Section news

Since this is my first Chairman’s Corner installment, I would like to briefly introduce myself to the Dallas Section members of the Society of Petroleum Engineers who do not know me. I have been involved in the upstream oil and gas industry for eleven years and have lived in Dallas for the past five. I’ve been actively involved the Dallas SPE Section since 2006 and have greatly enjoyed my time interacting with fellow members and learning through the great technical resources provided by SPE and the Dallas Section. In late 2006 I helped start the Dallas Section’s Young Professionals group and from that role I was asked to serve on the regular section’s board as the Sports and Social Director. From there I progressed through Program Chair to Chairman-Elect and now Chairman. Danny Bell and David Hamilton have helped guide me through the process, and I truly appreciate all the help they provided. If you would like to get more involved with the section, there are many opportunities available, so send me an email or come talk to me sometime. I look forward to a very successful year for the Dallas Section thanks to our incoming board, our strong committees and of course our very supportive membership.

There are team spots and opportunities for sponsorship available for our section’s annual Shoot for Your School Sporting Clays Tournament being held at Elm Fork Shooting Range on October 18. John Tabor and his hard working committee raised over $6,000 last year from this excellent event that was sent to SPE Student Chapters at the universities dedicated by the winning teams. These funds are used by petroleum engineering students who are members of the schools’ SPE chapter for various educational purposes including attending conferences like the SPE’s tight gas workshop and the SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, which happens to be this month in Florence, Italy. More information about the Sporting Clays Tournament and the ATCE are available on the Dallas SPE Section webpage.

I know about 20 members of the Dallas Section who will be attending the ATCE in Italy this year, and I’m sure there are quite a few more of you going. Last year’s ATCE in New Orleans was a large success due to good attendance, great educational presentations, and many opportunities to meet and network with fellow industry professionals. I will be attending again this year, and I hope to see some of you there. If you have never attended an ATCE, I strongly urge you to do so at some point during your career.

The Professional Engineering Certification exam will be October 29, 2010. The Dallas Section teamed with Bing Wines and the EMGI to host a training course August 30 through September 3 to assist those taking the test. At least 15 people signed up for the course, and I applaud all engineers who are attempting to obtain their certification and wish you luck in the process.

This month’s luncheon will be Wednesday, September 22 at EMGI at Brookhaven Community College. Please note this date is not our usual third Wednesday of the month, but the presentation will be well worth the trip. Myron Cook with Pioneer Natural Resources will be presenting about Global Warming. Please make your reservation and pay online in advance because it helps us with planning. Though I will be at ATCE and unable to attend, I urge you to go if you are in town because everyone who has attended Myron’s presentation said it is excellent and very informative. I am certain that our new Section Program Chairman Richard Lemon will have many good programs for our members this year.

Thank you for reading my first Chairman’s Corner and for your support of the section in the coming year.

Welcome to the final installment of my administration. It’s no longer “months” left before I turn this over to Brian Chacka; the remaining time is now “weeks” and “days”. It has been a pleasure to serve as Chairman of the Dallas Section for the past year. However, I also look forward to handing over the reins to Brian, who will bring a real youthful perspective to this position. Hopefully his broken leg won’t slow him down.

Society – according to the American Heritage Desk Dictionary: a group of people who unite to share a common interest. I think this certainly applies to our Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Petroleum – this is our common interest; this is the business all of us are in, regardless of our degrees or our jobs. This is the binding factor of us all, more than “engineers”.

Engineers – obviously the majority of members, but not the only members. SPE includes many different disciplines and occupations. With the variety of members united here, is there a better term to use here? Society of Petroleum Professionals? Society of the Petroleum Industry? Just musing.

To those who will be attending the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Florence, Italy, in September, I am not among you, unfortunately, but have a wonderful time. I’m sure most of you are aware by now that this is the first time ATCE will have been held outside of the US, but I am also certain that this will not be the last time. Will this ATCE be significantly different than those held in the US? It’s still put on by SPE, so it can’t be too different. Is this much different than the relatively exotic US locations of Washington DC (1992) or San Francisco (1983) or Anaheim (2007) or even Las Vegas (1973, 1979, 1985), none of which are typically associated directly with the oilfield? Los Angeles (1962), while exotic, is very much an oilfield town. And while Anaheim is perhaps part of Los Angeles, I associate Anaheim more with Disneyland (established 1955) and Angels baseball (established 1961) than with oilfield. Is there any reason not to have ATCE outside the US? Does having ATCE in Italy make it easier for a significant percentage of membership to attend? How will the make-up of attendees change compared to when ATCE is held in the US? How will US attendance change compared to ATCE in a US venue?

The 52 ATCE’s held since 1958 have taken place in only 10 different locations, and 86.5% of those 52 have taken place in only five different locations (Houston – 12, Dallas – 10, New Orleans – 10, Denver – 7, San Antonio – 6). I found it interesting, but not surprising, that four of the top five attended ATCE’s were in the early 1980’s, and all five of the early 1980’s ATCE’s were in the top 10. Location appears not to have mattered in those top 10 attended conferences; included are six different locations, including San Francisco and Las Vegas. Not surprisingly, three of the top 10 attendances took place in Houston, which is easy to envision as the most successful venue. The table of ATCE data below was provided by Brian Wiggins and Company at SPEI (as so often happens, I wonder about something and they come through with the support I need), and the chart was assembled from that data by Lonnie Kysiak here at Nexen.

Back to this year’s ATCE, Florence has a lot to offer, and the usual tourist attractions may be quite crowded, or your schedule may not allow you to partake. However, one thing that is easy to enjoy is gelato – make sure you try some.

Thanks to the entire Board of Directors for all their help and support this year. Check back in this space next month for Brian’s first installment.

Let’s have lunch together on August 18 (third Wednesday yet again!) and listen to Galen Treadgold with Weinman GeoScience & Steve Sinclair with Matador Resources Company discuss “Seismic Interpretation of the Eagle Ford Shale within a Tectonic and Depositional System Framework”. It’s a different approach from our usual fare, but we think you’ll find it just as valuable. See you at EMGI.

What do the members of the Dallas Section Board of Directors do when they are not at the monthly luncheons? This is not intended to be an absolute description of each position, but rather my thoughts, to try to convey to you the essence of each position.

Past Chairman. Serves as a resource for the current Chairman and other Board members, and provides the benefit of his/her experience. Serves on the Nominating Committee that comes up with Board of Director candidates each Spring. Steve Grape is currently serving in this position.

Chairman. Coordinates the rest of the Board. Serves as host at monthly luncheons. Serves on the Nominating Committee that comes up with Board of Director candidates each Spring, after appointing the other members of the committee. Calls for Board meetings. Communicates with Regional Director as needed.

Chairman-Elect. Basically spends a year preparing for the following year, when he/she will be Chairman. Serves on the Nominating Committee that comes up with Board of Director candidates each Spring. Chairman-Elect is perhaps the most important member of this committee, since these are the people he/she will be working directly with. I have tried to copy Chairman-Elect Brian Chacka on as much correspondence as possible so he can see what goes on. Responsible for keeping Events Calendar on section website up-to-date.

Program Chairman (First VP). Responsible for arranging monthly luncheons, including finding and securing speakers, arranging venue, arranging and coordinating food (and paying for it, then getting reimbursed from Treasurer), having name tags, checking everyone in at front desk, providing door prizes and speaker gift. Responsible for selecting Distinguished Lecturers for the following program year. PJ Edsall is currently serving in this position.

Education Chairman (Second VP). Responsible for arranging for continuing education programs and for presenting Study Group luncheons, including same responsibilities in this regard as Program Chairman. Syed Hamid is currently serving in this position.

Membership Chairman (Third VP). Primarily responsible for maintenance of section roster, but also analyzes membership statistics, helps members with membership issues and works at front desk at luncheons. Larry Champlin is currently serving in this position.

Treasurer. The only position with a two-year term. Responsible for keeping the books balanced, writing checks when necessary, making deposits when necessary, keeping accounts straight. Prepares financial reports during the year to keep Board members aware. Prepares financial report for the program year as part of the Section year-end report. Brent Haas is currently finishing the second year of his term.

Secretary. Responsible for transcribing minutes of Board of Directors meetings, or other meetings as directed by the Chairman. Also serves on the Nominating Committee that comes up with Board of Director candidates each Spring. David Creach is currently serving in this position.

Director Tech/Newsletter. Maintains the Section website and generates and distributes the Section electronic newsletter and any special e-mails that need to be sent to entire section. This job occupies a lot of Danny Bell’s time.

Director Sports & Social. Primarily responsible for overseeing the three big fund-raising events of each program year: Golf Tournament, Casino Night, Sporting Clays. Each event has its own committee, and Richard Lemon oversaw all of it this program year.

Director Community Relations. Oversees a committee which is responsible for presentations to schools and civic groups as needed, including Career Days. Coordinates use of SPE’s energy4me presentation kits. Community Relations will be trying a Section blood drive this Fall. Rick Middaugh is currently serving in this position.

Director at Large. We had three this year. Can take on special assignments from the Chairman and get a sense of what is involved in being a Board member, in preparation for taking on a bigger role the following year (Brad Robinson, Deborah Hempel-Medina) or serve as a source of experience (Herb Bell).

Young Professionals Liaison. Runs a whole separate organization. Sara Miller oversees the YP’s, who are members less than 35 years old.

Let’s have lunch together on July 21 (third Wednesday yet again!) and listen to Dan Themig with Packers Plus Energy Services discuss “Good Fracturing Practices and Multi-Stage Fracturing System Solutions”. SPE Mid-Continent Region Director Roy Knapp will be presenting Regional awards to two very deserving Dallas Section members. See you at EMGI.

I did a presentation at the Young Professionals luncheon on May 3, and the question was asked, “why should I be a professional engineer?” I did a thoroughly inadequate job of answering the question that day, and realized that, even though I am a professional engineer, I have never taken the time to prepare an answer to that question. I embarked on the process at the request of a former employer, who was contemplating taking on some additional business that would have required the stamp of a PE. That business opportunity never came to fruition, but I did become a PE.

Many Petroleum Engineers are not registered, and don’t actually need to be, and therefore never take the time to pursue it. The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) has a 7.5 minute video on their website (www.nspe.org) called “Get Licensed, Get Ahead” that is worth watching. In the video, they show a jack-up drilling rig at the exact moment the narrator uses the words “safe and secure”, and this video was made well before the Deepwater Horizon incident. Other words and phrases used in the video are “serious about profession”, “serious about career”, “professional”, “credibility”, “respect”, “earlier the better”, “flexibility”, “prestige”, “judgement”, “trust”. Following is a quote from the NSPE website:

“If you're a student or recent college graduate, starting on the path to licensure is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. The P.E. after your name is an advantage that will open doors for the rest of your life.”

Help the profession’s public image – you never know when a black eye like the Deepwater Horizon will come along. There could be more scrutiny and more requirements on us as Petroleum Engineers, just like there are going to be more requirements in other parts of our industry as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident. For instance, MMS is being split into three pieces.

My advice, if you are not already a Professional Engineer, is to “look beyond”. You may not need to be a PE right now, and you may be able to go your entire career without being one, but if you do need it, you won’t be able to place a phone call and make it be so. The requirements for becoming a Professional Engineer are: college degree; passing the Fundamentals Exam; gaining work experience (at least four years); completing and submitting an application, with at least three reference statements from PE’s who can vouch for your experience; passing the Professional Exam (Principles & Practice). If you have not taken the Fundamentals Exam, make that your first priority. It’s the first step in the process, and you’ll at least be that far along. I can’t tell you that you need to be a PE to be a Petroleum Engineer, but if you want to do certain things in this industry, you need to be a PE.

Here are a variety of reasons to become a Professional Engineer, compiled from several different sources:

As of 1/1/06, Texas licensure by waiver of the PE Exam is limited to engineering educators with a PhD, those that are licensed in another state, and former Texas license holders. All other applicants for standard licensure as PE’s are required to take the PE exam. So while some of the old-timers you work with may tell you that they became PE’s without having to take the PE exam, those days are over and that will not apply to you. By the way, the first engineering licensure law was enacted in Wyoming in 1907.

SPE has established a certification program that seeks to accomplish these same things. My understanding is that it came about for engineers in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa who may not have access to the registration process we have in the United States. I also discovered that SPE has Professional Competency Matrices in each of the following areas: General Engineering, Drilling Engineering, Formation Evaluation, Production Engineering, and Reservoir Engineering. These may be of interest to some of you.

We think enough of the registration process to offer the Bing Wines review course for the PE (Principles & Practice) Exam this fall. The Dallas Section also dedicates one program per year to ethics; PE’s are required to have one hour of ethics training each year as part of the continuing education that is required for license renewal. Of the 1500 or so Dallas Section members, 423 are currently PE’s, so we feel like this is a good practice. Going forward, we will try to make that ethics presentation relevant to the oil & gas business so that everyone can benefit from it.

Following is a table showing the scholarships awarded by your Dallas Section for the 2009-2010 school year:

In addition, we will be distributing $7,950 worth of scholarship money from the Shoot For Your School sporting clays event that took place in October, wherein the winning shooters specify the school to which they want their share of the proceeds to go.

Texas Tech $1,750 Will be used to offset transportation and lodging expenses for 40-50 students at SPE Tight Gas Completions Conference in San Antonio in November.

Texas A&M $1,500 Will be used for travel expenses to ATCE 2010 in Italy; sending 5 student chapter officers, 4 Petrobowl participants, plus ATCE chairman

Oklahoma $1,000 Will be used to fund Student Chapter trip to ATCE in 2010 for their 5-member Petrobowl team.

Joe Mueller contacted the Faculty Sponsor for the Student Chapter at each school and explained the acceptable uses for the money: travel to, and participation in, ATCE or other SPE-sponsored conference; student memberships for SPE; individual scholarships from the Petroleum Engineering Dept at that school; SPE software or publications. The Faculty Sponsor must specify how the funds will be used before the funds are distributed, and the Faculty Sponsor must also provide documentation of how the funds were actually used after the fact. We’ve been slow getting this money distributed because we’ve re-designed the distribution process and requirements.

Need or want to be a member of both the Dallas Section and Ft. Worth Section? Here’s how! SPE members are automatically assigned to a section based on their primary address, however they can affiliate themselves with other sections for $15 each. You need to complete the online Section Affiliation Form. You will not be a full voting member of the additional sections, but you can participate in all activities and will be added to their mailing lists. Go to www.spe.org and enter “section affiliation form” in the search box. Choose the first selection, then click on “Change my section affiliation” on the right side of the ensuing page.

Let’s have lunch together on June 16 (third Wednesday) and listen to Rick Lewis with Schlumberger discuss “What Makes a Good Gas Shale”. See you at EMGI.

I’ll start this month with the results of my request to have readers e-mail me to let me know that they read last month’s column. It was pretty bleak. I received a total of three responses, which isn’t much, but it’s enough to keep me going. I’ll just have to trust that these writings will serve a greater purpose as an archive of information.

Friday night (April 30), I spent a couple hours at the SPE Dallas Section Casino Night at the Double Tree Hotel near Brookhaven College, and came away VERY impressed with all aspects of the event. The venue was very conducive to this type of function, the logistics were well organized and the attendance was impressive. Casino Night had a 16-person committee with a wide variety of representation by operators, service companies and consultants, and only one company with more than one representative. This committee was also 25% female. It says something when a committee like this contains six past or future Dallas Section Chairs. Here is the actual committee:

This is the kind of successful organization we need to employ in other parts of the Dallas Section. Richard Lemon informed me during Casino Night that they are training people within the committee to take over positions of responsibility, and that’s something else we need to do a better job of throughout the Dallas Section. Congratulations Casino Night Committee on a job extremely well-done!

The next event from our Sports & Social group will be the 27^th annual Dallas Section Golf Tournament, which will be taking place on June 7.

Membership Chairman Larry Champlin is working on some SPE Dallas Section logo merchandise. Hopefully we can start rolling out some of this stuff soon and start getting our brand out there. We also need to do a better job at all of our meetings of showing our brand – every meeting needs to have a sign or banner and we need to get those into the photos we take at meetings. Sara Miller does a great job of taking photos, but she’s not everywhere. If you are at a Dallas Section event with a camera, including the one in your phone, take some pictures and submit them so we can get them on the website. Documentation of everything we do is essential.

