Geophysical Society of Houston Articles RSS Feed

June 2011 GSH Journal

Gabriela Henriquez - noemail@gshtx.org — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:00:00 GMT

Click here to download PDF of June 2011 Journal

3-Jun-11 3:00 PM

2011-2012 GSH Board of Directors

Gabriela Henriquez - noemail@gshtx.org — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:00:00 GMT

GSH is is pleased to welcome the new members to our Board for 2011-2012. These new board members bring strong leadership and their own personal commitment to improve GSH. Congratulations!

President-Elect

Scott Singleton

First Vice-President Elect

Glenn Bear

Second Vice-President Elect

Jackie Ming

Treasurer

Barry Rava

Secretary

Geoff Chambers

Editor

Gabriel Perez

17-May-11 1:00 PM

GSH Tennis Tournament 2010

Gaby Henriquez - noemail@gshtx.org — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:00:00 GMT

The annual GSH Tennis Tournament was held September 17 at the Houston Racket Club where the 50+ participants enjoyed a patio lunch, door prizes, and great tennis played in a round robin format including partner shuffles after every match. Although getting there was most of the fun, the top four point totals from each of three divisions participated in a final doubles match to determine the division winners. Lucho Vizcardo, Joelito Pangiliana, Doug Dawson, and Joan Hauff competed for the trophy in the A division with Dawson/Hauff winning. Pete Heatherington, Paul Dominic, Mike Breaux, and Ram Maharaj were the final four in the B division. Francois Hindlet, David Pitcher, Debra Dryer, and Mike Whitehead were the C division finalists.

Thanks to Marvin Taylor and Liz Ivie for hosting and coordinating the event, and thanks to the many sponsors who helped make the event possible.

Get your rackets re-strung or borrow one to come out for next year’s event. Like all the GSH sporting events, individuals of all skill levels participate and enjoy the camaraderie of the day.

Click here to view the photo album.

12-Oct-10 9:00 AM

Geoscience Day 2010 Provides an Industry Overview to New Employees

Gaby Henriquez - noemail@gshtx.org — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:00:00 GMT

The Geophysical Society of Houston and the Houston Geological Society hosted the fourth annual Geoscience Day on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at the Bureau of Economic Geology in Houston. The purpose of the event was to give a high-level, broad overview of geological and geophysical methods to individuals who are new to the industry. This year’s theme was The Life of an Oilfield. Activities consisted of presentations given by experienced employees of the industry, field acquisition demonstrations, modern and vintage equipment exhibits, and docent lead interpretative displays. Geological and geophysical topics were addressed as were various aspects of the commercial and political issues faced by the industry. Over 100 presenters and students participated.

Through viewing the various aspects in the life of an oilfield, participants left with a broader knowledge of what difficulties and problems their peers in other areas must routinely solve for others to see their “finished” product, began to understand what those in other areas may expect and rely on from the products of the participant’s work, and gained a perspective that will help them ask or answer questions when discussing a project with experts outside their immediate expertise.

The day’s activities were divided into five main track presentations and four periods of breakout sessions. The main track followed the life of an oilfield beginning with an overview and then presentations on The Politics of Oil, Geologic Idea to Lease Acquisition, Prospect to Drill Site, and After the Initial Discovery Well. The breakout sessions amplified detailed aspects of the main track sessions and included presentations and demonstrations on Basic and Intermediated Seismic Processing, Geologic Interpretation, 3D Visualization, Google Earth in Seismic Surveys, and Cores Interpretation. A field seismic acquisition demonstration, complete with an operating vibrator, deployed geophone strings, and recording and QC equipment was a particular highlight as was a logging truck complete with several downhole tools. A “Tools of the Trade” section exhibited vintage and modern day equipment and technology in booths manned by docents explaining such technology as drill bits, marine seismic cable birds and steering devices, analog and digital recording media evolution, and a geophone response demonstration.

Comments left on the attendee evaluation forms stated: “Excellent overview of E&P in O&G industry.” “Gave me a better understanding of what my company does.” “Very useful for co-workers to attend” “Well organized and presented” “Nice to meet people outside my company.” “Made us work, not just listen.” “Just an amazing talk.” “Easy to understand.” “I’d never seen a vibrator work or been inside a logging truck before.” “I learned a lot in one day.” “Fun & good way to learn.” “Had a good time. Great for meeting new people and networking.”

Geoscience Day 2011 is scheduled for October at the same BEG venue. Please contact Haynie Stringer through the HGS/GSH office for additional information or inquiries about participation in next year’s event.

To view the photo album click here.

