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Vol 4 • Issue 1 • January 2005 |
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| Our Perspective | |
| "Please, God, give us one more boom; we promise not to mess it up this time!" | |
Prices of oil and gas have been at all time highs for a long time now, but activity in the industry is just starting to pick up. Surely it is because the mostly gray-haired people who make up our industry still remember the mega highs and ultra crashes from a little over 20 years ago! Is cautious optimism the prevailing reason?
But things are moving ahead now. From January to August of last year, the international rig count has increased by over 20%. Before that, in late 2003, we experienced a twofold increase in geoscience related staffing inquiries. Another exploration and production cycle is in full swing.
As this cycle continues into field development, both surface and subsurface engineers and support personnel will be in demand, as will drilling professionals. If you are looking for a position and fall into one of these categories, your turn is coming! If you anticipate needing to hire people, you might consider doing it a little early. Things are clearly looking up in the employment sector, and as this industry upswing continues, so will the need for these professionals.
| Upcoming Events |
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The Energy Forum
Digital Energy 2005: Bytes and Barrels...
Where we go from here on...
March 23-24, 2005
The Westin Galleria Hotel
Houston, Texas
Laptops are on the rig floor, PDA's are in the hands of roustabouts, e-mail is as essential as the drill bit. The Digital Energy world has arrived. The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is planning the Digital Energy 2005 Conference to promote cutting-edge applications and tease you with ideas about what is yet to come.
Registration and Information
Or Contact The Energy Forum
832) 478-0100
NAPE Expo 2005
January 26-27, 2005
George R. Brown Convention Center
Houston, Texas
Nape® was founded in 1993 to provide a central arena for oil and gas companies to introduce oil and gas prospects via exhibit booths to energy professionals at all levels of responsibilities including geologists, geophysicists, engineers, landmen, chief financial officers, chief executive officers, and other managers. NAPE brings state-of-the-art prospects, advanced technology and energy capital formation all together in one location, creating a pure market place to establish strategic alliances for doing business and initiating purchases and trades.
Registration and Information
Or Contact AAPL
(817) 847-7700
| Upstream News |
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If it ain't broke
Nearly a year has passed since the proved reserve write-downs at publicly traded companies first
made the headlines. During that time, much has been written about the reasons and what should be done
to reduce the likelihood of a reoccurrence.
Two reasons are often cited. The first is that the reserve definitions have not thoroughly been explained to those
responsible for estimating reserves. The second is that proved reserves are defined as “reasonably certain.”
That language provokes many questions, such as, “What does “reasonable certainty” mean? Is this term too vague?
Does it allow too much latitude for inconsistency and abuse?”
What is the concern about this term? It has been part of the SPE reserve definitions for 40 years;
industry’s most highly qualified people kept it in the joint definitions of the Society of Petroleum
Engineers, World Petroleum Congress, and American Association of Petroleum Geologists. And, these same
words are in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulations. People who understand the business
of reserves know that they are estimates: our best estimates, using all the technology and information
available at the time of the estimate. No rephrasing of the definitions can eliminate the inherent
uncertainty of an estimate.
There is a movement toward certifying reserve estimators. Is that the solution? Probably not.
Most of the engineers and geologists who are currently estimating reserves are very knowledgeable
and experienced. Most of the people who do not know or understand how to apply the definitions
are not the ones who are estimating reserves. Instead, they are the managers who are requesting the
estimates, or those people whose compensation is dependent on the results. Or in some cases, the end
user of the estimates. The major companies employ reserve estimators who are highly qualified; those
same companies already have standards for estimation and documentation to achieve consistency within
the organization. Smaller companies often use external consulting firms, such as Collarini Associates,
to estimate or audit their reserves; Collarini’s process is designed to produce consistent estimates in
accordance to the reserve definitions.
If there is a problem, it is with corporate governance. The problems that do exist are more
closely related to the independence of the estimators. Estimators who are clearly independent,
whether in-house or third party, should prepare the reserve estimates. They should not be under
pressure from the managers to classify additional volumes as proved. There are “Standards Pertaining
to the Estimating and Auditing of Oil and Gas Reserve Information” published by the SPE in 1979. These
describe the qualifications of people involved in reserves and the manner in which they should behave.
