The East Texas Geological Society is your Society!  I have been the President for nearly two years and realized that I have not given you an update on what is going on with the Society, so let me fill you in.  Most of you are aware of the three major activities we hold each year – the golf tournament, the Tech and Prospect Expo, and the skeet shoot – but what you may not know is that the profits from the first two go toward our scholarship fund.  More on that later.  In spite of a tough year for our industry, we still made a little money from the golf tournament – thanks Nick Pollard, for your years of organizing that event.  This year, the Tech and Prospect Expo was pretty well attended – given the economic climate of the industry – and we’re still waiting on all the invoices to see if we are in the black or red, but either way, it will be close. 

For the last 99 years, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) has been the gold standard of societies representing the scientific community of petroleum geologists.  Over the course of time, membership in the society has been subject to the review of local societies through the House of Delegates.  Applications for membership have been reviewed by HOD members from the local society, insuring that the standards for membership are met through this review at the local level.  A recent revision of the AAPG Bylaws has changed the intent of that process of application review for membership and has removed it from local control and given that control, by executive action, to the AAPG Executive Committee.

I looked at prices for oil and gas this morning (2/29/2016), and saw that oil was selling for about $34/barrel and natural gas was at $1.71/MCF.  Not encouraging at all unless you look back to mid-January and a couple of weeks ago when oil prices dropped below $30/barrel.  We all have friends and acquaintances who have lost their jobs and hear weekly of some company having mass layoffs or going into some sort of bankruptcy.  Hopes for a quick turnaround seem to be fading with every passing day and each new rumor or news article we read.  It’s hard to look past these unpleasant realities and focus on what we as geologists should be doing – generating ideas based on what we observe, developing models, iterating on, and refining those models with evidence, and developing prospects.  We can’t change what is going on: It’s out of our hands. But what we can do is stick to the science and keep prospecting.