The Balancing Act

Technology demands specialization, and specialization demands supervision - someone with a firm handle on the big picture.

So how do you balance the need for specialists and generalists?  We have people in our industry who specialize in all manner of things. We have drilling mud experts, flow assurance experts, strake experts, ocean load experts, and ROV and umbilical experts.  Meanwhile, we employ project managers who understand and bring those special skills together to get things built. We also have broader generalists who can get the whole package to market, with knowledge of reserves and drilling costs, partner issues, marketing issues, and concession negotiations. How do we maintain the balance of expertise so that both specialists and generalists are nurtured by the companies in our industry and so that they are available in the needed proportions? 

The major oil companies use formalized training programs for new recruits. They use rotational assignments, more rigid in the geosciences, where technical people learn basic mapping, geophysics, and the other geoscience specialties over one to two years.  In subsurface engineering, recruits start primarily in production and drilling, the dirtier and more fundamental areas of the business. They then rotate every two to three years into other positions, ending in a specialty area such as completions design or  reservoir simulation. Or they might rotate into a more general management position such as asset management or functional management, which includes a number of specialist disciplines. So in some respects, everyone has the chance to experience a more general view of at least some discipline in the company. But who decides who will specialize in what or who will climb the management ladder?  And at what point in one's career does the chosen path become irreversible?

In a perfect world, employees and employers would decide together, and to some extent that seems to be true, though there is remarkably little published on the dynamics. As in just about all aspects of business management and human relations, clear communication between management and employees is likely to be the biggest part of making these decisions.

Talent Pool

The following biographies are just a small sampling of the kind of talent available in our talent pool of 16,000 experts.  Please call our placement managers if you are interested in learning more about these professionals, or check out our website for more candidates.

Junior Geologist with a BS degree in Geology and working on Master's degree. Experienced in well log interpretation, regional mapping, development geology and geologic research in areas of interest including Lavaca, Orange and Maverick counties. Software experience includes Petra. This junior geologist has had the privilege of intense mentoring under the wing of a very experienced geoscientist. Eager and thirsty to learn more.  Ask for G1804.

Senior Financial Accountant and CPA with a BBA in Accounting. Experienced in managing recordings of oil & gas activities including revenues, receivables, expenses, and owner payables for production properties in the Gulf of Mexico. This experienced accountant has also prepared financial statement schedules, accounting entries for month-end close including internal and external debt and inter-company eliminations. Expertise includes Sarbanes Oxley and Revenue Accounting.  Ask for A611.

Geologist with two MS degrees in Geology and Earth and Atmospheric Science and approximately 11 years experience. Experienced as a Sr. Operations Systems Analyst/Geoscientist where candidate works as an aid in moving wells from a proposed drill-site to a drilling well status. Software experience includes GeoFrame, Finder, Interactive Petrophysics, and Petrel.  Ask for G1814.

Senior Financial Analyst and CPA with a BS degree in Accounting and nine years of oil and gas accounting experience. Abilities and experience includes financial reporting, GAAP, SOX, divestitures, acquisitions, AFEs, and capital expenditures. Experienced in the monthly close process for both international and domestic companies. Also an expert in creating annual financials for 401k plans and assists with external auditing. Software includes SAP, PeopleSoft, Quickbooks, Excalibur, and Excel. Currently available and prefers the north Houston area.  Ask for A651.

Certified HSE Professional with a master’s degree in industrial safety and 29 years of experience in the safety field. Areas of expertise include exploration, production, and transportation safety management. Additional experience in preparing safety management plans, orientation manuals, emergency preparedness and response plans, evacuation plans, security plans, health plans, and operations integrity management systems.  Ask for HS232.

Control Systems Specialist with over 19 years of experience in the refinery, petrochemical, LNG cryogenic, power, pharmaceutical, and polyolefin industries. Recent LNG experience includes coordination and implementation of all project construction, loop checkout, and commissioning to client turnover. Currently working on PMI certification. Control systems skills include Allen-Bradley PLC’s, Bailey Network Infi 90, Bentley Nevada 3300/3500, Foxboro I/A, Honeywell (FSC, Experion PKS, HC-900, PlantScape GUS and TPS), and Foxboro Taylor pneumatics. Computer skills include AutoCAD, INtools, and MS Office.  Ask for F925. 

Petroleum Asset Manager with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering. Registered professional engineer in Wyoming, Washington, and Alaska with over 30 years of experience in oil field development, operations, and engineering. Skilled at developing engineering teams to increase production by designing, expanding, and upgrading oilfield facilities. Recently, as the engineering and operations manager, reorganized the engineering and design departments into three teams, resulting in a more efficient, responsive, and flexible organization.  Ask for F37.

Senior Marketing and Sales Manager with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering technology and 12 years experience in the oil and gas service equipment industry. Expertise in operations management, acquisitions, strategic planning, negotiations, sales support, new product development, product marketing and startup implementation. Experienced in leading large organizations, team building, building client and distributor networks, business revitalization, and global expansion of product sales. Professional oral and written presentation.  Ask for SM177.

Production Engineer with 26 years of experience in the oil and gas industry working for independent E&P companies. Experienced in managing land and offshore operations for drilling and production including developing procedures, designing wells, supervising personnel, creating AFEs, coordinating with regulatory agencies, forecasting, and budgeting. Geographic areas worked include the Gulf of Mexico shelf and deepwater, Venezuela, and China. Computer skills include Microsoft Office Suite, DIMS, PERFORM, and J.D. Edwards softwares. Ask for P588.

