As we come to the close of another challenging year in the O&G calendar, will 2018 bring better times?
As we turn the corner into 2018, I get the feeling we may also be turning the corner into slightly better times. The oil price has been steadily climbing for 6 months and is now relatively stable at the highest it has been since the middle of 2015 – though I am not prepared to make any predictions about how long it will stay there. There seems to be a greater willingness to start thinking ahead, with more exploration planned throughout the world for the coming year. According to the EIA, US shale production is expected to rise for a 13th consecutive month to a new record in January, with spending on drilling worldwide predicted to increase in 2018. Meanwhile technological advances are enabling us to explore for and produce hydrocarbons more cost-efficiently and with a reduced environmental footprint.
What do you think is happening out there? Is the industry in a more buoyant mood and are you expecting greater things of 2018? I always love meeting and talking to GEO ExPro readers (in person or virtually) and finding out what you think, and also what you like – or don’t like – about the magazine and website. The compliments could make us big-headed – but it is great to hear that we are achieving what we set out to do; to bring information, technological developments and exploration news to the upstream geoscience community in an educational and easy-to-read manner, together with some more general geological topics like our ever-popular GEO Tourism articles (80 available online and still counting!).
To be told “I love reading your magazine” is very satisfying, because I am pleased to be serving this important industry and I am proud of the many wonderful contributors who write excellent, informative and well-illustrated articles to help us keep the industry and the wider public educated, entertained and up to date. A heartfelt “thank you” to them all, and also to all our readers and advertisers.
So here’s to 2018 and yet more interesting articles and GEO ExPro Magazines: as exhorted to by a recent correspondent, we’ll keep ‘em coming!
Jane Whaley
Editor in Chief
