As you all know, I have been the Academic Liaison Cochairman for the Corpus Christi Geological Society for twenty years, and I have made presentations to most of the CCISD elementary and middle schools and to many private and parochial schools in Nueces and surrounding counties. There is something that I have seen lacking in all those schools and there is something that our CCGS can do to help. We can do it as a way of giving something back to our community and something that we can all be proud of. Your Executive Committee will be meeting in September to discuss the proposal and if approved, then more details will follow.

With all that in mind, the VP’s of the CCGS and CBGS have a great slate of speakers already lined up for the year that will be of interest to us all and especially should be for the students, recent grads and new hires. Our younger geologists may think that all there is to generating a prospect is working up some time maps and arbs on the computer, but the leadoff speaker, Cindy Yielding from BP, will reaffirm that we must use geologic sense and logs in conjunction with our maps. In the following months, some speakers will be locals presenting their own prospects and leading us through the process, pitfalls and struggles of generating, selling and drilling a prospect.

I want to encourage the students to come to our luncheons and to sit at different tables and to talk to other geologists. When there is a break in the hunting and sport talk, ask someone that you may not know what their greatest discovery was?—ask what was the most pay you have seen on a log?— what rocks do you explore for?—ask what was the reason you got into geology in Corpus Christi?—ask to go to their office and show you one of their discoveries—ask them what is their ‘claim to fame’?—ask them if they ever drilled any dry holes? Part of being an exploration geologist is being curious, asking questions and being interested in the business. You students may be working for one of us someday, so get to know us. We have not found all the oil and gas in South Texas—there is plenty for you to discover.

Since I did not take any petroleum geology courses from the University of Oklahoma, I have had to learn the business ‘on-the-job’ from a variety of companies—Chevron, Holly Energy, Sexton Oil, Harkins and Company and Suemaur Exploration. In my President’s letters in the coming months, I will share some things I learned in my 35 years in the oil and gas business that may be of interest to students or younger geologists.

See you at the KickOff BBQ at the Museum on September 7th.

Owen Hopkins 8/10/06
CCGS President