REGISTRATION OPEN! 2014 Southwest Section AAPG, Midland, Texas

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REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

2014 Southwest Section AAPG, Midland, Texas
May 8 - 17, 2014
Host Society: West Texas Geological Society

Registration for the 2014 Southwest Section AAPG Annual Convention in
Midland, Texas, is now open!

Technical program, schedule of events, housing information, and
registration forms are available at:
www.southwestsection2014.org

On behalf of the member societies of the Southwest Section of the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, I welcome you to the
2014 annual meeting in Midland, Texas. The theme, "Old Basins, New
Ideas", is very appropriate for the Permian Basin. It was just a few
years ago when the majors and many of the large independents packed up
and left the Permian Basin writing it off as a mature, tired, "old"
basin with little economic significance to the petroleum industry.
Wow, what a change. The Permian Basin has approximately twenty-five
percent of the United States drilling rigs (between 450 to 500 out of
1700 to 1900 rigs). Just try getting a hotel room or apartment
anywhere in the Permian Basin and you know that we are in the middle
of a boom.

Some of you remember after the last boom and bust that there were a
large number of bumper stickers that read "Please God, give us one
more Boom, we promise not to waste it." Here it is. What are we
doing? What are you doing? We know it will not last forever. The
SWS AAPG convention committee chaired by Paul Pausé has worked
extremely hard to organize a meeting that is outstanding: full of
technical information, opportunities for networking with old and new
friends, vendors to share their products, and some fun entertaining
events. I hope you will embrace this chance to share your experiences
with our fellow geoscientists. We hope to have more attendance from
young professionals and students than in past years. Please make an
effort to spend time with them to let them know what an incredible
profession we have, the benefits of our local societies, and what AAPG
can provide them. Please help them get involved.

Our industry is changing faster than many of us can imagine. It is
the local events like the SWS AAPG Convention that bring us together
to learn about some of the latest technologies and to see what others
are doing in our area and other basins. Meetings like the SWS AAPG
provide us with an opportunity to exchange ideas, concepts and
observations. I challenge you to take one observation or idea from
this conference and use it in the weeks or months to come, then come
back and share it with us next year.

Please join me in thanking the members of the West Texas Geological
Society for hosting this meeting. We know how much time and effort it
takes to have a successful convention. I want to thank everyone that
has helped. Please, when you see any of our convention staff, helpers
or vendors, thank them for making this possible for you and me.
Without you as a participant, the convention would not be complete, so
thank you for taking part in the 2014 SWS AAPG convention. Enjoy.

David J. Entzminger
President: Southwest Section - American Association of Petroleum
Geologists