Geophysicist
Learn more about me and why I joined ConocoPhillips:
During my MSc course at Leeds University in exploration geophysics, I was made aware of ConocoPhillips when they visited the campus. After researching the company, I decided to apply for a position and attended a first round interview. I was then invited to Aberdeen to attend a second round interview. During this process I met a number of employees at the formal interview and also informally during dinner and tours of the offices, where I got a good feel for the company. I accepted a job offer to begin December 2007 and arranged to undertake my MSc project with ConocoPhillips based in the Aberdeen office during the summer.
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My first role was working on the Jasmine discovery during its appraisal phase. This was an excellent development role which exposed me to drilling and gave me my first experience of seismic interpretation and processing within the oil industry. I then moved on to work in the greater J-Block area mapping out and working-up potential prospects.
After a year, I moved to the southern North Sea group. This gave me good experience with differing geology and reservoirs, developed my mapping skills, geological modelling skills and gave me exposure to exploration risking and ranking. I also did work in the East Irish Sea area regionally mapping and modelling a number of prospects.
I now work in the central North Sea group as the project geophysicist of a chalk field with the additional responsibility of being a well team lead for planning and drilling of complex horizontal wells. I also work on a partner-operated appraisal project, which exposes me to complex seismic interpretation and skills in influencing the partnership.
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Early career training at ConocoPhillips is excellent. During my first year, I attended a nine-week new hire geoscience course in two sessions in Houston, along with similar new hires from across the globe. I also attended a three week geophysics excellence course in my second year. The courses did a great job of focusing my geoscience skills to the needs of the oil industry and introduced me to many non-geoscience topics of the industry. Since then, I have personally identified and attended a number of classroom courses both in-house and externally. I have also been on several field trips both at home and abroad and even visited an offshore platform and drilling rig. ConocoPhillips give you the flexibility and support to identify the technical areas that you wish to develop and help in arranging the relevant training. This is not to mention the knowledge and experience shared by my colleagues both in the UK and overseas via differing networking platforms.
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In the near term, I wish to conclude my current rotation by drilling a well I helped to plan from the beginning. After this, I would like to get some overseas experience in one of the company’s numerous international offices. This would let me experience working on differing geology and another country’s oil industry and also to develop personally by working and living in a different culture.
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