boomy

Hi everyone

I am finally moving this year to Houston. I am a new Green Card holder moving to the US from Australia. I have been working in the mining industry for 7 years as a geologist and am hoping to move to Texas by the end of the year. I do realize that Texas is all about oil and gas, but i have all my family down there since 2012 and that where i want to live. I have no oil and gas industry experience. Does anyone have any experience of moving into the oil and gas industry from the mining industry and especially in the geoscience environment? Is this actually possible? I have noticed a boom going on right now in Texas. i am hoping to get into that industry now especially during this boom.

I will need advice/suggestions/opinions on the possibilities of transitioning from mining to oil and gas environment.

Thanks

Mr Weeze

I work in oil and gas (though I'm an engineer by background). I've worked for a couple of companies, none with fewer than about 3,000 people working for it. In that time I've known one person who worked in mining and moved to an oil company, and they were an engineer.

I think you have a couple of options:

1) Do some form of masters degree in petroleum geology. All our new hires have masters degrees - it is a requirement for us. I would not be surprised if most of the bigger (market cap of $20bn+) companies have this same requirement. From there you will also be able to access an intern program, which is the way the majority of oil companies look to hire most technical people.

2) Look to the service companies. They need geoscientists too, and do not set the same bars to recruitment because, frankly, your typical graduate would be looking to work for an oil company. I'm talking about the high end service companies here - the Schlumbergers, Halliburtons and Baker Hughes of the business. These are the people who are running the downhole tools that need interpretation. This is one of the areas affected by the boom - service companies really struggle for people to meet the oil companies needs. I think this one may be your best short term option.

http://careers.slb.com/recentgraduat...geologist.aspx
http://www.halliburton.com/en-US/car...de-id=hgeyxtc0
http://public.bakerhughes.com/graduate/gradEngRD.aspx

3) Recruitment agency - there are plenty of these serving oil and gas. Have a conversation with some recruiters and see what they think. They will push your CV to anyone though, whether you meet the criteria or not.

4) Smaller company. There are a bunch of smaller companies (<$2bn market cap) which I don't actually know that much about because I've never had cause to work with them. These may be domestically focused companies that are only really working in a single play (say a shale play or Gulf of Mexico shelf). There are a lot of these about, and I don't know anything about how they recruit, but this may be an option. You may need to work with someone from a recruitment company to get into one of these.

H Bomb

I would have assumed regardless of it being mining or oil and gas - the environment geoscience aspect will be similar won't it? Especially if your speciality is dealing with pollution, minimising environmental impact and tidying up afterwards!

I would like to think you would have options available to you - but would perhaps require a step down from what you you do now. Try some direct approach - send your CV out to the big companies out there - try linkedin - maybe look for some specific environmental geoscience consultants too as a back up. As you said there is a boom - and good people can make (or save) money even if their isn't a direct vacancy.

I am very jealous - I graduated with a degree in Geology in 15 years ago with the aim of moving into mining/oil & gas - but that was back when oil was $15-20/barrel (now generally +$100) and everyone was talking peak oil. Gold was only $300/ounce and people were wondering if it would come back again - peaked at almost $1900/ounce a few years ago. As you can imagine - only chance of getting a job was with a Masters or Phd - and even qualifications to that level guaranteed nothing.

Owen778

I agree mostly with Mr Weeze. A few more comments, though:
- You don't mention your qualifications. Working for an oil company nearly always requires a masters or PhD these days. I'm not sure if the University of Houston or one of the other colleges does part-time MS degrees, but you should look into it.
- The service companies may be a good place to start, yes, and mudlogging used to be a good entry point for many without petroleum geology degrees. Many of the service company jobs would mean working at the wellsite, though.

Give us some more info on your qualifications and what you did in mining. Was it structural geology? Stratigraphy? Environmental? Was 3D mapping used? Try to think about your actual skills and how they might transfer to oil and gas.

Mr Weeze

I'm afraid not. I know nothing about mining, but I'm going to guess that trying to estimate where minerals are deposited, the amount of valuable mineral to waste product, rock characteristics for strength, etc. are pretty important. I'm sure there is way more than that to it.

(Conventional) Petroluem geoscience is about understanding where oil may be sourced from, how it has migrated to a trap, what the sealing mechanism is, can it be produced, how much is contained, what type is it, how are the facies distributed, things like that. About extracting as much information as possible from the seismic character.

Then you have the new shale plays (which are strictly speaking carbonate) and a whole skill set which is being developed. Things like micro-seismic, much more detailed fracture network modelling, etc.

On the environmental front that is a discipline all in itself. That is more an engineering function than a geoscience one. That is either handled in house by the health, safety & environmental function or contracted to an outside consultancy. I can't think of any geoscientists I know who actively work to deal with pollution, minimising environmental impact and tidying up after - that's more surface engineering.

Feel free to check the big company websites, but I would be very surprised if you have much luck. It doesn't cost you anything to try though. I've had a quick look at two companies as an example.