Thank you to our generous sponsors:

11-Oct-10 2:00 PM

September 2010 Editor Column

Gabriel Perez - noemail@gshtx.org — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:00:00 GMT

From the Editor:

The GSH Journal is a new venture for the GSH. We have outgrown our venerable newsletter, which has served us well for decades. We have added special features and hope to add more as interest is expressed by our readers. There will be one technical article. We can add more if our membership increases to where it should be.

What to look for in the Journal:

A new format with color.

The content of a technical meeting will be headlined instead of the date and location

Photographs will be identified when possible

Color will be used where appropriate

Professional Events

Technical Article

Special Interest Groups

Luncheon meetings with a technical presentation

Breakfast meetings with invited speakers

Spring Seminar

Social Functions

Ice Breaker

Golf Tournament

Tennis Tournament

Sporting Clays

Saltwater Tournament

Special Features

Doodlebugger Diary

State of the Art Column

Panel of Experts

Outreach

Museum News

Item of Interest

Interviews (profiles)

Tutorial Seminar

Making Waves (personnel moves)

Geophysical puzzles

Editorial features

President’s column

Guest Column

Letters to the Editor

This new venture is the first step in increasing the scope of the GSH. Send us your ideas. Submit technical articles for publication. This is your Journal. Let’s make it a roaring succes

22-Jul-10 7:00 AM

GSH JOURNAL MEDIA KIT

Sandra Babcock - noemail@gshtx.org — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:00:00 GMT

TO DOWNLOAD THE GSH JOURNAL MEDIA KIT CLICK HERE

22-Jul-10 7:00 AM

GSH JOURNAL

Lilly Hargrave - noemail@gshtx.org — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Dear Valued GSH Advertiser;

The Geophysical Society of Houston is pleased to announce that this Fall starting with the September issue, it will launch the GSH Journal.

The GSH Journal will be an expanded magazine that will bring more science and more news to our ever growing geophysical community.

In addition to news about upcoming technical meetings, social events, and updates from the GSH Board, we have added these features:

· Reverbs: Interviews with local geophysicists and other notables

· Technical Articles

· Doodlebugger Diary with anecdotes from the past

· Tutorial Seminar - see it to believe it

· State of the Art section, to allow companies to announce their new techniques and products

· Panel of Experts, to answer questions on any subject (Exploration/Production/Geophysics)

· The Main Event, where you test your interpretive skills

The GSH Newsletter would not have been possible without the loyal support of our advertisers. We hope that your company will take advantage of promoting its services in FULL COLOR in the NEW GSH Journal. To find out more about advertising sponsorship, including updated pricing options and advertising deadlines, please contact the GSH office at 713-463-9477.

We look forward to hearing from you very soon!

Sincerely,

Gabriel Perez, Editor

Lee Lawyer, Chair, Editorial Board

GSH JOURNAL MEDIA KIT

15-Jul-10 3:00 PM

September 2010 Main Event

Bob Wegner - noemail@gshtx.org — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:00:00 GMT

The Main Event

Below is a seismic line for your perusal. We challenge you to make a seismic interpretation within the stipulated guidelines. Send in your interpretation and have it published in the Journal along with your name.

September’s challenge:

Interpret top and base salt across this depth-migrated seismic section.

VE = 4x

TO DOWNLOAD THE HIGH RESOLUTION LINE CLICK HERE

Data courtesy of TGS

Rules of engagement:

The seismic line can be found online at http://www.gshtx.org/mainevent/seismicline#. Download it and use PowerPoint (or any other means) to generate your interpretation. Submit the final product as a ppt or pdf file to rcwegner@sbcglobal.net along with your name and contact information. Allow for a two-month cycle time between your submission and its appearance in the Journal. In the event of a tie, a random drawing will determine the winner. Employees of the company contributing the seismic data are ineligible to compete in this month’s entry. Suggestions and comments welcome.

Organized by: Frank Dumanoir, Don Herron and Bob Wegner

15-Jul-10 8:00 AM

Officers 2010-2011

Lilly Hargrave - noemail@gshtx.org — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:00:00 GMT

12-May-10 11:00 AM

SIPES Conference

B.K. Buongiorno - noemail@gshtx.org — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:00:00 GMT

29-Apr-10 9:00 AM

2010 Spring Symposium

Fred Hilterman - noemail@gshtx.org — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:00:00 GMT

FOR SPEAKERS, TOPICS AND TIMES CLICK HERE

13-Jan-10 10:00 AM

The Magic of Lame`

Bill Goodway - noemail@gshtx.org — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:00:00 GMT

The Magic of Lame`

CLICK TO VIEW PRESENTATION

10-Dec-09 2:00 PM

Geoscience Day 2009

Haynie Stringer - noemail@gshtx.org — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:00:00 GMT

The Geophysical Society of Houston and the Houston Geological Society hosted the third annual Geoscience Day on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at the Bureau of Economic Geology in Houston. The purpose of the event was to give a high-level, broad overview of geological and geophysical methods to individuals who are new to the industry. This year’s theme was The Life of an Oilfield. Activities consisted of presentations given by experienced employees of the industry, field acquisition demonstrations, modern and vintage equipment exhibits, and docent lead interpretative displays. Geological and geophysical topics were addressed as were various aspects of the commercial and political issues faced by the industry. Approximately 95 presenters and students participated.

