Editorial

A bleak Monday morning in early May; I can barely see the BSI Tower across the road from our Chiswick offices as the rain teems down ……… never mind, the garden (and the fairways) won ‘t be complaining!!
Thanks to Frank for his pearls of wisdom in last month ‘s Newsletter, and similarly, many thanks (in anticipation of next week’s events) to the Aberdeen branch for hosting the May Council Meeting, our only foray north of the border. The Aberdeen PESGB evening lecture is to be followed up by the keenly awaited DEVEX Conference on 17th and 18th May. By the time you read this, I’m sure we’ ll be reflecting on a hugely successful event, and I’d like tosend many thanks for all those involved with the organisation of this conference. Planning continues for the biennial PETEX Conference, to be held at Olympia from 21st to 23rd November. Keep sending in those abstracts to the PESGB Office or use the online submission facility on the PESGB website if you wish to present a paper. Also make sure to benefit from the early registration dates by booking your conference place before 31st August. The usual diverse range of technical presentations is currently being scheduled, and the exhibition is already guaranteed to be as popular as ever.
I’d also like to give an early plug for the 5th PESGB/HGS African Conference, to be held at the QE2 Conference Centre on 12th-13th September this year. A full technical programme is now in place and the Conference will be covering a wide range of basins and plays in what has become one of the foremost areas in worldwide exploration. Details of papers/posters, and of registration, appear later in this Newsletter.
I’ve mentioned in a couple of these editorials the problems facing us in terms of rig availability, as we all strive to get our favourite exploration prospects drilled. Not only are we faced with the underlying shortage of rigs, we also find that when a rig becomes available, there is internal competition from producing assets, wishing to drill in fill wells for enhanced production, and from development projects, as we seek to bring new fields onto production. It is therefore not surprising that those projects delivering immediate or very near-term production, thereby capturing these incredibly high commodity prices, will more often than not win the rig slot. With no obvious end in sight with respect to increasing rig rates, we have to continue to monitor the economics of our exploration well candidates. Although none of us wants to be paying US$ 250K – $350K/day, we are of course capturing high oil and gas prices, which in all but the most marginal prospects will keep the economics positive. A key element of this problem is the licence period, where we are starting to see genuine problems looming in terms of getting exploration wells drilled prior to the end of an initial licence term. I’m sure that the DTI will continue to be open to sensible proposals that will result in exploration wells getting drilled.
Finally, following on from Frank’s ‘astute’ sporting observations, we now appear to be Rooney-less, a major blow to England’s chances. Mind you, he’d still get in the Wolves’ line up, even with one foot!!!