“There is nothing certain but the uncertain.” – UNKNOWN
Oil Prices
2018 was a mixed year for our industry. Oil prices soared to highs that the market hadn’t seen in almost four years, but also succumbed to some of the largest single-day drops. Early predictions from Wall Street pointed to barrel prices in excess of $100. Instead, the market experienced the worst drop in over two years. Amidst all the volatility in prices, we saw the United States become the world’s largest oil producer in 2018. The key factor driving US production levels was the Permian Basin. In spite of Permian Basin drillers having issues with pipeline takeaway capacity, oil production increased by nearly 900,000 barrels per day last year.
With falling demand and increasing production from the Permian Basin, more price uncertainty is possible this year.
Infrastructure constraints in the Permian Basin might be resolved in 2019 and production is expected to grow an extra ~1 million barrels per day. On the other hand, shrinking supply from Iran and other countries could push prices up. We have an interesting year ahead.
SECTION UPDATES
Education Committee
I would like to recognize the Education committee and Mr. Dick Murphy, who has been leading the high school STEM tutoring program over the past few years. Dedicated, proactive and patient tutors volunteer during the school day in the high school classroom to help explain concepts in physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology. Tutoring is currently taking place in Fort Bend ISD (five high schools), Katy ISD (one high school), Spring Branch (one high school), Houston ISD (three high schools) and Conroe ISD (two high schools). If you would like to be involved in this program, please contact me directly.
As I mentioned in 2018, we’ve been working hard to launch our Scholarship Endowment Fund (SEF) campaign this year. I would like to recognize education chairperson Dr. Mohammad Tabatabaei for leading this effort. In the coming weeks, we will be circulating SEF brochures to various individuals and corporations in our region. I am very hopeful this campaign will be a success.
Communications Committee
There’s been a lot of progress with the new SPE-GCS website. We’re getting close to its completion and will be embarking on testing in a few weeks. I will keep you all posted on the launch date.
All the best!