Christopher P.M. Heath
Christopher P.M. Heath, a candidate for
AAPG vice president, is an independent researcher, having
spent a career with Caltex and Amoco and later as an honorary
professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Heath, of Vancouver, Canada, is a native of England. He
received his bachelor's degree in geology from the University
of British Columbia, and his master's and doctorate in geology
from the University of Illinois. He also holds a master's
of business administration from Cranfield University, England.
Heath has been a member of AAPG since 1966.
A member of the Membership Committee since 1980, Heath is
currently chairman of the committee's International Academia
panel, and twice previously has served as chair of the Europe/Africa/Middle
East/Asia membership subcommittees.
Heath also has served on the Grants-In-Aid Committee from
1992-2000, and is also a member of the Mentoring and International
Liaison committees, as well as the Visiting Geologists Program.
Heath is a member of the AAPG House of Delegates, serving
a term since 1997 and previously in 1986-88. He served as
an alternate delegate in 1996-97.
He received the AAPG Distinguished Service Award in 1992
and the Certificate of Merit in 1997.
Other professional affiliations include the Canadian Society
of Petroleum Geologists and the Geological Society of London.
Why I Accepted the Invitation To Be a Candidate For AAPG Office
For much of my career, I and others living overseas relied
upon AAPG's BULLETINs and publications to keep us up-to-date
with the new ideas and technologies coming from the petroleum
industry. As a result, the association has played an integral
part in my career as both a petroleum geoscientist and a manager.
Its publications, education programs, conventions and dedication
to serving the geoscience community have earned it an international
reputation as the premier geoscientific organization for the
energy and geo-environmental sectors.
Now that I have semi-retired in North America I have more
time to help the association in any way possible. It is therefore
a great honor to be considered as a candidate for vice president.
I joined AAPG in 1966 and served on my first committee in
about 1980 as a way of paying back for what it had given me.
Initially, I focused on the international sector (principally
recruiting and membership issues). Between 1985 and 1988 I
was secretary of the Egyptian Exploration Society. Later I
became chairman for membership recruiting throughout Europe,
Asia, Middle East and Africa and joined the International
Liaison and Grants-in-Aid committees.
Having lived in a dozen countries, and having visited more
than 100 countries and a similar number of universities, I
have a clear understanding of the complex issues involved
and feel that I can contribute by helping both AAPG and the
international geoscience community in this area. It is important
to attract new overseas members, because they can share their
unique experiences, ideas and technologies with others in
the energy and resource sectors.
In North America, the petroleum industry and the association
face a common problem: the need to attract young, well trained
geoscientists to replace those approaching retirement in both
communities. It is therefore imperative that we encourage
secondary school students to take an interest in geology and
to encourage young geoscientists to join the resource extraction
or protection sectors and the association. Since my retirement
in 1995 I have carried out research on the technical and non-technical
skills needed by geoscientists in the petroleum and environmental
industries. The published results provide students with a
clear understanding of what skills these industries now expect
their geoscience employees to possess. This information should
enable them to prepare and embark on successful careers in
either business sector.
To further these goals I participate in the AAPG Visiting
Geologist and Protégé programs, and have joined the House
of Delegates' Future of Earth Scientists Committee.
We need to increase the public's awareness of the important
role that geoscientists will play in the economy of the new
century. As a candidate I welcome the chance to participate
in this effort and to serve the association and its members.
Peter M. Lloyd
Peter M. Lloyd,
a candidate for vice president of AAPG, is business development
manager, Asia Pacific for the Network of Excellence in Training,
an industry/academic alliance between Texas A&M University,
the University of Oklahoma, Heriot Watt University and Schlumberger.
A native of England, Lloyd received both bachelor's and
master's degrees in natural sciences, geology, at Cambridge
University.
Lloyd began his career with British Petroleum, becoming
a North Sea regional geologist before joining Deminex as
senior geologist for South American projects. In 1981 Lloyd
joined Schlumberger as chief geologist of South America
and later Europe. Subsequent assignments for Schlumberger
included projects management in Europe and in Austin, Texas.
He later became chief geologist for southeast Asia and Australia,
and assumed his present position in 2001, where is he based
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
An AAPG member since 1979, Lloyd is a certified petroleum
geologist and also a member of the Energy Minerals Division
and the Division of Environmental Geosciences.
A member of the AAPG Advisory Council, Lloyd is chairman
of the International Liaison Committee and also is a member
of the Distinguished Lecture and Membership committees.
He also is an alternate member of the House of Delegates
and is president of the Asia/Pacific International Region.
A participant in the AAPG Visiting Geologists Program, Lloyd
also is a Student Chapter sponsor at the University of Malaya,
Institute of Technology, Bandung, and the University of
Adelaide, Australia. He was a session co-chair at the AAPG
international meeting in Bali and has authored and presented
a number of scientific papers.
He received the AAPG Special Commendation Award (International)
in 2000.
Other professional affiliations include the Society of Petroleum
Engineers, the Society of Petroleum Wire Line Analysts,
the Geological Society of London, the Indonesian Petroleum
Association and the South East Asian Exploration Society.
Why I Accepted the Invitation To Be a Candidate For AAPG Office
It is a great honor to be invited to stand for election as
an officer of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
The AAPG has been an important part of my professional career
and personal life.
Like many in our industry, I have found myself on numerous
occasions relocated in the oil patch (some places more desirable
than others). In each new location my first "stop" was the
association's numerous technical publications to familiarize
myself with the geological setting of the new basins and play
types I would be working. For coming up to speed on specifics,
the continuing education program has been a key element in
my training. And in each new country the affiliate society
infrastructure has helped me make new friends.
After the crisis of 1985, when many of us had to find innovative
ways to continue our careers in the oil and gas industry (in
my case it was turning my efforts to software engineering
in Texas), it was only through attending various association
(and affiliate society) meetings, conferences and field trips
that I was able to keep current. My engineering manager used
to refer to these trips as "good behavior furloughs."
Returning to hands-on interpretation work in the 1990s gave
me an opportunity to start "giving back." I was fortunate
to have been invited onto the International Liaison Committee,
and saw the huge amount of volunteer effort by so many of
our members on a wide range of different committees.
The seeds of "regionalization" were being sown at this stage,
and it was motivating to see how the association was reaching
out around the world to improve services to its far flung
membership, supporting teams in those areas and allowing the
representation in the House of Delegates of a whole new spectrum
of global AAPG members.
There are two areas where I would plan to concentrate my efforts:
♦ The first is in helping improve access to technical information,
which is being generated in the many worldwide regions of
the AAPG. This would allow our members who work in the U.S.
on international projects to benefit from a database that
is geographically linked to their focus area.
In addition, those members residing in the regions would be
able to utilize those data interactively, with a goal of tying
in to leading edge technology for local needs. A key challenge
will be to help those regions that are still struggling to
form the cohesive infrastructure that is needed to do this.
One approach to meeting this challenge is to improve the association's
Web-based communications.
♦ The second area where I would concentrate my effort is to
increase awareness of, and membership in, the association.
I would work hard promote and support a series of innovative
membership programs to entice young minds into the industry.
We must encourage initiatives such as the Student Chapters,
Visiting Geologist and Grants-in-Aid programs if we are to
survive as an association! I will lobby to expand the scope
of the very successful Distinguished Lecturer program by recognizing
and utilizing the talents existing within international regions,
and to encourage AAPG involvement in local geological meetings
and conferences both domestic and international.