SPE continues rewarding the people in our Section who deserve recognition. Two more of our stellar members will be receiving Regional Awards this year:

Pat Handren will be receiving a 2010 Regional Award for Completions Optimization and Technology, and Brian Chacka will be receiving a 2010 Regional Outstanding Young Member Award. Congratulations to both of these well-deserving individuals.

I don’t think I can avoid mentioning the oil industry event that is taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. How does a multi-million dollar piece of equipment go from the “before” photo to the “during” photo to a final resting place on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico 5000’ below the water surface? Will the federal government really stop offshore drilling until the cause of this catastrophe is known? What will be the long-term effects of this on our business and on our planet?

Random thought: Can I really entertain the idea of going paperless? Is anyone actually doing this? I receive five trade journals every month, all as paper copies. I like to actually carry them around, just like the daily newspaper. Is it a generational thing? I can’t fold the corner of an electronic page to mark my place. I do religiously recycle these paper copies of trade journals; is that green enough? I really feel like I should receive these journals electronically when they are available in that format, but can the benefits of this to the publisher and the environment actually be quantified? I’m certainly not to the point of wanting to carry a kindle (or similar device) around on which to do all my reading.

What happened to the green EMGI road-side signs around Brookhaven College that used to guide visitors and directionally-challenged members to our luncheon venue? They steadily disappeared, until now, I don’t see any remaining.

Let’s have lunch together on May 19 (third Wednesday) and listen to Doug Walser with Pinnacle discuss “Performing Up-Front Science in Shale Plays with Marginal Thermal Maturity”. We’ll be voting to approve the nominated slate of officers for 2010-2011. See you at EMGI.

I’m taking time this month to try to document two things involving your SPE Dallas Section that don’t get much, if any, public scrutiny, but impact us in a big way. Hopefully this will serve to make some things clearer for you and perhaps serve to stimulate some dialogue.

The annual spring process of determining next year’s Board of Directors is underway. Dallas Section by-laws require the current Chairman to appoint a Nomination Committee no later than March 1, headed by the immediate Past Chairman, in this case the very capable Steve Grape, and consisting of the current Chairman, Chairman-Elect (Brian Chacka), Secretary (David Creach) and one member-at-large (Steve selected Richard Lemon). Discussion takes place among the committee members as to who wants to continue to serve, who would be good in which position, etc. Because the Nominating Committee changes every year, there’s always a different set of perspectives to help keep things fresh. The all-important positions of Chairman-Elect and Programs Chairman perhaps receive the most discussion and analysis. Normally a few people drop off the board each year and a few new faces are added. This year will be no exception. The Nominating Committee will be presenting a slate of officers and directors at the April general luncheon, and the slate will also be posted on the website once all candidates have been contacted and confirmed as interested. Nominations from the floor can be made by contacting the Chairman of the Nominating Committee no later than April 30. Be on the look-out for the slate of officers for 2010-2011 and if you have any questions about the process, please let me know. The actual election of officers will take place during the month of May. During my involvement with the Dallas Section, we have always used the alternate means of election, which calls for the election to be held by accalamation at the May meeting, with results announced right there and then by electronic means (the by-laws also outline an election process by letter ballot, which would take place during May, with results announced at the June meeting). If you want to participate in the election process this year, I recommend that you attend the May meeting.

One thing we need to do a better job of, in regard to our officers, is promoting from within, which in turn requires us to have capable people serving in positions under our officers and directors. Positions like Programs Chairman need to have committees working under them, not only to help make each program a success, but to breed our future officers and directors. This is an excellent opportunity for Young Professionals to make a difference; YP’s already on the Board include Brian Chacka, Sara Miller and Brent Haas. Whether you are a YP, or an “older” member like me, if you have an interest in serving your Dallas Section, make your interest known to a board member and find out how you can serve on a committee and thereby start your own Dallas Section career path.

Those of you who attend luncheons, Study Group and/or YP meetings are aware that the Dallas Section has a relationship with the Ellison Miles Geotechnical Institute, where virtually all of those meetings are held. And this is a longstanding relationship at that. This is EMGI’s mission: “Promotes and provides geoscience and related technical education through professional development for users of geotechnology; instruction, materials, resources and career guidance for teachers and strudents; interaction with and among the geoscience community and community at large.” We are proud to be considered Stakeholders in EMGI, which basically requires us to donate a significant amount of money to the EMGI Outreach Fund; participate in outreach activities, like career days and field trips; serve on the EMGI Advisory Council, which updates and improves the strategic plan of the Institute; and keep incoming officers advised of Stakeholder responsibilities.

We contribute $5000 annually to the Outreach Fund, which is dedicated to promoting the geosciences to elementary through high school age students and teachers to educate them on our industry and to encourage them to pursue the geosciences, through classroom visits and field trips. SPE Dallas Section participation in this process allows Petroleum Engineering to be included as well. Several Dallas Section board members have been invited to serve on the Advisory Council. Additional things we do for EMGI include alerting our membership about upcoming EMGI programs and contributing to upkeep of the AV equipment we use.

As long as we honor our Stakeholder requirements, what we are entitled to includes advanced reservations for rooms in which we hold our meetings; free AV and IT support; free parking; and janitorial service. We have found EMGI to be a tremendous facility, with great audio-visual capabilities, central location and reasonable parking, not to mention the fact that it is geared towards the energy industry. We typically use rooms at EMGI at least three times per month, and we are able to cater the food ourselves.

In order to facilitate a smooth relationship with EMGI, Dallas Section Directors-at-Large Brad Robinson and Deborah Hempel-Medina have recently taken on the additional role of EMGI Liaison. They are our point-people for all dealings with EMGI. Brad and Deborah have already proven themselves to be valuable resources in dealing with EMGI (among other things).

The bottom line is that this is a two-way relationship and a mutually beneficial partnership.

Hopefully in the near future we’ll be unveiling some changes to the Dallas Section website, including a re-vamped Scholarship page, a page dedicated to SPE International and new pages for Sports and Social and also Community Relations. EMGI will also have a more prominent place on our website.

The YP softball tournament later this month will be raising money for a Dallas Section donation to the Tom Hunt Energy Hall at the under-construction Perot Museum of Nature & Science at Victory Park. If you haven’t heard about this, please check out this link: http://www.natureandscience.org/expansion/media_assets/release_tom_hunt_energy_hall.asp. The following quote from that page gives you just an overview of what this thing is all about: “The Tom Hunt Energy Hall, named in honor of Hunt Petroleum Chairman Tom Hunt, recognizes the $10 million early leadership gift that Hunt Petroleum made to the Museum in 2005 to move the Expansion Project forward. World-class and Texas-sized, the new 6,500-square-foot gallery will be dedicated to telling the rich geological and historical stories of nature’s energy sources and exploring how science and technology are used to capture the vast array of traditional and alternative energy resources.” Brian Chacka is working on a way to get interested Dallas Section members a closer look at how the construction is developing.

I have the feeling that not many people read this column each month, so I would like to try to quantify that feeling. If you have read this far, please take a couple of seconds immediately (before you forget) to send me an e-mail (before April 25). The subject line can be as simple as “read it” and nothing is required in the body. My e-mail address is dave_hamilton@nexeninc.com. Thanks for participating. I’ll try to remember to include the results in next month’s column, unless no one responds, in which case, I may abandon the effort of writing a Chairman’s Corner!

Let’s have lunch together on April 21 (the third Wednesday – finally!) and listen to Matt Blauch of Superior Well Services discuss “Hydraulic Fracturing in Shale - Engineering Challenges and Solutions Created by Environmental, Media and Perception”. We’ll be entertaining some guests from SPEI. See you at EMGI.

The end of February marks the mid-point of my term as Dallas Section Chairman. Right now, I can’t tell if the glass is half-full or half-empty.

I watched a lot of Olympics coverage over the last 2.5 weeks, and finally realized that I wanted to tie that into my column this month. Unfortunately the plan I came up with (to look at our business at each point the US won the gold medal in Olympic hockey, including 2010) did not come to fruition, because of Sidney Crosby’s goal in overtime. I’m still going to pursue my angle, but it just won’t be as seamless as I had hoped. Before I actually tie in some oil business here, is anyone else aware of the US hockey team’s overall history in the Olympics? Everyone’s aware of the 1980 Miracle On Ice, and right now, there’s probably a lot who remember the 1960 gold medal also. However, were you aware that in addition to those two gold medals, the US has won the silver medal eight times (1920, 1924, 1932, 1952, 1956, 1972, 2002 and now 2010) and has only one bronze medal ever (1936)? Were you also aware that hockey was introduced at the Summer Olympics in 1920, before moving permanently to the Winter Olympics in 1924?

When the US won the gold medal in hockey in 1960, it was the year before I was born. Dwight Eisenhower was President. SPE membership worldwide was less than 15,000. Venezuelan Sun Oil Co. installed the world’s first automated production platform and largest (100,000 BOPD) flow station at Lake Maracaibo. In the Gulf of Mexico, the first platform in 200’ of water was built at South Timbalier Block 132B. The first exploration offshore Alaska had taken place the year before. Billionaire oilman and philanthropist, Sid Richardson, had died the year before. Petty Ray Geophysical introduced the common depth point technique for the horizontal stacking of seismic data. It was the time of the Seven Sisters, comprised of the companies that came to be known as Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco, Gulf, BP and Shell. The names “Exxon” and “Chevron” did not yet actually exist. The names “Mobil” and “Texaco” had just come on the scene. On September 14, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) came into being, for the purpose of negotiating with oil companies on matters of petroleum production, prices, and concession rights. The first member nations of the cartel were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

When the US won the gold medal in hockey in 1980, I was a freshman in college, and had been a member of SPE for less than one year. SPE membership was around 39,000. The Miracle On Ice took place in Lake Placid, NY, when the young team from USA defeated the team from USSR (are you old enough to remember that nomenclature?) in a huge upset, then beat Finland to claim the gold medal. Jimmy Carter was President. A second energy crisis had occurred in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution transformed oil-rich Iran from an autocratic, pro-West monarchy under the Shah, to an Islamic theocracy under the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran's oil supply was largely curtailed, prompting President Carter to call the new energy crisis "the moral equivalent of war" in a nationally televised speech. In September 1980, Iran, already weakened by the revolution, was invaded by Iraq. Two months later, the combined production of the two countries was only a million barrels per day, which was 6.5 million barrels per day less than a year before, resulting in worldwide crude oil production that was 10 percent lower than the year before. The combination of the Iranian revolution and the Iraq-Iran War caused crude oil prices to more than double from $14 in 1978 to $35 per barrel in 1981. Also in 1980, the United States enacted the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act as part of a compromise between the Carter Administration and the Congress over the decontrol of crude oil prices. The Act was intended to recoup the revenue earned by oil producers as a result of the sharp increase in oil prices brought about by the OPEC oil embargo. OPEC members in 1980 included the original five plus Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador and Gabon (13 total). OPEC was a huge player in the world of oil. The name “Chevron” still did not yet exist.

The US almost won the gold medal in hockey in 2010 (as I said earlier, Sidney Crosby spoiled my angle here by putting those silver medals around our necks again, but nevertheless, I’m plowing ahead). I have now been a member of SPE for 30 years. SPE membership is greater than 92,000. Showing that hydrocarbons are still waiting to be exploited, the US is now the world’s largest gas producer with the proliferation of all the shale gas plays, and what’s left of the majors are coming back here and investing in those plays. A major natural gas field has been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel, the first large field discovered in this area, which has been mostly unexplored until recently. Israel, which has been nearly 100% dependent on imported fuel sources, could eventually become a natural gas exporter. There’s even talk of exploring for hydrocarbons in the Arctic, once enough of the ice cap melts or breaks away. OPEC is not involved in any of these areas. This is the 50^th anniversary of the formation of OPEC. OPEC members in 2010 are Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Libya, UAE, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador and Angola (13 total). OPEC has been unable to come up with production strategies that appeal to the diverse interests of its members, now located on three different continents. OPEC supplies approximately 37 per cent of world demand, but their share of the market has been declining and continues to decline.

The first half of this ride as SPE Dallas Section Chairman has been a good one (for me, at least). As a Board of Directors, we’ve got multiple irons still in the fire, some things I hope we can finish up before the end of my term, and some things that we’ll probably have to leave for completion under your next Chairman, Brian Chacka.

Let’s have lunch together at yet another abnormally scheduled luncheon on March 24 (4^th Wednesday; to avoid Spring Break) and listen to Dr. James Crafton discuss Modeling Flowback Behavior or Flowback Equals “Slowback”. See you at EMGI.

My research for this column led me to the first photo below. I was not familiar with the Baker Hotel, so I did a little more research and was unable to find even where it was located. I can confirm that the building was imploded, and the second photo, which I found on the internet, was labeled as something like Baker Hotel implosion.

My column last month focused on SPE professional membership; this month, I’m looking at student membership. Why? The Dallas Section, among many others, provides scholarships to deserving students as part of our mission, so students are intimately integrated into everything we do. Here’s some verbiage on “university students”, as they are referred to in the SPE Member Resource Guide:

“SPE encourages young people to consider a career in the petroleum industry. With a vast array of career paths and the opportunity for travel and adventure, the petroleum industry offers the chance to work in many locations around the globe. Student members can participate in many aspects of SPE’s programs and are given an invaluable connection to the E&P industry while still attending school. SPE also offers scholarship programs and technical paper contests to help students take the first step in their careers.”

SPE student organizations are called “chapters”, and there are more than 200 chapters worldwide. Each chapter is affiliated with a “section”, which are SPE’s professional organizations (like your Dallas Section). Unfortunately for us, there are no student chapters in the vicinity of the Dallas Section (in fact, there are only four student chapters in our entire Mid-Continent Region), so we are not currently in position to support a student chapter. We have done some investigating and while nothing has come together, it does appear that there could be the makings of a student chapter in the Metroplex, even if it required combining students from multiple schools. Consider that a work-in-progress. The Dallas Section does have around 10 student members, out of around 1500 total members. Worldwide (in 2007), SPE had 16,700 student members out of total membership of 73,000; so 23% of all members were students at that time.

You may be aware, particularly if you are a recent college graduate, that all SPE student memberships have been paid by a corporate benefactor since 2002. Halliburton was the sponsor for the first five years of this program, then Chevron took over from October 2007 through September 2009. That program has now come to an end. Student memberships are $14; SPE is paying for any student who cannot pay, but they are looking for help in that regard from sections and individuals. The Dallas Section Board of Directors is considering options for helping out. If you are so inclined, consider kicking in some money for a few $14 student memberships at your alma mater.

Be a student in good standing carrying at least 30% of a normal, full-time academic load in petroleum engineering or related field, AND have at least one of the following:

Be attending a university that has an established, board-approved SPE student chapter”

Have you ever attended PetroBowl at ATCE? Have you ever heard of PetroBowl? From the SPE Gulf Coast Section PetroBowl Committee Mission Statement:

“PetroBowl matches SPE student chapter teams from around the world against each other in a fast-paced quiz competition. Similar to an academic decathlon, the competing teams are challenged to answer both technical and non-technical questions associated with the oil and gas industry. The contest, organized by the SPE Gulf Coast Section Young Professionals Board, has grown in size and popularity each year.” The most recent contest was sponsored by PetroSkills.

New Orleans hosted the 8^th annual PetroBowl during ATCE in October. While University of Texas won this one, previous winners have been Texas Tech, Texas A&M (twice), Montana Tech, Colorado School of Mines and Oklahoma University (twice). The 2009 competition was also the largest ever (16 teams), with the largest international participation ever (4 teams). Teams are comprised of four members each. One thing I don’t know is how each school selects its four members. For winning in New Orleans, University of Texas received the silver trophy and a check for $2500 from Encana. Not a bad day’s work.

