General Chair Welcome

Welcome to the official IOR 2010 website. On April 24^th to 28^th, 2010, we will host the Seventeenth Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This long-running series is sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and brought to you by its Mid-Continent Section, which is celebrating their 92^nd anniversary and was the first professional organization of petroleum engineers.

This Symposium’s theme, “Today’s Technology for Tomorrow’s Energy” reflects the past accomplishments, current strides and future directions that have moved and will continue to move ideas from the research labs to the field. According to the most recent Oil and Gas Journal EOR Survey, there are over 230 producing fields in North America undergoing various enhanced recovery techniques. This represents a significant and growing portion of the North American oil production. An additional 126 EOR projects are listed as ongoing in South America, Europe, and Asia. And in spite of today’s price volatility, 32 new projects are planned worldwide. Plus there are the widespread opportunities that everyone knows will arise as the carbon capture and sequestration movement matures.

As worldwide demand for oil grows and new discoveries become more challenging, technically and economically, the leading-edge IOR technologies presented at this conference will be increasingly applied on a global scale. As evidence of the international interest in new developments, there were delegates from 35 countries attending and presenting papers at the 2008 SPE IOR Symposium. The global potential is enormous and the technologies presented at this conference—many of which were developed for U.S. applications—will help unlock global reserves as they mature.

I invite you to actively participate in the conference, either by submitting a paper proposal, sponsoring an event, exhibiting your services or products, or attending the conference. Whatever your role or interest—producer, vendor, faculty member, student, policy maker, regulator, investment analyst, or other interested party—you can gain insights and knowledge that you can apply now, not years in the future. Key elements of the Symposium include the technical sessions, the plenary session, poster sessions, and the exhibit hall.

Join us in Tulsa for the Seventeenth Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery. I look forward to seeing you there. We’ll all learn something, and enjoy it in the process.

Dwight Rychel
General Chair, IOR 2010