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The breadth of the industry
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It takes a massive amount of resources and human ingenuity to get oil and gas from a reservoir under the earth's surface and transform it into the products that make up the fabric of modern life. There are many different stages involved, each requiring different skills and equipment. Increasingly, this process relies on the work of small, specialised companies (such as computer or seismic exploration consultancies), as well as the vast multinational oil companies that everyone has heard of.
The process of getting oil and gas to everyday users like us begins with exploration. Finding oil and gas involves lots of hi-tech, expensive equipment and specialist skills. Experts use geophysical surveys and sound wave echoes to find rock formations where oil and gas deposits are likely to be found. However, the only way to confirm that oil is present is to drill a well. This is an expensive and highly skilled operation too. Most wells are between 900 and 5,000 metres deep. If oil is discovered commercial analysts and engineers have to find out if the field will be economically viable. This depends on many different factors, like the depth, size and location of the find and the type of crude oil. If full production goes ahead then the crude oil has to be transported from the well to the refinery by pipelines or tankers. |
| Susan Walker (25) is with British Gas Exploration & Production. She is a graduate trainee geologist. She studied natural sciences and petroleum geology at university.
Geology was seen as a very 'male' subject when I was at school, but now that I work in the industry I see that it's just not the case. Oil and gas is also a really friendly industry to work in. Everyone seems to know everyone else because companies often work together. As a graduate trainee it's important to gain a good level of background knowledge as quickly as possible. I had a six-week introduction which covered all aspects of the industry, not just geology. I've almost spent more time on courses than in the office so far. I've been on self-development courses about presentation skills, report writing and time management, as well as more technical ones.
When I become more senior I might actually decide where to drill wells in the first place. There are definitely more reserves, and I hope to be out there finding them! |
Most
of my key skills are quite technical. I spend most of my time using computer
programs to interpret data from newly drilled wells in a field in the
North Sea. I see how this data matches the estimates we made from earlier
models of the field to see how accurate they are. My job is to create
a map of the field to help work out its size and how easy it should be
to extract the oil and gas.