These are difficult times for petroleum geoscientists.
Over the last several years, as major oil companies have merged and consolidated, fewer slots are being filled by geoscience professionals. And with the current administration’s antipathy toward new exploration and development of traditional energy sources, companies are reluctant to make long-term plans to increase activities and add or replace existing staff members.
Of course, we all recognize the cyclical nature of the petroleum business and almost every one of us has at one time or another faced periods of company downsizings, layoffs, and unemployment. Most of the readers of the EXPLORER are survivors – individuals who have weathered the stormy nature of the business and been able to continue, in one way or another. We’re the lucky ones.
Somehow, this time feels different. The perception that alternative energy sources might one day replace petroleum is depressing expansion of exploration activities of departments, large and small, and many of us worry that even the largest companies may ultimately join the ranks of the merged or discontinued.
The ‘Independent’ Option
Hit especially hard are new university graduates, who are finding it difficult to schedule interviews with active companies, much less connect with those who are looking for individuals for quality positions that could ultimately lead to advancement into senior or management positions. Most commonly, jobs that are available are for “geotechs”: temporary employees working at lower salaries for such tasks as geo-steering on drilling rigs, mud-logging or mundane office tasks.
An alternative for some new graduates, and for others who might still be looking for involvement in the industry, is to become an “independent” – one who manages a personal business and finds productive work and personal satisfaction in exploration, consulting, project management or fund-raising for specific projects. But getting started as an independent can be a daunting challenge. How to begin?
I was reminded of an avenue of launching a career in tough times during a recent conversation with a -93-year-old explorationist friend. He’d had a remarkably successful career, as a corporate geophysicist, the president of several exploration companies and, finally, as an independent. But he felt the time had passed when he could develop prospects and raise the necessary capital to get his prospects drilled. He said he still had an office full of maps, ideas and incipient prospects that would “never see daylight” and be developed. He was looking for someone who could help organize and evaluate his files.
I was the beneficiary of such a person many years ago who was in the same situation as my friend. Melvin M. “Dutch” Garrett was a geophysicist, born in 1895. In 1967, he and I were working in the same office building. He was 72 at the time and I was 32, just starting my career as an independent. Incidentally, he had been the first president of the North Texas Oil and Gas Association, an organization that celebrated its 100th year last May at AAPG’s Southwest Section meeting in Wichita Falls.
Mr. Garrett said he was closing his office and moving home, and asked if I would like to have the maps and files he’d gathered over as lifetime of activity. I, of course, accepted his offer and moved a dozen or so boxes of material into my office. It was a treasure trove! For several years afterward I spent many hours and days working through his files searching for exploration ideas. Ultimately, I developed several drilling prospects from them. For me, his idle files were truly a gift from heaven.
A Model to Follow
I can think of no more productive activity for a new graduate to launch a career than a similar route: become involved in one or more professional associations, learn as much as possible about their members and careers, and approach one or more of the elders with the offer to review their files for data, work maps and ideas for possible prospects. The pitch would be that the younger would contribute time, knowledge of new technologies and methods of interpretation and visual presentations of interpreted results. Hopefully, he would gain access to a new mentor and coach, a wealth of data to mine and possibly a direction for future activities as an independent. The quid pro quo for such an arrangement could be that his coach would participate in the profits of any successful project developed from his data.
The most productive and satisfying portion of a geoscientist’s career can occur at retirement age or beyond. At that point, he could have time and interest to continue to stay involved in his career, as a visitor to classes in elementary or high schools or as an adjunct resource instructor in college classes.
Or he might be willing to seek out a newly-minted graduate who needs help developing his career and give a boost by becoming a mentor and providing data, encouragement and introductions to others. The elder would have the satisfaction of knowing his data was being put to good use and he was contributing to the continuance of his profession. It could be a life-changing experience for both.
In retrospect, becoming “independent” is a misnomer. Few people become successful entirely on their own. Most of us who have been fortunate enough to be an independent throughout a career owe a great debt of gratitude to the multitude of people who have made it possible. The best advice for newcomers is to start with a solid knowledge of the science of geology, develop a career with the application of business principles and work toward becoming a professional by giving back by helping others achieve their own success stories.