Eric P. Mason
- Shell
Team Leader — Gulf of Mexico New Ventures, Houston.
- Born 1954, Quincy,
Ill.
Academic Degrees:
- 1976 — Principia
College, B.A., geology
- 1982 — Oklahoma
State University, M.S., geology
Experience:
- 1977-1980
— Exploration Logging (EXLOG), Mudlogging, Texas, Oklahoma,
Mexico, Brazil
- 1982-1988
— Phillips Petroleum, Houston, Bartlesville, Okla.
- 1988-2002
— Shell, New Orleans (Senior and Staff Geologist, Production,
1988-96; Staff and Senior Staff Geologist, Western and
Eastern Gulf of Mexico Exploration, 1996-2001; Area Exploration
Manager, Western Gulf of Mexico, 2001-02; Shell International,
Houston, Team Leader - Gulf of Mexico New Ventures, 2002-present)
AAPG Activities:
- Member since
1981; Certified Petroleum Geologist; member of EMD, DEG
and DPA
- 1993-2000
— Reservoir Development Committee (chairman 1997-98)
- 1996-2001
— Technical Program Committee
- 1996-1999
— House of Delegates
- 1998-present
— Convention Coordinating Committee (chairman 2001-present)
- 1999 — Hedberg
Conference co-convener, "Horizontal Wells — Focus on
the Reservoir"
- 1999-2000
— general chairman, AAPG Annual Meeting, New Orleans
- 2000-01 —
Budget Review and Finance Committee
- Technical
session co-chair at annual meetings in San Diego (1996),
Dallas (1997), Denver (2001) and Houston (2002), and at
the AAPG international conference in Birmingham, England
(1999)
Affiliated
and Associated Societies and Sections:
- New Orleans
Geological Society (chairman Continuing Education Committee
1995-97, vice president 1998)
- Houston Geological
Society (chairman Continuing Education Committee 1986-87)
- Rocky Mountain
Association of Geologists member
- Other Professional
Organizations:
- GCSEPM (1996
Research Conference Program Advisory Committee Member)
Honors and
Awards:
- Houston Geological
Society Presidents Award 1987
- New Orleans
Geological Society "Best Paper" 1993
- Houston Geological
Society "Best Speaker" 1995
- New Orleans
Geological Society President's Award 1995
- New Orleans
Geological Society Outstanding Service Award 1999-2000
- AAPG Certificate
of Merit 1998 (Reservoir Development Committee chairman)
- AAPG Certificate
of Merit 2000 (Hedberg Conference co-convener)
- AAPG Certificate
of Merit 2000 (general chairman, AAPG annual meeting in
New Orleans)
Why
I Accepted the Invitation To Be a Candidate for AAPG Office
It is a genuine
honor to be a candidate for AAPG vice president and I truly
appreciate having this opportunity. It represents a chance
to give back to an organization that has given much to me,
and to make a contribution to the petroleum geologic community
at large.
Why did I accept
the invitation to be a candidate for AAPG office? First, I
want to help guide AAPG into the future by building on its
foundation of encouraging technical excellence. And second,
I would like to actively help grow the AAPG membership in
order to ensure the long-term health of the organization.
AAPG was founded
on scientific and technical excellence. These strengths are
on display each year in publications, short courses, field
trips, and technical sessions at domestic and international
conferences. They remain at the core of AAPG and are the reasons
many of us joined this organization.
To continue to
build upon this foundation, I support and would like to help
implement some of the following ongoing and potentially new
initiatives:
Increase
the value of conventions and conferences to members.
Increase the quality
of technical sessions by encouraging organizing committees
to hold fewer of them with longer (e.g. 30 minute vs. 20 minute)
papers. Experiment with smaller sessions that allow for more
discussion. Encourage questioning from session chairs making
this the expectation. Continue experimentation with different
"poster session" formats allowing for increased innovation
by authors. Increase the number of Hedberg Conferences, which
provide a unique forum that can drive technical and scientific
breakthroughs.
Renew
emphasis on exploration.
Organize a conference(s)
focused on exploration successes and failures (war stories),
methods and techniques. Dedicate a BULLETIN issue each year
to exploration successes, large and small, and exploration
playmakers. Establish an exploration newsletter that keeps
current on scout activities, focusing initially on one area
domestically as a pilot and expanding to other regions in
time. Continue to expand APPEX in Houston and internationally
while keeping it focused, as it presently is, on showing prospects
vs. distributing glossy brochures, as has become the norm
in some other prospect expos.
Build
a database of public digital well and seismic data to make
available to members.
Start with a core
area. Given success, expand to other areas, as has been done
with AAPG publications (idea suggested by Nathan Kuhl to Robbie
Gries at a recent New Orleans Geological Society meeting)
Beyond these specific
initiatives, we must continue to systematically build AAPG
membership by attracting new, and especially young, members.
I fully support the continued strengthening of AAPG student
chapters and expanded support of Student Expos (job fairs)
such as those held annually in Houston. I also believe that
we can significantly increase international membership through
membership drives associated with international conferences.
We can also reach out more to geophysicists and engineers
who could benefit from AAPG's benefits and services.
In summary, if
elected I will do all that I can to help AAPG. I am honored
and grateful to have this opportunity.