The annual awards gala of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2026 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) was held in Houston, Texas, on the evening of October 22 local time. At the event, Professor Sun Baojiang of China University of Petroleum (East China) received the 2026 SPE Drilling Engineering Award. The award recognizes his pioneering contributions to wellbore multi-phase flow theory and well control technologies in deep and deepwater drilling. Established in 1984, the award is presented annually to only one recipient worldwide. Professor Sun is the first Chinese scholar to receive this honor.
Professor Sun Baojiang Receives the 2026 SPE Drilling Engineering Award
Professor Sun Baojiang is a renowned Chinese expert in oil and gas well engineering. For more than four decades, he has dedicated himself to research on wellbore multi-phase flow theory and control technologies, and has been actively engaged in teaching and research in well control, offshore oil and gas engineering, and the theory and application of multi-phase flow. Focusing on the technological frontiers of deepwater and deep drilling, Professor Sun developed a well control theory for multi-phase flow in wellbores involving supercritical gas, liquid, and solid phases, accounting for multi-component multi-phase transitions. He also developed technologies for precise managed pressure drillingthroughout the drilling process, along with software for designing hydraulic parameters for well control. His work has supported the safe and efficient development of deepwater and deep oil and gas resources, advanced drilling engineering technologies, and made a significant impact on the international academic community.
The SPE Drilling Engineering Award is one of the highest honors in the field of drilling engineering worldwide. It recognizes individuals for their outstanding achievements in drilling engineering technology and practice, encompassing areas such as drilling equipment, operating environments, downhole operations, field operations, drilling design and analysis, and drilling management.
Translated: Huang Ying, Qiao Han
Reviewed: Xu Xiaoyan
