08 November 2019 SPE Section --- 20th Anniversary 08-09 November 2019 ▪ Villahermosa, TAB Mexico

OPENING SESSION 09:00 08 November 2019

REMARKS – 5 Minutes Tom Blasingame 2021 SPE President Texas A&M University

Good Morning — our distinguished guests, industry colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. It is my personal and professional pleasure to welcome you all to this 20th anniversary celebration of the Mexico Section of the Society of Engineers (or SPE).

Of course, the role of Mexico in the SPE goes back several generations and includes many major milestone contributions to petroleum technology in areas such as:

● Naturally-fractured reservoirs ● Production of non-Newtonian fluids ● Production of heavy oil ● Primary and secondary enhanced oil recovery ● Production of tight and ultra-tight gas (Burgos basin) ● Reservoir modelling ● Well performance analysis ● Inflow performance relationships ● (and last but not least) Solutions/models for fractured wells

Just to name a few topics.

In addition, Mexico has contributed much to our knowledge in the geoscience aspects of carbonate and naturally fractured reservoirs. In short, Mexico has a proud and honored tradition of providing substantial technical contributions to the SPE and I am SPE Mexico Section ‐‐‐ 20th Anniversary (Page 2 of 3) 08‐09 November 2019 ▪ Villahermosa, TAB Mexico Opening Session – Remarks – Tom Blasingame here in no small part to thank you for past contributions and to look forward to what you will do in the future.

To say we live in interesting (or more appropriately, challenging) times comes as a surprise to no one in this room. In times like these we must re-commit ourselves to the basic principles of the SPE — specifically, to provide for the development and dissemination of innovative and enabling technologies for the upstream hydrocarbon industry.

As your 2021 SPE President, one of my primary goals is to encourage (if not demand) that our members make their very best efforts to create and disseminate the best possible technical contributions. The global energy industry is going through a unique and truly substantive transformation, as an industry we must not only become more efficient, but we must also engage the public more effectively in what we do and how much positive benefit we provide society. In addition, we must ensure that we inspire the next generation, the challenges they face will be transformative — the role of hydrocarbons will become even more important to society — even if society does not know or appreciated that this will be the case.

On a completely personal note, I am truly honored to be here — I hope that everyone in this room understands the significance of my statement that "I am Mexican who speaks very poor Spanish." In several ways my career "started" in Mexico. In terms of my technical contributions some of my most impactful papers were presented here in the 1990s/early 2000s and I taught regularly on well performance analysis in Mexico in the early 2000s for PEMEX, UNAM, and U. . In the mid-2000s I literally began my "SPE service journey" by co-chairing a number of workshops (primarily with Dr. Rodolfo Camacho if I may add my thanks to working with him) and I co-chaired some conferences as well. I have a profound personal gratitude for the opportunity to serve and contribute in Mexico, and I mean no insult to say SPE Mexico Section ‐‐‐ 20th Anniversary (Page 3 of 3) 08‐09 November 2019 ▪ Villahermosa, TAB Mexico Opening Session – Remarks – Tom Blasingame that I am proud to be the first SPE President from Mexico (if you will have me).

My sincerest personal thanks for the invitation to participate in this celebration of Mexico's contributions to the SPE. As your 2021 SPE President, my stated goal is to engage, enable, and inspire every SPE member. Ambitious, yes — unwise for my health, probably. However; I know that every one of our SPE members want to contribute to this industry. I ask directly that every SPE member contribute to our industry in a manner suited to their skills and passions — write a paper, serve on a committee, work with young professionals, mentor a young (or old) engineer — contribute where and when you can, but don't go on vacation or early retirement in terms of your skills and commitment. We need your help!

I thank you ladies and gentlemen for attending and contributing to this event, and I again thank you for my invitation to join you here. As my absolutely final words, I thank you on behalf of the SPE for all of the technical contributions made to our industry by the Mexican upstream petroleum sector as many of these contributions have enabled technical and economic development on a global scale.