Happy New Year!  Well, the Christmas decorations are back in the boxes, and the resolution to get back to the gym to work off those extra holiday pounds has been made (planning to implement any day now).  However, I do count my blessings for family and friends and hope you all had a joyous holiday as well.

We are looking forward to an exciting 2017.  With the hope of an upward trajectory of oil and gas prices, or at least stability, optimism is in the air.

The East Texas Geological society has some upcoming fun and educational events to put on your calendar.  The first is our luncheon this month: Wednesday, January 18th, 11:30 at the Cascades Country Club.  Our speaker will be Dr. Peter R. Rose, presenting “Cognitive Bias, The Elephant in the Living Room of Science and Professionalism”.  This is part of AAPG’s distinguished lecture series.  Dr. Rose authored a book in 2001, Risk Analysis and Management of Petroleum Exploration Ventures, and authored or co-authored more than 80 published articles and over 300 presented papers.  He has received numerous prestigious awards.  An additional benefit to attending this lecture is that our society will offer the required ethics credit for anyone renewing or obtaining a Texas Professional Geoscience License.  Don’t forget to RSVP!

I hope this finds you all enjoying this season of celebration.  As this difficult year for the oil industry draws to a close, there are some reasons to celebrate.  Natural gas exports from Texas to Mexico have expanded rapidly.  Currently pipeline capacity from the US to Mexico stands at 7.3 BCF/D. In the next three years this capacity is projected to double (source eia.gov, Dec 1, 2016). LNG exports from Louisiana began this year, with four more terminals planned in the next five years.  OPEC just reached a provisional agreement to cut output; who knows if it will stick with all the drama and confusion, but there is cautious optimism.  With oil starting at below $30/B at the beginning of the year, now topping $50/B and with natural gas prices at a two-year high, things are headed in the right direction.

As our industry slowly picks up, this is a good time to hone our skills and spark new ideas. Many of us must take financial responsibility for our own continuing education to stay up on the latest technology and innovations.  What better, low-cost place to do that than ETGS. I hope you will join us for our luncheon this month, 11:30, December 14th, at the Cascades Country Club, to hear Bill Chandler’s presentation, “Rethinking Drill Cuttings: A new productive identification tool that finds the 'sweet spots'".  He will show us a low-tech methodology using drill cuttings that creates a reliable resistivity curve and tracks density porosity while drilling.  In wells without wireline logs, this could be a very useful tool in analyzing zones of interest.  Don’t forget to RSVP on our website.

I start this newsletter on a sad note.  We will be losing some of our members as EOG closes its office here in Tyler and consolidates to Fort Worth.  We wish our friends, whether moving or staying, all the best, and hope those who are moving will come back to visit us.

Many thanks to Nick Pollard for organizing another successful golf tournament, with help from Jacob Gray, Curt Bateman and Thomas Knight.   There was beautiful weather for the 108 golfers that participated.  Congratulations to Team Hene for taking top honors.  Stephen F. Austin University students had a raffle at the tournament and made $500 to help with their AAPG events.  The students will have another raffle at our November luncheon, so break open those piggy banks.