FINDING BLACK SEA TREASURE

KNOCKS FOR THE PATIENTOPPORTUNITY

2016

HARDENING THOSE SOFT SKILLS

BE READY FOR AN AGILE WORKPLACE

Let’s be upfront about this year’s Recruitment Special. We debated whether it made sense to focus on geoscience and engineering students and young professionals planning a

career in the oil and industry. What we see right now are companies cutting not hiring profes-sional staff. As we hear ad nauseam, this is the result of the continued low oil price environ-ment and consequent lack of new oil company investment in exploration and production.

Obviously this is extremely discouraging to students who embarked upon first degrees, Masters or doctorates with the intention of seeking a job in the industry and, when they started, had a reasonable expectation of finding one. Only two or three years ago the price of oil was over $100 a barrel. Companies were only too happy to recruit new blood to help in the bid to identify and produce the so-called ‘hard to find’ hydrocarbons to meet the world’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for oil. Young professionals could anticipate interesting and challenging careers with generous remuneration.

The current bleak scenario is being compared with the drastic cutbacks experienced in the industry in the 1980s. A whole generation of would-be geoscientists and engineers were lost to other businesses, notably to the financial sector and to the booming ‘dot com’ sector, which ironically went bust 15 years or so ago.

This year’s Recruitment Special cannot affect companies’ spending on new hires. Those deci-sions are based on what they can afford, and a strategic view of their personnel requirements in the future. If past experience is any guide, companies will focus on short-term savings and subsequently regret the losing of vital elements of their workforce. The only part of this process that might offer a glimmer of hope is that the current crisis may accelerate the long anticipated ‘great crew change’. In other words, older, more costly staff may be prompted to retire. This could provide a window for an intake of less expensive new recruits. The down-side for companies is that they will be losing a significant portion of their most experienced and hence least replaceable personnel, but that is inevitable at some point.

What this publication can do is to urge potential recruits to the oil and gas to keep the faith. No one has ever tried to disguise that this is a highly volatile business. It is true that opportu-nities are presently very limited. Those that can somehow find the means to stay connected and be ready to meet the upturn when it comes will be exceptionally well rewarded. Others quite reasonably may decide that the wait is not worth it and that alternative careers need to be considered. If geoscience or engineering expertise is involved, so much the better: the option to reconsider the oil business in the future will still be there.

As our opening article about OMV geoscientist Gabor Tari illustrates, pursuing geophysics and geology can be an exciting and challenging adventure for men and women like few other activities. Our modest hope is that this publication can help to keep this vision alive in the minds of the upcoming generation of science-oriented students when they make up their minds on what discipline to follow.

By Andrew McBarnet

FUTURE IS WEIGHING

HEAVY for the next generation

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Black Sea's buried treasureOMV geoscientist Gabor Tari spills some geological secrets

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Taking the soft approachWhy so-called soft skills could determine

career success

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We've seen this beforePeter Lloyd advises young geoscientists to

hang in for the post crisis opportunities

Expect a new working environmentRecruitment specialist Deirdre O'Donnell foresees a more nimble workforce in the future

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Recruitment SpecialEditor Andrew McBarnet (andrew@andrewmcbarnet.com)

Manager Media Production DepartmentLinda Molenaar (lm@eage.org)

Media Productions CoordinatorThomas Beentje (tbe@eage.org)

Junior Account Manager Corporate Relations Marie-Louise Schalij (mls@eage.org)

Production and Design Dennis van der Tol (dto@eage.org)Fahrid van Uitert (fut@eage.org)

Editorial/Advertising enquiriesEAGE Office (address below) EAGE Europe OfficePO Box 593990 DB HoutenThe NetherlandsTel.: +31 88 9955055 Fax: +31 30 6343524 E-mail: eage@eage.org Website: www.eage.org

EAGE Russia & CIS OfficeEAGE Geomodel LLC Starokaluzhskoye shosse, 62Build. 1, korp. 6, 3rd floor117630, Moscow, RussiaTel.: +7 495 661 9285Fax: +7 495 661 9286E-mail: moscow@eage.orgWebsite: www.eage.ru

EAGE Middle East OfficeEAGE Middle East FZ-LLC Dubai Knowledge Village Block 13 Office F-25 PO Box 501711 Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTel.: +971 4 369 3897 Fax: +971 4 360 4702 E-mail: middle_east@eage.orgWebsite: www.eage.org

EAGE Asia Pacific OfficeUOA CentreOffice Suite 19-15-3ANo. 19, Jalan Pinang50450 Kuala LumpurMalaysiaTel: +60 3 27 22 0140Fax: +60 3 2722 0143E-mail: asiapacific@eage.orgWebsite: www.eage.org

EAGE Americas OfficeEAGE Americas OfficeTel.: +31 88 995 5055Fax: +31 30 634 3524E-mail: americas@eage.orgWebsite: www.eage.org

Recruitment Special on the WebThis publication can be accessed online at:www.eage.org/rs

4 Black Sea geology is less about biblical flood theory and more about hydrocarbon potential

10 Advice on what it takes to become a young geoscientist prize winner

12 Oil job crisis will pass with great opportunities for those who keep faith in the business

14 The emerging leaner and meaner industry will welcome the ‘agile’ professional worker

19 Interest group does its bit to help women find job vacancies

20 For students 'Perform and Peak' is the order of the day at this year’s Annual Meeting in Vienna

22 EAGE initiatives are putting a big emphasis on the need for education and training

24 If you want to succeed in your career, you need to brush up your soft skills

28 There is hope at the end of the tunnel for job seekers, according to one major agency

30 Check the EAGE calendar of events

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Table of contents

Dr Gabor Tari will be the main feature for students at EAGE

Vienna when he invites them to discuss some controversial

theories about Black Sea geology. We spoke to him about his

views on the issue and his career in geoscience.

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The focus of much discussion about the geological history of the Black Sea in the last two decades has

focused on the hypothesis that around 6400 BC a cata-strophic deluge from the Mediterranean Sea flooded into the Black Sea. If and how this occurred has not only been subject of avid scientific debate, some have also linked this event with the biblical flood and building of Noah’s Ark described in the book of Genesis.

What’s exciting about Black Sea geology for Gabor Tari, chief geoscientist at Austria’s major oil company OMV, is the potential hydrocarbon treasure that may lie under the deep water. ‘It is a sleeping beauty waiting to be awoken,’ he says. ‘The deep water is a leftover basin which promises exciting discoveries in the backyard of Europe.’

Tari will be bringing this perspective on the geology of the Black Sea to the EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition (Vienna 2016) when he gives the annual motivation talk to students.

His bullish view on hydrocarbon prospects is getting some support judging by recent oil company moves. Operating

company Total with OMV and Repsol as partners were due this month to drill in the Han Asparuh exploration block offshore Bulgaria. This follows a seismic campaign begun in 2013, started with a 3000 km 2D survey and continued with a 7740 km2 3D survey completed in 2014. In water depths of up to 2200 m, the block covers an area of 14,220 km2 in which Total has a 40% with OMV and Repsol sharing 30% each.

