Chairperson's Message

May 2023

Dear Section Members, 

It is my honor and privilege to present to you the 2023-2024 SPE Dallas Board of Directors:

The Board thanks the incoming members for volunteering to serve in leadership positions for the Dallas Section. 

I would like to thank the outgoing Board members for their service, and I’d like to specially acknowledge Mr. Danny Bell for his contributions to the Dallas Section. Danny is stepping down from the Board after over 20 years of service. He has worked on all available Board positions and mentored countless volunteers over the years, including myself. Danny, your many years of service to the Dallas Section is a true testimony of your dedication to the organization, we truly appreciate and value your contributions.

I hope to see you at our upcoming events. Please feel free to contact me with comments, concerns, or questions.

Sincerely,

Joseph Fu

Joseph.Fu@pxd.com

February 2023

Section members, 

I hope you are having a great week and were safe and warm through the ice storm.

Today, I would like to acknowledge two of our section members for their contributions to the SPE community.

Please join me in congratulating Oscar Gabaldon, Drilling Technologies Development Manager with Blade Energy Partners, as our 2023 Engineer of the Year. Oscar is recognized for expanding the technical knowledge base of the SPE community, specifically in the field of drilling engineering. He has published six technical papers with topics ranging from casing and cementing to drilling fluids and materials since 2020. Thank you, Oscar, for your contributions to SPE.

We are also proud to acknowledge Anjali Jha, Sales Executive with DistributionNOW, as this year’s Young Engineer of the Year. Anjali serves as the Programs Chair and has done a tremendous job bringing in a variety of topics to our technical program events. We are grateful to Anjali for her dedication and contributions to the section.

I encourage all of you to reach out to both Oscar and Anjali and personally congratulate them for their achievements and dedications to SPE.

Here are the bios of our Engineer of the Year and Young Engineer of the Year:

Oscar Gabaldon is the Drilling Technologies Development Manager at Blade Energy Partners. After leading Blade’s global Operations Group for eight years, Oscar is now tasked with linking the developments from the engineering group with the day-to-day operations, integrating operations into Blade’s R&D program, as well as overseeing Blade’s advanced training programs.

After earning an Agronomical Engineering degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela, Oscar started his career in the oil and gas industry over 25 years ago with M-I Drilling Fluids and then with Weatherford, mainly in Underbalanced and Managed Pressure Drilling projects. With Blade, Oscar has led research, development, planning, and implementation of non-conventional drilling technologies in cutting-edge projects in land and deep water with a focus on MPD and Well Design optimization and has recently been involved in geothermal and CCUS projects. Over the past 14 years, Oscar has taught more than 65 UBD and MPD design and operations classes, contributing to advancing the career development of over 800 O&G professionals.

Oscar has authored and co-authored multiple industry papers, recently with an emphasis on MPD, well control, and well design, and is a technical peer reviewer for journal publications for SPE. He has served continuously since 2009 in the IADC UBO&MPD Committee, including Chairing the Committee twice in the past. During this time, Oscar has contributed to shaping industry best practices, including API RP92U, API RP92M, and API RP92S, and currently leading the development of Riser Gas Handling Guidelines. Oscar holds two US patents for technology improvement designs for optimizing non-conventional drilling techniques in deep water.

Oscar lives in Frisco and is just about to celebrate his 24th wedding anniversary with his wife Dulce. They have two wonderful kids (well, no longer kids!), Joaquin (21) and Marcela (18), who enjoy family outdoor outings with a preference for beach trips and playing lots of board games. When he is not working, Oscar enjoys cooking and woodworking at home, and taking on ambitious (according to Dulce) construction projects.

Anjali Jha is a Sales Executive at DistributionNOW. She provides technical feedback to clients as they make product selections for the upstream market while maintaining customer relationships throughout the DFW area. Anjali started her career as a field engineer, where she was exposed to fracturing in south Texas. Her experience began in Texas, routed her through the Rockies, including the frozen Bakken, and finally moved to Dallas in 2020. While her experience has been in engineering, Anjali quickly found that the skills she learned while being in the field along with her outgoing personality were a perfect mesh for sales.

As a native of Denver, CO she graduated in 2012 with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines. Anjali's family has always had a strong engineering background. Her dad, brother, several cousins are engineers, and she even married into an engineering family.

