VOLUME XXXXVII NUMBER 4 MAY 2011 New SIPES Event Calendar — See Page 11 for details 2011 SIPES Convention Tours — See Pages 17 & 19 Online Convention Registration Available until June 10, 2011 In this issue: Industry Information 2 News of Members 6 Chapter News 9 In Memoriam 13 Cornerstone Group 14 Chapter Meeting Info. 19 New Members 33 Foundation Donors 34 Board of Directors 36 The cycles in the commodity markets are difficult to predict or sometimes under- stand. I came into the oil and gas industry on the upswing in prices resulting from the oil embargo. I survived the bottom falling out in the mid ‘80s to see the "dead sea" come back to life in the late ‘90s. The downturn in the economy in 2001 sank demand and natural gas prices that recov- ered to record levels in 2008, only to fall back to 2002 levels in 2010. Natural gas and crude oil prices used to have a price relationship of 1:6 based on energy equivalence. This changed after crude oil spiked in the middle of 2008 and fell to a low in early 2009, only to run up again in 2011 due to the unrest in the Middle East. The pricing relationship based on energy equivalence ended in early 2009 as the full impact of the resource/unconventional gas plays were being recognized and the gas from these (Continued on Page 7) Note: This article is from the Midland Chapter, and is the eighth in a series submitted by SIPES Members and chapters. Abstract The geology of Mexico is composed of many microcontinent blocks accreted to the North American continent after the Paleozoic. Most of it is mountainous with considerable areas covered by volcanic rocks. All oil and gas production is restrict- ed to the lower elevation, Mexico part of the Gulf of Mexico basin. Oil was found initially by drilling near seeps from Cretaceous rocks in the early 1900s. A trend of pinnacle reefs called the Golden Lane were developed around the large Tuxpan Platform near the west edge of the basin. A large area of southeast and off- shore Mexico is underlain by Jurassic salt. Onshore shallow production was found there in the 1950s and prolific deeper pro- duction was developed from Jurassic and Cretaceous carbonates draped over faulted salt pillow structures in the 1970s. Four megagiant fields (greater than 5 billion bar- rels) have been developed, one onshore and three offshore. Those offshore are bizarre in that they are very young (Miocene) overthrust structures with an end of Cretaceous breccia limestone pay up to 1000 meters thick. The pay section is debris from the Chiczulub meteor impact that supposedly caused the demise of the dinosaurs. The Canterell Complex has an ultimate of over 15 billion barrels of oil and 5 tcf gas. (Continued on Page 20) Pr Pr esident esident’ s Column s Column Kenneth J. Huffman, #2936 New Orleans, Louisiana Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists SIPES SIPES QU QU AR AR TERL TERL Y Y www.sipes.org OIL AND GAS OF MEXICO by Donald P. McGookey, #1003 — Midland, Texas You Still Have Time to Register for the SIPES 2011 Convention Attending the Board of Directors dinner in New Orleans are (L to R) San Antonio Director Donna Balin, President Elect Marc Maddox and President Ken Huffman.
Transcript
VOLUME XXXXVII NUMBER 4 MAY 2011
New SIPES EventCalendar — See Page 11 fordetails
2011 SIPES ConventionTours — See Pages 17 & 19
Online ConventionRegistration Available untilJune 10, 2011
I n th i s i s sue:
Industry Information 2
News of Members 6
Chapter News 9
In Memoriam 13
Cornerstone Group 14
Chapter Meeting Info. 19
New Members 33
Foundation Donors 34
Board of Directors 36
The cycles in the commodity markets aredifficult to predict or sometimes under-stand. I came into the oil and gas industryon the upswing in prices resulting fromthe oil embargo. I survived the bottomfalling out in the mid ‘80s to see the "deadsea" come back to life in the late ‘90s. Thedownturn in the economy in 2001 sankdemand and natural gas prices that recov-ered to record levels in 2008, only to fallback to 2002 levels in 2010.
Natural gas and crude oil prices used tohave a price relationship of 1:6 based onenergy equivalence. This changed aftercrude oil spiked in the middle of 2008 and
fell to a low in early 2009, only to run upagain in 2011 due to the unrest in theMiddle East. The pricing relationshipbased on energy equivalence ended inearly 2009 as the full impact of theresource/unconventional gas plays werebeing recognized and the gas from these
(Continued on Page 7)
Note: This article is from the MidlandChapter, and is the eighth in a series submittedby SIPES Members and chapters.
AbstractThe geology of Mexico is composed of
many microcontinent blocks accreted tothe North American continent after thePaleozoic. Most of it is mountainous withconsiderable areas covered by volcanicrocks. All oil and gas production is restrict-ed to the lower elevation, Mexico part ofthe Gulf of Mexico basin. Oil was foundinitially by drilling near seeps fromCretaceous rocks in the early 1900s. Atrend of pinnacle reefs called the GoldenLane were developed around the largeTuxpan Platform near the west edge of thebasin. A large area of southeast and off-
shore Mexico is underlain by Jurassic salt.Onshore shallow production was foundthere in the 1950s and prolific deeper pro-duction was developed from Jurassic andCretaceous carbonates draped over faultedsalt pillow structures in the 1970s. Fourmegagiant fields (greater than 5 billion bar-rels) have been developed, one onshoreand three offshore. Those offshore arebizarre in that they are very young(Miocene) overthrust structures with anend of Cretaceous breccia limestone payup to 1000 meters thick. The pay section isdebris from the Chiczulub meteor impactthat supposedly caused the demise of thedinosaurs. The Canterell Complex has anultimate of over 15 billion barrels of oil and5 tcf gas.
(Continued on Page 20)
PrPresidentesident ’’ s Columns Column
Kenneth J. Huffman, #2936New Orleans, Louisiana
Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists
SIPESSIPESQUQUARARTERLTERLYY
www.s ipes .org
O I L A N D G A S O F M E X I C Oby Donald P. McGookey, #1003 — Midland, Texas
You Still
Have Time
to Register
for the
SIPES 2011
Convention
Attending the Board of Directors dinner in NewOrleans are (L to R) San Antonio Director DonnaBalin, President Elect Marc Maddox and PresidentKen Huffman.
NN at iona l , Sat iona l , S tt a tat e & Ene & En v i rv i r onmentonment a l In fa l In f o ro r mat ionmat ion
The following reports on national and environmental issueswere prepared by Vice President of National Energy MarcMaddox, and Environmental Committee Chair Sue Cluff. Theviews and opinions expressed are those of the authors. Some of theinformation presented is in the public domain and is availablefrom a variety of sources; other references were selected by theauthors, and are noted on their reports.
NATIONAL ENERGYThe numbers are in for 2010, and once again the domes-
tic oil industry has responded to the incentive of higherprices by increasing production by 150,000 barrels per dayfrom the prior year. Domestic production stands at 5.51million b/d, despite the ban on drilling offshore in the GulfCoast. Imports fell from 57% in 2009 to 49% in 2010. Thiswhile domestic consumption of liquid fuels increased by380,000 b/d, or 2%, to 19.1 million b/d in 2010.
The oil supply story is developing like the natural gassupply story before it: high commodity prices spur tech-nological innovation in the form of fracing oil shales in theWilliston Basin (Bakken), West Texas (Wolfberry, Avalon,Wolfbone) and the onshore Gulf Coast (Eagle Ford).Capitalism works, oil supplies increase, and the economybenefits. It is notable that exactly none of these plays aretaking place on federal lands. Just imagine if BLM land in
the western U.S., Alaska, and offshore were opened toexploration! It may not be possible to become independentof foreign oil supplies, but if left unfettered there is nodoubt the industry would respond and imports could besignificantly decreased.
Meanwhile, natural gas consumption is projected toincrease only slightly to 66.7 Bcf/d. Of that amount, indus-trial demand is projected at 18.7 Bcf/d. Supplies of naturalgas continue to increase, with a gain of 4.5% (2.6 Bcf/d) in2010. Marketed Natural Gas production in December 2010was 64 Bcf/d – the highest since February 1973. Again thisis being accomplished in spite of the Offshore Gulf ofMexico "permatorium" imposed after last year's Macondoaccident.
It's an amazing story, and one that virtually no onewould have predicted five years ago. The incentive torespond to market forces is alive and demonstrably in verygood working order. These statistics and more can befound at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/con-tents.html
The result of all of this additional supply is lower pricesto the consumer. Storage facilities at Cushing, Oklahomaare full, creating an unprecedented differential in domes-tic vs. world oil prices. Recent spreads between WTI andBrent Crude have been between $12 and $18. Thus thedomestic consumer of crude oil products is realizing a sig-nificant discount to the global market, although this factmay elude the average individual filling up the gasolinetank at nearly $4 per gallon.
Meanwhile, EIA reports that world oil consumptionincreased by 2.2 MMb/d in 2010. This gain offsets thedownward trend in 2008 and 2009. Consumption of 86.6million barrels of oil per day in 2010 exceeds the level of86.3 MMb/d in 2007.
Other News HighlightsSince the last publication of the SIPES Quarterly there has
been a series of news events that have altered the political(Continued)
S I P E S H e a d q u a r t e r sS I P E S H e a d q u a r t e r s4925 Greenville Avenue - Suite 1106
Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists.
Send your comments, letters, address changes and advertising
inquiries to the SIPES Headquarters in Dallas, Texas.
and economic stability of the world. Any one of thesewould, in normal times, have the potential to cause signif-icant disruptions in the price of oil. In spite of these historicevents the price of crude oil has remained relatively stable.Consider the following, all of which occurred in the firstquarter of 2011:
Unrest in the Middle East – Tunisia and Egypt changetheir government through civil unrest; Syria and Yemenare attempting similar change. Libyan revolution results in armed conflict.
Drilling permit issued in GOMAfter eight months of delays the BOEMRE allowed
Noble Energy to continue operations on their SantiagoProspect. The well had been temporarily abandoned at13,585 feet in June 2010. This is the much-vaunteddeepwater drilling permit issued by BOEMRE onFebruary 28th.
In the meantime, Noble Corp. (the drilling side) hasannounced it will move the Clyde Boudreaux rig to Brazil.They cite the lack of permits being issued as the reason tomove the rig. Gasoline prices approach $4.00 Japanese earthquake and tsunami on March 12 and
associated nuclear power plant failure.
State and federal legislatures are coming to grips withthe reality of budget shortfalls, the acceptance of theirmandate from last fall's elections, and the necessity ofreducing deficits. More change is on the way as solutionsare found to address the economic reality of these issues.
Several states are still considering legislation for disclo-sure of fluids used in fracing wells. It is predicted that thisstory will fade as the general public becomes aware that
the "toxic" chemicals used include a whole lot of water andtiny amounts of chemical additives that are in commonusage in every home in the United States.
Range Resources ExoneratedYou may recall a case filed with the Railroad Commission
of Texas by the EPA for water well contamination by frac-ing in the Barnett Shale play in Parker County, Texas, latelast year. This was big news when it happened. The EPAand owners of certain water wells in the vicinity of theButler Unit #1H and Teal Unit #1H, both operated byRange Resources alleged that the frac stimulations con-ducted by Range had resulted in the contamination ofgroundwater in the surrounding area. The form of conta-mination in the groundwater is natural gas. Both the RRCand the EPA had investigated the occurrence of gas in thegroundwater since August 2010.
On December 7, 2010, the EPA issued an EmergencyAdministrative Order to Range citing the presence ofmethane and benzene in certain water wells and orderingRange to take action to "…ensure that…production facili-ties pose no imminent and substantial endangerment topublic health through methane contamination of anunderground source of drinking water."
DetailsThe owner of a water well complained to the Abilene
District Office of the RRC that his well contained gas. TheButler Unit well path comes within a horizontal distance of450 feet of the water well, however, the vertical separationat that point is 5,000 feet. Gas samples taken from thewater well, and from the Butler Unit well on August 17,2010, determined that the gas was from two distinctsources. Range also ran a casing integrity test on the Butlerwell and detected no leaks in the casing.
On October 26, 2010, the EPA took gas samples from twowater wells and both the Butler, and Teal wells operated byRange. Thirty days after this testing Range was notified byphone that the position of the EPA was that the gas fromthe water wells was the same as the gas being producedfrom the Butler and Teal wells. Range requested a copy ofthe EPA sampling data and results but the EPA did not pro-vide the data (there may a constitutional issue here). Soonafterward the Emergency Administrative Order ofDecember 7, 2010, was issued by EPA (see above).
