When I was attending the University of Waterloo in the late seventies, those words above never left my lips. Being a petroleum geologist was far from my mind. I was steeped in the romantic notion of doing hard rock field geology. I didn't have any idea what that meant until I started doing some co-op work terms. However, forces were at work that eventually steered me in the direction of petroleum geology and I really haven't regretted it.
Some of the forces at work were, well, actually doing hard rock field geology and noticing that party chiefs were, at best, eccentric and at worst, down-right nuts! Many were alienated from their families. Then there was Manitouage. It's a great place to be from. There's a miner there who still owes me $60.00. I wasn't warned by Noranda that some miners actually don't pay back money they borrowed. My descision to come to Calgary probably had something also to do with the young lady I was seeing. She even came to Newfoundland to visit me on an mining exploration job but wasn't impressed with the idea of me being in the woods for many months at a time. That in spite of the fact that we were staying at Bill's Tourist Lodge in Pasadena!
So, I ended up in Calgary about June 1, 1980 and started a petroleum exploration job with Texaco Canada. Those were the days. I arrived unannounced at Texaco and requested to see the Chief Geologist. I had, by today's standards, a very poor resume, my mark transcript and my Coop work record. My work record was probably the best piece of paper I had. I had 5 "outstanding" and one "average" rating. Can you believe it? I got an "average?!" And that after measuring sewage lagoons in Fort McMurray! Is there any justice??
Hardrock or Softrock?
It's funny how geology classes seem to get divided into these two camps. Yet there are distinct advantages and scientific interests in both fields. But many of my classmates made decisions on which is better based on NO data! We call that arm-waving. If I was doing it again, I would get experience in both.
Perhaps I was lucky, but the Chief Geologist could see me when I arrived (it seemed in 1980, as long as you had a geology degree and warm blood in your veins, you had a job!) So, I had an interview for about an hour and then decided to visit Gord Cope, also a Waterloo grad, and also was working at Texaco. I worked with Gord in Newfoundland and wanted to catch up. During our conversation, the Chief Geologist came and had an offer in his hand. Those were the days. The elapsed time between interview and job offer was half an hour.
Texaco was a great place to start. I can recall a team project, a team building exercise, in which we studied the Devonian Steen River Impact structure in the far northern Alberta. There are quite a number of impact craters buried in Western Canada, and from time to time, they attract the interest of the oil industry as an exploration target. At the time, there were a few oil shows around the crater, but now it's producing significant quantities of gas.
There are plenty of down right interesting projects to do in Western Canada, and a real benefit of doing petroleum geology in Western Canada is studying drill core and cuttings at the Energy Board's core storage facility. It has set the world standard for the system of core storage and for the sheer length of the core that is stored there. There are over 1.3 million metres of 3.5 to 4 inch core and over 51.5 million metres of drill cuttings stored there. It is a veritable treasure trove of geological information. I really enjoy going up there. It's a peaceful atmosphere where industry and academia go to look at rocks. It's like having outcrops wheeled to your examining table! Each geologist seems to develop their own system for logging the core and some have computer programs in laptops to do the job. I took a clastic geology course this fall at the University of Calgary and discovered the academic way of logging core. It's very detailed. Gathering great detail may not be the goal of core logging while working in industry depending on the purpose of the study. Some like logging the core from top down in the sequence that its drilled while others like working from the bottom up, logging more or less stratigraphically. About the only draw back of the facility is there is carpet on the floor, making it difficult to test your HCl! You have to go outside to the sidewalk to find cement. It's just not that convenient. Kidding!
If you tire of looking at core, although I don't know how you could, there are these great rocks to the west of Calgary. While you're playing in the Rockies, you can always stop to smell the carbonates. This is especially true if you're into rock climbing: while dangling from ropes several hundred metres above the firma, geology is literally under your nose. Rock climbers have accessibility to rocks that no one else has. I have to be content with sending summer students down ropes! Not that I'm afraid of heights, but my dad always said he liked terra firma: the more firma the less terror!
