Interview with 2013 SPE President Egbert Imomoh

Abstract

President's interview Egbert Imomoh, the nonexecutive chairman and a cofounder of Afren, a Pan African independent oil and gas company with assets in Africa and Kurdistan, is the 2013 SPE president. He will take office during the 2012 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in October in San Antonio. Imomoh joined the oil and gas industry in 1968, working with Shell in Nigeria as a petroleum engineer after basic training in the Netherlands. He worked in Nigeria, the UK, and the Netherlands and rose to the position of deputy managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, a position he held until his retirement in February 2002. After that, he worked with Shell International in London as a senior corporate adviser on Nigeria during 2002–04. Imomoh helped found Afren in 2004 and served as its managing director and executive chairman before assuming his current position. He led the growth of Afren’s Nigerian asset base, established a number of successful indigenous partnerships, and led the company to achieve its first oil milestone at the Okoro Setu project. He has been a member of SPE since 1973 and was a founding member of the SPE Nigerian Section. He was chairman of SPE Nigeria Council in 1986 and was named a Distinguished Member of SPE in 1999. Imomoh served as the first regional director for Africa on the SPE Board of Directors between 2000 and 2003, and was the chairman of the Board Committee on Educational and Professional Activities during 2002–03. He has been chairman of the Board of Trustees, SPE Nigeria Council, since 2007. Imomoh was named an SPE Honorary Member, the highest honor that SPE presents to an individual, this past year. Imomoh graduated with a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Birmingham, UK, and received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Port Harcourt this year. You served on the SPE Board of Directors during 2000–03. Coming back to the board as president now, have you observed any changes in SPE during the intervening years? Over the years, SPE has become even more international, increased its membership, and has continued to seek ways to serve its members better by organizing many more conferences and workshops, starting up new publications, and by creating regional offices to move its services closer to our members. SPE’s membership—now more than 100,000—has continued to grow even as other associations lose members. To what do you attribute this success? Our success can be attributed to a number of reasons. The board and staff have always focused on member needs; they foresaw the need to attract young members and created a student membership program that took off like a rocket. Our technical information offerings have continued to grow and, where necessary, we have formed partnerships with other associations that have strengthened our ability to deliver first-class technical programs at very competitive pricing.