President’s Page- Chris Bulley

No sooner had my last editorial extolling the upcoming Graduate Days gone to press than the industry announced its latest round of self-flagellation with several companies planning 20-30% lay-offs. But just consider the intangible effects of this – the disruption to business and lack of continuity at the companies and the disillusionment and loss of experienced technical staff to the industry. How will this increasingly frequent “feast and famine” cycle encourage new blood to commence a career in the oil industry? Regardless the Graduate Days will proceed and are scheduled for 18th March in London and 24th April in Edinburgh. Additionally, to assist those of you looking for work we are planning a one day Back to Work Seminar in mid-year (date to be announced).
Bye-mail you will have been notified of the PESGB’s biennial questionnaire, which seeks to gain further in sight into the demography and aspirations of our membership.
Unfortunately past questionnaires have had a very poor response (generally much less than 10% of the membership and hence not statistically robust) so this year we have started two initiatives in an attempt to improve the return rate. First, you may now return bye-mail rather than Consignia, which is both easier and quicker. Second, for those of you who still prefer hard copy and are employed by a company, we have empowered your company representative (shown in bold in the Membership Directory) to collect the completed questionnaires and then send them as a package to the PESGB office. The questionnaire has also been printed on pages 32-33 of this Newsletter.
Just a few words on your company representatives. They are something of an anomaly in that they weren’t elected, didn’ t offer to stand but were selected by the PESGB office many years ago as
someone who was ‘known’ within that company. They act as the point of contact for their company to receive PESGB literature and to encourage work colleagues to take out membership of the PESGB. We would now encourage them to be more proactive but, recognising their rather strange selection process, they can pass on their responsibilities if another volunteer can be found .
During 2001, the then President made efforts to get Memoranda of Understanding in place with similar, likeminded Societies around the world. One of the first fruits of these collaborations is
the Africa Conference on 17-18th September, which is a joint venture between the Africa SIG of the PESGB and the Houston Geological Society. The conference location is the Millennium Hotel,
Grosvenor Square, London and further details are published on page 17 of this news letter. Please put the dates in your diaries and if you wish to present a talk, please contact either the PESGB office or Ray Bate.
Finally, in recognition of the role of Aberdeen within the UKCS oil industry, the PESGB Council will hold not one but two full Council meetings in Aberdeen , in April and October to coincide with the
dates of the Aberdeen meetings. So if any of you in Aberdeen were feeling disenfranchised then come a long in April or October and make your fee lings known to a Council member!!