President’s Page- Steve Boldy

Time has indeed flown and this is my valedictory editorial. In January Jim Munns takes over as President of the PESGB and amongst other things wi ll take over the task of penning the monthly contribution for the newsletter. I wish Jim every success for the year ahead and I am sure the PESGB Newsletter Editor and the office staff will hope that he submits his contribution in a more timely manner than I have achieved!
Reflecting on my year as PESGB President and wishing to pass on some helpful tips to Jim these are the key things that strike me:

• The society is in a very healthy state. Membership numbers remain close to historic high levels. There is a very active programme of events – monthly lectures and conferences, of which PETEX remains the flagship event, but in 2004 we also ran DEVEX, PESGB/HGS Africa Conference and UK Prospect Fair. The newsletter provides a lot of useful information for the membership, not least the number of job opportunities that appear!
• The society is in good financial shape and we have a healthy reserve fund which will allow us to continue functioning on a ‘business as usual basis’ in the event we experience a period of low oil prices and reduced income.
• The society is extremely fortunate in having a terrific team in the office – Gail , Marian, Julie and Jennie, who basically run the whole show, all working very hard , but managing to remain enthusiastic and cheerful. One of the highlights for the past year for me is that we have moved into new offices that give the team a much better working environment and hopefully next summer they won’t be roasted to the same extent that they were in the old garret above Regent’s Street.
• Another highlight of the year, for me, has been that the scm (Sub Committee for Investments and Disbursements) initiative has really borne fruit, with the distribution of the North Sea Millennium Atlas to members, the award of funds to further Petroleum Geoscience teaching at Universities and distribution of funds to support regional and special interest groups. I cannot leave this topic without paying tribute to Past President Alan ‘Rottweiler’ Booth. After his success with the Millennium Atlas he would have been perfectly entitled to rest on his laurels, but he forged on in his tireless quest to get released data truly out in the open.
• My fellow Council members have all contributed to the activities of the society and I would like to thank those that are stepping down and wish the continuing and newly elected members all the best for 2005.
• My one regret looking back over 2004 is that I was not able to devote as much time as I would have liked to PESGB activities. However, production rates like shares can go down as well as up, and the year did not turn out quite as I had anticipated, but then that ‘s the oil business. So farewell, four more years for George, but no more for me.