Through viewing the various aspects in the life of an oilfield, participants left with a broader knowledge of what difficulties and problems their peers in other areas must routinely solve for others to see their “finished” product, began to understand what those in other areas may expect and rely on from the products of the participant’s work, and gained a perspective that will help them ask or answer questions when discussing a project with experts outside their immediate expertise.

The day’s activities were divided into four main track presentations and four periods of breakout sessions. The main track followed the life of an oilfield through presentations on The Politics of Oil, Geologic Idea to Lease Acquisition, Prospect to Drill Site, and After the Initial Discovery Well. . The breakout sessions amplified detailed aspects of the main track sessions and included presentations on Seismic Processing, Monitoring & Fracturing, 3D Visualization, Google Earth in Seismic Surveys, and Cores Interpretation. A field seismic acquisition demonstration, complete with an operating vibrator, deployed geophone strings, and recording and QC equipment was a particular highlight. A “Tools of the Trade” section exhibited vintage and modern day equipment and technology in booths manned by docents explaining such technology as well logging products and interpretation, marine seismic cable birds and steering devices, analog and digital recording media evolution, a geophone response demonstration, and seismic crew operations.

Comments left on the attendee evaluation forms stated: “Fun & good way to learn.” “It was a great overview of the industry & there were lots of hands on exposure (Cores, Vibroseis, etc.)” “Good source of expertise & industry knowledge & basic concepts for new employees” and most importantly, “Had a good time. Great for meeting new people and networking”

Geoscience Day 2010 is scheduled for October 7, 2010 at the same BEG venue. Please contact Haynie Stringer through the HGS/GSH office for additional information or inquiries about participation in next year’s event.

PHOTO ALBUM

13-Oct-09 8:00 AM

October 2009 Presidents letter

Marc Sbar - noemail@gshtx.org — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:00:00 GMT

President’s Column for Oct, 2009 by Marc Sbar , 2^nd VP

Most of you may not realize that GSH has a fun side. With Technical Breakfasts, Technical Lunches and Special Interest Groups there’s hardly any time to just hang out with your buddies and do the things you like. Well it turns out there is a very dynamic program driven by active committee chairmen and …all of this fun is the purview of the 2^nd VP. However, before delving into the program I need to thank Bob Ayers for the great job he did last year as 2^nd VP. Everything was set up and ready to go when I took over in July.

The program currently consists of six sporting and social events. The first event from a chronological perspective is the Annual Awards Banquet at Lakeside Country Club on May 7^th. Thanks to Steve Davidson for organizing the Banquet this year. This is not billed as a fun event, but it is an opportunity to thank and recognize those that have contributed to the Society and to geophysics over the past year and throughout their careers. It also turns out to be a wonderful opportunity to meet those folks that drive this organization.

The summer really got rolling with the Golf Tournament at Kingwood Country Club four days later. Golf took the prize this year with the largest attendance of 385, including members and guests. A new trophy was instituted this year in memory of Steve Tyrell for the team with lowest gross score. Steve was an ardent golfer and helped to run GSH golf program over many years. This is a fitting tribute. On a lighter note make sure to take your lightning rods along on the next outing. Two of the golfers had a close call that knocked them down at the 2009 Tournament. Many thanks to Dennis Sump and Matt Tyrell for putting this successful program together.

The summer season continued with the Annual Meeting and Barbeque at Jax Grill in late May. We thank Jim Moulden for doing groundwork for this one. The Barbeque was a great event and featured the installation of new officers and the passing of the ‘Honorary GSH Shovel’? I had no clue at the time and will have to research this some more. Whatever the official reasons there is no doubt that a shovel is an appropriate symbol for our past and current presidents, given what they have to put up with.

You may have noticed the full-page spread devoted to the Salt Water Fishing Tournament in the August Newsletter. This event was held June 11^th and skillfully managed by Bobby Perez. I am always amazed when I see anyone with a fish longer than eight inches (my record). From a careful analysis of the photos, it seems this was not only a fishing tournament, but an eating tournament as well. It looks like a good time was had by all.

