James Pappas is Vice President of Ultra-Deepwater Programs for RPSEA, the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, in Sugar Land, TX. He has held the positions of Global Technology Coordinator, Facilities Engineer in the Deepwater & International Well Engineering & Facilities Division, Deepwater Project Coordinator for Devon Energy in the past, as well as Production Engineer in the Gulf of Mexico Division for Devon, and Santa Fe Snyder prior to their merger. He has also held drilling,
completions, production, operations superintendent, reservoir, and acquisitions and divestitures (A&D) positions with Fina Oil and Chemical Company, UPRC, and Amoco Production Company.
He has been involved with the Society of Petroleum Engineers for 34 years. He is both a past SPE International Production and Operations Technical Director and SPE Technical Programs and Meetings Committee Chair, and is a former chair of the GCS Scholarship Committee, General Meeting, Drilling
Study Group, and SPE-Gulf Coast Section Board of Directors. He is a member of the GCS Scholarship and Awards & Nominating Committees and chairs the SPEI Production & Operations Awards Committee.
He has served on several technical program committees for meetings including: the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) , the Latin American Continental Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (LACPEC), the SPE R&D Conference, and the SPE Production & Operations (P&O) Conference. He is an invited organization Offshore Technology Conference Board member.
James is also a past Private Industry Practice Chair and Executive Committee member of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers and Texas Legislative and Governmental Affairs Committee and is a TSPE local chapter Director. He is also active in the American Petroleum Institute (API), National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE), Society of Underwater Technologists (SUT), and Marine Technical Society (MTS), and is a member of the University of Texas at Austin Engineering Advisory Board.
James has authored or contributed to over 80 papers or spoken at various conferences and interviews on various technical and professional topics including: Monte Carlo reservoir simulation, hydraulic
fracture analysis, well conformance remediation, subsea tiebacks, flow assurance issues, floating platform concepts, project management, drilling, government and the oil and gas industry, engineering, professionalism, recruiting, training and development, retention, volunteerism, and ethics.
James earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry with Math and Spanish minors, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1979. He graduated with a Master of Business Administration with highest honors from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1993.
He has earned numerous accolades including the SPE-Gulf Coast Section and SPE Gulf Coast Region Service Awards, as well as both the Houston Area Engineer of the Year in 2007 and Texas Engineer of the Year by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers in 2008, Distinguished Engineer in Texas by the Texas Engineering Foundation in 2008, and he received the SPE Distinguished Member and Distinguished Member Awards in 2012. He has been a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas since 1985.