Timeless Memories

CCOP through the years

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Contents

Page How the seeds that CCOP planted had taken root

Editha S. Abangan 1 A Day in the Service of CCOP

Guillermo R. Balce 3 Short stories from 32 years of cooperation with CCOP Oystein Berg 4 Memories of an Ex-Regional Expert in CCOP

Niran Chaimanee 16 CCOP is a Close-nit Family Chen Shick Pei 18 CCOP - a Data and Technology Center for Wide Range of Decision Makers

Eikichi Tsukuda 23 The Painful Reform That Turned Out To Be A Milestone For CCOP

He Qingcheng 25 Memories of CCOP

Hee Young Chun 27 Viva CCOP! Its vigorous activities over a span of 50 years Hirokazu Kato 30 CCOP as a network weaver connecting to diverse groups in terms of artisanal/small-scale mining Satoshi Murao 32 Geosciences: no boundaries Nguyen Hong Minh 34 CCOP Memories Yasukuni Okubo 37

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Page Memories of a CCOP Rapporteur (and CCOP songwriter) A J (Tony) Reedman 39 My Memories on Petroleum Program with CCOP

Nares Sattayarak 43 Memories from a Dutch representative to CCOP Henk J.W.G.Schalke 45 The gateway to East and Southeast Asia in geosciences is called CCOP

Franca Schwarz 48 Memories of 50 Years of CCOP Involving the World Geoscience Community in CCOP Activities Yoshihiko Shimazaki 49 Planning for the first PPM Case study Workshop in Cambodia, 2002 Gunnar Søiland 51 A message from the former Chairman of the CCOP Steering Committee

Raden Sukhyar 53 Congratulations!! Yusaku Taguchi 55

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How the seeds that CCOP planted had taken root Editha S. Abangan

Co-National Coordinator to CCOP (2000-2006) Department of Energy, Philippines

“Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side;

our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.” – Ally Condie

I entered the world of CCOP in 1994. I was a novice then when it comes to petroleum exploration but our Norwegian mentors, Jan Erik, Pier and Inger, helped build my confidence as they treated everyone like colleagues and listened to whatever we had to say. Sim and I were very much impressed by the Norwegian system and were awe-inspired by the beautifully crafted graphs they presented. We dreamt of making them for our own petroleum resources. We eventually got much more than graphs when Norway supported our proposed Philippine Petroleum Resource Assessment Project (PhilPRA) and the conduct of the First Philippine Petroleum Contracting Round (PECR1).

I left the DOE in 2006 but came back to the service two years ago and found myself involved again in one of CCOP’s activities. I think it was inevitable. With 21 years of working together in the past, I do think that my roots are already tangled with that of CCOP’s. Again, I am inspired by the things I am learning. Like before, my imagination is running wild with possibilities.

Looking back, I see how the seeds that CCOP planted had taken root. As in the Philippine case, CCOP’s regional programs had influenced and empowered other Member Countries to successfully implement their own local projects.

I am grateful to CCOP not only for addressing our training needs through its regional programs and for enabling us to carry out our own projects but also for providing us the setting to forge friendships among people from different countries throughout the course of its activities.

Most of my old friends in CCOP are no longer there. But I look forward to making new ones. Together with CCOP, we will continue to grow, again side by side.

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Filipinos at the CCOP-KIGAM Unconventional Oil and Gas Project’s Third Technical Meeting and Workshop, 2015, Chiangmai, Thailand. In black suit is Ms. Editha Abangan.

Fern , Sim and Edit in Shanghai (REP-2 Workshop, 1996)

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A Day in the Service of CCOP Guillermo R. Balce, Honorary Advisor

Director CCOP TS (1989 – 1992) Manila, Philippines

The Roman poet Virgil once said that: “time flies fast never to be regained”. And we can add: “but happy memories of those times are never forgotten”. That makes our life meaningful. So with CCOP as it celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

I had the privilege of celebrating the 25th Anniversary of CCOP in 1991. That’s a quarter of a century ago, but I still vividly remember the course of a normal day during the three wonderful years that I was head of the CCOP Team in Bangkok. In January, when the bustling city’s early-morning temperature was just in the mid-20’s, I would ask my chauffer Khun Visut not to pick

me up at 8 a.m. from my apartment at Soi Sala Daeng as he usually does. I would instead take a leisurely walk to the CCOP office on Sathorn Neua Road, donning a pair of blue jeans and a sweat shirt. Upon arriving at the office, I would wipe up the sweat and change to my office suit.

Office starts at 9 a.m. and Khun Visut would drive me to the ESCAP Office in Rajadarmnern Nok Road for my meeting with Pieter Bakker, Head of ESCAP’s Mineral Resources Section. I would hurry back to the CCOP office to join the expatriate staff for lunch at the restaurant on the first floor of nearby Sathorn Thani Building. Coastal engineering geologist Jim Harding would seat at the head of the table. Occupying the other seats would be petroleum geologist Bert Elisheiwitz and his wife, petroleum geologist Weng Shijie, marine geophysicist John Ringis , economic geologist Sang Yup Kim, aeromagnetics expert and geophysicist Hanaoka, quaternary geologist Johan Liebens, and myself. The set menu was international, with a choice of fried chicken, pork chop, beef steak or fish fillet for the main course.

I also cannot forget that day when Bangkok’s infamous traffic gridlock caused me and my ever-reliable executive assistant Khun Sakda to keep Vietnamese Ambassador Le Mai and Philippine Ambassador Josue Villa waiting for hours in their embassies for our meetings. Both embassies were just a few kilometers away from the CCOP office, but we had no way to inform the Ambassadors that we were stuck in traffic because, believe it or not, cellphones were not yet available then. Because of the horrendous traffic, we were also forced to skip the Vin d’Honneur for the National Day of one our Cooperating Countries. These days, the traffic in Bangkok is much better. So, I am sure that we and the Diplomatic Corps of Bangkok will arrive well ahead of time to raise our toast glasses during the Vin d’Honneur for CCOP’s 50th anniversary. Congratulations and cheers to CCOP!

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Short stories from 32 years of cooperation with CCOP Dr. Øystein Berg, Honorary Advisor

Røyneberg, Norway

In March 1984, The Director of Safety at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Mr. Magne Ognedal, and myself, Dr. Øystein Berg, Department Director of Structures of Pipelines at the same place, were invited to speak on topics related to Offshore Safety at a conference in Jakarta. The conference was organized by CCOP and ASCOPE (Asean Council on Petroleum) together with NECOR – Norwegian Engineering Committee on Oceanic Resources. NECOR was at the time coordinating projects with CCOP, ASCOPE and SOPAC - South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission on behalf of Norad – The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Mr. Ognedal and I were most excited about the prospect of travelling to South East Asia for the first and most likely the last time so we had stopovers in Kathmandu and Bangkok in order to experience as much as possible on this ‘first and last trip’ to the region. We also bought a lot of souvenirs and gifts to bring home.

Little did I know in March 1984 that 32 years later I and Petrad (International Programme for Petroleum Management and Administration) would have conducted 209 tailored seminars and workshops in East and South East Asia with more than 9000 participants from Government Agencies and National Oil Companies. In addition there had been 340 participants from the same countries to two 8-week programs on Petroleum Policy, Management and Operations which a partner and I designed and conducted with the assistance of Norwegian Petroleum experts in Stavanger, Norway, from 1991 onwards.

On top of this there had been numerous study tours to Norway by representatives from Government Agencies and National Oil Companies in East and South East Asia and similar return visits by Norwegian experts and students to the region.

In the same period, I and the Petrad organization had been involved in creating since 1989, had received several plaques of recognition for the cooperation with ASCOPE and CCOP. We were given the Friendship Award by the Chinese Government in 2004, their highest award given to foreigners and culminating with an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Engineering from Petronas University of Technology in 2015.

All of this had been in addition to another 500+ similar Petrad activities in Africa, Middle East, South Asia and countries in the former Soviet Union involving another 10.000 + participants from Governments and National Oil Companies.

…. and how had this incredible number of activities been possible? The answer is by cooperation on knowledge sharing on topics of common interest, respect and friendship.

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(Left Picture) Oystein Berg, showing the Friendship Award received from the Chinese Government in 2004. (Right

Picture) Oystein Berg, delivering a speech, as one of the recipients of Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Engineering from Petronas University of Technology in 2015.

None of this could have been carried out without the inspiration and hard work done by the Secretariats of the CCOP and ASCOPE organizations and their members.

Both CCOP and ASCOPE are unique organizations in a global context with respect to knowledge sharing in the geoscience and petroleum sectors. I learnt a lot from these organizations and their people in the way I designed and conducted Petrad programs all over the world with a combination of serious knowledge sharing in the petroleum sector, but equally important the networking and social interaction between people such as excursions, cultural events, excellent dinners, karaoke, joke telling and much more.

… and that leads me to what I initially wanted to share with you in this CCOP 50-year Jubilee Book - small stories I remember from having spent 32 incredible years with the wonderful people of East and South East Asia. The serious parts of the Jubilee Book, i.e. the geosciences etc, will be covered by other contributors

- On my very first trip to Jakarta in 1984 I met with Mr. Warga Dalem, the Pertamina Director for International Cooperation and founder of ASCOPE who was the local host. I remember how impressed I was when I received the completed seminar report as part of the final agenda of the seminar. In Norway this would have been impossible. Perhaps we would have received the report by post 3-4 weeks after an event at the very earliest – if at all. I complemented Mr. Dalem on this incredible efficiency. He told me that this was part of the tradition in the region. Of course, I experienced this practice during later activities, but even to this day I am most impressed that the CCOP Technical Secretariat is able to complete and distribute the report of say the CCOP Annual Meeting before we all return to our home countries. Most impressive.