Recently Royal Dutch Shell signed a contract for explora-tion in the nearby Silistar 6893 km2 block in the Bulgarian offshore.

Speaking ahead of his motivational talk, Tari makes clear he will not be addressing the heavily canvassed idea that the biblical Noah’s Flood could have occurred in the Black Sea. ‘That’s for others to speculate, my interest is solely in the offshore research activities during the last two decades which have revealed evidence for a catastrophic flooding of a Black Lake with a lake-level some 100 m below the level of the global ocean, about 8400 years ago.’ Tari after his presentation in Vienna will invite stu-dents to debate with him on this geological issue without any religious overtones.

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In his review of the geologic evidence for earlier draw-down and re-flooding events during the Messinian (Late Miocene) and the latest Eocene, Tari points to a geologic signal associated with the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) in the Black Sea. ‘It is more complex than it was thought in the late seventies, shortly after the exciting discovery of the desiccation of the Mediterranean at the same time. Erosional features have been observed along the Black Sea shelf in wells and on seismic reflection profiles that are broadly similar to the seismic stratigraphic signature of the MSC in the Mediterranean. In particular, the intra-Pontian unconformity has been suggested by some as the manifestation of the MSC in the Black Sea Basin. Missing strata and prominent lithological changes associated with the inferred MSC unconformity indicate erosional removal of parts of the underlying Cenozoic deposits in the shelf areas of the entire Black Sea. The magnitude of the relative sea level drop associated with this unconformity has been much debated, and ranges from tens of metres to 1600 m’.

As Tari sees it, based on his geologic observations and interpretations during the last few years, the Black Sea had already been almost desiccated during the latest Eocene. He says recently acquired seismic reflection data revealed

a very distinct seismic package in the Bulgarian part of the deep water basin. The small-scale (40-80 m) clinoforms, downlapping onto the near top Eocene unconformity, could not be seen on earlier seismic data sets due to their relatively deep position, close to the basin centre.

Due to their characteristic seismic pattern, Tari interprets these clinoforms as part of a shallow-water delta during the earliest Oligocene. The base of the delta sequence is correlated with a similar seismic sequence located on the Turkish side of the basin corresponding to huge alluvial fans entering the subaerially exposed basin floor. The observations lead Tari to see the signature of a huge base-level drop of 2000 m or more in the Black Sea Basin at the end of the Eocene. In talking about the Black Sea ‘flooding’ issue, Tari cites Bill Ryan, a research scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, who worked with colleague Walter Pitman in developing the Black Sea deluge theory in the late 1990s linking it to mythical floods such as Noah’s Flood. Ryan has stated: ‘Objections to the rapid flooding hypothesis in which Mediterranean water initially poured into a low-lying enclosed lake are centred

"Black Sea is a sleeping beauty waiting to be awoken"

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on the interpretation of the younger unconformity as evidence of either (1) subaerial erosion (and thus a major early Holocene regression) or (2) underwater erosion that does not require a regression. When examined, specific criticisms appear to be based on different interpretations of observations but do not as yet present a concrete refutation of a lowstand of the lake prior to the Mediter-ranean connection. The flooding hypothesis is today just as vulnerable as when it was first formulated. It serves to best account for the ubiquitous nature of the younger unconformity that not only appears in sediment cores but is also widely mapped by high-resolution reflection profiling. Greater attention needs to be paid in the future to a more comprehensive investigation to find the cause of the younger unconformity.’

Tari tells an amusing, possibly apocryphal, story about how he came involved in identifying the Black Sea as an under-explored deep water basin. In 1999 Tari had joined the Houston-based exploration company Vanco Energy, run by its founder Gene van Dyke, a legendary and somewhat maverick ‘wildcatter’. At the time van Dyke could legitimately claim to have been one of the first to have spotted the deep water exploration potential of

West Africa, negotiating concessions in countries such as Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Namibia. ‘I tried to talk him into Mozambique but he wouldn’t buy it,’ Tari says ruefully given the country’s subsequent hydrocarbon discoveries.

However, van Dyke did accept his advice on the Black Sea. ‘He came to me one day and said we were running out of options offshore West Africa. He wondered where else in the world might we look. I suggested the Black Sea. His first reaction was to ask me to show him where that was on the map! To his credit, he then gave me the go-ahead and we started by buying some seismic data.’ As it turned out, the area offshore Ukraine got too complicated politically to pursue. In any event, by 2007 Tari had moved from Houston to OMV in Vienna where he has been able to continue his Black Sea offshore enthusiasm, albeit offshore Bulgaria, as well as many other OMV exploration targets worldwide.

Vienna is close to home for Tari. He was born in neigh-bouring Hungary when the country was part of the East Communist bloc. ‘It was actually not that oppressive,’ he recalls. ‘After the 1956 uprising the regime was what we

Tari in the great geological outdoors.

called goulash communism, which was a light version paying lip service more than anything else.’ His father, who was not a party member, came from a long line of doctors and his mother was a lawyer. However, his fascination with rocks and fossils, plus a talent for maths and physics, pre-empted following family tradition. He says his first choice would probably have been physics but he had this image that he would be stuck in a lab for the rest of his life. Geophysics and geology would take him outdoors, he thought. ‘The irony of course is that these days I spend my entire time in front of a computer,’ he says.

Tari studied for his MSc degree in geophysics at Eötvös University in Budapest and was fortunate enough to be awarded a grant from the Soros Foundation enabling him travel to study at Rice University in Houston for two months in 1988. Subsequently Prof Albert W. Bally, an eminent professor of geology at the university, obtained scholarship funding for Tari to undertake his PhD in geophysics and geology (his real love) at Rice where he also did some teaching.

His first real job was with Amoco, which before he left had morphed into BP. After working on onshore projects in Romania, he was transferred to the Amoco Angola team. It was just when major discoveries were being made. As part of the Angola Block 18 project Tari got to experience the highs of seeing seismic interpretation work translating into successful drilling campaigns. However looking back he still regards the roller coaster ride of working for Vanco as the more exciting and enlightening. ‘For better or

worse the free rein at Vanco helped me to better under-stand the difference between the scientific and business aspects of oil industry operations.’

Tari does his bit to pass on his knowledge and experience to the next generation with some seismic interpretation teaching to graduate students at the University of Vienna. He realizes that students are anxious about a future in the oil business. ‘Yes, there is a negative vibe around at the moment, but I tell students that the oil price will go up again. I also remind them that no realistic alternative to fossil fuels is on the horizon. Besides, I have had a lot of fun in my profession and they can do as well.’

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Black Sea from above.

Motivational speaker session

On 1 June Gabor Tari will take you back in the interesting history of the Black Sea. After his motivational speech there will be room for discussion.

Stand your ground and debate together with Gabor Tari about the following topic: "Is there enough geological and geophysical evidence, pro or contra, for the catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea about 7500 years ago?"

Share your opinion and join the discussion!

