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CRAFTING YOUR CAREER | INTERVIEW WITH STEVEN FARRIS | BENEFITS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The Magazine by and for Young Professionals in Oil and Gas VOLUME 11 // ISSUE 1 // 2015

NAVIGATING the INDUSTRY

A Guide for Recent Grads

Producing solutions.

Are you ready to take your career to the next

level? Aera Energy currently has a range of

industry-leading opportunities for ambitious

professionals. Here, you can make a real impact.

We’re big—one of the largest oil companies in

the USA—yet you’ll always know that you’re an

essential part of the team. Based in California,

Aera encourages a healthy balance between

work and personal pursuits. We’re a diverse

group, though we all have something in common:

a solid commitment to excellence. If this sounds

like a culture in which you’d thrive, we look

forward to speaking with you. Find out more

at workforaera.com

Veterans are welcome to apply. Aera is an equal opportunity employer.

At this time, we are recruiting professionals

with the following background and experience:

FACILITIES PROJECT ENGINEERS

FACILITIES ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS

CONTROLS SYSTEMS ENGINEERS

PRODUCTION ENGINEERS

RESERVOIR ENGINEERS

GEOLOGICAL TECHNICIANS

INFO MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY

YOU WON’T JUST TAP OIL RESERVES

CAREER POTENTIAL.

YOU’LL TAP YOUR FULL

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ContentsVOLUME 11 // ISSUE 1 // 2015

3 What’s Ahead Comments from 2015 TWA Editor-in-Chief Tony Fernandez.

4 President’s Column 2015 SPE President Helge Hove Haldorsen reveals the eight dimensions to focus on

in plotting your way to career success.

7 TWA InterActWays for TWA readers to stay connected year-round.

8 TWA InterviewSteven Farris of Apache Corporation shares his industry experience and

offers advice to young professionals entering the oil and gas industry.

10 AcademiaJust entering the oil and gas job market? Heriot-Watt University’s Eric Mackay

tells you how to carve out a career and create a niche for yourself.

12 Economist’s CornerStart a career or study further? Matt Balhoff of the University of Texas at Austin

and Larry Fiddler of Halliburton Consulting debate the pros and cons.

15 ForumA step-by-step guide for students and young professionals on navigating the

oil and gas industry.

18 Pillars of the IndustryImran Butt of Baker Hughes talks about why young professionals should be

pumped up about a future in the oil and gas industry.

20 HR DiscussionExperts and industry professionals chart the road map for career growth.

23 SPE 101Find out the various ways SPE can help the future generation of oil and gas

professionals.

24 Technical LeadersIndustry leaders Janeen Judah of Chevron and Kendra Lema of ConocoPhillips

talk about what makes a person good leadership material and the

opportunities available in the industry.

27 Soft SkillsHow to prepare yourself for your next promotion.

29 Tech 101Tim Duggan of Skynet Labs shares his insight on the importance of data

intergration in oil and gas modeling.

32 A YP’s Guide to...Young professionals guide recent graduates to the career opportunities available

in the US, Canada, and the UK.

34 YP NewsflashNews on YP events from the Bangalore, San Joaquin Valley, and Warri SPE sections.

36 Your Best ShotWinning photos from job locations.

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TWA THE WAY AHEAD (ISSN 2224-4522) is published three times a year (February, June, October) by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, 222 Palisades Creek Drive, Richardson, TX 75080 USA.

TWA EDITORIAL

COMMITTEE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFTony Fernandez, Jefferies LLC

DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEFJarrett Dragani, Cenovus Energy

TWA A DVISERDavid Vaucher, Alvarez & Marsal

LEAD EDITORS

Amber Sturrock, Chevron

Angela Dang, Colorado School of Mines

Anisha Mule, University of Tulsa

Harshad Dixit, Halliburton

Henny Gunawan, Schlumberger

Islin Munisteri, BP

Jenny Cronlund, BP

Madhavi Jadhav, Schlumberger

Maxim Kotenev, CGG Veritas

Paulo Pires, Petrobras

Rita Okoroafor, Schlumberger

Rob Jackson, Mountaineer Keystone

Shruti Jahagirdar, Shell Technology India

EDITORS and ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Aman Gill, Nexen ULC

Ankit Agarwal, Schlumberger

Asif Zafar, Halliburton

Batool Haider, Stanford University

Carter Clemens, BP

Chieke Offurum, EOG Resources

Colter Morgan, Chevron

Craig Frenette, Cenovus Energy

Dane Gregoris, ITG

David Sturgess, Woodside Energy

Dilyara Iskakova, Hess Corporation

Hao Sun, Chevron

Islam Ibrahim, Gupco

Ivo Foianini, Halliburton

Jakob Roth, Schlumberger

James Lloyd, Mayer Brown LLP

Kristin Weyand, ConocoPhillips

Li Zhang, Devon Energy

Marjan Jamshidi, ConocoPhillips

Matthew French, ConocoPhillips

Michael Stratton, Accenture

Muhammad Taha, NED University

Nazneen Ahmed, Apache

Oyebisi Oladeji, Schlumberger

Rodrigo Terrazas, Total

Sara Davila, MHWirth

Shubham Sharma, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad

Thomas Shattuck, Wood Mackenzie

Thresia Nurhayati, Halliburton

Tiago de Almeida, Universitário de Barra Mansa

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3Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

What’s Ahead–From TWA’s Editor-in-Chief

Setting the Foundation With

the Bricks From Others:

Advice for Recent GradsTony Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief, The Way Ahead

elcome to the �rst TWA issue of 2015! Our goal for

this issue is to provide an all-inclusive reference for

entry-level graduates as they begin their careers,

so it is jam-packed with terri�c early-career

guidance from industry leaders. Think of your career as a tall

building: the stronger the foundation, the taller the building

can be built. I especially urge you to read 2015 SPE President

Helge Haldorsen’s eight dimensions to a successful career in the

President’s Column.

Throughout your �rst few years in the industry, the advice

that you acquire will replicate much of what is in this issue:

continue your technical education, �ne tune your “soft skills,”

and build a mentorship network, to name a few. While these

are all vital for a prosperous career in oil and gas, I defer

to the words of our authors on these topics on the following

pages. Instead, I’ll “give forward” four pieces of advice that I

was once given, which have had the most profound impact on

my career.

Finding the Yin for Your Yang

According to Facebook COO of�cer Sheryl Sandberg, “the most

important career choice you’ll make is who you marry.” Having a

spouse who supports—and revels in—your career choices can

be reassuring and a fuel for con�dence. Only by making sure

there is compatibility between your and your partner’s domestic

dreams and that both are secure in your roles (whatever

those may be) can the whole be greater than the sum of its parts.

Too often, individuals fail to recognize the importance of this

complementary partnership, but keep in mind that choosing

a spouse will arguably also be your most important �nancial

decision, lifestyle decision, and parenting decision. Never

thought you’d get love advice from an SPE journal, did you?

Field Experience Adds Legitimacy

Perhaps the most enticing early decision you will want to

make is to decide between a managerial or technical career

ladder. I urge you to avoid making a premature decision;

the single most de�ning characteristic of every successful

engineer executive that I’ve witnessed is their ability to make

decisions based on their own vast operational expertise. By

leveraging their own individual experiences, they’re able

to steer their career exactly where they want it to go.

Field experience can also be the most effective way an

engineer can road-test a role. It is perfectly natural early in your

career to be undecided about your discipline of focus; all the

disciplines look (and are) rewarding in their own way, so it can

be hard to choose one for the rest of your life. While this decision

will take some time to crystallize, the invaluable experience you

will gain along the way will forever pay dividends. Being able to

articulate your thoughts in the technical jargon of the other team

members because you walked in their shoes at some point in

your career can be an indispensable weapon.

Always Have Control of Your Career

I am not the prototypical engineer, meaning I never took the

classical engineering curriculum in my undergraduate degree

or had the types of internships that are typical of résumés in

our industry, so I spent the �rst years of my career addressing

my perceived weaknesses (through rotational assignments

and coursework) seeking self-validation through any

means possible.

In retrospect, my sentiments were unfounded—everyone is

different, and that’s just �ne—but they serendipitously fueled me

to assess and address my actual weaknesses. Self-knowledge

is a powerful tool. By continuously evaluating your strengths

and weaknesses, you’ll be able to plan your future around your

strengths while at the same time identify any potential weakness

that could be an Achilles’ heel for your career.

In line with this assessment, it would be to your advantage

to create a list of short-, medium-, and long-term career goals.

Then, by comparing those goals with your self-assessment you’ll

be able to create an action list of steps to take to best position

yourself for success.

Utilize SPE—A Lot

I can’t count how many times the �rst sentence upon my

meeting someone is, “Do you know such-and-such person?”

It is unquestionably the industry’s icebreaker of choice and

speaks to the interconnectedness of the oil patch. For being such

a global industry, it sure does feel small and intimate, and you

can use it to your advantage.

Every volunteer role that I’ve had within SPE, from the

local chapter to the international level, has yielded not only

professional contacts but also lifelong friends. While the

technical motives are obvious, by maintaining an activity level

within SPE, you’re also sowing the social seeds that will bear

fruit in bushels later on in your career. Remember that the

next time you’re caught on the receiving end of the industry’s

favorite icebreaker.

With all that said, congratulations on graduating!

These are exciting times of limitless possibilities. By taking the

bricks others offer you from their foundation, you’ll be ahead

of the curve toward realizing your wildest dreams. Now the

fun begins! TWA

W

4

President’s Column

am often asked by young professionals how they should

navigate their careers successfully in the exploration and

production (E&P) industry and what the most important

dimensions to focus on are. Firstly, I encourage them to

be authentic, true to themselves, really stand for something,

and harness their unique perspective and differentness as their

secret career weapons.

Over the years, I have compiled eight dimensions (D) that

are key to navigating job success as measured by respect,

validation, reward (salary and position), relationships, and a

feeling of achievement and satisfaction stemming from a sense

of purpose. As you review the H3 Spider Plot score yourself and

re�ect on your score. Is your score by design or by accident?

In general, I recommend that you never stop being a student

because, as a wise Asian quote says: When the student is ready,

the teacher will appear!

D1—HAVE A SENSE OF PURPOSE

Start With Why, a book by Simon Sinek, points out that the

motivational sequence should be “why,” followed by “how,”

followed by “what.” There is no stronger engine inside us

than when we care about our job and have a strong sense of

purpose. Always look for the “why” inside you, beyond your

paycheck. In my experience, when you �nd it, you will feel

different. Remember, you are an important part of an industry

that helps 7.3 billion people get their energy every day for

heating, cooling, lighting, mobility, and transportation. Even

in a competitive workplace, you can �nd inspiration in helping

others. That sense of purpose makes you see the bigger

picture even early in your career. What you do is not just a job;

even in a small way, you are changing the world.

D2—BE PASSIONATE

People who exhibit passion or �re in the belly, a “can do”

attitude, and a “now-is-good” sense of urgency are much

more motivational, likable, and fun to be on the team with than

grumpy, glass-half-full people. In most companies, being

a passionate champion playing to win is how you succeed

in the Darwinistic �ght for attention and funds. You can do

that by reducing complexity and by �nding a simple way of

explaining your idea and goal. That does not mean that you

alone have all the answers. On the contrary, humility as a

balance to strong passion and willpower is essential. With

this, you invite the perspectives of all those around you in.

Nobody doubts where your end zone is, but to get there is a

team sport.

D3—KNOW YOUR STUFF, BE A TEAM PLAYER

You have to keep yourself updated in your �eld—master

the tool kits of your discipline. You have to follow research

and grow in wisdom in your discipline and outside it and

keep “connecting dots” and speculate about the next big

thing. Capture, adapt, and apply the many things that you

“honestly stole” from the outside. Be proactive and push

for improvements that lower costs, boost rates, increase

ultimate recoveries, reduce the overall risk picture, and lift

value creation. Refuse to sugarcoat or in�ate forecasts and

estimates to get something sanctioned. Instead, insist on

seeing the upside or good risk in the project (GRISK—doing

better than the expected case) and the downside or bad risk

(BRISK—doing worse than the expected case). In his article

in the Journal of Petroleum Technology (October 2014), Neeraj

Nandurdikar showed that the industry’s ability to forecast

is dismal and that this is an area where you can help your

company and the industry improve. The ability to row in

synchrony with many disciplines toward a joint goal is an

essential trait to have if you want to succeed in the industry.

You can be a catalyst for the new, “the 2.0,” and be a huge

source of innovation. Even if we have warned against discipline

“silos” for 20 years, we still work too much in isolation. Let

us make 2015 the year of massive cross-discipline thinking

and collaboration.

D4—BE CURIOUS, INNOVATE

In his book, The Corner Of�ce: Indispensable and Unexpected

Lessons From CEOs On How To Lead and Succeed, Adam

Bryant investigates the types of personal traits that took chief

executive of�cers to the corner of�ce. Surprisingly, the top trait

is “passionate curiosity.” These individuals ask questions about

everything all the time because they really want to understand.

They start building a huge archive of information or “dots” in

their minds and then BANG!—innovation happens when they

connect two often unrelated pieces of knowledge. The future

of the industry depends on relentless “creative destruction” of

E&P. Choose to be curious, ask questions—it can take you to

the corner of�ce!

Navigating Success in the E&P

Industry: The “BIG 8” on Your

Career Compass

Helge Hove Haldorsen

2015 SPE President

I

5Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

D5—BE COURAGEOUS, TAKE RISKS

There is no way around it: You have to be courageous

to succeed. You have to become comfortable being

uncomfortable. Expect to meet resistance; you will always

have those who defend the way we did it last time and

hence, proposing another way will take courage. To become

a champion playing to win, you have to prepare really well

and train because it is all in the preparation! But, you also

have to step out of your comfort zone and sweat it out. Say

to yourself: I stand tall inside, I have a great message, I can

do this, and then con�dence arrives. Being courageous also

means taking a risk on hiring someone unique, and being

brutally honest and candid about something that is not good

enough, rather than pushing it under the rug. By taking some

personal risks you create your own luck.

D6—NETWORK, BUILD TRUST, COLLABORATE

It bears repeating. You are much more valuable for your

employer if you have a huge network. Where do good

ideas come from? You alone in the of�ce? Probably not. You

are more likely to get good ideas at an SPE conference.

That is where you can �nd a network, which equals

possibilities and opportunities. Trusting relationships,

that is, people who are more than acquaintances, are also

key. These are people you really admire, hit it off with, and

want to see as often as you can because you learn so much

from them.

For some, business always equals war. However, in many

situations, collaboration is now the new way to compete to win.

