At every stage of your career AAPG is there to help you succeed.
As we discussed last month, our Association was conceived more than a century ago to help petroleum geologists do their jobs better. No matter if you’re just getting started or have earned your experience over a long career, AAPG wants to connect you to the best science and professional practice and one of the chief ways we do this is by getting together.
Already this year we’ve hosted numerous gatherings, from the APPEX Prospect and Property Expo in London, to GEO2018 in Bahrain, to the new Super Basins Global Leadership Conference in Houston. It’s been a busy quarter.
AAPG section meetings are gearing up with both the Southwest and Pacific sections hosting their annual meetings this month. And next month, we’ll be gathering in Salt Lake City for our Annual Convention and Exhibition.
These events span generations, and one of the developments you might notice is how many younger professionals are stepping forward and leading at AAPG.
Our emerging leaders are developing innovative new sessions, such as the “Next Generation Deal Makers” workshop at APPEX, and initiatives like the ACE luncheon workshop on “Unconscious Bias” that seek to make AAPG and our profession more responsive to the needs of our Members and customers and to enhance our professionalism.
Changes Ahead
These innovations are key to AAPG remaining a relevant organization well into its second century. It doesn’t mean everything is changing. But some things are. And that’s OK.
This month you’ll be receiving your dues renewal notice for the new membership year that begins on July 1.
Full Member and associate dues are $125 for the year and Emeritus dues will be half that amount. The graduated dues structure also remains in effect for those who qualify.
New this year, we are shifting completely to online delivery for the Bulletin. This will allow us to reduce printing and shipping costs. You will still be able to purchase paper copies of individual Bulletin issues, but they will be produced on demand and can be purchased through the AAPG Bookstore.
The Executive Committee and our staff continue to monitor and manage the Association’s finances to ensure that we are operating in the most efficient and effective manner possible – keeping costs under control while preserving and improving the products and services that you expect as a member.
When you receive your dues notice you’ll also have an opportunity to contribute to the AAPG Foundation. These contributions are completely voluntary. But the AAPG Foundation Trustees are committed to a vision of supporting the geosciences, and particularly building a new generation of geoscientists that will be the petroleum geoscience workforce for tomorrow. And that’s a topic each of us should be concerned about.
I can tell you that current geoscience students are thinking about it. At every meeting I attend, whether in the United States or one of our regions, the questions always comes up: Will there be a job for me? Can I still build a career in oil and gas?
With ongoing media chatter of energy transitions away from fossil fuels and to renewable energy sources, the electrification of motor vehicles and much-discussed global efforts to reduce carbon emissions, it’s only natural that geoscience students question oil and gas as a career path. They are uncertain.
But demand for oil and natural gas is not going away. The source of demand might shift due to increased electrification of motor vehicles, away from oil as a combustion fuel and to natural gas, coal, nuclear or renewables as a source of electricity. Efficiency gains, allowing us to do more with less, will continue and social norms and values will evolve. Things will change, and that’s OK. The need for energy remains.
Having the discussions of how petroleum fits into the global energy picture, how emerging plays and technology will change how we practice petroleum geology, what responsibilities we have as geologists to steward Earth’s resources, and how upcoming geologists can succeed in a changing world is what we need to be about at AAPG.
From the newly minted graduate to the seasoned veteran, this Association wants you to succeed. We need you, we need each other to fulfill AAPG’s mission of advancing the science and expanding the profession of petroleum geology.
Our planet needs us to safely and reliably find and produce the energy that fuels the world. Together we can.