Time 13:00 – 14:30 hrsLocation Student Court, Exhibition

www.eage.org/event/environmental-engineering-2016www.eage.org/event/mineral-exploration-2016www.eage.org/event/shallow-marine-2016

4-8 September 2016, Barcelona, Spain

22nd EUROPEAN MEETING OF

ENVIRONMENTALAND ENGINEERING

GEOPHYSICS

22

NEAR SURFACE GEOSCIENCECONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

SECONDAPPLIED SHALLOW

MARINE GEOPHYSICSCONFERENCE

SECOND FIRSTCONFERENCE ONGEOPHYSICSFOR MINERALEXPLORATIONAND MINING

Register now!

NS16-V3F.indd 1 14/04/16 17:53

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Angeliki Baritantonaki was one of the winners of the 2015

EAGE Young Scientist Prize, which was presented to her and

Marton Berta during last year’s Sustainable Earth Sciences

Conference. EAGE asked Angeliki some questions about her

career as a young professional so far.

YOUNG SCIENTIST PRIZE WINNER SHARES SECRETS OF HER SUCCESS

What did you study and what influenced your choice?I studied physics at the University of Athens in Greece. From an early age I had a keen interest in comprehending our world and its workings, from simple concepts to more complicated phenomena. Physics provided the useful insights I needed to that end and fuelled my motivation to learn more. During my undergraduate studies I picked many elective courses in environmental physics to attain deeper knowledge of important environmental issues, such as climate change. This led me to do a research Masters on energy and environmental sciences, a multi-disciplinary programme at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, from which I have just graduated. In the second year of my Masters, I focused on geoscience and particularly on carbon sequestration. I started with experimental research on mineral CO2 trapping and later with the effect of CO2 and impurities injection on the physical and chemical properties of a reservoir.

What do you like most about your current work?As a fresh graduate I can only talk about my work on the research projects up until now. I particularly enjoyed the fact that I could divide my time between the lab and the office, which made the job varied and more interesting. During this time I also had the opportunity to interact

and work with great people, from whom I learnt a lot. And although there were many challenges to overcome, especially when it came to the experimental procedure, we managed to work efficiently and there was a continu-ous sense of progress and growth.

Why did you choose a career in research?It wasn’t until I started the graduate programme, that I began to contemplate a career in research. Especially when I started working on my training thesis, it became clear to me that this is what I want to do. It is fascinating to start from a hypothesis, an observation, and an idea and then construct something new, and this is my drive in pursuing this career path. Having the opportunity to contribute to knowledge in a particular field, even though it has many challenges, is a highly rewarding experience.

What is the best career advice anyone ever gave you?I always have in mind my parents’ advice to ‘set new goals and always have something to look forward to’ and to ‘keep my eyes open’. The first one keeps me motivated and the second one aware.

What advice would you share with other young professionals?From my perspective, it would be one word ‘perseverance'.

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"It is fascinating to start from a hypothesis, an observation, and an idea and then construct something new, and this is my drive in pursuing this career path."

NOMINATE A YOUNG SCIENTIST!

The EAGE Young Scientist Prize is only awarded every two years, but EAGE also

honours a young professional with the Van Weelden Award on an annual basis.

If you know an outstanding young geoscientist or engineer who deserves

to win this award, then think about nominate him or her via

WWW.EAGE.ORG

You can read Angeliki Baritantonaki’s award winning paper online at EAGE’s geoscience database EarthDoc.

SummaryThe kinetics of dolomite dissolution have been investi-gated in experiments conducted at conditions character-istic of the Rotliegend gas fields in the northeast of the Netherlands (Temperature 100 oC, Brine ionic strength I>6.4M, pH=2-5).

Experiments were performed in closed, stirred, batch reactors at far from equilibrium conditions, with dolomite powders of different diameter fractions: 20-25 microns, 75-100 microns, and 300-350 microns, with respective geo-

metric surface areas: 935cm2/g, 225 cm2/g and 65 cm2/g. Dissolution experiments were also conducted in deion-ized water for the largest grain size to determine the effect of solution composition on dolomite kinetics.

The rates were deduced from the change in the amount of Mg2+ released in brine with time and were normalized by the surface area of the minerals at each time interval. Dolomite dissolution rates were faster in brine than in deionized water by almost a factor of 2, which was not anticipated in such high salinity brine. Ionic strength and ion pairing overshadow the common ion effect, thus enhancing dissolution. In this work, smaller grains exhib-ited faster rates after normalization for surface area.

Baritantonaki’s award winning study quantified dolomite dissolution kinetic rates at conditions

relevant to the Rotliegend gas fields in northeast Netherlands.

Times are indeed tough. The question is just how bad is the current downturn,

how long can we expect it to last and, the really big uncertainty, will there be jobs when we emerge?

The oil production chart speaks volumes, quite literally. In the space of just over six years the US went from being a big net importer to the world’s largest producer and entirely self-sufficient. There was a 5 million bbls/day move against former #1 pro-ducer Saudi Arabia. And, with the relative slow down in the Chinese economy, strong conservation measures being taken by Europe and record amounts of coal produc-tion, there is a major glut in global supply.

This ‘perfect storm’ of high fossil fuel production versus diminishing demand

TO BE DISCOURAGEDNO TIME Peter Lloyd, former chair, EAGE Student Affairs Committee, anticipates that the good times will again roll for the oil industry and students should hang in.

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caused the prices to drop through the floor. And the very way this commodity is traded and the huge amount of financial leveraging by some of the world’s biggest producers has exacerbated the problem. So whichever way you look at it, it is bad, very bad. And companies have reacted by slashing their workforces, putting pretty much anyone over 50 into early retire-ment, halting recruiting and shedding consultants from their ranks. The national resource holders have been far more mod-est in making those cuts, whereas the service companies who depend so much on drilling activity have been hurt more than anyone.

How long will it last? The last big collapse on this scale was in 1986 when a sustained 15-year climb in oil prices stalled almost overnight. It took 15 years for prices to return to their pre-1986 levels and break through US$35 before the 2003 surge to US$100 where it stayed at or above for 10 years. There is little to argue against the repeat of a similar long-term cycle.

True, a major terrorist attack on some pro-duction facilities could shake things up, but with nowhere in the world having a produc-tion facility accounting for more than 3% of global production, there would have to be

some very well coordinated strikes to have an impact, and security forces around the world are alert to such a catastrophe. It is also the case that unconventional ‘frac’ed’ reservoirs undergo far faster decline than conventional wells, and environmental groups are having an impact on shutting down areas where frac’ing was allowed. But this is likely to be only a third or fourth order effect in a much broader picture.

OPEC itself controls only 40% of the world’s production, so it would have to show extreme discipline and make major cuts to push prices to $50 or above. And can we expect the Chinese economy to go back to those heady 10%+ growth rates? So draw your own conclusions. Another ‘perfect storm’ would be needed to push prices back to the levels seen from 2003 to 2013. Otherwise, expect it to take 10 years before prices race ahead again!

