The evaluation engineer generates not only reserve projections, but also cash flows and often fair-market-value (FMV) estimates. These tasks require ecopolitical assumptions in addition to the technology involved. This paper discusses the evolution of economic and risk considerations into current "industryaccepted" practices and the engineer's role in the evaluation process.
A forum for sharing ideas and experiences T oo frequently our library's professional staff fail to take time to discuss, as a group, library and libraryrelated issues that do not necessarily impact their daily routine or the library's daytoday operation. More commonly, professional staff is absorbed in completing the tasks and assigned duties that fall chiefly within their immediate area of responsibility. Innovative ideas that are peripheral, not part of a current service or not within the scope of the larger group, are less likely to be disseminated for discussion. Certainly dialogue takes place between indi viduals, by happenstance or on the fl y, after a conference or a workshop, but outside of an arena or context in which more individu als can participate and benefi t professionally through a sharing of opinions and experi ences. Without such a forum, new ideas do not stand a chance. Hence, professional communication is more often not as rigorous or robust as it might be, and should be, in the workplace.Staff meetings historically provide a venue that draws a large professional audience, but typically these meetings use a formal report ing structure that does not accommodate a more relaxed dialogue or professional dis course around a related or pertinent topic. To address this lament, a suggestion was made at one of our library faculty meetings to take a look at a known, successful format for organizing individuals around a topic for discussion-the "journal club."
At a time of shrinking employment, the pivotal role of technology in the petroleum industry's future is widely acknowledged. This technological dilemma is discussed in recent presentations from the viewpoint of corporate restructuring and the overhaul of the educational system. This paper explores the personal and professional growth required for an individual to meet tomorrow's challenges.
Because a majority of petroleum engineers fall under the industrial exemption, registration is usually taken for granted as a procedure that is always available if needed. Even registered engineers in public practice tend to view it as a governmental requirement without relating registration to their status as a professional and their responsibility to the public's health, safety and welfare. Professional registration is not exempt from the winds of change originating in our increasingly consumer-oriented, environmenţly-conscious society. Although petroleum engineering has been a well established discipline for over fifty years, it is classified as a "minor" discipline because of the number of licensed practitioners. The increase in the number of recognized minor engineering disciplines in the last two decades has led to proposed revisions in the registering process. Lacking a well developed professional image, petroleum engineering is vulnerable to these proposed changes. Recently, two states proposed revisions that would make it more difficult to register as a petroleum engineer. Periodically, industrial exemptions come under question. These are few of the current issues that pose a possible threat to registering as a petroleum engineer.
The practice of engineering is not a natural or constitutional right. The separate states have the authority to determine who is qualified to practice as an engineer. If the majority of petroleum engineers are content to earn a paycheck and achieve passable competency in a limited area with little regard for the broader aspects of professionalism, we may lack sufficient credibility as a discipline to control our destiny.
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