The Pesky Science and FactsThe RRC held a hearing for this complaint on January
19-20, 2011. The following is a summary of part of the tes-timony. It can be accessed and read in its entirety from theRRC homepage at http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/pressreleas-es/2011/032211.php.
"Water wells in the area produce fresh water from theCretaceous Trinity aquifer group (Paluxy, Glen Rose, TwinMountains). In the area in question the Cretaceous overliesthe Pennsylvanian at depths varying from 200 to 400 feet.
(Continued)
MAY 2011 _____________________________________________________________________________________3
National, State & Environmental Information Continued
Middle East and North African protests clockwise from top left:2011 Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square on February 9, Tunisianrevolution in January, 2011 Yemeni protests, and 2011 Libyan civilwar. Source: Wikipedia.
Most water wells are completed in the Twin Mountains orthe shallower Paluxy, which are separated by the Glen Rose"aquatard" which restricts flow between the two. The deep-er Twin Mountains is not highly productive, and water lev-els fall as they are produced. Since the Twin Mountains isalso in communication with Pennsylvanian strata that con-tain gas and salt water, lowering the pressure in the TwinMountains can and will allow fluids and gas from thePennsylvanian to move into the Twin Mountains and mixwith fresh water. Additional testing of other water wells inthe area determined that contamination is not unusual,with methane concentrations of 0 to 2.8 ppm. Not surpris-ingly, the well with the greatest contamination tested isdrilled 100 feet into the Pennsylvanian section."
Multiple experts were called to testify at the RRC hear-ing. What these experts testified to is revealing. AHalliburton frac expert spoke to the existence of over 2,500micro-seismic surveys that have been conducted on wellsfraced in the Barnett, and that the maximum frac heightseen is around 400 feet. A groundwater expert testified tothe known existence of methane in water wells in the areaof the complaint for decades: long before the Barnett Shaleplay existed. A petroleum engineer testified that naturalgas had been produced out of the Strawn at depths of 358to 426 feet in the 1980s. Significant gas flows had beennoted in a water supply well drilled approximately 750 feetnorth of the water well in question.
And Now: The Rest of the StoryFor two days multiple experts testified in the fields of
groundwater, engineering, geology, and historical data.Range sent its representatives to the hearing, and RailroadCommission examiners sat in to determine the validity ofthe landowner's and EPA's claim of groundwater contami-nation created by fracing of the Barnett Shale wells nearby.In fact, everyone who was notified of the hearing showedup to present weeks of research into the matter at hand.Everyone, that is, with two notable exceptions: thelandowners who had brought the complaint forward, andthe EPA who had claimed "imminent and substantialendangerment to public health through methane contam-ination of an underground source of drinking water" intheir complaint of December 7th!
Such behavior is an outrage and an insult to all of us.This case should eliminate any remaining doubt that theEPA has "gone off the reservation" in the words of some incongress who are hoping to pull the reigns in on theagency and its ever-increasing expansion of bureaucraticover-reach. Congress should start cutting the budget withelimination of all or part of the Environmental ProtectionAgency's funding.
The ability of a federal agency to unilaterally bring suchan outrageous charge, and then not even show up to maketheir case is unquestionably an abuse of power. Where isthe accountability on the part of EPA? This is a huge polit-
ical issue that needs to be addressed. Our readers may ormay not have been aware of this story and its outcome.The complaint part was big news. Did any of you knowhow the story ended though?
This is the same agency (EPA) that has been granted thepower to redefine what constitutes levels of CO2 as a pol-lutant. That power was granted when the Supreme Courtof the United States ruled CO2 as a pollutant. We should allbe scared, very scared, that our economic livelihood andenergy infrastructure is under attack by a bureaucracywith no accountability or shame.
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTThe whole world watched in horror and fascination on
March 11 as the Tohuku Earthquake struck northeast ofJapan at a magnitude of 9.0, followed by a huge tsunami,estimated at 30 to 40 feet high as it reached Japan. As ageologist, it is fascinating to see the power of geologicalforces in action. The death and destruction were enor-mous. As of April 7, 12,600 people were confirmed dead,over 14,000 are missing, and an estimated 160,000 remainhoused in temporary housing. Large parts of the northernend of Honshu Island lay in waste. It is believed to be themost expensive natural disaster ever.
Almost overshadowing the human drama was the disas-ter at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and it's sixnuclear reactors operated by Tokyo Electric PowerCompany (TEPCO ). Although Japan is one of the mostearthquake prone areas on the planet, it has very few nat-ural resources of its own and relies on nuclear power formuch of its electricity. Japan prides itself on its earthquakebuilding codes and the Daiichi plant did survive the earth-quake virtually unscathed. Unfortunately, it did not fare sowell when the huge tsunami hit the plant. The earthquakehad knocked out the electricity at the plant and generatorswere providing backup electricity, but they weredestroyed by the tsunami, preventing the cooling systemnecessary to keep the fuel rods safe from functioning.
(Continued)
National, State & Environmental Information Continued
TEPCO workers heroically tried emergency methods tocool the fuel rods, including pumping sea water into thecontainment structures and dumping water from heli-copters onto spent fuel rods in ponds on top of the struc-tures. It is believed that a meltdown was averted althoughit is possible that a partial meltdown may have occurred inone of the reactor buildings. Radiation in the reactor build-ing is too high to actually enter the building to examine theextent of the damage. There were several hydrogen explo-sions and radioactive material was vented to the atmos-phere, possibly including pieces of fuel rods. In addition, acrack in a seawall leaked some radioactive water into theocean.
After the initial emergency was averted, TEPCO tried torestart the cooling systems, but apparently the makeshiftcooling measures have damaged the systems, probablyirreparably. There were additional problems caused by theemergency efforts. Now that the containment structuresare full of radioactive cooling water, they are more vulner-able to structural damage by aftershocks. Also, it isbelieved that the containment structures may be fillingwith oxygen and hydrogen gasses which can combine formore explosions. TEPCO has been injecting nitrogen topurge them of the hydrogen and oxygen, and addingboron to dampen the chain reaction.
On April 17, TEPCO published their "road map" to bringthe Daiichi plant into a stable state (cold shutdown). Sincethe earthquake, the workers have had to react to problems.Now they have a comprehensive plan they think willaddress most of the problems and they anticipate that itwill take nine months to a year to reach this goal. In themeantime TEPCO is trying to reduce the levels of radioac-tive materials being released. The first part of the plan is tobuild new cooling systems, covering the reactor buildingsand installing filters to reduce the contamination beingreleased. Since the cooling systems have failed, water iscontinually being pumped in the containment structure,raising the pressure. Then steam has to be vented to theatmosphere, "feed and bleed," to prevent damage to thecontainment structure. They will also build a processingplant that removes radioactive particles and salt from thewater, and stores it in tanks.
The environmental consequences of the accident aregreat. On March 12, all residents within 20 km of the plantsite were evacuated while residents up to 30 km wereadvised to stay indoors, and after March 30 were advisedto voluntarily evacuate. By the end of March, milk andleafy green vegetables in the northern prefectures werefound to have radioactive iodine-131 and caesium- 137above safe levels. Tap water in Tokyo, Fukushima, andIbaraki had radioactivity above the safe levels betweenMarch 16 and 21, and infants were cautioned againstdrinking tap water for an additional few days. Now thetap water is once more drinkable, but farm products are
still a problem. Evacuees should be able to return home insix to nine months, after land has been decontaminated,although some land will probably be off limits indefinitely.
A congressional study published on April 15 noted that aleak of radioactive sea water from a damaged pit isbelieved to be the "biggest manmade release ever ofradioactive material into the ocean." However, they notedthat it was quickly diluted by the Pacific Ocean and shouldnot be a problem outside of Japan. They believe this to betrue for wind-borne radioactive particles also. EPA rainfallmonitors in California, Idaho and Minnesota have detect-ed trace amounts of radioactivity, far below any level ofconcern.
Before this accident, nuclear energy was being promotedfor the first time in many years as "clean, green energy."Now there is very little chance of new plants going for-ward in the U.S. It was probably never very likely since a2009 MIT study estimated that the cost of nuclear energywas about 30% higher than coal or natural gas. RoyalDutch Shell announced that they plan to increase liquefiednatural gas supplies to Japan, already the world's largestbuyer of LNG. "It will have a long term impact on gasdemand, simply because it's unlikely that any of thesefacilities will come back on stream," said De La Rey Venter,Shell's Global Head of LNG. "Japan had quite an aggres-sive plan for new-builds, but that program will be chal-lenged by public acceptance issues and that program willbe less comprehensive and will take longer time than whatwas expected. Much of that structural gap will be filled bynatural gas." He goes on to say "That's not an isolated inci-dent. It will resonate elsewhere. It will add to the cost ofsafety compliance in the nuclear industry. It strengthensthe case for gas."
Sources include: Buck, E.H., Upton, H.E. "Effects ofRadiation from Fukushima Daiichi on the U.S. MarineEnvironment,” 4/15/2011, Congressional Research Service;Washington Post 3/20/ 2011; and Bloomberg 3/22/2011.
National, State & Environmental Information Continued
MAY 2011 _____________________________________________________________________________________5
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant operated by TokyoElectric Power Company (TEPCO).
Peter MacKenzie, #2991, ofWorthington, Ohio and Charles A.Sternbach, #3006, of Houston, Texasare candidates for president-elect ofAAPG's Division of ProfessionalAffairs.
Several SIPES Members were hon-ored during the 2010 GCAGSConvention in San Antonio, Texas inOctober. Members from San Antoniowere recognized in the March 2011SIPES Quarterly.
Steve H. Hill, #1643, of Houston,Texas received the GCAGSDistinguished Service Award, recog-nizing his service to local and nationalprofessional associations and to theGCAGS.
Edward B. Picou, Jr., #2218, of NewOrleans, Louisiana received theGCAGS Don R. Boyd Medal forExcellence in Gulf Coast Geology. Hewas recognized for his leadership inthe field of economic paleontologyand biostragraphy in the Gulf Coastregion for the past 53 years.
Richard H. Sams, #1026 of Atlanta,Georgia, received the GCAGSDistinguished Service Award for hisdedicated and devoted service to thegeological profession and to GCAGS.
NN ee ww s o f Members o f Member ss
Send or email information for the “News of Members” column to the SIPES office.
Pete MacKenzie Charles Sternbach
GCAGS President Bonnie Weise presentedthe GCAGS Don R. Boyd Medal forExcellence in Gulf Coast Geology to EdPicou.
Steve Hill Dick Sams
plays was coming into the market. The current price ratioof natural gas to crude oil is approximately 25:1.
This little stroll down memory lane makes it clear that tosurvive the unpredictable changes in this industry, thosein the industry must be willing to adapt in a short timeframe. The individuals that develop a niche in the newtrends with leading edge technology, or adapt well to thechanging economic markets, have thebetter chance for success. Historically,this has been the independents in theindustry. Whether they were pursu-ing an idea through conviction, orwere forced to try something afterhaving been thrown into a situationwith little recourse, these individualsestablished themselves in consultingor generating to make a living byworking hard, spending long hours, and persevering. Thisseems to be the norm for many independents attemptingto earn a living in a fluctuating industry.
A group of these independents recognized the need andadvantage to working and networking with others in theirlocal geographic areas and with those from different areasbut in the same industry. The end result of their efforts wasthe formation of a national organization. This organizationhad such a high threshold for certification of its members,that it was recognized by other national organizations ingeology and engineering that deal in the earth sciences.The vision of the founders was to build something fromindividuals with local ties into something that linked sci-entists from a multitude of geographic areas, industries,and disciplines. The Society of Independent ProfessionalEarth Scientists is now celebrating its 48th year thanks tothe efforts of many who work as volunteers for a groupthat serves the individuals in its membership and commu-nity.
As in any national organization the local chapters are thekey building blocks. The local chapters and their officersare where the members have the most contact and inter-action with aspects of the society. Our membership is com-posed of independents by definition of their employment,but most are considered independents by their generalapproach to many subjects and state of mind. This diversi-ty is apparent in discussions between members from vari-ous chapters. The self-established interest in the earth sci-ences establishes a link, yet the independent nature of theindividuals allows for diverse approaches to topics.