So what was it like in the industry from 1986 to 2003? Because of the ‘rightsizing’, painful as it was, this was a very healthy period. Major advances in computer and workstation technology, seismics, direc-tional drilling and our ability to drill in deep water meant we had ever improving tools and skill sets for our profession. Add the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the domino

"I have no doubt that in three or four years, when we have recovered from the shock of today's dreadful climate, the survivors will once again start to flourish."

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effect this had in opening up huge areas all around the world for ‘western style’ exploration and production, areas where these new technologies could be tested.

National oil companies also came into their own. Organizations that had other-wise been regulatory agencies started to flourish, exploring and developing their own acreage and then to compete glob-ally against the international oil companies they had once tried to simply regulate. It was a renaissance period for the industry.

I have no doubt that in three or four years, when we have recovered from the shock of today’s dreadful climate, the survivors will once again start to flourish. And because the computer, digital and GPS driven techno-growth period of the early 1990s is unlikely to be repeated, the com-panies will have to start hiring again. So if you buy into what I have just written and speculated upon, now is the perfect time to start your PhD in petroleum geoscience, petroleum or reservoir engineering, rock physics, geomechanics or geo-modelling. All are fields that require strengths in basicmaths and have a strong multi-disciplinaryflavour. I believe these disciplines will be much sought after as the industry emergesfrom today’s difficult environment.

PREPARE FOR A NEW

WORKING ENVIRON

MENT

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PREPARE FOR A NEW

WORKING ENVIRON

MENTDeirdre O’Donnell, managing director of specialist petroleum

recruitment company Working Smart, discusses oil and gas

workforce challenges, an emerging new organisational structure,

and its impact on the industry’s workers.

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I think we can all agree that the last 18 months or so have been rough for our

industry, and signs of recovery are fleeting to say the least. As in all downturns we are inundated with headline writers and analysts predicting conflicting stories of doom, gloom and imminent upturns. The reality is that we are all at the mercy of the global stock markets. For every operator in distress, we are witnessing two or more service companies announcing emergency measures or bankruptcy. Ewan Whyte, business development manager at LR Senergy, expects that ‘better-funded com-panies will increase their market strength by watching niche competitors tumble out of the market and snapping-up any differ-entiating intellectual property, assets and key personnel’. We hear about the need to collaborate, adopt new technologies, improve efficiencies, and drive down costs - all the rhetoric of recent years!

Although we are currently in a market of oversupply and reduced growth in demand, there is little doubt that the global need for hydrocarbons will rise and demand will continue, leading to a healthier exploration and production (E&P) business environ-ment. The question is what will this recov-ery look like and what impact will it have?

WORKFORCE NEEDS VERSUS WORKFORCE SUPPLYIn all downturns, cuts are inherent and we have witnessed unprecedented layoffs in the region of hundreds of thousands, with some estimates exceeding 350,000 job losses. Casualties have been severe across many sectors of the E&P value chain, and especially worrying is the numbers of technical professionals we have lost, a high percentage forecasted never to return. This is not a new phenomenon – we have been aware of the impact of the ‘great crew change’ for more than 15 years and the need to capture knowledge, transfer it, build our graduate pipeline ... the list goes on! The long-term effects of losing valued individuals will only be realised when the industry rises from the ashes and we try to coax them back. If the day rates are high enough we may be successful, but many have already banked ample redundancy

packages and are getting used to spending more time on the golf course.

To exasperate the looming workforce problem, our current mid-tier demographic (i.e., staff with 15-20 years’ experience) represents only about 9-12% of the resource pool, because following the 1999 crash we failed to hire graduates for several years. This demographic is the most sought after, commands high salaries, and many are already well groomed to take over senior management positions. Now this is great news for them and they are well placed in their 40s to be running E&P companies in the near future, indeed many already are. However, with such a low resource of this demographic, we are likely to face some major leadership gaps in the future.

Those in the mid-low demographic, i.e., 5-15 year staff) are well placed to take on more senior level roles. Since the 2008 crash they have seen their workload increase and they have been given greater scope to expand their knowledge of the wider E&P value chain.

But where does this leave our graduates without work and those with less than five years’ experience, many of whom have lost their jobs in this downturn? I despair when I see my company’s recruitment database bursting with graduates, many with highly relevant MScs and PhDs, but few job pros-pects. We as an industry have once again failed this generation and reinforced an already negative perception amongst talented young people considering their future career paths. The reasons are many but we appear to have become focused on short-term gain, shareholder dividends and security of our own jobs to worry too much about the future! As Adrian Burrows, VP, E&P at Circle Oil, states ‘quarterly financial out-turns have caused knee-jerk reactions in many organisations before proper con-sideration of the longer term can have been fully discussed’. The situation is indica-tive of any depressed market but for an industry that claims to focus on resource sustainability we appear to merely pay lip service to workforce sustainability.

It may be that we never again reach the same level of staff requirements and over

time it will reach its own natural equilib-rium. Ewan Whyte states that ‘supply and demand market restrictions in equipment, suppliers, staff, consultants and IP will mean that costs will rise sharply to keep pace with any future oil rise - the widening gap between cost and value will rapidly close and the human capital aspect will again become critical’.

FROM FLEXIBILITY TO AGILITYFollowing the 1999 crash, organisation structures changed within months, and the ‘Flexible Organisation’, which had been around in other industries for many years, was forced upon us. Many companies decided to gain financial, numerical and functional flexibility through outsourcing what they considered ‘non-core’ activities. This trend has proliferated over the years and has served the industry well.

However, a new breed of organisation is now emerging, the ‘Agile Organisation’, providing benefits in cost, productivity and sustainability that benefit the business and employees. A lot of talk on this subject is focused on ‘Agile Working’ but it has a much greater meaning and will impact how we work, how we are employed, how we supply goods and services, how we collabo-rate and most importantly how service sup-pliers engage with their clients. It is not a new concept but merely ‘working smarter’ - focused on results and performance. This will develop a culture that removes barriers to efficient working and empowers people to create more balanced, motivated, inno-vative and productive teams.

Although an organisation can help shape the culture by providing the framework, it is people’s behaviour, attitudes and actions that will influence its overall effec-tiveness. However, Adrian Burrows warns that ‘in our sphere of operations uncer-tainty is everywhere, so key performance indicators (KPIs) are hard to define and even harder to police without distorting behaviour in undesirable ways’. We are faced with major change but we are adept at evolving. New communica-tion technology enables virtual desktops

and functionality such as video-confer-encing that enables improved sharing of ideas and data with global colleagues with much less travelling. Trust is key to the suc-cess of this approach. Tim Larcombe-Birks, geotechnical recruitment advisor at Nexen North Sea, advises, ‘To be truly resilient, you need to develop a culture that challenges entrenched ways of working, one which introduces new beliefs and experiences that empower everyone to be accountable, demonstrate transparency across all levels of staff and consultants, and embrace con-structive feedback. Nexen has operated a robust organisation for the last few years, which has a clear focus on cultural beliefs, and has integrated this with efficiency improvements, such as our marginal gains campaign – which has resulted in improved production and shaped a more motivated and responsive workforce.’