The purpose of this exercise is to bring students more to the forefront for Dallas Section members. We don’t deal with them on a regular basis, but all of us who are degreed Petroleum Engineers were students once upon a time. When you attend Dallas Section events like Casino Night, Golf Tournament, or Sporting Clays, or the Haynesville Shale symposium or a monthly luncheon, or even SPE’s HEES, remember that not only are you having a good time or learning something, but you are helping to support a student’s scholarship, which hopefully will lead that student into the oil and gas industry. And that student could be somebody you work with in the near future, or could be your replacement if your hair is gray enough. More on the scholarship process itself in a future column.

Let’s have lunch together at another abnormally scheduled luncheon on February 3 and listen to Distinguished Lecturer Stuart Cox of Marathon Oil Co. discuss “Effects of Complex Reservoir Geometries and Completion Practices on Production Analysis in Tight Gas Reservoirs.” See you at EMGI.

January, 2010

If you are reading this, odds are pretty good that you are a member of SPE. Since I became Chairman of the Dallas Section, I have found myself more interested in the question, "why am I (or anyone else for that matter) a member of SPE?". Here are some quotes from the SPE Membership Resource Guide (several different ways of conveying the same message):

"Membership in SPE allows oil and gas professionals from around the world to connect and share ideas, answers and resources."

"SPE's mission is to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence."

"SPE provides a global forum for the exchange of technology to meet the world's energy needs both today and in the future."

SPE has more than 88,000 members in more than 118 countries, and what a tremendous networking opportunity this presents. Through luncheons, conferences, on-line technical interest groups, the SPE website, the Dallas Section website and the Journal of Petroleum Technology (included with membership), we as Petroleum Engineers have the ability to learn, seek information and counsel from colleagues outside our employers, and share knowledge with others. Even though the name includes the words "Petroleum Engineers", SPE "is a place for all of today's industry professionals, regardless of experience or course of study." All facets of the energy industry can interact through SPE resources to improve themselves and others and the business in general. This networking also applies to establishing contacts for use in times of occupational turmoil, ie, job hunting. So what is specifically in it for me (David Hamilton)?

What is my personal benefit from being involved, all the way to Dallas Section Chairman?

Allows me to improve my leadership skills in a setting outside of my job. Allows me to improve my presentation and public-speaking skills in a setting outside of my job. Allows me to work with a cross-section of industry professionals, from producers and service companies; public, private and government entities; women and men; wide range of ages; variety of ethnicities; in a different environment from my office; working toward different goals than I have at work, but toward common goals for the betterment of the industry and ourselves. Allows me to expand my circle of contacts within the industry. Allows me to leave my personal stamp on an organization that's been around longer than my employer, and to help perpetuate an organization that has goals and objectives I believe in. Allows me to satisfy my belief that volunteer work is important, including professionally (satisfies my professional "volunteer jones"). Allows me to get good people involved to help me. And serving as an officer allows me to claim five hours of Continuing Education credit annually towards my PE license.

What my service doesn't get me:

Free entry into luncheons. Free trips to ATCE. A salary from SPE. A guarantee of life-time employment. My name in lights. Preferred status anywhere. A cup of coffee at 7-11. Any perks whatsoever. A bunch of free time.

And yet I continue to serve, because it is worth it. See you on January 13 at EMGI for our next luncheon.

The time is still now to re-new your SPE membership, or to become a member of SPE!

Last month, I mentioned AIME and subsequently realized at Joseph Ayoub’s Distinguished Lecture that I short-changed us in that discussion. AIME is now fully known as the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers.

The graph below shows the age distribution of the Dallas Section, with the most recent statistics. You can see from the comments in the box that the “graying” of the Dallas Section has been in reverse for the last four years. Apparently we have discovered a fountain of youth, providing us with a steady influx of new young members. We are rapidly approaching a point where one-fourth of our membership will be under the age of 40. The Dallas Section average age is more than the worldwide SPE average, but even there we are gaining. Only two years ago, our average age was 54. Thank you to all you under-40’s for instilling new life in the Dallas Section. Don’t be afraid to get involved and make this your section. A great place to start is with our Young Professionals, under the leadership of Sara Miller.

I sincerely appreciate the Dallas Section membership’s patience with our programming this year. We are really testing you with few programs taking place on our regular schedule of third Wednesday of the month. The quality of our programming is as good as ever, but speaker circumstances are forcing us to be flexible in scheduling. Of our first six speakers this program year (starting in September), only one will have been on the third Wednesday. We have four Distinguished Lecturers this program year and we are at the mercy of their schedules as they travel around the world delivering their speeches. Also, we are extremely fortunate that Dr. Fattahi is taking time from his busy schedule to talk to us while he is in town on SPE International business, and we had to take the opportunity while it was available. Please bear with us as our off-beat schedule continues through February; perhaps from March through August we can get back on our “usual” schedule, although by then, we all may have forgotten that we used to have a “usual” schedule.

I’ll have more to say about this as the time approaches, but the SPE Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium (HEES) will be taking place in Dallas at the Hotel Intercontinental in March 2010. “Since 1962, the Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium (HEES) has attracted some of the world’s leading financial analysts and management professionals to Dallas to discuss the economics of oil and gas exploration and production.” You may recall that the last HEES was held in 2007. This is still a biennial (*) event, but in order to try to better position HEES relative to some other symposia, the decision was made to move it to even numbered years going forward, and that’s why there’s been such a long gap. Dallas Section stalwart Nick Duane is 2010 Chairman.

Let’s have lunch together (really early this month) on December 1 and listen to 2010 SPE President Dr. Behrooz Fattahi discuss the challenges facing our industry. We’ll be presenting some more awards and acknowledging at least one Legion of Honor member. See you at EMGI.

The Dallas Section has been involved in some organizational change lately, and unless you’re really paying attention, you probably missed it. SPEI has re-organized its North American regions, and as part of that, the Dallas Section is now in a different region. Prior to ATCE, Dallas Section was part of the Central and Southeast North America Region; since ATCE, Dallas Section is part of the Mid-Continent North America Region, along with the following sections: Ft. Worth, East Texas, Lou-Ark, Illinois Basin & Gas Storage, Anadarko, Arkansas, Bartlesville, Mid-Continent, Oklahoma City, Southwestern Oklahoma and Wichita; and along with the student chapters at Kansas University, Oklahoma University, Tulsa University and Missouri University of Science & Technology. SPEI took the Eastern Region, Central and Southeastern Region and Mid-Continent Region and re-formed them into a bigger Eastern Region and a bigger Mid-Continent Region, thereby eliminating the Central and Southeastern Region. They kept the total number of North American regions the same (7) by making Canada its own region, taking it out of the Rocky Mountain Region, which is now confined to the US. You can see the “before” map on the left below, and the “after” map on the right below.

At each luncheon for the rest of this program year, we’ll be giving away a copy of Oil and Natural Gas as a door prize. This is “SPE’s first educational book, telling the story of petroleum and natural gas and how it shapes our world. Easy to read and loaded with colorful photos, diagrams, and graphics – the book is appropriate for younger students, school libraries, and for use as a textbook.” If the book doesn’t contain anything you don’t already know, consider donating it to your child’s school library, or using it as a teaching tool for non-technical staff at your office. These are the same books that SPEI donates to schools at which SPE members make a presentation. Distribution of these books is in keeping with SPE’s mission to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit.

During ATCE this year, I was reminded again of our relationship with AIME, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and wondered yet again how the two societies are related. AIME, founded in 1871, formed a standing committee on oil and gas in 1913, to address the growing field of petroleum engineering in the years after Spindletop was discovered in 1901. This committee became one of AIME’s 10 professional divisions in 1922, and continued to grow. The Petroleum Division became one of three separate branches of AIME by 1950. On 10/6/57, the first SPE Board of Directors meeting took place, marking the final transition to a professional society. SPE is still one of four member societies within AIME, along with the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME), the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) and The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). “AIME supports the advancement of our Member Societies and represents the Societies in the larger engineering and scientific communities.” So there you have it; we were born within AIME, and continue to be a part of it, although most of us probably don’t realize it unless we are reminded.

Larry Champlin is our 2009-2010 Membership Chairman. If you are reading this and are not a member of SPE, please see Larry at the front table at a luncheon and let him help you become a member.

Let’s have lunch together on Nov 4 and listen to Distinguished Lecturer Joseph Ayoub discuss mitigating damage created during hydraulic fracturing. We’ll be presenting some more awards and acknowledging at least one Legion of Honor member. See you at EMGI. And don’t forget about our (early) December luncheon, with 2010 SPEI President Dr. Behrooz Fattahi, on Tuesday, December 1.

This month in New Orleans will be SPE’s Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (ATCE), wherein current President Leo Roodhart will step down and 2010 President Fehrooz Battahi will take over. Dallas Section Program Chairman, P. J. Edsall, has successfully lined up Dr. Battahi to speak at our December luncheon, which will be on Tuesday, December 1, in order to accommodate Dr. Battahi’s schedule. You can become more familiar with Dr. Battahi and his plans as President by reading the interview in the September 2009 edition of JPT. Dr. Battahi is Coordinator, Heavy Oil Development for Aera Energy. SPE says the ATCE has been taking place since 1924, which would make this the 85th happening if it has taken place every year since then. Of course, the Society of Petroleum Engineers has not been in business by that name all that time, so the event may have had other names in the past.

The Dallas Section is home to several more award winners this year. Danny Bell has joined an impressive list of previous winners of the International Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes contributions to the Society that exhibit such exceptional devotion of time, effort, thought, and action as to set them apart from other contributions, and he will be recognized at ATCE. Alan Roachell is receiving a Regional Health, Safety and Environment Award, which recognizes outstanding accomplishments in the field of environmental protection, health, or safety in oil and gas exploration, drilling, or production operations. Nick Duane is receiving a Regional Service Award, which acknowledges exceptional contributions to the Society at the section or regional level, and recognizes singular devotion of time and effort to the programs and development of the member's section and region that set it apart from the services rendered each year by many members of the Society. Alan and Nick will automatically become eligible for consideration for international awards next year, and their names are included in an article entitled, “2009 SPE Regional Award Winners Named” in the October 2009 JPT. Congratulations! Photos of Alan and Nick receiving their awards from Regional Director Dean McPhearson at the 9/23/09 luncheon can be found on the Dallas Section website.

The SPE Legion of Honor is for those members who have had 50 consecutive years of membership. The Dallas Section has 10 new members of this prestigious group and we hope to acknowledge all of them at an upcoming luncheon. They are: Ernest M. Barnett, Gerald L. Bell, Robert A. Cooksey, C. R. Hunnicutt Jr., Carroll F. Mahoney, Robert L. Patterson, Allen L. Smith, Thomas E. Williams, Bertram O. Wood and Kantilal P. Desai. Each will receive a framed certificate from SPE and mention in an upcoming issue of JPT. Additionally, Legion of Honor members receive complimentary SPE membership for life and complimentary registration for ATCE.

Tremendous praise needs to be heaped upon the committee that successfully presented the Haynesville Gas Shale Technology Symposium on September 15. Photos from the event are accessible from the Dallas Section website. Look for coverage of this event in the “Techbits” section in an upcoming issue of JPT. I am extremely pleased with how the event went, and it has made the Dallas Section quite visible to a bigger population.

Larry Champlin is our 2009-2010 Membership Chairman. If you are reading this and are not a member of SPE, please see Larry at the front table at a luncheon and let him help you become a member.

Let’s have lunch together on Oct 21 and let Charles Pennington with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers remind us about our ethical obligations in regard to our PE licenses. Please join us even if you are not a PE. We’ll be presenting some more awards and acknowledging at least one Legion of Honor member. See you at EMGI.

It is an honor to take on the challenge of following Steve Grape as Chairman of the SPE Dallas Section. I have enjoyed serving, and learning, as Chairman-elect during his year in office. I hope to serve my successor, Brian Chacka, as well as Steve has mentored me. Speaking of Brian Chacka, he put together a very successful program year and deserves commendation. The rest of the outgoing board, while lower in profile, had a great year also and served the Dallas Section well. We have some new people on the Board of Directors this year (along with many of the old familiar faces) and I look forward to having their input. Getting new ideas and new perspectives is going to help keep the Dallas Section from getting stale.

Some of you may be wondering where I have been for the last year. In this crazy system we use in the Dallas Section, one usually starts the direct ascension roller coaster to the Chairmanship by becoming Program Chairman, which puts your face out front at every luncheon. The next step is Chairman-Elect, which has few actual responsibilities and could be used effectively as part of the Witness Protection Program. Finally, you become Chairman for a year, which puts your face back out front at every luncheon. Alas, the final step is back into anonymity, as Past Chairman.

I actually had no idea what I was signing up for as I was going through a series of tables my freshman year in 1979. Turns out it was the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and I have now been a member for 30 years. I have to admit that my only involvement was attending the occasional meeting, until Betsy Cook asked me to work at the front desk at Dallas Section luncheons. That led Nick Duane to ask me to serve on the Board of Directors as Secretary, and now, several years later, I am following both Betsy and Nick (and many others) as Dallas Section Chairman. What this should tell you is that it's never too late to get involved in SPE.

Earlier this year, an idea was hatched for a Haynesville Gas Shale Symposium, and the Dallas Section has nurtured the idea into a full-blown happening. Brian Chacka and Brad Robinson have been the main drivers in making this thing a reality, along with Rick Middaugh and Steve Grape, and on September 15 at the Dallas Hilton Lincoln Center, we'll get to see the fruit of their labors. A tremendous amount of effort has gone into this program, and I hope you're one of the lucky 275 who get in to participate. This is more quality programming from your Dallas Section.

We are lucky this program year to have an extra Distinguished Lecturer, giving us four in total, starting with this month’s luncheon. The Distinguished Lecturer program started in 1961 with only three speakers, and has grown to 35-40 lecturers per year. A DL committee reviews and selects candidates who are recognized as experts on their subject matter and are nominated by their peers for the chance to travel the world giving their presentation. You can learn more about this program, as well as get a list of past Distinguished Lecturers, and download presentations from the last three years, by going to www.spe.org then clicking on “Meetings/Events” and then “Distinguished Lecturers”.

Let’s have lunch together on Sept 23 and listen to Kamel Bennaceur tell us about “Carbon Capture and Storage in the Global Energy Perspective”. See you at EMGI.

This is my last month serving as President of the Dallas Section. It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve you this past year, and the fulfillment of a long-held personal goal. I want to gratefully acknowledge the hard work performed by my Board of Directors and Event Committee members, whose efforts enabled our Section’s programs to succeed in spectacular fashion. But most of all I want to thank our membership, from our newest engineers-in-training to the venerable members of our SPE Legion of Honor, for your steadfast support of our Section and the mission of SPE regardless of the spot prices at Cushing or the Henry Hub. Windmills and electric cars are not the future of America’s Energy Success – it is dedicated energy professionals like you!

We have a terrific set of SPE programs for August that make it well worth enduring a bit of Texas summer heat to attend! Check them out!

On Wednesday August 19^th, our guest will be Roy M. Knapp, Retired Professor and SPE Regional Director, University of Oklahoma, who will speak to us about “Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery technology – has its time come?”. Join us at EMGI Brookhaven for our Dallas Section monthly luncheon. Our price is $20 for members with a reservation – and $25 at the door if you don’t make a reservation! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:

On Monday, August 10, 2009 the Dallas Section SPE Young Professionals will host their third Lunch and Learn program at 11:30am at EMGI. Luke Rollins of SageRider, Inc. will speak about “Intelligent Wellbores: Surface Surveillance Technologies.” Our price for members is $15, walkups are $20.

On Wednesday, August 26th, our Production Study Group will meet at 11:30am at EMGI. John Frick, President, Frick Engineering, Inc. will give a presentation on “Oil & Gas Production-Influenced Completion Materials Requirements”. Cost: $18 with a reservation or $25 (non members and at the door).

On Tuesday, September 15^th the SPE Dallas Section, in partnership with EMGI and SIPES, will be holding a 1-day “Haynesville Gas Shale Technology Symposium”. We have grown too large for our usual room at EMGI, so this Symposium will now be held at the Hilton Hotel at Lincoln Center from 8:00am to 5:00pm. This exceptional event will feature presentations by several operators with a major stake in the Haynesville on the Geology, Petrophysics, Drilling, Completions, Stimulation, and Reserves of the Haynesville Shale Play. There will also be a Core display, exhibits, and poster session. Our keynote luncheon speaker for this symposium will be Floyd C. Wilson, the President and CEO of Petrohawk Energy Corporation. All the content and coverage you’d expect from a symposium costing hundreds of dollars to attend, all for a bargain SPE Dallas Section price of $150 to register! With the increase in venue size, we now have more exhibitor space and conference seats! Reservations and sponsorship information are still available here on our web site!

