Happy New Year ETGS!  I hope all had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends.  Thanks to all of you that joined us at “The Grove” for the Christmas Social. 

As we start a new decade, our industry is again facing both great opportunities and challenges.  We are leading the world in oil production (13 million barrels per day (bpd)) and we have seen a modest improvement in oil prices to $61+/bbl, but yet the rig count is dropping and the business environment feels very challenging. Similarly, in natural gas, we are growing to be the world leader in LNG exports but upstream drilling is slow with depressed prices.  So what is going on? A recent Wall Street Journal article summed it up “Energy Producers’ New Year’s Resolution: Pay the Tab for the Shale Drilling Bonanza”.  Easy credit and enthusiastic investors fueled the North American shale-drilling boom that flooded the world with oil and gas. Banks and Private Equity investors see that North American oil-and-gas companies have more than $200 billion of debt maturing over the next four years, starting with more than $40 billion in 2020, according to Moody’s Investors Service.  As a result, these investors are demanding competitive rates of return and drilling activity is dropping to only the very strongest projects to improve returns and pay down this debt.  This situation creates pain in the short term but in the longer term, energy demand continues it’s relentless growth and we will still be the primary suppliers for that demand for decades to come, even when renewable sources are factored in.

We have an excellent talk for our November meeting.  Chris Griffith will present “Stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk Group in South and Central Texas”.  Additionally, Bill Ambrose of the BEG has rescheduled his paper “Depositional History and Stratigraphic Evolution Of The Midway To Carrizo Succession On The Western Margin Of The Houston Embayment, Southeast Texas” for our January meeting.  Due to numerous Holiday events in December, we currently do not have a lunch meeting scheduled for December, but we are exploring interest in a Social event.  Please remember to RSVP for these events so we can properly plan sufficient food and seating for the talks.

There was a great technical program at the “GeoGULF” Convention in Houston (formerly GCAGS) this past week and some of the SFA students we help sponsor were recognized for their excellent Poster Presentations!  Thanks to all the Society members that participated in this year’s Convention.    Please advise us on talks that would be particularly valuable for Society luncheons.

Our October meeting on the 16th features AAPG President Mike Party. Mike will be giving us an update on Permian Basin activity and discussing AAPG Society issues. 

In November, Chris Griffith will present “Stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Austin Chalk Group in South and Central Texas”.  Bill Ambrose of the BEG has rescheduled his paper “Depositional History and Stratigraphic Evolution Of The Midway To Carrizo Succession On The Western Margin Of The Houston Embayment, Southeast Texas” for our January meeting.  Due to numerous Holiday events in December, we currently do not have a meeting scheduled for December.