Present natural gas price cannot support yesterday’s high lease bonuses.

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Eric’s Website

An engineer friend of mine had an open house to introduce his many clients and friends to his new office.  The place was crowded with fifty people, or so and I soon began recognizing people I had not see in years.  They were all older but they all looked good.  Seeing them again, I realized I was not the only survivor of the eighties oil bust.

Many years ago, my then partner John and I had sold our first deal as independent geologists.  It was to an oil company in Fort Worth owned by a local tycoon.  He paid John and me five thousand dollars for the deal and we thought, at the time, that we were the two richest men in the world.

We drove all the way home from Fort Worth that night.  The Christmas season was in full swing and we stopped in downtown Oklahoma City to attend a party held in the Skirvin (think Perle Mesta) Hotel ballroom and hosted by Dresser Industries.

Dresser always had a Christmas party that was without parallel.  The buffet had endless acres of food, along with enough whiskey and other assorted alcohol to float a battleship.  Thousands of oilies attended every year.  John and I had both attended in previous years, but this was our first year as independents, and we had just sold our first deal.

The Dresser Christmas party was just one of many, but it was one of the best.  Everyone had a Christmas party and they all spent thousands of dollars providing food, drink and entertainment.

My friend’s open house reminded me of the lavish parties of the past.  Tonight’s party was great but nothing as lavish as those days in the late seventies and eighties.  Still, seeing many old friends tonight, I am glad that I’m not the only dinosaur left in the world.

Eric’s Website