Thanks for Everything, Dallas Section! See you at the meetings! On August 31, I confidently pass the Presidential torch to my successor, David Hamilton. Y’all will be in good hands this last quarter and in 2010!

Are you ready for some Football? Our first pre-season NFL home game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington will be on August 21 versus the Tennessee Titans.

The Texas Rangers are in second place in the American League West Division and are 60-47.

JULY

The Texas Summer is here, Dallas Section! As if you didn’t know it already, having endured a week of 100+ temperatures and precious little rain. But there is more to look forward to this July than the rockets’ red glare and a backyard barbecue – check out our awesome schedule of SPE summer programs!

On Thursday, July 9, 2009 the Dallas Section SPE Young Professionals will host their second Lunch and Learn program at 11:30am at EMGI. Terry Palisch with Carbo Ceramics will be covering “Well Stimulation 101” with an extended session from 1-2pm on “Hydraulic Fracture Design Considerations”. Our price for members is $15 and you can make a reservation online here on our website.

O n Wednesday July 15th, Dr. John Lee, Professor Emeritus from Texas A&M University and our SPE inside man who advised the Securities and Exchange Commission about the importance of Reserves Definitions will give us a presentation about the “New Reserves Guidelines” now in place! Join us at EMGI Brookhaven for our Dallas Section monthly luncheon. Our price is $20 for members with a reservation – and $25 at the door if you don’t make a reservation! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:
http://www.spedallas.org/monthly_meetings.htm

Coming up on August 19th, our guest will be Roy Knapp, Retired Professor and SPE Regional Director, University of Oklahoma, who will speak to us about “Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery”.

Mark your calendars now for Tuesday, September 15th! The SPE Dallas Section, in partnership with EMGI and SIPES, will be holding a 1-day “Haynesville Gas Shale Technology Symposium”. Held at EMGI from 8:00am to 5:00pm, this exceptional event will feature presentations by several operators with a major stake in the Haynesville on the Geology, Petrophysics, Drilling, Completions, Stimulation, and Reserves of the Haynesville Shale Play. There will also be a Core display, exhibits, and poster session. Our keynote luncheon speaker for this symposium will be Floyd C. Wilson, the President and CEO of Petrohawk Energy Corporation. All the content and coverage you’d expect from a symposium costing hundreds of dollars to attend, all for a bargain SPE Dallas Section price of $150 to register! Reservations and sponsorship information are available here on our web site! Registered Attendance will be capped at 200 in order to comply with State Fire Code laws, so an early reservation isn’t just prudent, it’s mandatory if you want to get in!

Happy Independence Day, Dallas Section! We look forward to seeing you at one of our Dallas SPE Events!

For Dallas Sports Fans:

The Texas Rangers are in second place in the American League West Division and are 41-35.

Dallas’ major league soccer team, FC Dallas (What does the FC stand for anyways? Fris Co?) is 3-7-5 and is in 7th place (of 8 teams) in the MLS Western conference.

There is light at the end of the summer sports tunnel! NFL Football returns next month, and our first pre-season NFL home game in our glorious new cathedral of sport (in Arlington *grumble*) will be on August 21 versus the Tennessee Titans.

Hockey and Basketball fans, y’all are on vacation until October.

School’s Out and the Texas Summer arrives this month, Dallas Section! Take a moment to see what programs the Dallas Section of SPE is bringing you this month and your eyebrows will shoot up higher than the mercury! We have an excellent set of programs queued up to make this an awesome summer at SPE.

June 1^st. 72 teams competed for top honors on the links at the Lakes and Old Courses at Firewheel Golf Park in Garland, Texas. Many thanks to John Tabor and his hard-working Golf Tournament Committee for their efforts creating and running such a great event! With deep gratitude, I also thank the tournament sponsors for their support of our Section and our scholarship program.

On Wednesday, June 17 our guest will be Todd Brown, Asset Manager at EnCana, who will update us on EnCana’s operations in the “Haynesville Shale”. Make your reservations now, right here on our website so that you’ll be assured a seat! Our price for luncheons is $20 for members with a reservation – and $25 at the door if you don’t make a reservation! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:

Coming up in July, on Wednesday the 15^th, Dr. John Lee, Professor Emeritus from Texas A&M University and our SPE inside man who advised the Securities and Exchange Commission about the importance of Reserves Definitions will give us a presentation about the “New Reserves Guidelines” now in place!

It’s going to be a great summer, Dallas Section! Have fun and we look forward to seeing you at a Dallas SPE Event!

Two months in a row? Amazing! Once the Stanley Cup Finals are over (and with Detroit leading Pittsburgh 2-0 that might be soon) I plan to indulge in some serious baseball watching!

MAY

Spring is here in full force, Dallas, and if you’re like me, the inbox on your desk is as high as the pollen count on certain days! Nonetheless, the Dallas Section of SPE has some awesome programming set up this May and you should take a moment to pencil us in on your rapidly-darkening calendar!

Our Annual SPE Night fundraiser was Friday, May 1st and we had an amazing evening of fun and fellowship. Congratulations to our Night Committee for their hard work creating and running such a great event!

On Wednesday, May 20 we have a very high profile guest at our monthly luncheon! Our guest will be Douglas H. Miller, Chairman, EXCO Resources Board of Directors. His topic will be “Where is the Industry Headed?” Make your reservations now, right here on our website so that you’ll be assured a seat! Our price for luncheons is $20 for members with a reservation – and $25 at the door if you don’t make a reservation! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:

http://www.spedallas.org/monthly_meetings.htm

Coming up in June, on Wednesday the 17th, our guest will be Todd Brown, Asset Manager at EnCana, who will update us on what they’re doing with the Haynesville Shale.

Have a good Memorial Day weekend, Dallas Section, and remember to register now if you have not already done so for our Golf Tournament on June 1st out at Firewheel!

For Dallas Sports Fans:

The Dallas Mavericks are 0-3 in their Conference Semifinals versus the Denver Nuggets, having beaten the San Antonio Spurs in a memorable 5-game series. They’re not eliminated yet but their backs are against the wall and questionable officiating cost them dearly – a crude parallel could be drawn here regarding $50 oil prices…

The Texas Rangers, THE TEXAS RANGERS!, currently lead the American League West Division and are 17-14. There is still a metric ton of baseball to be played before October, but ain’t it nice to be in the lead?

“April Showers Bring May Flowers” is how the old saw goes, but this is Dallas, and April Showers can also bring baseball-sized hailstones! In spite of the potential for thunderstorms, I welcome the consistently warmer weather and enjoy this time of year, especially the blooming redbud and dogwood trees. In addition to getting out in the yard on the weekend, you should look forward to getting out to the great events the Dallas Section of SPE has in store for you this month!

On Wednesday, April 22 our guest will be Dr. Stephen A. Holditch, Professor and Department Head of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. His topic will be “Stimulation of Tight Gas Sands Worldwide”

Make your reservations online right here on our website! Our price for luncheons is $20 for members with a reservation – and $25 at the door if you don’t make a reservation! Save your spot and save 5 bucks to boot! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:

Our Production Study Group has a talk on the Haynesville Shale on April 29^th. Dan Buller of Halliburton will discuss “Reservoir Evaluation in the Haynesville to Optimize Drilling and Stimulation.” Use the link above to register online.

Our Annual SPE Ca$ino Night fundraiser is Friday, May 1^st! Get your reservation in by April 15^th and receive an extra $1000 in chips! You don’t want to delay and be left standing at the door, this event sells out! We have a new venue this year, the Dallas Doubletree Hotel on Valley View Lane (West of Midway off I-635).

Dallas, risk a little hail and get out of the office to join us at SPE this month! Your knowledge will blossom.

The Stars are 12^th in the Western Conference and 6 points behind Anaheim and Nashville for the 8^th playoff spot. Barring a miraculous finish, our Stars are done for the year at the end of the regular season.

Terrell Owens is a Buffalo Bill?! I am starting to really miss football on Sundays.

The Dallas Mavericks are 44-30, still hovering in 8^th place in Western Conference, but 4^th of 5 in our Division, behind San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans.

February went fast and now March is upon us, Dallas Section! The weather can’t seem to decide if it wants to be winter or spring, so our thermometer is soaring and dipping like the horsehead of a Lufkin pump jack.

Do a little Spring Cleaning early and clear off your calendar for March 18^th! That will be our monthly meeting this month, right after St. Patrick’ Day! Our guest will be Bernard M. Piot (DL), Cementing Project Manager, Schlumberger. His topic is Cements and Cementing: An Old Technique with a Future.

Make your reservations online right here on our website! Our price for luncheons is $20 for members making reservations online – and $25 at the door or if you are not a member of SPE! Save your spot and save 5 bucks to boot! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:

In April, on Wednesday 4/22/2009, our guest will be Dr. Stephen A. Holditch, Professor and Department Head of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University.

The SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing and Well Intervention Conference in The Woodlands on 3/31-4/1.

Dallas, be seen (even if you don’t wear green) at SPE this month! Your knowledge will steadily rise, just like the average temperature here in Big D!

We’re lucky February was a short month, given the loss of 5 of the last 6 home games for our Dallas Stars. The Stars are out of the playoffs if it ended this week and are fighting to regain the 8^th playoff spot Western Conference of the NHL. Scrappy forward Steve Ott (#29) was suspended indefinitely for an accused eye gouge incident in the last tussle with the Anaheim Ducks.

The Dallas Mavericks are 36-23, residing in 8^th place in Western Conference. Congratulations to Jason Kidd on achieving the milestone of 10,000 assists.

Happy Groundhog’s / Presidents / Valentines Day, Dallas Section! It looks like the shortest month in 2009 just might be the busiest! We hope you weathered last month’s icy blast unscathed, because our Society has several great programs planned for February! Let’s hope Mother Nature is more forgiving this month!

First and foremost, we have rescheduled the January 28, 2009 luncheon that was cancelled due to the ice storm for the first Wednesday in February! Join us February 4^th for a presentation by our guest, Gary Schein, Production Engineer at Dale Resources. He will finally speak to us on the State of the Art of Slickwater Fracturing.

It’s not too late to make your reservations! Our price for luncheons is $20 for members with a reservation – and $25 at the door if you don’t make a reservation! Save your spot and save 5 bucks to boot! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:

In February, we will celebrate Engineers Week with the Texas Society of Professional Engineers and our fellow engineering societies. The E-Week celebration starts with P.E. Day on the capital steps in Austin and will culminate here in Dallas with an Awards Gala luncheon on Thursday, February 19^that the Westin Galleria Hotel. Consult the TSPE website for more details: http://www.tspe.org

After E-Week, we will have our regularly scheduled monthly luncheon on Wednesday February 25, 2009. Our guest will be Woody Sandlin, Operations Engineer at Chesapeake Energy, who will give us an update on their Barnett Shale operations at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport.

Then March arrives and we will meet on Wednesday 3/18/2009. Our guest will be Bernard M. Piot, Cementing Project Manager, Schlumberger. His topic is Cements and Cementing: An Old Technique with a Future.

Superbowl Sunday is finally here. Good Luck to Arizona and Pittsburgh. Take heart Dallas fans, there’s always next season!

Our Dallas Stars are fighting for the 8^th playoff spot Western Conference of the NHL. Congratulations to the team for a great 4-2 win on the road in Detroit last month!

Happy New Year, Dallas Section! This month we inaugurate a new President and the hubbub around that is making the District of Columbia look like New Orleans prior to Mardi Gras. One has to admit that a new year does bring in hope for prosperity and growth, and we hope you will share your time with us in 2009 – our Society and your own knowledge will prosper and grow with your participation!

Please join us for our great lineup of events in 2009 here at the Dallas Section of SPE!

In January, we will meet on Wednesday January 28, 2009. Our guest will be Gary Schein, Production Engineer at Dale Resources. His presentation will be on the State of the Art of Slickwater Fracturing.

Make your reservations now! We expect excellent attendance for this one AND we have had to raise our price for luncheons to $20 for members with a reservation – and $25 at the door if you don’t make a reservation! Save your spot and save 5 bucks to boot! For directions and to reserve your spot, click the link below:

Yes, Virginia, we are pushing back our luncheon a week, but we have a good reason!

The SPE is sponsoring a major meeting on hydraulic fracturing down in the Woodlands during our regular meeting week. The link to attend it is below – so you are free to go enjoy it and not miss our regular monthly meeting! Come back and tell the rest of us who had to stay here in Dallas how it went!

In February, we will meet on Wednesday February 25, 2009. Our guest will be Woody Sandlin, Operations Engineer at Chesapeake Energy, who will give us an update on their Barnett Shale operations at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport.

Fickle Fate (and chilly Philly outside at the Vet) has poleaxed our playoff hopes for the Dallas Cowboys.

Alas! There’s always next year – but I’m going to wait to pop the popcorn.

Our Dallas Stars are 15-15-5 and sitting in the basement (5^thand last place) of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the NHL. Still plenty of hockey to be played, so don’t count them out!

The Dallas Mavericks are 19-12, residing in 4^th place in their Division, but only 1.5 wins behind the Southwest Division leader, New Orleans. They had an amazing comeback win at the end of December, a new team record. What other surprises do they have for us in 2009?

Happy Holidays, Dallas Section! 2008 is rapidly coming to a close, and what an amazing year it was! Oil prices peaked and sank, the stock market and the banking industry did cartwheels, and America elected its first African-American president. Throughout the year, Energy was a leading economic and political issue. Renewable “green” energy made the headlines, while our industry silently shouldered the load to keep the wheels turning and the lights on in America.

If you’re like me, Holiday shopping isn’t the only thing high on the priority list to get finished before the end of the year. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I hope that the comfort of family and friends will be yours this Holiday Season.

Remember that 1 hour minimum of Ethics refresher training is mandatory to maintain your professional engineering registration! Did you put it off to the last minute? Worry not, friends, because the Dallas Section of SPE is here to give you an early Holiday gift! Our monthly luncheon meeting will be on December 17^th, and our speaker will be Charles B. Pennington of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers, who will give us a presentation that meets Austin’s requirements for an Ethics Overview! The TBPE is the agency in Austin that manages professional registration in Texas, so they are the experts at what qualifies as an Ethics credit! Come get your bonafide ethics credit and a share a great luncheon with us at the same time!

Tony Romo is back and so are our hopes for a strong finish for our Cowboys! The Dallas Cowboys are 8-4, scrambling to secure a playoff spot in the hotly contested NFC East Division.

Alas, our Dallas Stars are 8-11-4 and sitting in the basement (5^thand last place) of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the NHL.

The Dallas Mavericks are 8-8, residing in 4^th place in their Division, but only 3 wins behind the Southwest Division leader, Houston.

It may be frustrating to watch our teams struggle this month, but at least we don’t have to watch any more political ads on TV!

November at last! Only a few scant days of furious campaigning left, and then the sound and the fury will finally culminate into the Presidential Election. Do your duty as a citizen and vote, even if it is for “None of the Above.” Hopefully the newly minted President and Congress can forgive the trespasses of the opposition made in the heat of competition, and can roll up their sleeves and set to work together to move America forward.

You can move your career forward by coming out and joining us at our planned events this month!

Our Shoot for Your School Sporting Clays Tournament event was held on Monday October 20 out at Elm Fork Shooting Range and was well attended. I want to extend a hearty thank you to our planning committee and our sponsors of that event, especially our Platinum Sponsors, BJ Services and Bobcat Pressure Control. Congratulations to all our winners!

Our Dallas Section Luncheon meeting is on Wednesday, November 19^th at 11:30 am at EMGI and our guest is a former SPE Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Mark A. McCaffrey , President of OilTracers, LLC who will tell us about: Allocation of Commingled Production using a Geochemical Technique: An Inexpensive Tool for Production Monitoring. Learn how geochemical techniques can help you keep track of your production splits.