In my view, this soon will make companies increasingly hire for

attitude and train for skill. Here is where your SPE membership

is critical. It makes you a member of a team of 143,000 on a

mission to share! Another bene�t of volunteering in SPE is that

you get the opportunity to take on leadership roles often earlier

than you do in your company. In this way, you may already be a

seasoned leader when you get promoted in your company.

D7—NEVER TAKE A LEFT!

What gets you �red? That you don’t remember how to solve a

differential equation or how to compute the net present value?

Of course not. People get in trouble for not being ethical, for

being corrupt, for not being respectful, for not following the

company values, and for not valuing and respecting diversity.

I put it this way: Never take a left. You come along in your daily

work (and in your private life) and all of a sudden, you arrive

at a fork in the road: You are going to the left, but left is the

corrupt, unethical, and zero integrity way. Even if you are going

left, take a right three times and then you are going left. It may

take a little longer, but it is the right thing to do. You followed

your company’s rules and procedures, and you followed your

5

4

DO YOU THINK

HSSE-SR AND

OPERATE IN 4E (Energy,

Economics, Environment,

and Education)?

A STRONG SENSE

OF PURPOSE=YOU?

PASSIONATE YET

HUMBLE=YOU?

VERY STRONG

IN YOUR FIELD AND

A GREAT TEAM

PLAYER?

VERY CURIOUS?

DO YOU ASK “WHY NOT”

“WHAT IF” AND

“HOW”?COURAGEOUS,

RISK TAKER=YOU?

NETWORKED XXL,

SPE MEMBER, VERY

COLLABORATIVE,

BUILD TRUSTING

RELATIONSHIPS=YOU?

HIGH ETHICAL

STANDARDS; NEVER TAKE

A LEFT=YOU?

4

5

1

3

2

7

THE H3 SPIDER PLOT

8

6

3

2

1

A

B

6

President’s Column

conscience. By never taking a left, you safeguard your personal

license to operate.

D8—THINK HSSE-SR IN 4E

Going forward, navigating energy success means thinking

health, safety, security, environment, and social responsibility

(HSSE-SR) in 4E.

E1=Energy (in our case, oil and gas) production:

Oil demand will grow from 92 million BOPD today to

115 million BOPD in ExxonMobil’s 2040 scenario. This

assumes that we are working hard to improve another E

too: Ef�ciency! Natural gas demand will grow perhaps even

more than projected today if it substitutes more deeply for

coal if the planet is to stay below the +2°C rise above pre-

industrialization levels. Between 2014 and 2020, 670,000

wells will have to be drilled to keep up with global oil and

gas needs. I predict a new technology in�ection point with

automated drilling, big data, the Internet of everything,

and arti�cial intelligence in the �eld helping us improve

our practices.

E2=Economics: Currently, the competitiveness of the

industry is challenged due to increasing �eld complexity,

high costs, and low oil prices. On your radar, you should

never accept status quo, always push for incremental

and radical improvements to improve your company’s

competitiveness, and be entrepreneurial.

E3=Environment: This really is a key dimension;

sustainable development is the only acceptable way as

is local stakeholder engagement. You cannot be a great

global company unless you are a great company locally

where the bit hits the rock. Also, if a CO2 fee or tax is

introduced in many more countries, it will be very smart

to be ready with a low average number of CO2 pounds

emitted per barrel produced.

E4=Education: We need to continue to educate the

public with facts and engage face to face with all our

local stakeholders to earn their trust and to maintain our

license to operate. We need to go to our schools in the

neighborhood and tell about how energy is the greatest

challenge facing mankind, what a wonderful industry it

is, and what a force for good we are. Engaging with these

young students and making them the next generation of

energy professionals will give you a lot of positive energy

and sense of purpose as you make a difference in

someone’s life.

So, there you have it: my eight dimensions for

you to navigate success inside and outside. I wish

you good luck. Remember that the past is history, the

future is a mystery, and the present is a gift—that is why

it is called “the present.” Enjoy every day if you can, and

try to make sure there are no ordinary moments—just

extraordinary moments. TWA

Communicate. Collaborate. Connect. Expand your network when you join

SPE Connect—your virtual destination

to meet, collaborate, and discuss

technical challenges and resolutions

in the E&P industry.

www.spe.org/go/connect

Scan here to download the free app.

Technical challenge:

initiated in Houston

discussed in Dubai

solved in Moscow

7Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

TWA InterAct

TWA on Social Media

Hello TWA readers and welcome to our � rst issue for 2015!

This issue features some great articles for recent graduates

as well as some excellent interviews and technical topics

for all of our avid readers. As always, we like to remind

everyone of our social media presence:

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Don’t forget to check in on the SPE TWA social media updates

and share some thoughts with us about your � rst steps in

navigating the energy industry as a recent graduate.

TWA Tweets

Don’t forget to read the article from our past

editor-in-chief!

!41&5IF8BZ"IFBE���0DUPCFS�����

Incoming and outgoing, right, editors-in-chief looking dapper

at an @SPE_Events wedding! Congrats Andrea!

!41&5IF8BZ"IFBE����4FQUFNCFS�����

What does it really take to call yourself a “professional”?:

http://fuel� x.com/blog/2014/09/30/what-does-it-really-take-

to-call-yourself-a-professional.

!41&5IF8BZ"IFBE����4FQUFNCFS�����

Want to improve your business acumen? Take some tips from

Gordon Ramsay: http://fuel� x.com/blog/2014/09/17/want-

to-improve-your-business-acumen-take-some-tips-from-

gordon-ramsay.

!41&5IF8BZ"IFBE���4FQUFNCFS�����

One impact of the NA shale production—The Atlantic: http://

www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/what-if-your-

small-town-suddenly-got-huge/379536

Interesting LinkedIn Reads

“7 Things Employees Wish They Could Tell Their

Boss About Salaries,” Jeff Haden, Aug 14, 2014.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140814124101-

20017018-7-things-you-wish-you-could-tell-your-boss-about-

your-pay.

“What Predicts Success? It’s Not Your IQ,” Daniel

Goleman, July 17, 2014. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/

article/20140717120528-117825785-what-predicts-success-it-

s-not-your-iq.

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TWA Interview

8

What attracted you to the oil and

gas industry and how did you

get started?

I won’t pretend to have planned the

career I’ve had from the outset, so

to some extent accident and luck

played roles.

My dad was in the energy sector—

he was a �eld superintendent for Gulf

Oil Company for 30 years—so I grew

up around the industry.

I went to Oklahoma State University

(OSU) and got an accounting degree.

After I graduated, I specialized

in tax work for companies and

individuals, many of whom were,

not surprisingly, in the energy

sector. I ended up taking a job with

a highly successful man in Tulsa who

helped me get to know the industry

quite well.

Can you recall any individuals

who made a lasting impact on

your career?

I have been lucky to have learned

from quite a few talented leaders and

good people.

I played football at OSU and it was

the team’s academic adviser who �rst

suggested I get an accounting degree.

Finance is the foundation for so many

business decisions, so I bene�ted from

that early guidance.

I once had a tax partner who said,

“Just because your voice gets louder,

it does not increase the quality of your

argument.” That has stayed with me;

even when my voice does get louder, I

remember that the focus has to be on

the right answer.

I also owe a great deal to Mick

Merelli, one of my longest-term

mentors and a great friend as well.

Mick’s career included time as

president and then as a member of our

board here at Apache.

Mick had exceptional people skills

and an ability to distill issues down

to the basics. He was famous for his

observation that, “You don’t have to

get everything right, just the important

things.” I bene�tted from my time

with him.

Finally, I have learned a lot from

Apache’s founder, Raymond Plank.

Raymond was and is a larger-than-life

individual from whom I learned many

things including how to focus on the

big decisions.

How has your background in

�nance in�uenced your approach

to corporate decision making?

I believe having some kind of �nancial

grounding is important to being

successful in business.

Of course, it is important to

make more money than you spend

over time to survive in the business

world—we don’t need an economic

background to get that. But �nancial

training helps you separate out the

emotional elements of decision making

so you keep clear in your mind which

parts of a conclusion stem from

�nancial, tax, or accounting variables

and which conclusions are in�uenced

by other elements.

Many smaller decisions are all

about the data, but the bigger the

decision, the more emotion there is,

so this focus matters especially in

this context.

Starting with a �nancial assessment

also helps with risk analysis of where

each decision may lead.

Steve Farris

is nonexecutive

chairman of the

board of directors

for Apache

Corporation,

an oil and gas

exploration and production (E&P)

company established in 1954. Most

recently, he was chairman, chief

executive officer, and president

of Apache Corporation before his

retirement on 20 January. Apache

has operations in the United States,

Canada, the UK sector of the

North Sea, Egypt, and Australia;

its headquarters is in Houston.

Farris was named chairman of

Apache in 2009, upon the retirement

of company founder Raymond Plank.

He was promoted to president in 1994

and chief executive officer in 2002.

From 1994 to 2013, Apache’s assets

have grown from less than USD 2

billion to more than USD 60 billion,

daily production has increased from

approximately 108,000 BOEPD to

approximately 760,000 BOEPD, and

proved reserves have increased from

330 million BOE to 2.6 billion BOE.

Farris joined Apache in June

1988 as vice president of domestic

E&P and was promoted to

senior vice president in 1991.

Prior to joining Apache, Farris

was vice president of Terra

Resources. Before working at

Terra, he was executive vice

president of Robert W. Berry, Inc.,

an independent E&P company.

Farris is a founding member and

serves on the executive committee

of America’s Natural Gas Alliance,

co-chairman of the U.S.-Egypt

Business Council, a member of the

MD Anderson Cancer Center Board

of Visitors, and a member of the Fund

for Teachers Board of Directors.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from

Oklahoma State University.

G. Steven Farris Nonexecutive Chairman, Board of Directors,

Apache Corporation

9Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

What distinguishes good from great

corporate leaders in oil and gas?

You have to have respect for the person

sitting across the table. Having respect

for someone doesn’t mean you have to

get along with them, but, honestly, great

leaders focus on issues, not personalities.

Another wise individual told me, “never

underestimate the person sitting across

the table, he or she may be as bright as

you are.”

Great leaders have to be good at

fostering their teams, let their people

be all they can be, and give them lots

of hugs. They also have to want to win,

and they have to be competitive.

What are some challenges to

attracting and retaining talent?

How can companies overcome

such obstacles?

For entry-level people, salary is the

most important factor when making an

initial decision. When I �rst joined the

workforce, I received four job offers

and I accepted the one that offered the

highest annual salary—the difference

was USD 500!

For retention, it’s generally not

about the money but a collection of

other workplace variables. People

need to feel like they’re contributing

and making an impact. It’s about

feeling good about where they

work and feeling like they have

some personal responsibility to

do something.

You have been with Apache for

more than 2 decades. What has

the journey been like and how has

Apache changed in that time?

It’s always been a fun industry even as it

continually changes.

In the late ’80s, Apache Corporation

managed limited partnerships for

others and their own account. When

I came to Apache in 1988, they had

just �nished rolling up the limited

partnerships to concentrate on being an

independent energy company. My �rst

year, we were just focused on hiring the

right people.

We continued to grow and evolve.

When I became president in 1994,

we were focused on growing our

international business while keeping

North America’s production �at, as

this made economic sense in that

time frame.

In 2009, that all changed and we

decided that it made more sense to

focus back on North America. At that

point, North America represented

only 30% of our portfolio. From 2009

to 2013, we grew that percentage

to 62%.

This shift, of course, was by design

and we’re currently in the process

of focusing our business on our

tremendous North American assets.

Many of our E&P peers are also doing

this, as these have over time become

two different businesses.

We don’t pretend to have a crystal

ball that is better than others—we

didn’t recognize the beginning of this

change in 2009, but by 2012 it was

obvious. So that’s where we are today—

and we continue to look ahead for

whatever new shifts may be developing

in our ever-changing industry.

What can young professionals do

to stay adaptable to a constantly

changing oil and gas industry?

Keep your head down, and work hard.

Just try to make yourself invaluable to

the company.

Focusing on doing the job you have

well is better than spending your time

raising your hand for your next job.

Your boss recognizes who does a good

job. Even if they never tell you, 99% of

the time they recognize talent.

What is the outlook for a petroleum

engineer entering the industry

today?

Young people have a lot of opportunities

at very young ages in our industry. Sixty

percent of Apache’s work force has been

with us for less than 5 years so there

are continual openings for good people

to advance.

Junior petroleum engineers have

great careers ahead of them, mainly

because in our business (and at our

company) the best answers win and

everyone takes on real responsibility

very quickly.

This is a very exciting time to be

a petroleum engineer. The order of

magnitude of the data available today

versus what was available 10 years

ago is just phenomenal. I can look

up any �eld in the world and know

what’s happening in that �eld. I used to

look through pages and pages of SPE

papers, and now they’re all online at the

click of a mouse.

The rapidly evolving ability to

process and analyze this exploding

amount of data is equally exciting.

The integration today of reservoir

engineering, geoscience, and

economics is much different than

it used to be and creates great

opportunities for creative people. You

used to have a geologist identify a

prospect, an engineer would assess

the potential reserves, and then take

it up to planning to run economics.

That’s all done in real time now and

the possibilities it creates for nimble

companies are vast.

What are the challenges in the

oil and gas industry a graduating

engineer should be prepared to

face?

Just as the availability of large amounts

of data is exciting, it can also be

overwhelming. The importance of

those data is what you really have

to understand, because you can get

bogged down in it. My advice to young

folks is to look at all the data you can, but

don’t get bogged down in them. You still

have to make sound engineering and

geologic decisions, based on real data.

Worldwide, everyone is focused on

Continued on page 19

10

Academia

Planning your career trajectory in an

industry rich in promise for someone

with technical ability, a willingness to

work hard, and an eye for opportunity

involves several important steps.

Perhaps the � rst thing to realize is

that your degree does not make you

an expert…expertise comes through

experience. Your training will have

exposed you to concepts, made you

think about the applications and

implications of those concepts. But

expertise comes through experience,

and in the oil and gas industry, that

generally entails dealing with real

� eld systems. As you emerge from

university with your degree certi� cate

in hand, a spot of humility and an

eagerness to observe are required.

Every oil and gas � eld is different, and

you’ve got lots to learn from each new

one you work on.

So, how do you go about using

your skills, your natural talents, and

your training to best effect as you

embark on your working career?

First, think about what “best effect”

means, what you want it to mean, and

what your employer thinks it means.

Figure out what the company’s main

drivers are. (A good idea is to go

onto the company’s website before an

interview, identify their key drivers and

nuances, and then subtly re� ect the

fact that you’ve done your homework at

the interview).

What Do You Want

From Your Job?

