Collarini - January 2008

Large or small, public or private, any company can benefit from business-to-business networking. Joining a networking group enables you to interact with like-minded people who can be valuable sources of support and information. Many industry-specific networking groups such as the AGA, the API, the IPIECA, and the AEE provide training resources, legal information, newsletters with the latest local, state, and federal news, job opportunities, and online directories of vendor companies. Taking advantage of the many services provided by networking groups could be the equivalent of hundreds to thousands of dollars in savings versus purchasing those same services on the open market.

In addition to monetary benefits, networking groups provide members the opportunity to present their business offerings. For example, many networking groups hold expos where member companies make presentations, display their services or products, and place advertising in exhibition materials. Additionally, business organizations with websites often allow online directory listings of their members’ companies without cost.

Belonging to a business organization may also increase your company’s exposure. Memberships in these relevant business groups serve as an indication of an established, industry directed company. In addition, these organizations serve as valuable resources for recommending experts to the media.

Finally, many networking groups have alliances with community organizations such as United Way, American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, and many others. Your membership may provide your company with a connection to projects held in high esteem within the public sector. As a result, your company’s participation can provide an excellent public relations opportunity.

The following biographies are just a small sampling of the kind of talent available in our talent pool of 14,000 experts. Please call our placement managers if you are interested in learning more about these professionals, or check out our website for more candidates.

Senior Geophysicist holding a Master’s degree and 24 years of experience in the E & P business with an extensive background in offshore and onshore Gulf of Mexico. Detailed experience in development, exploitation, attribute analysis and prospect generating. Expertise includes integrated geological and geophysical interpretation with 2-D and 3-D seismic using Landmark, Seisworks, Geoquest and Kingdom workstations. Candidate has additional skills studying subsalts, sandstone and deltaic environments. Geographic areas of experience include deepwater and shelf Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi and the Louisiana and Texas Gulf coast, with international experience in China and India. Ask for GP549.

Experienced Petroleum Landman with Bachelor's degree and more than 25 years experience. Skilled in contracts, including preparation, negotiation, and analysis of all types of cooperative agreements. Expert in due diligence review, negotiations, public relations, drafting customary land related agreements, managing special land projects, performing curative title and supervising filed landmen. Extensive working experience in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Alaska, North Dakota, Montana and Utah. Familiarity with BLM properties, Federal oil/gas leases, State Lands Commission and other regulatory agencies. Workstations include: Excel, Tobin and SAP. Ask for L133.

Certified Petroleum Geologist with a Ph.D and 12 years of exploration experience with major oil companies and 10 years of environmental and geologic computing experience. Highly proficient in remote sensing, geochemistry, geostatistics, structural geology, computer mapping, and data synthesis, as well as in generating subsurface plume maps in 2-D, 3-D and 4-D (temporal). Geographic areas worked include Colorado, South Carolina, New York, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Computer skills include ORACLE, various groundwater modeling programs, ERDAS, EarthVision, ArcInfo, ArcView, SAS, Landmark, CPS-1, Excel, PowerPoint, ModFlow, and BLTEC. Also knowledgeable of SUN Enterprise servers, SGI, IBM RS-6000, DEC-5000 workstations, and PC-based LINUX workstations. Ask for DB300.

Geologist/Geoscientist with a Bachelor's degree and 29 years diverse exploration and development experience, both onshore and offshore with major and independent oil/gas companies. Expertise in petrophysical analysis, sedimentology, seismic interpretation, full field studies, prospect generation using 3D datasets, and support of reservoir engineering staff. Currently working on 300 well field study. Software proficiencies in GeoQuest, SMT and multiple graphics packages. Geographic work history in Gulf of Mexico-Shelf. Gulf Coast-Louisiana and Texas, East Texas, Alabama and Mississippi as well as evaluating properties and concessions in several Middle Eastern Countries. Positive, professional attitude with excellent verbal and written communication skills. Great candidate. Ask for G924.

Procurement and Contracts Manager with a Master’s degree in business administration and 12+ years of experience in supply chain management. Areas of expertise include drafting, reviewing, negotiating fixed price agreements, time and materials proposals, and cost reimbursable agreements. Detailed experience in monitoring contract and license compliance, adjusting sourcing strategies based on changing business needs, and managing suppliers to ensure optimum cost, quality and delivery. Further experience in establishing key performance measures for spending, defining the data collection process, forecasting budgetary impact and tracking actual savings, identifying, defining, and sourcing best practices for operating units. Computer expertise in Oracle, Wang, MRO, MRP/MRPII, JIT/JIT II and SAP. Ask for PU564.

Senior Project Engineer with Master’s degree in civil engineering and over 30 years in the upstream oil and gas industry. Areas of expertise include executive project management and a focus on fluid and structural dynamics. Detailed and diversified experience in economic evaluation, engineering analysis, design, fabrication, installation and operation of onshore/offshore oil and gas investments in both domestic and international arenas. Proven record of project management successes in leading $600 million in projects during the last five years resulting in improved profits from 15% to 25%. Domestic and international business acquisitions resulted in improved profits of 29%. Extensive background in engineering, design and procurement for facilities, platforms and pipelines throughout the world. Ask for PM232.

Senior Safety Professional with 15 years related experience in the petroleum industry. Areas of expertise include the management, administration, and operations of QHSE programs for offshore and onshore facilities. Has held safety positions as an employee, as well as president of his own safety consultancy group which has served both major and independent oil companies worldwide. Experienced in coordinating and implementing major process safety management initiatives, program development and training, policy and procedure development, safety information processes, safety work practices including OSHA, process hazard analysis, audit and inspection, and emergency response plans. Language skills include English and Tagalog. Computer skills include Quest-Safety Net, Trip-master, Quattro, and Corel. Ask for HS413.