Impact on work Agility demands a culture of trust from the top down – people will be empowered to work independently and imaginatively to achieve business objectives. There will be a much greater focus on work-life balance; staff may not have a fixed desk or a fixed building to work from but will increasingly work from home or at rented hot-desks with network links to work colleagues around the world sharing data, technology and ideas. Simon Berkeley, an oil industry change management consultant, advises

that ‘trust is paramount across all stake-holders, especially in projects that span both field and office-based operations. The industry has huge potential to become more agile, for example in the application of technology in real-time operation sup-port centres’.

Impact for graduates Young people entering the industry will thrive in this new culture as they have not been preconditioned to traditional organisational beliefs. Technology is sec-ond nature to them, both in its use and application, and they embrace new ways of working. Competition will be fierce as opportunities will be few, due mainly to less internal company resources to provide support and training. Graduates need to be proactive, taking advantage of free courses and networking events, offering their time freely to gain experience or get involved in joint research projects with interested parties. Graduates will also benefit from finding mentors with specialist industry knowledge of their intended area of career direction. The better equipped and knowl-edgeable they are, the more attractive they will be to potential employers.

Impact for staffIn any cyclical market there is no such thing as a job for life. The managing direc-tor of an energy private equity company states that ‘technical staff in particular

will have to work both as consultants and permanent staff to survive through cycles and the short-time horizons of com-panies backed through private equity.’ Short-term employment with a salary or day rate will become more prevalent and managing one’s work time, career development, networking, marketing and revenue stream within this backdrop will be paramount. Staff may need to develop transferrable skills and new technologies to exploit opportunities across multiple industries.

Impact for consultants Oil companies will continue to have their core teams of excellence supported by consultants. However, engagement with the consultant has changed as has the downward pressure on rates. As in any downturn, long-term planning takes a back seat and consultants’ projects become shorter with clearer objectives and KPIs. Gone are the days when consult-ants remained in situ for years on end; they are now more likely to be contracted on a three-month basis for a piece of work with payment terms set for well-defined deliverables. Consultants will have to become a lot more active in marketing their portfolio of skills across many organisations – not just the same oil company they have worked with for the last ten years. They may need technology and software licenses to work independently, or collaborate with

"Young people entering the industry will thrive in this new culture as they have not been preconditioned to traditional organisational beliefs."

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others, and have flexible business terms. With some of the oilfield service compa-nies abandoning their consulting service offerings in this downturn, the landscape has definitely changed – the opportunities for consultants, as independents or in col-laboration, will be many and it is time to get ready to take advantage of them. The consulting-based flexible virtual oil com-pany will increase in importance.

Impact for companies As they compete for a finite skill resource, salaries and day rates will increase and com-panies that are prepared with strategies to source, develop, remunerate, and best uti-lize the available competencies will prosper. A structured mixed approach to skill man-agement, utilising internal staff, consultants and external service companies, will be key to driving competitive advantage. Gehrig Schultz, CEO at Surus Geophysical, advises that ‘building teams with knowledgeable execution capabilities will be one of the key challenges. Another significant challenge will be adopting new technology’.

Impact on tools and technologies A refreshing feature of these downturns is our proven ability to identify advance-ments outside our industry that can be used to drive efficiencies. For example, IBM states that ‘robotization, autono-mous vehicle and drone technologies will reduce the need for on-site staffing, enable remote real-time monitoring and observa-tions regardless of location and greatly reduce the risks of investigating hazardous

incidents (Source: IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub). Gehrig Schultz states ‘we have seen great advancement in the use of drone technology in our industry ranging from inspections of flare stacks, platforms and pipelines through to evaluating environ-mental damage and other concerns, and there is much more to come’. As agility becomes key, those that understand the adoption of new technologies will become a valuable resource.

Impact for recruitment agencies Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB) research in 2014 highlight-ed that only 21% of member companies hired staff through agencies. Company HR departments have seen their share of job cuts, and when the business environment improves an increasing part of the recruit-ing function is likely to be outsourced. As in any upturn, projects will arise quickly and unexpectedly and recruitment agen-cies will need to respond rapidly to provide the required resources. Like all suppli-ers, agencies must add value throughout the entire recruitment process, and be commercially and technically competent to service the specific needs of industry project and technical managers. Being ‘business ready’ is key - knowing the cli-ent’s business and candidates’ experience and aptitude, plus having the technologies to help streamline the process, will be vital to adding value. Working closely together with E&P companies, specialist recruit-ment agencies can help overcome the industry challenges of the future.

TIME TO PREPAREIn today’s global competitive marketplace, the name of the game is change. Only businesses that make the evolutionary leap beyond conventional structures and a ‘project-of-the-month’ approach to man-agement will succeed.

Today’s new breed of agile, high-perfor-mance organisations are those in which all stakeholders are active participants in managing these ever-accelerating and unrelenting changes. Technology advance-ments and efficiencies will proliferate, but I still believe the old adage – the greatest asset an organisation holds is its people and the recruitment and development of its people is paramount to its success.

Organisations need to seriously consider their workforce resourcing strategies with a key emphasis on building their pipeline for the future, succession planning and defining skill gaps and training require-ments. It is a time to reflect and prepare for the new world order of the oil and gas industry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe author would like to express her thanks to Working Smart clients who kind-ly provided their insight into challenges we face today and in the future. These include Tim Larcombe-Birks, Ewan Whyte, Adrian Burrows, Simon Berkeley, Gehrig Schultz and David Harper, HR consultant at EOG Resources UK.

Working Smart initiativeWorking Smart, now in its 20th year, is a specialist upstream oil and gas recruitment company providing permanent and contract staff to the global upstream oil and gas industry. Having survived the crashes of 1999 and 2008, it is already preparing for the next upturn. The company will soon launch a new business venture called Book-4 that will consolidate the marketing and management of training courses and events in our industry. It also intends to promote free educational tools, courses and events for graduates and unemployed industry workers. For more information visit www.working-smart.co.uk and www.book-4.com, or call the author on +44 1483 721794.

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EAGE’s Women in Geoscience and Engineering (WGE) committee is doing what it can to help members who

may have lost their jobs.

WGE says: ‘We all hope for a better 2016 for the overall oil and gas industry. Unfortunately, within the last year we have seen a lot of our friends and colleagues ending up without a job. Thus, we are aware that many of our members are looking for new opportunities and we think that as a group we can all help each other in these difficult times.’

The WGE SIC committee is setting up a Job Corner initiative online by posting available job opportunities within the LinkedIn group. The Job Corner was launched in February 2016 and quite a number of job offers have

already been posted. In addition, the WGE SIC committee has been publishing bi-weekly summaries of all the jobs so members have a chance to catch up. Anyone look-ing for the posts should follow #EAGEWGEJOBCORNER under the conversation thread.

Although the job offers advertised may not be of inter-est to particular individuals, the WGE SIC committee is encouraging members to pass on the information whenever appropriate. You can join the community via https://www.linkedin.com/groups/6550863.

Also, please do not hesitate to contact and send any information to Caroline Le Turdu or Milena Marjanovic or any other member of the committee you already know. We will be glad to help! Many thanks!