Job satisfaction is most likely to be

achieved if your work addresses the

company’s objectives. This sounds

obvious, but we can easily be lulled

into thinking the organization is there

to help us achieve our objectives. It’s

not; in your organization it is likely that

shareholder value, national wealth, or

institutional reputation will be the main

currency, and you will subsequently

be assessed on how you contribute to

enhancing these.

As well as � guring out what the

drivers are for your organization, there

is the trickier task of identifying your

own drivers. Ensuring you have time

and energy for the things in life outside

of work may be critical. Location of your

work, type of work, opportunities to

develop could be other considerations.

Financial reward will certainly be one

of the drivers. People often seek wage

increases because they want to be

valued as much as needing the extra

cash. One of the biggest frustrations

for people in the workplace is the

sense that their work is not given the

recognition it is due, either because

we perceive someone else is taking

the credit, or the contribution itself

is not valued. Oftentimes, the real

signi� cance of a pay raise is the

acknowledgment that the employee’s

work is of value to the organization.

What Does Your Employer

Want From Your Job?

Work toward ensuring that you deliver

in line with the top priorities of your

organization and in sync with your

colleagues. While working in teams,

our natural tendency is to focus on

the bits we think we excel at, and our

attention is drawn to the things we think

others are not so good at. In fact, we

gravitate to doing what we enjoy the

most, and naturally that ends up being

what we’re best at.

Be honest about your de� ciencies,

and recognize that there are others

in your team who may be rather good

at the bits you don’t like, or quite

possibly don’t even value. If you give

them encouragement in working on the

bit of the jigsaw puzzle you � nd less

interesting, you’ll probably be given

more freedom to get on with the bit you

really enjoy. The point is not to try to � t

everyone in the team into a single mold

but to identify what the work needs are,

what the range of skills required to

deliver the work may be, and to respect

others for their contribution to the

overall skill set.

Crafting the Career of Your DreamsEric Mackay, Heriot-Watt University

Eric Mackay holds the foundation CMG chair in reactive

� ow simulation in the Institute of Petroleum Engineering at

Heriot-Watt University. His research interests include the

study of � uid � ow and geochemical reactions in porous

media. Mackay has taught reservoir simulation at Heriot-Watt

University since 1990. He has over 150 publications related

primarily to inorganic scale management and carbon capture

and storage. Mackay was appointed SPE Distinguished

Lecturer on Scale Management during 2007–2008. He holds a BSc in Physics from

the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-

Watt University.

11Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

One of the parts of Heriot-Watt

University’s MSc degree program

that graduates re�ect upon as having

best prepared them for industry

(particularly once they’ve been

in the industry for a few years)

is the �eld development project.

During the project, students have

to synthesize all that they’ve learned

in their courses and apply it to a

real-�eld scenario. That exercise

alone has enormous value for the

learning and consolidation process,

but graduates often re�ect that they

not only learned how to apply their

technical knowledge, but also how

to work as a team in what can be

a pressurized environment, with

deadlines looming and evaluations

of each individual’s performance at

stake. The most impressive projects

are not necessarily those delivered by

the teams with the greatest technical

expertise, but by those teams that

worked most effectively as a unit. This

lesson certainly carries forward to life

in industry.

How to Achieve Job Satisfaction?

A major element of job satisfaction

comes from recognition. If you have

worked hard, thought hard about

making sure your work is effective

and accretive toward the goals of your

company, and if in your dealings with

others you have been honest, then

you will surely derive a sense of

contentment as you head home at

the end of a shift. But there is that

very natural and justi�able human

need to receive recognition for what

we do—I believe it is inbuilt. The

key is to identify the individual from

whom you would like the recognition

to come and what their requirements

may be. Don’t hesitate to identify the

elder statesman in the organization,

no matter how cantankerous he/she

may be, and ask them for advice on

what needs to be done to do well in

your organization. After all, they too

were once new to the �rm, and they too

once wanted to know what it takes to

achieve job satisfaction. If you’re lucky,

they won’t have forgotten what that

feels like.

Keep Learning

There is enormous value in attending

courses, conferences, and workshops.

They all force you to think outside of

your routine, and you get to enjoy an

enormous privilege—meeting people

from all over the world. Set aside

a speci�c time every week to read

articles. Acquire the self-discipline

to read without checking your inbox

or mobile phone for messages. (If you

can’t do that, recognize the signs of

addiction and seek immediate help.)

SPE makes such resources very easy

to access. Start writing based on your

own work. Try developing a half-day

course on your specialty. If you listen

to the questions you get asked, you’ll

learn something every time you deliver

the course.

Another Degree?

A higher degree like a PhD is a

marathon that requires endurance,

determination, and willpower to

complete. Don’t start on a PhD simply

because you can’t think what else to do

next, you can’t get a job, or you think it

is a way to continue the student life that

you have enjoyed. The right reasons for

pursuing a PhD should be the desire

to know what the answer to a question

is, simply because the question has

been posed, and the desire to teach.

As an example, for Stephen Holditch,

one of our technical leaders in today’s

industry, the burning question in his

mind was the behavior of a reservoir

during a fracture treatment and how

to model it (TWA Interview, TWA,

Vol. 10, No. 2, 5–7). You must actively

enjoy going deeper until you (and the

examination committee!) are satis�ed

that you’ve left no stone unturned in

your quest for the answer. You may

ultimately not even �nd the answer—

the point is that you were prepared to

just about die trying.

Decide What Your Biography

Should Say in Years to Come

Finally, let me share the drivers that

motivate me as an academic:

rø�5IF�GSFFEPN�UP�VOEFSUBLF�XPSL�

that interests me.

rø�5IF�TBUJTGBDUJPO�PG�TFFJOH�TPNFPOF�

who previously did not have

awareness or understanding of a

concept now “getting it.”

rø�5IF�QMFBTVSF�PG�NFFUJOH�B�GPSNFS�

student, perhaps after 10 or 20

years, and hearing the story of

their career development since

leaving university, and re�ecting

on the perhaps small part that

their time at the university played

in initiating or furthering that

career.

rø�5IF�TBUJTGBDUJPO�PG�TPNFPOF�

agreeing with me about the

usefulness of a particular piece of

research that I am proposing, to

the extent that they are willing to

fund it.

rø�5IF�TFOTF�PG�GVMàMMNFOU�XIFO�B�

piece of research or consultancy

I’ve undertaken led to a change

in industry practice, or even just

in�uenced a business decision

taken for one single oil or gas �eld.

Having read these, I’d encourage

you to re�ect on what you might

want to state as having been your

drivers in the next few decades

to come. TWA

Your degree does not

make you an expert…

expertise comes

through experience.

12

Economist’s Corner

The Career Advantages of Returning to CollegeMatt Balhoff, University of Texas at Austin

This coming fall and spring, a few

thousand petroleum engineering

graduates worldwide will be faced with

a dif�cult, life-altering decision, “Should

I stay or should I go?” Most students will

pass up attending graduate school and

opt to begin their career in the oil and

gas industry. Who could blame them? For

4 years these students have studied long

hours, worked hard in their internships

and part-time jobs, and accumulated

debt. It is time to reap the bene�ts of a

starting salary near USD 100,000 a year

and a possible signing bonus. However,

some students will choose the road

less traveled and pursue a master’s or

PhD degree—and they will be better off

for it.

There are many misconceptions

about engineering graduate school.

The assumption is that it will be a 2- to

5-year extension of the undergraduate

years, paying a hefty tuition with even

more homework, tests, and deadlines. In

reality, it’s about doing creative research,

solving the industry’s biggest problems,

and getting paid to do it. At the University

of Texas at Austin’s Department of

Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering

(UT PGE), for example, 97% of our

graduate students receive �nancial

support in the form of a tuition waiver and

an annual stipend of at least USD 21,000

(the total �nancial package in some cases

can be as high as USD 45,000 per year).

UT PGE graduate students work on

research worth USD 22 million a year

and receive USD 3.6 million in graduate

fellowships, research and teaching

assistantships, and stipends. About

80% of students are funded by oil and

gas companies and in exchange conduct

research on practical problems that have

a huge impact on the industry. Graduate

students are given the opportunity to

write peer-reviewed publications and

present their results to the industry

at SPE meetings. Within 6 months

after graduation, 97% of our graduate

students, compared with 85% of our

undergraduate students, �nd full-time

jobs in the industry.

There are many advantages to

attending graduate school. According to

the 2012 American Society of Mechanical

Engineers’ Engineering Income and

Salary Survey, the median starting

salary for MS petroleum engineering

(PEng) degree holders is about USD

10,000 more than the salaries of those

with a bachelor’s degree (it’s about

USD 20,000 more if you have a PhD),

and over a long career, those holding a

doctorate in engineering earn a median

35% more than those with a bachelor’s in

engineering.

Graduate students have the

opportunity to take elective classes to

improve their technical skills. However,

the most important skills acquired are in

conducting research, including creativity/

thinking outside of the box, working

in teams, and problem solving. PhD

graduates are by de�nition the world’s

only experts in their dissertation subject.

Graduate (especially PhD) students

are not working to drill a new well,

produce the next �eld, or run another

generic reservoir simulation. Instead,

they are discovering cutting-edge

drilling methods, inventing the next big

production technique, and developing

the next generation of reservoir

simulators. For example, UT PGE students

invented “UT Chem,” the oil and gas

industry’s �rst chemical enhanced-oil-

recovery simulator that is still considered

Is Getting an Advanced Degree the Key

to a Financially Rewarding Career?The decision whether to pursue more higher education after an undergraduate degree has the potential to

change your life and career trajectory in a profound new direction. For those whose passion lies in research

and development or teaching, the decision will be a simple one. For everyone else, it’s not so easy. To compare

the negative perception of additional tuition payments against the perceived bene�ts of an advanced degree,

we present the views of a professor and an industry veteran to provide you with a balanced perspective toward

deciding if graduate school is right for you.

Matthew T. Balhoff is currently an associate professor in the Department

of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas (UT) at

Austin and holds the Frank W. Jessen Centennial Fellowship. He received his

BS in 2000 and PhD in 2005, both in chemical engineering from Louisiana

State University. He completed his postdoctoral research (2005–2007) at

UT Austin in the Institute of Computational and Engineering Sciences.

13Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

a benchmark, and “UT Frac,” the

design platform for hydraulic fractures.

After walking the stage to

receive their diploma, graduates

will be in full-time positions

where they will be asked to

continue making game-changing

discoveries and inventions, write

publications on their �ndings, submit

patents, and implement their ideas

in the �eld either in the industry

or academia.

If you are interested in developing the

next groundbreaking invention, tackling

the big environmental changes

ahead of us and/or serving in

an executive role, graduate school is

a solid choice.

Is Graduate School Right for You? Larry Fiddler, Halliburton Consulting

After years of hard work, sacri�ce, and

�nancial deprivation, you have �nally

achieved a great milestone in your life

by earning a bachelor’s degree from

an accredited university. It is at this

point that one of the biggest decisions in

your life’s journey must be made: Do I

continue my education and work toward a

master’s degree (or higher), or do I seek

employment in my selected industry and

become a full-time wage earner?

This is a decision that will have a

profound impact on your professional

career. Unfortunately, there is no “one

size �ts all” answer to this question.

Everyone’s situation is going to be

different, and the drivers behind this

decision will be as unique as the

individuals they impact. As a scientist,

I would never argue against obtaining

as much education as possible; I would

lose all credibility if I were to do so.

There is no doubt that having a

master’s or doctorate degree will

open doors that will not be available

to a graduate with only a bachelor’s

degree early in one’s career. With that

said, it should be said that there are

several different avenues for continuing

one’s education, and some of the

options are not going to be found with

a continuation of formal schooling at a

university. I would like to offer some

observations regarding this subject

based on my 35 years of working in

the petroleum industry as a geologist

and manager.

There are many factors that need to

be contemplated while you are trying

to decide whether to stay in school or

begin your professional career. I think

the most important question you need

to ask yourself is what you envision

your career to be. Obviously, if you see

yourself working in research or teaching,

then an upper-level degree is essential.

Perhaps your goal is to work for a major

oil company and progress through the

ranks into upper management. Maybe

you want to begin your career with the

idea of learning all you can about the oil

business and eventually work for a small

independent company or start your own

consulting �rm where you will have more

autonomy to make decisions.

If you want to secure an entry-

level job at an oil company in today’s

environment, a bachelor’s degree should

get you in the door. I have seen several

entry-level jobs that have a requirement

of at least a master’s degree, but if you

have the grades and interview well,

securing that all-important �rst job

should be within your reach. At this stage

of the game, employers are looking at

your potential and if you will be an asset

to the company in the future. Having a

higher degree will show a prospective

employer that you have the ability to

persevere with a task, and having good

grades in that degree should further be

an indicator that you can achieve results

based on the task at hand.

Most companies will provide training

and mentoring on the subjects that they

feel are important for you to know to be

a high-performing employee in their

company. Additional tertiary training at

the university level may or may not hit

on subjects that an employer thinks you

need to be pro�cient at, but rest assured

that if a company is going to spend the

time and money to train you on speci�cs,

it will be something that they recognize is

mutually bene�cial.

Gaining industry-related, real-

world experience is of key importance

at this stage of one’s career. The push

in today’s oil industry is to work in

multidisciplinary teams consisting of

geophysicists, geologists, geomodelers,

petrophysicists, reservoir engineers,

production technologists, etc. In the

old days, oil companies tended to be

segregated by departments when it

came to solving problems. Engineers and

geoscientists tended to not get along and

argued constantly. Most of the structure

in oil companies today is based on the

integration of disciplines where cross-

fertilization occurs and problems are

solved by including all of the various

technical inputs. This is a wonderful

opportunity for young geoscientists and

engineers to learn what each other does,

and how they all relate to the overall

business model.

Larry Fiddler is a project manager at Halliburton Consulting in the

Asia Paci�c region. He has worked in the petroleum industry for 35 years

both in the United States and internationally, holding upper management

positions, including director of the Oil and Gas Conservation Division

for the Corporation Commission of the State of Oklahoma. He holds a

BS degree in petroleum geology from the University of Oklahoma.

14

Economist’s Corner

It has been my experience that after

you reach between 7 and 10 years of

work history, the type of degree you

have means less in regard to career

advancement. Most companies are going

to look at what you have accomplished

from a real-world perspective as

opposed to what you did in school 10

years ago. That being the case, getting

this industry experience as quickly as

possible becomes a premium.

For some people, continuing their

education is simply not an option due

to �nancial or personal circumstances

after getting their bachelor’s degree.