Senior Project Controls Specialist with 30+ years upstream and downstream experience with major oil and gas companies and EPC firms. Background includes deep water projects, petrochemical and refinery turnarounds, drilling, engineering, construction and maintenance, as well as, environmental remediation, power (cogen), pipeline brownfield/greenfield, IT and light rail. Expert in planning and scheduling, cost and estimation, as well as, project analysis and management. Successful history of meeting project deadlines. Expansive computer skills including SAP R4, JDE (JD Edwards) One World, Primavera Planner and Expedition (this candidate has used Primavera since 1984), Kildrummy Job-Proms, U.S. Cost Success System, Artemis 9000 and 900EX, and numerous additional industry related software. In depth knowledge of setting up MOC (Microsoft Office Communication), EVMS (Earned Value Project Management), CBS (Construction Based Software), and WBS (Work Breakdown Structure). Ask for PA140.

Reservoir Engineer with a PhD in mechanical engineering and 30 years of experience working for major E&P companies, and service companies. Skilled in reservoir simulation, reservoir modeling, reservoir characterization, and teaching and training of engineering professionals. Geographic experience includes Gulf of Mexico (onshore and deepwater), California, Alaska, Mexico, Russia, Trinidad, Venezuela, Western Siberia, the Caspian Sea, and the North Sea. Computer skills include Eclipse, Landmark VIP, PEEP, WELTEST, and SAPHIR. Ask for R534.

Reservoir Engineer with a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry with major and independent companies. Expertise in asset management, relationship management, property acquisitions, and legal representation. Geographic areas worked include Alaska , south Louisiana , south Texas , Mid continent, the San Juan basin and the Arkoma basin. Ask for R876.

Project Manager and Business Analyst with a Bachelor’s degree in international politics and four years of oil and gas experience working for a major and a small independent. Work experience includes managing capital projects with respect to budgeting, coordinating and reviewing AFEs, budget forecasting, coordinating with engineers, landmen, commercial analysts, and accounting representatives to progress projects until completion, defining and implementing AFE improved process controls, developing and implementing plug and abandonment processes and policies, giving project presentations, maintaining relationships with outside operators, developing tracking tool for outside operations, reconciling accounting system with newly developed tracking system, analyzing operations, and performing cost analyses. Computer skills include MS Office, SAP, People Soft, Quickbooks Pro , MS Access, Help Track, and multiple proprietary energy software programs. Ask for AA501.

Administrative and Engineering Assistant with five years experience in the oil and gas industry working for large and small independent companies. Expertise in general office administration and production accounting. Secretarial experience includes providing administrative support to the Controller, the Investor Relations Department, and the accounting department; maintaining file rooms, distributing mail, preparing investor packets, and answering multi-line phone systems. Production accounting experience includes modifying and building networks in Oracle, supporting production engineers by ensuring proper oil and gas set up, monitoring daily engineering reports, liaison with regulatory, land, and revenue departments; entering production data and sync information into Oracle, responding to investor inquiries, coordinating with the MMS, inputting gas volumes, and managing Lean Six Sigma projects. Computer skills include MS Office and Oracle. Ask for TE488.

Administrative Assistant with Bachelor's degree and 21 years experience with several major and independent oil and gas companies. Expert in technical support to exploitation and exploration geoscience staff. Highly skilled in data management of well files, well log data, and use of Petroleum Information Drilling Wire. Highly experienced in the preparation of cross sections, geologic maps, and graphical presentations. Extreme proficiency in the retrieval and organization of geoscience data using industry log libraries. Experienced in management of prospect files, seismic data, measuring acreage, and log digitizing. Geographic areas worked include Texas gulf coast, mid-continent, Latin America, southeast Asia, and Australia. Computer skills include Microsoft Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel Draw, Lotus 1-2-3, and Unix-based Island Graphics. Ask for AA1329.

Studies have shown, says Marshall Loeb from The Wall Street Journal’s “Marketwatch,” that only about 5-10% of all new jobs are posted in the classified ads or on the Internet. The other positions are filled by word of mouth. Whether you are looking for a new job or looking to change careers, networking is vital for information gathering, communicating with the right people, and achieving your goals.

But even if you are not in a job search right now, career networking should be a part of your routine. Networking is the art of building alliances. It is not contacting everyone you know when you are looking for a new job and asking whether they know of any job openings. Networking starts long before a job search, and you probably don’t even realize you are doing it.

Networking can be done anytime, anywhere – on the bus ride home, at an industry luncheon, at a job fair, or even waiting in line at the grocery store. The most important first step in networking is a friendly smile. You never know with whom you might strike up an important conversation.

Some other tips, Mr. Loeb suggests, on how to get the most out of networking are:

Know what you're looking for. Speak succinctly about your talents, skills and goals. This makes a strong impression on your networking contacts, and lets them know you're serious about your future.

Be assertive. Networking means that you are working towards your goal -- advancement in your career -- so don't be afraid to promote yourself. Use your time with new people wisely. You need to give the unshakeable impression that you're confident. Say what you want, using as many specifics as you can.

Become a good listener. Whatever you seek, you don't want your own needs to make you appear pushy. Instead, ask about others’ needs, too. Listen to their advice when offered. Keep in mind that others may have a fresh new approach to a business matter that will improve your own performance or enhance your company's. Most people love talking about themselves, so use this to your advantage by asking questions about their backgrounds and professional choices.

Your most valuable tools. Keep an up-to-date resume as well as business cards with your contact information to give people access to your information. After you meet with new people and have gotten their contact information, follow up by making a call or sending an email telling them how much you enjoyed your meeting. This will keep you at the front of their minds and show your sincerity the time you spent with them.

The old cliché that “it’s not what you know but who you know” is as important today as ever.