WOMEN’S INTEREST GROUP HELPING THE SEARCH FOR JOBS

“INFORMATION ON AVAILABLE JOB OPPORTUNITIES IS A CRITICAL COMMODITY IN JOB-HUNTING THAT THE JOB CORNER IS MEANT TO PROVIDE TO OUR MEMBERS”

MILENA MARJANOVIC, DISCUSSION MODERATOR CO-CHAIR

MAKE ‘PERFORM AND PEAK’ YOUR PRIORITY IN VIENNA PRIORITY IN VIENNA

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Those students who make it to the Annual Meeting, this year in Vienna, are

in for a treat. Once again EAGE is offering an awesome Student Programme,

called ‘Perform and Peak’ providing students the opportunity to learn about

the industry, grow their network, check out job opportunities, meet and

engage with fellow students, not to mention have fun. This year the activities

will kick off with the FIELD Challenge and a field trip to the Vienna Basin.

Networking with your peersFor EAGE it’s important that students grow their professional network and prepare themselves for the future. On Tuesday afternoon we will be offering the opportunity to meet with professionals in a relaxed and informal atmosphere in the Networking Café. On Thursday, there will be the meeting of Student Chapters.

Our now legendary Geo-Quiz will this year take place on Wednesday afternoon straight after Gabor Tari, group chief geoscientist, OMV, has told the fascinating history of the Black Sea in his special ‘Geology and Archaeology’ motiva-tional address. The presentation will be followed by a debate between students with Tari as moderator. Share your opinion and join the discussion!

Let’s get socialAt the Student Court you will find our Vienna Social Media Wall. Get EAGE social: connect on Facebook, insta the court, vlog your experience or tweet your message by using our #EAGESTUDENTS and #EAGEVIENNA2016 hashtag.

Outdoor activities The Austrian Alps are synonym for sportive outdoor activi-ties. In the summer, it’s the perfect place for hiking, biking and mountaineering activities. It is impossible to bring the winter snow and real Alps to the Student Court for a unique ski experience. So, instead, we challenge students to participate in our interactive Ski game on Xbox in our Student Court.

To learn more on what’s on offer in Vienna and to register visit our website: www.eage.org/event/vienna-students-2016.

Austria has a venerable oil historyAustria’s history as a petroleum-producing country dates back to the 1930s. At that time, shallow and geologically simple tar-gets were the focus, and subsequently deeper reservoirs were targeted. More than 5000 wells have been drilled for petro-leum exploration and production, and the deepest one reached 8533 m. In addition, extensive geophysical surveys have been conducted in prospective regions. The most important petro-leum provinces of Austria are the Vienna Basin, the Molasse Zone, and the Northern Alps.

The Vienna Basin has produced by far the largest volumes of petroleum and was Austria’s earliest producing region. The super-imposed sediments may reach a thickness of 10,000 m or more. Petroleum production in the basin has come from three floors: first floor (Neogene basin-fill sandstones), second floor (Alloch-thonous Pre-Neogene Alpine-Carpathian thrust sheets dolomite), and third floor (Autochthonous Mesozoic sub-thrust). Two main types of structural traps can be observed in the basin; the anticli-nal structure and the fault related trap. The biggest accumulation of oil and gas is situated in the Matzen area, northeast of Vienna.

At EAGE we believe that it is vitally important for all geoscientists to keep

up with the latest developments in their field. In recent years we have significantly increased our educational programmes and have attracted excellent attendance worldwide.

Paul Sava, EAGE education officer, says: ‘Education Days is an ideal platform to increase knowledge and awareness of new

methodology for geoscience specialists. Our short courses not only reflect the lat-est scientific developments in geosciences, but also demonstrate applications of these theories to real-life problems.’

Last year over 95% of Education Days Mos-cow participants evaluated the level of instructors’ knowledge as ‘excellent’. 87% of attendees said they would recommend the programme to their colleagues.

Here’s how EAGE aims to help its members stay current in good times and bad.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE VITAL

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ECONOMIC HARDSHIP PROGRAMME AVAILABLE FOR SHORT COURSES

EAGE recognizes the current challenging status of the industry and, priding itself on the inclusive character of the Association, now has a special economic hardship assistance programme in place to reach out to its members.

We aim to assist our long-term members who are currently unemployed by providing a contribution towards educational programmes. Members who are out of work can attend public EAGE short courses (excluded EET short courses) for a discounted course fee equal half of the lowest fee of the respective course (member early fee).

More information about the EAGE Economic Hardship Programme can be found online on http://www.eage.org/hardship-programme.

Classroom trainingEAGE offers 91 short courses, most of them multi-disciplinary, with durations ranging from one to five days. The courses are usually focused on topics that are not offered by commercial organizations and based on state-of-the-art methods and techniques. They are designed to increase knowledge and awareness of new meth-odologies for geoscience specialists. Not only do they reflect the latest scientific developments in geosciences but also demonstrate real life applications of these theories discussed.

We take advantage of the knowledge and expertise of our members and network to select course instructors who are experi-enced and acknowledged industry profes-sionals and academics. The short courses are open to the public as well as members, and are presented in different formats worldwide: EAGE Education Days, EAGE Education Tours, short courses at EAGE conferences and workshops, stand-alone short courses, plus in-house courses.

In March 2013 EAGE became the first offi-cial Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provider of the ‘European Geolo-gist’, which is a professional accreditation established by the European Federation of

Geologists (EFG). In order to obtain and maintain this title, the holder must provide a record of high-quality CPD activities. This include EAGE’s short courses.

For more information about this accredita-tion system and our learning activities including instructor biographies, please visit www.eage.org and www.learninggeoscience.org.

Field trainingField training is an integral part of a geo-scientist’s educational development. It applies classroom theory and laboratory testing to solve geological and geophysi-cal problems in the field. The objective is to enable students and young industry professionals to gain valuable experience in geophysical operations. Field training can involve collection of (geologic) data, surveying, planting geophones, operating seismic sources, interpreting geological structures and geological mapping. We offer several field training options: Geo-logical Boot Camp and the Young Profes-sionals Quantitative Geoscience School.

Online trainingTo support the different learning needs of our members, we provide a wide choice of online options to overcome the limitations

of time, distances and financial resources. Also online learning leaves room to choose whatever training is needed to be taken at whatever time is convenient.

EAGE members have free access to all online learning offerings, which are divided into two groups: e-courses and E-Lectures, which are available on the EAGE YouTube channel. Both options are suitable for a broad audience ranging from students to end-of-career professionals.

More information about the education programmes of EAGE can be found online on www.learninggeoscience.org.

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We take a look at what industries like oil and gas expect in the way of ‘soft skills’ from their staff and new recruits.

HARDEN UP WHY YOU NEED TO

YOUR SOFT SKILLS

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If you’re searching for employment or promotion in any business, not just oil

and gas, you’ve probably heard mention that exceptional soft skills could be the factor that make one person stand out against another.

But what are they? The trouble is that ‘soft skills’ don’t get that much attention during your academic years when the focus is on technical skills and knowledge. If you google the term, you can quickly get bogged down in a quagmire of busi-ness ‘self help’ advice, usually covertly or explicitly advertising a book or a course.

