Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is a trade association for engineers, scientists, and related professionals working in the oil and gas industry in 138 countries. Robert Bryce, an American author, identified the Society of Petroleum Engineers as a “top association that [supports] hydrocarbon producers and distributors.” ¹

Background

Society of Petroleum Engineers began as a committee within the American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME). AIME was founded in 1871 in Pennsylvania to advance the production of metals, minerals, and energy resources through the application of engineering. In 1913, a standing committee on oil and gas was created as a part of AIME and was the origin of SPE. Yhr group has grown since and now has more than 119,000 members in 138 countries. ²

Resources

Society of Petroleum Engineers provides a forum for oil and natural gas professionals to exchange technical knowledge and best practices. SPE also hosts more than 100 events each year across the world as well as provides online tools and in-person training opportunities. ³

SPE’s technical library, OnePetro, contains more than 220,000 technical papers that are products of SPE conferences and periodicals and are made available to the entire industry. ⁴ Members get access to 10 papers per year. ⁵

SPE has offices in Dallas and Houston, Texas; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; London, England; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ⁶

Spending

In February 2023, author Robert Bryce published “The Anti-Industry Industry: What the media won’t tell you about the $4.5 billion-per-year NGO-corporate-industrial-climate complex.” In the article, he detailed that most of the money involved in the energy and climate debate in the U.S. today is not on the side of traditional energy producers, mentioning the Society of Petroleum Engineers as one such lobbying group for traditional energy. Bryce showed through public records that the top 25 anti-hydrocarbon/anti-nuclear NGOs had total revenue of about $4.5 billion, whereas the the top 25 non-profit associations that represent hydrocarbon producers (including the Society of Petroleum Engineers) and the nuclear energy industry, as well as their allies in the think tank sector, raised only $990 million. ⁷

Leadership

Mark Rubin has been executive director of the Society of Petroleum Engineers since 2001. Before that, he worked at the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for the oil and gas industry.

1. ^[1] Robert Bryce. “The Billionaires Behind The Gas Bans.” Substack. January 26, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/the-billionaires-behind-the-gas-bans.
2. “History of SPE.” Society of Petroleum Engineers. Accessed April 4, 2023. https://www.spe.org/en/about/history/.
3. ^[1] “Member Benefits.” Society of Petroleum Engineers. Accessed March 16, 2023. https://www.spe.org/en/members/benefits/.
4. “Member Benefits.” Society of Petroleum Engineers. Accessed March 16, 2023. https://www.spe.org/en/members/benefits/.
5. “Member Benefits.” Society of Petroleum Engineers. Accessed April 4, 2023. https://www.spe.org/en/members/benefits/.
6. “About Us.” SPE. Accessed March 16, 2023. https://www.spe.org/en/about/.
7. Robert Bryce. “The Anti-Industry Industry.” Substack. February 18, 2023. Accessed March 19, 2023. https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/the-anti-industry-industry.