SEG 2014, Denver

摘要

Before we were thrown out (see last month's editorial) we managed to capture the opening session of the 2014 Society of Exploration Geophysicists' annual convention held in Denver last month. The SEG president Don Steeples put current membership at around 30,000 with 37% in the US. Membership is currently 'stagnant to falling slightly.' While there have been over a million downloads of abstracts from Geophysics (the SEG's flagship publication), its companion, The Leading Edge, is losing in popularity. Next up was Tom Petrie, banker and pundit who has appeared on both PBS and Fox. Petrie ran through the gist of his book, 'Following Oil,' which traces the rise of US shale production and its implications for US energy independence. Unconventionals are the 'grand disruptor' that has halted a four decade long production decline along with shibboleths like peak oil.