For some, additional debt to �nance

another 2 or 3 years of university is not

practical compared to the hard reality

of life that they need to start earning

an income. Looking simplistically from

an economic standpoint, the income

lost by not working for those additional

years while continuing your education,

together with how many years you

would have to work to make up for that,

is substantial.

In my career, I have seen oil prices

range from USD 8/bbl to USD 145/bbl. It

is entirely possible that the excellent job

that awaits you in today’s market may

not exist in 2 or 3 years’ time. While it

is true that initial salaries for master’s

degree holders will be somewhat

higher than that for bachelor’s degree

holders, the difference tends to equalize

within a few years when the experience

levels are weighed more heavily into

salary considerations.

As I stated at the beginning, in no way

would I ever recommend less education

as being a better solution for preparing

you for your life’s journey. To do so

would be folly. I simply point out that

higher education beyond a bachelor’s

degree does not �t into everyone’s plans

or personal situation. It has been my

experience that the lack of a degree

beyond a bachelor’s level does not act as

a detriment to a wonderful and rewarding

career in today’s oil business, and

actually at times might be a better choice

for some.

Whatever path you choose, do what

makes you happy and what you have a

passion for. If you do, �nancial success

and professional satisfaction are sure

to follow. TWA

If knowledge is power, get ready to be supercharged.

Discover a surge of information on PetroWiki, the upstream oil and gas industry’s first fully moderated wiki.

What’s your source of power? www.petrowiki.org

15Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

Forum

The Forum and Soft Skills teams of

The Way Ahead have collaborated

to address the steps needed to

succeed in the �rst 3 years on the

job, from landing your �rst interview

to �nding continued success in the

oil and gas industry. The authors

have drawn from their personal

experiences as they navigated

through the �rst few crucial years of

their careers and have offered a �rst-

person perspective.

The Importance of Soft

Skills in the Industry

The value of soft skills cannot be

understated. The results of the

inaugural Global Oil and Gas Training

and Development Survey, conducted in

2012 by SPE and BP, show that soft skills

are regarded as more important than

technical skills (Fig. 1) 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 was “the ability

to learn.”

In contrast, the industry feels that

the next generation requires more

development in soft skills during their

university years (Fig. 2). Initiative and

work ethic were found to be weak in

new hires from university compared

with their technical skills.

With nontechnical skills as

important as ever for career growth,

the tools at our reach today are vast

and of high quality. Websites such

as MindTools.com and Forbes.com

can give you a start in developing

managerial skills. Massive open

online courses, some of which are

free, are available through MIT

Open Courseware, Coursera,

and other venues for learning the

basics of self-management. These

skills can be directly applied in the

workplace through involvement in

SPE and other societies, and through

community outreach.

The First Career Move

After Graduating

Are your palms sweaty? Has your mind

gone completely blank, not even able

to remember your name, let alone your

work history? If so, chances are that

you are nervously preparing for an

interview or have already started the

process. Either way, the experiences

outlined here can serve as guidance for

landing your dream job.

Ten years ago, armed with my

freshly minted university degree,

I thought I had all I needed to

get, and retain, my dream job

in the oil and gas industry. I was

in for a surprise to learn that

I needed more than just good

grades to advance my career and

stay motivated. Since graduating

from university, I have evolved

by making mistakes and learning

from them. The victories I have

gained are all thanks to soft

skills, the cluster of personal

qualities, habits, attitudes, and

social graces that make someone

a good employee and easily

compatible to work with.

How Did It All Begin?

I had to start by preparing

a résumé and cover letter in

response to a job application

for trainee engineers. As the

cover letter was just an ice-

breaker, I ensured it was succinct,

grammatically �awless, and did

not exceed one page. I ensured

that my cover letter highlighted,

in a visually appealing manner,

two or three of my key strengths

that I felt emphasized how I stand

out from the other candidates

and how those strengths were

relevant to the speci�c position

available.

Navigating the Oil and Gas Industry:

Soft Skills Needed Along the Way Islin Munisteri, Rita Okoroafor, Asif Zafar, David Sturgess, and Amanpreet Gill

34%

53%

57%

60%

61%

69%

Computer skills

Analy�cal skills

Technical skills

Communica�on skills

Team work

Ability to learn

Technical

So�

Fig. 1—Skills that are rated as “very important” for career progression in the oil

and gas industry. Source: SPE Global Oil and Gas Training and Development Survey.

16

Forum

I recommend that résumés

skip details related to hobbies,

as they tend to consume valuable

space. However, you de�nitely

should not hide any breaks or gap

years in your experience. Having

been on the other side of the desk

interviewing candidates, I have

found that a break with a good

story can be very insightful into

the personality of the interviewee

and should not be something

from which to shy away.

If you have had some work

experience, like a summer internship

or relevant university research,

remember that your prospective

employer wants to see an explanation

of your experience beyond your

day-to-day responsibilities. They are

interested in your achievements and the

impact you had based on your direct

involvement. It is vitally important to

quantify your impact (e.g., saved 1 hour

per day for each report generated,

or designed and coded VBA macros

saving 2 hours a week generating

data �les) rather than writing in

generic terms like “grew sales” or

“good teamwork.”

Your résumé should also include

your accomplishments regarding

extracurricular activities, such as

sports, clubs, or societies. A high level

of achievement 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.

Getting a Chance to Be Heard

In preparing for my interview, the

�rst step I took was to brush up

on fundamental technical theory,

practical equations, and hand

calculations. I reviewed aspects

speci�c to the position that I

applied for, such as reservoir �ow,

separator sizing, hydraulic-pump

requirements, well-testing analysis,

and discounted cash �ows. Having

a bit of cross-discipline knowledge

can help bridge competency

gaps when solving problems.

My second step was to practice,

practice, and practice responses to

behavioral questions.

The most likely interview

assessment you could face is the STAR

technique, which stands for Situation,

Task, Activity, and Response. While

this technique has drawbacks in that it

can be impersonal, the bene�t is that it

helps provide a universal benchmark

between candidates. There is nothing

stopping you from steering your

answers in the direction best suited to

what you want the interview committee

to see.

Interviewers may ask you to

describe a situation where you

produced work under a tight deadline,

had to in�uence senior management

or your professors on an unpopular

project, worked through an ethical

dilemma, or interacted with other

disciplines on a common project. The

four key behaviors that interviewers

are looking for are performance,

collaboration, growth, and authenticity.

Remember to keep your answers

speci�c, concise, and upbeat.

Assuming all goes well, as a new

proud professional with an excellent

job offer, what do you have to look

forward to?

Joining the Industry

The beauty of the oil and gas industry

is the team environment that you

will be exposed to. The interesting

things about these teams are their

multidisciplinary nature and often

diverse multicultural members.

Some cultures bring an aggressive

approach to problem solving, while

others preach a more traditional,

conservative approach. Recognizing

when an aggressive, conservative, or

mixed approach to problem solving

is required is a valuable tool. For

example, when a plant production

impact is imminent, a mix of both

approaches should be used so as to

decrease the production impact while

keeping the safety of workers a number

one priority.

As you grow in experience from a

new hire to highly experienced and

beyond, chances are that there will

be personal and cultural dimensions

that will need to be addressed, as

well as assessments of your soft skills.

As shown in Fig. 3, 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).

Continuous Improvement

In order to advance and accelerate your

career and remain self-motivated, it is

also important to know what your innate

soft skills are through self-assessment

and by being open to constructive

feedback from others.

Everyone has some idea of what

his or her strengths and weaknesses

are. I knew that I enjoy taking

responsibility and this turned out

to be one of my soft skills. Another

way of identifying soft skills for the

26%

28%

29%

61%

65%

72%

Flexibility

Work ethic

Ini�a�ve

Industry knowledge

Technical skills

Computer skills

Technical

So­

Fig. 2—Skills that are developed in the university. Source: SPE Global Oil and Gas

Training and Development Survey.

17Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

knowledge of one’s self is to have a

personal self-evaluation during or

after a project. A person who always

uses his strengths in a team makes

for a good team player.

In her book, The Hard Truth About

Soft Skills, Peggy Klaus identi�es

that what keeps people from getting

where they want to go in their career

is rarely a shortfall in technical

expertise, but rather a shortcoming

in their social, communication, and

self-management behaviors, such as

soft skills. She provides a quick and

anonymous self-assessment quiz at

http://www.peggyklaus.com/books/

the-hard-truth-about-soft-skills/

take-quiz-now, which can help you

identify your strengths and areas

that need improvement in the soft

skills arena.

So, now having a diagnosis

completed, how do you go

about �xing any identi�ed areas

of improvement?

Bridging the Gap

Bridging the gap may sometimes

mean teaming up with someone whose

strength is your weakness. For example,

if you are great at brainstorming ideas

and putting together a plan, but not in

its implementation, it is advantageous

to collaborate with someone who is

focused on action and delivering on

the details.

Bridging the gap may also require

you to challenge yourself to develop

new skill sets. Since every task has

an associated soft skill set, by taking

on new roles, you are able to develop,

expand, and broaden your capabilities.

Variety in tasks can help improve

or strengthen your skills. I have

developed my public speaking

ability on the job delivering

presentations to management,

attending and observing well

done presentations in external

courses, educating elementary

schools about the petroleum

industry with a local SPE outreach

committee, and attending my

local Toastmasters chapter.

Regularly presenting both

formally and off the cuff will help

build con�dence in your ability to

engage people across differing

industries, demographics,

cultures, and authorities.

As you grow within the oil and

gas industry, you will be exposed

to professional training (external

and internal organization-speci�c)

that will help develop your key soft

skills required for your current role

and future positions, by developing

core communication, leadership, and

interpersonal skills.

Soft skills are a mandatory

capability where you need to take

initiative to get results, whether it

is through formal training, or being

self-taught, or a combination of both.

This valuable skill set will have an

effect on your technical delivery and

performance in the long run. TWA

Fig. 3—People-time-place in three dimensions, illustrating a mid-career professional’s transfer from the Middle East to

Australia. Source: J Pet Technol, 65 (10): 100.

Organizational

Integration

Peopleprogression in human capabilities,and

actions dimension

Placesocio-economic, cultural, and

regional dimension

Time

growth and augm

entation of

experience dimension

currentcompetency

level

desiredcompetency

levelcompetency

gapInterpersonal

Individual

Highly Experienced

Post-Employment

North

Am

erica

South

Am

erica

Africa

Mid

dle

East

Asia

Pacific

Austra

lia

Weste

rn E

uro

pe

Easte

rn E

uro

pe

Mid-Career

Prehire

Young Professional

Pillars of the Industry

I recall that my �rst day at work after

graduation was both exciting and

overwhelming. For me, the transition

from academia to becoming a full-time

employee in the oil and gas industry

was relatively smooth. I had spent a

considerable amount of time at school

completing internships in a variety of

places, which gave me good exposure

to industry. However, I still felt that the

responsibility of maintaining a full-time

job was overwhelming. I had many

questions and aspirations to pursue. On

my �rst day at work I had the feeling that

I had �nally made it after many years of

school. Soon after, I quickly realized that

this was just the start of a long journey

and I had just taken the �rst step.

During the interview process, I

was asked whether I was “mobile.”

At the time I wasn’t exactly sure what

that meant, but I quickly found out.

Within the �rst few weeks of getting

hired, I was sent on a plane to attend

technical courses, and since then I have

never looked back. I have worked in

36 countries and my family and I have

relocated four times over the course

of my career. The word “mobility”

has changed signi�cantly over the

years, from very short notice to every

several years now. New countries, new

schools, new communities: What a

fantastic adventure!

Apart from the typical technical

queries, I began my career with many

career questions and very few answers.

I wanted to learn how to get better at my

job and how to build my franchise within

the greater oil and gas community. I

was interested in discovering speci�c

achievements I would require in order to

gain the respect of my colleagues.

Over the years I worked with several

people that helped me answer these

questions. When I joined Baker Hughes,

I spent 4 years at the Celle Technology

Center in Germany. In Celle, I was

fortunate to be surrounded by so

many great minds: I worked alongside

people from research and development,

manufacturing, operations, applications,

and business development, to name

a few. I quickly realized that I was at

the hub of knowledge and I had the

opportunity to interact with experts

every day.

I came away from this role with

several great mentors. My �rst manager

was a great teacher, a technical expert,

and truly cared for his team members.

He had a lot of patience for instruction

and coaching and showed me how to

take ownership and to move quickly

up the learning curve. I learned a lot

from him and I am truly grateful for his

leadership abilities.

I have been productively involved

with SPE in many ways right from my

student days and that has positively

impacted my career at different stages.

As a student I got introduced to SPE

by my professor and I participated in

several events and volunteered in the

local student chapter. I have been the

coauthor of some papers and presented

them at SPE conferences. I then became

a director for the SPE Northern Emirates

Section and later served on the regional

committee. I have raised sponsorship

for events and have delivered seminars

and lectures for student chapters and

young professionals.

An Innovative, High-Tech

Industry Awaits You

Today’s oil and gas industry is as

high tech as it has ever been. The

technology that is needed to reach to

the deepest formations in the search for

hydrocarbons is very close to what is

required to reach outer space.

The oil and gas industry has

evolved tremendously over the last

few decades. We have scientists

and scholars who are required to

guide the drillers with the help of

seismic and other geophysical data

and analysis. The drillers then use

the latest equipment to explore the

deepest depths of the oceans and

vast stretches of the deserts to get to

the hydrocarbons.

Once produced, the re�nery is a

completely different world managed

by another set of experts. And that’s

not all—not only does the industry

needs engineers, but we also require

Next Challenge: Pumping Up the FutureImran Butt, Baker Hughes

Imran Butt is the country director at Baker Hughes in

Pakistan. He started his career in the late 1990s with Shell and

moved to Baker Hughes in 2000. He has worked in several

countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East

in several capacities and is a Baker Hughes’ OASIS-certi�ed

performance and drilling engineer. He is an active member

of the SPE community and has co-chaired several SPE

workshops and conferences. Butt has also served on the SPE

regional committees and as a director for the SPE Northern Emirates Section. Butt

holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in petroleum and reservoir engineering from

Clausthal University in Germany and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the

Colorado School of Mines.

18

19Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

�nance and management experts to

run the business. Lawyers, supply

chain professionals, human resources

experts, and people from many other

professions are required to ensure that

we can ethically run our business and

provide a clean energy source to the

ever-growing population.

Innovation is a key mission of most oil

and gas companies. In my opinion, the

number one technological innovation in

the exploration and production industry

is the improvement and focus on health,

safety, and the environment. Over the

last 100 years the industry has come a

long way in lowering the frequency of

spills and common blowouts to the point

where we have truly become a safety-

conscious industry. For me, innovation is

not only inventing a new tool to perform

a job faster, but also changing the

culture of the industry in general.

