President’s Page- Steve Boldy

Well here we are in 2004, but before leaving 2003 I would like to pay tribute to the hard work and major contribution to the society made by the retiring members of Council – Steve Pickering, Doug Fenwick, Malcolm Beattie, Malcolm Hones, Mike Cooper and Chris Bulley. Alan Booth has completed his term as President, but remains on the Council and we look forward to his continuing contribution.
My final comment regarding 2003 relates to the President’s Evening spent at the Globe Theatre, which was well attended and I thought went extremely well. A big thank you to PETEX for sponsoring the evening. All of the members I spoke to during the evening were very positive about the event and the venue – so well done again to the PESGB office staff for organising the event.
One of the characteristics that has always struck me about the PESGB is that it is very responsive to its membership and always stri ves to put on events that the membership wants to attend. Curiously enough, not all societies behave like this. For 2004 we have our usual busy programme of regular monthly meetings in London and Aberdeen, but in addition I would like to draw attention to a number of other key meetings taking place during the year to make sure you get them into your diaries.

• May 19-20 DEVEX Aberdeen. This joint meeting with SPE and AFES follows on from the successful ‘Mature Fields Conference’ held last year.
• September 7-8 ‘Africa: The Continent of Challenge and Opportunity’. This is the third PESGB/HGS joint conference on Africa and will be held at the QE2 centre in London .
• November 23-25 PETEX. Our highlight of the years programme will be held at the Olympia London.
• December 14-15 Prospect Expo. We plan a repeat performance of the 2003 event in collaboration with the DTI. Lots more prospects to whet the appetite and another opportunity for a tax rebate (you have to read the newsletter to get the jokes) .

So, another busy programme for 2004, with both UK and International content. I think it is important our programme recognises that many of our members (myself included) now work on areas outside the UK and the PESGB will facilitate technical dialogue on these areas of interest. In this context, our April evening lecture is on Libya, where recent news suggests American companies may soon be able to return.
Finally, I would like to welcome the new Council Members for 2004 – Jim Munns, Peter Elliott, . Mick Caulfield , Andy Butler, Caroline Henderson and Bruce Mair. We look forward to working with them . I would also like to thank the unsuccessful candidates for their enthusiasm in putting their names forward. Despite our continuing high levels of membership, trying to find candidates willing to stand for council is as difficult as finding giant fields! There will be elections for council positions again at the end of this year – so start thinking about it now.