This grouping of uniquely different members with acommon interest is partially why the national organizationis so highly regarded. It is not the local chapter that gar-ners the respect of other professional organizations, butthe collective effort of the chapters working as one thatmakes them part of a highly respected society. This is whythe SIPES National Board of Directors, following theConstitution and By-Laws of the Society, being composedof representatives from the local chapters and At-Large
members is the bond that holds the society together. Thisbrings to mind what I learned early in geology, that thestrength of a sandstone is not only the makeup of thegrains but has a lot to do with the cement between thegrains. The many small grains that bond well can stand upto a lot of weathering where the ones that have little bond-ing are friable and fail easily.
Being a SIPES member makes us apart of a group of highly certified pro-fessionals vetted for professionalcompetence and ethics. We gain fromthe networking and educational func-tions at both the local and nationallevels. The National Office is a reposi-tory for educational CDs, model con-tracts, consultant referral, Most ActiveCompany listing, and a SIPES
Investor List. When a member is making a move into anew area, the Membership Directory can be consulted tofind someone in that area with local contacts. I have heardthat some people who are not SIPES members prefer todeal with our membership just because of the reputationof our organization.
Over the past year as the president of the SIPES NationalBoard of Directors, I have not been able to personally visitwith as many of the members as I would have liked. Mostof my contact was with the directors on the board and thefew chapters I was able to visit. On one visit, I was told bya member that he thought the SIPES National Board wasirrelevant to the local membership. To be fair to this mem-ber, he was sincere with his statement. He was workinghard to grow the local chapter and expand its influence inthe local industry. His effort was well thought of, andrespected by the other officers of his chapter. What hefailed to grasp was what he had joined. The local cama-raderie at a chapter meeting or educational function is agreat benefit to members. However, as professionals, theability to affix a seal from a national organization on yourwork product and declare yourself part of a select numberin the industry that is awarded that right outweighs manyof the benefits found at the local level. It is to the nationallevel that the responsibility has been passed from the localmembership to uphold the standards of the society. Therespect that comes from being solicited and joining SIPESat the local or At-Large level is due to the work not just inone chapter or community, but the entire society as awhole.
A point that was brought home to me when asked togive the introduction for an award recipient a few yearsago was the fact that as both independents and volunteers,the time spent by the membership on SIPES activities istime taken away from work that has the potential to earnincome. There are, after all, only so many hours in a day;as independents one's work is their source of income. TheSIPES National Directors not only spend time at the local
(Continued)
President’s Column Continued
MAY 2011 _____________________________________________________________________________________7
It is to the national levelthat the responsibility has
been passed from the local membership to uphold the
standards of the society.
President’s Column Continued
events, but also attend the National Board meetings in thevarious cities that are home to local chapters. They take thetime to attend these meetings, and most do so at their ownexpense. This also applies to the SIPES Foundation Board,and the great philanthropic work accomplished by theirefforts. It is inspiring for me to see the intensity that isbrought to the National Board meetings. The director'ssole focus is to better SIPES and benefit the membershipand the industry. They do this with no fanfare or potentialfor fame or enrichment, but for the knowledge that theyare giving back to a science that has been a trade if not acalling.
I am sure that most local chaptermembers can name most of theirlocal officers, but few can nametheir National Director(s). This isprobably a failing of the NationalBoard to communicate well withthe membership at an individuallevel, and it is also a lack ofinvolvement of some members tounderstand the structure of theorganization at both levels. I had a very poor understand-ing of the activities of the National Board until I began rep-resenting New Orleans a few years ago. Since then, I havebeen made aware of the fact that New Orleans and theother chapters and At-Large Members are what make upthe national organization through their representatives. Itis hard not to notice a large sandstone outcropping, be it ahogback or road cut, without being aware that it startedout as a deposit of individual grains that have beencemented together to form something that is defined bythe properties and makeup of the individual grains butreferred to as the whole deposit they have formed bybeing bonded together.
I cannot leave you without making a comment on thepassing of Owen Hopkins, #2986, of Corpus Christi, Texas.I only knew Owen through the SIPES Board of Directors.
His enthusiasm and energy were always apparent in hispassionate presentations to encourage projects to interestyouth in science. He spearheaded placing geologic mapsof the U.S. in schools. This evolved into other projects toget fossils and rocks into classrooms. He would take theopportunity to present in classrooms at towns whereSIPES national meetings and board meetings were held.He told me he nurtured curious minds by planting rocks intheir heads. The Coastal Bend Community Foundation isset up to continue his legacy of nurturing young mindsthrough the sciences.
I have avoided our govern-ment's energy and fiscal problemsin this column to address a fewitems that are closer to home. Asthis will be my last time at twist-ing words, I want to thank theSIPES Directors, Officers, and PastPresident Bill Finley who haveserved this year for their dedica-tion and effort. I am certain ourExecutive Director Diane
Finstrom will be happy to take me off her speed dial as Ihave relied on her office and experience throughout theyear. I want to express my best wishes to Marc Maddoxand the new officers for 2011-2012. They can not only useyour ideas and input, but your support and creativeness.
Now that you know how I feel about the professionalsociety we belong to, I have to encourage you to getinvolved or stay involved. Be a force in your communityand try to give something back to the industry that isresponsible for bringing the energy needed to run thenation. Let's keep the heat on and the lights shining bright-ly.
The respect that comes frombeing solicited and joining SIPESat the local or At-Large level isdue to the work not just in onechapter or community, but the
entire society as a whole.
MAY 2011 _____________________________________________________________________________________9
ChapChap tt e r Ner N ee ww ss
NEW ORLEANSOur initial 2011 luncheon meeting
was presided over by Co-ChairmanLouis Lemarié, and was held atAndrea's Restaurant on January 18.The honored guests included DianeFinstrom and the National Board ofDirectors, who were in town for theirquarterly meeting. A cocktail party fordirectors and chapter officers washosted by SIPES President KenHuffman at Antoine’s Restaurant inthe French Quarter. This was followedby an optional dinner in the restau-rant’s beautiful Rex Room.
Our guest speaker at the Januaryluncheon was John Lopez with theLake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.Dr. Lopez gave a talk entitled "MyPerspective of the BP Oil Spill as aFormer Local Oilman Now LocalEnvironmentalist." Dr. Lopez, a NewOrleans native, holds a master's
degree in geology from the Universityof California and a Ph.D. in coastal sci-ences of biology, coastal engineeringand geology from the University ofNew Orleans. After having worked inthe oil industry for twenty years, Dr.Lopez's passion for the wetlands andthe crisis in the Louisiana wetlandsled him, in 1998, to his decision towork full-time in coastal science.Presently, he is president of DeltaScience, LLC, a coastal consultingfirm, and is the current director of theCoastal Sustainability Program for theLake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.Dr. Lopez portrayed the timeline forthe progression of the oil from thespill through the eastern Louisianawetlands, Rigolets Pass and into thesoutheastern portion of LakePontchartrain near Slidell, Louisiana.Fortunately, the path of the oil into thelake was limited in extent, and theshort-term effects were not devastat-ing to the lake environs. However, thecontinual environmental monitoringof the lake will determine any longerterm effects.
The scheduled speaker for theFebruary 15 luncheon cancelled, for-tunately with enough time for localnew member, Doffie Ross, #3299, tostep in and provide similar subjectmatter to the thirty-two attendees.Doffie gave an excellent outline of"The Latest Developments in theLouisiana DNR's SONRIS Website."SONRIS is an online database suitedfor public access to the oil and gasindustry activities and records that aremaintained by the State of Louisiana's
Department of Natural Resources.Doffie Ross works with Louis Gilbert& Associates Inc. of Metairie,Louisiana.
Our March 15 luncheon programdealt with a talk on "Logging inDifficult Wells" that was given by RayRatterman with Baker HughesWireline Systems. "Difficult Wells," orhostile environment conditions asthey pertain to open and cased holewireline logging operations, can becharacterized by such things as welldepth, well deviation, dog-leg severi-ty, logging through pressure-depletedzones, high hydrostatic pressures andhigh wellbore temperatures.Fortunately over the years, the wire-line logging industry has developedtechnologies, equipment and opera-tional methodologies that can give theoperator the ability to acquire therequired formation evaluation andpetrophysical data in both open-holeand cased-hole environments. Thelogging conveyance options mostcommonly offered include wireline-conveyed, pipe-conveyed, coil tubing-conveyed (used in cased-hole opera-tions), tractor-conveyed (used in hori-zontal well operations) and logging-while-retrieving (used during fishingoperations). The Baker HughesHP/HT logging equipment is rated to30,000 psi and 500° F for a six-hourtime period in the borehole. The toolshave a hydrostatic limitation of 18.5ppg mudweight.
Al BakerSecretary
Attending the January cocktail party are (Lto R) Chapter Co-Chairmen Louis Lemariéand R. T. Cerniglia with Fort Worth DirectorDennis Gleason.
Dallas Director Dick Cleveland (center) atthe Antoine’s cocktail party with NewOrleans Director Jim Evans and his wife,Shannon.
SIPES Board of Directors and spouses dining in Antoine’s Rex Room.
meeting is held the first Thursday ofthe month at the County Line on theHill. Our January meeting IanDuncan, Ph.D., with the Bureau ofEconomic Geology spoke. Ian is in theprocess of developing a workshop forindependent geologists and engineerswho want to become involved withCO2 sequestration. His talk addressedthe risks associated with the capture,transportation, and sequestration ofCO2. The initial information indicatesthe risks are low. However, the dataare sparse, and more studies need tobe completed. Texas is in a uniqueposition in the world being a largeproducer of CO2 and having large
subsurface reservoirs available forCO2 sequestration. At our Februarymeeting Lee Petersen, #2838, (OroQuay Corporation in Weatherford,Texas) gave a talk about finding oilwithout the use of seismic, soil gassurveys, or remote sensing. Lee pro-vided three case studies in which sig-nificant oil fields were discoveredrecently through careful log correla-tions using modern stratigraphicmodels. All three case studies were inareas of West Texas that are not cur-rently considered "hot prospect areas"by the major oil companies. Therefore,these areas are ideal for an indepen-dent.
Our March speaker was Dr. WilliamFisher, #2110, with the University ofTexas and past president of the AAPG.
His talk, "Long Term Trends in Energy:Where are We Today?" provided a "bigpicture" description of the historicevolution of energy sources. Mankindhas shifted from hydrogen-poor fuels(wood and coal) toward hydrogen-rich energy fuels (oil and natural gas)over time. He stated the oil economypeaked twenty-five years ago, andthat we are at the threshold of themethane economy. Natural gas willalso likely be the source of hydrogenfor the hydrogen fuel cells that willpredominate in the future hydrogeneconomy. He predicts the hydrogeneconomy will begin to develop somefifty years from now.
Ward DavenportChairman
MIDLANDThe Midland Chapter held its first
membership drive and social event onJanuary 13 at the Petroleum Museum.This event was sponsored by ScientificDrilling, and members Marc Maddox,David Farmer and David Grimes.
On Wednesday, January 19, our lun-cheon program was presented byKatherine Hayhoe, a professor atTexas Tech University Department ofGeosciences and CEO of ATMOSResearch who spoke to our groupabout global warming. Her talk wastitled "Not blue, not red, just green:The non-political science of climatechange." As a climate scientist she hasled impact assessments for a broadcross-section of cities and regions,including Texas and the Great Plains.She holds a B.S. in physics from theUniversity of Toronto and an M.S. andPh.D. in atmospheric sciences fromthe University of Illinois, and has pub-lished over fifty articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as author-ing reports for the National Academyof Science, the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration, theEnvironmental Protection Agency,and many other organizations. An
expert reviewer for the Nobel PeacePrize-winning IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change, her life'swork has been dedicated to discover-ing and communicating the realities ofa changing climate to those who willbe most affected by it. The results ofher research have been presentedbefore congress, highlighted by stateand federal agencies, and have beenfeatured in media around the world.