Technological advancements have

completely changed the game in all

aspects of the supply chain. From

3D and 4D seismic to developments

in liquefaction and regasi�cation,

technology has had an intense impact

on the way we explore, produce, and

distribute the hydrocarbons. The future

will bring more developments as we

are already seeing nanotechnology and

biotechnology being implemented in

our industry.

Be a Part of the Answer

The oil and gas industry will need more

experts in the future and it will become

harder to get to the hydrocarbons. If

you are looking for an industry that is

challenging yet rewarding, then you

know the possibilities are endless in

this industry. The opinion that this is a

dying institution and the oil and gas will

only last a few more years is incorrect.

If you look at the proven reserves alone,

common sense will show that we easily

have 100+ years of production, and

that’s without even fully quantifying

the unconventional reserves and the

exploration for new reserves that is

continuously ongoing. This industry

is developing technology to make the

process more ef�cient, and if we can

manage to utilize the energy ef�ciently

and keep adding more reserves, we

can add years to the time line.

With the number of pressing

challenges in our industry today, I

believe that the focus on people is a

must. We need to ensure that we can

hire the right people and invest in

their development and training so that

they can contribute to providing the

right solutions.

Looking back, I believe that I was

successful in many of my positions

due to my willingness to relocate and

work for several different product lines.

Many of the regions I have worked in

are considered to be remote. In these

environments, the work is challenging

but the potential for learning and growth

is great. In remote regions, I discovered

how to become a “jack of all trades.”

Indeed, if I am given the opportunity

to change the past, I would not do

anything differently.

As a fresh graduate with good

grades you will likely have several

career options to choose from. I would

suggest joining an organization that

believes in employee training and

development. It is helpful to research

information about their trainee

programs and how they encourage

their employees to develop. Ensure

that the programs give you both �eld

and of�ce experience. There is no

shortcut to success, so get as much

exposure as possible in the initial

years and then go out to the big wide

world and prove yourself. After that,

I suggest not to remain in a single

location for too long. It is important

to work in different groups and with

different people.

The oil and gas industry can be

quite rewarding but it is also a lot of

hard work. Michelangelo once said,

“If people knew how hard I worked to

achieve my mastery, it wouldn’t seem

so wonderful after all.” If you want to

be successful, do not shy away from

working long hours and putting in the

extra effort. TWA

integrating data—you don’t just have

engineers, you have IT folks and

professionals from other disciplines,

all working toward “how do I get the

best answer quicker?”

What are some qualities

you value most in young

professionals?

Honesty, humility, passion, and

curiosity. It’s more than intelligence.

Going through the recruiting process,

you see a lot of bright people, but it’s

the honesty, humility, and passion they

exemplify that help you sift through

those individuals.

Another differentiator is curiosity.

We hire very bright young people,

and most do well, but the ones that

move forward the most consistently

are not just hardworking and

talented, but curious.

What advice would you offer

young professionals preparing

for a career in oil and gas?

Make sure you become really good at

the basics of your profession, but also

be curious about everything around

you and how it will in�uence your

profession going forward. If you’re

an engineer, learn something about

geology, learn about economics. At

some point in your career, you’re

going to be working on projects

where knowledge of more than one

profession will matter. So the more

curious you are and the more you

can learn and integrate, the more

successful you’ll be.

What was your �rst impression

of the industry?

It always has been and still is today

the most exciting business in the

world to be in—that’s the way I saw it

when I �rst started my career and it

still is today. TWA

TWA InterviewContinued from page 9

20

HR Discussion

What made you choose a career in the

oil and gas industry?

SY: I have always had an interest in

rocks and in modeling. I also wanted

a fascinating career with little routine.

Petroleum engineering satis�ed

these desires while providing great

opportunities for future growth.

MT: Engineering and energy have

always interested me. When I learned

that petroleum engineering was an

option at the university, I thought it would

be a perfect �t. I now enjoy what I do

every day.

SM: After obtaining a chemical

engineering degree and working with a

service company for 6 years, I made the

decision to upgrade my education with an

MBA in oil and gas management in order

to begin a career on the upstream side of

the business.

JH: My interest in the oil and gas industry

was fueled by two things: the idea that I

could be an explorer and that I wanted to

make a decent living for my family (I was

married at 21). This industry pays good

wages for coming up with new ideas and

�nding new deposits of oil and natural

gas (among other things) and provides

access to amazing tools to make those

ideas a reality.

Tell us about your �rst job/internship.

What were some of your greatest

challenges?

SY: After several internships with the

same large service company, I was

hired as an access engineer. My greatest

challenge was to �nd a job with a proper

work/life balance; new graduates

oftentimes do not have the luxury to

choose. As a female, working in a male-

dominated environment was another

challenge.

SA: I applied for the international

graduate development program within

BG Group for the graduate petroleum

engineer track. It was a long and arduous

process but the skills that I learned from

my work with SPE were very helpful.

SM: In my �rst job, I was expected to hit

the ground running and that did not come

easily to me. To overcome this, I started

off by aligning myself with a mentor,

and that helped me in fast-tracking my

integration process within the �rm. That

apart, I started to seek regular feedback

on my performance from peers and

seniors at work. At the risk of it sounding

like a cliché, in many instances these

feedback sessions were eye-opening

experiences and helped me gain insight.

What are some pros & cons of working in

the oil & gas industry?

SY: Pros: job satisfaction. It’s not easy

work and we are providing energy to

our countries. Cons: tough conditions,

environmental concerns, work/life

balance, and being a female in a largely

male-dominated industry.

SA: Pros: ease of relocation and overall

travel opportunities. Cons: work/life

balance.

MT: Working in the oil and gas sector,

like all jobs, has its advantages and

disadvantages. You are trained to

the highest level of competency and

are able to work in a very dynamic

environment—no day is like the day

before. Yes, sometimes you have to

work for extended hours or be away

Career Road Map: Insight From Industry

ProfessionalsYoung professionals (YPs) can feel overwhelmed and directionless at times while trying to navigate our ro-

bust industry. In this article, oil and gas industry professionals at different career stages share their insight

and answer some of the burning questions that students and YPs have about their career launch.

Sarah Mohamed Youssef (SY) is a

reservoir engineer for an international

oil and gas company. She holds a BSc in

petroleum and energy engineering and

a minor in economics from the American

University in Cairo. She is currently

working in the Gulf of Suez.

Sherif Abdel Rahman (SA) is a master’s

degree student of petroleum engineering

at Cairo University. He graduated from

Suez Canal University with a major in

petroleum exploration and production

engineering. He is a graduate petroleum

engineer for BG Group.

Mohamed Tariq (MT) is a well

engineering graduate for BG Group in

QGC as part of the international graduate

development program. He holds a BSc

in  petroleum engineering from Suez

Canal University.

Sam Mathew (SM) is an operations

consultant for Accenture at Aberdeen. He

is a chemical engineer from LD College

of Engineering, India, and earned his

MBA in oil and gas management from

Robert Gordon University.

Sherif Khairy (SK) is a �nal year

petroleum engineering student at Cairo

University. He has been a writer for an

Egyptian magazine for the past 3 years.

Josh Hickman (JH) is the president

and founder of YPE Pittsburgh

with a decade of experience in the

energy business. He holds a BS in

geology, an MS in geoscience with a

specialization in geophysics, and an

MBA from Pennsylvania State University,

and currently owns and manages

Hickman Geological Consulting.

21Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

from home for long periods, but you are

afforded the opportunity to travel, see the

world, and enjoy your life; every day is a

new adventure.

SM: Pros: the global nature of the

business, which allows me to travel, meet,

and interact with people from different

countries and cultures. Which other

industry can offer you such a diverse

range of work locations? Cons: being

carried away by the heady nature of

the business. Being in a fast-moving,

cash-rich working environment, it is

easy to lose sight of work ef�ciencies

and processes.

How did getting work experience after

your bachelor’s degree help in your

career?

SM: It helped me get my feet on

the ground and gain some industry

experience. Interactions with

experienced industry professionals

broadened my horizons and helped

me to truly appreciate the global nature

and the enormity of the industry I was

now a part of. It was also this work

experience that helped me make a

more balanced and informed decision

when I started to research on my future

career options.

JH: I interned with various

companies during both my

bachelor’s and master’s work. The

�rst was at an engineering and

environmental services company

between my sophomore and

junior years and the second with a

producer operator that I later went

to work for after graduation. These

experiences during school allowed

me to try out several different “hats”

and decide what I wanted to make a

career. This also allowed me time to

shift my course work to better prepare

myself for full-time employment in that

chosen �eld. TWA

What companies look for when they

come to hire students, apart from the

obvious minimum GPA criterion, is how

good of a �t the student would be in the

organization’s culture and business.

We encourage students to check

glassdoor.com and similar sites and think

about whether this is a company that they

would want to work for. So think about

your �t too. Also, provide recruiters with

stories that highlight your behavioral

skills and well-roundedness.

University career services

departments have several tools

to help students prepare for their

career launch. TU holds an exclusive

petroleum industry job fair in the

spring. There’s a “résumé doctor”

on campus who helps them polish

their résumé. The “big interview” is

a training tool for students to record

themselves staging a mock interview

and then have the experts make

suggestions for improvement.

We also have a partnership with

CareerFair Plus and have developed

a mobile app for getting all the

information and updates in the palm

of your hand. We think it’s important

for students to get internships as

early as they can. Alumni relations

also go a long way in encouraging

their companies to come back

and recruit. TWA

How does getting involved in the

community and SPE help fresh

graduates/YPs improve their skills and

career?

SK: Members of the SPE Cairo

University student chapter have

the full chance of attending any

workshop, session, or event organized

by the chapter. Their role changes

according to the committee they

are in. Working on organizing such

projects gives them the opportunity to

develop several skills, for

example, presentation skills and the

ability to lead and work in teams,

which become essential when they

start a career.

SPE’s system of operation ensures

that members know their duties and

rights, and they are closely observed

to identify the areas they may need to

strengthen and work on, and are given

the required assistance. TWA

Shelly Holly (SH) is the director of

career services at the University of Tulsa

(TU). She holds a bachelor’s degree

in sociology and psychology from

Oklahoma State University and a master’s

in human services administration

from St. Edward’s University.

Starting Your Career on Campus

SPE: A Springboard for Your Career

22

HR Discussion

How do you help students make the right

career choices?

There’s a distinction between

graduate and undergraduate students.

Undergraduates may not really know

what they want—they could become

drilling, production, or reservoir

engineers. To help them, we encourage

internships to enable them to understand

what kind of work they would want to do

in their careers. Also, we offer them equal

emphasis on the foundation courses

of petroleum engineering so that they

have a good background and are well

prepared for whatever career path they

choose. Most of our graduate students

have a fairly good idea of their research

interest, so they will end up with jobs

based on the topic of their thesis. We also

have a very active industrial advisory

board and students have opportunities to

interact with the members.

When is it a good time to obtain a second

degree?

In petroleum engineering, getting an

advanced degree may not be really

necessary. The students who get master’s

degrees are not treated any differently

because the industry does a pretty

good job of training all the students well.

Now, there are many companies that

are involved in product development,

be it hardware or software, and that is

when they require specialized skills.

For example, if a company is building

a software simulation package, they

would exclusively look for students

with specialized knowledge and

understanding of the subject matter.

Master’s courses allow students to

develop advanced problem-solving

skills. One becomes an engineer who

learns the methodology of solving

fundamental, open-ended problems

and this helps grow intellectually. At the

same time, it is a good idea to gain some

experience in the industry before going

back to academia so that you have a

better understanding of what the industry

is looking for. Because to pry yourself

away from a regular job and go back

to being a student with limited means

requires you to understand what you

really want from your career and makes

you more determined to succeed. TWA

SY: Never give up, a start is a start.

Plus you should always seek to develop

yourself. In our industry, you are

valuable with whatever experiences

you have and whatever work have you

accomplished.

SA: Get engaged in

nongovernmental organizations

and develop a broad set of skills,

both technical as well as soft skills,

such as leadership, communication,

negotiation, and working

under pressure.

MT: Have fun in school, study hard,

and make good memories. Identify

your goals and look for a position where

you will have a clear learning and

development path.

SM: Be perseverant and aim to do

better than the previous day, both in

school and at work.

JH: Networking is essential to your

job, your company’s success, and

your personal success over the

course of your working life. Also,

your individual skills pale in front of

the challenge you are tasked with

accomplishing and the only way to get

work done is to lean on the skills of

those around you and keep learning

from them.

SK: Learn to balance your time and

develop nontechnical skills. Seek the

advice of experienced professionals;

they will be more than willing to

help you.

SH: Get a mentor—perhaps an alumnus

or someone who interviewed you, and

keep consistent contact with them, not

just when you need them. Keep in touch

with your faculty and let them know what

you’re doing. Also keep in touch with

your friends in class to stay abreast of

the news and technology, because this

industry is very global. Keep learning

and upgrading your skill sets.

MK: Read at least one paper from

OnePetro every day, before you get

into the noise of the day. You may not

understand it, but over a period of time,

you will have out-read your peers and

will become an expert. Nobody is born

a genius but you can become an expert

with time and effort. There is a lot of

information out there; discipline yourself

and take advantage of it. TWA

Mohan Kelkar (MK) is Williams

endowed professor and chairman

of petroleum engineering at the

University of Tulsa. He obtained his

BS in chemical engineering from

the University of Bombay, India,

and MS in petroleum engineering

and PhD in chemical engineering

from the University of Pittsburgh.

Making Correct Career Choices

Climbing Up the Career Ladder

23Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

SPE 101

The Society of Petroleum Engineers

(SPE) is the largest individual-

member organization serving

managers, engineers, scientists, and

other professionals worldwide in the

upstream oil and gas industry. This puts

SPE in a great position to support the

industry in its pursuit of technical and

operational excellence.

The Society achieves its goals by

several means, namely technical events

and seminars, publications, training

programs, conferences, volunteer

opportunities, and recognition for

outstanding industry professionals. It also

contributes to the industry by providing

opportunities for young professionals to

strengthen their technical competencies

and build upon professional qualities that

will help their career advancement.

In addition to the industry, SPE

extends its arm into the student

community by supporting student

chapters in educational institutions

across the globe. On its website,

a number of initiatives aimed at

promoting student integration into

the local industry are described.

This includes �nancial support in the

form of scholarships and fellowships

from the local section as well as SPE

International, and the Society dedicates

more than USD 1 million toward this

cause. Today, the number of student

members represents an important share

of SPE membership, accounting for more

than 50,000 worldwide at the end of 2014.