- At the CCOP Annual Sessions in Hanoi 1992, Dr. Karl Hintz, Head of the Department

of geological and geophysical research at BGR in Germany, developed a terrible toothache and had to go to the dentist to fix the problem. He had earlier seen how local dentists performed their work

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on the pavements of the streets of Hanoi with very antiquated equipment. He was therefore very nervous when leaving for the dentist. A couple of hours later a very happy Karl Hintz came back carrying a ‘horses size tooth’ on his handkerchief held high and presented this ‘gift’ to Dr. Henk Schalke from the Netherlands who was sitting on the podium chairing the CCOP Annual Meeting. He was not pleased at all for this interruption and had no intention of receiving this gift from Dr. Hintz. With a very red face, he told Dr. Hintz to remove this ugly thing immediately and leave the floor. Dr. Hintz was the happiest man in the bar that evening and treated everybody to free drinks – including snake wine!!!

- In 1993 a young lady from the Department of Energy, Philippines, Mrs. Zenaida

Monsada, attended one of the Petrad 8-week programs in Stavanger, Norway. As part of this program, the participants are grouped into ‘Management teams‘of 7-8 persons with different backgrounds and nationalities. When her group met for the first time, a ‘gentleman’ from India took the word immediately and proclaimed that he knew everything about management and offered to be the leader of the group. He then pointed to Zenaida and told her to be the secretary. In his mind, secretarial work was most suited for a woman. The Petrad management discovered after a week or so that this group struggled. The Indian proved to be most competent with regards to technical issues, but knew very little about management. We asked Zenaida if we should interfere and sort out the problem. She wanted no help from us. The following day she had a private meeting with the Indian. What she did or said, we do not know until this day. However, when the meeting was over she came out as the ‘boss’ and the poor Indian was relegated to ‘soldier’. Zenaida’s management team became one of the very best in the 25-year history of Petrad 8-week programs. In 2015 Zenaida was appointed the very first female ‘Energy Secretary’ in the Philippines which proves her excellence both in management and understanding of the energy sector.

- Another person we remember very well from the 8-week programs in Stavanger,

Norway is Mr. Jonih Rachmat. He and his companion from BPMIGAS in Indonesia, Mr. Mochamat Hatta Filsafawan, were in addition to being very competent petroleum experts, the joke tellers of the 8-week programs in 2004. They told the most unbelievable stories and we were crying with laughter when they got going. What we did not know until later was that the ‘joke teller’ Jonih and his wife had established a ‘Children Village’ on the outskirts of Jakarta. This village is for orphans and poor children and Jonih and his helpers provide food (some grown in their own fields) and educational services for them. They also teach the children music, play sport and games and take the children camping into the jungle. Around 100 children from babies to young adults are cared for in this village and the 6-7000 USD cost of running the village each month is donated from friends working at BPMIGAS (now SKKMIGAS), Pertamina and other companies and organisations. Whenever Petrad had seminars in Indonesia we used to cover a paper box in gold paper and pass it around the participants in order to collect money for the fantastic work Jonih and his wife are doing. At a Deepwater Technology seminar in Surabaya with more than 200 participants, we were able to collect more than USD 7000 and everybody applauded Jonih for his incredible work when we proudly gave him this money.

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Participants of the Deepwater Technology Seminar, Surabaya, Indonesia, 2007.

- There are of course many cultural differences between Norway and East and South East Asia and it takes some time to learn all of these. When we were planning the very first seminar in Vietnam, we sent the draft program to PetroVietnam for comments. They were most happy with the professional part. However, they indicated politely that they needed two hours for lunch, one hour for eating and one hour for sleeping. We knew about the siestas in Southern Europe, but did not realize that this was also customary in Vietnam at the time. Thus, we had to adjust the program accordingly. For the second hour of lunch, curtains were drawn in the seminar room at the exclusive Metropole Hotel in Hanoi and most of the participants were stretched out on chairs or on the floor getting ready for the afternoon session.

- Karaoke has very much been an important part of the social life at CCOP and ASCOPE

activities. However, karaoke is something Norwegians are not used to and try to shy away from if asked to sing since most of us do not remember any songs. I came across this challenge was when we had a big seminar on Petroleum Policy in Beijing in 1995. The Head of Bureau of Petroleum asked if I thought the speakers would like to join the Chinese participants for dinner, dance and karaoke. I accepted, but was totally at loss of what to sing since there were no Norwegian karaoke DVD’s at the time and I had no song texts with me. I therefore called my administrative manager in Norway who laughed and promised to find the text of some songs to send to me. Two hours afterwards I received 24 pages of rather ‘naughty’ song texts by telefax written for various parties held at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate but to the tune of well-known Norwegian children songs. This saved the evening for me and the other Norwegian speakers. Luckily, the Chinese participants did not understand the naughty Norwegian songs which we performed to great applause. We had the most marvelous evening with our Chinese friends and enjoying boxes of Kentucky Fried Chicken (which was the dinner) and karaoke and dancing well into the night.

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When Norwegian karaoke discs became available some years later, I became ‘famous’ for singing the children’s song about ‘Animals in Africa’ or ‘The elephant song’ which it was named by Mr. Bala, former Secretary in Charge of ASCOPE. Whenever I performed this song in his presence, he always joined me on the stage and made the appropriate animal sounds. However, after a few years of singing this song at every CCOP or ASCOPE karaoke opportunity, I was forbidden to sing it again. The participants had had enough of ‘Animals in Africa’!

Karaoke singing during a dinner function, Petroleum Policy Management Seminar, Bangkok, Thailand, 1997. Oystein Berg in the center.

When Norwegian karaoke discs became available some years later, I became ‘famous’ for singing the children’s song about ‘Animals in Africa’ or ‘The elephant song’ which it was named by Mr. Bala, former Secretary in Charge of ASCOPE. Whenever I performed this song in his presence, he always joined me on the stage and made the appropriate animal sounds. However, after a few years of singing this song at every CCOP or ASCOPE karaoke opportunity, I was forbidden to sing it again. The participants had had enough of ‘Animals in Africa’!

- In the early days of CCOP – Petrad seminars, some countries required translation of the presentations from English to the local language. At a two-week seminar on Petroleum Policy and Operations in Beijing in 1995, Ministry of Land and Resources had arranged for some of the teachers at a school for translators to do simultaneous translation at the seminar. It did not take long before the participants and I realized that the translators had no experience from translating for the petroleum industry, and the translations became longwinded approximations and mostly incorrect. It was therefore decided to get some of the participants who spoke good English and were professional

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petroleum engineers or geologists, to do the translation from English to Chinese. This was done by what we called parallel translation. The speaker made one statement in English, which was repeated in Chinese and so on. There was one session on Industrial Maintenance where Mr. Zhang Bojun was the translator. He had recently attended the Petrad 8-week program in Norway where the speaker at this seminar, Dr. Bjørn Johannessen, also was the lecturer on maintenance in Norway. The presentation went very well. However, after one such statement made by Dr. Johannessen, Mr. Zhang Bojun continued and continued and continued in Chinese. ‘Stop’ said Dr. Johannessen after listening to 5-10 minutes of translation by Mr. Zhang Bojun. ‘I did not say that’. There was laughter in the audience. Mr. Zhang Bojun said ‘that is correct. However, I learnt so much about industrial maintenance from you when I attended the 8-week program in Norway. I wanted share this knowledge with the participants’. Afterwards they both became lecturers of industrial maintenance at the seminar.

- Also in the mid 90-ies I received a telefax from a subsidiary of CNPC working in central parts of China. One of their engineers had been to Beijing and come across the 1000+ pages compendium from our Petrad 8-week program in Stavanger, Norway. The telefax stated that they had approximately 50 petroleum engineers in their operation who needed the knowledge provided in this compendium, but would never get the chance to attend the course in Norway. They asked if I could kindly accept that they made a translation of the 1000+ pages into Chinese for the benefit of their engineers. My reply was that I accepted this as long as I could receive a copy of the translation. One year later, I received by post a beautifully bound ‘book’ with Petrad logo on the front with everything, text and graphs, translated into Chinese.

- In August 2002, the CCOP Technical Secretariat and several CCOP Members attended the very large ONS - Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition in Stavanger, Norway. CCOP had one of the most beautiful pavilions this year amongst 1300 other exhibitors. When planning this event, we had a discussion with Khun Fern at CCOP Technical Secretariat what to give to people who visited the CCOP pavilion. Tradition was that other exhibitors handed out sweets, toys or company gifts, but CCOP wanted to be different. Fern suggested that deep fried ants, silk worms and grasshoppers could be something unique to be served at the CCOP pavilion. The Norwegian Food Authorities gave the approval to import these culinary Asian delights. It became the high-light of the ONS that year. People lined up to try these very special foods. We also knew that the King of Norway, Harald, would visit the CCOP pavilion on the opening day. However, we were given strict instructions from the Director of ONS that the King should not be given any gifts or food. We begged the Director to accept that Khun Fern was allowed to give to King Harald a very special bouquet of flowers from Thailand intended for Royalty. This was accepted.

