlined his goals for the society to achieve the "quantum leaps" in people and technology needed over the next 15 years. Among them are to establish a summit meeting of SPE leaders in 2007 to address such concerns. "When people are fully engaged, they draw on their utmost intellectual power, become more committed, and ultimately become happier and more satisfied in their jobs," he earlier told the editor of the Journal of Petroleum Technology. He also plans to help migrate technology to the Middle East and encourage the private sector to embark on mega-projects to support expanding activities. Back in Saudi Arabia, Al-Khalifa spoke about developing an energy city in the Gulf area to promote engineering services and technology development. His ultimate objective, he said, is to position Saudi Arabia as the leader not only in production and reserves but also in technology and engineering. That would help diversify Saudi income, offer thousands of employment opportunities and help sustain the prosperity of future generations, he was quoted as saying in a report carried yesterday by Saudi Aramco's web-site. "While OPEC deals with oil prices and production targets," he said, "SPE focuses on people and technology." Saudi Aramco was clearly visible even among some 450 exhibitors at the conference. Aramco Services Co. staff from Houston supported the Petroleum Engineering Organization's efforts to seek promising job candidates. Technical presentations featured Saudi Aramco speakers throughout the three-day conference. --MORE
