Dr. Spoerker graduated from the Mining University of Leoben/Austria with BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Petroleum Engineering. His distinguished career spans more than 30 years in the international drilling business, with positions held in both Contractors and Operators. He joined OMV in 1998 and held various management positions, ultimately as Senior Advisor to the Executive Management. In 2013 Dr. Spoerker left OMV and joined Saudi Aramco where he spent the next ten years in various Engineering and Operations Management positions within the Drilling & Workover organization. In 2023 Dr. Spoerker joined Bapco Upstream where he currently holds the position of Executive Vice President Exploration & Development, responsible for Exploration, Reservoir and Production Engineering, Reserves Management, Drilling & Workover, Facility Engineering and Major Projects. Dr. Spoerker is a lifetime member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, he has served on the Program Committee of the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference for more than 15 years and is currently a member of the Executive Committees of the Oman Petroleum and Energy Show (OPES) and the Middle East Oil Show (MEOS-GEO). He has authored more than 30 publications and has been a permanent member of the Petroleum Engineering State Graduation Board of the Leoben University since 2006.