I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, 2023 started with a good upbeat on the industry’s pulse at this time, so great to see it and be a part of it from the GCS.
I would like to start by highlighting the Young Professional’s Cycle Houston Bicycle Build, which took place at the NRG Center, the team assembled a total of 20 bicycles, alongside collaboration with CYCLE. They also volunteered at the Houston Marathon, which took place on Jan 15th where they assisted with post-race meals snacks for the runners. I am sure many of you probably attended the event. Thanks to all the YP Volunteers: Alex Romanyuk (YP Chair), Randi Steele, Saloumeh Ebrahimzadeh (Sally) and Tram Nguyen.
YP’s are in need of volunteers! Let us know if you want to join!
Our Study Groups and Committee's delivered some very interesting Technical talks during the month of January: C&P hosted Brian C. Seabrook, from ExxonMobil, Continuing Education hosted Ibrahim Elsayed from SLB, Reservoir Group hosted Nikhil Joshi, from Talos Energy, Westside hosted Bharath Rajappa from ConocoPhillips, and the Drilling Group hosted Seif Badri, from H&P. Thanks to NextTier, Corva, NOV, DeltaTek Global and ChampionX for their sponsorship and support to the events. Thanks to our volunteers Chad Senters, Marcel Grubert, Lotanna Ohazuruike, and the teams that worked with them.
Recognition and appreciation to Aramco Americas, for their donation to the Gulf Coast Section, we are honored to count on your support to our Community Services Committee, your contribution will go towards the 2023 schedule of activities presented by Sherry Oyagha and Jeannie Chung during our January Board of Directors meeting. I’m just ecstatic to see their drive and energy towards engaging the younger generations at mid, high school and College levels, to enlighten them on who we are and what we do as an industry and the opportunities ahead; you can expect some great events to happen in the coming months, stay tuned!
I will finish this Chair’s corner focused on membership, a couple of months ago I had lunch with the leader of another organization, who during our conversation, was just surprised to find out, that each and every one of the events that GCS delivers, are entirely volunteer driven and there are no employees working on these events… Indeed, all of us serving the section organizing the technical events, involved in this O&G Community, are passionate about it, and want to see it Thrive. Thanks to every one of you, because all the amazing events are the result of your dedication and commitment to your profession and this industry.
Finally, I’m glad to say we will be hosting another membership appreciation event, where all section members and nonmembers will be welcome to attend with their loved ones, their little ones, and maybe even the furry ones, stay tuned for the announcement 😉
Until next Chair’s Corner,
Carlos A. Torres
SPE -GCS Chair 2022-2023