The Midland Chapter does not havea regular meeting in February. TheFebruary meeting was our annualspouse's night held in the ballroom atMidland Country Club on the 24th.There were many members whohelped make this night a success! Inaddition to having entertainment, thefollowing new board members wereannounced: Robert Wynne, chairman;D. Craig Smith, vice chairman; DavidFarmer, secretary; John Kullman, trea-surer; Don Eckerty, past chairman;Brian Miller, publicity; Tom Gentry,sponsorship; John Kimberly, environ-mental affairs; and Jack Naumannand Marc Maddox, national direc-tors.Our March meeting was held onWednesday, March 23. Our speakerwas Lee Munson, CFA, CFP. Lee
Munson is the chief investment officerof Portfolio Asset Management withresponsibility for asset allocation andinvestment strategy. Early in hiscareer, Lee worked as a trader on WallStreet. In 2002, he returned to hishome in New Mexico as a vice presi-dent of Schwab Private Client inAlbuquerque managing over $200 mil-lion in assets. Mr. Munson earned acertified financial planner (CFP) des-ignation and passed the rigorousexams to earn the certified financialanalyst charter (CFA). Lee's conspicu-ous success, acumen, and client satis-faction lead inevitably to the forma-tion of Portfolio, LLC, a company ded-icated to independent research andactive-conservative investing. Mr.Munson is a graduate of St. John'sCollege in Santa Fe, and serves on theboards of the New Mexico EstatePlanning Council and the FinancialPlanning Association of New Mexico.Our membership was saddened bythe loss of our friends, professionalacquaintances and fellow SIPES mem-bers, Russell Stipp in February, andHarry Miller in March.
David FarmerSecretary
Chapter News Continued
CORPUS CHRISTIDick Bain was the speaker on
January 25, 2011. He is a developmentgeologist with Chevron's MidContinent/Alaska Business Unit inHouston. During thirty-two yearswith Chevron, he has worked a vari-ety of assignments in South Louisiana,the Gulf of Mexico, the Permian Basin,East Texas, and South Texas. For thepast fifteen years he has been a devel-opment geologist for Chevron's LoboTrend properties in Webb and ZapataCounties, Texas, and Chevron'sVicksburg Trend properties in HidalgoCounty, Texas. His talk, "HiddenStructure Revealed by a Simple 3-DVelocity Model – McAllen RanchField, Hidalgo County, Texas," wasoriginally presented at the 2010GCAGS Annual Convention in SanAntonio. He discussed a specific areaadjacent to the Vicksburg Flexure atMonte Cristo Field with reference tothe Guerra Sand section.Considerable expansion of the deltaicGuerra Sand interval on the down-thrown side of the Vicksburg Flexurehas been observed previously. Recentseismic velocity analysis has revealeda significant velocity difference overallbetween the upthrown (faster veloci-ties) and the downthrown (slowervelocities) section affected by the faultflexure. Variations in shale bulk densi-ties were discussed as key items in therecognition of velocity variations. Asa result of a new seismic velocitymodel, Chevron drilled an additionaltwenty-five successful wells on anewly identified adjacent structure.
Tom Fett was the speaker onFebruary 22, 2011. He worked forSchlumberger for thirty-two years, fif-teen of which were spent in CorpusChristi as a sales engineer and dipme-ter/imaging specialist. As such, he wasdeeply involved with log interpreta-tion from the "Tight Rocks of SouthTexas" to the Austin Chalk. He spentthe next ten years in Australia,Houston and Saudi Arabia. He retiredfrom Schlumberger in 2000 and hasbeen a geological and quality controlconsultant since that time. He is a reg-istered engineer in the state of Texas,and a member of various professionalorganizations including the CCGS.The talk briefly discussed resourceplays in general, and the Eagle FordShale in particular. The history, geolo-gy and characteristics of the EagleFord Shale were presented. Examplesof various interpretation techniquesutilizing older logs such as the TripleCombo, and the latest new toolsincluding Imaging, ElementalCapture, Advanced Sonic, NuclearMagnetic Resonance, MicroSeismic,LWD, etc. Horizontal completions andhydraulic fracturing and their analy-ses were also covered. In conclusion,"Lessons learned in the Austin Chalk"were reviewed.
Lee Billingsley was the speaker onMarch 29, 2011. He received a B.S. ingeology from Texas A&M in 1975, anM.S. in geology from the ColoradoSchool of Mines in 1977, and a Ph.D.in geology from Texas A&M in 1983.He began his oil and gas career in 1976in Denver with medium to smallexploration companies. Upon comple-tion of his Ph.D., he worked for a
small exploration company beforefounding Sandia Oil & GasCorporation in San Antonio in 1983.After fifteen years of running his ownbusiness, he returned to the corporateworld by merging Sandia's assets intoAbraxas Petroleum Corporation in1998. At Abraxas he serves as vicepresident/exploration, where his cur-rent duties include both exploitationand exploration projects from theTexas Gulf Coast to the West TexasPermian Basin to the Rocky Mountainarea. Dr. Billingsley presented a tech-nically-detailed description of thePortilla Field and his findings regard-ing the field and development of thevarious zones within the Frio andVicksburg sands between 7,000 and9,000 feet. Modern 3-D seismic helpedunravel the complexly faulted shaledome structures. Dr. Billingsleyremains active in professional activi-ties by continuing to present technicalpapers and serving in AAPG's VisitingGeoscientist Program. He also servesas an adjunct professor in the GeologyDepartment at the University of Texasat San Antonio.
The Corpus Christi SIPES Chapteranticipates future talks to be equallyinteresting and always welcomesguests from other chapters to join inany talks held. The Corpus ChristiChapter is saddened to report thepassing of long time Chapter MemberOwen Hopkins, #2986, a previousNational Director of SIPES. Owen willbe deeply missed by our communityhere in Corpus Christi.
Eldon WestSecretary
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________11
Chapter News Continued
HOUSTONOn January 20, more than 130 atten-
dees heard Art Berman, #3062, ofLabyrinth Consulting Services inHouston share his perspective onshale gas with his presentation "ShaleGas—Abundance or Mirage?" Hebegan his presentation acknowledg-ing the important role that natural gasdoes and will play in the future of thiscountry. Art also stated initially, thathe did not dispute the natural gasresource size associated with shale gasaccumulations, but rather was focusedon the issue of the actual reserves,economics and whether they createdany real value for the shareholders.
After extensive analysis of manypublic data sources (including compa-ny reports and presentations, SEC fil-ings, and production information)particularly in the Barnett Shale andHaynesville plays, his team foundserious discrepancies between whatactive public shale-focused companiesclaimed, and what the public datawould support.
Mr. Berman entertained numerousquestions from the attentive audience,where the queries that were voicedappeared to accept most of Art'spremise and work. PDF exhibits fromthis presentation are posted on theSIPES Houston website.
On January 27, SIPES HoustonChapter hosted its fourthIndependent's Day Party, El SegundoFiesta, at the Cadillac Bar in Houston.Provided free of charge to all atten-dees, guests enjoyed a fabulousMexican feast of fajitas and margari-tas. Over 160 members, potentialmembers, and spouses were able tomingle and network at the fun andcasual event.
We would like to offer a huge thankyou to our generous sponsors,Hankey Oil Company (John Hankey),Dan Smith, and KiwiEnergy, Ltd.(Mark Gregg), who made the unfor-gettable evening possible.
On February 24, attendees heardMichael Bevis of the School of EarthSciences at Ohio State University pre-sent his unique perspective of the
Chilean Maule Earthquake withregard to sesismogenesis and orogen-esis in the Andes. On February 27,2010, the fifth largest earthquake(magnitude 8.8) ever recordedoccurred in south-central Chile. Justprior to the earthquake, Dr. Bevis hadleft Chile after a month's fieldworkand was notified of the event in Lima,Peru. He immediately returned toChile and coordinated the U.S. com-ponent of the emergency geodeticresponse. During his original field-work, Dr. Bevis' team had installednumerous GPS receivers. Upon hisreturn, his group hastily installedmany more GPS stations in the twomonths following the MauleEarthquake. As a result, Dr. Bevisbelieves that this may be the mostimportant earthquake ever in terms ofits scientific impact.
Geodesy contributes to the study ofearthquakes and orogenesis by mea-suring crustal motion and deforma-tion using in situ GPS networks. FromDr. Bevis' field work he has found thatthe interseismic velocity field indi-cates that the entire leading edge ofthe South American plate has beencompressing for decades, causing thecoast to move eastwards at rates of 35- 40 mm/yr. This deformation, drivenby locking on the main plate interfacecompresses the spring that will bereleased in a great earthquake. Thestresses that accumulate during theinterseismic phase, which typicallylasts 100 years or more, are also dri-ving permanent progressive deforma-tion.
Dr. Bevis concludes that the compo-sitional character of the upper inter-face wall will evolve in response totectonic erosion or accretion, andmore locally in response to upperplate deformation associated withactive forearc structures as in theSouthern Chile trench parallel strikeslip fault. The geological evolution ofthe forearc and the mechanical prop-erties and seismic phenomenology ofthe megathrust are linked and proba-bly co-evolve and are linked to theevolution of the orogen as a whole.
Boone Pickens gave an entertainingand enlightened presentation at theMarch 29 joint meeting of the SPEEand SIPES organizations. A recordcrowd of 348 attended with represen-tatives from the Houston Chronicle, theAAPG Explorer and Oil & Gas Investorreporting on the event. Congratula-tions go to Jory Pacht, #3054, whomade the suggestion to Mr. Pickens to do the presentation and worked onthe necessary arrangements for themeeting.
The presentation focused on theneed to get more natural gas poweredvehicles on the road, especially NG-powered 18 wheelers. NG for truckinghas been proven in California trashtrucks to be a cost-efficient, self-sup-porting solution. There are an estimat-ed eight million new trucks sold in theU.S. of which it is hoped that 20% canbe fueled by NG. Each truck requires$65,000 to fit the NG components, butlower pollution and the savings infuel costs, make this a viable solution.It is envisioned that any subsidy willbe able to be phased out in five yearssince the economies of NG will makeit the preferred fuel.
In addition to the cost/environmen-tal issues, Mr. Pickens emphasized theimportance of strategic U.S. interests.The fuel we import, results in a mas-sive transfer of wealth to some coun-tries that do not share the same valuesas us. The technical advances in shalegas, clean coal, ethanol and othertechnologies have put the U.S. in aposition to reduce or eliminate ourneed for Middle East oil, possiblywithin ten years. A start to this mightbe the regulation that governmentvehicles only run on U.S. sourced fuel.
Two examples of a bright future forNG that Mr. Pickens cited were thepurchase by Exxon of the XTOacreage and the forecast of $6/MCF ina couple of years. It does appear thatthe industry has yet again revitalizeditself and is set to play a vital role inthe energy solution.
drew nearly thirty members andguests to enjoy lunch and listen to anexcellent presentation on the historyand evolution of mining at the CaneCreek Potash Mine. Using innovativethinking and horizontal drilling tech-nologies, Intrepid Potash Inc. (IPI) hasturned a nearly depleted solutionmining operation into a highly prof-itable asset, and extended the minesreserves by 100 years. Hugh H.Harvey, Intrepid's Executive ViceBoard Chair, presented the history ofthe mine and the early, and tragic,underground mining operations.Operations turned to solution miningfor the remaining potassium chloridewhich was nearing depletion whenIntrepid began their innovative pro-gram.
Mr. Harvey, with a mine engineer-ing degree and a master's in petrole-um engineering, both from theColorado School of Mines, developeda drilling program to tap the 5-10 footthick KCl bearing layer between 3400-3800 feet deep. Multiple laterals, in apitchfork pattern, between 2000 and3000 feet were drilled from either sideintersecting an initial perpendicularlateral. Solution production from thisdrilling program has opened almost20% of the resource accessed by theoriginal mine.
The hydrocarbon industry is in theearly stages of evaluating the poten-tial for extracting hydrocarbons fromshale. Peter Moreland, the seniorexploration geologist with the BillBarrett Corporation was the luncheon
speaker for our February meeting,and presented his work in the devel-opment of the Pennsylvanian GothicShale.
Peter's project has focused on thethickest Gothic Shale section locatedin the Colorado portion of the ParadoxBasin. This anomalous shale sectionappears to be a prodelta associatedwith the Silverton Delta. The resultshave been promising, with at least oneof a number of horizontal wells, com-pleted with the standard frac, being"potentially" commercial. Numerousvertical wells were used to define var-ious properties of the Gothic Shaleand an impressive suite of logs wereused in the horizontal wells to evalu-ate and define the reservoir.
Peter concluded that numerousproperties of any specific shale willaffect the completion, production andoperational issues associated with itand only good data will determine theunique properties of each shale andit's resource potential.
