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Message From Your Chair ...

Dear fellow SPE members,

If you have not yet made your travel arrangements to go to the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibits (ATCE) in San Antonio, you still have time to do so. Let's have a strong contingent from L.A. I plan to go and hope to see many of you there.

We thank Dr. Lyman Handy, past Chair of the Petroleum Engineering Department at USC, for agreeing to be the Section's Technical Mentor. If you are writing an SPE technical article for the first time, give him a call and ask for guidance. He can certainly help you in that regard or other SPE-related matters using his vast past experience with SPE. So, USE him! His phone number is given on the last page.

We would like to welcome the new USC student SPE Chapter president, Dharmen Shah and congratulate the outgoing president John Bronson for his great efforts in the past year. Through the fine solicitation efforts of our Senior past Chair, Greg Scott, THUMS Long Beach Company has donated $1,500 for sponsoring a part of the expense of sending three students to ATCE Meeting in San Antonio in October. Your Section will provide the additional needed funds. Many thanks to THUMS Long Beach Company for their generosity. I am sure such trips will go a long way in helping the students become better engineers and communicators, which in turn will help the Industry and SPE.

Elsewhere in this Newsletter, you can read about the COMET program in which the high school students and their teachers were given a one week Industry technical training followed by one month or so of student internship working for the Industry under the supervision of a mentor - and getting paid for it.

When a representative from Dr. Ershaghi , Chair of the Petroleum Engineering Program at USC and PTTC West Coast operations, presented the COMET proposal to the SPE LA Basin Section Board last May and asked for support, nobody thought that it could be implemented this year. Guess what? It did and was a huge success! I attended the graduation luncheon for seventeen or so students, who participated in the program, and heard their wonderful speeches expressing their gratitude for the program and describing what they had learned. Congratulations to Dr. Ershaghi, PTTC and others who made this program possible. We are glad we supported the program and hope it will be done again..

Also, This year our Section will resume giving several awards to the best petroleum-related Science Fair projects. So, we encourage the COMET students to use their newly- learned knowledge about the Petroleum Industry to prepare a petroleum-related Science Fair project which could qualify for some of the awards, which will be presented by our Science Fair Committee Chair, Shahed Meshkati.

Articles are needed for the Section Exchange!! SPE is looking for ideas and information to share with your colleagues in other sections. Send your ideas that have worked, and even those that didn't, to Leanne Helgaas, Section/Chapter Manager, c/o SPE Dallas Office.

In the months ahead, the committee chairs will explain their planned activities and accomplishments. In this issue, read about our scholarship program written by Bruce Hesson, cochair of that committee.

Sam Sarem
Chair

Meetings This Month

L.A. Basin Board of Directors October 1

Petroleum Technology Forum October 14

New Technology & Environmental Forum October 18

DISTINGUISHED LECTURER, Shafiq A. Allahwala - October 14

Maximizing Recovery From Mature Fields

The relative importance of mature fields is expected to grow as the finding of new reserves becomes progressively more difficult. This presentation reviews the challenges of developing a mature field, illustrates the importance of high-quality data, and discusses a general approach for increasing recovery from a mature field.

Shafiq A. Allahwala holds an MS degree from the U. of Sind and a PhD degree from Monash U. He has worked for Esso Australia Ltd., Shell Intl., and the Oil Co. of Australia Ltd. and, currently, is Senior Business Coordinator at the Oil Co. of Australia.

Date: Tuesday, October 14, 1997
Time: Registration: 11:30 AM

Lunch: 12:00 noon
Speaker: 12:30 PM
Finish: 1:15 PM

Reservations: not required
Cost: $15
Place:
Long Beach Petroleum Club
3636 Linden Ave., Long Beach
562/427-7966

29 Sept. To Oct. 3

Cased Hole and Prod. Logging Class

Bakersfield, CA (805) 326-5686

October

Finding New Pay in Old Wells, Class

Bakersfield, CA (805) 326-5686

5-8 October

SPE Annual Technical Conference

San Antonio, Texas

6 October

PTTC Workshop on DOE BOAST III

USC, Los Angeles, CA (213) 740-8076

24 October

PTTC Economic, Investment & Legal Issues

USC, Los Angeles, CA (213) 740-8076

22-24 October

SPE Eastern Regional Meeting

Lexington, Kentuky

Call SPE Richardson, for details @ (800) 456-6863

EDITOR'S NOTE:

This issue marks the debut of a new editor and new, professional printer. We hope you notice the new and improved document.