Reservoir Engineer with a masters degree in Natural Gas Engineering and 10 years of experience in the upstream industry. Skilled at early field development; field architecture, pre-FEED and cost estimation; international prospect evaluation; hydrocarbon asset economic and uncertainty analysis; reservoir simulation and estimation; production forecast and decline curve analysis; discovery and commercialization projects; and investment banking. Computer skills include QUESTOR, ASSET (similar to Aries and PEEP), PERFORM, HYSYS, OILWAT/GASWAT, POWERTOOLS, PIDWIGHT, EDINGIS, PROBE, ASSETBANK, IHS Database Tools, ArcGIS, and MS Office.  Ask for PR591.  

Petroleum Engineer with 14 years of experience with a large independent and as a consultant. Skilled in production optimization, especially data gathering and analysis. Experienced at contract administration for drilling, production, engineering, and gas marketing. Geographic experience includes east Texas and southern Louisiana. Computer skills include ARIES, PhDWin, and MS Office.  Ask for PR508.

Reservoir and Production Engineer with a doctorate in petroleum engineering and 35 years in academia and the oil and gas industry. Skilled in reservoir planning and development, production geology, reservoir modeling, economic modeling, budgeting, waterflood design, and teaching. Geographic areas worked include Alabama, Michigan, California, Louisiana, Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, west Africa, and the Middle East. Computer skills include MS Excel, DSS, and Dwight’s.  Ask for PR334.

Make a Plan

"If You Don't Know Where You're Going, You'll Probably End Up Somewhere Else." That’s the name of a self-help book written about 30 years ago.  It describes life as a tree, with an array of branches available as you begin climbing through life. With each choice, each branch taken, your options narrow. This applies to your career as well as to your personal life.  Our first choices are probably made in middle school (we love or hate math), and more are made in high school.  By the time we graduate from college, we have narrowed our career options considerably – we have climbed onto a certain “branch” that will direct our future. Still, there are many things we can do to keep our options as broad as possible throughout life. We have talked about some of them before: networking, teaching and volunteering for projects or speaking engagements are all simple ways to keep skills sharp; they are ways to keep more branches on that tree of life open to you.

The choices in career management, the plan for getting where you want to go, should be made by each individual. If you have a real passion for technology, you might choose to pursue a highly specialized field such as pore pressure prediction, AVO analysis or flow assurance.  If you love the overall aspects of the business and find all the technologies interesting, you might choose to be more of a generalist, even in a specific discipline - you could be a production/reservoir engineer without specializing in modeling, for example.  If you don't know what you want to do, there are career aptitude and personality tests to help you make a better decision.  Finally, many companies have competency matrices for various disciplines that can help you design your career around various skills.  Our matrix lists skills with a description of achievements at three levels: basic, skilled and expert.  Designing a career around targets seen in the competency matrix gives each of us a degree of control over our own career paths.  The game plan for each skill and level could include a training program, extra assignment, change in jobs, countries or departments, or simply finding a mentor to help you along.  There is an excerpt from our geoscience matrix below.

This is not a perfect world, so directing your career completely on your schedule, climbing that tree exactly how you want, may not be possible, depending on the needs of your employers.  But if you have no plan at all, you will certainly end up somewhere else!

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About Us

Connecting the Industry's Experts...

Collarini Energy Staffing Inc. is a full-service agency specializing in the placement of energy and EPC personnel and including the disciplines listed below (other supporting personnel are managed upon request):

Accountants and finance personnel Administrative and clerical personnel Business analysts Civil and architectural engineers Drilling engineers Drilling operations supervisors Executives Geologists, geophysicists, and petrophysicists Health, safety, and environmental personnel Human resources personnel Instrument and electrical engineers IT professionals Land, legal, and supporting personnel Materials and corrosion engineers

Naval architects Operations supervisors Pipeline, riser, and subsea engineers Process engineers Procurement engineers Production engineers Project managers and support personnel Quality control and inspection personnel Reservoir engineers Sales and marketing professionals Technical writers Technicians, drafting and graphic Technicians, engineering and geoscience

Reservoir Solutions the Industry Trusts...

The Collarini Associates petroleum engineers and geoscientists specialize in evaluating oil and gas reservoirs. Specific projects include integrated field studies, acquisition evaluations, independent reserve appraisals, and exploration and exploitation prospect generation and assessment. Our full divestment services include creation and hosting of electronic and physical data rooms in addition to the technical evaluation. Our teams in Houston and New Orleans are very experienced and stand ready to help you on projects of any size. Try us!

Guiding Careers to the Next Level...

Collarini Career Management applies its deep understanding of the career paths of technical professionals in the E&P and EPC communities to help companies and professionals build successful organizations and careers. We leverage Collarini's unique combination of industry knowledge and technical expertise to guide companies and individuals during transition, training existing employees for high performance, and designing customized technical training plans for companies and individuals.

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Contact Us
11111 Richmond Avenue, Suite 126 Houston, Texas 77082 832.251.0553		4200 South I-10 Service Road, Suite 230 Metairie, Louisiana 70001 504.887.7127

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