REVIEW: 25th Oil Industry Hash
ARTICLE: North West Highlands UNESCO Global Geopark
NEWS FEATURE: E&P activity in the Romanian and Bulgarian waters of the Black Sea – Where do we go from here?
NEWS FEATURE: US shale – recovery amid low oil prices

Plus much more inside

Our events offering for the rest of the year

As this month’s magazine goes out the PESGB African E&P Conference will no doubt be in full swing. With exhibition space sold out and well over 500 attendees, this event has shaped up very well this year. Following the summer break, this represents the opening shot for a wide range of events that we are putting on for our membership and wider industry colleagues for the rest of this year.

In late October, the Geophysics Special Interest Group will host a one-day seminar on Quantitative Interpretation at the Geological Society in London. This is proving to be very popular this year, with a very high calibre technical programme, so get your tickets early!

The 15th annual PROSPEX conference is progressing well for December with a wide range of confirmed exhibitors and parallel speaker programme featuring our highly popular ‘Prospects to Go’ sessions. This event, hosted in London at the Business Design Centre in Islington, continues to be the UK’s leading networking event for exploration and appraisal opportunities.

Our training offering continues in September with our very successful Basin Mastery Series. Focus this time around will be on the ‘East Brazil Atlantic Margin’. The two Ian’s (Davison & Steel) will bring explorationists up to date with the latest academic and oil industry findings on the opening of the South Atlantic. This is particularly relevant given Brazil’s ongoing 14th Licencing Round where a wide range of blocks are available over a range of offshore basins. In October, Vitor Abreu and Chris Edwards will be running two courses in our Croydon office. The first will be our ‘Sequence Stratigraphy for Petroleum Exploration’ two-day short course which is designed to introduce the principles, concepts and practical methods of sequence stratigraphy as a fundamental component of the petroleum exploration workflow. This will then be followed by our ‘Reservoir Characterization of Deep Water Systems’ course which examines the aspects of deep water reservoir models critical to exploration and production. These courses are suited for both the junior explorer and seasoned veteran looking to refresh their knowledge and exploration toolbox. Finally, in Aberdeen Simon Gould will run the second ‘Glen Esk’ field trip on 30th September, which again proves high in demand.

The Young Professionals continue to deliver a stream of excellent events. Forward-looking seminars, such as the Aberdeen and London-hosted ‘Has the North Sea creamed? Innovative approaches to challenging dogmas and unlocking unexpected barrels in mature basins’ and the annual ‘House of Commons’ event offer excellent opportunities to network and discuss industry issues. The Irish chapter is active with the Beer, Bites & Barrels of Oil event. If you’re in Dublin then please join Conor for a cheeky Guinness and some industry chit-chat at The Drunken Fish on Mayor Street Lower in early September.

Our regional groups continue to be very active. The Surrey Regional Branch’s recent 25th Annual Hash is testament to this, where we had 91 runners on the night, along with a significant number of pub-based supporters! The Oil Finders Lunch held in Aberdeen, jointly organised by the AAPG and PESGB, continues to take place and September sees Iain Bartholomew from Siccar Point give a presentation on ‘The Corona Ridge, West of Shetland: an under-explored intrabasinal high’.
The London-based Surviving the Downturn workshops go from strength to strength. Alan Foum has set up a new Special Interest Group for consultants, contractors and employment seekers. The aim of this group, for self-employed or job seeking Geoscientists, is to meet up monthly and exchange ideas, contacts and advice.

In December, the year will be socially concluded with our newly named Aberdeen Granite City Reception which will be held at the most excellent UnderDog bar on Union Street. And of course we have the unmissable President’s Evening in London to be hosted at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden. As always, all up-to-date details are on our website.

On a final note, and as many of you will be aware, the UK Oil & Gas Authority launched the 30th Offshore Licensing Round in late July. Over 800 blocks and part-blocks are on offer in mature areas of the UKCS with some of these not having been available since 1965! So for those of you who are UK focused it’s time to sharpen your pencils and get to work.