Jeff May spent the last day before hisretirement from EOG Resourcesspeaking at our March meeting. Asthe chief geologist, Jeff became anexpert on the geology and stratigra-phy of shale, or as he prefers"mudrock." Evaluating mudrock hasbecome the focus of many geologistscurrently working with shale projects.Although most mudrock looks thesame, in fact their composition, fabricand texture are extremely variable.
Jeff summarized that mudrockdeposition and composition is influ-enced by many things, includingsource terrain, water depth, circula-tion and oxygenation even eustasyand detrital influx can influence rocksmany miles away from the delta. All ofthese factors determine the characterof the mudrock and the suitability forresource extraction. Jeff recalled thatnot so long ago, coring a shale sectioncould get you fired, now he wishes hehad more mistakes to study.
SIPES Denver Chapter
Chapter News Continued
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________13
Luncheon visitor Jack Bowler (left) and guestspeaker Peter Moreland at the Februarymeeting.
January guest speaker Hugh Harvey.
March guest speaker Jeff May (left) and ViceChairman Travis Brown.
IN MEMORIAMIN MEMORIAM
We regret to note the passing of the following members:
2011-2012 SIPES CORNERSTONE GROUP2011-2012 SIPES CORNERSTONE GROUPMany thanks to the members listed below for their continuing support of our society
Oil F inder – $1200Oi l F inder – $1200
Wilbur C. Bradley — Wichita, KSWilliam C. Burkett — Midland, TXKenneth J. Huffman — New Orleans, LAH. Jack Naumann, Jr. — Midland, TXHarry Ptasynski — Casper, WYCharles Weiner — Houston, TX
Dri l ler – $750Dr i l le r – $750
James L. Eppler — Dallas, TXRobert B. Ferguson — Lake Forest, CADonald C. Gifford — Dallas, TXDennis M. Gleason — Dallas, TXFrank W. Harrison, Jr. — Lafayette, LADouglas H. McGinness II — Wichita, KSLloyd K. Parrish, Jr. — Wichita, KSMichael A. Pollok — Purcell, OKStephen D. Reynolds — Denver, COEugene R. Sidwell — Amarillo, TX
PProspector – $500rospector – $500
Thornton E. Anderson — Wichita, KSMichael N. Austin — Broomfield, COJames B. Bennett — Houston, TXRaymond N. Blackhall — Spring, TXPaul W. Britt — Houston, TXGilbert D. Brown — Amarillo, TXLeonard E. Bryans — Dallas, TXLanny O. Butner — Wichita, KSBrian S. Calhoun — Corpus Christi, TXAlfred T. Carleton, Jr. — Midland, TXSuzanne G. Cluff — Denver, CORex D. Coppedge — Fairview, TXRalph J. Daigle — Houston, TXScott M. Daniel — Houston, TXDouglas A. Draves — San Antonio, TXRalph C. Duchin — Tucson, AZArlen L. Edgar — Midland, TXJames P. Evans III — Franklin, LADavid A. Eyler — Midland, TXJames A. Gibbs — Dallas, TXPatrick J. F. Gratton — Dallas, TXA. T. Green, Jr. — Metairie, LADavid G. Griffin — Midland, TXRobert D. Gunn — Wichita Falls, TXEdward F. Haye — Houston, TXDonald R. Hembre — Littleton, COJames H. Henderson — Dallas, TXAlbert R. Hensley — Rockwall, TXGary C. Huber — Centennial, CO
Alfred James III — Wichita, KSGeorge S. Johnson — Amarillo, TXLarry L. Jones — Houston, TXMarcus D. Maddox — Midland, TXMarvin A. Munchrath — Lafayette, LARobert B. Owen — Corpus Christi, TXGary W. Palmer — San Antonio, TXArthur J. Pansze, Jr. — Arvada, COJohn D. Patterson — San Antonio, TXHugh C. Pendery — Dallas, TXLee M. Petersen — Weatherford, TXBarry J. Rava — Houston, TXJulius M. Ridgway — Jackson, MSA. Scott Ritchie — Wichita, KSDeborah K. Sacrey — Houston, TXCharles D. Schmidt — Valley Center, KSC. Randall Schott — Houston, TXGeorge D. Severson — New Orleans, LADaniel L. Smith — Houston, TXD. Craig Smith — Midland, TXPaul M. Strunk — Corpus Christi, TXJohn F. Sulik — Corpus Christi, TXMichael R. Vasicek — Midland, TXClifford A. Walker — Dallas, TXJohn D. Wright — Golden, CO
RR oughneck – $250oughneck – $250
James K. Anderson — Norman, OKJames K. Applegate — Denver, COArthur E. Berman — Sugar Land, TXBruce M. Brady III — Midland, TXRaul F. Brito — Wichita, KSJohnnie B. Brown — Midland, TXJames R. Cleveland — Dallas, TXMarshall C. Crouch III — Denver, CORobert D. Dougherty — Great Bend, KSJacob D. Eisel — Boulder, COThomas E. Ewing — San Antonio, TXDavid Farmer — Midland, TXRoger A. Freidline — Midland, TXWilliam T. Goff III — Littleton, COBobby M. Greenwood — Dallas, TXEdward W. Heath — Durango, CORobert C. Leibrock — Midland, TXPaul D. Lerwick — Midland, TXChristophe G. Mazzini — Dallas, TXLouis J. Mazzullo — Denver, CORobert Murphy — Santa Rosa Beach, FLM. Davis Payne — Midland, TXRonald W. Pritchett — Lone Tree, CORichard D. Provensal — Metairie, LAJohn M. Rakowski — Florissant, CO
Bradley S. Ray — Dallas, TXJames D. Robertson — Fort Worth, TXDelmer L. Sloan — Midland, TXStephen A. Sonnenberg — Golden, COScott A. Wainwright — Metairie, LAJames P. Walker — Oklahoma City, OKWilliam A. Walker, Jr. — Austin, TXH. Vaughan Watkins, Jr. — Madison, MSJohn C. Worley — Rockport, TX
Investor – $100Investor – $100
Joel A. Alberts — Edmond, OKDonald I. Andrews — Metairie, LAWilliam C. Bahlburg — Plano, TXTeresa H. Baker — Houston, TXNorman K. Barker — Midland, TXLouis C. Bortz — Denver, COFoy W. Boyd, Jr. — Midland, TXRaul F. Brito — Wichita, KSGarnet W. Brock — Midland, TXC. Dan Bump — Houston, TXRobert M. Cluff — Denver, CORobert A. Cooksey — Richardson, TXDouglas Cummings — Oklahoma City, OKJerry B. Davis — Dallas, TXMarlan W. Downey — Dallas, TXM. R. Douglass — Destrehan, LAMerle J. Duplantis — Mandeville, LAMichael N. Fein — Metairie, LABruce W. Fields — Corpus Christi, TXRobert L. Foree, Jr. — Dallas, TXPaul D. Friemel — Boerne, TXClement E. George — Midland, TXPeter G. Gray — Lafayette, LAWillard R. Green — Midland, TXW. Kenneth Hall — Fort Worth, TXHarold W. Hanke — Oklahoma City, OKRobert C. Henry — Lafayette, LAWilliam F. Howell — Houston, TXC. M. Jacobs — Mandeville, LAMichael S. Johnson — Denver, COWilliam M. Kazmann — Richardson, TXWilliam E. LaRoche — Dallas, TXWayne Lebsack — Lyons, KSJack P. Martin — Lafayette, LARoger M. Matson — Southport, NCEric L. Michaelson — Midland, TXGeorge Mitchell — The Woodlands, TXJames F. O’Connell — Amarillo, TXF. X. O’Keefe — Denver, COLewis M. O’Neal — Midland, TX
(Continued)
Cornerstone Group Continued
Jory A. Pacht — Sugar Land, TXCarl M. Padgett — Houston, TXH. Rudy Parkison — Midland, TXElwin M Peacock — Houston, TXWalter I. Phillips — Wichita, KSEdward Picou, Jr. — New Orleans, LAJohn W. Raine III — Lafayette, LAE. Gordon Reigle — Midland, TXWayland C. Savre — Houston, TXJohn T. Schulz, Jr. — Portland, TXCarol M. Shiels — Kaufman, TXR. David Shiels — Kaufman, TXRobert C. Shoup — Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaRobert L. Smith — San Antonio, TXWilliam M. Smith — Houston, TXStephen A. Sonnenberg — Golden, COJoseph D. Stewart — Golden, CODenise M. Stone — Houston, TXCharles J. Swize — Pattison, TXRobert E. Tehan — Oklahoma City, OKGeorge W. Todd — Gainesville, TXJames Travillo — Houston, TX
C. G. Tyner — Houston, TXWilliam G. Watson — Midland, TXJames M. Zotkiewicz — Metairie, LA
Scout – $50Scout – $50Richard C. Blackwell — Midland, TXJ. R. Bozman — Denver, COHerbert L. Brewer — Dallas, TXWallace E. Brunson — Houston, TXStephen D. Caffery — Lafayette, LAHardtner L. Coon — Houston, TXJene C. Darmstetter — Wichita, KSHerbert G. Davis — Edmond, OKRebecca L. Dodge — Wichita Falls, TXToby Elster — Wichita, KSDouglas R. Essler — Dallas, TXWilliam J. Furlong — New Orleans, LAMonty J. Gist — Midland, TXEduardo Gonzales — Carrollton, TXJohn C. Grunau — Shreveport, LAJames M. Hancock, Jr. — Stafford, TXNolan Hirsch — Midland, TX
Emil S. Johansen — Covington, LAJohn E. Kimberly — Midland, TXSusan M. Landon — Golden, COSteven R. Lockwood — Austin, TXRichard McCullough — San Antonio, TXMichael F. McKenzie — Lafayette, LAJim P. Miller — Lafayette, LAWayne D. Miller — Midland, TXHerbert G. Mills — Houston, TXCraig E. Moore — Houston, TXLarry J. Rairden — Bellaire, TXMartin Shumway — Worthington, OHRichard W. Stump — Midland, TXRichard W. Thompson, Jr. — Plano, TXLoren Toohey — Midland, TXArthur Trowbridge — Orange Beach, ALRoy C. Walther — New Orleans, LABonnie R. Weise — San Antonio, TXK. C. Whittemore — Spring, TXRichard Wilkerson — Houston, TX
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________15
Chapter News Continued
DALLASThe Dallas Chapter of SIPES is off to
a good start in 2011. Our January lun-cheon speaker was Gary Bratcher whois the senior operations manager atDenbury Resources in Plano, Texas.His topic was the updated "CaseHistory of CO2 Flooding in the TinsleyField of Mississippi." Gary's firsthandknowledge of CO2 operations was ofgreat interest. With strong oil prices,our members are working to familiar-ize themselves with productionenhancement strategies and econom-ics. The Dallas Petroleum Club contin-ues to provide beautiful facilities anddelicious meals for our meetings.
In February, Jennifer Keefe steppedup to the plate on behalf of Pat Longwho could not be present. Both arepartners and litigating attorneys withPatton Boggs, LLP in Dallas. Jenniferaddressed "Three Important LegalDoctrines: from Accommodation toWashout." She discussed the domi-nance of the mineral estate alongsidethe alternative accommodation doc-trine; hydraulic fracturing in light ofthe rule of capture; and the strategiesto extend the washout of overridingroyalties. Her pragmatic application oflegal doctrine to several pertinent oil
and gas issues was welcome input tothe audience.
March's luncheon was includedwithin the TEC (Texas EnergyCouncil) 23rd Annual Energy Sym-posium entitled "Is Unconventionalthe New Conventional?" at SMU'sHughes-Trigg Center. The half-daysymposium included Pat French, pres-ident of the Foundation for EnergyEducation; William Knights ofNetherland and Sewell speakingabout the geological and engineeringaspects of shale gas; Don McClure ofEncana discussing the environmentalimpacts of shale gas; David Purcell ofTudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. address-ing the U.S. natural gas market as aresult of shale gas; Bruce Bullock ofSMU discussing concerned citizens'
issues; and Ken Morgan of TCU dis-cussing natural gas vehicles in thenew shale gas economy. The luncheonspeaker was Rob Gardner withExxonMobil revealing their scenariofor energy over the next twenty years.The ultimate theme for the day wasthat, although gas prices are currentlylow as a result of new unconventionalgas supply, natural gas is the futurefor domestic energy. Once the tech-nology catches up, gas prices willimprove. If you are interested in theTexas Energy Council or any of itsnumerous members, go to www.txen-ergycouncil.org. It is an excellent non-profit organization serving our indus-try.