What the Director did not know was that we had informed the Press about the ants, silk

worms and grasshoppers to be served at the CCOP Pavilion. There were 20-30 journalists and photographers waiting for the King outside the CCOP Pavilion. Khun Fern in her beautiful Thai dress was there with the flowers. ‘Where are the grasshoppers’ one journalist called. ‘We have to see them’. Editha Abagan from the Philippines, equally beautiful in a Philippine dress, then took the

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basket with the grasshoppers and stood next to Fern waiting for the King. The King arrived and was presented with the flowers. Then he discovered Editha with her grasshoppers and immediately took a grasshopper and put in his mouth. The Director of ONS nearly fainted there and then. However, King Harald chewed his grasshopper and chatted happily with Fern, Editha and other CCOP members before moving to the next pavilion.

ONS 2002 Delegates from the CCOP Member Countries.

Ms. Fern, from the CCOP Technical Secretariat presenting flowers to the King of Norway,

King Harald at ONS 2002, Stavanger.

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On the next day, Stavanger Aftenblad (the local Stavanger newspaper) reported the following from ONS including a very nice picture:

Yummi – fresh grasshopper!

King Harald could have worn a tropical suit when he in hot and humid ONS climate enjoyed a deep fried grasshopper from Thailand. However, he declined when offered giant ants and silk worms.

The 11 CCOP countries from East and South East Asia, brought together by Petrad and Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, got maximum marketing effects from its exotic foods. The King seemed to enjoy the grasshopper and carried out his program at the ONS without any visible side effects.

A colleague from Singapore seemed to know that this Thai specialty has positive effect for man’s sexual desire. Stavanger Aftenblad cannot confirm this statement. There are no comments from the Kings Castle whether this is true or not.

- At a seminar in Phuket, Thailand, in the early 1990-ies, the Director General of the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy was keynote speaker. I stood at the back of the lecture room when he started his presentation in the morning. He was immaculately dressed in a blue striped suit and matching tie. My heart jumped when I then saw that the zip of his trousers was open when he walked around giving his lecture. I hastily wrote this information on a piece of paper, which I put on the rostrum. He ‘glided’ across the rostrum to see what the message was. When he came out on the other side, the zip was masterfully closed. He did not turn red in his face nor did he miss a beat in his presentation. Very professional!!!

- Also in the early 1990-ies, we were going to have a seminar with CNPC/Petro China at

their training centre in Rushan, Shandong Province. This became quite a challenge in every respect. One of our key lecturers had to cancel one day before we were due to leave Norway for China because his young son had an accident and had to go to hospital. I was able to persuade one of the other speakers, Mr. Torstein Høie from Aker Geo, who was a very experienced geologist, to take over the full day of lectures from the other lecturer in addition to his own lectures. The speakers and I landed at Jinan International Airport for one day of sightseeing to Tai Shan Mountain before going to Rushan by night train the following day. This was in the days of plastic overheads and Mr. Torstein Høie who had a very heavy suitcase full of plastic overheads for his own and the extra lectures, did not receive his suitcase upon arrival at Jinan Airport. Guess if we all became nervous? Our Chinese friends were able to trace the suitcase which had gone to Tokyo instead of Jinan.

Ms. Editha Abangan, from the Philippines with the grasshoppers,

ONS 2002.

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The big question was now whether the overheads would make it to Jinan before we had to take the train to Rushan the following evening. Mr. Høie and the quality of the seminar would be lost without his suitcase filled with overheads. We had the most wonderful sightseeing to Tai Shan Mountain and climbed the 7 km and 6600 stone steps to the top (but took the cable car down since our legs were stiff as logs after waking up the mountain). On returning from Tai Shan to Jinan, our Chinese friends could inform us that the suitcase was found in Tokyo and was now on the way to Jinan by air. When we arrived at the outskirts of Jinan, we were told that CNPC staff at the airport had collected the suitcase and was now at full speed on the way to the railway station, as were the speakers and I, but from a different direction. We were continually informed about the progress of the suitcase, but we arrived at the railway station and there was no suitcase. The nervousness of Mr. Høie and myself increased dramatically. The night train to Rushan started to move when one of the CNPC employees came running along the moving train and threw the heavy suitcase on the train. Fern was kept awake all night by 3 happily snoring Norwegians who had to share the compartment with her. The seminar was a great success.

- It was at the same seminar at the CPNC training centre in Rushan that I was heavily

‘confronted’ with the traditions of the Chinese Gampei – or ‘bottoms-up’. I had enjoyed this Chinese tradition many times before even if I always have been a very light drinker, but in Rushan it became a bit of a challenge. At dinner every night during the week, we were served a relatively light wine. However, at the farewell dinner, the Director of Rushan training centre provided the real Mou Tai and increased the size of the glasses. I was the Guest of Honour together with Mr. Li Zhijian, from Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources. As tradition goes in China, first we had 10 bottoms-up around my table. Then we had another 8-9 bottoms-up with representatives from the other tables. Then we as VIP’s had to toast the other tables, which meant another 8-9 bottoms-up. This was followed by another 5-6 of the same, meaning 30+ bottoms-up of 58% proof Moi Tai in a matter of two hours. Then Mr. Li Zhijian touched my arm and suggested that it was time for us to leave. I was told the following day that we looked quite sober when we left. However, after we left the dining hall I remember nothing before I woke the following day in my room with my clothes all over the floor and two big blue marks on my arm. I had probably hit something trying to undress. Two weeks afterwards I got I very nice message sent from Mr. Li Zhijian saying ‘Thank you very much for saving me at the dinner’ . Best regards Li. I was later told that in the Shandong Province of China you are not friends until you get drunk together. I made many friends that night.

- Talking about drinking. Petrad had the honor of hosting Vice Minister Sun Wencheng

and a delegation of 6 from the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources to Stavanger, Norway, in September 2003. We had 3 very nice days together in the fjords and mountains with sightseeing, fishing, dinners and conversation. Amongst the topics of conversation were Chinese and Norwegian drinking habits. As a farewell gift, the Vice Minister received a bottle of Norwegian Aquavit, a 40% strong spicy potato spirit. It should also be mentioned that Vice Minister Sun Wencheng became Minister of Land and Resources when he was in Norway because of reorganization at the Ministry. The bottle of Aquavit was also to congratulate him on the new position at the Ministry.

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Not long afterwards MLR, CNOOC, CCOP and Petrad had a seminar in Kunming, China. I was most surprised when a representative from MLR turned up one day. He had been sent to Kunming by the Minister and presented me with 4 bottles of Mao Tai as thanks for the days we had together in Norway. At the same seminar we had some very nice dinners as was always the tradition when we had CCOP-Petrad seminars in the region. However, this was another occasion with serious ‘gampays’ with Wuliangye, another famous Chinese liqueur, 52% strong. One evening the senior Chinese representatives requested the junior participants to make toast with me and one after the other came to drink ‘bottoms-up’ – not with the traditional small Mao Tai glasses, but with real wine glasses. Being a light drinker, I was easy prey to the seasoned Chinese, even if they were junior management. At the end of the dinner around 7 pm, I felt the need to rest a little before the scheduled karaoke half an hour later. I was escorted back to my room and laid down to rest for half an hour. At 7.30 pm. I heard the karaoke singing starting. I wanted to go down to join them, but even if my head was crystal clear, there was no connection between my head and the rest of my body. I was unable to move and had to apologize the next day for not joining the rest of the group with karaoke singing. It also belongs to the story that having received 4 bottles of Mao Tai from the Minister and endless ‘gampais’ with the participants, the organizer obviously thought I was a very heavy drinker. I was therefore presented with another 2 bottles of Mao Tai as a farewell gift at the closing of the seminar. Since 6 bottles of Mao Tai was well above the legal limit of hard liqueur allowed to bring into Norway, I happily shared this wonderful gift with my Norwegian speakers.

- There was another event in China I will never forget. We had a CCOP-PETRAD-

INTSOK-MLR-CNOOC seminar on ‘Enhancing Marginal Field Development by Implementing Technology’ in Shekou, 10-14 September, 2001. On the 11th of September we were glued to the TV news watching the Twin Towers collapsing in New York. The atmosphere at the seminar became very special that week.

- In the early days of the plastic overheads and paper copies of lectures for all the

participants, we had many a challenge with overweight on the planes. The most I paid for overweight was USD 6000 for one seminar because of the weight of the plastic overheads.

- Another challenge in the early days was with worn out overhead projectors. At a seminar in Indonesia, the light bulb of the projector was so weak that the only picture we saw on the screen when the first lecture started was no more than the flickering of what looked like a candle light. The Indonesian organizer had to call all the departments of Pertamina before he found somebody who had a new projector, which we could borrow. We had similar experiences at the beginning of the digital age when the resolution of the projectors did not match the resolution of the laptops brought by the speakers. However, there was always a local PC wizard in the room who could fix the problem. The other problem, which occurred ever so often, was when speakers who wanted to impress the participants had overloaded each presentation slide with too much text or detailed graphics which could only be seen from the front row. We never had any complaints from the very polite participants, but those on the 10th row seemed to do other things than following the speaker on these occasions.

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- On a lighter note. Who has not enjoyed the performances of the CCOP Technical Secretariat every year at the CCOP Annual Meeting. These performances have all been superb, but in 2006 in Daejeon in South Korea when Mr. Chen Shick Pei and his staff dressed up as ‘punkers’ beats all other performances.