The Sporting Clays Tournament was held August 22^ndat the American Shooting Center. This was a very successful event with over 260 members and guests attending. The sponsorship came from over 30 geophysical companies as well as some others outside our universe. There were so many door prizes and awards ranging from shotguns to gift cards that about half the attendees won something. It is hard to beat those odds. If that was not enough, a catered lunch was also included. Dietrich Landis did the heavy lifting this year. He was helped by members Alan Foley and Steve Mitchell as well as Jeanni Harris of the American Shooting Center. All of them deserve our thanks for a fun and safe event.

This year’s activities ended with the Tennis Tournament September 11^th at the Houston Racquet Club. Marvin Taylor & Liz Ivie selected this date specifically to make it a support America event with American Flag tee shirts in memory of the tragedy of 9/11. At the time of this writing the Tennis Tournament is still in the future, but I have no doubt that there will be some great tennis that weekend. Thanks Marvin

The sporting and social events are not just fun. They provide a great networking opportunity and, with the sponsorships from a wide range of companies, actually produce a net income for the Society. Most of this income goes to our scholarship fund. I encourage all of you to get out there and participate and if you don’t see something you can really sink your teeth into, give me a call or send an email and I will be happy to work with you to get your activity on the list.

22-Sep-09 11:00 AM

President's Column August 2009

Mike Graul-2009/2010 GSH President - noemail@gshtx.org — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:00:00 GMT

President's.Column By Mike Graul The China Syndrome 2009

Before we get to the reviews and forecasts of our esteemed president and the GSH Board of Directors for 2008 - 2009, I thought you might want a peek behind the silicon curtain, into the murky world of geophysical politics, group dynamics, and other matters usually discussed in hushed tones by seismic conspiracy advocates.

Shortly before the June meeting of the old and new GSH boards, it was reported that the SEG was closing the Geoscience Center at the Tulsa headquarters. This came as a shock and surprise to committee chairs deeply involved with matters associated with this educational facility. Tom Fulton, Lisa Buckner, Hermes Malcotti, Bob Wyckoff, John Delaughter are but a few of the chairs or co-chairs of such committees as the Youth Education, Museum, or Historical Preservation that were neither consulted nor advised of the rather sudden and surreptitious closing of a facility that had hosted over 18,000 school children over the past several years. The GSH Board went to threat level Orange.

The 5% Rule. Deep in the bowels of the SEG Constitution is Article XVII, Member Review, which states that the members may overturn any decision by the SEG Council, the SEG Executive Committee, or any other committee, if such action is supported by 5% of the active members of the SEG. This is our version of the court of last resort. In order to implement this procedure with regard to the unilateral decision to close the Geoscience Center, the GSH board set about to form an electronic petition in which active members of the SEG, who are also members of the GSH (a total of approximately 775, representing nearly 10% of the SEG active membership) could express support for the cease and desist order with a mouse click on the GSH Website.

The basic purpose of the petition was to prevent re-Gistribution of the Geoscience artifacts and museum pieces before an alternative plan could be investigated. A plan that would certainly include consideration of Houston as the home of the Geoscience Center. As it turns out, more traditional political techniques were invoked to halt further final and irrevocable closure activities. A flurry of e-mails, telephone calls, and backroom bargaining brought all participants to an agreeable course of action, in which a Task Force,. charged with investigating various solutions to the preservation of the function and purpose of theGeoscience Center, would be formed. This is now underway, and will include key members of the GSH. Your input through these pages will be welcome.

But, the plot sickens ... Just when we thought it was safe to leave the building (think of Jack Lemmon, after avertingthe melt down - maybe) here comes the SEG Governance Review Committee (GRC) with some startlingly progressive recommendations for changing the way the SEG is governed, and how its members will be represented. (You can guess who's going to take the biggest hit if their hope and change recommendations are implemented.) The details must and will be published before the annual meeting in October. Key changes involve dissolution of the main governing body, the SEG Council, as it now stands, and replacement with bring it up before a vote by the full active 12 representatives, more in keeping with membership. our growing global community. The GRC considers the present Council ineffective and "too USA centric". For the moment, the GSH is represented on the Council by four active members (Last year we had five, but a way was found to reduce thatnumber). The District (3), in which we reside, is defined as "Southeast US - Texas, Oklahoma, and east to the Atlantic Ocean", and is represented on the Council by an additional nine members, bringing the total for the District, including the GSH, to 14. This is the largest district representation byfar - as well it should be, in consideration of the number of active members. That nonsense would be terminated, however, reducing the representation to one (1) - more in line with the spirit of Globalism. Oh, incidentally, the new 18-member governing body (12 district reps plus the 6-member ExCom.) would have their expenses paid, four times a year, to attend meetings in various places around the world. Care to guess who will be covering these costs?