Carol ShielsSecretary
SIPES Dallas Chapter 2011 Executive Committee (L to R): Bob Webster,Neil Barman, Dick Cleveland, Bill Crowder, Carol Shiels, David Scull,Doug Essler and Bob Hough.
Chapter was very happy to return toits original long- time meeting venue,the newly-renovated Fort WorthPetroleum Club and its prestigiousatmosphere. The view of the down-town area still captivates everyone.
Vice Chair Terri Mayfield-Cowanopened the meeting and welcomedthe members and guests.
Our speakerwas Ken Morgan,director of theTCU Energy Ins-titute who spokeon "DomesticGas: The EnergyGame Changer."He said thatglobal demandfor energy willincrease in thenext 15 to 20years, and oil-based economieswill pay the
biggest price. Shale gas discoverieshave presented the U.S. with a realopportunity to chart a more secureenergy future. Domestic natural gaswill play a significant role in trans-portation and electricity generation.We should be on a path of more ener-gy independence, trying to repositionour country in the changing energylandscape.
In February, Vice Chair TerriMayfield-Cowan opened the meetingand welcomed the members andguests. Annette Borkowski, #2865,discussed the types of membershipsand mentioned that the SIPES website(www.sipes.org) sets forth the featuresand benefits of the different member-ship types and the referral listing. Fullmembers are graduates with a scienceor engineering degree, and twelveyears of experience. They are inde-pendent and self-employed. Juniormembers have ten years of experi-ence, and chapter affiliates are not eli-gible for membership, but individualsaffiliated with a SIPES Chapter.
The speaker wasJohn Coss, BroadOak Energy, andthe title of his pre-sentation was"Reservoir Char-acterization of the‘Wolfberry' inEastern ReaganCounty, Texas." Hediscussed his expe-rience in theWolfberry trend,and noted that in the Permian Basin ingeneral, finding the reservoir is thechallenge. The trend has a predictablesuccess rate and about twenty wellsper month are drilled. Sprayberrysands define the basin, and Wolfberryproductivity was historically inconsis-tent. This variability of success had todo with the turnover in operators, anddifferent philosophies for completingwells. More zones are completed now.Core, petrophysics, and productiondata have defined the Wolfberry.Gamma Ray logs vary widely fromvendor to vendor. Intersecting naturalfractures are key, but finding the frac-tures prior to completion is the chal-lenge. Long term, Coss believes thathorizontal drilling will be necessary todrain the reservoir. Micro-seis wouldcost $2 million, and surface seismic isunable to resolve the reservoir (andfractures) at depth. At our Marchmeeting, Annette Borkowski present-ed a membership certificate and
stamp to John Tittl. He had long beenencouraged to join SIPES and we arehappy to have him with us.
The speaker was Erik Rylander, ofSchlumberger, in Dallas who spoke on"Log Analysis of Organic Shales." Erikdiscussed the log analysis and petro-physics of shales: shale gas, conden-sate from organic shale matrix, oil
from organic shale matrix, and low-permeability conventional hydrocar-bons encased in organic shale.Spectroscopy is used to derive the keyparameters of clay density and clay-bound water in adjacent zones,whereby water saturation and porosi-ty estimations can be obtained in thezone of interest.
Fort Worth Chapter
Ken Morgan, directorof the TCU EnergyInstitute, spoke at theJanuary meeting. February guest
speaker John Coss,president of BroadOak Energy.
SIPES Fort Worth Chapter MembershipChair Annette Borkowski and Lee Petersenat the reception desk.
Vice Chair Terri Mayfield-Cowan with March guest speaker Erik Rylander ofSchlumberger.
New SIPES Member John Tittl receiving hismembership certificate from AnnetteBorkowski.
Chapter News Continued
LAFAYETTEThe Lafayette Chapter kicked off the
New Year with Charley Corona, aSIPES Limited Member in NewOrleans, who shared his experiencesas an independent. His talk was mod-eled somewhat after the SIPES journalon "How I Became an Independent."
Charley has worked for severalindependent companies through hiscareer such as Bass Oil Company,Davis Oil, Flynn Energy and CNG toname a few. He has been involvedwith many drilling successes in LakeLarose, Garden City, Fort Jackson andEast Lake Palourde. He volunteered asco-chairman for the New OrleansGeological Society's Oil and Gas Fieldsof South Louisiana 2010 publications.The SIPES website includes a link forordering this publication or CD.
The February meeting was also asuccess with Michael Quinn and histalk entitled "The Impact of IncreasingAccommodation on Sediment De-position and Hydrocarbon Accum-
ulation in the Greater Ship ShoalArea." Michael retired from Chevronin March of 2007 and joined PlainsExploration and Production Companyas a staff geologist. He is a past presi-dent of the Lafayette GeologicalSociety and has been an active AAPGmember for twenty-eight years.
In March we took a break from theformal meetings and enjoyed a niceoutdoor Bar-B-Q in Girard Park nearthe Oil Center. This event is normallyin October but was moved this yearwhen we were able to get Jim BobMoffett as our guest speaker thatmonth.
Danny FredericksChairman
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________17
SIPES Member Buddy Powell at the BBQ.
SIPES Members enjoying the Bar-B-Q lunch in Girard Park in March.
February meeting attendees listening toguest speaker Mike Quinn.
2011 at the San Antonio Chapter ofSIPES with geologist DarrellBrownlow giving us a talk on theCarrizo Fresh Water Aquifer referenceto Eagle Ford Shale drilling fluids. Dr.Brownlow is vice president ofMexico's Cemex Cement Company,and is a rancher in LaSalle County,Texas. Dr. Brownlow's research andgraphics identified the CarrizoAquifer as a main source of drillingfluids to drill and fracture the EagleFord Shale.
The amount of water to be used wasestimated at 3-5% of that supplied bythe aquifer over the ten-year play,which would not create a shortage ofdrinking water in most areas. The pos-sible area for short-term shortagescould be along the northeastern partof the Eagle Ford Shale play (Karnes-Gonzales counties area). Dr.Brownlow did stress protection pipeand cement to cover the CarrizoAquifer. He did not see much threatdue to fracing because the Eagle Fordis 5,000 feet deeper than the aquifer.
In February, SIPES met in the BigApple room at Little Italy's Restaurant
for a Valentine Dinner with spousesand guests. The party was a great suc-cess with thirty-six people attending.Valentine roses and chocolates werehad by all.
We returned to the Petroleum Clubfor our regular third Thursday lun-cheon meeting on March 17 to hearRobert Olson talk on "TheRelationship of Radiometric SurfaceAnomalies and HydrocarbonMicroseepage." Dr. Olson, a geologist,has used geochemistry and radiomet-rics as an exploration tool for manyyears, and has been published often.Dr. Olson explained that "precipita-tion of the various remote sensingindicators would occur at the pre-ferred position on the gradient (thehalo effect). The extension of this con-cept herein explains why hydrocar-bon microseepage is vertical and whyuranium and potassium concentra-tions show a periodic mutual diver-gence when compared to regionalbackground (The K-U Couplet).Catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons inand above the reservoir creates thenegative charge at the reservoir. Thissubsurface negative charge is theequivalent to a south magnetic polethat creates a relative north magnetic
pole at the surface. This creates aseries of vertical magnetic fields fromthe reservoir to the surface.Microseepage of hydrocarbons to thesurface occurs as negatively chargedhydrocarbon ions, not as hydrocarbonmolecules. This series of vertical mag-netic fields is both the driving forceand guiding force for hydrocarbonmicroseepage. Through reprocessingwindowed radiometric data by mapprocessing and line profile processing,many high-quality exploration leadscan be generated. This can lead tomore efficient use of exploration tal-ent. Additional remote sensing infor-mation, as well as conventional sub-surface geological exploration, canfocus on high-quality prospects in aminimum time."
The San Antonio Chapter now has aphone book for better communicationand has been in contact with otherchapters to grow the membership. Iwant to personally thank Bill Bennettand Jerry Witte for all their help andsupport.
John PattersonChairman
Chapter News Continued
At the January meeting are (L to R) guestspeaker Dr. Darrell Brownlow, Jerry Witte,John Patterson and Bill Bennett at thePetroleum Club.
SIPES members at the Valentine Dinner at the Little Italy’s Restaurant.
AA USTINUSTINChairman: Ward DavenportSecretary: TBATreasurer: Dwight CassellMeets: The County Line
(On the Hill)1st Thursday
CORPUS CHRISTICORPUS CHRISTIChairman: Stephen ThomasV-Chrmn: Dan NeubergerSecretary: Eldon WestTreasurer: David DesenbergMeets: Town Club
Last Tuesday of month
DD ALLALL AA SSChairman: Bill CrowderV-Chrmn: Neil BarmanSecretary: Carol ShielsTreasurer: David ScullMeets: Dallas Petroleum Club
3rd Tuesday
DENVERDENVERChairman: Dave ReadV-Chrmn: Travis BrownSecretary: TBATreasurer: Tom StanderMeets: Wynkoop Brewing Co.
4th Thursday
FORT WORTHFORT WORTHChairman: Russ HensleyV-Chrmn: Terri Mayfield-CowanSecretary: TBATreasurer: TBAMeets: Fort Worth Petroleum Club
Variable dates
HOUSTONHOUSTONChairman: Scott DanielV-Chrmn: John HankeySecretary: Paul BabcockTreasurer: John HankeyMeets: Petroleum Club
3rd Thursday
LL AFAFAAYETTEYETTEChairman: Danny FredericksV-Chrmn: Travis HelmsSecretary/Treasurer: Steve Sinitiere
Meets: Petroleum Club2nd Wednesday
MIDLMIDL ANDANDChairman: Robert WynneV-Chrmn: Craig SmithSecretary: David FarmerTreasurer: John KullmanMeets: Midland Country Club
3rd Wednesday
NEW ORLEANSNEW ORLEANSCo-Chairmen:Louis Lemarie’ & Art CernigliaV-Chrmn: TBASecretary: Al BakerTreasurer: Reese PinneyMeets: Andrea’s Restaurant
3rd Tuesday
OKLOKL AHOMA CITYAHOMA CITYChairman: Harold HankeV-Chrmn: Jim FranksSecretary: Mike PollokTreasurer: Victor CooperMeets: The Petroleum Club
Bank One Bldg., 35th Floor1st Wednesday
SAN ANTONIOSAN ANTONIOChairman: John PattersonCo-V-Chrmn: William Bennett & Jerry WitteSecretary/Treasurer: Joe Finger
Meets: Petroleum Club3rd Thursday
SIPES Chapter Meeting Information
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________19
HHHH ISTORICALISTORICAL && CC&& CC ULTURALULTURAL
JJJJ ACKSONACKSON HHHH OLEOLE TTTT OUROUR99::0000 aa..mm.. - 1122::0000 NNoooonn$$224400..0000 ppeerr ppeerrssoonnTour includes transportation, tour guide, gratuities and taxes.
HHHH IKINGIKING TTTT OUROUR99::0000 aa..mm.. - 1122::0000 NNoooonn$$117755..0000 ppeerr ppeerrssoonnTour includes transportation, guide, rain gear, refreshments and snack, gratuities and taxes.
WWWW ILDLIFEILDLIFE DDDD ISCOVERYISCOVERY EEEE XPEDITIONXPEDITION99::0000 aa..mm.. - 1122::0000 NNoooonn$$225500..0000 ppeerr ppeerrssoonnTour includes transportation, tour guide, national park pass,binoculars, refreshments and snack, gratuities and taxes.
MMMM OUNTAINOUNTAIN BBBB IKINGIKING TTTT OUROUR11::0000 - 55::0000 pp..mm..$$117755..0000 ppeerr ppeerrssoonnTour includes transportation, mountain bike rental,guide, all safety equipment, taxes and gratuities.
FFFF LYLY FFFF ISHINGISHING EEEE XPEDITIONXPEDITION11::0000 - 55::0000 pp..mm..$$335500..0000 ppeerr ppeerrssoonnTour includes transportation, guide, refreshmentsand snacks, fishing license, all necessary equipment, taxes and gratuities.