The very next day, on November 20^th, our Production Study Group will hold its monthly luncheon at EMGI at 11:30 am. Our guest is Dr. Franz Zdravistch, Technical Account Manager of ANSYS, Inc. who will give us a talk on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Solutions for the Oil Industry.

Then it’s on to December! Our monthly luncheon meeting will be on December 17^th. Our speaker will be

Charles B. Pennington of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers, giving us our mandatory Ethics Overview for our professional certification! Come get your ethics credit and a share a great luncheon with us at the same time!

The Dallas Cowboys are 5-3 and 3^rd in the NFC East, with many key players sidelined by injury. The defense played a solid 60 minutes and held off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend, in the absence of the dazzling offense we hoped we’d see.

Our Dallas Stars are 4-4-2 and 3^rd in the Central Division of the Western Conference of the NHL.

The Dallas Mavericks are 0-1, losing the Home Opener to Houston as their official season just started.

It may be frustrating to watch our teams struggle this month, but at least we don’t have to watch any more political ads on TV!

It’s Fall in Big D! The weather may be starting to cool down (not that it feels that way yet to this Aggie) but our programming schedule for the Dallas Section of SPE is starting to heat up!

Through providence and our north Texas location, we were spared the fury of Hurricane Ike which damaged so much of Galveston and Houston and the surrounding area in September. Some areas are still without electric power and cleanup operations continue. Dallasites wishing to support our southern neighbors through donations or volunteer efforts can visit the following website created by the SPE Gulf Coast Section:

Our SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Denver, Colorado was a success. Over 9,800 attendees from around the globe visited Denver and enjoyed over 400 technical papers, 18 short courses, field trips, superb weather, and over 450 exhibit booths packed with the latest technology and equipment. We’re sorry that Hurricane Ike impacted attendance to ATCE from our home State, but understand their need to “take care of business” back home on the Gulf Coast.

We were able to reschedule our Ike-Interrupted Continuing Education Symposium, which was originally to be on September 12^th. Now it’s our first program in October! On Monday, October 6^th, from 9:00am to 4:00pm the Dallas Section will host a one-day symposium on the “Control and Reduction of Water Produced with Oil and Gas”, presented by International consultant Dr. Ali Daneshy. The symposium will be held at our regular venue, the Ellison Miles Geotechnical Institute on the Brookhaven College Campus (EMGI), and registration is still only $200. If you couldn’t make it on the 12^th last month, you have another shot at it!

Our Dallas Section Luncheon meeting is on Wednesday, October 15^th at 11:30 am at EMGI and our guest is always outspoken and entertaining Dr. Michael Economides, who will tell us about his new book: Russia, from Soviet to Putin… and Back. Learn how Russia and other “energy-militant countries” are trying to command newspaper headlines to balloon up the price of oil. Copies of Dr. Economides book will be available for 25 USD after the luncheon.

On October 16^th it is National Boss Day here in the U.S. Take time to thank your boss for their hard work and support of your involvement in the Dallas Section of SPE. A perfect way to do that would be to buy them lunch – Bring your Boss to our monthly luncheon on the 15^th! Or, as an alternative, if you can risk seeing your Boss holding a loaded shotgun – Consider participation in our popular SPE Sporting Clays Tournament! We will hold this event on Monday, October 20^that Elm Fork Shooting Range.

On October 29^th, our Production Study Group will hold its monthly luncheon at EMGI at 11:30 am. Our guest is Bill Wooden, founder and Vice President of Applied Seismic Research (ASR) who will give us a talk on Seismic Stimulation: A New EOR Solution for Recovering Lost Reserves.

Then it’s on to November! Our monthly luncheon meeting will be on November 19^th. Our speaker will be

Dr. Mark A. McCaffrey, the President of OilTracers LLC and his topic will be: Allocation of Commingled Production using a Geochemical Technique: An Inexpensive Tool for Production Monitoring.

The Dallas Cowboys are 3-1 after a puzzling upset by archrival Washington last week. Things still look rosy for the silver and blue, but some early adversity should invigorate their work ethic.

Hockey Season officially starts for our Dallas Stars on October 10^th, when we host the Columbus Blue Jackets at the AAC.

Basketball fans, your patience will be rewarded eventually, as the Dallas Mavericks return to the hardwood on October 30.

Howdy! Steve Grape’s my name, and I’m pleased to meet you! I am honored to be serving the Dallas Section as your new President, and I am grateful for all the hard work that my predecessor, Danny Bell, and his Board of Directors were able to accomplish last fiscal year. Suddenly it’s September! The Beijing Summer Olympics have just concluded and now it’s back to school for our older children. Team USA brought home a bumper crop of Olympic Medals – more than any other country, and I share your American Pride in what they achieved. The Dallas Section of SPE has a bumper crop of programming this year and we can’t wait to proudly share it with our members and potential new members!

Our first guest for our September monthly luncheon meeting is SPE Distinguished Lecturer Tony Martin of BJ Services. His talk is entitled Appropriate Hydraulic Fracturing Technologies for Mature Oil and Gas Formations and should not be missed! This meeting will be held in a different venue than normal, due to a room-scheduling conflict. Meet us across the highway in the main ballroom of the gorgeous Hilton Hotel @ Lincoln Centre, (at the SE corner of the North Dallas Tollway and Loop 635) not EMGI. Mark your calendars now for September 9^th! Yes, this is a TUESDAY, not a WEDNESDAY!

We are bending over backwards to bring you this excellent program. This was the only day we could bring him to Dallas, so we jumped on it. You will kick yourself for the rest of the year if you miss out!

Back to School time isn’t just for the kids. Reinvigorate your resume by attending our Continuing Education Symposium. On September 12^th, from 9:00am to 4:00pm the Dallas Section will host a one-day symposium on the “Control and Reduction of Water Produced with Oil and Gas”, presented by International consultant Dr. Ali Daneshy. The symposium will be held at our regular venue, the Ellison Miles Geotechnical Institute on the Brookhaven College Campus, and registration is only $200, which is a significant discount compared to industry seminars.

Feel that Colorado Rocky Mountain High this year at our SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Denver, Colorado. It kicks off on Sunday September 21^st and goes until Wednesday September 24^th. This year’s theme is Connecting Members and Exchanging Knowledge. As Texas Petroleum Engineers, we have the benefit of experience -- the rest of the country and the world looks at “how the Texans did it” to best develop conventional and unconventional resources. Meet and mingle with SPE members from across the globe, and see all the shiny new tech and toys on the Exhibition floor!

At the end of September on the 30th, consider heading west or east from Dallas on Highway 30 to visit either the Unconventional Gas Expo in Fort Worth, or the Horizontal Operations in the Cotton Valley Symposium in Tyler, TX. Sometimes it’s a shame you can’t be in two places at once.

Then get ready for a great October! Our Dallas Section Luncheon meeting is on Wednesday, October 15^th and our guest is always outspoken and entertaining Dr. Michael Economides, who will tell us about Russia, from Soviet to Putin… and Back. Our popular SPE Sporting Clays Tournament will be Monday, October 20^that Elm Fork Shooting Range.

Are you ready for some football? The Dallas Cowboys Home Opener versus the Philadelphia Eagles at Texas Stadium is Monday night September 15^th.

If you still could use a little baseball… The Texas Rangers have 15 home games in September, including 3 with the current leader of the AL West Division, the Los Angeles Angels. Every game will be significant as they are 16 games out of first in the West at the time of writing, and 6^th in line for the AL Wildcard.

Dallas Stars Hockey Pre-season opener versus the Colorado Avalanche is Thursday night September 25^th.

Sorry Basketball fans, the Dallas Mavericks don’t return to the hardwood until October 30.

Is it August already? For you that don't know, August is the last month of my term as section Chairman. September 1st starts a new year for the section with all new leadership. Steve Grape is the incoming Chairman and I can tell you after having this job for a year he would greatly appreciate your support and help. Speaking of volunteering......get involved, you will be rewarded ten fold I promise.

The section has accomplished many things this year for which I am extremely proud. January, 2008, Syed Hamid started up the ever popular and educational Production Operations study group luncheons which meets the 4th Wednesday of every month. This has been very successful with an average attendance of about 40 members. David Hamilton, our Program Chairman, I don't know how to begin to thank him or tell you how much I appreciate his hard work this past year. Every luncheon was perfect with awesome guest speakers and great meals. Brian Walter, serving as our past Chairman was always there giving me his past experience and also picked out a great slate of officers for the upcoming year. David Lancaster as Treasurer did a great job of keeping our financials in order and paid all the bills on time, what more could you ask of a great Treasurer. Brent Haas was this years Secretary and kept our section's Board meeting minutes, i don't think he misspelled anything! PJ Edsall was our Membership Chairman and did an outstanding job of recruiting members and helping out at the sign in desk for our luncheons. Brian Chacka had a great presence in our section this past year. He was ultimately responsible and rode herd over our extremely successful Sports and Social Events. Not only was he our Sports and Social events Chairman he was also this years "Young Engineer of the Year" recipient and Director of the "Young Engineers" events. Other folks that I worked with and I can't thank enough was, Peggy Tibbetts. Peggy is usually in the background helping with such things as the Casino Night or working with the Merchant account which requires a lot of time. (Thanks Peggy for your help......we appreciate your time) Other folks that I want to thank....John Tabor for his help and leadership on the Golf and Sporting Clay events. Both of these events were very instrumental in our record breaking scholarship program this year of 26,000 dollars given out to 15 college students. Speaking of our Scholarship Program.....Dan Auces has been doing the Scholarship program for as long as I can remember. He has tried to find someone to take over his job but no one wants to follow him. He has done an awesome job as Scholarship Chairman for so many years. The whole section owes him our gratitude and thanks. Herb Bell is our Advertising Director and keeps track of the advertisers on the website. You would be surprised at the amount of work that goes into sending out invoices and follow up email notices to our many advertisers. Natalie Easley keeps track of all the email addresses for the section and sends out all of the section's many email reminders. and flyers Lonnie Kysiak, at Nexen, helps with our reservations and at the luncheon check-in table, Dennis Maddox at Brookhaven College does an awesome job of making sure that our meeting rooms are set up and functional. I would also like to thank all the committee members and volunteers that worked at the Casino Night, Sporting Clay event, Golf tournament and Scholarship committee. I'm sure I left out several people that I should have thanked and for that I apologize. As you can see, it takes a lot of dedicated volunteers to make the Dallas Section successful. Please know that your time and efforts make the Dallas Section a "family" of over 1500 members dedicated to the dissemination of technical information.

Whew, as they say down south...... "is it hot enough fer ya"? I hope you are staying cool and having a great summer. The Dallas SPE section usually takes the summer off but why should we be any different than the rest of the good ol oil patch....it's 24/7! Seriously folks, there seems to be plenty of interest so we will continue to provide quality luncheon and study group speakers through the summer.

Many thanks to Dan Auces and his outstanding scholarship committee (12 members) who have been hard at work coming up with this years scholarship recipients. They chose 15 recipients out of a list of 39 applicants representing 7 different universities. A record 26,000 dollars will be awarded. to see the statistics go to: http://www.spedallas.org/2008_scholarship_webpage_stats.xls

We are working in exciting times and I hope to see you at one of the following summer meetings.

June 2008

I sat beside a lady on the plane the other day and after the usual niceties she asked, “What do you do for a living?” “I’m a petroleum engineer for a Dallas based oil and gas company"….."Oh really?" was her reply. "I’m a recruiter for TI in Dallas, and I steal your industry’s best, young engineers all the time, and I pay them less money," she said. I’m thinking….what? How could someone from your industry possibly steal someone from my beloved oil and gas industry? The oil and gas industry is vibrant, exciting, job security is at an all time high, and the pay is great! So finally after a few shocked moments I asked, "You’re kidding, right?" She said, "You guys (now she’s getting personal) don’t offer enough challenging projects, flexible time schedules, and give them the tools they want to do their jobs". Ok lady you have my attention…."Explain please.” "Young people today don’t want to work the long hours or days that you old timers work. They like to hang out with their friends, whether it be in person, online, or on the phone.” They like flexible time schedules……what? Hey lady, the oil patch starts early. "Plus, you guys don’t give them the tools they like to work with…..laptop computers, Blackberry phones, and other electronic gadgets."……again, what? I said, ”Those are for the older more experienced engineers”…you know, perks! Well, after several minutes of conversation on this subject she convinced me that the leaders of our oil and gas companies had better start thinking about how we are treating and using our bright young minds or we will lose them. Think about it!

I hope you were able to attend this year’s annual golf tournament at Firewheel Golf course. John Tabor, Brian Chacka, and all their helpers did a great job, as usual. This event as well as our very successful Casino night are two of the main contributors to our college scholarship fund. If you see one of the committee members make sure and thank them for all of their long hours and hard work!

Upcoming events:

June 18th , SPE Monthly Luncheon at Brookhaven College

Speaker: Pat Handren - Denbury

Topic: "Successful Hybrid Slickwater Fracture Design Evolution – An East Texas Cotton Valley Taylor Case History"

June 25th, SPE Production Study Group

Speaker: Gary Ring

Topic: The Need for Lower Cost Subsea Well Intervention

July 16th , SPE Monthly Luncheon at Brookhaven College

Speaker: Bryan Dotson - BP

Topic: "Deliquifying Gas Wells for Full Depletion"

I hope to see you soon!

Danny Bell

Section Chairman

dbell@excoresources.com

May 2008

The Dallas section of the SPE is alive and thriving! The Ca$ino Night committee did another spectacular job with the food and prizes however, if you were one of the unlucky ones that tried to sign up late and got turned away, I apologize and I’m truly sorry. For you that attended, I know you had a lot of fun because I was there and have pictures to prove it. (Speaking of that…. I will be placing some of the less incriminating pictures out on the website shortly). I was talking to Brian Chacka about this year being sold out and he promises me that next year’s event will be even bigger and better and held at a place where we can accommodate a much larger crowd. I haven’t heard how much money we brought in for scholarships but I’m sure it will be a new record. I will put the dollar amounts in next months Chairman’s Corner.

This month is career day in many of the schools around Dallas and Fort Worth and they are in desperate need of speakers that will give up a few hours and talk about Petroleum engineering. It’s not as painful as you think. As I mentioned in my March Chairman’s Corner, SPEI has a canned “speakers kit” that cuts out most of the preparation time. Try it…..I promise you will have fun, feel good about your self after it’s over and most importantly you may be the one that influences some bright young person to go into Petroleum Engineering.

The Nominating Committee (Danny Bell, Brian Walter, Steve Grape, Brent Hass, PJ Edsall) hereby recommends the following slate of officers for the 2008-2009 Dallas SPE Board;

Chairman 2008-2009 Steve Grape (elected in 2007)

Chairman Elect 2009-2010 David Hamilton

1st VP, Program Chairman Brian Chacka

2nd VP, Education Chairman Syed Hamid

3rd VP, Membership Chairman David Creach

Secretary PJ Edsall

Treasurer Brent Hass

Per Article VII Section 8 of the By-laws the Directors shall be appointed by the Chairman.

Director-Tech./Newsletter Danny Bell

Director-Sports & Social Thad Toups

Director-Community & Social Rick Middaugh

HEES 2010 Nick Duane

Magic Suitcase Phin Holmes

Scholarship Dan Auces

Career Guidance Auggie Payne

SPE Young Professionals/ELP Brian Chacka

Advertising Mgr. Herb Bell

Upcoming events:

May 14th , SPE Monthly Luncheon at Brookhaven College

Speaker: "Robert Hawkes - Team Leader of Reservoir Services for BJ Services Company Canada”

Topic: "Prefrac Reservoir Characterization From Perforation Inflow Diagnostic (PID) Testing"

May 28th, SPE Production Study Group

Speaker and Topic: To Be forthcoming.

June 2nd, SPE Dallas section Golf Tournament at Firewheel.

I hope to see you soon!