Searching for a definition via Wikipedia is just as confusing. It describes soft skills as often having been associated with a person’s EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quo-tient). This is the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, lan-guage, personal habits, interpersonal skills, managing people, leadership, etc. that characterize relationships with other people, i.e., not their technical skills. High EQ has in some studies claimed to show better mental health, job performance and leadership skills.

But guess what? EQ is somewhat con-troversial in the scientific and psychol-ogy world. For a start measurement may involve self-judgement scales, which sug-gest an element of subjective assessment

and hence unreliability. In addition, there is plenty of scepticism about a convinc-ing causal relationship between high EQ and superior leadership performance, as proposed by Daniel Goleman, an early advocate of the theory. Critics of EQ have debated whether it is real intelligence or if it has incremental validity over IQ and the Big Five personality traits. For those who want to follow the thread, the Big Five are openness to experience, consci-entiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, but it is an unnecessary excursion.

If you leave aside all the psycho-babble, soft skills still have a common sense meaning for most hiring companies, which all candidates should be aware of. This is how Rob Papworth, group recruitment manager at Australian min-ing company MMG, defines the meaning and value of soft skills. He says, ‘a way to understand soft skills is to view them as any skills that connect you to the technical aspects of the role and enable you to achieve your key job outcomes. For instance, a mechanic typically works in a team, so teamwork, communication and collaboration would be some of the soft skills of this job. For an exploration geologist working in isolated locations, soft skills like adaptability, resilience and perseverance would be crucial. Like any recruitment activity, what we look for

depends on the role, so soft skills can vary but communication and teamwork skills transcend all job categories. Communica-tion is crucial to safety and teamwork ensures that the sum of the whole is greater than that of the individual parts.’

Papworth’s final piece of advice would be for job-seekers to get an idea of the likely soft skills in any job and visualize the day to day activities of the role. ‘Every activity that connects the job and the person to others and their external company and physical environment would require an underlying soft skill.’

In effect, soft skills are personal attrib-utes of which ability to communication, teamwork and collaboration skills are usually most highly valued, with business acumen, leadership and management skills also being significant depending on the job or future expectations.

The value of soft skills cannot be under-stated, according to the inaugural Global Oil and Gas Training and Development Survey, conducted in 2012 by SPE and BP. It showed that soft skills are regarded as more important than technical skills in sustaining and progressing a career in the oil and gas industry. In total, 773 oil and gas professionals across 24 countries were surveyed. Topping the list of all important skills were ‘the ability to learn (69%), team work (61%), and communi-cation skills (60%). while technical skills (57%), analytical skills (53%) and computer skills (34%) came lower on the list.

Not surprisingly, the industry was found to feel that the next generation requires more development in soft skills during their university years. Initiative and work ethic were found to be weak in new hires from university compared with their technical skills.

Taking the SPE/BP study as a cue, authors Islin Munisteri, Rita Okoroafor, Asif Zafar, David Sturgess, and Amanpreet Gill have published in the SPE’s The Way Ahead young professionals’ publication some useful advice based on personal experi-ence. It is worth taking note.

They say, for example, that when apply-ing for a job, employers like to hear about work experience, like a summer internship or relevant university research, to assess your experience beyond your day-to-day responsibilities. ‘Your resumé should also include your accomplishments regarding extracurricular activities, such as sports, clubs, or societies. A high level of achieve-ment and/or senior positions held in these aspects of your life is evidence of your commitment and motivation, which can help offset a lack of work experience.’The SPE authors say that the most likely interview technique will be STAR (Situa-tion, Task, Activity, and Response). ‘While this technique has drawbacks in that it can be impersonal, the benefit is that it helps provide a universal benchmark between candidates. There is nothing stopping you from steering your answers in the direc-tion best suited to what you want the interview committee to see.’ The four key

behaviours that interviewers are look-ing for are performance, collaboration, growth, and authenticity. ‘Remember to keep your answers specific, concise, and upbeat’ is the advice.

The need to demonstrate soft skills should be a career-long preoccupation if you want to succeed. ‘Bridging the gap between where you are today, and where you want to be calls for a continuous improvement on multiple fronts: people, time (experience), and place (cultural).’ The authors point out that the dynamics of multi-disciplinary working can vary enormously depend-ing on the location, people and task involved. ‘Some cultures bring an aggres-sive approach to problem-solving, while others preach a more traditional, con-servative approach. Recognizing when an aggressive, conservative, or mixed approach to problem-solving is required is a valuable tool.’

Knowing what your innate soft skills are through self-assessment and by being open to constructive feedback from oth-ers is an important consideration at all times. This could mean teaming up with someone whose strength is your weak-ness, according to the authors.

Their conclusion is that you need to con-stantly challenge yourself to develop new skill sets. ‘Since every task has an associ-ated soft skill set, by taking on new roles, you are able to develop, expand, and broaden your capabilities.’

"The need to demonstrate soft skills should be a career-long preoccupation if you want to succeed."

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It’s not easy for students and young professionals to find a hopeful narrative about oil industry employment

prospects but a recent blog from Petroplan offers some reassurance. The blog’s main theme is that things will not get any worse, and that a recovery is due at some unspeci-fied time in the future.

Founded in 1976, Petroplan is a UK-based international recruitment company with offices in Canada, India, Nor-way, South Africa, South Korea, USA and UAE, operating exclusively within the oil, gas and energy sector.

Andrew Spears, CEO of Petroplan, provides some positive spin when says, ‘there are times when cuts have to be made, but oil and gas organisations have been cutting

hard and fast.’ Global job losses have exceeded the 250,000 mark internationally, with some 65,000 jobs cut from Britain’s oil sector.

One result, according to Petroplan, is that candidates can be reassured that some cuts will have to be undone when the market picks up, at which point workers will be worth much more.

Petroplan canvassed over 1500 people working, unem-ployed or retired from the oil and gas industry to see what matters most to workers in this market now that there is such instability. Of the people surveyed, 51% were employed with another 18% working on a contrac-tual basis. The highest proportion of people worked in

EMPLOYEES & JOB SEEKERS NERVOUSLY HOPEFUL ABOUT THE FUTURE

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engineering (18%) and maintenance and inspection (9%), but HESQ (9%), project management (6%) and commis-sioning and operations (6%) were also popular fields to specialise in.

The cuts are said to have made people working in the industry on both a contract and permanent basis nervous. Reassuringly, perhaps, the study found that 46% of people felt secure or very secure in their roles, with only 24% concerned about their position.

It seems that location has a significant influence on how secure people feel in their role. 44% of respondents based in the Middle East felt confident in their position, while the figure was less than half this in the UK, at just 14%.

Given the state of the oil and gas market, job candidates have been facing much more competition as the number of people applying for jobs has increased significantly. Almost 90% of respondents admitted to looking for new roles and this underlines the insecurity in the market because 83% of these people were already employed.

