May 6, 2003 — When 4,500 petroleum geologists convene in Salt Lake City on Sunday May 11, the University of Utah Energy & Geosciences Institute (EGI) will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its origin, and then help host the convention.
“EGI is the entry point for many students’ path into the energy and environmental sectors,” says Raymond A. Levey, the institute’s director. “Our 30-year history of applied energy and environmental research is a firm foundation upon which we are building a future dedicated to providing the international petroleum and geothermal communities with the tools and the science to find the energy our country and the world needs.”
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is meeting May 11-14 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Levey is the convention’s vice chairman, and he and other EGI staff are involved in convention committees.
EGI will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a reception for its research sponsors from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday May 11 in the Solitude Room of the Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown, 75 South West Temple St., directly across the street from the Salt Palace.
Invited guests include representatives of PEMEX, Mexico’s national oil company; Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil company; the Bulgarian Energy Ministry, the Geological Institute of Azerbaijan, and other guests from Canada, France, Germany, Jordan, Norway and the United Kingdom.
The Energy & Geosciences Institute was founded in 1973 under its original name, the Earth Sciences Resources Institute (ESRI) at the University of South Carolina. EGI took its current name in 1995 when ESRI’s energy group moved to Salt Lake City and merged with the University of Utah Research Institute, also founded in 1973, Levey says. Headquartered at the University of Utah, EGI now has offices in Houston; London, through an alliance with Imperial College; Calgary, Alberta; and Sydney, Australia.
EGI conducts applied research projects for 32 oil and gas companies around the world, the geothermal energy industry and the U.S. Department of Energy. EGI staff members have worked on all the world’s continents in the past 30 years, and research programs now are underway in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, Russia, Brazil, the Scotian Shelf off eastern Canada, the North Sea, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Oman and Yemen.
EGI researchers will present several technical papers during the AAPG convention, covering improved methods to find or recover oil. The institute also will have a booth (No. 511) during the convention. It will be in the main exhibit hall adjacent to the International Pavilion. AAPG met in Salt Lake City once before, in 1997.
Energy & Geosciences Institute:
http://www.egi.utah.edu
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, including convention program and abstracts:
http://www.aapg.org