President’s Page- Steve Boldy

As has been mentioned here on several occasions the PESGS Council has set up a Sub Committee for Investments and Disbursements (SClD). The Society through the success of it’s activities over the last few years has built up surplus funds. It is necessary for the Society to build up a surplus so that we can cope with the lean years, which have occurred in the past. Not surprisingly our income and the success of our programme are very closely related to the oil price and the last few years have been kind to us. Prudence (with acknowledgements to the Chancellor of the Exchequer) however, demands that we plan a sustainable future, where we can cope with periods of lower product prices.
The society therefore is investing some of our surplus funds to secure our future operating capacity. There are however, sufficient surplus funds for us to also move forward with disbursements and allocate some funds to further the charitable aims of our society. The four themes, with which you should be very familiar by now, are:

• Assisting release of data and information to encourage exploration
• Assisting education in Petroleum Geoscience
• Ass isting the acti vities of Special Interest Groups
• Supporting PETEX by holding down regi strat ion costs

This editorial is to update you about what we are doing to assist Petroleum Geoscience Education. We have decided to allocate funds (£20,000 each) to the four University Departments that teach M.Sc courses in Petroleum Geoscience:

• Imperial College of Science, Technology and St Mary’s Hospital , University of London
• Un iversity of Aberdeen
• Manchester Uni versity (course transfen’ed from Oxford Srookes)
• Royal Holloway, University of London

After some dialogue with the various institutions the bulk of the money will go to fund studentships to assist geoscientists in industry return to University to undertake an M.Sc course. Funds will also be used to help students attend field courses and conduct field work. Amazingly enough, going to look at rocks is still important in studying geological sciences’ It is hoped that the PESGB will be in a position to repeat this disbursement in two years time.
Given his long history of championing students, and indeed professionals, getting out there and looking at rocks, I am delighted to be able to announce that the awards at Imperial College will be called the Selley Awards. This is in recognition of Prof. Selley’s long and distinguished service to Petroleum Geoscience education and also his contribution to the work of the PESGB.
Finally, carrying on in this charitable vein , an issue was raised at the AGM regarding the possibility of reduced registration fees at PESGB events for those of the membership who are senior citizens, students or unemployed. Whilst concessionary rates have been available for some time, Council have decided to have a clear statement of our policy on this and here it is:
From September 1st 2004 there will be a 50% reduction on advertised member rates, for pre-registration only, for students in full- time education, the unemployed and senior members (over 65, determined by the state retirement age) , if accompanied by proof of status. So no excuses now, get your bus passes out and hurry on down to the forthcoming exciting events.