There are watershed moments, often more than one, in any organization's life. As you will learn later in these notes, PTTC is going through one of those now. First though, I'd like to point you towards an early watershed—PTTC's articles of incorporation on Nov. 4, 1993. My Dad, Eugene Ames, Jr., was one of four original Board members. My work here is not only a continuation of an Ames family tradition, but just like you I'm proud to be an independent producer, always looking for strategies for applying technology and improving my business.

Since inception PTTC has received federal funding support through the Department of Energy (DOE). Through the years DOE's natural gas and oil research, development and demonstration (RD&D) program has effectively contributed toward technologies that have had a real impact on the rate of discovery and improving the extraction efficiencies of our U.S. domestic reserves. Those increases only come when new or under-applied technologies, whether they come from government, academia or industry, are taken off the shelf and put to good use.

That's where the outreach and connections made possible by our network come into play. There is no other organization that has a better understanding of the technology needs of independent producers, regardless of the region, basin or play they are in.

Through the R&D Consortium created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, there will be federal support in selected areas—deep water, unconventional, and a small amount for independent producers, but the Federal support for technology transfer in onshore mature basins is simply not there.

additional state support will take some time.

Industry, those companies and individuals who most directly benefit, already see the value because PTTC improves their bottom lines. Through workshops, the internet, case studies, newsletters and other connections, PTTC inspires experienced individuals, those who've developed or applied technologies, to share their insights about applying technologies—call it sharing "real world" experience, the type of experience not found in text books. And we've been doing that for more than 12 years. We're working to make that archive more accessible, to make it quick and easy to find "on target" information that can be applied. Going forward, we're committed to capturing and presenting an even higher percentage of this practical wisdom.

There's also a plethora of new services we're considering, all designed to add value to your organization. Services being considered are diverse, ranging from: (1) a comprehensive workshop calendar to quickly get people trained for specific jobs, (2) a research project database so companies can find research (and students) in areas of direct interest to them, (3) websites, workshops and case studies in a few high impact, near-term technology areas that are foreseen as key to our future, (4) workshops to "season" new professionals quickly and help gurus stay on the leading edge of their fields, and (5) student training/internship programs that will draw more students to professions serving the E&P industry.