Special Theme : Deep Water Exploration
8-10 November, 2000
Goa, India
The 26th Annual convention and the seminar on Exploration Geophysics with a special theme Deep Water Exploration was organized during
November 8-10, 2000 at Goa, the famous tourist centre known for beautiful
beaches in India. The seminar was well attended by over 250 delegates from
India and 15 delegates from overseas representing various government, public
and private organizations involved in earth sciences. The seminar was jointly
organized by Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and National Institute of
Oceanography .
Essay Competitions
To promote earth sciences and create an awareness about geoscience among school going children, the AEG has been organizing essay writing
competitions coinciding with its annual conventions. This year on Oct.28, 2000,
AEG organized essay competitions to
expose the students to the importance of groundwater and environment .The
response from the student community for these activities has been overwhelming
and it is heartening to see that an equal number of boys and girls totalling
more than 200 participating in this event. The essays written by students show
their ability of in depth analysis of the subject and the seriousness with
which they approached the problem. The prizes were distributed by Hon’ble
Minister Shri.Ram Naik, Govt. of India.
Popular lectures
AEG started organizing popular lectures for the benefit of the school children since 1998. This year nearly 500 students from various
schools in and around Goa attended the lectures. Prof. Y. Sreedhar Murthy gave
an introductory lecture on geophysics. Prof.Colin Reeves of International
Institute for Aerospace Surveys and Earth Sciences, Delft, The Netherlands,
presented a computer animation on continental drift which excited the children.
Press Conference
A press conference prior to the seminar was organized. Dr.Avinash Chandra,DG, DGH, and President, AEG, Prof.Y.Sreedhar Murthy, Secretary,
AEG and Dr.E.Desa, Director, NIO addressed the journalists highlighting the
importance of Earth Sciences for the progress of the Country and the activities
of AEG in that direction.
Exhibition
More and more Companies dealing with geophysical instruments are getting attracted to exhibit their latest instruments in AEG Convention.
In response to their keeness, AEG organized an exhibition of Geophysical
Instruments by Shri Manohar Parrikar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa, which was
inaugurated on the morning of November 8, at 9.00 AM. About 20 exhibitors from
India and abroad participated in the exhibition. The organizations exhibited
the state of art technologies in both software and hardware.
About the seminar
The seminar was inaugurated by Shri.Ram Naik, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India on the morning of November
8, 2000 at Goa Marriot Resort, Goa. Shri Digambar Kamat, Minister for Power,
Govt. of Goa and Shri Bikas C.Bora, CMD, ONGC were the guests of honour. Shri
Bikash C. Bora, CMD, ONGC , was felicitated on this occasion for his
distinguished services in particular to the development of Oil Industry in
India. Dr.Avinash Chandra, Director
General,DGH and President, AEG presided over the inaugural function. A Souvenir
containing invited articles, abstracts of papers received during the seminar
was released during the inaugural function.
In his inaugural address, Shri Ram Naik, Hon’ble minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, called upon
the geologists to work hard in a planned manner to boost indigenous Hydrocarbon
production, in order to cut down the hefty import bill of Petroleum products.
He dwelt on Hydrocarbon Vision 2025 that outlines a long-term strategy for
integrated exploration program. Prof.Y.Sreedhar Murthy, Secretary, AEG briefed
about the activities of the association which include the promotion of
education in geosciences and employment opportunities focussed for
geoscientists, excellence in technological advancement.
In his Presidential address Dr. Avinash Chandra, presenting a scientific
paper giving details of onshore
producing fields and the shallow offshore areas adjacent to deep-water regions
off the east and west coasts of India.
AEG Honours &
Awards
Dr. S.K.Acharyya,Director General, Geological Survey of India,was felicitated for his contribution to the development of earth sciences in
India.
Plenary Session
After the inauguration, key note addresses were delivered by the convenors of various themes:
Marine Geosciences – World Scenario by Prof. Manik Talwani, Airborne Geophysics
– World Scenario by Prof. Colin V. Reeves, World Oil Scenario and Research
Perspectives by Dr. Hari Narain, Role of Surface Geophysics in E & P
Industries by Kharak Singh, Future Trends and Technologies by V.K. Sibal
Technical sessions
Besides the key note addresses, there were thirteen technical sessions covering a wide spectrum of important topics. Deep Water
Exploration was the special theme for this convention. Sixty technical papers
were presented with the themes on Marine
geophysics, Remote sensing and airborne Geophysics, Groundwater studies and
Environmental studies, Signal processing, computing and Modelling, future
trends and technologies.
Cultural Programme
In addition to plenary and technical sessions, special tour programs for delegates and spouses, social programmes and cultural evenings
complemented the seminar. Cultural evenings were organized on the first two
days, wherein the artists presented the glimpses of Goan classical and folk
music and dance.
Brainstroming
Session
On the suggestion of the Chief Guest in his inaugural address, in view of the increasing National concern for energy security, AEG
organized a brain storming session on 09 November 2000. Delegates from premier
organizations representing oil and gas, mineral industries, academia and
research institutions participated in the deliberation.
General Body
Meeting
The general body meeting was organized on November 8,2000 after the Plenary session with Dr.Avinash Chadra, President AEG in the chair.
Prof. Y.Sreedhar Murthy, Secretary & Treasurer, AEG has explained in detail
its activities and achievements and its future plans and presented
the budget report for the year 1999-2000. Several members lauded the
achievements of the Association and gave few suggestions to improve the
financial commitments for bringing out journal regularly, like requesting all
the members to contribute liberally to meet the postal charges of the journal.
Valedictory
Function
The valedictory function of the seminar was organized on November 10, 2000. His Excellency Mohammad Fazal, Governor of Goa graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Dr.Hari Narain, former Director of NGRI presided
over the function. H.E. Mohammad Fazal presented the MBR Rao Gold Medal for the
best paper to Mr.S.N.Singh for the paper ‘Surface And Volume based attribute
analysis revealed a possible paleo-river channel from 3D seismic data- A case
study from Upper Assam’. The P.K.Bhattacharya award for the second best paper
was awarded to Dr.M.V.Ramana, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa for the
paper ‘Marine geophysical studies off East Antartica - A suggestion for an area
of thrust’. Mr. V.K.Sibal ,OIL presented a report on the brain storming session
on the ‘National concern for energy security’. Besides giving thrust to the
welcome document “Hydrocarbon Vision 2025” by Govt. of India, there is a need
for a holistic and aggressive exploration programme for Hydrocarbon minerals
and Groundwater to meet the challenges arising out of challenging global
economic scenerio, and formation of a National Geoscientific Data Repository.
The delegates of Goa Convention expressed their deep satisfaction with the efforts of AEG in bringing so may delegates to a common
platform to project the recent developments in earth sciences and related
fields. While proposing a vote of thanks Prof. Y. Sreedhar Murthy, Secretary
& treasurer AEG appealed to the elite delegates representing various
leading organizations for their continued support to the cause of the
Earthscience in general and geophysics in particular. He also announced the
decision of the Executive Committee to organize the seminars bi-annually and
the venue will be decided in the next Executive Committee meeting.
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