Through the sponsorship of Chevron,

students have the option of waiving their

annual dues, thus making it easier for the

aspiring young professionals to access

the many resources offered by SPE.

In addition, SPE provides support to

students looking to select their program

of study while in high school or early

university through the Energy4me

program. Its website serves as a

valuable guide to the types of petroleum

engineering programs in which students

can enroll in university and the different

careers in the industry. It also gives basic

facts about the oil and gas industry and

energy usage in our economies. To learn

more about the Energy4me program,

visit www.energy4me.org.

SPE also has recommendations for

the minimum technical background

that students should seek to acquire

during their studies. The SPE Task

Force on Minimal Competency has

developed matrices aimed at de�ning the

appropriate skill set to meet and exceed

the minimum competency requirements.

The competency matrices cover various

technical disciplines at different stages

of industry careers and can be used as a

guide to help select courses or programs

in university.

Next to supporting technical

development and career choice, SPE

creates opportunities for students to

enrich their nontechnical abilities.

With involvement in the activities of an

SPE student chapter, students engage

in valuable extracurricular activities,

such as the promotion of events and

community service. Student chapter

of�cers are able to practice teamwork,

learn time management skills, and

manage roles and responsibilities.

Chapter involvement also breeds

opportunities for members to reach

industry professionals, including

members of local SPE sections, young

professionals, and practitioners. Another

bene�t of these contacts—perhaps the

most important one—is networking.

Students can expose their technical and

nontechnical abilities, commitment levels,

and working potentials to the industry.

Many of the professionals involved in

student chapter relations activities often

are plugged into the happenings in their

campus recruitment programs.

While honoring prominent

industry professionals, SPE also

recognizes student members for their

achievements. Annually, undergraduate

and graduate students participate in

the Regional Paper Contests promoted

by the 11 SPE regions. Regional

winners are eligible to participate in

the International Student Paper Contest

that takes place during the SPE Annual

Technical Conference and Exhibition.

The 2015 conference will be held in

Houston. These events recognize not

only the research results attained by the

students, but also their presentation and

writing skills.

There are a number of volunteer

opportunities available for SPE

members to contribute to the

community. If you recently started your

career, the description of how you have

succeeded in your �rst professional

steps provides great material for the

SPE Ambassador Lecturer Program.

Experienced members can share their

expertise and participate as a mentor

in the SPE eMentoring Program. All

professionals can engage with their

local community and volunteer as part

of the Energy4me program, providing

key input to teachers and aspiring

students looking to learn more about

the industry.

SPE guides and helps all its

members to achieve at every level of

their career with its comprehensive

support. Whether you are

an undergraduate student seeking

additional skills or an accomplished

professional interested in contributing to

the younger generation, an opportunity

awaits you to better your career or the

career of others.

To learn more, visit www.spe.org.TWA

How SPE Helps To Prepare the Future

Generation of Oil and Gas ProfessionalsPaulo Pires, SPE, Petrobras

24

Technical Leaders

Why did you choose the oil and gas

industry?

KL: After attending the Colorado School

of Mines, I knew the energy industry

was where I wanted to be. I understood

the importance it has on our world and

quality of life.

JJ: I grew up in the industry. I am a

native Houstonian and my father is an

engineer who worked for one of the

major pipeline companies. I thought that

being an engineer would give me the

opportunity to solve problems and see

the world and it has.

How early in your career did you know

you wanted to become a leader?

KL: My career has brought many

opportunities to become a leader; it was

more about choosing which of those

opportunities to pursue.

JJ: I am the oldest child in my family

so I have always naturally gravitated

toward running things. I began my

SPE leadership very early as a student

chapter of�cer at Texas A&M University.

What kinds of leadership opportunities

are available in the industry?

KL: The oil & gas industry has

countless leadership opportunities;

it’s a global industry that continues to

be transformed through technological

advances. People from all backgrounds

and educations are needed to be leaders

in the industry.

JJ: Unlimited, if you are good at your

technical job, understand business, have

emotional intelligence, and solve your

boss’ problems. I am often asked about

the technical versus managerial track,

and most people are surprised that I am

a strong advocate of the technical track,

especially for women. When I speak to

audiences of young engineers, everyone

wants to be a manager, and now. But I �nd

that most people don’t really understand

what a manager does, and when they

�nd out, it’s not as glamorous as they

thought. All large companies allow

engineers to rise almost to the C-level

on the technical track. Life as a technical

expert is more work/life friendly and the

advancement is more merit-based, less

political, and overall less competitive

because it is based on your individual

accomplishments. SPE also has excellent

opportunities for leadership development

and building your network and personal

brand whether you are on the technical

or managerial track.

What kinds of challenges did you

face while seeking out positions of

increasing responsibility? Any road

blocks due to gender, familial status,

age, technical background, etc.?

KL: There have been many successful

women role models and the best

companies respect the contribution

made by women at all levels in the

organization. As I took on roles of greater

responsibility, I was blessed with

support systems within the company and

my family.

JJ: The �rst 20 years of my career were

characterized by rounds of layoffs

every two years or so. So mostly, it was

a time of decreasing opportunity. I had

to keep my technical ability sharp and

add to my basket of skills just to stay

employed. Early in my career, gender

The Road to Leadership:

Advice From Industry Leaders

Janeen Judah and Kendra Lema

Janeen Judah is general manager of Chevron’s southern

Africa business. Prior to this, she was president of Chevron

Environmental Management Company, providing project

management and technical expertise for environmental

cleanup, remediation, and decommissioning for Chevron’s

upstream and downstream properties in more than 50

countries. Prior to joining Chevron in 1998, Judah worked for

Arco in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico and then

added south Texas and the Gulf of Mexico to her portfolio. She also practiced oil and

gas law and was manager of Arthur D. Little’s Global Upstream Energy practice.

Judah is a Distinguished Member of SPE and currently serves as SPE’s vice

president of �nance. She has previously been SPE regional director for Gulf Coast

North America. Starting as a student chapter of�cer at Texas A&M University, she has

served in several leadership roles, including the chair of the Permian Basin and Gulf

Coast sections at different times. She has been a member of several SPE committees

and was awarded the SPE Distinguished Service Award in 2010. She is a member and

a past chair of Texas A&M Petroleum Engineering Industry Advisory Board, and is a

member of Texas A&M College of Engineering Advisory Council and Society of

Women Engineers.

Judah earned her BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M.

She holds an MBA from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin and a JD from the

University of Houston Law Center.

25Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

bias was overt, but now it is more subtle

and unconscious. Women especially

should let their supervisors know what

opportunities they want—otherwise

others can make assumptions and limit

your options for you. I believe the most

signi�cant challenge for women is not

dealing with children, but rather with

dual-career issues, since our industry

highly values mobility.

How were you able to manage a work/

life balance while taking on roles of

increasing responsibilities? Can you tell

us about a speci�c time in your career

when this was especially dif�cult?

KL: Maintaining work/life balance is

a daily activity that I achieve through

managing expectations. I am able to

communicate to others what they should

and should not expect of my time and

what my priorities are. I learned early

in my career, when I was traveling

internationally and my children were

young, that I have to rely on a broader

support system. I make time for personal

activities including exercise, re�ection,

and organization.

JJ: Work/life balance gets harder the

higher you go, with more demands from

people and travel. I try to plan for fun

things in my life and not cancel them

if I can. I can do almost anything with

enough lead time. I believe you can have

it all, just not always at the same time.

The most dif�cult work/life balance

time for me was a few years in my

career when I was working, going to law

school at night, and being the primary

caretaker for a cancer patient. I would

work, stop by MD Anderson hospital, go

to class, stop by the hospital again, go

home, and then get up and do it again.

And during that same period, we had

two rounds of layoffs at work. I had to

adjust and compromise. I didn’t do work,

caretaking, or law school as well as I

should have, but I did the best I could

while keeping all the balls in the air.

What qualities do you value in a leader?

How do you exemplify these qualities in

your day-to-day career?

KL: The very best leaders I have worked

with are patient and articulate. They

listen to people who work for them and

re�ect on the importance of the issue

before reacting to it. In my current role,

I bring together people from different

functions (i.e., drilling, subsurface,

infrastructure, land, �nance, etc.) and

evaluate new oil and gas unconventional

exploration plays. My ability to listen �rst

and articulate the importance of an issue

is a critical skill every day.

JJ: That answer is easy—humility.

Without humility, leaders don’t listen

to those around them and miss both

opportunities and risks. To me, the

most valuable characteristic of a leader

is  humility.

While the number of women in upper

management has increased over the

last several decades, women are still a

minority there. Do you have any speci�c

advice for young women who want to

take on high-level leadership roles in

their career?

KL: Women who choose to support the

success of other women are respected

and highly valued. You will need to

understand that you can have it all but

you may not be able to do it all at the

same time. Early on, you will have to

delegate certain things to free you

up, so you could focus on the most

important activities.

JJ: First, be good at the job you have.

I often see young engineers who are

focused on the next job, and forget

to be excellent at the job they have.

High performance will always create

opportunities. Also, leadership will

require compromise in your personal

life. This is true for both men and

women, but it is usually easier for men to

make the compromises.

In the past, many different engineering

disciplines could easily enter the

oil and gas industry. It seems as if

this trend is narrowing in toward the

mechanical, chemical, and petroleum

engineering disciplines, particularly

among operators. What are your

thoughts on this? Do you have any

advice for those from other engineering

disciplines on obtaining leadership

roles in the industry?

KL: The industry hires people from

many different disciplines, both as new

hires and experienced hires. I don’t see

the trend narrowing; I think there is more

value now than ever before for other

disciplines, especially in experienced-

hire situations. I am a civil engineer

with an MBA and project management

experience. I knew I wanted to work for

an operator and I achieved that through

the experienced-hire path.

JJ: There are so many different and

complex engineering problems

that there is a place for almost all

engineering disciplines somewhere in

the business, whether with the upstream

operators, contractors, or service

industries. I am a degreed petroleum

engineer, so I naturally gravitate

toward a preference toward petroleum

engineers, especially for the subsurface

disciplines. Petroleum engineers study

exactly what we do in exploration and

production, so they are fully productive

from the �rst day on the job. Chemical

and mechanical engineers have

always entered the oil business easily,

though more commonly in facilities

design and project management. Other

engineering majors, such as civil or

electrical engineers, have tended to

enter the industry through the service

and contractor side, and many of them

eventually gravitate to the operators.

With experience, your college degree

matters less and it is more about the

skills that you bring to the table.

Do you think an MBA degree is

important and/or prepares you for a

leadership role?

KL: I think having a solid understanding

of business concepts is important;

obtaining an MBA is one route to

accomplish that, but not the only way. Your

personal contribution is the most important

and an MBA can be highly valued.

Technical Leaders

JJ: I have advanced degrees in

petroleum engineering, business,

and law, so I am often asked this

question. For someone who plans

to stay in the mainstream part of the

industry, I always recommend an

MBA, preferably an executive or

night school option. We are in the oil

business, so a good understanding of

overall management and why we make

commercial decisions is extremely

valuable. An MBA is always an additive

skill set and will open doors in your

career. In addition, I usually recommend

that prospective managers do a

rotation in a business planning role,

to see the planning, budgeting, and

portfolio processes and understand

how management makes decisions. But

don’t get sidelined in a staff position;

return to a line position to stay on the

management track.

How were you able to stay current with

rapid changes and advancements in

technology in the industry?

KL: I stay current by staying involved

in the company and being open to new

roles that expand my knowledge of the

industry. I have worked in private and

public �rms, domestic and international

locations, corporate and business

unit positions, and both technical and

managerial roles.

JJ: I have been in management for a long

time, so I depend mostly on the people

who work for me to keep me up to speed

on what is happening in the industry.

I do also attend both internal Chevron

and external SPE meetings to �nd out

the leading-edge technical challenges

and solutions.

What should a young professional do to

show that he/she is leadership material?

KL: Be open to learning new things,

seek out mentors, and be respectful of

people. Don’t be afraid to contribute

your ideas and take on new challenges.

JJ: Impress somebody high up in your

company with your ability to do a

great job.

Any last comments on leadership

opportunities in the oil and gas industry?

KL: The oil and gas industry is full

of opportunities and it is increasing. I

would choose this industry again today if

I were a new college graduate. TWA

Kendra Lema is the project integration manager for new

unconventional plays in ConocoPhillips Lower 48 Exploration.

In this role, she leads internal cross-functional teams to

evaluate new unconventional plays for corporate funding and

execution. Lema has been in the energy industry for 18 years

and with ConocoPhillips for 13 years. She joined

ConocoPhillips in 2001 in midstream business development

working asset divestitures, and became the project controls

lead for its Nigerian lique�ed natural gas project in 2003. Afterward, she spent 4 years

in capital project funding leadership roles. In 2011, she was the exploration project

development lead for ConocoPhillips’ unconventional Niobrara project just outside

of Denver.

Prior to joining ConocoPhillips, she held multiple roles in the energy industry,

including working under a former secretary general of OPEC in Quito, Ecuador. She

gained her engineering and operations experience in natural gas pipelines in the

United States and Mexico through her positions with Atmos Energy and Reliant Energy.

Lema holds a civil engineering degree with a minor in international political

economy of Latin America from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA degree. She

serves as a ConocoPhillips College Partner for the Colorado School of Mines and was

instrumental in the establishment of the new Center For A Sustainable WE2ST. She is a

registered professional engineer and a certi�ed project management professional.

SPE Bookstore

Advances in Well ControlThis edition of the SPE reprint series focuses on recent advances in well control over the last few years and provides a comprehensive list of technical studies covering a diverse category of topics.

Contents

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27Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

Soft Skills

Sometime in the �rst 5 years of your

career, you may be getting a promotion.

However, before a promotion takes place,

you have to begin to walk as if you are

already performing at the next level. This

shouldn’t be because of self-entitlement,

but rather a frame of mind, a way of being

that trains others to see you at the next

level. Ultimately, you are subtly branding

yourself as being the next manager by

exemplifying qualities seen in the next

level, which includes performance. Below

are some ways to do this in your day-to-

day work.

Deliver beyond expectations.

Have you ever purchased a sandwich

and a drink only to be called back to

the counter because the price also

included a bag of chips or a cookie?

It is a good feeling. You think to

yourself, “This is a good value and I am

pleasantly surprised.”

As you deliver your work,

presentations, or reports, always give

a little extra. If the request is for A, B,

and C, think beyond this and include D

and maybe even E. I once had a team

member in a leadership team who

embodied this way of being. I would ask

her to extract data from a system so that

I could evaluate it. She would give me

the data in record time and share her

analysis of the data: trends, categories,

and observations. As you can imagine,

this saved me a ton of time and gave me a

starting point that I didn’t expect.