SSSS CENICCENIC RRRR IVERIVER FFFF LOATLOAT TTTT RIPRIP1122::4455 - 55::0000 pp..mm..$$112255..0000 ppeerr ppeerrssoonnTour includes bus transportation, float transportation, guide, guide gratuity and taxes.
SIPES 2011 CSIPES 2011 C ONVENTIONONVENTION — F— F OUROUR SS EASONSEASONS RR ESORTESORT
JJ ACKSONACKSON HH OLEOLE , WY — , WY — WW E D N E S D A YE D N E S D A Y , J, J UNEUNE 22 T22 T O U R SO U R S
Introduction
A considerable part of Mexico has elevations above 2000 meters (Figure 1). There are fourlarge mountainous trends: Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre Oriental, Trans-MexicanVolcanic Belt (TMVB), and Sierra Madre del Sur.
A look at a geologic or tectonic map of Mexico shows large areas with extrusive volcanic coverof Jurassic to current age with occasional exposures of underlying rocks with complex struc-tural patterns. These underlying rocks are predominantly Mesozoic carbonates. The only rela-tively unstructured area is around the Gulf of Mexico and that is the setting for all of Mexico'soil and gas production.
Figure 1. From Nieto-Samaniego and others, 2007, p.43. Digital elevation model of Mexico.
Gulf of Mexico Basin
As South America moved south during the breakup of Pangaea, the Yucatan block was pulledaway from the southeast part of Texas forming the large Gulf of Mexico basin. This basin hasan oceanic crust, but no evidence of a sea-floor spreading ridge. The movements of the Yucatanblock apparently included two large stages (Figure 2). Early Mesozoic movement formed theinitial Gulf basin. This was the basin at the time of mid-Jurassic salt deposition. Additional sig-nificant late Mesozoic movement is indicated by a large central area of the Gulf that is salt-free.
(Continued)
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________21
Oil and Gas of Mexico Continued
Figure 2. From A. Salvador, 1991, Fig.8, p. 400. Distribution of Jurassic salt and oceanic crust in the Gulf of Mexicobasin.
Figure 3. From A. Salvador, 1991, Fig.2, p.4. Structural provinces around the Gulf of Mexico basin. Numbered secondorder features in Mexico: 1. Macuspana basin; 2. Villahermosa uplift; 3. Comalcalco basin; 4. Ithmus saline basin; 5.Veracruz basin; 6. Cordoba platform; 7. Santa Ana massif; 8. Tuxpan platform; 9. Tampico-Misantla basin; 10. Valles-San Luis Potosi platform; 11. Magiscatzin basin; 12. Tamaulipas arch. 13. Burgos basin; 14. Sabinas basin; 15. Coahuilaplatform; 16. El Burro uplift; 17. Peyotes-Picachos arches; 18. Rio Grande embayment.
Oil and Gas of Mexico Continued
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________23
Oil and Gas
In the Gulf of Mexico basin there are five megagiant (over 5 Billion BO) fields. One is in eastTexas and four are in Mexico. One complex of fields called the Cantarell structures is reportedto have an ultimate recovery of over 15 billion barrels.
Burgos Basin
The Burgos Basin of northeast Mexico (Figure 4) is the south continuation of the Rio Grandeembayment of south Texas. The basin is bound on the southwest by the Tamaulipas Peninsula.For a discussion of the structure and stratigraphy of the Rio Grande embayment please see:Ambrose, 2005; Bruce, 1973 and/or McGookey, 1975.
(Continued)
Figure 4. After Nehring, 1991, p. 448. Petroleum provinces of the Gulf of Mexico basin with the location (dots above) ofthe megagiant fields (greater than five billion barrels of oil) and the Chicxulub meteor impact crater.
Tampico-Misantla Province Golden Lane Fields
Prolific oil production in Mexico was established in the early 1900s by drilling seeps along thewest edge of the Gulf (Figure 6). This led to the discovery of the Golden Lane fields. Thesefields produce from Jurassic-Cretaceous reefs that fringe a large carbonate bank (Tuxpan plat-form) similar to the Horseshoe Atoll of the Midland Basin. A contemporaneous deep troughwest of the bank (Tampico basin) received debris from the reefs that formed a thick pileslabeled the Tamabra facies. This deep trend includes the large Poza Rica field.
Figure 5. From McFarlan and Menes, 1991, p 201. This interpretation of late Early Cretaceous (Albian) paleogeographyof the Gulf of Mexico Basin shows the areas of shallow carbonate deposition and reefs important to many of the majorfields of Mexico.
(Continued)
Oil and Gas of Mexico Continued
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________25
Figure 6. After Vinagra and others, 1970, p. 310. Reef fields of the Golden Lane that fringe the Tuxpan platform. Thecross section of Figure 20 covers the west half of cross section 2 (H-N). Please note the 1916 well in the Cerra Azul fieldthat tested at an IP rate of 260,000 BOPD. This is slightly higher than the 1926 well in Yates Field of the Permian Basinthat tested at 256,000 BOPD rate. Both are the highest rates found anywhere in the world.
Southeast Mexico Fields
The onshore and offshore fields of southeast Mexico are related to the Jurassic salt basin. Twoof the megagiants are featured to illustrate the character of these fields. The onshore large A. J.Bermudez field developed during the 1970s produces from Cretaceous carbonates in a highlyfaulted anticline that drapes over salt pillows. There are three megagiant fields in CampecheBay west of the Yucatan peninsula along the east side of the large offshore salt basin. TheCantarell complex is extremely large (over 15 billion BO) and bizarre.
Reforma Province
Reforma is one of three oil provinces of the onshore portion of the Jurassic salt basin in south-east Mexico, the Isthmus Saline, Reforma and Macuspana provinces (Figure 4). There are anumber of large fields in southeast Mexico. There is one giant (> one billion BO), Cactus Field,and one megagiant (>5 billion BO) the A.J Bermudez Field. The megagiant is featured here asrepresentative of the structure, depths and pays of this petroleum province.
Figure 7. From Vinegra and others, 1970, p.320. This part of cross section 2 (H-N) on Figure 6 shows pinnacles alongthe west side of the platform and the Tamabra facies in the trough west of the reef trend.
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________27
Oil and Gas of Mexico Continued
(Continued)
Figure 8. From Santiago, 1980, p. 387, used with permission of AAPG whose permission is needed for further use.Fields of the Reforma Province that produce from Middle Cretaceous carbonates.
Figure 9. After Santiago, 1980, p. 375, used with permission of AAPG whose permission is needed for further use. A. J.Bermudez Field. Structure at top of Cretaceous. Contour interval is 100 meters. This faulted feature drapes over salt pil-lows. Estimated ultimate is 5.8 billion BO, gravities: 29.5 to 28.7 degrees, depths are greater than 4300 meters. Crosssection H-H' is highlighted.
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________29
Oil and Gas of Mexico Continued
Campeche Province
This prolific offshore province in the southernmost part of the Gulf of Mexico is west of the Yucatanpeninsula and along the east side of the Jurassic salt basin. With three megagiant fields, this area is amajor petroleum province. Figures 11 through 15 illustrate the location and geology of the Cantarellcomplex, Figure 16 shows the source of the main pay.
(Continued)
Figure 10. From Santiago, 1980, p.376, used with permission of AAPG whose permission is needed for further use. A.J.Bermudez field, cross section H-H'. There are carbonate pay sections in the Upper Jurassic, Lower Cretaceous and MiddleCretaceous sections.
Figure 11. From Mitra and others, 2005, used with permission of AAPG whose permission is needed for further use.Shows the location of Cantarell and the underlying Sihil structures. Solid lines represent trends of Miocene compressivestructures. Dashed lines are interpreted strike-slip faults. The labeled faults are late Tertiary normal faults. Black featuresare salt structures.
Figure 12. From Mitra and others, 2005, p.24, used with permission of AAPG whose permission is needed for furtheruse. Relief map of Cantarell complex. Contours show structure on top of the main pay, Upper Cretaceous breccia.Contour interval is 100 meters. No horizontal scale is given. Arrows indicate a 1000 meter gas cap and a 600 meter oilcolumn. Cumulative to 2005 was 8 billion BO. Ultimate production is estimated at 15 billion BO and 5 trillion CFG.
Cantarell Fields
Figure 13. After Mitra and others, 2005, p.6, used with permission of AAPG whose permission is needed for further use.Location of cross sections. Sections C-C', D-D' and E-E" are shown in the next figure. Note scale of 5000 meters. This is akeeper!
Disc1976
Nohoch
Oil column2100-2700 meters
Gas cap1100-2100 meters
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________31
Oil and Gas of Mexico Continued
(Continued)
Figure 14. From Mitra and others, 2005, p.6, used with permission of AAPG whose permission is needed for further use.The labeled Upper Cretaceous breccia is the main pay. There is considerable thickening of this section to the northeasttowards the source of the breccia, the Chicxulub impact crater (please see Figure 4 for location of the 180 km [100+mile] wide structure.) The compression that caused the overthrusting is dated as Miocene. Apparently there was a lateraltwisting movement along the west side of the Yucatan terrane that caused the compression and overthrusting.
Figure 15. After Mitra and others, 2005, used with permission ofAAPG whose permission is needed for further use. SimplifiedStratigraphic column for Campeche Bay with Cantarell pays andsource beds identified. The seal is Miocene deep-water shales.
Campeche Province
Figure 16. Image courtesy of Virgil Sharpton, Lunar and Planetary Institute. The Chicxulub crater of northern Yucatan isthe youngest large impact feature found on earth (Figure 4). It is at least 180 km in diameter as revealed by gravity data.The crater formed 65 million years ago and is usually credited as a major contributor to the extinction of dinosaurs at theend of the Cretaceous Period.
AcknowledgmentsThe material in this compilation is available in
the Petroleum Section of the Midland CountyLibrary and by interlibrary loan. Use it or lose it.They need support!
Gerald Mendenhall reviewed the manuscriptand contributed generously to its accuracy.
Oil Selected ReferencesAmbrose, W.A. and others, 2005, Neogene tecton-
ics, stratigraphy, and play framework of the south-ern Laguna Madre-Tuxpan continental shelf, Gulf ofMexico: AAPG Bull., Vol. 89, No. 6, p. 725-751.
Bruce, C.H., 1973, Pressured shale and related sedi-ment deformation: Mechanism for development ofregional contemporaneous faults: AAPG Bull., Vol.57, p. 878-886.
McFarlan, E. Jr., and L.S. Menes, 1991, LowerCretaceous: in Salvador, Amos, 1991, The Gulf ofMexico Basin: GSA Decade of North AmericanGeology, Vol. J., p. 181-204.
McGookey, D.P., 1975, Gulf coast sediments andstructure, an excellent example of extracontinentalsedimentation: in Transactions of GCAGS, Vol. 25,O.L. Paulson, editor, p. 104-120.
Mitra and others, 2005, Three dimensional struc-tural model of the Cantarell and Sihil Structures,Campeche Bay, Mexico: AAPG Bull., Vol. 89, p 1-28.
Nehring, Richard, 1991, Oil and gas resources: inSalvador, Amos, 1991, The Gulf of Mexico Basin: inGSA Decade of North American Geology, Vol. J, p.445-494.
Nieto-Samaniego, A.F., and others, 2007, Mesa cen-tral of Mexico: Stratigraphy, structure, and Cenozoicevolution: in Geology of Mexico, GSA Special Paper422, p. 41-70.
Salvador, Amos, 1991, The Gulf of Mexico Basin: inGSA Decade of North American Geology, Vol. J, (esp.chap. 14 "Origin and development of the Gulf ofMexico Basin,” p. 389-444.)
Santiago, Jose, 1980, Giant Fields of the SouthernZone-Mexico: in AAPG Memoir 30, p. 339-385.
Sharpton, Virgil, 1995, Chicxulub Crater: Lunarand Planetary Institute.
Vinagra, Francisco O. and Carlos Castillo-Tejero,1970, Golden Lane Fields, Veracruz, Mexico: inAAPG Memoir 14, p. 309-325.
BiographyDonald P. McGookey is a petrole-
um geologist. He has been an inde-pendent since 1980. He holdsdegrees in geology from BowlingGreen State University (B.S.), theUniversity of Wyoming (M.S.), andfrom Ohio State University (Ph.D.).