The SEC has given numerous forums on application of reserve definitions. A great deal of training and
information is available to those who choose to receive it.
With only a few hiccups, industry self-regulated practice has been successful
throughout the years. Why change it?
| Talent Pool |
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The following biographies are just a small sampling of the kind of talent available in our talent pool of over 10,000 experts. Please call our placement managers if you are interested in learning more about these professionals, or check out our website for more candidates.
Geologist with a Master's Degree in Geology and 23 years of experience. He has extensive exploration and development experience in the Permian Basin, inclusive of work in Reeves, Ward and Loving counties. He is very experienced with log analysis, horizontal drilling and 3D seismic interpretation. Proficient in Landmark StratWorks and Petra. Ask for G987.
Accountant with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and four years of oil and gas accounting experience acquired through a major oil company, where he started as a revenue accountant. He prepared monthly cash balancing reports, reconciled accounts receivable/payable and general ledger accounts associated with upstream US operations. He also has experience in gas balancing and royalty and tax reporting. His accounting software used are primarily SAP and Premas-Plus and Excel for variance analysis. Ask for A364.
Landman with a Bachelor's Degree in Government and a degree in Law. He is a member of both the Texas and Louisiana Bar Associations and has over 25 years of oil and gas experience as both a Landman and Lawyer. For the last seven years, he has been working as a contract Landman for various oil and gas companies preparing data packages for divestment, verifying interests, and reviewing contracts. Ask for L493.
Petroleum Engineer with a Doctorate and over 30 years of experience working for major and independent oil companies teaching, researching, and performing day-to-day field operations. Experience includes 20 years of coordinating and supervising projects involving enhanced oil recovery, core analysis techniques, fluid analysis, simulation, reservoir characterization, and teaching college-level petroleum geology, reservoir engineering, production, and drilling. Geographic areas worked include the Permian Basin, east and south Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Romania, southern France, and onshore and offshore Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. Fluent in Arabic and French. Ask for R43.
Engineering Technical Assistant with eight years of experience working for major and independent oil and gas companies. Experienced in planimetering, data input, data retrieval, production plotting, graphics design, billing, and report writing. Computer skills include Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Access, WordPerfect, Netscape Navigator, Artesia, Harvard Graphics, Dwight's, and ARIES. Ask for TE71.
Production and Reservoir Engineer with a Master's Degree and 12 years of experience, 11 of which were with a major oil company working offshore Gulf of Mexico fields. Excellent reservoir management skills, with experience leading multi-disciplinary teams to optimize field contribution. Extensive technical expertise in reservoir engineering analysis to formulate depletion plans in old fields. Production engineering experience includes log analysis, workover design and supervision, and facility de-bottlenecking using nodal analysis. Computer skills include high degree of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Lotus 1-2-3, OGRE, WEM, and MATBAL. Ask for PR85.
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Review thousands of talented people in more than 30 upstream disciplines at |
| Upstream Careers |
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Getting the job done - How to determine the right staffing solution! When you need help to accomplish your objectives, how do you choose the source of personnel? Here are some questions that may help you decide. If you answer "Yes" to the question, the shaded solutions are best for that circumstance. We hope these thoughts help you make a better decision the next time you need help!
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| About Us |
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Connecting the Industry's Experts...
Collarini Energy Staffing Inc.
is a full-service agency specializing in the placement of exploration and production personnel
including the disciplines listed below (other supporting personnel are managed upon request):
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Accountants and supporting personnel Administrative assistants Business analysts Civil engineers Clerks Database administrators Drilling engineers Drilling operations supervisors Electrical/Instrument engineers Geologists Geophysicists Health, safety and environmental personnel Landmen and supporting personnel Management personnel Material/Corrosion engineers |
Naval architects Operations supervisors Petrophysicists Process engineers Procurement personnel Production/Completion engineers Production operations supervisors Project managers Reservoir engineers Subsea engineers Surface/Topsides engineers Technical writers Technicians, drafting and graphic Technicians, engineering Technicians, 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 oil and gas industry and expertise in career issues to help oil and gas 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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