Dress the part: clothes, shoes, and

hairstyle. I am not advocating that you

spend a ton of money to dress like your

boss. Rather, I am suggesting that you

professionally express your personal

style in a way that gains respect from

others. There’s a reason we think we can

judge a book by its cover! Consider a few

staples in maximizing your presentation

of yourself. Be sure to be cognizant of

localized cultural expectations within

your of�ce.

Put your voice in the room early.

Speak up in meetings. Early in my

career, a leader pulled me to the side and

whispered, “You have a brain in your

head, use it, think! You can do this.”

I laugh about it now, but that whisper

helped me early on to come to the

table playing to win. In meetings, put

your voice in the room early on in the

�rst 10 to 15 minutes, even if it means

summarizing what someone else has said

for clari�cation. Ask questions; usually

others also want to know the answer or

have the same concern. You can start off

by saying, “We are all curious to know…”

Remember, you must be present to win!

Champion key behaviors. Every

organization has champions. These are

the folks who have the ear of the people in

the organization. They are the grassroots

heroes; the people that everyone loves to

follow, listen to, and seek direction from.

They are the ones who have a whole

crowd outside of their of�ce after major

announcements. Everyone wants to know,

“What did that mean?”

You can wield this power for

negativity or positivity; I suggest the

latter. Champion the key behaviors

and initiatives that are directly aligned

with the organization’s strategic direction.

For example, be a champion for cost

reduction, diversity and inclusiveness,

globalization, and so on. Understand what

is important to the senior leadership team

and be a champion for those things. Get

a good understanding and determine

why it is important to the organization.

Model the behavior and educate others at

every opportunity.

Courageously give upwards

feedback. A senior leader once shared

her observation with me that no one ever

gave her constructive feedback once

she was promoted into higher ranks.

Everyone wanted to be complimentary

and be nice and avoided providing

dif�cult feedback. As you may have

guessed, she really appreciated it when

someone told her the “truth.” While she

did not always agree with it, she found

it very insightful to understand how her

behavior was perceived. This allowed

her to manage changes in her behavior

and change the perceptions that others

had of her, to more favorable opinions.

The key in sharing upward feedback

is to ensure that there is a relationship

in place and that you ask if the leader

wants feedback. One way that I like to

ask permission is to simply state, “Do

you want to know what I see?” This was a

Getting to the Next Promotion Sonya Ware, Blue Beagle Consulting

Sonya Ware is an entrepreneur and the founder of Blue

Beagle Consulting. Her professional coaching practice

focuses on the quest for living a more meaningful life. She

has more than 20 years of experience, including roles as an

IT and change management consultant, senior manager at

Shell, and in other Fortune 500 companies. She is a graduate

of the Life Purpose Institute and a student of New�eld

Network’s Graduate Coaching program. She holds a BBA in

Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston and a

Master of Liberal Arts from the University of St. Thomas.

28

Soft Skills

question shared with me many years ago

and I never forgot it.

When sharing what you see,

remember to only describe the behavior

and never share your conclusion of the

behavior. For example, “I noticed that

when the team asked you a question,

you stomped your foot, took in a deep

breath, and raised your voice as you

answered them.” As opposed to, “You

seemed upset when the team asked you a

question.” Remember, feedback is

a gift.

Put your ideas on the map. Share your

ideas, even those that seem way outside

the box. That said, be wise in what you

decide is outside the box. I certainly don’t

want my brain surgeon thinking outside

the box on a critical routine procedure.

If you stay connected to industry

organizations either as a member

or visitor, you will no doubt have

the inside scoop on broader trends

happening across the industry as

opposed to siloed, limited internal

organizational information. This goes a

long way in supporting your thoughts

around new ideas that could infuse

growth, innovation, and the organization’s

bottom line. Also read trade magazines,

blogs, and newsfeeds, such as SPE’s

Journal of Petroleum Technology. Create

peer relationships with colleagues in

similar organizations. Find out what they

are doing and how they are doing things,

and most importantly why. Put your

ideas on the map and if someone else

takes credit, take pride in knowing that

regardless of who took the credit, your

idea was worthy to go forward.

By showing the key behaviors

as the next leader in your company,

whether as a technical expert, people

manager, or both, you can make it

easier for the current leadership to

promote you. Remember that everyone

you work with has the potential to be

tomorrow’s leader, so treat everyone

with respect. By exceeding expectations,

championing key behaviors, and

courageously giving feedback, you

can progress your goals and help others

up as well. TWA

Fuel for ThoughtEnergize your career with training courses

from the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Get up-to-date industry knowledge from the

people who wrote the book on E&P. Courses

are o�ered at multiple locations around the

world. Learn more at www.spe.org/training

where you can browse the schedule and

register for courses that meet your interests.

29Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

Tech 101

Industrial computing and modeling

is taking the early footsteps of a

renaissance period. The world now

sits at a coffee shop and is able to

get the same data that it could only

access at its desktop terminal 8 years

ago. To put things in perspective, 40

years ago, the world’s most advanced

computer was the size of a car and

could perform 80 million �oating point

operations per second (FLOPS). Today,

an iPhone zips along at 76.8 giga�ops.

That’s 962.5 times faster in 40 years. In

10 years’ time, a computer that is the

size and dimension of a silver dollar

will be powerful enough to power a

manned mission to the moon or beat

a chess champion. In those 40 years,

technology in oil and gas has also come

a long way, but are we seeing the same

ratio of improvement? Is the industry

adopting technology at even a quarter

of this speed?

In relation to modeling, not only

can we read wellbore trajectories

and drilling and reservoir reports

on our phones and tablets, but

to a greater degree, we can also

examine and predict scenarios,

avoiding costly and dangerous

situations before they happen. We

now rely on dynamic data and more

increasingly, predictive data. But,

where is the state of the art for these

two interdependent disciplines of

drilling and reservoir engineering?

Where is the technology leading us?

And more importantly, why is cutting-

edge technology �nding it hard to

reach the wider industry?

Human Capital

The industry faces a never-before

seen shortage of trained personnel

entering the industry. It’s the

“graying of the oil industry.” The

reasons for this are left for a different

article, but I strongly recommend

referencing a Wipro report at

http://www.wipro.com/Documents/

casestudy/ Pennenergy-Wipro-Oil-

and-Gas-Research-Report.pdf. The

main thing we can take from this

report is that the oil and gas industry is

looking to software to try to maximize

ef�ciencies by the smaller workforce.

A survey by Rice University and

Ernst & Young (http://www.starktalent.

com/2011/09/oil-and-gas-companies-

talent-shortage-is-a-major-concern/)

found that 88% of human resource

managers at the world’s top oil

companies agreed that the existing

persistent shortage of people will

slow down �nancial growth and

performance in the industry over the

next 10 years. So when we continue

to talk about technology for oil and

gas modeling, we need to keep in

mind the practical requirement for

advancement—allow less people to

do more.

Looking Back to Look Forward

The late 1970s saw the beginnings of

personal computing; Apple was on

its way to making its �rst computer,

and James H Clark and some Stanford

graduates would start Silicon Graphics

(now called SGI), focused on high-

end hardware and software for 3D

graphics computing.

Fast forward about 5 years and John

Mouton, Royce Nelson, Bob Limbaugh,

and Andy Hildebrand decided to take

the next level of computing to seismic

interpretation. “We were turned down

by nearly every venture capitalist on

the east and west coast of America, but

we were approached by Sevin Rosen

ventures who were also invested in

Silicon Graphics computers,” said

Mouton. “The way it was done in the

industry at this time, we had huge 2D

printouts of the geo reports that were

spread out all over the �oor. You had

to have good eyes. Engineers would

get down on their hands and knees

and literally eyeball the trends on

the printout.”

In recalling a conversation with

Gene Ennis in spring 2013, the former

chief executive of�cer of Landmark

Graphics said, “When we brought this

onto 3D graphics, we setup a demo for

these guys in the oil company, switched

Data Integration Key to Improved

Oil and Gas Modeling Tim Duggan, SPE, Skynet Labs

Tim Duggan is founder, former chief executive of�cer, and

currently chairman of Skynet Labs, a venture-capital-backed

technology startup developing secure real-time oil and gas

analysis and optimization software. In 18 months, he led the

company through two accelerator programs, one in Dublin and

the other, energy- and oil-technology-speci�c, in Houston. An

entrepreneur since 2001, Duggan founded and exited the

production company Mercury Boy Inc., subsequently spinning

out Mercury Girl Inc., a mobile software development company. In 2010, he developed

the agency Mercury Digital, catering to web technology and software design and

development. His expertise in business development, digital technology, front-end

architecture, and oil and gas software is broad. Duggan recently moved to the Middle

East to head Speed Lebanon, a new, high-performance technology fund and

accelerator based in Beirut.

30

Tech 101

it on in the meeting and everyone was

just blown away.”

Mouton continued, “We were two

software guys and two hardware guys.

Our objective was generic. We wanted

to bring the advantages of personal

computing to how people did their

work in oil and gas. Nelson was really

pushing for the big oil companies to

use the technology for seismic data.

Shell was acquiring 3D seismic from

boats. The problem was that the data

sets were so large, the different layers

had to be colored in with pencil on

the printouts. The process just simply

became counter-productive. Our

approach was to be able to handle

all the data and then apply simple

pattern recognition, color, and 3D to the

seismic sections. No pencils.

“We had a grass roots approach

for selling this. Get the guys on the

ground to use this. Soon, so many

wanted this as standard that they

forced the companies to buy it. We

practically incited a revolution in the

geosciences workforce.”

Today, Landmark and SGI

are industry standards. Software

globally now has moved to a new

frontier. The cloud is not something

new in oil and gas, with hard-line

networked rigs all across the Gulf of

Mexico (GOM) and the North Sea from

the late 1970s. What is different about

cloud today, however, is that it now

has further reach and a distributed

processor power, and uses a “client”

device to access the data (i.e., smart

device/phone/tablet).

There is a con�ict of interest at

play in today’s oil and gas industry

though. Do I adopt a new technology

and see how it goes, potentially

reaping the rewards of requiring

less people to drill more ef�cient and

productive holes, or do I stick with what

works all day, every day, and accept

certain losses?

When hundreds of millions, if

not billions, of dollars a day are at

stake, the answer is clear. And the

sales timelines of some software

companies will show that they have

to prove their worth over time prior

to making those �rst big sales, let

alone the “new way” becoming the

new norm.

Things Not to Leave Behind

I remember being away at work with

my dad, and we were discussing a

tough situation in his early career. They

were “stuck in the hole during drilling.”

His account of the experience was not

one de�ned by software solutions or

advanced analysis, but one where he

described having a feel for what was

going on downhole in order to free

up a drill bit. “Bring up the bit, rotate

to a certain speed, and bring it down

again,” he said. With all the technology

and data analysis, sometimes you have

to bring in your gut and let it steer

the operation.

Indeed, there is a huge amount

of knowledge capital that is lost with

the retirement of each geophysicist

and senior drilling manager, and not

enough technology can be created

without this �eld experience “know-

how” in mind.

New and Latest

Kevin McClurd of HawkEye tells me

about HawkEye3D, a software widely

used by service companies and

directional drilling engineers around

the world. “We have a 3D visual

software that provides a view of the

formation and the well while it is drilled,

in 3D. What’s exciting is that the

visualization is in  real time and coming

on mobile soon.”

Such technology was historically

only available to large operators

due to the high ticket cost. Now, a

small directional driller can use this

software and be up and running within

minutes with a real-time view of the

drilling from anywhere in the world.

This capacity is brought to you by

today’s cloud.

Facebook famously has one of

the best technology infrastructures

in the world for data handling.

This ability and networking is

based at the web server stack level

and uses a backbone framework

called Hadoop.

So who is using this type

of technology in oil and gas?

Schlumberger, for one. It doesn’t use

Hadoop clusters, instead offering

the Petrel E&P software platform. It

is the Schlumberger answer to not

only providing a backbone for new

advanced software, but it also allows

the company to future-proof the ability

for new software to be supported in a

“shared-earth model” method. Shared-

earth modeling describes the process

of integrating static and dynamic

data from two or more disciplines to

construct a model and visualize all

relevant data in one multidisciplinary

environment, via an elegant

user interface.

The system utilizes a technology

language called WITSML, which is

short for Wellsite Information Transfer

Standard Markup Language. It is a

proprietary version of web HTML for

the energy industry, developed by

Energistics. WITSML allows energy

companies, service companies, drilling

contractors, application vendors, and

regulators a common standard for data

transfer and opens up the marketplace

for third party software developers who

can develop applications that provide

next generation interpretation.

Integration is Key

When researching the marketplace in

building my company, Skynet Labs, and

talking to drillers and well planners,

I have found that the biggest pain for

them in the �eld was integrating all the

well plans and reservoir data sets they

were sent. One each was received from

the geologist, the geophysicist, drilling

department, and another from the

electrical and �uids departments. Have

I left anyone out? Oh, yes, and to make

things even harder for our driller, each

contributor had developed their plans

in different software so that integration

was impossible. This forced the drillers

to come back to “gut.” Schlumberger’s

software with WITSML is powerful and

a game changer.

Another issue that 99% of all drilling

and well planning operations face

is planned trajectory. I have spoken

to more than 100 senior drillers,

presidents of drilling companies, drill

planners, and reservoir analysts over

the last year in developing Skynet’s

products. When they mention the

“planned trajectory” they always have

a small chuckle and say, “Well, you

know, it’s planned but we never drill to

plan.” The answer to problems at the

coalface of exploration and production

companies is found by talking to the

guys in the �eld and not always in

the of�ce. The shout from the �eld is

integration and simpli�cation of the

data. Speci�cally, the integration of

reservoir projections and plans with

wellbore plans across the team.

Steve Devereux, founder of

Drillers.com, calls it like it is.

“Improved wellbore trajectory and

reservoir modeling achieves better,

more accurate wellbore placement.

Collisions are avoided, and drillers

can drill faster relief wells” such as was

required in the Macondo disaster in the

GOM in April 2010.

In looking at the delivery of these

integrated data to its stakeholders and

consumers, there are three questions:

1. Do I want to be able to see it on

mobile? 2. Do I want to be able to

manipulate the process from anywhere?

3. Do I feel secure about it?

The last question is, by far, the

single most prominent blocker for

new systems proliferation, but it is

nothing new. Leaders in oil companies

have some of the most top-level

security concerns in the world, on par

with governments.

One company looking at this issue

is Secure-Nok, based in Houston.

Their software is deployed in oil and

gas control systems at a core level.

It actively hunts for any breaches in

the system. Headed by Siv Hombe,

a renowned white hat hacker from

Norway, the stellar team is addressing

an exciting and high-value question

mark for the industry.