Threat Level Red. OK, maybe it's time to think of the 5% rule our geophysical founding fathers put into the constitution to protect the membership from such foolishness. Nope. The GRC has thoughtfully recommended that Article XVII, providing for recourse by the members, be stricken from the SEG Constitution, thus leaving the members at the mercy of the freshly minted Global Council.

What can you do? First, if you are eligible, but you are not an Active Member of the SEG, now is the time to become one. Actives differ from Associates in that they can vote and they can petition; they can throw open the window, and shout, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this any more!" Secondly, read the GRC recommendations, when published, and let us know how you would like your current representativeS to vote when this is brought before the Council - as it now stands. Thirdly, should the recommendations of the GRC be adopted - against your will- stand ready to sign (electronically or physically) a petition to stop the movement, and bring it up before a vote by the full active membership.Alright, now that we've journeyed into Global Politics, let's look at the local level, and what your GSH Board has to say about the previous year of activity. We'll set the tone with 2008 - 2009 President Frank Dumanoir

President's Report for the 2008-2009 GSH Term-Frank Dumanoir

With the new 2009-2010 term starling in a few days, it's time to reflect on what was accomplished in the past year and what was left for the incoming board to pursue if they so wish. As you can see with these officers' summary reports, we have revived the idea that part of our responsibility to you is to give an accounting of the previous term.

The past year has seen a complete reversal of the fortunes of the oil industry and by extension the geophysical industry. Like many professions in this severe downturn, we have not been spared the layoffs reminiscent of the previous oil busts.

The GSH is navigating through the current downturn and continuing to provide our flagship technical events. The technical program this past year was outstanding. Between the Technical Lunches held at two locations every month, the early morning technical breakfasts, the Spring Symposium and the DISC we have had ample opportunity to witness the resiliency of our industry and the continuing development of new techniques in acquisition, processing and interpretation.

The" social events" (Sporting Clays, Golf Tennis, Salt Water Rshing Tournament) have attracted many participants and the hope is that we will be able to maintain the generous corporate sponsorships that help build our scholarship annual contribution. This year, your society contributed $16,000 to the Hugh Hardy Scholarship fund.

The GSH also provided feedback to the SEG on the initiatives they proposed. There was strong concern that some of these would have dramatically recast the governance of the SEG and reduced the voice of associated societies like the GSH at the annual council. We hope this helped spark continuing discussion on this important issue for GSH as well as SEG members.

The Museum and Outreach committees continued to do an excellent job through the hard work and dedication of several volunteer members. The grass roots effort at reaching young people is paramount to presenting our profession as a worthy and enriching one to pursue. In the same way,the museum committee helps preserve our heritage. Very recently your society has jumped in to try and save the artifacts at the SEG in Tulsa and to see what can be done to extend the Youth Education Center which the SEG recently decided to shut down. You will be hearing more from the incoming board on this in the near future.

This new term will see the first expanded board with two 1st and 2nd VP's (one of each is a VP-Elect). This will provide more help for these positions as well as facilitate the transition from one year to the next. You have elected an outstanding group of colleagues to run the GSH this next year. I hope they will get the same support the previous board has received and I encourage the membership to communicate with your ideas and suggestions to help the GSH meet your expectations.

We have started work on a much needed revamp of the website - and yes - make it easier and less frustrating to do online reservations to our events!

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not, once again, ask you to maintain your membership, but also to encourage your colleagues to become members. This will continue to be a focus of the new board and they are already at work to roll out some initiatives to grow our society.

First Vice President's Report for the 2008-2009 GSH Term - Bill Fahmy
As my term concludes I want to say thanks for electing me your first Vice President. It was an honor and great pleasure to serve you. As your First Vice President I was able to set up 9 technical luncheons (with one interruption due to Hurricane Ike) and to organize the SEG/EAGE DISC which featured Dr. Patrick Corbett. However, the major part of the job revolved around organizing the 2 day annual Spring Symposium. This turned out as quite a success as we honored Dr. Frank Levin. All this was possible due to a wonderful committee that I was able to form through suggestions from various members of the board. You should know that they handled most of the logistics while I did most of the worrying. Finally, I want to thank several people for making my job easier. Special thanks go to Marvin Taylor for his outstanding job handling the Technical Breakfast. Thanks also to the volunteers who organized the Special Interest Group Meetings

Report of the Secretary, Jackie Ming

This past year (2008-2009), my duties consisted of taking monthly notes at Board Meetings, and distributing them for review and placement on the GSH website. With the help of our new (and continuing) Membership Chair, David Hammer, membership numbers were tracked and we maintained membership of around 1200. Elections went smoothly and we successfully voted on and brought in the new Board of Directors for the upcoming 2009-2010 term.