About the biggest company in the USA is ExxonMobil (Saudi Aramco are bigger globally, and I'm not sure where they rank compared to some of the Russians anymore). They have 4 jobs posted for an experienced (+1 year) geoscientist.

https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/asp...wxT1n2VnGJxMC1

The lowest level job there wants a bachelor's degree and 3 years experience.

EOG are the biggest company in the unconventional business right now. They have 6 geoscience openings right now:

https://www1.apply2jobs.com/EOGResou...nal.searchJobs

Again, the technician role only needs a bachelor's degree and this time 1 year's experience as a geoscience tech.

Both of these roles were related to handling seismic and log data generated. Honestly, don't get your hopes up on a job with a big company. I have been a subsurface manager and I know how many CVs I saw when I was recruiting for an experienced position. I would have ignored a CV with no industry experience.

However if someone was coming as a graduate and happened to have 7 years of previous experience and had converted with a masters that application would stand out to me. There are a bunch of 22/23 year old graduates with nothing to really differentiate them. If someone has real life experience it definitiely makes them stand out from that pack.

boomy

Hi folks

Wow. Thank you all so much for your replies. I can see am getting actual facts and info from knowledgable people.

A bit of my background. I currently work for one of the major mining companies as a mine geologist with a BSc. My family are already in Houston since 2012. I decided to stay back in Australia to complete my MS in Geoscience at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia which is a general geoscience course. I realize i will need an MS to be able to compete in Houston.

I do actually have a few degrees from Australia, namely:

1. Bachelors degree in Economics
2. Graduate diploma in Enterprise Resource Planning
3. Bachelors degree in Exploration Geoscience
4. MS in Geoscience (Nov 2014 Completion)

I currently work in Iron ore (chemical sedimentary rocks) and i have been learning more on unconventional resources eg Shale oil. I have experience in mapping, stratigraphy, mineral identification, well logging, structural geology, geological data QA/QC, formation evaluation etc

I am trying to get as much information as possible to direct me to the appropriate channels. I intend to make a quick trip to Houston next month to see my family and to find out if there is anything i should check on while am there for a month.

Mr weeze and Owen778 advice has been an invaluable source of information.

H town: i dont have experience in environmental as its mainly handled by the environmental dept as Mr weeze has indicated.

I am just worried with not having a direct experience in oil and gas. I realize i will have to start as a recent graduate which is ok.

Anymore info will be appreciated.

Thanks

Boomy

Mr Weeze

I'm assuming that major mining company isn't BHP. They obviously also have an oil and gas division. Do you know anyone who works for them? They may be the exception to the rule here as they are better able to value your experience.

Owen778

I think you may be presenting this the wrong way.

Firstly, you need to sell how many of the skills you use in mining geology are transferable, especially since you work with sedimentary rocks.

Secondly, you will soon be graduating with a geoscience Masters, with some extra work experience. That potentially makes you a desirable property for companies' graduate programs, and you should consider applying both with service companies and with operators (the actual oil companies) for their graduate schemes. Your difficulty is that many companies prefer to recruit on campus and at colleges where they have built up relationships with the staff, they prefer to recruit via internships, and you also don't have much experience with petroleum. It would still be worth making applications, but preparing your resume well would be essential. You'd most likely need to state your availability to come to Houston for interviews, or only apply once you'll soon be here.

I notice your college states it teaches a postgrad unit on petroleum, but it was last run in 2013. Did you take that? (http://www.handbook.mq.edu.au/2012/U...etary+Sciences)

Also, I found the University of Houston runs two MSs in petroleum geology or petroleum geophysics for professionals. That might work for you, though it needs Friday afternoons.
http://www.geosc.uh.edu/graduate/pro...logy/index.php

Bob

I hope you've filed your US IRS taxes and done a returning resident type visa jobby to show intention of keeping your LPR status healthy etc.

AZ_Alba

Another couple of service companies to look at are Scientific Drilling Controls and Western Atlas for open and cased hole logging. Western Atlas have a logging school in Odesa, Texas.

boomy

HI AZ_Alba. I could not get a lot of details on these companies and the logging school on google. I will appreciate more info if possible. Thanks

boomy

Thanks Bob. I have filed all my US IRS taxes to date and i managed to get a reentry permit in March 2013 which is good to March 2015.

boomy

No, its not BHP. Its the other major mining company that do not have an oil and gas division unlike BHP. Thanks

boomy

Thanks Owen778
I missed that petroleum unit last year. I am looking at the UH geosciences courses. Honestly, i need a break from college. I have done a lot of years of study.

I am not sure what you meant with this sentence, 'I think you may be presenting this the wrong way'. Are you implying that i should use only my direct mining experience for my resume?

I will surely start applying now as i will be in Houston in July.

Thanks

Owen778

No, I'm saying you need to emphasise the parts of your work experience and college learning that are transferable to the oil and gas industry.

OK, but it's important that your resume is in an American style, and concentrates on the useful skills that you do have. Good luck.