Anjali knew at a young age she wanted to be an engineer but more importantly, a leader in the community. Anjali was very active while at Mines with the local Girl Scout Troops, especially during Introduce the Troop to STEM Day, where the troop would perform science projects and see women in industry. She also volunteered with other minority organizations on campus to tutor inner-city students in math and science. Being a natural-born leader, Anjali completed her MBA from Texas A&M in 2020. At DistributionNOW, Anjali currently serves as the Co-Chair for the Women’s ERG and for the last year is the Dallas SPE Programs Chair.

Anjali married her longtime boyfriend, Jonathan, in 2020. Her best friend is her dog, Pepper, a Sheepadoodle. You'll always catch Anjali with a smile on her face and an inviting hello, unless you catch her coaching CrossFit, then she'll make you work hard but leave with a smile. Her activities include all things health and fitness, reading, CrossFit, Yoga, cheering on the Broncos, and international travel. 

September 2022

Dear section members,

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend and are enjoying the cooler weather here in Dallas!

I want to provide you with the sign-up links to our upcoming events. Thanks to our volunteers, September will be another exciting month packed with speakers and activities.

September 21^st: Post Covid Trends in Well Performance with Thad Toups

            Link: Monthly Meeting - Post Covid Trends in Well Performance with Thad Toups (spe.org)

September 22^nd: Young Professionals’ Event - Bar Louie at the Shops at Park Lane – Sponsored by Techstar

            Link: September 2022 Young Professionals Event - Dallas Section (spe.org)

September 28^th: Application of Fractional Diffusion in Unconventional Reservoirs with Dr. Weichun Chu

            Link: Application of Fractional Diffusion in Unconventional Reservoirs (spe.org)

We are also bringing back one of our signature events since Covid, the Shoot for Your School Sporting Clay Tournament is back this year, make sure you register your team for this event, space is limited!

            Link: 16th Annual Sporting Clays Tournament (spe.org)

I hope to see you at our upcoming events. As always, please feel free to contact me with comments, concerns, or questions.

Sincerely,

Joseph Fu

Joseph.Fu@PXD.com

August 2022

July 2022

Dear Section Members,

It is my distinct honor to serve as the 2022-2023 chairman of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Dallas Section.

The volunteer SPE Dallas Board of Directors is here to serve you, all 1,069 members to ensure that you get the most out of your SPE membership. This year, as we move past the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, our officers are working hard to bring back more in-person meetings and social events. We thank you for your continued support.

Please allow me to introduce our section officers and their responsibilities, and feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or suggestions:

• Alex Shih – Vice Chair/Chairman Elect: monitors section activities and explores opportunities to increase member engagement
• Ana Trevino – Scholarships: manages scholarship application process and distributes funds to students
• Anjali Jha – Programs Chair: organizes speakers for monthly meetings
• Cal Lundberg – Information: communications via event notifications, reminders, and newsletters
• Colin Beasley – Advertising: maintains relationships with current sponsors and attracts new sponsors to the section
• Danny Bell – Community Relations: serves as point of contact for speaking opportunities and engagement in the community including Energy4Me
• David Hamilton – Awards: responsible for regional, national, and international award nominations
• Jamie Heinecke and Madeleine McBee – Treasurer: manage the financial affairs
• Lindsey Kuehner – Digital Engagement: manages LinkedIn page and engages with community through social media platforms
• Orhan Pashayev – Secretary: responsible for ensuring Board meeting arrangements and record keeping
• Patrick PJ Edsall and Clayton Conine – Sports & Social: plan annual Sporting Clays Tournament, Golf Tournament, and Casino Nights
• Pragnya Maruwada – Past Chairperson: assists with board position training, succession planning, and transition of officers and fills committee or sub-committee roles as needed
• Randy Klein – Volunteering Events: organizes community volunteering events such as Future City Competition
• Robert Martinez – Membership Chair: monitors membership trends, membership retention, and engagement
• Sercan Gul – Technology: responsible for SPE Dallas website, event postings, and content maintenance
• Sophie Yi – Education Chair: organizes speakers for monthly study group meetings and summer seminars
• Tara Sharma – Young Professionals Chair: engages with young professionals through various events

Finally, we have some exciting speakers and upcoming events, make sure to check out the SPE Dallas website and LinkedIn to register for the events:

7/20/2022 “The rapidly changing optics of the energy industry emissions” featuring Kevin Hendricks, Environmental Engineering Technical Lead of Denbury Resources.

7/21/2022 Young Professional Event at Katy Trail Ice House Sponsored by Pioneer Natural Resources.

I hope to see you at our upcoming events. Please feel free to contact me with comments, concerns, or questions.

Sincerely,

Joseph Fu

Joseph.Fu@PXD.com