Danny Bell

Section Chairman

dbell@excoresources.com

April 2008

I hope you were able to attend our section's 55th birthday celebration. David Hamilton did a great job putting it together with good food, excellent speaker and a cake. We also handed out 7 Legion of Honor awards to the following gentlemen:

1.      Roy Keene
2.      Ray Marr
3.      Thomas Laverty
4.      Ronald Clark
5.      Glenn Jones
6.      Forrest Hoglund (not pictured below)
7.      William Cupit (not pictured below)

Past Section Chairmen were invited and specifically recognized.

Rick Bjorck 1988-89
Frank Robl 1989-90
Deacon Marek 2004-05
Herb Bell 1999-2000
Danny Bell 2007-08
Peggy Tibbetts 2003-04
Bill LaRoche 1975
Betsy Cook 1997-98
Paul Szatkowski 2001-02
Steve Grape 2008-09

As you can see we had an excellent celebration at our last regular monthly luncheon. Our Monthly Production Study group was also well attended with almost 50 members attending. This meeting is turning out to be a great source of educational information and something that you can take back to your job and use. Our speaker was "Terry Palisch" where he discussed slickwater fracturing and proppants.

Upcoming events:

April 16th , SPE Monthly Luncheon at Brookhaven College

Speaker: "Ron Clarke with iiiTec ”

Topic: "Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Actuated Self-Powered Downhole Tools"

April 23rd, SPE Production Study Group

Speaker: Gary Patterson

Topic: “CO2 Conformance at Little Creek and Lazy Creek Units”

May 2nd, Casino Night

June 2nd, SPE Dallas section Golf Tournament at Firewheel.

I hope to see you soon!

Danny Bell

Section Chairman

dbell@excoresources.com

March 2008

Bill Cobb, our 2008 SPE President, discusses an interesting and dear-to-my-heart topic in this month’s JPT - SPE’s energy education program called Energy4me. I was recently asked by a friend and 4^th grade teacher to come and discuss “where does oil and gas come from?” With some arm twisting on her part, I was more than happy to give a little “show and tell”. It was actually a lot of fun to discuss a topic I love to 25 eager little minds. I showed them a reservoir rock, an oil sample, a drill bit, and I even showed them an open-hole well log with an explanation of what we look for in all these “squiggly lines”. I also used SPE’s educational kit that includes a CD and a wonderfully written book with lots of neat color pictures. The book is written so that is of interest to several age groups. I showed a short film clip (8 minutes) from the CD in SPE’s kit and left the book Oil and Natural Gas with Mrs. Grissom’s class so they could study and look at it at their leisure. Both the CD and book were donated free of charge by SPEI for this purpose. For more information go to http://www.energy4me.org/

If you are lucky enough to be asked to do this for a school, give SPEI a call and they will be more than happy to mail you a “kit”. Hey, answer this….would you rather that a petroleum engineer talk about and answer questions concerning our beloved industry, or would you rather that they be educated by a politician’s thoughts on the subject?

Make sure you attend this month’s luncheon. We are celebrating the section’s 55th birthday, plus we are passing out “Legion of Honor” awards to several of our members that have been members for over 50 years. David Hamilton, our program chairman, has several surprises for the members at this special meeting.

Legion of Honor inductees:

Ronald Clark Donald Brown Daniel Hologa

William Cupit Frederic Sewell Clyde McCall

Thomas Laverty Sloan Black Roy Keene

Ray Marr Glenn Jones E. Kistenmacher

Forrest Hoglund Paul McGee John Tansil

Wendell Cook Frederic Wagner Glenn Willis

Earl Ramsey H. Wofford Robert Fowler - Deceased

Upcoming events:

March 19^th , SPE Monthly Luncheon at Brookhaven College

Speaker: Mark Day - Sr. Construction Engineering Advisor for Devon Energy

Topic: "Devon Energy Deck Raising Project - Eugene Island 330-B & C"

Plus we are celebrating the section’s 55^th birthday and passing out several Legion of Honor awards.

March 26th, SPE Production Study Group

Speaker: "Terry Palisch"

Topic: Slickwater Fracturing – “Food for Thought”

I hope to see you soon at one (if not all) of the above events.

Danny Bell

Section Chairman

dbell@excoresources.com

I hope you had a chance to attend our January Monthly Luncheon or our newly formed Production Study Group. I was unfortunately out of town on business and unable to attend the Production Study Group but I understand it was well attended and a great success. Syed Hamid has done a great job of organizing this newly formed forum. If you have a topic that you would like covered please contact me or Syed and give us your ideas. Better yet, volunteer to present a topic that you think would be beneficial to the Dallas section. Remember dissemination of information is what, we, the Society of Petroleum Engineers are all about.

Please note and remember that the February meeting is early this month (February 6th) and on the first Wednesday rather than our usual third Wednesday.

Topic: "Petroleum Reserves Estimates - Where We Have Been, Where We Are, and Where We Appear Appear To Be Headed"

Topic: “Production Logging and Multi-Rate Pressure Testing of Multi-layer Reservoirs"

2007 is now officially behind us. I don’t know about you, but I am excited about the possibilities for 2008. The Industry is healthy, oil prices are at all time highs and new technology is abundant. It is a great time to be a petroleum engineer and a good time to be in the oil and gas industry. Realizing these things, I hope you have set aggressive goals for 2008.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. My hope for you in 2008 is that you become more involved. “Think BIG” in 2008!

Topic: "Improving the Drill-Ability of “Hydraulically Challenged” Prospects"

Topic: "Petroleum Reserves Estimates - Where We Have Been, Where We Are, and Where We Appear Appear To Be Headed"

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are ready for Christmas. Speaking of being ready, are you ready as a registered professional engineer if you are audited by the board? You need 15 PDH (Professional Development Hours) with at least one PDH being on professional ethics. I hope you have your hours this year but if you need a couple more hours the Dallas section is sponsoring a 6 hour short course which will help cover your needed PDH’s. The short course is a bargain at 50 dollars and is located at the EMGI for your convenience. For more details and to sign up go to the website.

Our guest speaker for this month (December 19th) is our very own Dallasite Bill Cobb - 2008 SPEI President. Let's all turn out and show Bill our support. His dedication, time and effort to SPE is greatly needed and appreciated world wide.

Are you ready for the Holiday Season? Get-togethers with family and friends are just a few short weeks away.

If you remember in last month’s Chairman’s corner, I said I wanted the Dallas Section to “Think BIG”. Well, everyone certainly responded.

October was a GREAT month for the Dallas section. Due to the hard work of the program committee, our October 17th luncheon was sold out, with 212 members attending. Our speaker, Dave Leopold - DFW Project Manager with Chesapeake Energy Corporation, gave a fascinating talk on Chesapeake ’s “Drilling and Operating Wells at DFW Airport ". We hope to have Dave back next year to give us an update.

The Dallas Section’s annual Sporting Clay Event was another huge success, with all the available 40 teams filled. The day was a little chilly and windy, but everyone had a great time. John Tabor and his Sporting Clay Event Committee did an excellent job in putting this year’s event together. As a result, the Dallas section gave $8100 to 9 different SPE student sections. Good job guys!

The Dallas SPE Board of Directors met on October 23rd . Several issues and changes were discussed in an effort to make the Dallas section the best ever.

· An after Christmas Holiday party is being discussed (time and venue forthcoming).

· Syed Hamid (Education Chairman) and his committee are starting a monthly “Operations Study Group” that will kick off after the first of the year. (Stay tuned for more details.) He is also putting together a December, 2007 short course on the use of Halliburton’s new online Red Book. (Again, stay tuned for more details.)

· The 2009 Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium (HEES) has been postponed until 2010 in an effort to keep it from conflicting with the OKC section’s POS. We are in hopes that this will boost attendance at both events.

· Starting January 1st, 2008 the monthly luncheons will have a different cost structure. Members paying online will continue to pay $17.00, non members will be $25.00, and members paying cash at the door will be $20.00. This will hopefully boost SPE membership and will help the people at the door who are making change.

· November 27 (Tuesday) – Dallas sections next luncheon at EMGI. You won't want to miss this if you are a Registered Professional Engineer since it is our annually required Ethics PE credit.

· December 19 (Wednesday) – Dallas section Monthly Luncheon. Guest speaker will be Dallas’s very on Bill Cobb (2008 SPEI President). Make plans to attend and hear what’s new with SPE globally.

· January 2008 – I am proud to inform you that the Dallas Section is starting up a “Monthly Production Study Group”. Date and topic will be forthcoming.

October, 2007

I hope you enjoy the fall season as much as I do. Football season, cooler weather and the holidays are just around the corner.

In September we had a great luncheon, and it was well attended. David Hamilton, our Program Chairman, did an excellent job of getting us fed, comfortable, and providing us with an interesting speaker (Bill Ott on sand control). Also, last month I was honored to present the 2007 Drilling and Completions Regional Award to my old friend and colleague Gerald Coulter. Gerald is world renowned for his technical papers, patents, and has taught and mentored many us on how to have better well completions.

I am pushing all our Dallas section officers to THINK BIG this year. I want our luncheons sold out, our social events to be the biggest and best ever, and our Dallas section membership to increase. The Oil and Gas industry is flourishing, and now is a great time to get more involved and help our profession grow.

I am looking for someone that will contribute a monthly technical article for our website and monthly e-news letter. If you would like to organize this or perhaps write the articles, please call or email me and let’s talk. I think this would truly be a growth opportunity for someone and would help “disseminate technical information” to the membership, which is the mission of SPE world wide. Please consider volunteering for this opportunity.

Upcoming 2007 events:

October 17 - Dallas sections next luncheon at EMGI.
October 22 - Dallas section’s annual SPE Sporting Clay shoot at Elm Fork Shooting Range.
November 12-14 – SPE Annual Technical Conference (ATC) in Anaheim California.
November 27 (Tuesday) – Dallas sections next luncheon at EMGI. You won't want to miss this if you are a Registered Professional Engineer since it is our annually required Ethics PE credit.

I hope to see you soon at one (if not all) of the above events.

Danny Bell

Section Chairman

dbell@excoresources.com

September, 2007

I would like to start off by saying a warm hello, and if you don’t already know me, I’m Danny Bell, your new Dallas Section Chairman for the 2007 – 2008 year. Following in the foot steps of Brian Walter, our past chairman, will be a big job. Brian’s year along with fellow officers and helpers did an outstanding job with the 2007 HEES, Golf Tournament, Ca$ino Night, College Scholarships, and numerous monthly luncheons, and even a joint "Unconventional Exploration" seminar with EMGI…….all very successful and rewarding for our section members.

I’m looking forward to the up coming year, and I hope that you will all become involved in one of the many afore mentioned section activities. To volunteer, go to our Officers page on the website http://www.spedallas.org/officers.htm and contact the appropriate person, or email me (dbell@excoresources.com) and I’ll get you in contact with the right person. Remember……our goal is to have fun; our mission is to disseminate technical information to the membership. If you have ideas about our goal or our mission please contact me. I’m listening!

What’s going on in September? Our next luncheon and speaker is on Wednesday, September the 19th. The talk is on “Selection and Design Criteria for Sand Control Screens” and our speaker is William K. (Bill) Ott with Well Completion Technology. For further information and details, go to the Dallas section website at http://www.spedallas.org/monthly_meetings.htm. David Hamilton, our Program chairman, has lined up several interesting and educational luncheon speakers for the upcoming year… I know you won’t want to miss a single one. Mark your calendars early. Our luncheons are usually on the third Wednesday of every month (check the website for the exact date and time). The location is at the easily accessible and comfortable Ellison Miles Institute, Brookhaven College (Map).

I hope to see you soon, and if I don’t already know you, please locate me at one of our section events and introduce yourself. I can’t wait to meet you!

Danny Bell

dbell@excoresources.com

Danny Bell (Chairman elect 2007-2008) and the new Board of Directors will take the reins of the Dallas Section at the end of August. Thanks to the 2006-2007 Board and Volunteers for their service to the Society. It has been a great year to be a petroleum engineer!

Deepankar Biswas our Continuing Education Chairman coordinated our Unconventional Exploration Seminar held July 17^th. The Seminar was designed to broaden your knowledge and understanding of Unconventional Resource Assessment Methodology, Completion Decisions, Water Fracs, Passive Seismic Frac Monitoring, Shallow Oil Accumulations and Coal Distribution and Production Patterns in CBM Basins.

To collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence.

The Seminar was held at Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute (EMGI) and was also cosponsored by EMGI. Diane Brownlee with EMGI and also serving as the Dallas SPE Community Relations Director was instrumental in hosting the symposium.

I look forward to a continuing partnership with EMGI and the Dallas SPE section.

On June 18, 2007, eight of the ten members of the Scholarship Committee met and selected 13 students from 40 applicants to receive a scholarship. All ten committee members submitted recommendations.

Dan Auces and the Dallas Section Scholarship Committee recommended and the Dallas SPE Board has approved scholarships for 13 students selected from 8 regional universities. The total amount of scholarships approval was $20,000.00.

Here are some basic statistics about this year’s scholarship process. Forty students from eight of the nine regional universities submitted applications. Only the University of Missouri at Rolla did not submit applications due to confusion in the petroleum engineering department. The applicant age range was from 17 to 26 years. There were 14 female applicants. One school, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette alone submitted 12 applications. At least one award was give to eight schools. *One student, Eric Paul Lege will be a three-time recipient of a scholarship from our section.

John Tabor and his golf committee played golf on June 4^th. The 24^th Annual Dallas SPE Golf Tournament. was held on at Fire Wheel Golf Course in Garland. By all accounts the Tournament was a success. Thanks to John and his committee!

Brian Chacha and Mitzi Orkus are leading the way for the (ELP) Emerging Leaders Program. Our younger SPE members are using ELP to network and socialize. Look for Brian’s announcements at the monthly meetings and for the ELP link on the Dallas SPE website for upcoming ELP events.

Chairman’s Corner

June 2007

John Tabor and his golf committee are ready to tee off on June 4^th with our 24^th Annual Dallas SPE Golf Tournament.

The Golf Tournament will be held June 4^th at Fire Wheel Golf Course in Garland. John is still looking for Sponsors and Volunteers. If you have any questions you may reach him at 214 981-1918.

During our May Luncheon meeting we voted on the proposed slate of officers for the 2007-2008 year. The Slate was voted in unanimously. Thanks to Gary Patterson and the Nomination Committee for their hard work in fielding our next slate of officers. Also Congratulations to Danny Bell our 2007-2008 Chairman! Thanks to all of the 2007-2008 Officers and Directors for their volunteer commitment to the Dallas Section.

Casino Night was held Friday May 4^th at Royal Oaks Country Club. We had the highest attendance ever and are projected to earn a record amount for our Scholarship program! Thanks to Gary Patterson and the Casio committee for the great work in hosting the party.

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming luncheon meeting!

J. Brian Walter

2006-2007 Chairman

214 369-4564

brian@walterx.com

May 2007

Dan Auces and his Scholarship Committee will put our charity funds to work filling our 2007 Dallas SPE scholarships. Dan has received a number of applications before the May 1^st deadline. The Scholarship committee will convene shortly to deliberate on the applications. Dan has been the Scholarship chairman since 1998!

During our April Luncheon meeting we announced the proposed slate of officers for the 2007-2008 year. The Slate will be voted on during the May 16th Luncheon meeting. Nominations closed on April 30^th. Thanks to Gary Patterson and the Nomination Committee for their hard work in fielding our next slate of officers. For more information please see the website.

Casino Night is Friday May 4^th at Royal Oaks Country Club. We are almost sold out. I recommend making your reservations as soon as possible. A portion of the Casio night profits will go to fund our Scholarship program.

John Tabor is back again this year with his Golf committee. The 24^th Annual Dallas SPE

Golf Tournament will be held June 4^th at Fire Wheel golf Course in Garland. John is still looking for Sponsors and Volunteers. If you have any questions you may reach him at 214 981-1918.

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming luncheon meeting!

J. Brian Walter

2006-2007 Chairman

214 369-4564

brian@walterx.com

April 2007

Come by and roll the dice with Gary Patterson and the Casino Committee on Friday May 4^th at Royal Oaks Country Club. This event has strong early reservations and I recommend making your reservations as soon as possible. Last year the Casio Night sold out. A portion of the Casio night profits will go to fund our Scholarship program.