Despite market insecurity, self-confidence is running high because 56% of people would happily change roles if a better opportunity came along, the report says. Over 60% of respondents would recommend a position in the oil, gas and energy industry to a friend with 41% feeling very positive about their career.

As to what happens when oil prices rise again, 94% of respondents have faith that the oil and gas industry is cyclical and will recover. When it does, companies will have to make sure they’re offering the most competitive packages and rewards to attract the high-calibre candi-dates.

While people are positive and loyal to the oil, gas and energy industry, there is apparently little loyalty to com-panies themselves. What most people are looking for from their employer is a competitive basic pay rate, an appropriate contract length to offer job security and a reliable health plan, especially when working overseas where private medical insurance is vital.

Training is essential to a career in the oil, gas and energy industry and this was the feeling among respondents too. Almost half of the people under 29 said that training was much more important than the health plan or the length of the contract when it came to choosing a position. If companies are making cutbacks, training is an area that suffers, a point all job applicants should bear in mind.

With 63% of respondents agreeing that there is a skills shortage where they’ve been working, training will undoubtedly become more prominent on oil and gas pro-jects in the future. Almost 60% of clients that responded to the survey claimed that they would be investing more into training schemes.

OF RESPONDENTS BASED IN THE MIDDLE EAST FELT CONFIDENT IN THEIR POSITION

WHILE THE FIGURE WAS LESS THAN HALF THIS

IN THE UK, AT JUST:

44%

14% OF RESPONDENTS WOULD

RECOMMEND A POSITION IN THE OIL, GAS AND ENERGY

INDUSTRY TO A FRIEND

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2016/2017 2-4 May 2016 EAGE | Fifth EAGE Shale Workshop Catania Italy www.eage.org 2-4 May 2016 EAGE | EAGE/SPE Subsalt Imaging Workshop Dubai UAE www.eage.org 10-13 May 2016 EAGE | Geoinformatics 2016 Kiev Ukraine www.eage.org 30 May - 2 Jun 2016 EAGE | 78th EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2016 - Vienna 2016 Vienna Austria www.eage.org 8-11 Jun 2016 AMGE | Mexican Petroleum Congress Monterrey Mexico http://www.congresomexicanodelpetroleo.com.mx/home.html 19-22 Jun 2016 AAPG | AAPG Annual Convention & Exhibition Calgary Canada http://www.aapg.org/ 21-24 Aug 2016 ASEG/PESA/AIG | 25th ASEG-PESA-AIG International Geophysical Conference Adelaide Australia www.conference.aseg.org.au/ 22-26 Aug 2016 EAGE | GeoBaikal 2016: Expand Horizons Irkutsk Russia www.eage.org 27 Aug - 4 Sep 2016 IUGS | 35th international Geological Congress Cape Town South Africa http://www.35igc.org/ 29 Aug - 1 Sep 2016 EAGE | 15th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery (ECMOR XV) Amsterdam Netherlands www.eage.org 4-8 Sep 2016 EAGE | 22nd European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics Barcelona Spain (Near Surface Geoscience 2016) www.eage.org 4-8 Sep 2016 EAGE | First Conference on Geophysics for Mineral Exploration and Mining Barcelona Spain (Near Surface Geoscience 2016) www.eage.org 4-8 Sep 2016 EAGE | Second Applied Shallow Marine Geophysics Conference Barcelona Spain (Near Surface Geoscience 2016) www.eage.org 12-15 Sep 2016 EAGE | Geomodel 2016 Gelendzhik Russia www.eage.org 26-28 Sep 2016 SPE | SPE ATCE 2016 Dubai UAE http://www.spe.org/atce/2016/ 28-30 Sep 2016 ACGGP | XII Bolivarian Symposium Bogota Colombia https://simposiobolivariano.org

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2-5 Oct 2016 EAGE | EAGE Workshop on Petroleum Geochemistry in Operations & Production Doha Qatar www.eage.org 4-6 Oct 2016 EAGE | Far East Hydrocarbons 2016 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Russia www.eage.org 16-21 Oct 2016 SEG | SEG International Exposition and 86th Annual Meeting Dallas USA http://www.seg.org/web/annual-meeting-2016/home 23-26 Oct 2016 EAGE | EAGE/SPE Workshop on Integrated Geomechanics in E&P Abu Dhabi UAE www.eage.org 24-28 Oct 2016 SGF | 25e Réunion des Sciences de la Terre (RST) Caen France http://www.geosoc.fr/ 27-28 Oct 2016 EAGE | Second EAGE-TNO Workshop on Deltaic Reservoir Connectivity The Hague Netherlands www.eage.org 14-16 Nov 2016 IPTC | 10th International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) Bangkok Thailand www.iptcnet.org/2016/ 16-17 Nov 2016 EAGE | AAPG/EAGE/SEG/SPE The Knowledge Management Challenge Abu Dhabi UAE www.eage.org 21-23 Nov 2016 EAGE | SPE/AAPG/EAGE Unconventional Plays Workshop Dubai UAE www.eage.org 22-24 Nov 2016 EAGE | Second EAGE Eastern Africa Petroleum Geoscience Forum Kampala Uganda www.eage.org 5-7 Dec 2016 EAGE | Third EAGE Integrated Reservoir Modelling Conference Kuala Lumpur Malaysia www.eage.org 5-7 Dec 2016 EAGE | Sixth Arabian Plate Geology Workshop Abu Dhabi UAE www.eage.org 12-16 Dec 2016 AGU | AGU Fall Meeting San Francisco USA https://fallmeeting.agu.org/20165-8 Feb 2017 EAGE | Third EAGE Workshop on Naturally Fractured Reservoirs Dubai UAE www.eage.org20-21 Mar 2017 EAGE | First EAGE Workshop on Pore Pressure Prediction Pau France www.eage.org27-31 Mar 2017 EAGE | Tyumen 2017 Tyumen Russia www.eage.org12-15 Jun 2017 EAGE | 79th EAGE Conference & Exhibition Paris France www.eage.org

2016/2017

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Calendar 2016/2017

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

JOIN THE EAGE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

COMMUNITY ON LINKEDIN

Special Interest Community (YP SIC)

SPECIAL INTEREST COMMUNITY

The EAGE Young Professionals Community connects a network of active Young Professionals in geosciences and engineering. The community facilitates communication with peers, access to special events and guidance on career development.

XXXXX-YPC-V1H.indd 1 09/02/16 11:38

EAGE Young Professional School in Quantitative

Geoscience

The perfect place for young professionals and postgraduates to receive advanced training on

geology, geophysics and fluid flow

Interested? For more information, please visit www.lg.eage.org/quantitative-geoscience-2016

Join us!

3-7 October 2016 – Tenby, Wales

18715-V*H Young Professional School advert FB May.indd 1 13/04/16 11:33

JOIN US!

INCLUDING

SPE EUROPEC

PARIS 201779th EAGE Conference & Exhibition

12-15 June 2017 | Pariswww.eage.org/event/paris-2017

Energy, Technology, Sustainability - Time to open a new Chapter

PAR17-V*F.indd 2 07/04/16 15:11