STATEMENT BY SEG PRESIDENT ROBERT B. RICE BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AD HOC SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF, NOVEMBER 14, 1975

Abstract

I am Robert B. Rice, President of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. The Society of Exploration Geophysicists, or SEG, is a professional and scientific organization of over 9000 geophysicists residing in 100 countries. Two‐thirds of our members live in the U.S. We have 24 affiliated sections, 20 of which are in this country. Members of the SEG carry out, worldwide, over $1 billion worth of geophysical exploration annually, of which 96 percent is petroleum exploration. Forty percent of this effort is in the United States. Two‐thirds of our work in this country (in terms of miles of survey lines) concerns the highly important offshore areas. Our members are this country’s main manpower and technology resource so vital in our search for new energy sources. Our Society is the primary international professional organization of exploration geophysicists. Geophysical exploration involves the examination and measurement of the earth’s structure and composition in the search for minerals and energy. In carrying out this work, the full scope of physical sciences is involved, and our members have technical expertise ranging from geology and geophysics to physics, mathematics, and most branches of engineering. Forty percent of our membership is associated with petroleum companies, 20 percent with private geophysical contractors, 20 percent with mining and engineering companies, and 20 percent hold academic and governmental positions. Nearly all of the geophysical data gathered on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf is collected by the geophysical contractors, while nearly all the management of the surveys and interpretation of the data is by oil company geophysicists.