Welcome to the Dallas Geophysical Society’s website!!

March 1, 2010

Lately I have seen opposing points of view on the future of oil prices and the growth of our industry. One view suggests that slow-growing economies worldwide, increase in fuel efficiency, and developing technology in alternative fuels will keep future demand low and therefore, the "peak" in worldwide oil consumption may already have been reached, especially in the developed world. Therefore, the oil prices will remain relatively low for the foreseeable future. The other view suggests that alternative energy sources are still very expensive and therefore, they will represent a very small proportion of worldwide energy supply for a long time. Hence, the world would rely on hydrocarbons as the major source of energy at least until the 2030's. As the major economies, especially those of China and India grow, their oil and gas consumption will put pressure on worldwide oil prices. Thus, the oil prices may "spike" once again in the near future. Maybe the reality would be somewhere in between; wish I knew the answer.

We start the process of nominating a slate of candidates for the next year's board this month. As you are aware, the membership approved the use of electronic ballots last year and we intend to implement that in this year's election. However, we have made provisions for those who are unable or unwilling to use online voting. Stu Nelan will send out an e-mail in the middle of the month asking those who want a paper ballot to let us know. We will also send paper ballots to those for whom we do not have an e-mail address in our files. As we roll out the process, we will keep you informed but in the meantime if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any board member.

Our March speaker will be Craig Beasley, Chief Geophysicist for WesternGeco. His talk is scheduled for Thursday, March 25, and the title of his talk is "Lessons Learned from Simultaneous Source Investigations".

In April (besides our scheduled luncheon on April 15), we have planned a SEG Distinguished Instructor Short Course (DISC) on April 26. This course is an all-day event to be given by Colin Sayers of Schlumberger and the title is "Geophysics under Stress: Geomechanical Applications of Seismic and Borehole Acoustic Waves." This event is posted on our site. Charles Sicking, former President of the society, has agreed to be the coordinator for this short course.

We plan to have the annual Golf Tournament on May 3. More details on this will be posted on our site. Of course, our Annual Awards lunch, traditionally addressed by the SEG President, is scheduled for May 20.

See you all on March 25.

Naresh Kumar
President, Dallas Geophysical Society
2009-2010