During our April Luncheon meeting we will be announcing the proposed slate of officers for the 2007-2008 year. If you wish to run for an SPE Dallas Section Office please contact Gary Patterson, the Nomination Committee Chairman, to be included on the slate.

HEES 2007 was held April 1^st through the 3^rd, 2007. Congratulation goes out to Eddie Rhea and his committee for a great job. Early estimates project the Dallas Section will clear $17,000 to $19,000. Most of the monies raised will go toward the Scholarship program. Dan Auces and his Scholarship committee will put the funds to work filling our Dallas SPE scholarships.

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming luncheon meeting!

J. Brian Walter

2006-2007 Chairman

214 369-4564

brian@walterx.com

March 2007

HEES 2007 (Hydrocarbon Economic Evaluation Symposium 2007). The theme of this year’s event will be “Unconventional Economics”. Eddie Rhea and his committee have been working hard for the last 10 months to plan our biannual Symposium.

We are fortunate to have Ken Hersh CEO of Natural Gas Partners to give our Keynote Luncheon presentation on Monday April 2nd. Tuesday, Barry Davis president of Dallas based Crosstex Energy will be our Tuesday luncheon speaker.

Gary Patterson will be running our short courses at HEES 2007. The first short course will be on Saturday the 31^st by Larry Lake on Enhanced Oil Recovery. The second short course will be presented Sunday by Sada Joshi on reservoir parameters of horizontal well projects.

HEES 2007 will be held April 1^st through the 3^rd, 2007 and is the biggest fund raising event for the Dallas SPE Chapter. Please go to SPE.org website and sign up under Meetings and Conferences.

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming luncheon meeting!

J. Brian Walter

2006-2007 Chairman

214 369-4564

brian@walterx.com

February 2007

Congratulation to Dallas SPE member Gary Patterson for receiving the 2007 Engineer of the Year Award from the Texas Society of Professional Engineers Dallas Chapter. Congratulation also goes out to Janice Mineke for receiving the 2007 Young Engineer of the Year Award.

Last month we were fortunate to have Eve Sprunt President of SPE International speak at our luncheon meeting. Ms. Sprunt presented the Legion of Honor Inductees their certificates for 50 years of membership in SPE. Many of the Inductees imparted words of wisdom to the lunch crowd, which made for an interesting time.

Please mark your calendars now for the HEES 2007 (Hydrocarbon Economic Evaluation Symposium 2007). Eddie Rhea and his committee have been working hard for the last 10 months to plan our biannual Symposium. HEES 2007 will be held April 1^st through the 3^rd, 2007 and is the biggest fund raising event for the Dallas SPE Chapter.

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming luncheon meeting!

J. Brian Walter

2006 Chairman

214 369-4564

brian@walterx.com

January 2007

Happy New Year!

I would like to start the year on a positive note and make a call for nominations for an SPE Award. We are requesting nominations for both SPE Regional Service Awards and for Dallas Section Service Awards.

February 15, 2007 is the deadline for submitting candidate’s information packages for the SPE Regional Service Awards. Please contact Gary Patterson (gpatterson84@yahoo.com) our awards committee chairman for help in recognizing our star SPE Dallas members.

Names may be submitted anytime for the Dallas Section Service Award.

There has been some recent interest in starting a new SPE study group for production and operations. If any one is interest in chairing a new study group please contact me. SPE international has workbooks available on how to start a new study group and keep in active.

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming luncheon meeting!

J. Brian Walter

2006 Chairman

214 369-4564

brian@walterx.com

December 2006

We are fortunate to have Eve Sprunt, the 2006 SPE International president, to speak at our January 10^th monthly meeting. Ms. Sprunt has agreed to present this year Legion of Honor Certificate of achievements to our Dallas Section recipients. This year we have 18 new members of the Legion of Honor.

The Legion of Honor Certificate is awarded to an SPE member recognizing 50 years of continuous SPE membership. This year’s recipients are:

Marion D Arnold

Charles J Holland Jr.

Claude L McMichael Jr.

E C Mlcak

James C Thompson Jr.

James R Nichols

James W Kerr

Jarl P Johnson

K R Withrow

Louis Harlan

Perry B Morris

Robert Alexander

Robert Mayer Jr.

Robert L Spottswood

Robert M Tittle

Robert P Schafer

Thomas Perkins

W W Dollison

The Legion of Honor Recipient and their families will be invited to attend our January meeting.

Please mark your calendars now for the HEES 2007 (Hydrocarbon Economic Evaluation Symposium 2007). Eddie Rhea and his committee have been working hard for the last 8 months to plan our biannual Symposium. HEES 2007 will be held April 1^st through the 3^rd, 2007 and is the biggest fund raising event for the Dallas SPE Chapter.

I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming luncheon meeting on December the 20th where Charlie Kinard with Southwestern Energy will talk about their Fayetteville shale play.

J. Brian Walter

2006 Chairman

214 369-4564

brian@walterx.com

Last month I had the pleasure of shooting in the Dallas SPE’s Shoot For Your School Sporting Clay Tournament. Twenty seven schools were represented and will receive monies from the tournament. Kudos go to John Tabor, Allen Miller, Long Hunt, and PJ Edsall and the tournament committee members for their hard work and preparation. The event was well received, especially by all of the participants winning the 50 plus door prizes including shotguns, gift certificates and hunting gear.

It is not too late to be thinking about the SPE Dallas Christmas party. This year we will hold a joint Christmas party with the Dallas Geological Society and the Dallas Geophysical Society at the Belo Mansion Downtown on December 1^st. You may register online at the Dallas SPE website ($75 per couple). Reservations are limited and are first come basis until the party is full. For other details please see the website.

Eddie Rhea and the HEES 2007 (Hydrocarbon Economic Evaluation Symposium 2007) Committee has been working hard for the last 7 months to plan our biannual Symposium. HEES 2007 will be held April 1^st through the 3^rd, 2007. Please mark your calendars now.

This month I would like to recognize the efforts David Lancaster and his committee for their work in managing the Well Planning Seminar short course held at the Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute on August 22^nd and 23^rd. Over fifty people attended the short course and raised over $7000.00 for the Dallas Section. Thanks for the good work!!

Our next event will be the Sporting Clays Tournament to be held on October 23^rd. John Tabor, Allen Miller and PJ Edsall have been working on the Tournament and estimate that we will have a larger participation than last year. Last year we raised over $7000 for SPE Student Chapters. The tournament is not full and there are still team openings.

The Dallas SPE Board of Directors has appointed Diane Brownlee to head our Community Relations Committee. Diane is the current Director at Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute at Brookhaven College. She has some great ideas for the Community Relation Committee and a lot of enthusiasm.

Your new slate of officers for 2006-2007 was elected by acclimation at the May General meeting. The new officers will be serving our section beginning September 1, 2006. Please take time to congratulate and thank the following officers and directors for 2006-2007:

Our next meeting is September 20, at EMGI. Jim Bosic will be speaking on “Drilling of directional wells from off-unit locations”. Jim will give us some incite on the necessity of targeting smaller reservoirs in areas of smaller lease tracts. This is an ongoing problem in high culture areas.

The SPEI’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) will be held in San Antonio on September 24 through 27.

If you are busy, like the rest of the oil industry, you are either reading this on your lunch break, or not at all!

Brian Walter and a somewhat new Board of Directors will be taking the reins of the Dallas Section at the end of the month. Thank you to the SPE volunteers. I have enjoyed working with all of you. The new 2006-2007 Board will continue to serve the Dallas Section in an excellent fashion. I’ll still be around as Past-Chairman on this new Board.

OUR MISSION

The Society of Petroleum Engineer’s Mission Statement is:

Simply put, our purpose is TECHNOLOGY DISSEMINATION! Therefore, the main focus of each Region and Section is the same. Through the Dallas Section’s Monthly Luncheons, the members and their guests are exposed to a wide range of petroleum engineering topics. You can simply look back at any given year to see the vast array of titles selected by the Program Chairs. Additionally, the Dallas Section provides annual or semi-annual short courses and our biennial Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium (HEES). The HEES event is our main source of financial income for our scholarship program.

Many would consider the Section’s secondary purpose to be philanthropy in the form of College Scholarships. In the most recent years, the Dallas Section has given out between $12,000 and $15,000 per year to deserving Petroleum Engineering students. Dan Auces, of Hunt Petroleum, is stepping down from the head of this committee after “many” years. He has done a great job organizing this committee and creating a fair and equitable way to grant the funds. Thanks again, Dan, for all of your hard work.

Thirdly, we are a social and professional organization. Our social gatherings are typically highlighted by contributions to our Scholarship Fund (ie, the Golf Tournament, the Casino Night Event, etc.)

OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN

On August 22 and 23, SPE Dallas is hosting a Well Planning Seminar at Brookhaven Community College’s EMGI (where we meet monthly for our luncheon meetings!) Mike Cure is coming in from Midland to give this day and a half course. The cost is $225 per person, and we’re providing lunch the first day. This will be a great overview for those who drill just a few wells per year. Others in your organization might benefit from attending, so PLEASE pass the information on to SPE members and non-members alike. See the website (www.spedallas.org) for more details.

In September, a Professional Exam Review Course will also be held at Brookhaven’s EMGI. If you are planning to take the exam this October, or are thinking about it for the future, this is a great way to see topics and examples that will be covered on the test. Mr. Bing Wines has been teaching this review course (based on what the exam covers!) for over 10 years. This will be held during Labor Day week, beginning Tuesday, September 5 through Saturday, September 9. It’s a big commitment, but well worth the effort to become professionally registered. Costs and details are available on the section’s website.

Due to the Summer Break, the Dallas Section will not hold an August luncheon meeting. Be sure to watch your email for announcements regarding September’s speaker and topic, to be held at EMGI on September 20, 2007.

The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) will begin again after the Summer. Look for information on a September meeting. Thanks again to Janice Menke of Matador Resources for continuing to lead this critical generation of petroleum engineers.

And as a reminder, the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibit will be held in San Antonio this September 24 – 29. Go to the main SPE website, www.spe.org, for more information and registration forms.

All of our congratulations should go to Margaret “Peggy” Tibbetts. She was awarded the Regional Service Award at July’s Monthly Luncheon. Her hard work for the past several years has benefited the members of the Central & Southeast North America Region. Her guidance at the Section’s bi-annual Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Seminar (HEES) has been spectacular. You cannot find another volunteer who has done more for this Section and the Region.

OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE

If you would like to participate, either on a committee or at the luncheons, please contact any of the Board members. We are always looking for new people and new ideas.

Hope to see you at an upcoming meeting,

Gary Patterson

Chairman 2005-2006

gpatterson84@yahoo.com

Summer’s finally here and with it brings warm weather and GOLF! This Monday, June 5, the Dallas SPE will hold our annual tournament at Firewheel Golf Course in Garland. Tee off is set at 1 pm. Lunch and dinner will be provided, as well as the chance to win a door prize. If your game is any better than mine, you might also have a chance at winning the lowest score, longest drive, etc. contests. Thanks to the Golf Committee for all of their hard work. This is one of our largest sources of income for our scholarship fund.

During May, our Casino Night Party was held at Royal Oaks. Early numbers indicate we raised over $2,000 for scholarships. Thanks to this Committee for a great night out.

Please see the list of sponsors for both of these fun, fundraisers. Be sure to thank them, perhaps with your business!

Our slate of nominated officers for 2006-2007 has been posted on the spedallas.org website. Please take a few minutes to review the list of volunteers prepared to serve the Dallas Section on our Board of Directors. We will be holding the elections at our June 14 meeting at Brookhaven’s EMGI. If you are interested in serving on an upcoming committee, please contact myself or any of the Board members. There is always a need for those willing to serve.

Please welcome Janice Menke, of Matador Resources to the Board of Directors. At the April Board meeting, she was appointed to the position of Emerging Leaders Co-Chair. She and Jeff Carpenter, Hydril – Fort Worth, share leadership of this “under-35” group. They have met about half a dozen times over the past year. Watch the website for more information about upcoming events.

A former Dallasite, Mr. John Jo will return to speak at our June Monthly Luncheon. He is now with Turnkey E&P Inc of Houston and will be discussing “Casing Drilling”. In this environment of increasing costs, he should provide evidence of an alternative to conventional thinking. Come join us and expand your knowledge.

Please note the upcoming review course in September. The Section is sponsoring the course for those planning to take the P.E. Exam in October for professional registration. Please refer to the information on the website: www.spedallas.com. This is an excellent way to prepare for the eight hour exam. If you need further information, please contact the instructor, G. Bing Wines, P.E., directly at 405/722-6761. I can personally vouch for his class. It was extremely beneficial for preparing and passing the exam.

In April, the Dallas Section awarded two more of our SPE Legion of Honor Awards to:

If you know these gentlemen, please congratulate them on their 50 years of membership in SPE.

Our 2006 SPE Casino Night will be held at Royal Oaks Country Club on Friday, May 5, 6:00 to 11:00. The Casino Committee guarantees you’ll be a winner (a winner of “fun” anyway), if you come out and support this scholarship fund raiser. Last year, over $3,400 was contributed from this one night of “risk management”.

Our slate of nominated officers for 2006-2007 has been posted on the spedallas.org website. Please take a few minutes to review the list of fine candidates prepared to serve the Dallas Section on our Board of Directors. We will be holding the elections at our June 14 meeting at Brookhaven Community College.

Mr. Orland DeJesus of Halliburton will be our speaker at the May meeting. He will be discussing "Newest Applications of Neural Networking Technology in the Oilfield". Since I really can’t discuss the current applications, damn gag order, I’ll leave you all in suspense regarding this topic. Please make your reservations and come on out to the meeting.

On June 5, we have our Golf Tournament at Garland’s Firewheel. In April, the course was in excellent shape, with just a little too much water for my skill level. Come out and join us in loosing a few more balls. There’ll be plenty of food, drink and door prizes. See the website for more details.

The Dallas Section of SPE was honored to award these members who have earned the Legion of Honor Award on March 15th:

Please join the Dallas Board of Directors in thanking these men for their 50 years of membership in SPE.

The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) held a dinner forum on March 30. Three DFW oil executives spoke the group of “under 35”. The ELP program is sponsored and encouraged by the Fort Worth and Dallas Sections and SPE-International to promote leadership skills among this group of our membership. They are preparing to formalize their own five-member Board of Directors and will continue to plan area events. Please contact Janice Menke or Jeff Carpenter for more details. See this website for a link. Our thanks to Rich Green of LaRoche Petroleum Consultants, Brad Robinson of Matador Resources and Mark Whitley of Range Resources for their time and words of encouragement.

Professor Mukul M. Sharma of the University of Texas at Austin will be our speaker at the April 19^th luncheon meeting. His topic is "Oilfield Water Handling, Treatment and Re-injection: A Key to Managing Mature Oilfields". This should be an interesting topic for those of us that operate in the Permian Basin or anywhere our expenses are dominated by water handling costs.

The SPE Dallas section has some exciting upcoming “annual” events that you will want to sign up early and get involved with. Our section is helping sponsor the 7^th annual DGS Crawfish Boil April 20^th. For more details go to http://www.spedallas.org/2006_DGS_Crawfish_boil.htm . Our fabulous Ca$ino Night is May 5^th. For more details go to http://www.spedallas.org/2006_casino_night.htm . Also coming up June 5th is the Dallas section’s Annual Golf tournament at Firewheel golf course. Details will be forthcoming.

We are in the early stages of planning a Short Course for July (Drilling Overview - two days?) Stay tuned for more details. If you are involved in the drilling side of the business, please consider volunteering for a one hour lecture.

At February’s Luncheon, we awarded these members who have earned the Legion of Honor Award:

We’ll have several more Legion Awardees at the upcoming March 15 Luncheon. Please review the list from my January column. If you any of these gentlemen, call and invite them to our Luncheon to receive their award.

