October 2026 SPE WA Technical Evening Meeting
Chris Fair – SPE Distinguished Lecturer
About the Presentation:
Pro-Active Reservoir & Production Engineering Surveillance is the practice of observing and analyzing historic and real-time pressure, rate & temperature data, understanding the performance of a well/reservoir (and how/why it may be changing), then managing the well to maximize the Net Present Value (NPV) and/or reserves recovery. A surveillance engineer should also actively look for ways to improve a well’s performance.
In Well/Reservoir Management, there is a balance between maximizing short-term production rates and maximizing the long-term reserves recovery, with the overall goal being to maximize the net present value (NPV) of the asset. However, the parameters used to determine this balance are dynamic. Reservoirs and fractures can compact. Skin can accrete due to fines, scale, asphaltenes, fluid changes, or proppant movement. Drive mechanisms can change, faults can leak, frac hits can happen; water contacts can move.
The job of the surveillance engineer revolves around the tracking of how and why these parameters change, combined with evolving strategies to maximize the asset’s NPV. The lecture will demonstrate what effective Surveillance Engineering can accomplish. It will also describe the automated tools available to surveillance engineers, discuss the workflows of the engineering team using the automation, and demonstrate ways to present surveillance results, conclusions and recommendations to engineering managers and other decision makers in a clear and concise manner.
Major Take-Away: Automated Reservoir & Production Engineering Surveillance gives engineers more time to think about what the results mean – it’s much easier to check the results than to do the number crunching manually! Critically, this permits engineers to get ahead of problems before they cause permanent damage and/or become prohibitively expensive to fix.
About the Presenter:
Chris Fair received his BS in Chemical Engineering (1994) and his MS in Petroleum Engineering (1997) from the University of Houston. Early in his career, he worked in both the chemical industry and the upstream oil/gas sector. These included roles in process operations, project/design engineering, PVT and fluid mechanics research, well instrumentation, MWD/LWD, technical writing, and process control. In 1997, Chris joined Data Retrieval Corporation (SPIDR). In 2005, he started Oilfield Data Services, Inc. (ODSI), a firm that specializes in Reservoir Management and Production Engineering Surveillance, a professional passion. One of his principal pastimes is singing with the Houston Symphony Chorus.
About the Event
Date: Thursday, 8 October 2026
Location: Pulse Technology Hub
Address: 915 Hay St, Perth WA
Time: 4:45pm – 5:00pm Registration & Networking.
Time: 5:00pm – 5:50pm Opening remarks and presentation.
Time: 5:50pm – 6:00pm Q&A Session.
Time: 6:00pm – 7:30 pm Networking drinks & nibbles.
Concession tickets are available for Students, Retirees and Unemployed. SPE WA in conjunction with our sponsors is kindly sponsoring students to attend the monthly technical events. Please apply through your Student Chapter.