Report of the Second Vice President, Bob Ayres

The society held six social and sporting events between August 2008 and August 2009. Revenues from these events help to defray the costs associated with technical events sponsored by your society, and also to fund scholarships sponsored by your society. Those events were:

Sporting Clays Tournament - The event was held August 23, 2008 at the American Shooting Center. 285 members and guests participated in this event. This event provided a $4549.66 overage to the society.

Tennis Tournament - The event was held September 26, 2008 at the Houston Racquet Club. Fifty-two members and guests participated in this event. This event provided a $7818.00 overage to the society.

Honors and Awards Banquet - The event was held May 7, 2009 at the Lakeside Country Club. 94 members and guests participated in this event. This event incurred a net cost of $1270.73 which was covered by the society.

Golf Tournament - The event was held May 11, 2009 at the Kingwood Country Club. 364 members and guests participated in this event. This event provided $8843.69 overage to the society.

Annual Meeting and BBQ - The event was held May 21, 2009 at the Jax Grill. 51 members and guests participated in this event. This event incurred a net cost of $2,220.25 which was covered by the society.

Salt Water Fishing Tournament - The event was held June 20, 2009 at the Tackle Box Storage and Fishing Spot Marina in Texas City. At the time of this report, final accounting is still being prepared. Approximately 60 members and guests participated with positive net revenue to the society.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the event chairmen for their diligent efforts that truly made these events possible. Without their hard work and the many volunteers that helped them, these events would not have been a success. I would like to express my personal appreciation for their efforts. So to that end, to Steve Mitchell and Dietrich Landis (Sporting Clays), Marvin Taylor (Tennis), Steve Davidson (Honors and Awards), Jim Moulden (Annual Meeting), Dennis Sump (GoIf,) Bobby Perez (Saltwater Fishing), and their many volunteers, please accept my sincere thanks. And in closing, I would like to thank the many companies and individuals who provided generous sponsorship for these events.

August 2009

29-Jul-09 9:00 AM

To The Executive Committee of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists:

Mike Graul - noemail@gshtx.org — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:00:00 GMT

To The Executive Committee of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists:

We, the undersigned active members of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, do hereby petition the Executive Committee of the Society to cease and desist in any action in the furtherance of the closing of the Geoscience Center, now housed in the SEG headquarters, Tulsa, OK. Such actions would include, but are not restricted to, any distributions or warehousing of the material, items, or artifacts now housed or exhibited at the Geoscience Center; nor should any attempt be made to lease or sub-lease the Geoscience Center area.

It is further petitioned that the Executive Committee should meet with representatives of the SEG Youth Education Committee and the SEG Historical Preservation Committee to develop a plan for the ultimate disposition of this valuable and beneficial entity.

Name E-Mail Address

TO DOWNLOAD PETITION CLICK HERE

23-Jun-09 7:00 AM

June 2009 President's Letter

Frank Dumanior GSH President 08/09 - noemail@gshtx.org — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!

It’s already been nine months since I wrote my first newsletter column as this year’s president.
It seems like just yesterday!

In that short time we have witnessed a most dramatic shift in the world’s economic fortune.
As with all major “seismic shifts” the impact has been felt by all business sectors. What started
out as a “financial meltdown” has now spread and is affecting all aspects of business including
manufacturing, energy resource management and, closer to us, the search for and production
of hydrocarbons.

There seems to be little doubt that we will have to adjust to these new economic realities and
plan for them accordingly. The optimists among us (I count myself as one of them) will see
this as an opportunity to rethink how we approach problems and hopefully come up with better
ideas and solutions.

When the current board took office, we hoped to improve on traditional GSH offerings, initiate
new events, improve communications with and expand ourmembership, and continue building
ties with our sister societies. We have achieved some of those goals, implemented some
that were started by our predecessors and laid the groundwork for others.

1st and 2nd VP-Elect positions on the board. With the current election of the 2009-2010 officers
we will have two new officers on the board. It has been the general consensus of the most recent
boards that it takes time to get up to speed once one joins the GSH board. The newly created
positions will allow the VP-Elects to attend the board meetings and get a feel for the work to be
carried out. This will increase continuity and provide backup for those times when the 1st or
2nd VP is absent. Remember that all GSH officers are volunteers and often have to balance
work with GSH demands.

