She's a Petroleum Geology Ranger

The Only One in the U.S. National Park Service

Worried about your future?

As a geologist in a constantly shifting energy industry -- does anyone really know what's going to happen tomorrow? -- you and most of your peers could be excused for traces of doubt.

But at least there's this: According to an increasing number of industry workers -- including thousands of AAPG members -- there is life after layoff.

Take the case of Lisa Norby, a former petroleum geologist at Mobil Oil who survived six downsizings before finally taking a buyout when the company closed its Denver office in 1992.

Although she retrained and entered a related profession, today she is back at work in the oil and gas industry.

But not, however, in the usual way.

This time she's working for the government. Norby is a petroleum geologist with the U.S. National Park Service.

In fact, she's "the only petroleum geologist in the entire Park Service," she said -- and for her, even as the career transitions continue, the skills she developed with Mobil are paying off in new and surprising ways.

"I felt it was time for a change," she said of her decision to leave the industry. "It got to a point where I wanted to do something that had personal meaning for me."

For Norby, that meant a "shift back" to an original interest she had in the environmental business -- and seeking a job with the National Park Service.

"I was very fortunate because they (Mobil) had a retraining program," she said. Under the Trade Adjustment Act, federal funds were provided for retraining for individuals who wanted to change careers.

"I had always wanted to be an environmental geologist," she said, and headed back to school to earn a degree in environmental geology.

Please log in to read the full article

Worried about your future?

As a geologist in a constantly shifting energy industry -- does anyone really know what's going to happen tomorrow? -- you and most of your peers could be excused for traces of doubt.

But at least there's this: According to an increasing number of industry workers -- including thousands of AAPG members -- there is life after layoff.

Take the case of Lisa Norby, a former petroleum geologist at Mobil Oil who survived six downsizings before finally taking a buyout when the company closed its Denver office in 1992.

Although she retrained and entered a related profession, today she is back at work in the oil and gas industry.

But not, however, in the usual way.

This time she's working for the government. Norby is a petroleum geologist with the U.S. National Park Service.

In fact, she's "the only petroleum geologist in the entire Park Service," she said -- and for her, even as the career transitions continue, the skills she developed with Mobil are paying off in new and surprising ways.

"I felt it was time for a change," she said of her decision to leave the industry. "It got to a point where I wanted to do something that had personal meaning for me."

For Norby, that meant a "shift back" to an original interest she had in the environmental business -- and seeking a job with the National Park Service.

"I was very fortunate because they (Mobil) had a retraining program," she said. Under the Trade Adjustment Act, federal funds were provided for retraining for individuals who wanted to change careers.

"I had always wanted to be an environmental geologist," she said, and headed back to school to earn a degree in environmental geology.

"I realized if I wanted to stay in Denver, I'd have to make a decision on my career," Norby said. "It's a tough city to be an oil geologist in. Maybe this was my opportunity to do environmental work."

The Generalist

A native of Ohio, Norby earned her geology degree from Ohio University and a master's degree in geology at Idaho State University. After graduate school, she went to work for Mobil in 1980.

"They hired me as a geophysicist and I went through their training program," she said.

For four years she worked in Mobil's Dallas office. Then she moved to the company's Denver office in 1984, working in both exploration and production.

"I worked the Williston basin and Piceance Basin in western Colorado," she said.

After leaving Mobil in 1992, Norby first took some time off and did some volunteer work. She worked as a trail volunteer at Indian Peaks Wilderness Area near Denver and also volunteered at the Center for Resource Management, a non-profit environmental think tank founded by actor Robert Redford.

"They offered me a full-time position," she said, writing environmental newsletters among other tasks for the organization.

But she was marking time. Earlier, she had applied for a job with the Park Service, and the agency offered her a summer job in 1993 while she was taking courses at the University of Denver to get a certificate in environmental policy in management.

In that summer job, she handled environmental law analyses. "I designed a compliance database for tracking projects. Compliance is required on trail projects or building a visitors center," she said.

Eventually, the Park Service offered to hire her as a student trainee if she would work toward a master's degree in environmental policy and management. Norby agreed, continued her studies and completed that degree in 1996 with an emphasis on resource management.

"When I completed that program, they converted me to a full-time permanent employee," she said.

She began working for the Park Service doing resource planning and writing environmental impact statements. "It wasn't just geology," she said. "It was all natural resource topics."

In that position, Norby handled proposals for special projects, including:

  • Installing waterlines to remove dams at Olympic National Park to restore the salmon fishery.
  • A bison management study at Yellowstone National Park focusing on how to control the bison.
  • A project involving the disturbed lands restoration program at Redwood National Park, which had been damaged by the logging industry.

"I was a generalist," she said. "Once in awhile, I got a connection to petroleum."

Returning to Her Roots

But even working outside the petroleum industry, Norby could not avoid downsizing. In 1999, the National Park's Denver Service Center announced plans to reduce its employee population.

With hardly any seniority, Norby began to look for another job. Fortunately for her, a petroleum geologist position opened in the Park Service and she was hired for the job.

"I didn't think I'd ever be in the oil and gas market after I left Mobil," she said.

Today, as the Park Service's only petroleum geologist, she's working for the Park Services' Geologic Resource Division, on a team composed of a lawyer and a petroleum engineer that evaluates any proposed oil and gas operation in a national park.

"It's like a mini-consulting firm," she said.

In fact, private entities own subsurface mineral rights and can explore for oil and gas in parks. Her team works with oil and gas operators to help them design their project and minimize the impact on the park.

"We oversee 700 wells," she said.

The biggest concentration of wells is in the Big Southfork River and Recreation Area in Tennessee and Kentucky, where 315 wells are located. There also are many wells in three national parks in Texas and a few in Ohio, New Mexico and Florida, she said.

Drilling in a national park can be complicated and expensive because of protective measures required such as containerized mud systems, lining protection, and measures to prevent any leakage of fluids, she said.

To meet the requirements to drill in national parks, energy companies must prepare a plan of operations, including considerations for endangered species, she said.

Currently, she is working on a programmatic document to guide operators on how to deal with sensitive resources in the parks.

"The big thing we have to deal with is getting operators in compliance," she said. "There are some operations that predated the establishment of the park. If they change an operator, they must comply with our regulations."

Set Your Sights ...

In 1999 Norby helped set up a production operations seminar for all park staff. She also hopes to set up training for park staff this year on how to use specialized equipment to test for contamination hydrocarbons and brine at oil and gas well sites.

"We can do reconnaissance testing," she said.

Norby has encountered a big learning curve as she refocused on the oil and gas business.

In the seven years she was out of the oil and gas industry, there were a lot of improvements. "I never even heard of containerized mud before. And it was 2-D seismic when I left Mobil, not 3-D. The technology has taken off," she said.

To catch up on the changes in the industry, she continues to attend more industry meetings and other educational programs. "I always loved geology and getting back into this gave me a great opportunity," she said.

She advises petroleum geologists who want to make a transition in their careers to take some time to consider their career goals.

"Sit back and figure out what you want to do and go for it," she said. "I never thought I could get into the type of business that I wanted. But you have to plan for it. There are a lot of opportunities if you're creative. I sat back and said, 'how can I get to where I want to go?'"

She noted that many retraining seminars are very affordable. Volunteer work also can lead to jobs since they allow for networking.

"At the University of Denver, I had a professor who had worked for the Park Service," she said. "I set my sights on that and got a job there."

You may also be interested in ...

Popular articles