The CCOPTS performance at the farewell dinner, 43rd CCOP Annual Session, 2006,

Daejeon, Republic of Korea.

- Similarly the CCOP song which has been written and performed by the CCOP Advisors at every Annual Meeting has become a historical document to people and years gone passed.

I have nearly 300 gigabytes of photos from my 30+ years with friends in East and South

East Asia. Some of the most fantastic people are unfortunately not with us anymore such as SK Chung, the first CCOP director I met in 1984. The highly respected Dr. Charan Achalabhuti, Deputy Governor of PTT and CCOP Honorary Adviser passed away 3 years ago and Mr. Sasongko Hadipandoyo from Lemigas, Indonesia, died a year ago, a man everybody loved for his slightly dirty jokes and always positive attitude to life.

Unique people such as Professor He Qixiang (8 years with CCOP T/S as regional expert) and Dr. Yoshihiko Shimazaki (who has been involved with CCOP since the beginning) have made exceptional contributions to CCOP and its members and they still do. Another person who is usually forgotten when CCOP honors should be given is Father Henri Fountain who like Professor He and ‘Shim’ is in his 80-ies. For a better part of his life he has been sharing his knowledge about geology in the CCOP region with government institutions and students. The humble Father Fountain with his modest lifestyle has spent until quite recently several months every year working in the jungles and mountains in Thailand, writing geological reports and teaching students. His geological reports are in the CCOP archives, but he is never seen at CCOP Annual Meetings and other grand occasions. If anybody should receive CCOP lifetime ‘Gold Medals’ it would be the three gentlemen above.

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What would CCOP have done without advisors such as Dr. Tony Reedman and Dr. David Prior and many others from a large number of cooperating countries who have found great pride in assisting CCOP over the years?

I could mention numerous other exceptional people working for CCOP and their members and cooperation countries and organizations. The list would be very long. CCOP is all about the interaction between people and the sharing of knowledge, friendship and culture. The success of CCOP is proven by the upcoming 50 year Jubilee.

The organization I represented, Petrad, and myself, are full of gratitude to the CCOP Technical Secretariat and to the people who have worked there in the 32 years I have been involved the organization. I thank you for your hard work to assist us and for your endless hospitality. We could not have carried out all the activities without you.

We have also had tremendous support from The Norwegian Authorities, Embassies and thousands of resource persons who have participated in our activities and shared their knowledge and experience.

Twenty years ago, the former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Peoples Republic of China, Mr. Chen Zhouqi, gave me this advice if I wanted success in East and South East Asia:

First we shall become friends.

Then we shall become even better friends.

After that we can talk business!

...and to become friends and even better friends might take one year, two years or three years – who knows?

Petrad and I have made many very good friends in East and South East Asia during these 32 years of cooperation. We hope that the knowledge shared has assisted in career development, making good business for everybody and most important contribution to sustainable development for the region.

To all the people I have met through the CCOP - Petrad cooperation from East and South East Asia, advisors and experts from all over the world; I am privileged to have been given the opportunity to work with you and made your friendship.

Thank you so much!

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Memories of an Ex-Regional Expert in CCOP Niran Chaimanee

I had served CCOP TS for seven years during 2005-2012 with the great honor. The first period of work was very busy with Geo-hazard activities as the consequences of the greatest Tsunami in Southeast Asia during 2004. We had to recognize the valuable effort of Cooperation Countries for their support on both financial and human resources. CCOP TS could organize numbers of workshop and training courses related to geo-hazard and mitigation measures. The impact of CCOP achievement lead to strengthen geosciences institutes within the region to play the major role to society.

JSPS and CCOP/GSJ/AIST Joint Seminar on Monitoring and Evaluation Coastal Erosion Deltas, November 2010,

Haiphong Vietnam. Chaimanee is with red necktie in the group picture.

Opening Ceremony, Tsunami Risk Assessment and Mitigation in Southeast Asia Phase II Project Meeting

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The last period came with the crisis on administration management within CCOP TS. The office had to manage the imbalance budget due to many factors such as the restructuring of a regional expert into 3 sector managers, decline of project support from cooperating countries and cooperating organizations. The structure reform was implemented during the last phase of my term. Many things were change with pain; downside local staff, salary scale reform, member cash contribution follow-up. The efforts of restructuring were continuous balance budget, close cooperation among member countries and more project support by member countries.

51st CCOP Steering Committee Meeting, April 2008, Chiangrai, Thailand.

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CCOP is a Close-nit Family Chen Shick Pei, Honorary Advisor

Director, CCOP Technical Secretariat (August 2000 to July 2007)

I have the honour and privilege to serve CCOP as Director for 7 years from August 2000 to July 2007. It has been a wonderful experience for me serving an inter-governmental organization, working so closely with the ever supportive colleagues of the host countries and the distinguished Permanent Representatives of Member Countries, Representatives of Cooperating Countries and Cooperating Organizations. So much so that we became a closely knit group of friends, ever ready to help and support each other for the advancement of geoscience in the region. Hence the now accepted “CCOP Family” coined at the time.

Opening Ceremony of the 37th CCOP Annual Session, October 2000, Thailand. Chen’s (leftmost) first CCOP Annual Session as Director of CCOP Technical Secretariat.

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Chen (in yellow shirt) together with the CCOP Technical Secretariat team, during CCOPTS performance at

Farewell Dinner of the 37th CCOP Annual Session, October 2000, Thailand.

Looking back over those 7 years, it was indeed very challenging for CCOP as an organization and myself as its director. The annual contributions from Member Countries’ were barely sufficient to support the cost of running the Technical Secretariat. CCOP needed support from the Cooperating Countries, Cooperating Organization and Member Countries in terms of contributing resources in cash and kind to enable it to run its various programmes in capacity building, knowledge sharing, expertise enhancement and cooperation in general that benefit he Member Countries. In reality, geoscience, compared with the more sexy topics like poverty eradication, agenda for women, fight against AIDS, clean water supply, sustainability and environment protection programmes at the time, is not the glamorous agenda that attracts support from funding agencies. Our colleagues as representatives of Cooperating Countries, Cooperating Organizations and Member Countries have been most ingenious and innovative in packaging the proposals that in some way that can link to donor countries’ technical assistance strategies and policies. There are many examples of this, and one good one is the implementation of a cross border petroleum resource assessment programme with the funding from a Cooperating Country’s Foreign Ministry under its external assistance policy of “Promoting Cross Border Diplomacy”. Thus we were able to build up the portfolio of CCOP activities and its Cash Reserve quickly from management fees accrued in the implementation of these activities.

Chen delivering welcoming remarks at the ICB-CCOP1 Inception Phase Meeting, May 2005, Thailand. ICB-CCOP1 Project is CCOP’s first cross-border petroleum resource assessment programme developed and implemented under Chen’s directorship at CCOP TS.

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My wife Ivy frequently accompanied me to visit Member Countries in conjunction with technical activities and regular CCOP meetings such as the Annual Sessions. She reminded me to write something to express appreciation to the Member Country hosts of these events for making the extra efforts in organizing the spouse programmes.

While we are hard at work at the activity/meeting, the spouses were able to join their programme, organized to enable them to appreciate the unique cultural and traditional excellence of the host countries. These programmes have also helped build friendship among the spouses of different countries.

Organizations come and go. The fact that CCOP is gaining from strength to strength and celebrating its 50th Anniversary is testimony to its purpose and relevance to the constituents of CCOP as well as society at large. Looking back, without sounding boastful, it is correct to say that the extensive offshore petroleum industry development in East and Southeast Asia region today was founded on the pioneering Offshore Prospecting work by CCOP in its early years of existence in the 1960’s. Efforts of CCOP after the December 26, 2004 tsunami have brought about greater awareness of disaster and the need for early warning, disaster prevention and mitigation measures. Founded on the seminars and workshops organized by CCOP, Member Countries are developing their own programmes and preparations to face similar future threats. Over the years, CCOP’s rich portfolio of activities in Geo-resources, Geo-environment and Geo-information have contributed to enhancing expertise, promoting cooperation, sharing and building bridges amongst Member Countries and promoting closer linkages with Cooperating Countries and Organizations.

Chen’s spouse Ivy in blue tops, joining the Malaysian delegates in their country performance at the 42nd CCOP Annual Session, 2005, Beijing.

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Honorary Advisers and Representatives of Cooperating Countries and Organizations with the CCOP TS at a brainstorming session examining the SWOT of CCOP, identify challenges and opportunities

and map out the way forward for the coming years. February 2004, Bangkok, Thailand.

CCOP Workshop to Develop Multi-national Tsunami Project, March 2005, Phuket, Thailand

CCOP is indeed unique. Some very senior members of the CCOP Family told me that there is no similar organization like CCOP anywhere else in the world. There are regional groupings that serve as geological survey for member countries and other groupings among national geoscience agencies that promote cooperation and exchange of information. CCOP is founded with a political mandate, does all of the above and more importantly does it for the wellbeing of the people and society.

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Members of the CCOP Advisory Group at the 51st CCOP Annual Session, 2015, Xi’an, China, rendering their traditional “CCOP Song” during the farewell dinner.

Second from the left is Chen, now as Honorary Adviser of CCOP.