Learning opportunities abound out here. Many companies and our government require continuous learning and skill "sharpening." If you want to pursue graduate level courses, the University of Calgary (U of C) has many courses geared toward the petroleum geologist They start after work hours and cover topics of concern to the oil industry. Since the C-train goes from downtown to U of C, it's convenient. I took a clastic reservoir geology course last fall which dealt with geological issues that I deal with daily. I discovered that, while there is some rust between the brain cells, I still managed to pull off an "A," eh!
There are many industry field trips and short courses offered during the annual geological convention. We have a very active geology society, the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG), and along with the GSC and academia, we can stage one mean geology convention where learning opportunities abound. Topics covered are of importance to the petroleum geologist but with less academic rigor than the U of C courses. The field trips are great and many go into the mountains or even to both coasts. The Rockies are one of the greatest geological labs in the world to study the stratigraphy and sedimentology of Paleozoic carbonate rocks. In addition, with the accessibility, the thrust belt provides amazing opportunities to study compressional tectonics. Since the Rocky Mountains are relatively young, many geological features are still well preserved.
Job Hunting?? Don't do what I did!
I've got lots to say about the job hunting process and resumes etc. But in order to get my first job in the "patch", I broke some basic rules. I had a lousy resume, I didn't make an appointment and I was unprepared to discuss the company and/or oil geology. The old Scout motto is handy here: "BE PREPARED!"
Other amazing things about the oil industry is the type of information that is available. There are over 300,000 wells in Western Canada, and except for those drilled before well logs were in common use (pre-1950), there is petrophysical log information for them. Therefore, the chance of doing a complete geological study is great!
I suppose I could romanticize petroleum geology but I may be doing you a disservice. Don't get me wrong; petroleum geology is fun and rewarding to do but there is a lot of grunt work to do before the drill bit hits the ground. And that's the fun part; drilling. Your ideas are tested and if you're right, gusher! Computers have helped with data handling and communication, but I still like the "slash and tape" method of handling paper log copies and building cross sections etc. There have been many attempts to computerize the entire process; but geological interpretation does not lend itself very well to be done by computers. Often times a stratigraphic map, such as a channel sand map, can turn into a bunch of bullseyes if contoured by a computer. I still like the hands-on approach in gathering the data and picking my own tops, interpreting the well logs etc. It is still a very interpretive science and while computers can help you manipulate massive amounts of data, they are still lousy at contouring isopachs and structure maps to create a "true" geological picture.
The last point I'd like to make is, the oil and gas industry is a wonderful place to have a career, and Calgary is a wonderful place to live. Opportunities to have a petroleum geology career are becoming plentiful. Companies are even now realizing that all their staff, not just the geological staff, is getting older and they are hiring replacements now in order to have a fully trained staff in approximately 3 - 5 years. In addition, stability is returning to the industry somewhat. North America is hooked on natural gas and many companies are targeting natural gas development.
However, this is still an industry that requires much practical thinking when it comes to personal expectations. For example, when I was laid off for the second time in 1996 and, when I joined Mobil in 1997 my expectations were to have a long career with Mobil because, "Mobil is too big to be taken over." However, I now find myself in the middle of a merger; Exxon bought Mobil in December, 1998. So geologists have had to become practical and align their expectations to reality. There is still a chicken in every pot, but there is no longer a "Bimmer" in every garage! We are still paid very well for what we do but we need to be financially prepared to be "vocationally challenged" once or twice. Some have played their cards right, and have been able to retire early with several severance packages over the years!
Companies are a little wiser now too. Some still jettison staff at will, but most became aware that there was a reason why experienced staff is worth the extra expense: that is, experience! Geologists tend to learn the most about subsurface geology when they drill "dry holes;" no hydrocarbons found. If you drill a success, you already knew what the geology was going to be like, right?! Well..........maybe! There is such a thing as serendipity too. Still, companies are now more willing to keep the senior geologists to assist the juniors with the petroleum geology process. When I grow up, I want to be a mentor!
So, if I grow up I still want to be a petroleum geologist, even with what I know now.
Stan
Williams,
Mobil
Oil
Canada.