Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts

The Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) is a 501c3[1] nonprofit corporation formed in 1959[2][3] and concerned with the science of petrophysics, well logging and formation evaluation. SPWLA has approximately 2500 members.[4] The SPWLA's mission is to increase the awareness of petrophysics, formation evaluation and well logging best practices in the oil and gas industry and the scientific community at large.

Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA)
Founded1959
TypeProfessional Organization
PurposeTo promote advancement and education in petrophysical sciences
Members
2500+
Key people
Jesus M. Salazar (2019-2020 President), Jim Hemingway (President Elect), Sharon Johnson (Executive Director)
Websitewww.spwla.org

Chapters

The original chapters were started in Oklahoma in 1959 in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Expansion of the Society has always followed the petroleum industry boom and bust cycle. The downturn in the 1980s, late 1990s and 2010s[5] severely impacted the society's membership. In 1983 there were over 70 chapters and 4200 members but as changes in industry demographics occurred several chapters have been shut down. Listed in Table 1 are the active chapters at present.

Table 1: Active Professional Chapters as of 2018
North America Year Formed Latin America Year Formed Middle East and Africa Year Formed Europe Year Formed Asia Pacific/Australia Year Formed Chapter At Large Year Formed
Bakersfield 1979 Argentina 2000 Abu Dhabi 2003 Aberdeen 1982 Australia (FESAus) 2007 Society of Core Analysts 1982
Boston 2014 Brazil 2002 Angola 2001 France (SAID) 1966 Queensland (FESQ) 2001 Acoustic SIG 2013
Dallas 1962 Colombia (café) 2000 Dubai 2010 London (LPS) 1973 Bangkok 1998 Formation Testing SIG
Denver 1964 Mexico 1976 Egypt 1993 Netherlands (DPS) 1993 East China 1986 Nuclear Logging SIG
Houston 1961 Kuwait 2008 Norway (NFES) 1981 India 2010
Lafayette 1965 Nigeria 1989 Indonesia (FESI) 2003
Permian Basin - Midland 1962 Oman 2007 Japan (JFES) 1994
New Orleans 1964 Saudi Arabia(SPS) 2003 Malaysia (FESM) 1999
Oklahoma City 1959
Trinidad/Tobago (FESTT) 2006
Tulsa 1959
Map of SPWLA chapters as of 2018, Blue dot denotes SPWLA headquarters in Houston, Tx

Annual Technical Symposium

The SPWLA holds an annual symposium which is held in alternating locations between the US and various international venues.[2][6] The most recent symposium was held in the Old Billingsgate Market in London in June 2018.[6] The next symposium will be held in The Woodlands,TX. The Transactions of the SPWLA are currently hosted on the Society of Petroleum Engineer's website Onepetro.org [7][8][9] Annual symposiums are selected from chapters who self-nominate. This is unusual among major technical associations. For this reason the symposium has been held in the same place multiple times.

Currently, the SPWLA only holds a single oral presentation track at the symposiums, with only one talk at a time, and therefore only accepts around 60 oral papers each year. Because Petrophysics is a narrower discipline, the Board has decided attendees should not have to choose between parallel paper tracks. This also makes it difficult to get a paper accepted by the technical committee for the symposium. Annual acceptance rates are typically below 25% of abstracts submitted.[10] Many of the other societies in the petroleum industry hold multiple tracks at their respective conferences and are typically organized around subject matter or discipline.

Table of Past Symposia
Venue Year Venue Year Venue Year Venue Year
Tulsa 1960 New Orleans 1975 Lafayette 1990 New Orleans 2005
Dallas 1961 Denver 1976 Midland 1991 Veracruz (Mexico) 2006
Houston 1962 Houston 1977 Oklahoma City 1992 Austin 2007
Oklahoma City 1963 Midland (El Paso) 1978 Calgary 1993 Edinburgh (Scotland) 2008
Midland 1964 Tulsa 1979 Tulsa 1994 The Woodlands, TX 2009
Dallas 1965 Lafayette 1980 Paris 1995 Perth (Australia) 2010
Tulsa 1966 Mexico City 1981 New Orleans 1996 Colorado Springs 2011
Denver 1967 Corpus Christi 1982 Houston 1997 Cartagena (Colombia) 2012
New Orleans 1968 Calgary 1983 Keystone (Denver) 1998 New Orleans, LA 2013
Houston 1969 New Orleans 1984 Oslo 1999 Abu Dhabi (UAE) 2014
Los Angeles 1970 Dallas 1985 Dallas 2000 Long Beach, CA 2015
Dallas 1971 Houston 1986 Houston 2001 Reykjavik, Iceland 2016
Tulsa 1972 London 1987 Oiso (Japan) 2002 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 2017
Lafayette 1973 San Antonio 1988 Galveston 2003 London, United Kingdom 2018
Corpus Christi (McAllen) 1974 Denver 1989 Noordwijk (Netherlands) 2004 Woodlands, Tx 2019
SPWLA membership growth in the 1960s

Board of Directors

The SPWLA is run by an elected board that consists of the following officers. The President and President Elect serve 1 year terms with the President Elect becoming the President upon completion. The other officers serve two year terms. The Executive Director is appointed by the Board of Directors. Additionally the Board has regional directors from each of the major worldwide oil and gas bearing regions who also serve a two-year term.[11]

Publications of the Society
Modern Cover of Petrophysics Journal as of 2018

The SPWLA publishes a bi-monthly peer reviewed technical journal, Petrophysics, and a bi-monthly newsletter, SPWLA Today.[7][12]

Petrophysics

Petrophysics contains technical articles that include the latest contributions in applied and theoretical aspects of formation evaluation. Petrophysics typically includes 5-7 technical articles and may also have tutorials on more fundamental techniques. The magazine has evolved over the years from a humble newsletter to a widely respected peer reviewed journal.[7] Over 200+ technical papers are published each year by the SPWLA in Petrophysics and in the transactions from the annual symposium.[9] Papers published in Petrophysics are available to members on the SPWLA website.[12] Additionally papers can be downloaded for a fee at Onepetro.org.[7]

SPWLA Today

SPWLA Today is an electronic only newsletter that covers the news and social aspects of the society. The newsletter was launched in 2016 and typically contains updates from the board, chapter activities, and a very popular haiku section. Previously this content was included in Petrophysics after the technical content.[12]

References
  1. "Certificate of Incorporation". www.sos.ok.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  2. "SPWLA History". www.spwla.org. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  3. Pasternack, Eric (Summer 2009). "A Concise History of the SPWLA". Transactions of the 50th annual symposium of the SPWLA.
  4. "SPWLA list of Chapters".
  5. McCain, Bruce. "The Facts Behind Oil's Price Collapse". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  6. "Symposia Locations And Conferences". www.spwla.org. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  7. "Transactions of the SPWLA". Onepetro.org.
  8. "Transactions of the 59th SPWLA Symposium". Research Gate.
  9. "Timeline of SPWLA publications". Worldcat.org.
  10. Salazar, Jesus (March 2018). "Vice President Technology Column" (PDF). SPWLA Today. 1: 8 – via SPWLA.org.
  11. "Board of Directors". www.spwla.org. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  12. "Publications of SPWLA". www.spwla.org. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
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