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of CCOP, I want to congratulate the past and present CCOP Technical Secretariat staff, Permanent Representatives of Member Countries, Representatives of Cooperating Countries and Organizations for their roles that made CCOP strong, purposeful, relevant and continuing to remain resilient that stood the test of time. With the wisdom of the Permanent Representatives of Member Countries in the Steering Committee, the wise advice and unwavering support of the Cooperating Country and Organizations, I am confident that CCOP will continue to be the lead in geoscience to serve the people and society in coming decades.

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CCOP - a Data and Technology Center for Wide Range of Decision Makers

Eikichi Tsukuda, Director-General, Geological Survey of Japan, AIST Permanent Representative of Japan to CCOP

I have served as the chairman of CCOP Steering Committee for two times, from January 2006 to December 2007 and from January 2014 to December 2015. I had been very happy with receiving a lot of help and suggestions during my terms. I thank all of the participants of meetings. I believe CCOP has a great opportunity to become a visible organization as a data and technology center for wide range of decision makers in this region, where so many problems remains to be solved by our science and technology. In order to solve offshore geological issues and cross border collaboration, it is very important that repeated efforts to develop a professional human network. CCOP has a very good position in geography, and it creates a meeting point between East and West, and North and South.

I would like to mention that our technological achievements in geosciences may not be a level of our desire to really contribute to the people in our region. Communication with other international organizations and some efforts to follow the international standards will contribute to make CCOP more visible in the world. According to the Strategic Plan 2016-2020, CCOP should be an international data center of geoscience, which will play most important role to solve societal issues for geo-resources, geo-environment and geo-hazards for sustainable development of this area.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the Member Countries and Cooperating Countries and Cooperating Organizations for their continuous supports to CCOP development for as many as 50 years. Off course, the CCOP technical secretariats are very much appreciated for their painstaking works.

I myself could have so many friends through annual meetings and steering committee meetings in Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, PNG, China, Korea and Japan. All experiences during the meetings including cultural activities and field trips are my treasures for my life. Thank you and long live CCOP!

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Appreciation plates for the chairman of CCOP

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The Painful Reform That Turned Out To Be A Milestone For CCOP

Prof. Dr. He Qingcheng, Honorary Advisor Director CCOP TS (1989 – 1992), China Geological Survey, Beijing China

The year of 2016 marks the 50th birthday of CCOP, a warm and highly interactive geoscience family in East and Southeast Asia. As the former Director of the CCOP Technical Secretariat and an old friend of CCOP, I would like to sincerely congratulate on the Golden Jubilee of CCOP.

During the past half century, CCOP has made outstanding contributions to the sustainable development and living standards improvement in the region by effectively promoting capacity building, technology transfer and exchange of information among the Member Countries, Cooperating Countries and Cooperating Organizations.

It was my great honor to have the opportunity to be personally involved in the rebirth of CCOP during its most critical period. My tenure at CCOP Technical Secretariat from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2013 has left me with many unforgettable memories during my career. These memories, no matter how sweet, fulfilling, or even bitter they were, were all valuable life experience.

During the development of an organization, it is most natural to experience both good time and bad times. When the bad times have come, reform and restructuring are simply unavoidable for the future sustainable and healthy development, the same with CCOP.

When I took office as Director, the two most prominent problems were overstaffing with overlapping of job duties and a critical financial situation, which would greatly drag the sustainable development of CCOP if no effective changes were taken in time. For the sake of the healthy development of CCOP in a long term, I chose to tackle the tough issues with courage and determination, , even though I had realized that the reform would hurt the vested interests. Fortunately, my vision and work plan won support from the majority within the CCOP, and the CCOP Technical Secretariat colleagues gave me the utmost trust and assistance.

With concerted efforts, the Technical Secretariat was successfully restructured with merge of divisions and with redefined job responsibilities, which considerably improved the work efficiency and injected great impetus to project implementation and operational administration. With a careful review on the financial situation at that time, I introduced a new balanced budgetary system with a more reasonable salary scheme, fundamentally breaking down the budget deficit of CCOP. During my tenure, I was also devoted to revising the strategic plan, initiating new projects and expanding CCOP membership. I hope that the reform under my leadership has left legacy for the future development of CCOP.

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I am very pleased to see that CCOP is now running on a fast track with the joint efforts of the CCOP family. Sincerely wish a complete success of CCOP Golden Jubilee celebrations. Sincerely wish a brighter future of CCOP in many years to come.

Prof Dr He Qingcheng during field work in the Longhushan Global Geopark,

China, July 2016

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Memories of CCOP Hee Young CHUN (Ph.D.)

Honorary Adviser & Geologist Emeritus of KIGAM Director CCOP TS (Jun 2007 – Mar 2010)

In November 1982, I was in UN/ESCAP office in Bangkok for the Meeting of the Sedimentary Basin Correlation Programme. That was the first chance to meet CCOP in my memory.

After that, I attended various meetings (Annual Sessions, Steering Committee Meetings and workshops) as a representative of Korea.

26 years later, I was appointed as Director of CCOP Technical Secretariat and worked for three years in Bangkok.

In 2010, I returned to Korea and became a Geologist Emeritus of KIGAM and also became an Invited Professor of the Korea National University of Education.

In 2012, CCOP appointed me thankfully as one of the Honorary Advisers of CCOP, so I can continuously have good relationship with CCOP through support from KIGAM.

During my time in CCOP as a Director, 2007-2010, I worked to observe the recent changes in the CCOP region and worked to overcome the challenges in various ways. I and the Technical Secretariat staff started to establish the New Strategic Plan for CCOP (Workshop; February 2009, Task Force Team Meeting; September, 2009) and made "Earth Science for our Challenging Earth" as a slogan of New CCOP Strategic Plan.

In 2008, CCOP formulated the Select Finance Committee (the first SFC was held in August). Anyway, CCOP cannot be sustained without strong support from the government of the Member Countries, so TS submitted the First Scenario of Cash Contribution of the Member Countries, and urged to make new projects that can be proposed and supported by every Member Countries.

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To build better communication between Steering Committee and Technical Secretariat of CCOP, the Director tried to establish the "Monthly Progress Report" system by the Director.

I and TS tried to extend our collaboration towards the neighboring countries in CCOP region and new cooperating countries and organizations (East Timor became a new Member Country, Laos and Mongolia were under communication with TS).

And CCOP cooperated with International Year of the Planet Earth (IYPE), International Geological Congress (33rd Congress in Oslo) and became an Affiliated organization of International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).

I and our TS team revised the role of sector coordinators and CCOP regulations and worked together for the capacity building.

From the 46th Annual Session in Vungtau, Vietnam, CCOP tried to start the paper-less meeting, and started to establish the E-News of CCOP.

I started my term in Bangkok at the "Thai CC Tower (24th floor)" and moved into the permanent "CCOP Office" in DMR Complex in 2008.

I have to thank to all the Member Countries', and Cooperating Countries' and Organizations' family members and also TS's members for their endless efforts to CCOP.

All my experiences from CCOP will continue for my lifetime.

May CCOP hope to develop great progress!!!

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Dr. Chun introduced CCOP in the "Bangkok Magazine" one of the most popular magazine for Korean in Thailand in August 2007.

39th CCOP Steering Committee

Meeting

28-29 March, 2002

Chiangmai, Thailand

Participation from member

countries, H.A., Cooperating

Countries and TS

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Viva CCOP! Its vigorous activities over a span of 50 years Hirokazu Kato

First of all, I sincerely congratulate CCOP on its Golden Jubilee. My participation to and collaboration with CCOP is the most fruitful international activity in my life. I have so many memories about CCOP, but here I am going to write about two of my small but memorable contribution to CCOP.

First one is the “Eastern Asia Natural Hazards Mapping Project,” promoted by the Geological Survey of Japan with the cooperation of CCOP as a contribution to the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) by the United Nations in the 1990s. The map was published in different languages on different media: paper version in English in 2002, and CD-ROM version (Interactive Geological Hazard Map of East and Southeast Asia) in English in 2003 and in Japanese in 2004, followed by the second edition in English in 2006. Its web version “Geohazard-View” was launched in 2007. They are the result of years of efforts and cooperation from the CCOP Member Countries. Technical meetings in Manila, Philippines in 1998, Pattaya, Thailand in 1999, and Kunming, China in 2000 were particularly meaningful among many ones we had. I highly appreciate those participated in the project.

Young Kato with lahar of Pinatubo Volcano in the Philippines at the background, 1998.

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The other is the publication of the third volume of CCOP Book series, titled “Stone Heritage in East and Southeast Asia”. This publication project partly aims a contribution to the outreach activities of CCOP and partly a contribution to the Global Heritage Stone Resource (GHSR) initiative under the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). As the Vice President for East Asia of the Heritage Stone Task Group (HSTG) of IUGS, I gave a presentation about this issue at the 48th CCOP Annual Session in 2012 and asked CCOP Member Countries for their support. The project was warmly welcomed. The first business meeting was held in Sendai during the 49th Annual Meeting in 2013. And the book was finally published in March 2016. Another appreciation goes to all involved in the project.

I hope for further development and success of CCOP.