The LA Basin Section has always used volunteer help for every step of gathering, pasting, printing, posting, and mailing process needed to get this Newsletter into your hands. Alas, while trying to keep costs low by taking advantage of bulk mailing, the "process" has become more complex and labor intensive. Hence, using a professional print and mail house permits the Section to continue producing a quality document, with volunteer supervision, but with less work on "our" part.

Since "we" will have more time on our hands, we can entertain new formats and coverage. There will be experiments with new features, new writers, and new formats. You, the reader, are encouraged to suggest ideas you think might be of interest to other members, or respond to things you think need improvement. An editorial page for instance, will be considered, if there is enough interest. So, read this copy with a critical eye, think about what you like in other documents and pass the ideas along. We all will benefit. I can be reached at (562) 692-4474 or by email at mfindlay@mindspring.com.

LOS ANGELES BASIN SECTION 1997-1998 OFFICERS

Chairman

Sam Sarem

Improved Petro. Recovery Consultants

(714) 692-1198

Vice Chairman, Director, 98

Bruce Hesson

CA State Division of Oil & Gas

(562) 590-5311

Secretary/Director, 98

Vivian Bust

Mission Geoscience, Inc.

(714) 955-9086

Treasurer

Mei Chang

Chevron Petroleum Technology Co.

(562) 694-9280

Junior Past Chairman

Mitchell Findlay

Pruett Industries

(805) 589-2768

Senior Past Chairman

Greg Scott

CA State Lands Commission

(562) 590-5740

DIRECTORS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Awards & Communications

Mitchell Findlay

Pruett Industries

(805) 589-2768

Career Guidance-Cochair

Greg Scott

CA State Lands Commission

(562) 590-5740

Career Guidance-Cochair

Wes Wisdom

Tidelands Oil Production Co.

(562) 436-9918

Community Relations & Director, 98

Scott Hara

Tidelands Oil Production Co.

(562) 495-9351

Computer Chairman

Fred Crosby

Crosby Consulting

(562) 431-5086

Continuing Education

Bruce Davis

Chevron Petroleum Technology Co.

(562) 694-7154

New Technology & Environmental

Ed Mayer

Consultant

(818) 796-4437

Golf Tournament

Fred Crosby

Crosby Consulting

(562) 431-5086

Internet Webmaster, Director, 00

Larry Gilpin

Pump Affiliates

(714) 847-7119

Membership Cochair & Director, 99

Jeff Blesener

Dept. Of Oil Prop. City of Long Beach

(562) 570-3905

Membership Cochair & Director ,00

Rich Faulk

THUMS Long beach Co.

(562) 624-3335

OCEC, LACES & Director, 00

Jalal Torabzadeh

California State Univ., Long Beach

(562) 985-8181

Program & Director, 99

Ed Santiago

California State Division of Oil & Gas

(562) 590-5311

PTTC Representative

Hooshang Kharabaf

University of Southern California

(213) 740-9578

Scholarship & Social Activities

Bruce Hesson

California State Division of Oil & Gas

(562) 590-5311

Science Fair Liaison

Shahed Meshkati

University of Southern California

(213) 740-0016

Student Liaison

Kevin O'Malley

PSI/GeoResearch

(562) 597-3977

Technical Mentor

Lyman Handy

University of Southern California

(213) 740-0324

US Council & Director, 99

Wes Wisdom

Tidelands Oil Production Co.

(562) 436-9918

Western Region Director

Marina Voskanian

CA State Lands Commission

(562) 590-5291

The year number next to a director's position refers to the director term limit ending date.

Newsletter Editor: Mitchell Findlay
Tel (562) 692-4474 Fax (562) 692-9299

You must notify SPE Headquarters in Richardson, Texas directly with change of address: P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083
Tel (800) 456-6863
Fax (214) 952-9435

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