Medhat M. Kamal 2023 SPE President

Abstract

Medhat (Med) M. Kamal Medhat (Med) M. Kamal is a Chevron Fellow Emeritus and an Honorary Member of SPE. He previously worked for Cairo University, Amoco Production Company, Flopetrol Schlumberger, and ARCO Exploration and Production Company. Kamal has more than 45 years of industry experience in well testing, reservoir description, and production and reservoir engineering. He was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer in 1997–1998 and 2018–2019 during which he presented his lectures more than 80 times in 35 countries. He served as a member and chairman of SPE Annual Meeting Well Testing subcommittee and textbook and monograph committees, and as executive editor, associate editor, and technical reviewer for SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering and the Journal of Petroleum Technology. He chaired the first SPE conference on research and development in 2007 and the Western Regional Meeting (2019). He served on the boards of directors of Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast, Dallas, and Golden Gate sections of SPE and chaired the Dallas and Golden Gate sections. He also served on the SPE International Board of Directors (2007–2009) as the Regional Director of Western North America. Kamal has been recognized with several regional and international awards including the SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Medal, SPE Formation Evaluation Award, SPE Distinguished Service Award, SPE North and East Texas Regional Service Award, and the Texas Petroleum Engineer of the Year Award. He holds a BSc in petroleum engineering and an MSc in engineering from Cairo University and an MS and PhD in petroleum engineering with a minor in computer science from Stanford University. Let’s begin with a brief introduction of the theme you’ve selected for your presidency, Petroleum++. What will you be emphasizing? There are three elements to this theme: petroleum, the first plus, and the second plus. Let me explain them one at a time. “Petroleum” refers to the challenges petroleum engineers face now and for the foreseeable future to provide the world with the hydrocarbon energy it needs. By hydrocarbons, I mean oil and natural gas, not coal. We can think of the entities that study and predict the world’s future need for energy as three groups: the government entities like the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the European Union International Energy Agency (IEA); the major international operators like ExxonMobil, Shell, etc.; and the national oil companies. The predictions provided by all three groups indicate the oil and natural gas share in the energy mix may decline slightly from a little over 50% currently to a little below 50% by 2050. However, the needed volume of hydrocarbons will increase as the world population moves from around 8 billion now to about 9.8 billion in 30 years and as the standard of living continues to improve in the developing regions such as Africa and Asia. When we look at the world’s current reserves and the current technology to produce these, you can add things up and see that we must continue our technical advancements to meet the growing demand for energy.