Greetings From the Director
The impending arrival of fall makes September a key business month. We've hopefully recharged our batteries with some vacation during the summer months and are ready once again to knuckle down to moving hydrocarbons. This last fiscal year has been very busy for PTTC, which runs Oct. 1 thru Sep 30. We've been able to maintain the activity levels of recent record years—about 150 regional workshops, newsletters, case studies, and have added a recent "Tech Alert" broadcast email initiative. On the regional websites, PTTC works hard to provide access to information and the basic O&G data industry finds useful. Importantly, staff continues to respond promptly to your technical inquiries, often with a referral or connection to others applying useful technologies.
In the gas realm, we've stayed engaged with coalbed methane technology, which now contributes significantly to overall domestic production. On the oil side, there's been a strong emphasis on bottom-line operations topics, typified by the "Wellbore Management" material coordinated by Bob Kiker in the Permian Basin. PTTC also kicked off a DOE PUMP project in our South Midcontinent and West Coast regions, aimed at gaining practical insights from operators in the field. For the next year, there are plans to focus efforts on technologies proving successful in mature Arbuckle reservoirs, as well as produced water issues nationwide.
During August we prepared plans for the upcoming year. Our continued support from DOE, individual states, our regions and industry provides for a solid program in FY03. Regional activity will remain strong, as evidenced by looking at the event calendar (see page 15). We're also experimenting with a "lunch & learn" concept (see cover photo) to find additional ways of connecting service providers to independents and transfer technology. A lunch break provides a perfect opportunity to discuss technology applications and pull a vast amount of field experience together for the benefit of all attending.
Nationally, we're making a special effort to maintain contact with industry through an active exhibit schedule. If you will be attending any of those events, make it a point to come by and see us. We're continuing our "Tech Alert" via email (see page 12). In just a few months, our distribution list has grown to more than 8,000, and this hardcopy newsletter now goes out to nearly 10,000 readers. We'll continue to provide a "Tech Connections" column to American Oil and Gas Reporter and document case studies in the Petroleum Technology Digest in World Oil (see page 12), with the next Digest planned for a December issue. Next year, we'll change the format from grouping quarterly to publishing one case study per month.
In short, there is a lot happening within PTTC, all of it directed towards helping independents and those who provide services to them learn about the application of relevant technologies. With timely input from participants in all regional areas, PTTC continues to adapt to industry change. If you have suggestions for the program, feel free to contact us with your ideas.
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