Technical Events: By any measure, this has been a very successful year in terms of the technical
presentations that have been organized under the auspices of your 1st VP, Bill Fahmy and his
committees. The “same talk – two locations” for the monthly Technical lunch was continued this
year. We had the chance to listen to high quality papers on topics ranging from “Listening
to Fractures” to “4D” - all of this despite a cancellation due to Hurricane Ike. I want to thank all of
the speakers who graciously gave their talks two days in a row. As tradition would have it, the
out going 1st VP has already lined up speakers for the Fall schedule. Watch your newsletter and
the website for announcements.The monthly Tech Breakfast has also been a resounding success. It has been common to see 60 to 80 geoscientists gathered at 7 AM on the second Wednesday of the month to see a series of very informative talks. The series has been loosely built around case histories, subsalt work in deep waters and prestack depth migration techniques. We have Marvin Taylor to thank for this and he assures me that he will continue his stellar efforts in the coming year.

The Spring Symposium and the DISC are our marquee events. The Spring Symposium this year
was themed on New Acquisition Techniques and the processing challenges and improvements
they have engendered. The Symposium was also an opportunity for our industry to honor
Dr. Frank Levin’s contributions to Geophysics during his career at Exxon and later at Western
Geophysical. Bob Wegner chaired the organizing committee and reported on the symposium in the
most recent GSH newsletter.

By the time you read this we will also have hosted the SEG DISC and provided another chance
to build our technical knowledge. Over one hundred attendees were there to listen to Dr. Patrick Corbett’s course on Geoengineering.

Our special interest groups (SIG’s) have continued to provide another outlet for those with specialized interests in Data Processing, Rock Physics, Potential Fields and Multi-Component technologies.As one fervent attendee at many of these events commented to me, one could go to a half dozen technical presentation every month just from the GSH!

Social Events: The main social events of the year – Golf, Sporting Clays, Fishing Tournament
and now Tennis continue to attract many participants. These events not only give us an opportunity
to relax with fellow doodlebuggers but also provide some additional funding for the technical
events as well as our annual contribution to SEG scholarships. This source of revenue allows us to
keep the prices for the technical events to a minimum.

Sponsors: In this difficult financial climate we have received substantial support fromcompanies large and small that have stepped up and contributed necessary funds to hold our events and keep a lid
on costs to the participants. We certainly want to thank them and hope that they will continue to
support the GSH in the future.

Outreach: This year we again participated in Geoscience Day. This event is aimed at new people
coming into the industry and exposes them to many geophysical techniques in acquisition, processing and interpretation. The GSH was also a very visible participant at the annual High School Science fair where we not only provided judges for the projects but also had a booth with information on geoscience careers. The GSH gave three monetary awards to deserving high school students.

Initiatives: A major initiative that was approved this year was the (much needed) revamping of the
website. This will have to continue under next year’s board – fortunately, Glenn Bear, who will be
returning as Editor, has been involved in setting the criteria that we feel will make the site more
user friendly and welcoming to our membership as well as interested observers.

There are many other society activities but space does not allow me to do them all justice. All of
them require your active participation and I hope you will also encourage fellow workers to join
in the fun. The GSH provides a great platform to inform, educate and help explain our profession
so that we can attract the next generation of explorationists to this great undertaking.

On a personal note, I want to thank this year’s board, SEG reps, committee chairs and volunteers
for all of their work and active participation in our endeavors. It’s been a pleasure and privilege to
serve as president this past year. I hope the incoming officers will have as much fun as we’ve had!

4-Jun-09 12:00 PM

2009 GSH/SEG Spring Symposium

Bob Wegner - noemail@gshtx.org — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

2009 GSH/SEG Spring Symposium - Honoring Franklyn K. Levin

On March 4 & 5, approximately 170 people attended the GSH annual Spring Symposium
held at the Omni Palace in West Houston. The symposium of invited and contributed
papers highlighted recent innovations in seismic (land, marine, ocean-bottom, simultaneous
sources) and EM acquisition technology, along with related processing and interpretation
techniques. Throughout the program, speakers celebrated Frank’scontributions to geophysics
and their personal remembrances of his influence on them and their work.

Invited papers covered the latest developments in land and marine acquisition technologies,
including the implementation of simultaneous sources, marine vibrators (yes!), the optimization
of marine wide azimuthacquisition, the acquisition of OBC/OBS data, and the uses of coil
shooting for full-azimuth coverage and dual-sensor streamers for removing ghosts.
Shown also were excellent examples of subsurface images obtained from wide-azimuth data processed
with the most advanced imaging algorithms, such as anisotropic reverse time migration.
Several talks were followed by lively discussions on various topics (e.g., cable vs. wireless acquisition
on land, the physical mechanism behind slowvelocity noise in shallow marine data.)

