Austin, then Sweden, Finland and Russia

Baker Hughes supports many universities and UT-Austin has always had a good relationship, We sponsored multiple laboratories in the Petroleum Engineering department and it is always a pleasure to return there. Especially since we could present them a big check.

We also got a great tour of new facilities and spoke to their students and faculty.

I stayed the weekend and took the grandsons on a Cub Scout campout!

Jan and I attended the World Oil Banquet where I received the Lifetime Achievement Award. SPE also was recognized for having the best community outreach award.

Our trip to Russia included stops to Stockholm and Helsinki. Few SPE members but we enjoyed an opera and visit to the LDS temples in each town. Both towns are lovely.

Stockholm

Helsinki

One of our favorite Japanese artists had an exhibition there as well.

Moscow

The Russian Petroleum Conference and Exhibition was outstanding. I gave an opening welcome speech and participated in the plenary panel. I also gave out (as usual) a lot of awards. Jan and I caught one opera at the Bolshoi and I visited with local oil company leaders. I was able to tour Gubkin University again and address the students.

St. Petersburg

The ext stop was St. Petersburg where I met at considerable length with GazPromneft leadership. From lunch and presenting them an award through the end of the day. They have an impressive facility and as the Russia's fourth largest oil producer is technically comparable to the best operators globally. Jan and I went to three operas there and we met with students from the Mining University and St. Petersburg State University. We also went back to the Hermitage and toured the magnificent Faberge museum.

Frankfurt

Frankfurt was a layover evening resulting from changes of plans and some ticket cost savings. We had breakfast with great friends of ours and did a little too much shopping.

Other Blogs

You can of course read about my barbecue at This site
My Baker Hughes reservoir blog is here.
My (old) blog detailing my 18 months in Hong Kong is here,

Travel this trip (basically includes airport to airport) 13,675 miles. SPE travel to date 432,500 miles. Round trip earth to moon is 477,800 so almost back!

Countries to date (my counting rule is basically that I spent the night there with some sort of SPE content...not just went through the airport like New Zealand or Panama): 43
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Belgium
Brunei
Canada
China
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Kuwait
Indonesia
India
Ireland
Italy
Malaysia
Mexico
Nigeria
Netherlands
Norway
Oman
Qatar
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Trinidad & Tobago
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom (Scotland, England)
USA
Vietnam

Operas this month = 6 Operas to date = 58