Dr. Kato showing the published book, “Stone Heritage of East and Southeast Asia

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CCOP as a network weaver connecting to diverse groups in terms of artisanal/small-scale mining

Dr. Satoshi Murao, Geological Survey of Japan, AIST Activities of artisanal and small scale miners have substantially increased over the last years, in particular in many Asian countries following the financial crises that drove many poor, in particular women and children, into artisanal mining. In this context, the World Bank established an international initiative "CASM" to assist the subsector and Dr Satoshi Murao was assigned to be the chair of its Asian section "CASM-Asia" and CCOP to be the secretariat. He introduced a fund from the Bank to CCOP to sustain the group and held learning events for the MCs. A GOPP (Goal Oriented Project Planning) workshop was conducted to kick off the activity in 2005. After this event CCOP has continued to work on the artisanal and small-scale mining issues and weaved relationship with different organizations.

GOPP workshop with CCOP member countries in 2005

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In 2014, CCOP in cooperation with UNEP and the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ), AIST, organized the Technical Workshop on the Risk Management of Mercury in and around the Artisanal/Small-Scale Gold Mining Sites (ASGM). The meeting was within the framework of a UNEP Project entitled "Risk management of mercury contamination in Asia and the Pacific" which was led by Dr. Satoshi Murao.

The aim of this workshop was to share the information on environmental preservation and risk management in Asian and Pacific countries, with focus on mercury issues arising from ASGM. The workshop also aimed at establishing strategies to mitigate the impact of mercury, to help governments and local communities to manage the risk, and to find holistic agenda to grow ASGM as environmentally sound industry.

Risk management workshop with UNEP in 2014. Third from the right in the front row is Dr. Murao.

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Geosciences: No Boundaries Nguyen Hong Minh

Geo-Resources Sector Manager at CCOP TS, 2006-2008 When I came to work at the CCOP Technical Secretariat in 2006, Mr. Chen Shick Pei

(we often called Khun Chen) was the Director. I remember the lunch we had together, when he told me his own story how he came to serve CCOP. From his talk, Khun Chen made me understand that now I became the servant not only to my own but to the all CCOP Member Countries. Since that day, I often imagine “the country” that I serve as a white area on the CCOP logo.

CCOPTS and DMR during the handing-over ceremony of CCOPTS Director from Chen Shick Pei to Hee Young Chun in 2007, Bangkok. Standing at the rightmost is Nguyen Hong Minh.

“No boundaries” is not only the concept; it truly embedded into the actions in CCOP. It was fortunate for me to witness some cross-border activities during my term in CCOP TS. The first was the CCOP-DANIDA Institutional Capacity Building Project (ICB-CCOP1), where the team of Malaysia and Philippines geoscientists jointly study and share their knowledge about Sulu Sea-East Sabah Basin; and the team of China and Vietnam geoscientists jointly correlate the seismic sections and organize field trips to deepen knowledge about Yinggehai-Song Hong Basin. It was interesting for me to see the discussions when the geoscientific concept about petroleum potential of the Fractured Basement of the Vietnamese scientists had been enriched with the ideas of

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petroleum potential of the so-called Pliocene Shale Diapir Play of the Chinese explorationists and via versa. The ICB-CCOP1 project not only benefit the four directly participating countries, the information and knowledge gathered during implementation of the project also shared to other member countries. So it was truly no borders in the CCOP family.

Another event was the cross-border Vietnam-Cambodia field trip also sponsored by DANIDA. The multinational team of Denmark, Cambodia and Vietnam geoscientists has made the field trip starting from Vietnam land and ending in the Cambodian territory. By joint efforts, they could be able to find and correlate the potential good source rocks which outcropped well in Cambodia, but deepen to Vietnam side and may contribute to the petroleum potential of the basins offshore Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

I was happy that could learn this great concept from Khun Chen. More than that, I was experiencing this spirit during many times during my direct involvement with CCOP. Thank you Khun Chen and thanks to CCOP for this opportunity.

First half of the field trip on Vietnam side: the Cambodian geoscientists seem excited about geological features here.

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Continuing fieldtrip on the Cambodian territory: the Denmark, Vietnam and Cambodian geoscientists are discussing about the possibility of sources rocks here.

Dr. Nguyen Hong Minh, Deputy General Director, Vietnam Petroleum Institute, delivering welcoming remarks at the Opening Ceremony of the CCS-M Seminar on CO2 geological storage and CO2 for EOR,

June 2016, Hanoi, Vietnam.

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CCOP Memories Yasukuni OKUBO

Geological Survey of Japan/AIST I worked in the CCOP office in Bangkok during 1993-1995 as a coordinator

of “Digital Compilation of Geoscientific Map of East and Southeast Asia (DCGM)” project. I organized an international compiler team of the CCOP member countries.

International compiler team of DCGM project, February 1995.

The CCOP office was in the second floor of a two-storied building located at the Sathorn Street next to the Russian Embassy. A majority of staff was female. When I started my work, there was no internet in the office. We used wired phone for communication with the outside. But the phone line was always busy. The reason was an insufficient phone line. In addition, as usual in the world, long calls of staff occupied a few lines. Getting a new line for communication, I introduced an internet system in the office by JICA fund. The internet at that time was a dial-up access sounding “pi—hyororo-“. It was very slow, but gave me a dramatic change of my communication. The staff realized the power of internet and all at once started using it. Afterwards the internet in the office turned essential.

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It’s not just phone talk, face-to-face talk also annoyed me. The staff talked in Thai I never understood. Every day I had lunch in a meeting room of the office with the staff. They talked a lot in Thai giving me a glance. I felt uneasy, thinking they gossiped about me. Then I made up my mind to learn Thai. As I invited a teacher in my office, all the staff knew that I began to learn Thai. After becoming able to speak clumsy Thai, I amazingly communicated with Thai people in restaurants, shops, golf courses and bars. Having Asian face and speaking Thai, so I really looked “khon thai” (Thai people). Even today, 20 years since then, I still remember several Thai words. But the greatest change was that the staff in the office stopped talking in Thai before me.

Now I coordinate the CCOP-ASEAN seamless geology project. In 2015, I organized a field survey in west Cambodia near Cambodia-Thailand boundary involving the CCOP member countries. Forming a convoy of seven 4-wheel driving cars, the international team pushed through into margins of Cambodia. Suddenly, this trip reminded me of happy days 20 years before. When we left Phnom Penh, I screamed “This is the dream I forgot for a long time.”

Staff of CCOP Technical Secretariat, September 1994.

Field survey by a new international team near Cambodia-Thailand boundary, 8 November 2015.

(In red shirt is Dr. Yasukuni Okubo)

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Memories of a CCOP Rapporteur (and CCOP songwriter) Dr. A J (Tony) Reedman, Honorary Advisor

Being a rapporteur at the Annual Session of CCOP is not a task that is eagerly sought by delegates to the Annual Sessions. Dr Deryck Laming, who was the British Senior Geologist (Technical Editor) with the CCOP/UNDP project from 1972-1974, noted that it was part of his duties to act as rapporteur at the Annual Sessions in those these early years. He recalls (see Reedman and Shimazaki, 2006) that this was an eighteen-hours-a- day job that involved gathering together all the papers issued beforehand, taking notes of the discussions during the meeting, preparing a daily record, talking with speakers to determine if they really meant what they had said and finally, at the end of the session, printing everything out in multiple copies so that the delegates could read through it and see what each had said, and amend things if they realised that they had said something they shouldn’t have said. It was a daunting task but was rewarded by the triumph of presenting an acceptable document on the last day of the meeting.

In 1990 I became the UK Cooperating Country representative, succeeding Dr Clive Jones who had served with distinction for many years in that post and also as Rapporteur at the CCOP Annual Sessions. At my first Annual Session as UK Cooperating Country representative I was also elected Rapporteur and continued to fill this role at several subsequent Annual Sessions. Though the task was still a daunting one, the introduction of word-processing in recent years combined with the skill of CCOP’s Thai secretaries proved to be a great help. Never- the-less problems could still arise as was the case at the Annual Session in 1992 in Vietnam. On that occasion the CCOP computers, specially transported from Bangkok to Hanoi, dramatically failed just as the final report was being prepared and large parts of the text disappeared into the virtual ether! The hard pressed CCOP secretaries worked through the entire night to have the report ready for delayed approval by delegates later on the next day, after I had already left the meeting for my flight back to the UK!

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On another occasion, in 1998, the Annual Session took place in Subic Bay (The Philippines) in the shadow of the recently active volcano, Mt. Pinatubo. Here the combination of a typhoon and an earthquake during the course of the meeting caused a breakdown of the power supply and work on the minutes of the meeting had to be completed by the light of a kerosene lamp and using the only lap-top computer with a still adequately charged battery.

Representatives from Denmark and the UK at the 1998 Annual Session of CCOP continue their work by lamplight following a power-cut during a typhoon in Subic Bay in the Philippines,

Dr. Reedman in center of the photo.

From the early years of CCOP and even up until the late 1990s, the amount of printing paper consumed during each Annual Session probably destroyed a small forest! At the outset of the Annual Session not only did each delegate receive paper copies of every Member and Cooperating Country’s Reports as well as all reports submitted by the Technical Secretariat, but also they received copies of the final ‘ minutes’ of the Session before the meeting was closed. With the number of delegates reaching as many as fifty and the total of number of Member and Cooperating Country/Organizations reaching as many as twenty-five, each submitting reports up to thirty pages long, then, together with copies of the minutes of the meeting, as many as a total of 40.000 pages were printed and distributed during the course of an Annual Session.

