Seven SLB experts have been named Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Distinguished Lecturers for 2026-2027 in recognition of their technical expertise and contributions across a range of energy disciplines.

Distinguished Lecturers are nominated by their peers and selected by the SPE Distinguished Lecturer Committee. They share their expertise with industry audiences around the world through presentations on topics ranging from artificial intelligence and drilling automation to production optimization and reservoir characterization.

The SLB experts and their presentation topics are:

Data Science and Engineering Analytics
Justo Matheus, principal engineer, “Everything is an Optimization Problem: The Next Frontier Using Data and Models.”

Shripad Biniwale, global business development manager, reservoir engineering, “Beyond the Hype: Transforming Subsurface and Production with AI Innovations.”

Drilling
Samba Ba, drilling and wellsite domain advisor, “Building an Industry 4.0 Agentic AI for Autonomous Directional Drilling.”

Production and Operations
Matthew Billingham, reservoir performance intervention technical director, “Well Interventions: Untapped Potential and the Path Past Industry Barriers.”

Bertrand Theuveny, technical director, well testing and production, “Cleanup and Flowback — The Art of Well Startup, Cleanup, and Flowback: From Deep Water to Unconventional.”

Reservoir
Chiara Cavalleri, petrophysics domain champion, “Log-Based Permeability: What Are We Measuring?”

Anke Simone Wendt, geomechanics domain head, “Geomechanical Insights for Operational Excellence — Does Strain Matter?”

The SPE Distinguished Lecturer Program recognizes technical experts for their contributions to the advancement of energy technology and industry knowledge.

To see the full list of 2026–2027 Distinguished Lecturers and their topics, visit the SPE announcement and discover the lecture series schedule.