Letter from the Chair . . . John Jepson

Hello Everyone,

One of the things I enjoy most about being the SPE Chairperson for 2001 is the opportunity to get to know more of our members. I have found that we are a diverse bunch. Our members are petroleum industry experts from around the world. Our expertise is not limited the activities in our small geographical area, but extend to all aspects of the industry.

Two of our members were recently honored with engineering awards: Mr. Robert Visser, President of Belmar Engineering in Redondo Beach and Scott Hara, Senior Reservoir Engineer at Tidelands Oil Co. Both of these engineers exemplify the professional expertise of our organozation.

In honor of National Engineers Week, the Los Angeles Council of Engineers and Scientists and the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering presented their Engineering Project of the Year Award to Robert Visser for his design and management of the Platform Osprey for Forcenergy Co. in the Cook Inlet. As you recall Mr. Visser spoke to our Petroleum Forum in November about his design of the project. Mr. Visser will be talking about his Platform at he next meeting of LACES on March 20. Contact Sam Sarem at (714) 692-1198 for information

On February 24, the Orange County Engineering Council awarded Scott Hara their Outstanding Service Award for his work with mentoring programs such as the Mathematical, Engineering and Science program (MESA), the California Oil Mentoring Entrepreneurial Training program (COMET) and the SPE's Production Operations Day.

Congratulations to Bob and Scott. Both awards are well deserved.

Please see the notice on the back for the Technology Update Seminar. Due to scheduling conflicts, the speaker needed to reschedule the seminar from April to March.

I'll look forward to seeing many of you at the WPM in Bakersfield this month.
John Jepson, Los Angeles Basin Chairperson

John Jepson congratulating Bob Visser
at the LACES Awards Dinner

The Mei Chang Memorial Scholarships

In memory of the life and contributions of Mei Chang, the Los Angeles Basin SPE Section s is pleased to announce that it will award two $500 college scholarships for the 2001-2002 school year.

Scholarship recipients must meet the following requirements:

High school senior entering college in the fall of 2001, reside in the Los Angeles/Orange County area, intend to major in an energy-related discipline such as Petroleum
Engineering or Geology.

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The candidates will be evaluated on their scholastic achievement, citizenship and community volunteer work.
Preference will be given to children or relatives of an SPE member.

Applications can be downloaded from the LA SPE website at "laspe.org".

For more information, please contact Ted Garland, Scholarship Chairman, at
(323) 298-2299 from 6 AM to 3 PM. The deadline for submittal of the completed application is April 30, 2001.

The SPE Golf Tournament will take place on Friday, June 8 at Greenriver Golf Coarse. The tournament registration brochure will be coming to you shortly. If you have any questions, please
call the tournament chairperson, Tim Liggett at (562)981-6363, ext 117 or by e-mail at tliggett@onyx-industrial.com.

SPE Technology Update Seminar
Tuesday, March 13
WATER SHUTOFF AND SWEEP IMPROVEMENT TREATMENTS USING POLYMER GELS
Robert Sydansk, Sydansk Consulting Services
TIME: 8:00 am ­ Continental Breakfast and Lunch will be severed.
PLACE: Long Beach Petroleum Club
3636 Linden Avenue
COST: $ 50.00 General Admission
$ 15.00 Students
The primary focus of the presentation will be on practical field-application aspects of polymer gel treatments, guidelines on effectively applying oilfield gel treatments, and how to reduce such treatments to profitable practice.

Polymer gel treatments can:
Generate substantial incremental oil production and reserves through improving sweep efficiency during oil-recovery flooding operations.
Frequently reduce the amount of competing, excessive, and economically deleterious water and/or gas production.
Help extend the economic lives of marginal and mature wells, well patterns, and fields.

In 1999 Robert D. Sydansk won the SPE Production Engineering Award and was elected to be an SPE Distinguished Member in 2000. He has his 33 years of research in improved oil and gas recovery, most with Marathon.

Reservations are required by March 9. Please send reservations to Thais McComb, 110357 La Densa, FountainValley,92708,714/962-1723,
tmontenegro@prodigy.net or to Brennan Campbell, THUMS, 111 West Ocean Blvd, 8th Floor, Long Beach, CA 90801-3235, (562) 624-3536.

Please notify SPE Headquarters directly with change of address: P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083
Tel: (800) 456-6863 Fax: (972) 952-9435 E-mail address for newsletter information: newsletter@laspe.org

Send email to: LA SPE Newsletter Editor