Engineering Education and Energy Resources

This paper was prepared for the 41st Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Dallas, Tex., Oct. 2–5, 1966. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. I have been looking forward to this annual meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers with much anticipation. It is not often that I get to address a group that is so closely associated with the early days of the Bureau of Mines, the Federal agency that I now am privileged to direct. Indeed, many of you personally know how the history of the Bureau and that of petroleum engineering are entwined as the shift from a geological to an engineering orientation took place, as fundamental knowledge about reservoir rock and fluid properties was obtained, and as this knowledge was incorporated into operating principles. Hence, this meeting is a happy occasion for me. As petroleum and natural-gas engineers, you are directly involved in providing the United States and the world with the major portion of present energy needs. You know the statistics of this energy need and I will not reiterate them here. It is sufficient to say that the expanding industrialization in the world, which some have described as the second industrial revolution, is and will continue to be based on an adequate supply of energy resources. Obviously, we must think globally when we consider fuels such as petroleum and natural gas or other materials of mineral origin. We are by no means deficient in these resources. We must, however, face up to the realities that are inherent in our position. As our economy and our population grow, the more we may find it necessary to augment domestic supplies of these raw materials with imports. International competition for raw materials also is on the rise as the nations of the world become increasingly aware of the necessity of sustaining their own expanding industrialization. To maximize and prolong our fuel and mineral self-sufficiency we must expand, augment, and diversify our own resource base. We can achieve this objective through technology, for technology is the key to making the most out of what nature has given us. You in the petroleum industry have come a long way in developing and applying technology since first locating surface seeps as a means of exploring for oil and gas. You have utilized the sophisticated science of geophysics. You have developed a drilling technology that has led not only to increased efficiency and decreased costs, but also to offshore searches for oil and gas in water depths not thought possible a number of years ago; and you have developed improved primary production methods, and the understanding and widespread use of secondary recovery techniques such as water and steam stimulation that are expected to account for half of all of our oil production by 1980.