March 2009

DanPedrottiRanchI did not know whether to expect gloom and doom or guarded optimism at NAPE this year due to the sudden change in conditions for our industry. I was not able to attend, but have been told that it was still crowded with a lot of booths, but there was not as many folks looking for deals as in previous years. This may be due to the fact that most booths and registrations for both the spring and Fall NAPES were made a year ago when things looked great. I understand that despite the subdued atmosphere there was considerable interest in good prospects and optimism that this would be a relatively short down turn and that when we recover it will be significant. I do not have details on how many people actually attended. If anyone knows let me hear from you.

Looking forward to the rest of our 2008-09, the society continues to be strong financially and poised for another good year. All of our projects are moving ahead, our members continue to volunteer and we have record enrollment in geology at both of our A & M Universities. Rick Paige and John Ralph have done a terrific job presenting programs for our luncheons and Owen has expanded “Maps in Schools” nation wide.

I trust that most of you enjoyed James Coleman’s perspective on “Undiscovered Recoverable Potential of the Jackson and Vicksburg Groups – Onshore” and our after hours gathering at Joe’s Crab Shack for his discussion of the “Geological Aspects of the Fall of Vicksburg – Civil War 1863”. Thanks Rick for coming up with this idea and to our sponsors of this event, Core Lab, DOWDCO, Veritas, and Wild Horse Desert Petroleum Land & Title.

William D. DeMis, Exploration Manager for Roxanna Oil Company, will be our speaker for our March meeting. His topic is ”False Negatives and Log-Normal Distribution as Concepts for Finding By-Passed Pays and Plays” . This paper won the “Best Presentation” award at the September 2008 Petroleum Technology Transfer Conference in Denver, Colorado. Mr. DeMis uses several examples of passed up pays that should be very interesting to all of us. Thanks, Rick Paige for bringing us another interesting and educational program.

Coming up in May we have a special treat for our luncheon on May 20th. Rick Paige has done it again and has Dr. Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt, a geologist who became the first scientist-astronauts to explore the moon’s surface on the Apollo 17 mission of December 17th, 1972. Dr. Harrison has continued a distinguished career (see announcement elsewhere in the bulletin). Dr. Harrison usually charges $15,000 per speaking engagement, but Rick got him to come to Corpus for 1/3rd that amount. A number of our members have already sent in pledges to cover the cost. I am In the process of inviting our fellow local scientific organizations to join us for the meeting, as we did last year for Red McCombs. The luncheon on May 20th, will be held in Ortiz International Conference Center to accommodate a larger than usual crowd.

Keep finding good prospects. They always sell.

Daniel A. Pedrotti
CCGS President

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