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________33
Oil and Gas of Mexico Continued
WW EE LL CC OO MM EE NN EE WW MM EE MM BB EE RR SSWW EE LL CC OO MM EE NN EE WW MM EE MM BB EE RR SSIn accordance with the SIPES Constitution, By-Laws & Code of Ethics, the following announcement of new
members unanimously approved by the SIPES Membership Committee from March 21 through May 4, 2011 is printedbelow.
Any member in possession of information which might possibly disqualify an applicant is asked to submit this infor-mation to the secretary of the society (Dennis M. Gleason) within thirty days of this publication. To be considered, thisinformation should be in writing and bear the writer's name. If this information is received within thirty days after the pub-lication of the applicant's name, the SIPES Board of Directors must reconsider its previous approval of the applicant. Theboard's action, after consideration of such new information, shall be final.
SIPES FSIPES Foundation Donoroundation Donors — Mas — May 1y 1 , 20, 20 11 0 t0 to Apro Apr il 30, 20il 30, 20 11 11
$1000 - $1999William C. Burkett
In memory of Jerry A. CooperScholarship Endowment Fund
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Marshall C. Crouch IIIScholarship Endowment Fund
Deily Law FirmScholarship Endowment FundIn memory of Perry O. Roehl
Robert B. FergusonHarvey Operating &Production CompanyKenneth J. Huffman
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Tom & Evonne SmithGeorge W. Todd
Scholarship Endowment Fund
Mark A. WortheyNational Park Fossil GuidebookScholarship Endowment Fund
$500 - $599W. Chris Barnhill
National Park Fossil Guidebook
William D. BennettNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Wilbur C. BradleyLawrence H. Davis
Ray H. EubankWilliam R. Finley
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Louis M. FordNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Roger A. FreidlineNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Earl E. GaertnerScholarship Endowment Fund
AnonymousNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Larry L. JonesH. Jack Naumann, Jr.
David M. PullingErick & Cynthia Roehl
Scholarship Endowment FundIn memory of Perry O. Roehl
Clifford A. WalkerNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Charles WeinerScholarship Endowment Fund
$400 - $499Raul F. Brito
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Marcus D. MaddoxIn memory of Dick Grice
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Richard H. SamsScholarship Endowment FundIn memory of Perry O. Roehl
$300 - $399Paul W. Britt
Henry R. HammanScholarship Endowment Fund
Dan A. HughesScholarship Endowment Fund
National Park Fossil Guidebook
George S. JohnsonNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Ralph O. KehleNational Park Fossil Guidebook
M. Davis PayneNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Julius M. RidgwayNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Stephen R. RobichaudWayland C. Savre
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Robert W. WaringH. Vaughan Watkins, Jr.
National Park Fossil GuidebookStephen E. Collins Memorial
Scholarship Fund
$200 - $299James B. Bennett
Marvolene Speed Bennett & Carleton D. Speed, Jr. Fund
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Louis C. BortzRobert E. Boyer
Scholarship Endowment Fund
Garnet W. BrockNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Gilbert D. BrownIn memory of Frank W. Kraul
Marlan W. DowneyIn memory of Thomas Mairs
David A. EylerNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Dennis M. GleasonPatrick J. F. Gratton
Stephen E. Collins Scholarship FundIn honor of Bill Crowder
Bobby M. GreenwoodMark E. Gregg
David G. GriffinIn memory of Mark Owen
Robert D. GunnNational Park Fossil Guidebook
W. Kenneth HallVan Howbert
Scholarship Endowment Fund
George D. KleinScholarship Endowment Fund
Woodruff G. Leel, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
Paul D. LerwickNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Sally J. Meader-RobertsNational Park Fossil Guidebook
George P. MitchellJames F. O’ConnellElwin M. Peacock
National Park Fossil GuidebookScholarship Endowment Fund
Hugh C. PenderyLee M. Petersen
In memory of Charles E. Mear
Edward B. Picou, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
Michael A. PollokNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Larry J. RairdenScholarship Endowment Fund
Jack K. RichardsonIn memory of Dick S. Horton
Cecil R. RivesScholarship Endowment Fund
Charles D. SchmidtCarol M. Shiels
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Stephen A. SonnenbergIn honor of Frank Sonnenberg
C. Al Taylor, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
C. G. TynerScholarship Endowment Fund
Gene Van DykeMichael R. Vasicek
In memory of Victor F. Vasicek & Jack G. Elam
$100 - $199John T. Abney
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Arden A. AndersonCraig F. Anderson
National Park Fossil Guidebook
William C. BahlburgTeresa H. Becker
Scholarship Endowment Fund
Timothy J. BennettNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Orville R. BergRaymond N. Blackhall
Foy W. Boyd, Jr.Ross E. BrannianBill D. BroughtonJohnnie B. Brown
In memory of Robert M. Wynne
C. Dan BumpBrian S. Calhoun
A. T. (Toby) Carleton, Jr.Jack C. Cartwright
In memory of Charles Lynn West,A. William Glover, M. R. Stipp,
& Harry A. Miller, Jr.
James R. ClevelandNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Ralph J. DaigleC. Walter Dobie
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Duncan D. DubroffScholarship Endowment Fund
Ralph C. DuchinMerle J. Duplantis
Byron F. DyerArlen L. Edgar
In memory of Helen Brauer,William R. Dixon, Mathew J. Parsley,
M. R. Stipp, & Harry A. Miller, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
James P. Evans IIINational Park Fossil Guidebook
Thomas E. EwingScholarship Endowment Fund
Bruce W. FieldsNational Park Fossil Guidebook
John R. FiscoNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Cliff J. FontenotPaul D. Friemel
William J. FurlongJames A. Gibbs
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Donald C. GiffordNational Park Fossil Guidebook
(Continued)
MAY 2011 ____________________________________________________________________________________35
The SIPES Foundation gratefully accepts all donations and acknowledges these contributions with a letter. Due to limited space in the newsletter, we are unable to list gifts under $50.
Foundation Donors Continued
William T. Goff IIIEduardo Gonzales
Peter G. GrayWillard R. Green
National Park Fossil Guidebook
William R. GuffeyNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Scott G. HeapePatrick L. Higgs
National Park Fossil GuidebookIn memory of Patric S. Daly
W. Ralph HollowayNational Park Fossil Guidebook
William F. HowellPeter W. Hummel
National Park Fossil Guidebook
George R. JonesNational Park Fossil Guidebook
William G. KernNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Pete J. KlentosIn memory of Samuel Allen
Charlie J. KosarekWayne Lebsack
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Robert C. LeibrockNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Charles J. LundbergDonald J. Malone
Robert W. Maxwell, Jr.Michael S. MorrisTerence G. O’Hare
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Lewis M. O’NealCharles A. O’Niell III
Gary W. PalmerIn memory of Mark Eidelbach
Arthur J. Pansze, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
Lloyd K. Parrish, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
H. W. Peace IIMichael G. Pitzer
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Robert E. PledgerHarry Ptasynski
John W. Raine IIIScholarship Endowment Fund
John M. RakowskiNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Barry J. RavaClaude H. RobertsC. Randall SchottC. Ray Scurlock
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Howard & Michele SerbinScholarship Endowment FundIn memory of Perry O. Roehl
Clifford H. Sherrod, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
R. David ShielsNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Vinton H. ShollNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Daniel L. SmithJoe H. Smith
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Thomas J. SmithWilliam M. Smith
Scholarship Endowment Fund
Marion E. SpitlerNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Charles A. SternbachNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Joseph D. StewartArthur H. Trowbridge
National Park Fossil GuidebookIn memory of Roy T. Hazzard
& Jeff Nunnally
Jacob & Pia ValstarScholarship Endowment FundIn memory of Perry O. Roehl
Joe T. VaughnNational Park Fossil Guidebook
George B. VockrothWilliam F. Von Drehle
John R. von NetzerJames P. Walker
In memory of Ken Kemp
William G. WatsonNational Park Fossil GuidebookIn memory of Robert N. Watson
Paul W. WeisslingIn memory of M. R. Stipp
Richard O. WilliamsGerritt Wind
John C. WorleyNational Park Fossil GuidebookScholarship Endowment Fund
George D. ZimmermanNational Park Fossil Guidebook
$50 - $99Joel A. Alberts
James K. AndersonNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Donna BalinScholarship Endowment FundIn memory of Perry O. Roehl
E. Bernard BrauerNational Park Fossil Guidebook
James W. CaylorScott M.Daniel
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Jene C. DarmstetterNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Rebecca L. DodgeNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Dan Earl DugganNational Park Fossil Guidebook
William E. GeenNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Clement E. GeorgeNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Monty J. GistJohn C. Goss
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Robert M. GraceNational Park Fossil Guidebook
David N. GrimesNational Park Fossil Guidebook
James M.Hancock, Jr.John P. Harlan
National Park Fossil Guidebook
J. D. HughesJim Bob Jackson
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Alfred James IIIJohn E. Kimberly
William E. LangenbahnIn memory of Charles E. Mear
Clayton E. LeeNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Henry C. LibbyEdward A. McCullough Endowed Fund
In honor of A. T. (Toby) Carleton, Jr.
Richard R. LindslyNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Eugene J. LipstateRobert W. Luker
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Richard McCulloughHerbert G. Mills
National Park Fossil Guidebook
Craig E. MooreMarvin A. Munchrath
H. Rudy ParkisonNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Dwight S. RamsayScholarship Endowment Fund
E. Gordon ReigleNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Christopher P. RenaudIn memory of Charles B. Renaud
Eddie W. RheaA. Scott Ritchie
National Park Fossil Guidebook
John C. RobertsValary L. Schulz
Mike ShaferFrank C. Sheppard IIIScholarshp Endowment Fund
Jeffry A. SmithNational Park Fossil Guidebook
M. R. Stipp*National Park Fossil Guidebook
Tony R. StuartRichard W. Thompson, Jr.National Park Fossil Guidebook
George R. WhiteNational Park Fossil Guidebook
Richard WilkersonNational Park Fossil Guidebook
W. David WilligRalph O. Wilson IIJames T. Womble
* Deceased
S I PE S 2 0 1 1 CS I PE S 2 0 1 1 C O N V E N T I O NO N V E N T I O N JJ A C K S O NA C K S O N HH O L EO L E , W, W Y O M I N GY O M I N G
JJ U N EU N E 2 0 - 22 3 , 2 0 1 12 0 - 22 3 , 2 0 1 1
2010-2012010-20111SIPESSIPES
OfOfficersficers
SIPESSIPESDirDirectorsectors
SIPES Vision StatementSIPES Vision Statement
To be the pre-eminent organization for furtheringthe professional and business interests
of independent practitioners of the earth sciences.In achieving this vision, emphasis will be placed on
(1) professional competence,(2) professional business ethics, and(3) presenting a favorable, credibleand effective image of the Society.
Adopted by the SIPES Board of DirectorsSeptember 21, 1996
Return to:SIPES4925 Greenville Avenue, Suite 1106Dallas, Texas 75206-4019
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
PRESORTED STANDARDUS POSTAGE
PAIDDALLAS, TX
PERMIT NO. 1300
President .........................................Kenneth J. Huffman ...........................................New Orleans
Vice-President..................................Thomas J. Smith .............................................Oklahoma City
Vice-President of
National Energy ...........................Marc D. Maddox ......................................................Midland
Secretary.........................................Dennis M. Gleason ...............................................Fort Worth
Treasurer.........................................Thomas J. Smith .............................................Oklahoma City
Donna F. Balin.................................Chapter Participation...........................................San Antonio
Gilbert D. Brown .............................At-Large Membership/Future Annual Conventions .......Amarillo
J. R. Cleveland ................................Technology Communication/SIPES Quarterly .................Dallas
Suzanne G. Cluff .............................Environmental/SIPES Quarterly ....................................Denver
James P. Evans III .............................Membership/Advertising.....................................New Orleans
William R. Finley..............................Constitution/Nominating Committee..........................Lafayette
Bobby M. Greenwood......................Headquarters/Membership ...........................................Dallas
James F. Hardwick ...........................Directory .................................................................Lafayette
H. Jack Naumann, Jr. ......................Professional Society Liaison........................................Midland
Larry J. Rairden................................NAPE/2011 Convention ..........................................Houston
William A. Walker, Jr. .......................Public Relations............................................................Austin
