I am sending the Society President’s letter for April out a week early to summarize for our members the current response of your Society to the COVID-19 challenge. Our website has the status of our events but I will summarize them for you here, and they are as follows:

• The ETGS Tech and Prospect Expo for March 31 is canceled for this year. Refund checks for all Expo customers and vendors have been mailed out. Checks mailed to their address of record. PayPal payments were canceled.

• The NE Texas Energy Summit for March 24 sponsored by the Tyler Chamber is postponed until July 23.

• The April 15 lunch meeting is canceled.

• The Skeet Shoot has been postponed from its current date of Saturday, May 2, to possibly a date in mid to late June. If a new date is determined based on changing COVID 19 input from the CDC and City of Tyler, we will send out a new notice, otherwise it is canceled until that time.

• Determinations on later May events like our Society lunch meeting and the Kilgore Museum Core exhibit will be made in the next couple weeks based on the latest guidance. Obviously, we are concerned that there could be additional cancellations.

We wish everyone in the Society our very best as we all deal with this unprecedented medical emergency. Stay safe!

To help us understand the roller coaster of issues impacting the oil & gas prices facing our industry, we have two great talks coming to our annual ETGS Prospect & Tech Expo on March 31 at the Harvey Convention Center. Kenneth S. Waits, CEO Mewbourne Oil Company, will speak on “A Journey Through Risk Country” and John Howie, SVP Upstream Tellurian, will speak on “Growing Global Demand for LNG”. This month is all about the Expo and please show your support by attending this always-popular networking event. Get more information and reserve your booth or individual tickets at our website.

As you know, our Society is a great supporter of the Petroleum Geology program at Stephen F. Austin State University. At next month’s meeting on Wednesday, April 15 at the Cascades, we have an opportunity to see an interesting study from this program. Alex P. Blizzard, under the direction of Dr. Julie M. Bloxson will present “Chemostratigraphy of Carbonate Gravity Flows of the Wolfcamp Formation in Crockett County, Midland Basin, Texas”. The abstract of this enlightening paper is available on our website.

Just when we think oil and gas prices can’t be more challenged, we get the Corona virus in China impacting demand.  I will say no more! 

We have a great Society meeting planned for Wednesday, February 19 at the Cascades at 11:30 am.  David A. Ferrill, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, will be speaking on “Mechanical stratigraphic and tectonic controls on faulting and fracturing in the Eagle Ford Formation and Austin Chalk”. As always, please RSVP so we can plan appropriately.

Just a reminder that ETGS will again recognize our individual and corporate friends of the Society for 2020 on small table signs at our meetings.  Recognition will appear on our website as well.  Annual individual gifts of greater than $25 and corporate gifts greater than $100 are recognized.  These annual tax-deductible gifts allow the Society to provide short courses at reasonable costs to our members and College scholarships to promising geology and geophysics students.   A convenient donation link is available on our website.