Six guest speakers recognized Frank Levin’s contributions to a broad array of geophysical topics,
comprising seismicacquisition, processing, modeling, and theory. In addition, he inspired an
entire generation of geophysicists at Exxon and Western Geophysical,as well as the geophysical
community at large, to contribute to geophysical knowledge and to publish the results.

The dinner featured a toast and roast by Bob Wegner, a reminiscence by Frank’s youngest son
Philip, and a 60-year retrospective of the industry by Frank. There were numerous testimonials from
those gathered in an expression of heartfelt thanks for his contributions both technical and personal.

By all accounts it was a very successful event. This was the first time aquestionnaire polled
attendees to comment on technical content, facility accommodation, refreshment and
venue location. While there is always room for improvement, the general feedback was
most favorable regarding the event.

Also to be commended are the Symposium committee volunteers who gave a lot of their time
to ensure that the event met the highest possible standards and attracted quality presentations.
The GSH is indebted to the corporate sponsors who stepped up to the plate and were an
important factor in helping make this a successful event. Their continued commitment in
supporting technical conferences such as the Spring Symposium even in this challenging
economic environment is a testament to their belief that communication and spreading of
knowledge is a valuable investment in the future of our industry.

In a closing remark by Frank reflecting on his 60-year career, his longheld conviction that
publication was the cornerstone of accomplishment had now changed. He felt of equal
importance was collaboration with others and the nurturing of ideas. This feeling was
reinforced throughout the symposium’s proceedings.

5-May-09 9:00 AM

April 2009 Presidents Letter

Peter Eick-Treasurer - noemail@gshtx.org — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

President’s Column: By Peter M. Eick, P.G.
Is it a depression yet?

April is tax month. On April 15, your taxes are due and thus this month I’ll focus on accounting and taxes. As I was doing my taxes, I reflected on what the past year has brought us in our industry. Last year at this time we were in the heady excited period just wondering how high oil would go and cringing every time we went to the gas pump or got our summer electric bills. Now when I fill up my truck I cringe at how little it costs. Basically, the word from the economists is that the economy is a wreck and we are in a recession bordering on a global depression. Speaking as the GSH Treasurer, I can certainly say the economic hard times have impacted our societies society’s financial condition.

Let’s review what happened in 2008. What can I say? Are we in a depression yet? Looking at the GSH books, I can say our financial position today is worse then it was a year ago. I am sure that most of you have looked at your 401K’s and thought the same thing. Fortunately, for most of us, we are still working so we are adding to our 401’s and not drawing against them.

Download PDF to read entire articel

/attachments/wysiwyg/9912/PresidentscolumnEick.pdf

6-Apr-09 9:00 AM

A Few Thoughts by Bob Ayers

Bob Ayers - noemail@gshtx.org — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:00:00 GMT

A Few Thoughts
As I sit here at home, staring at my monitor, I ponder what to write for this
month’s column. I would like it to be something witty and entertaining but I
draw a complete blank. We all know there have been many authors before
me, which have written elegant prose for this column that made us sit back
and reflect on their message. I read many previous columns for inspiration,
yet I struggle.

Well, I will take the lead from my predecessors, as I know there are many
people that need to be thanked. There are many individuals who have been
very generous with their time working on the many GSH functions, most
of all, the individuals who chair the various committees that organize and
put on the technical, sporting and social events, and their many volunteers. Each
is important to the success of those events; they deserve recognition.

So, to that end, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to each and every one of
them for their time and diligent efforts.But, what other words can I write that
will be worthy of the paper on which they will be printed? As I sit here,my thoughts
keep coming back to the economic turmoil that seems to gripour great nation,
and, if you believe what you read in the press and hearon the news, the entire world.
You or I cannot change much as an individual, but we can rely on each other to help
all of us get through these trying times. I have been in this crazy business for over
thirty-four years. I have been through numerous cycles of rapidgrowth and rapid
retrenchment. I survived most, got caught in a fewof the down turns, but I have always
landed on my feet with a little help from the geophysicists who are my friends.
I believe that the keys to survival in this business environment are to keep
your technical and managerial skills well honed and to tap your network
of professional and personal contacts. That network is important. It gives us a place
to search for that next challenge when needed, and it gives usan opportunity to assist
our friends in their times of need. Our networks will help all of us whether the economic
storm that lies ahead, whether it is an isolated thunderstorm or a raging hurricane with
wide ranging and long lasting effects.

So, I encourage each of you to reinforce your network and reach out to your friends.
Participate in the wide range of GSH events, be they technical, social, or sporting in
nature. I encourage you to attend the various functions, support your society and
invigorate your personal network by inviting them to come along. I hopethese economic
rigors in which we seem to be mired will diminish quickly. If they persist, use your network.
Ithas helped me in the past.

6-Mar-09 8:00 AM