Peter Grant, AAPG Asia Pacific Region President

In January this year a new Board for the Asia Pacific Region was elected and I am honoured to become your new president.

By way of an introduction: I am a geologist by education, geophysicist by early profession and have enjoyed 40 years in the industry, with the last 30 in exploration management and global new ventures with BHP Petroleum and Woodside Energy based in Australia, while living around the globe.

My first position was as a seismologist working for SSL in Irian Jaya in 1974, where we found the Salawati oil field for Philips, onshore Salawati Island. (There is a little piece of Australia in the vicinity along the Sorong fault so there is a bit of home there.) So, I have a long history in the region with a collection of stories to tell if I can find attentive ears.

Next I would like to thank the outgoing team, especially my old (but young) friend Peter Baillie, who has done an outstanding job and has left me with huge shoes to fill. To help me with this task, I will be supported ably by the new AAPG team with Region Vice President Chris Oglesby (Mubadala Petroleum, Thailand), Region Secretary Reetu Ragini (Reliance Industries Limited, India) and Treasurer Michael McWalter (World Bank, Government of Papua New Guinea). And, of course where would we be without all the efforts of Adrienne Pereira who looks after us all out of Singapore?

Our business is a great business. We have challenges to meet, of course. But, where else do you have the opportunity to work in diverse countries and cultures, meet exciting colleagues and roll the exploration dice? People don’t appreciate the risks we take and that most of our efforts (wells) will not be successful. At best we have a 25 percent success rate, so we will fail more times than we will be successful, but we have big shoulders and each well provides us with great geological insights. Of course when we are successful these developments deliver the finances required to drill more exploration wells, pay for seismic and move on.

My term as president has started with halving of the oil price, which I know has affected most of the geoscientists in the region. Budgets have been cut, exploration operations reduced and pressure is on jobs. Some of the old hands like me have seen this before as we tend to be a very cyclical industry, but it is never easy and doesn’t get any easier, even if you have “been there before.”

This is where a society like ours can help with our technical and training programmes, networking sessions and student and young professional bodies. Perhaps this might be a time when you want to upskill and AAPG would like to help you in doing so. Our website will provide information on scholarships and courses so please avail yourself of all this information.

As president of the Asia Pacific Region, my goal is to continue the vision that Peter Baillie focused on: good and relevant technical conferences and the nurturing of our student and young professional chapters. These bodies are the foundations for the lasting success of the AAPG.

So, as this year progresses, AAPG wishes to help all of our members, whether students, young professionals or oil and gas professionals in their development. I wish to grow our student chapters and offer advice to members if they are in times of difficulty due to the prevailing oil price.

My best regards to all. I hope I get a chance to meet with most of you during my tenure as president of AAPG Asia Pacific Region.