Greetings and Happy New Year! The New Year brings us new opportunities, new decisions, and new ponderings. As I write this column, oil prices are hovering around $75 per barrel. I paid $2.69 for gas yesterday at my local station. Offshore drilling companies are stacking rigs. Companies are talking about reducing unconventional efforts because costs are not dropping in line with product prices. We will know next month what we had to be thankful for in November, 2014. The month after that we can ponder our 2014 Christmas season. Then by March we will see what early 2015 brought to the table. On the bright side, the cold and snow may do nice things for natural gas.
The HGS Board has been busy this past calendar year. The Office Committee and the Web Site Committee are to be commended on the work that they did in filling the two staff positions that became vacant. The directors are reviewing policy manuals, employee benefits, and officer guide books. Although it has been just a few years for some updates, the officer guidebooks have not been updated in nearly 10 years.
HGS is a Gold-Level sponsor for the AAPG Imperial Barrel Award (IBA). As such, we can nominate a member to serve as a judge for the Gulf Coast event. If you are an independent with a knowledge of basin analysis, play to prospect evaluation, and willing to spend a day or two evaluating exploration team presentations, this may interest you. Shawn Kushiyama is coordinating this effort for HGS.
On that topic, this month’s General Dinner Meeting is our Legend’s recognition night. We will be honoring two Gulf Coast professors who have guided teams to the pinnacle of success in this event and placed first at the global IBA. I hope that you signed up for this!
This month Nominations Committee Chairman Barry Katz presents the candidates for office to the HGS Board. Not only is his committee responsible for getting candidates for HGS office; it also must get candidates for the AAPG House of Delegates. House of Delegates Chairman Paul Babcock and his fellow delegates are reviewing the AAPG Houston membership list as I write. Houston area members who have not renewed their dues have been suspended from active membership in AAPG. This reduces HGS membership and could reduce the number of delegates that we have. If you use AAPG insurance, your loss of active membership could affect your coverage! While you are renewing your AAPG membership, check out your HGS membership too. Add a picture to the directory, become a Friend of the Foundations, register for an event, and sign up for a committee.
Each year HGS loses members who forget to renew. Come October 1, those members get dropped from the HGS Bulletin mailing list. They won’t be receiving this bulletin or reading this column unless they go online. I encourage you to ask your coworkers if they are HGS members and get them to join if they are not. Serving as a sponsor for a new young professional is a great way to encourage them to participate in the world’s largest local professional geological society!Young professionals, have you taken an experienced professional to an HGS meeting? Have you made active participation in HGS part of your career development plan?
There is no Look Back in Time this month; I didn’t, so I have nothing to write about that subject. Jill did tell me that I had her start date wrong and I said that I would correct that. She started in September 2012. I seem to have pondered my morning away so until next month...