Like all of you, we eagerly anticipate what the New Year will bring, but until we get more visibility, I am proposing the industry adopt a new slogan for recovery in 2016: Sooner, not later. (As opposed to lower for longer.)

Meanwhile, as we all deal realistically with the downturn, let’s play to our strengths and ride for the brand. To that end, we have some good news to share about our own brand: This year Oil and Gas Investor marks with great pride its 35th anniversary.

Like you, we’ve been fascinated to watch the cycles over that time and we’ve adapted as new technology and innovation developed, from the advent of 3-D seismic and multistage fracturing in laterals, to the financing boom that enabled the shale gale. The M&A cycles created some intriguing companies; we watched in awe as those deals spun out hundreds of robust E&P start-ups as well. We’ve seen the large U.S. independents venture abroad, only to sell those assets and return home to exciting new resource plays in such old, familiar areas as the Permian and Appalachian basins.

But we’re not resting on past accomplishments. Like you, we’re strategizing for the year ahead and pushing forward on leadership, creativity and succession plans. That’s why we are very pleased to announce new management at the helm of Oil and Gas Investor, as senior editor Steve Toon assumes the role of editor-in-chief with this issue.

Vice president of publishing Shelley Lamb, Steve and I, and the whole team, are excited about the possibilities this affords the Oil and Gas Investor franchise, from print to web to conferences. Steve has been an integral member of the team since he joined us in August 2007 to manage our A&D Watch products.

Many of you know him well from that sector, and from the countless outstanding cover stories and other articles he’s written on people, plays and trends. Steve has traveled from one end of the oil patch to the other, from Texas’ western Delaware Basin Wolfcamp to Pennsylvania’s Marcellus fairway, to get the story directly from key players. Many of you appreciate his leadership on our popular A&D Strategies Conference each fall in Dallas, as well as his contributions to any number of our DUG conferences. I’m confident that Steve will ably take the reins of the Oil and Gas Investor franchise and steer us to new horizons.

From my vantage point, I’m very pleased to take on a new and broader role within Hart Energy that will allow me to look at the bigger picture, develop new content, nurture and expand our many treasured business relationships, and mentor the fine editors working here across all publications. You’ll still get my perspectives as well, since you’ll see my column on the last page of the magazine under the title At Closing. I certainly look forward to the future with confidence and optimism.

For many years, I’ve been privileged to lead the finest editorial team in the industry. We grew up together, with the magazine as a platform from which to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and insights within our fascinating and vital industry. We have always been, and will continue to be, grand supporters of the oil and gas people who make it run.

One telling metric from the past shows us we’ve been in this situation before: in 1992, the average U.S. rig count was 721. In late November 2015, the weekly count was 714 rigs onshore and in inland waters, plus 30 in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, we’re in yet another gritty fistfight where companies of all sizes are trying to survive and ultimately thrive. We need to have our wits about us and be ready for change, which is already happening. During the past few years, Anadarko Petroleum, Apache, Chesapeake Energy and WPX welcomed new CEOs and refocused strategies. A Chinese-backed E&P just spent over $1 billion in the Permian Basin. The Halliburton-Baker Hughes merger lies ahead. Pioneer Natural Resources has exported condensate; Range Resources is about to ship ethane to the U.K.

Not to mention that this month, Cheniere Energy will ship out its first cargo of domestic, shale-based LNG from the Gulf Coast, adding the U.S. to the elite rank of LNG exporting nations.

So change is in the air.

No matter when the inevitable recovery arrives, the Oil and Gas Investor team will be at the forefront, continuing its in-depth coverage and analysis of the upstream and midstream sectors—just as we have for more than 35 years.

My sincere thanks go to the team, and to all of you. I’ve met so many wonderful people who have favored me with insights, commentaries and friendships, whether we were discussing rigs, IP rates or returns. Thanks for your generous suggestions for articles and conference topics. Keep those ideas coming, but now, fill up Steve’s inbox to overflowing! And, our entire editorial team will see you at oil patch events in the coming weeks.

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