Comments: New Horizons, New Challenges: ATCE 2026 Returns to Houston

It’s that time of year again in Houston. From 21 to 23 October, SPE will host thousands of oil and gas industry professionals at its 102nd Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The theme of this year’s gathering is Exploring New Horizons with Innovative Solutions, which also serves as a call to action. Over the past decade, the industry has undergone tremendous change, and technology has often been central to how it has adapted. Over that span, we experienced the 2014 to 2016 oil price crash, which upended countless companies and led to massive layoffs across the industry. In January 2014, Brent crude traded above $107/bbl. A year later, it had fallen to little more than $50/bbl. The slide continued, and by January 2016 prices had dropped to roughly $32.50/bbl. The 2-year downturn that ushered in the era of “lower for longer” was driven in large part by the technological advances that enabled the rise of the North American shale revolution. Markets ultimately recognized that tight oil had materially altered the global supply picture. Just as the industry regained its footing, prices swung sharply again in 2018. Brent climbed to a 4-year high of about $86/bbl in October before falling to $50/bbl by December. During this downturn, particularly among US tight-oil and -gas producers, capital discipline became the defining business strategy as companies faced renewed pressure to improve returns while controlling spending. The pain was real. US oil and gas companies with significant shale exposure collectively lost nearly 30% of their value, while oilfield service providers saw approximately 40% erased from their market capitalization during the downturn. Few in the industry need to be reminded of the disruption that accompanied the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that swept the industry off its feet just 1 year later. Economies around the world slowed dramatically. Highways emptied, airports went silent, and supply chains were broken. For those of us in the upstream sector, the market shock produced another seemingly unimaginable event. As Brent crude fell to about $14/bbl in April 2020, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) briefly traded at negative prices, reaching –$37.63/bbl as storage constraints and market dislocation forced overextended traders to offload positions at almost any cost. But 2 years later, economies reopened and the pandemic receded. Negative oil prices became something of a historical anomaly. Then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 sent energy markets into another period of turmoil, driving Brent crude above $125/bbl. That was 4 years ago. And prices retreated again as the world speculated that we were facing yet another oil glut. At the start of this year, many expected oil prices to settle into a range near $60/bbl. Instead, ongoing geopolitical tensions have once again defied market expectations. With the conflict between the US and Iran stretching out for more than 6 months, both Brent and WTI climbed above $100/bbl in September amid supply disruptions and growing concerns over global inventories. This brief walk down memory lane brings us back to ATCE’s theme this year of new horizons and innovative solutions. Over the past decade, the industry has repeatedly been forced to do more with less. The upside of these painful episodes is that producers today are more efficient than ever before and are generating record levels of production with fewer resources than many would have considered possible only a decade ago. But even as we look at $100/bbl oil prices today, few are cheering for them to go higher. The industry understands there is a breaking point for consumers and that demand destruction tends to have significant and lasting consequences. At ATCE, attendees will hear how some of the world’s leading energy producers are dealing with all this uncertainty, which many consider to be a hallmark of our new normal. Discussions will also address the industry’s effort to decarbonize while still helping billions of people get to work, keep their lights on, and heat their homes. Attendees will also learn more about the industry’s digital transformation, which has now been supercharged by the advent of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) programs, often referred to as frontier models. The rise of AI has been anticipated for years, but the widespread excitement, controversy, and debate surrounding its capabilities suggest that we are truly entering a new era of computing and software. Where AI ultimately leads us all remains difficult to predict. What is clear is that the industry’s mission remains unchanged. The business must continue to operate safely, remain resilient in the face of market uncertainty, and responsibly deliver the energy needed to fuel economic progress. New technologies, particularly AI, will play a major role in this effort if they are able to enhance human expertise and help organizations make better decisions. Several industry leaders will share their perspectives on these topics during ATCE’s Opening General Session. Moderated by 2026 SPE President Jennifer Miskimins, the panel will feature Ahmed Alebri, CEO of ADNOC Onshore; Peter Larden, senior vice president of upstream, conventional, and heavy oil for ExxonMobil; Lorenzo Simonelli, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes; and Ezra Yacob, chairman and CEO of EOG Resources. Additional panels and technical sessions will explore topics including agentic AI, growing energy demand from data centers, and the challenge of improving recovery from unconventional reservoirs as many of the most productive US shale plays continue to mature. One more thing that attendees can expect to find in the SPE Pavilion this year is a special print edition of JPT, produced in partnership with the not-for-profit organization Project InnerSpace. The special issue features original JPT articles and technical paper synopses focused on next-generation geothermal systems. Our goal is to help oil and gas professionals better understand how the industry’s expertise, technologies, and decades of subsurface experience can contribute to the progress being made in this growing field of subsurface engineering. It is an exciting time for the oil and gas industry, but it is not free of major challenges. At ATCE, many of those challenges will be discussed and debated by the engineers, scientists, executives, and technical professionals working to identify practical solutions. I hope many of you will be part of those conversations and help shape the future of our industry when you return to your organizations. As I often do, I would also like to thank the many SPE members and volunteers who have devoted countless hours to organizing ATCE and the SPE’s other events throughout the year. Their efforts help make SPE the industry’s unrivaled forum for advancing petroleum engineering knowledge and sharing technical expertise. Much of that work takes place behind the scenes, but it is deeply appreciated by all of us at JPT. For more information about ATCE 2026 and to register, please visit the conference website.