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This was eventually, in the late 1990s, to lead to the introduction of the ‘paperless Annual Session’ in which all reports had to be submitted in digital format well before the date of the Annual Session so that they could be copied on to a single CD, a copy of which is issued to all delegates on arrival at the Session. Whilst this procedure originally required some reports to be edited by CCOP in order to ensure their English was of a sufficient clarity, standards have recently improved in almost all Member Countries to the extent that further editing is rarely necessary and the paperless meeting has, indirectly, saved a few thousand trees each year.

The delegates to the CCOP Annual Session (and rapporteurs) work extremely hard throughout the meetings but an air of relaxation, even frivolity, is necessary at times. On the penultimate evening of the session a farewell dinner usually takes place after which it has become customary for each of the delegations to be called upon to render a song pertaining to their own country. This has led to the discovery of some unexpectedly talented performers amongst the delegates, particularly those well practised in the art of Karaoke. However, for some delegates, perhaps unaccompanied by fellow nationals, this could be quite a chore, so it was decided that members of the Advisory Group could perform one song together. Accordingly, I as current Rapporteur and also at that time Chairperson of the Advisory Group, with some other current advisers wrote a few special verses to be sung by an Advisory Group ‘choir’ to the tune of ‘My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean’ which seemed a fitting tune for CCOP which had originated as an ‘offshore’ prospecting organization. The verses of this song, soon to become known as the CCOP song, were intended to reflect in a light hearted way events at the current Annual Session. It opened with the following verse:

We’re coming from various countries

Travelling from both near and far

Spending long hours in our meetings

And even more hours in the bar.

The final verse each year was usually a verse expressing appreciation of the hospitality offered by the host country, such as in 2001 when Cambodia was the host:

We’re happy we came to Cambodia

Delighted to be in Phnom Penh

And now that we know how to spell it

We’re sure to be coming again

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The CCOP Advisory Group singing the traditional “CCOP Song” at the farewell dinner, 39th CCOP Annual Session, 2002, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Wearing batik shirt in front row is Dr. Reedman.

Writing new verses took place at each Annual Session, usually involving a small group of the advisers in late-night sessions, with much beer and a great deal of hilarity. After more than twenty years the last performance by the Advisory Group ‘choir’ took place in 2013 by which time over 150 new verses had been written, together representing a light hearted and alternative history of recent events in CCOP.

Perhaps the CCOP song will be revived for one last performance during the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the organization at the 2016 Annual Session.

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My Memories on Petroleum Program with CCOP Nares Sattayarak

Former Member of Thailand’s Representative on Petroleum Sector

In early 1980’s, I had heard about CCOP particularly, the activities related to tin exploration in the Gulf of Thailand. Then in late 1980’s when I was transferred to the Mineral Fuels Division, Department of Mineral Resources which is the then governmental organization responsible for petroleum exploration and production in the Kingdom of Thailand, CCOP started to broaden its aims and activities into various fields, including petroleum. In 1987 CCOP became an independent intergovernmental organization and was gradually increasing supported both on finance and technic from its Member Countries as well as the Co-operating Countries.

The oil and gas program of CCOP started with the subject related to petroleum resources assessment. At that time, resource persons and methodologies were mostly from United States, United Kingdom and Japan. Some meeting and workshops were organized. Representatives from Member countries had learnt how to identify and quantify the undiscovered petroleum resources in their own areas. Many maps and reports had been complied and published during this period.

The petroleum sector of CCOP became more noticeable when Norway started to join the program. WGRA (Working Group on Resource Assessment) was established. Representatives from Member Countries in this project had gained a lot of benefit on learning and sharing the data relevant to petroleum geology of the region and practicing the know-how and technic pertaining to assessing methodologies. Following these successful cooperation, the project was extended from exploration and development phases into management level. A new working group, PPM (Petroleum Policy and Management) was formed to replace WGRA. Participants in this group had been upgraded their experiences and capabilities from petroleum explorer to strategic planner. One of the fruitful activities of this program among others was the EPF (Exploration Promotion Forum) project. Representatives of Member Countries were invited and funded, mainly by PETRAD, a Norwegian organization, to display data, information, maps and documents regarding their country profile, petroleum geology and petroleum arrangement used in their countries. The first EPF was held successfully in conjunction with the World Petroleum Congress in Stavanger, Norway in 1994.

Thai delegates, in front of Thailand Exhibition Booth at the Exploration Promotion Forum, Norway, 1994. In the center is Mr Nares Sattayarak.

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Delegates from Thailand at the 35th CCOP Annual Session, Subic Bay, Philippines, October 1998.

Second from the left is Mr Nares Sattayarak.

Before I finished my direct involvement with CCOP, It was the starting time of the project called “the Institutional Capacity Building in CCOP Countries” which received the budget from DANIDA, Denmark. The objective of this project is to strengthen the capacity of the public authorities within the CCOP to access their countries’ hydrocarbon potentials as well as, the study on cross-border aiming for jointly regional economic development and integration.

Recently, I have found that CCOP is still conducting various activities related to petroleum sector. However, the subjects and targets have been amended and changed to match to the current status of regional and the world’s petroleum situations, e.g., unconventional petroleum resources, environmental impact study, deep water technology, EOR, and CO2 removal study.

My final words are, without my participation in the CCOP’s Petroleum Sector, I might have not come successfully into the petroleum business in Thailand at this far. Thanks to everybody and all parties concerned.

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Memories from a Dutch representative to CCOP Dr. Henk J.W.G.Schalke

Honorary Advisor of CCOP since 2001, Oegstgeest, March 10, 2016

In 1973 my country, the Netherlands, first came into contact with the organisation of cooperating geological services and or geological institutes in Southeast Asia, nowadays grouped together under the acronym “CCOP”.

Special geological knowledge of our unconsolidated subsurface, on- and offshore, was the main reason for such a contact. “Quaternary geology”, as we call it, was studied for many years in

great detail in the Netherlands, and the resulting expertise was badly needed for the geotechnical part of the construction of huge infrastructural construction projects as our ” Delta Plan project”. This governmental project, launched with the aim of protecting our coastal zone from flooding after the disaster of 1953 when inundation caused many casualties and loss of hundreds hectares of rich agricultural land, called for exceptional construction works on a scale and of a type never seen before. All engineers involved asked not only for highly detailed geological maps, but also for cross-sections that would help them to decide where these immense constructions could be cited. Such “Applied Quaternary Geology” has, ever since, been an established discipline in all geological institutes in our country.

CCOP geologists were fully aware what was going on in the Netherlands and called for assistance when they were beginning offshore exploration in their territory. In 1979 our government responded to their request not only with substantial financial aid, but also with two experts who would stay in the region for several years.

During my involvement with CCOP, started in 1988 and ended in 2001 when I retired, it was with great pleasure for me to attend its Annual Meetings and experience the warm friendship of the many colleagues from the Member or the Co-operating countries. We all were thoroughly devoted to the mission of CCOP and brought with us the latest ”state of the art” of our professional knowledge in order to share it with our CCOP colleagues.

As the years progressed we all came to see a need for CCOP to change the emphasis of its mission from its original, mainly offshore-directed interest, towards the present topics: a change which demanded diplomacy from the Steering Committee, supported by the Advisory Committee. CCOP can be congratulated for its wisdom in adopting and adapting to modern earth scientific needs, and to the wishes from its Member countries.

One memory from those years that remains fresh in my mind is “The Mickey Mouse Club”, which was formed from in 1995 when we were discussing the next Annual Meeting in Shanghai (1996). During discussion about the form and content of this meeting, Dr. Kim Shang-Yup, Director of CCOP and I, as a member of the Advisory board, suddenly became

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aware of the exceptional coincidence that several of us were born in 1936, which meant that 1996 would bring us all into our sixtieth birthdays. Because 1996 was also the year of the Rat (in Chinese astrology), the idea was born to establish us sexagenarians as the Mickey Mouse Club. Dr. Wang Xionglin became chairman, and each member of the club was asked to arrange a special event at the Shanghai Meeting, which would also be the CCOP’s 30th anniversary of CCOP.

My Chinese colleague Wang Xionglin surprised us with an unique gift, an embroidered figure of Mickey Mouse on silk in a wooden frame. Through my contact with the famous Dutch brewery Heineken, we were served by charming young ladies, dressed in the brewery’s famous green, a substantial number of cans beer during the official diner for all participants. A token of friendship for ever!

Such tokens of close harmony were also no doubt in the mind of the Secretary, who gave all of us (when the Annual meeting was in Bangkok) a special Thailand-related gift, such as a tea-mug or a small exquisitely decorated vase.

But, as with nearly every organisation, not everything we did went so smoothly or as we wanted. I also remember that (happily, rarely) we had to spend several hours wrestling with some difficult implications of our work. Nevertheless, the over-riding wish of everyone, to run the organisation for the greatest benefit for all Member countries won through in the end.

Looking to the future of CCOP, I foresee 2 big challenges that need to be faced and dealt with:

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Exploration and exploitation of earth scientific resources in the region of CCOP has to be done in a sustainable way, which will demand a dedicated approach from each member country and specific support from the Co-operating countries. Apart from this sustainable approach, CCOP can play an important role when offshore resources are in the picture and we find ourselves dealing with different national interpretations of state boundaries. International laws/regulations and subsequent evaluations are at hand from the Co-operating countries to assist the Member countries to reach a fruitful solution when CCOP is asked to give advice.