What’s Ahead?

One small startup company looking

to the future is Waveseis, founded by

Mark Roberts, an ex-BP geophysicist.

Roberts has developed an algorithm

to allow greater visibility of presalt

reservoirs. Another startup at an

early stage is Petrolance. Their

team is focused on utilizing cloud

processing and distributed computing

to provide a stronger visualization

for geoscientists when they want

to look at reservoir data from

the cloud. Currently, this ability

is limited to poor pre- and post-

visual programs.

Yaroslav Bashenko of Petrolance

said, “Most companies focus on

good simulators but the problem is

products have weak pre- and post-

processor power. Petrolance aims to

make it all in one, one cloud package

providing the higher spec processor

and visualization.”

The oil and gas industry is

admittedly slow in adopting digital

technologies (though for reasons

which I respect, mainly security and

compromised data systems being the

main concern), but when you match a

paradigm shift in the wider software

world with a dwindling workforce in

such a high-value industry, it is dif�cult

to see pro�t in maintaining such a slow

change in attitude.

In closing, there are still some

questions left open. Do we need to

kick the horse in the belly and catch up

with where it’s at? Or should we stay

trotting? Is big data useful or are we

drowning in big bytes? Whatever the

interpretation may be, I know one thing:

I don’t have a clue how I will get any

typing done on a computer the size of a

silver dollar! TWA

Health, Safety, and

Environment InformationWhen You

Need It

www.spe.org/hsenow

A new Web app from SPE

Scan thiscode topreview.

twitter.com/HSENow

32

As exciting as it is to �nish university, it

can also be overwhelming! The plethora

of opportunities or the lack of them, the

hazy picture of what you would like to do

versus what you are being offered. This

article reviews a few key locations where

graduates can enter into the industry and

the variety of options that the oil and gas

industry offers them. Let’s see what the

US, Canada, and the UK have to offer.

What’s Hot in the US?

The cap and gown have been doffed

and the diploma ink is still drying.

After 4 or more years of hard work, it’s

time to put that degree to use. The US

Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that

demand for petroleum engineers will

grow by 26% in the decade between

2012 and 2022. Several US cities have

an established industry presence and

have experienced recent growth and

may appeal to new graduates. Prominent

among them are Houston, Bakers�eld,

Williston, New Orleans, Midland, Dallas,

and Denver. Two locations of particular

focus for this article are Midland, Texas,

and Williston, North Dakota.

Fueled by new innovations in an

historic oil and gas basin, Midland’s

SPE Permian Basin Section has

experienced a nearly 30% growth in its

young professional (YP) membership

in the past year. Girded by historic

underpinnings, Midland continues

to stand tall, both physically and

metaphorically, across the �at Texan

landscape. Known for its proli�c oil

�elds, this town of more than 110,000

(at the time of the 2010 census) harkens

back to its wildcatter days of 1923, when

oil was �rst produced from the Santa Rita

No. 1 well. This is a town well acquainted

with oil booms, having experienced

rapid growth after the end of World

War II and another boom during the

1970s. The advent of horizontal drilling

combined with large, multistage

hydraulic fracturing has ushered in yet

another boom for this town. In 2014,

Forbes magazine ranked Midland as the

second fastest-growing small city in the

US.

The SPE section that showed the

largest year-over-year growth (83.5%)

in YP membership is the Williston Basin

Section. Driving this growth in Williston

is the exploitation of the proli�c Bakken

formation. The Bakken formation, which

extends into south Saskatchewan,

Canada, is an emerging tight oil play

that has been a product of continued

technology advancement in horizontal

drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

What’s Up in Canada?

Canada is an extremely lucrative

but equally competitive area for

new graduates in the oil and gas

sector. A plethora of companies from

entrepreneurial startups to integrated

majors are investing billions in Canada

in order to take advantage of its vast

reserves, which includes over 174 billion

bbl of oil sands reserves according to

the 2014 BP Annual Statistical Review.

As a new graduate, Canada will

provide you with the opportunity to

be at the forefront of new technologies

while establishing you as a valuable

resource to companies later in your

career. Canada’s diverse seasonal

climate and intricate geology require

special consideration and extensive

knowledge in order to tap into its

reserves. Whether you are working in

the oil sands developing the commercial

steam-assisted gravity drainage

technology, developing surface mining

operations, working at developing tight

oil plays, or tapping into the vast Horn

River shale basin, you will be joining a

well-connected club of practitioners with

the know-how to produce from Canada’s

complex reservoirs.

There is no shortage of companies

looking for personnel in Canada.

Companies come from all over

the world to compete for a share of

Canada’s reserves. All of the majors

are represented, and countless

independents have substantial

holdings in Canada. In addition, there

is continuous investment from overseas

national oil companies. For example,

UAE-based TAQA acquired PrimeWest

in 2007 and China-based CNOOC

purchased Nexen in 2013.

Shruti Jahagirdar, Shell; Kristin Weyand, ConocoPhillips; Batool Arhamna Haider, Stanford University;

Li Zhang, Devon; and Maxim Kotenev, CGG

A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL’S

GUIDE TO

Recent

Graduates in the US, Canada, and the UK

33Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

In addition to summer internships,

prospective graduates in Canada have

the opportunity to work for companies in

12– to16–month internships prior to their

graduation. On receiving a job offer,

one must prepare to move to Calgary,

Alberta, better known as the energy

capital of Canada. In Calgary, there is

no shortage of activities to participate in,

including a very active SPE section. If

you have a desire to work in challenging

reservoirs with novel technologies,

consider launching your career

in Canada.

London: Financial Hub for

Upstream to Downstream

A leading global city and �nancial

center, London stands out as a

prominent oil capital. Having advanced

in the time of maritime discoveries

and located in the prime meridian

zone, London has become the hub of

commercial and trade activity in the

energy sector.

There is an abundance of the world’s

top universities and MBA programs that

provide a �ow of top-standard graduates

into the UK job market. Some of the top

institutions within UK include Imperial

College, Leeds University, Oxford

University, London School of Economics,

and London School of Business and

Finance. Some of the world’s oldest and

largest organizations for geophysicists,

geologists, engineers, analysts,

�nancial experts, and petroleum

publishing houses are based in this

city. It is not surprising that London

has evolved not only as the center for

upstream and downstream but also for

commercial careers, law �rms, policy

makers, global energy studies, and

environmental organizations.

Leveraging London’s location as

a global �nancial hub, the city hosts

numerous meetings that bring together

experts from the oil and gas industry,

government of�cials, investors, and the

�nancial community to discuss and learn

about opportunities and investment. The

industry remains extremely attractive to

investors and is a business that continues

to give outstanding returns. London is

an excellent place to bring industries

together and attract international

businesses looking to raise capital.

In addition to science and

engineering roles, London offers

graduate careers in accounting,

�nance, commerce, information

technology, supply-chain management,

and marketing, to name a few. City

institutions provide advice and

professional services in raising

capital, mitigating risks, and securing

insurance; it is indeed the center for

project �nance excellence. Project

developers, sponsors, advisers,

bankers, credit agencies, and investors

must be properly equipped to

analyze and explain the risks and

prospects, understand the sources

of �nance, impact of the global

credit crisis on debt, equity funding,

structuring of the loan facilities,

production sharing agreements,

and insurance requirements.

City �nanciers provide expertise

and �nance for studies of

upstream, midstream, and

downstream projects from

around the world and especially

for growing petroleum regions.

London remains one of the

most competitive markets for new

graduates in the oil and gas sector.

It is believed there are still up to

24 billion bbl of oil and gas to be

extracted from the seabed around

the UK. To produce this, the industry

needs to overcome technological

challenges, increase operational and

capital ef�ciency, and attract billions

of pounds worth of new investment.

Oil and gas industry in London

offers an exciting variety of

career opportunities in technical

and commercial disciplines.

The Lure of Graduate Studies

As the oil and gas industry continues

to evolve and the reservoirs get

more complex, the need for experts

of different science backgrounds is

becoming more prevalent. Excellent

examples of emerging sciences relevant

to the industry are geochemistry and

geomechanics. According to a 2011 study

by the American Society for Engineering

Education, conferral of master’s and

doctoral degrees in petroleum sciences

grew by more than 30% from 2009 to

2010 and the expectation is that this trend

will continue to grow.

The thought of exorbitant education

fees and going back to school can

sometimes be a deterrent to many

aspiring candidates. While most

universities in the US offer funding for

graduate programs, many research

groups and laboratories also fund their

students for master’s programs in the

form of assistantships and fellowships.

Other institutions such as Stavanger

University in Norway and King Fahd

University of Petroleum and Mines in

Saudi Arabia are “tuition-free” for full-

time students.

SPE, too, provides competitive

scholarships to students wishing to

pursue higher studies in petroleum-

related majors, in various regions of the

world. Details of these can be found at

spe.org. Additionally, there are numerous

corporations which offer worldwide

scholarships to new graduates. Italian

company Eni’s Master’s Program Project

is one such example among many.

In the US and Canada, many

petroleum programs offer two master’s

degree options: master of science

(thesis based), which often comes

funded, and master of engineering

(course based). Some universities

in the UK offer one-year master’s

programs compared to two years in

most other countries and might suit many

candidates looking for an accelerated

degree. Some highly regarded

programs have opened foreign campus

branches, such as Heriot-Watt’s Dubai

and Malaysian campuses and Texas

A&M University’s campus in Qatar,

which offers master’s in petroleum.

This helps in cutting down the cost

of living associated with acquiring a

foreign degree. TWA

34

Bangalore Section Holds

Education Day

The young professionals committee

of the SPE Bangalore Section

recently organized an education

day at Kendriya Vidyalaya DRDO

in Bangalore, India. The event was

aimed at guiding students interested

in math and science toward a career

in the oil and gas sector, one of

the most exciting and challenging

industries to work in. A team of seven

members from the section presented

various career options available

in the industry. Because of the

overwhelming response, the event was

held in two classrooms. A total of 150

students attended.

Abhinandan Kohli, secretary of

the Bangalore Section, began with an

introduction of SPE, what it does, and

how it helps the growth of the oil and gas

industry. It was followed by an overview

of the industry presented by other

members. The students were eager and

enthusiastic and asked many questions

throughout the session.

Abhinandan Kohli

Bangalore Section

San Joaquin Valley Section

YPs Organize Knowledge-

Sharing Sessions

The SPE San Joaquin Valley

Section’s young professionals (YPs)

have continued to contribute to the

learning of their peers through a series

of events that give YPs the opportunity to

bene�t from experts. Recently, they got

together to learn more about continuing

education and online education offered

by top schools in the region.

The YPs held a safety and leadership

event at which participants talked

with Gaurdie Banister, chief executive

of�cer of Aera Energy. Banister shared

his career journey in the oil and gas

industry along with his personal

experiences that have in�uenced

his career.

Representatives of the Viterbi

School of Engineering at the

University of Southern California

(USC) answered questions from

YPs in an information session in

Bakers�eld, California. USC’s

Distance Education Network

provided detailed information about

its more than 40 graduate engineering

programs available online.

The YPs recognize the importance

of knowledge transfer in aiding

professional development and will be

holding more events in the near future.

Cenk Temizel

Reservoir Engineer and

YP Chairperson,

San Joaquin Valley Section

Student participants at the education day organized by the Bangalore Section.

San Joaquin Valley Section YPs held knowledge-sharing sessions.

YP Newsflash

35Vol. 11 // No. 1 // 2015

Sheidi, H.M., holds a session on effective technical paper presentation.

Several YP participants attended the career planning workshop.

Bruce, O.G., moderating a syndicate session.

Warri Nigeria YPs Set Pace

on Career Planning

Young Professionals (YPs) Committee

of the Warri Nigeria Section recently

held its annual YP workshop at the PTI

Conference Centre Effurun in Warri,

Nigeria. The theme of this year’s

workshop was “Marketability for

Sustainability: Equipping Myself Ahead

of Tomorrow’s Challenges.”

The workshop consisted of the

following sessions:

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for engineers (Archibong, E.E., of

PTI)

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presentation (Sheidi, H.M., of PTI)

r��1BDLBHJOH�B�NBSLFUBCMF�SÊTVNÊ�

(Muse-Ariyoh, N.O., of WRPC)

r��*OUFSWJFXT�NBEF�FBTZ�BOE�MBOEJOH�

on the dream job (Bruce, O.G., of

WRPC)

The distinguished group of session

facilitators took turns sharing their

insight and gathering discussion on

the subject matters. The main lesson

learned from the workshop was not only

the importance of planning your career

early, but also the signi�cance of taking

the time and thought in choosing the

right mentors.

In conclusion, Bruce, O.G.,

moderated a brief syndicate session.

The committee hopes to hold a similar

workshop this year. TWA

Chris Egwuatu

Jolomi Engineering,

Warri Nigeria Section

Your Best Shot

Black Gold: The Cycle Continues

Photo by Grant Manthey, Well Operations Engineer II, Transocean

This shot was taken in June 2014 on the western edge of the Wattenberg �eld in

Frederick, Colorado, USA, at the end of a very long road trip. My day was at an

end, but the pumping continued. Photo taken with a Motorola DROID RAZR HD.

Wild Desert Rig 6: Catwalk and Derrick

Photo by David Warren, Senior Drilling and Completion Engineer, Santos

An artistic view showing the rig’s pipe handler that supports the pipe to the derrick

(catwalk), rig �oor, and derrick itself. Taken in July 2014 in southwest Queensland,

Australia, with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Settings: ISO 800, 24 mm, f/4.0 at 1/25 s.

Submit your entry today to bestshot@spemail.org. This contest is open to

all SPE members. The two best photographs will be published in the next TWA

issue. Your image must be in JPEG format, with a �le-size limit of 4 MB. Submit

photograph information with camera speci�cations. Provide your full name with

your position, company name, and company location.

C A L L F O R E N T R I E S

Forge Your Own

Personal Way Ahead

Gain Writing Skills

Crucial to Your Career

Connect With Experts

Worldwide

Become a Better Leader

Build Your Résumé’s Value

Just Follow These Two Simple Steps

Type a formal cover letter zeroing in on

why you want to join and

how you would add value to

TWA’s Editorial Team.

Send your letter and a current

résumé or CV to editortwa@spe.org.

Where Fresh Energy and Creative Ideas Thrive

Apply Today

to Join

EDITORIAL TEAM

Too busy to be away from the offi ce? Take yourself to greater depths right from your desktop with SPE Web Events. Join our industry experts as they explore solutions to real problems and discuss trending topics.

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© 2015 Baker Hughes Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. 42707 01/2015

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