During Engineer’s Week, February 16-22, I was able to meet with Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, along with the other Chairmen of the local Engineering Societies. She and the City Council made the Proclamation recognizing Engineer’s Week here in the Dallas, which ended with the Engineer’s Gala. It was held at the Hotel Intercontinental on February 25. Our past Chairman, Frank J. “Deacon” Marek was awarded SPE’s Engineer of the Year. Fourteen other Engineers and Young Engineers were recognized from the various fields, such as Civil, Chemical, Electrical and Mechanical. Additionally, Eve Sprunt, SPE President; Karan Eves and Christina Muth, both from Merit Energy; and Genna Storz, Pioneer Natural Resources, spoke at the “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” at two area high schools. We thank them for their involvement and for promoting Engineering at the local level.

We’ll have a special guest speaker at the March meeting, Professor Michael J. Economides. His topic “Energy Geopolitics” should bring in a crowd. Please make your reservations early and bring a co-worker. As I always say “If you make a reservation, show up early. If you don’t make a reservation, show up earlier!!!” Seriously, give the Program Chair a break and call or reserve a spot through the website. We always want to have enough seating and food!

Advertising space is available on the Dallas SPE website for nominal, annual fees. Please contact Herb Bell for more information, through this website. Our 1,400+ membership surfs this site regularly!

I have received NO RESPONSE on the issue of a Dallas Study Group or a Short Course. I suspect everyone is too busy for another meeting! However, we are continuing to plan a summer Short Course, for July or August. There’ll always remain a need for continuing education credits! If you do come up with a topic or other suggestion, please forward them to gpatterson84@yahoo.com.

We have 35 members who have earned the Legion of Honor award from SPE. That’s 50 years of SPE membership! During the upcoming luncheons, I’ll be handing out bound certificates to each of them. If you know any of these gentlemen, please give them a call and congratulate them:

And our condolences go to the family of Malcolm K. Brachman, who passed away in 2005. Mr. Brachman will posthumously receive our Legion of Honor award.

Here is a brief list of our upcoming activities. Refer to the Calendar Page on the website or the email announcements as these dates approach:

January 18 Luncheon: “Forces of Change in the Natural Gas Industry”; Jeff Johnson, ExxonMobil

February 15 Luncheon: “Lessons Learned from Integrated Analysis of GOM Drilling Performance”; R.A. Meize, Anadarko

March15 Luncheon: “State of Our Industry” (tentative); Dr. M.J. Economides, Univ. of Houston

During the month of December, your local SPE Board of Directors nominated William “Bill” Cobb for the position of SPE President in 2008. Bill currently serves as the Vice President-Finance. He will continue to be a great asset to the leadership of this worldwide organization.

The Board is currently considering holding a summer Short Course and/or forming a Study Group. If you have an opinion as to the topic for such events, please pass them on. We’ll also evaluate the demand for these programs. Email any and all ideas to gpatterson84@yahoo.com. Please be aware of the other fine organizations in the area: AADE, SPEE, SPWLA, SIPES, etc. As this develops, we will be calling for volunteers to coordinate speakers, meetings, refreshments. Stay tuned and stay involved!

Another opportunity to serve (and learn) is in the form of e-Mentoring, SPE’s online mentoring program. It provides an easy and effective way to guide young SPE members with their technical abilities and career goals. It can also help you, give back to this great technical organization. You may learn a thing or two, in the process. Visit spe.org for more information.

P.S. Don’t forget, we promised not to screw this one up! Do your part and invite someone to an SPE meeting. Or schedule a training session (in a topic you DON’T know anything about). Take an old associate to lunch. Inform your neighbors (as they complain of high energy costs). Do something TODAY, THIS WEEK or THIS MONTH to advance your career, your company, your industry.

Happy October! This is one of my favorite times of the year! The State Fair has started, the weather is cooler, football season is in full swing and there are lots of family birthdays!

It’s a great time to be involved in SPE in Dallas, as well. This month there are plenty of opportunities to learn, share your experiences and meet new and old friends and colleagues. If it’s late in the month, you should prepare for November! Here’s a summary of what’s coming up:

The SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibit (ATCE) will be held the second week of October, the 9^th through the 12^th, in DALLAS! It won’t get any closer for a while. Save the airfare and attend ATCE in our own backyard. Associated with the conference are many alumni receptions, service company food fests and an Emerging Leader’s Program (ELP).

Once the international crowd leaves town, the Dallas Section will host two events on October 26. Sorry for the conflict, but schedules and venues are tight.

Our regular luncheon meeting will be held at Brookhaven Community College’s Ellison Mile Geotechnical Institute (our regular site). The speaker this month is Roger Schultz, of Halliburton Energy Services. He’ll be speaking on “Advances in High Temperature Electronics”. More details and registration are available through a link on this website. Last month’s meeting had a near-record attendance of 144! By signing up on line and paying with a credit card, you can help speed up the registration process.

That afternoon, the shotgun enthusiasts among us will be attending our 1^st annual “Shoot For Your School” Sporting Clay Tournament. This will be held at the Elm Fork Range on Luna Road. Details and registration for both events can be found on this website.

I would like to say THANK YOU to Chief Oil & Gas and Phin Holmes of Baker Petrolite. Phin, as Community Relations Director, organized a field trip for 30 students from Newman Smith. This Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD high school is an engineering magnet school. These pre-college students went to a rig in Hill Co. drilling for Chiefl Oil & Gas in the Barnett Shale. Special recognition and our thanks go to Chief for their support and for their feeding the group on location. The teachers and sponsors remarked at how “engaged” the kids were while on the tour. Photos will be posted soon. Thanks again to Trevor Rees-Jones, Cliff Thomson, Mike Hallford, Charlie Foster, Jason DeWolfe and Aimee Rockwood for their “loaning” us their rig to this worthwhile SPE project. Our industry doesn’t do ENOUGH to project a positive image to the energy-consuming public. However, companies and individuals like these can make a difference.

Welcome to another year with the Dallas Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers! As you are probably aware, we use this website and email as our main resources for communicating with our 1400 members. This is a real savings over using the Postal Service. Please keep your membership information updated with the link provided on this website or at the main SPE website, www.spe.org and remember to let us know if you change your email address by sending a note to www.spedallas.org .

The 2005-2006 Calendar gets kicked off this month with a luncheon on Wednesday, September 14^th. You will want to make reservations and arrive early as this should be another “full house”. Dr. W. John Lee, of Texas A&M, will be presenting “Reserves from Unconventional Reservoirs: Tight, Coalbed, Hydrates and More”.

The SPE ANNUAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION (ATCE) will be held at the Dallas Convention Center this year, October 9-12. The theme is “Knowledge Shared” As the hosting section, we will provide volunteers for several committees: Arrangements, Registration and High School Tours. You may contact any of the board members for more information. Be sure to attend, taking advantage of the convention being in town.

And finally, as our neighbors to the East clean up from Hurricane Katrina, be aware SPE is providing assistance to our industry through many avenues, particularly the Member to Member Assistance Program. Please see the main SPE website (www.spe.org) for more details, as they develop.

Your new slate of officers for 2005-2006 was elected by acclimation at the May 18 general meeting. I am pleased at the quality and dedication of the individuals who will be serving our section beginning September 1, 2005. Please take time to congratulate and thank the following officers and directors for 2005-2006:

The SPEI’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) will be held in DALLAS on October 9 through 12. The Dallas Section is providing three of the key volunteer positions for the ATCE, as shown below:

Conduct Committee Chairperson – Herb Bell (hjbelljr@aethonoil.com)Registration Committee Chairperson – Peggy Tibbetts (ptibbetts@larocheltd.com)High School Tour Committee Chairperson – Phin Holmes (phin.holmes@bakerpetrolite.com)

If you are interested in serving on one of these committees, please contact the individuals at the listed email addresses, or email me at: dmarek@wmcobb.com. Be sure to provide your full name, company affiliation, and phone number.

We have two remaining luncheon meetings this summer, and both are bringing in top notch speakers. Don’t miss the June 23rd meeting which will feature Dr. Steve Holditch, Petroleum Engineering department head at Texas A&M University. Dr. Holditch will be speaking on gas hydrates. Then on July 20, our final meeting of the summer will feature Dr. Michael J. Economides from the University of Houston.

Congratulations to Peggy Tibbetts and her committee on a very successful Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium. The HEES was held in Dallas on April 2-4. The event was well attended, feedback from attendees was positive, and the short courses sponsored by the Dallas section were a booming success.

Casino Night 2005, thanks to all that helped, it was a huge success with our highest attendance ever. The food and fellowship was outstanding and a great time was had by all!

Be sure to attend our next luncheon meeting on May 18. Our speaker will be Kris Ravi and his topic is “Cement Design and Placement for the Life of the Well”. Also, we will vote in our slate of officers for 2005-2006 at that luncheon meeting. The slate of officers may be found at the following link: http://www.spedallas.org/2005-2006_dallas_section_candidates.htm

The Dallas section's 2005 annual Golf Tournament is fast approaching (Monday June 13th) so don't forget to sign up.

The SPEI’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) will be held in DALLAS on October 9 through 12. As one of four SPE sections in this region, we are responsible for providing volunteers to work on three committees:

The intent, and the way this has worked in the past, is to have numerous volunteers on each of these committees so that the individual work load involves half-a-day or less of on-site work. Please consider helping your section make a good showing amongst our peers at the 2005 ATCE. If you are interested in helping us out, please email me at: dmarek@wmcobb.com. Be sure to give me your full name, company affiliation, phone number, and preference (if you have one) as to which committee you would like to be on. We need to provide our volunteer list to SPEI by June 1, so THANKS IN ADVANCE for your generous participation!

Please note that there is no regular luncheon meeting in April. Instead, all members are encouraged to attend the Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium (HEES) on April 3 through 5. This bi-annual symposium is held in Dallas in the spring of each odd-year. Symposium Chairman Peggy Tibbetts, and her Program Chairman, Nick Duane, have put together a superb program of technical papers, panel discussions, and a keynote Luncheon featuring J. Larry Nichols, Chairman and CEO of Devon Energy Corporation, as the Keynote Speaker. Don’t miss this world-class event!

My how time flies! We have reached the time of year where we are called upon to put forth a slate of candidates for Section Officer and Director positions for the 2005-2006 term. As dictated by our section by-laws, the nominating committee, chaired by the Section Past Chairman, Peggy Tibbetts (That name just keeps coming up!), has met and selected a slate of candidates. The slate of candidates is posted on this website and may be viewed at the following link:

This slate of candidates is a dedicated group, intent on serving and improving your section. I urge you to review the list of candidates and to attend our May 18 meeting where we will vote this slate into office. Any nominations from the floor must be made in writing by April 30. Please follow the instructions on the website if you wish to nominate someone other than the candidates currently on the slate.

WANTED: Petroleum Engineers. No experience necessary. In fact, less experience is a plus . . .

Folks, we need to do a better job of getting young engineers involved in SPE. If you are a “well seasoned” engineer and have the opportunity to guide and mentor young engineers, please consider encouraging them to get involved in SPE. Urge them to attend the luncheon meetings and many social activities sponsored by our society. The contacts and friendships they form through involvement in SPE will serve them well throughout their career.

Please note that our next luncheon meeting will be held on March 8. This meeting is a joint meeting with the North Texas Energy Council. The luncheon will be held at the Hughes-Trigg Student Center on the campus of SMU. The keynote speaker is Morris Foster, President of ExxonMobil Production Company. Check out the link on this website and make your plans to attend this special event.

Don’t forget to register for the Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium (HEES). This bi-annual event is scheduled for April 3-5 at the Hotel InterContinental in Dallas. You can register for the HEES through the link on this website. Please note that there will be no SPE luncheon meeting in April, so please come out and support the HEES.

Happy New Year! I hope that each of you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. As we embark on this New Year, let’s be thankful for our blessings and pray for those less fortunate, especially the victims of the tsunami in Asia.

Don’t forget to sign up for our January 12^th luncheon meeting this month. We are honored to have a past SPE distinguished lecturer - Giovanni Paccaloni. His topic is "SPE VALUES, MISSION SUPPORT ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY" for more details and to make reservations please go to the website at www.spedallas.org/monthly_meetings.htm .

Congratulations to Tom Garland and Stanley Phipps. These gentlemen received the SPE Legion of Honor award at our December 15^th meeting. The Legion of Honor award honors 50 years of continuous membership in SPE.

The TSPE’s annual Awards Gala is scheduled for February 26, 2005 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. The Awards Gala is the grand finale for National Engineer’s Week which is February 20-26. Also, the annual MATH COUNTS competition sponsored by TSPE will be held at the SMU Umphrey Lee Ballroom on February 12. If you are interested in volunteering at this event, please call Todd Milburn at 214-346-6352.

The SPE Dallas Section is hosting the 2005 SPE Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium on April 3-5 at the Hotel Intercontinental. Watch for your registration forms (I’ve already received mine via U.S. mail) or register online at the following link: http://www.spe.org/spe/jsp/meeting/0,2460,1104_1535_2910238,00.html At any rate, don’t miss this world class event!

What a busy Fall! Thanksgiving has come and gone, and so have the elections. Maybe we can get back to business as usual!

Since I am a bit tardy in putting forth this latest installment, I can report on having attended the Holiday Party on December 3. This was a joint party hosted by the Dallas Geological, Geophysical, and Petroleum Engineering societies. The party was held at Royal Oaks Country Club and it included dinner, dancing, casino tables, prizes, and a live DJ. If you were unable to make the party this year, make a note to watch for it next year. Thanks to Jim McFarland for handling the arrangements and sponsorship for SPE. Also, thanks to the following sponsors of the event:

Congratulations to Richard C. (Dick) Brown and Edward E. (Ed) Hagan. These gentlemen received the SPE Legion of Honor award at our November 17^th meeting. The Legion of Honor award honors 50 years of continuous membership in SPE. (Pictures ca be seen at http://www.spedallas.org/legion_honor_11-04.htm )

I wish each of you a safe and joyous holiday season and I hope to see you at an upcoming SPE meeting. Cheers!

Attendance at our first two luncheon meetings has been strong due to the quality of the speakers and the subject matter. Congratulations to Brian Walter, our Program Chairman, on a job well done!

Upcoming section activities include a Holiday Party to be held on December 3 at Royal Oaks Country Club. The party is to be held in conjunction with the Dallas Geological and Geophysical Societies. Please mark your calendars and refer to this website for more details. Also, don’t forget to mark April 2-5 of next year as well, when the SPE Dallas Section hosts the 2005 Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium (HEES) at the Hotel Intercontinental in Dallas.

I have just received a list from SPE International of the Dallas Section members who have been named to the SPEI’s Legion of Honor. In order to be named to the Legion of Honor, members must have 50 years of continuous membership in SPE. Congratulations to the new SPEI Legion of Honor members:

As I rush to meet this publication deadline, I am just back from the 2004 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Houston. From my perspective, the ATCE seemed well attended and I saw a good number of our Dallas members at the event. It was a good venue for acquiring more of those pesky Professional Development Hours (PDH) needed for professional engineering registration renewal.

Speaking of PDH’s and engineering registration, of the required fifteen hours per year of continuing education, one hour must be related to ethics. The scheduled speaker for our October 20 meeting is SPE Distinguished Lecturer Mark McClane. Mark is a Partner in the international consulting firm Rose & Associates, LLP. Mark’s talk is titled “Reserve Overbooking – An Issue of Professional Ethics”. I urge you to come out and hear this interesting presentation and get your Ethics “PDH”. We expect a large crowd, so sign up early! I hope to see you at the meeting.

Welcome back! I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer. The 2004-2005 season gets kicked off in September with our first luncheon meeting on September 15^th. Our scheduled speaker was to be Robert Truman, on the topic of “SEC Defined Reserves Booking”. Tragically, Mr. Truman passed away recently on a business trip to Jakarta. We are attempting to find another speaker on the same subject. PLEASE refer to this website regularly for updates.

Your new board of directors has taken office effective August 1^st. The new board members are:

These folks have generously volunteered their time to serve your section. When the opportunity presents itself, please take a moment to meet these people and thank them for their service.

The Dallas section sponsored a one-day seminar on July 23 on “Advanced Decline Curve Analysis”. The seminar was taught by Dave Reese from ConnocoPhillips. Attendees received nine “PDH” (Professional Development Hours) credit to use toward the new professional engineering continuing education requirements. The seminar was a genuine success with 51 attendees. We plan to have additional seminars this year, so stay tuned. I hope to see you at the September meeting.