As earth scientists with extensive knowledge of the past, we have studied and interpreted in great detail the evolution of world’s climate during the last million years, and more. But now we are confronted by climate change of such a speed and intensity that we must translate this scientific knowledge into applied form. Earth scientist must bring all their ideas and possible solutions to the table, as an important element in the interdisciplinary drive to mitigate the now inevitable negative effects of climate change.

In the CCOP project COASTPLAN , which was funded by the Dutch government, all details for such an interdisciplinary approach were embedded and the case study we ran for the Yellow river was, and still is , an example for all Member countries to follow. I have very pleasant memories of leading this project, and of how we dealt with all aspects of coastal zone management. But it was our expert, Bert van der Valk, who was responsible for bringing all our country’s experts to CCOP. He was able to supervise the three case studies, culminating in several CCOP publications that are still available from the Secretariat.

In conclusion, I wish all participants in CCOP, earth scientists and managers alike, all the best for the coming years. The past 50 years has demonstrated that rough seas can be overcome, and that strong companionship between all CCOP participants was the golden rule and remains the key to its continued success.

At the Farewell Dinner, 37th CCOP Annual Session, 24-27 October 2000, Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Henk Schalke

(Second from the right) was then Chairperson of the CCOP Advisory Group.

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The gateway to East and Southeast Asia in geosciences is called CCOP Franca Schwarz, Chair Advisory Group

Hannover, March 2016 The gateway to East and Southeast Asia in geosciences is called CCOP. Since my first

participation in an annual session in 2008 I am very impressed by the political will for the geoscientific development in the region and the institutional setting of CCOP. A stable commitment with friendly professional people who are very active in the development of their own country and of the CCOP-region as a whole. In all meetings I have always found competent partners.

Since a few years I am elected chair of the advisory group, which makes me proud. And I feel much honored that the Steering Committee of CCOP asked me e.g. to chair as well the selected finance committee as well as process and documents of the strategic plan 2016 – 2020 for CCOP.

Thank you for the good experiences! Thank you for the friendships! I am looking forward for further cooperation with this extraordinary institution, its member countries and the people!

November 2008: earliest involvement during the CCOP Building Opening Ceremony in Bangkok (Thailand), in conversation with the chair of the CCOP Steering Committee in this time.

Recent: special message on behalf of the Advisory Group during the

annual session in Kokopo (Papua New Guinea).

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Memories of 50 Years of CCOP Involving the World Geoscience Community in CCOP Activities Yoshihiko Shimazaki, Honorary Advisor

When a new organization is launched, I think there is always a feeling of anxiety, strong or weak, among the founders or founding members regarding acceptance of the organization by the communities concerned.

CCOP made a rather smooth launching thanks to the strong support of the member governments represented by geological surveys and mineral departments and the ESCAP.

The Japanese delegation at the first CCOP Session in Manila, The Philippines. 27 May to 2 June, 1966.

Shimazaki is in center.

In the early days of CCOP, although we had special Advisors consisting of very prominent geoscientists from Germany (Federal Republic), Japan, UK, and USA who provided enthusiastic support and encouragement and assumed central roles in planning and implementing activities, there was a general lack of interest in many of these activities by the international geoscientific community as whole, and this was a matter of concern for me for some time because international cooperation in geosciences is what CCOP is all about.

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In 1972, after consultation with John Katili of Indonesia and Seiya Uyeda of Japan, CCOP decided to carry out “Studies of East Asian Tectonics and Resources” (SEATAR) as a part of the IDOE Program (International Decade of Ocean Exploration, the 1970s). One of its main proposed activities was multi-disciplinary studies of 6 transects of geologically interesting areas of the CCOP region. A workshop on “Tectonic Development of East and Southeast Asia and its relation to Metalliferous and Hydrocarbon Resources” was convened jointly by CCOP and IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission UNESCO) in Tokyo in April 1973 to prepare the details of this project. Five Years later in 1978, a workshop was held in Bandung Indonesia to review the progress of this program. The concept of multi-disciplinary transect studies attracted strong interest of the geoscientific community and around hundred internationally prominent geoscientists attended both sessions.

IDOE Planning Session in Tokyo. Prof. Katili 5th, Prof. Uyeda 6th,

and Shimazaki 3rd from left back row.

My dream of involving international geoscientific community in CCOP projects came true. The second workshop was particularly gratifying for me, as I was then chief of the Mineral Resources Section of ESCAP which was the UNDP Executing Agency for CCOP and involved in convening the meeting. This was indeed one of the most memorable events for me during my roughly half-a-century association with CCOP.

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Planning for the first PPM Case study Workshop in Cambodia, 2002 Gunnar Søiland

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NDP) I joined the CCOP secretariat as PPM (Petroleum Policy and Management) coordinator in August 2002. With Norwegian funding, we were going to analyze four different sedimentary basins in four CCOP countries: Sulu Sea basin in the Philippines, Kutei basin in Indonesia, Sichuan basin in China and Khmer basin in Cambodia. My fist travel out of Bangkok went to Phnom Penh to prepare for the first Cambodian PPM Case study workshop together with CNPA (Cambodian National Petroleum Authority). I had set aside two full days for the visit, but it became clear very quickly during the first day, that the workshop organizers had full control on the logistics. Meeting room facilities, lunches, hotel booking, cultural events and field trip was all under control! So - what should we discuss during my second day in Phnom Penh? The CNPA people and I were all geologists, so I suggested that we started looking at some of the geological data in the Khmer basin. I asked if they had seismic data, well data, maps or geological reports available. The CNPA staff confirmed that this kind of data was available in the archive of their office. “So let’s have a look – shall we?” – I asked. The CNPA-people looked at each other a bit puzzled. “Where is the archive?” – I asked again, and they all pointed at one door. I stood up and led the way ahead of the group into a room with a few old steel cabinets standing along one of the walls. I waited for someone to open the cabinets, but nobody moved. It became apparent that nobody had the cabinet keys! But geologists always look for practical and easy solutions, so after only few minutes of silence, one of the CNPA people rushed out, found a big screw drives and within seconds broke the first cabinet door open. A lot of dust fell out and filled the air, but soon we could see stacks of ring binders and heaps of folded seismic and rolled maps! It became a very interesting day indeed, where we looked through a lot of old but informative data. Together we established a good understanding of the stratigraphy, lithology and structuring of the Khmer basin. Hours rushed by – we had good discussions, lots of laughter, and we faced absolutely no language or cultural barriers! I love Cambodia!

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Evaluating geological data together with the CNPA staff in Phnom Penh, 2002. In the left photo, Gunnar is in white shirt, and on the right photo, still on a white shirt but seated.

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A message from the former Chairman of the CCOP Steering Committee Raden Sukhyar, Honorary Advisor

First of all, I sincerely congratulate the CCOP Jubilee commemoration that falls on October 2016 this year.

Indonesia is one of the founders of CCOP, therefore the Indonesian Government is very committed to the

advancement of this organization. I am also proud that I was once a Permanent Representative of Indonesia to CCOP for many years, and also was a Chairman of CCOP Steering Committee for three years in the period 2011-2013. It has never been forgotten that during the time was a difficult situation when CCOP had to face the decrease of contribution from the CCOP cooperating countries. I think the decisions those countries have taken is reasonable because they see that CCOP member countries are now emerging economies, more developed than before. Looking at the condition with lesser financial contribution, I with the agreement of CCOP members had to restructure the organization and restructure the financial system as well to make CCOP more flexible in doing its activities.

Opening Ceremony, 47th CCOP Annual Session, Manado, Indonesia, 2010.

Dr. Sukhyar (second from the left) was then the Permanent Representative of Indonesia to CCOP.

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I hope that CCOP can fund itself coming from contribution of its members, not only funding, but more importantly this is the right time that CCOP can share their experience and knowledge to other regions and the world. Last but not least, with the help of all entire CCOP member countries, I could conclude the duties and thanks a lot that I am currently assigned as a member of CCOP Honorary Advisers. Eventually, I thank to all CCOP member countries for their solidarity and solidity in advancing geoscience for the benefit of the welfare in CCOP region. I sincerely thank to the Thailand Government that has been contributing significantly for CCOP, particularly has been hosting the CCOP headquaters until now. May all CCOP’s family be blessed, more developed and more prosperous!

Thank you.

At the Heads of Delegation Dinner Meeting, 61st CCOP Steering Committee Meeting, Sendai, Japan, October 2013.

Dr. Sukhyar was on his last term as Chairman of the CCOP Steering Committee.

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Congratulations!! Yusaku TAGUCHI

I would like to celebrate the CCOP’s golden jubilee. I have worked at the CCOP T/S as a coordinator of DCGM phase III project for two years from October, 1998. I have arranged many meetings such as DCGM programs, geohazard symposia, and geothermal symposia, sounding surveys in the lower part of the Chao Phraya delta offered by Department of Mineral Resources of Thailand (DMR). I also attended related geological meetings held in Thailand, and made official visits to member countries.

It was very busy and hard, however, I achieved all the tasks I had to do because I had solid support from two superior directors (Dr. Sahng-Yup Kim and Mr. Chen Shick Pei) and excellent staff of the office. I also received strong support from member countries, especially by China Geological Survey (CGS). I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to them. The work at the CCOP T/S was very exciting for my career.

CCOP is a necessary organization to progress geoscience programs in East and Southeast Asia.

I wish CCOP continued outstanding success also in the future.

Taguchi-san with CCOP TS staff, Bangkok 2000.

Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia

http://www.ccop.or.th

http://www.ccop.asia