Alliance approach to geoscience training

Dick Ireson and Neil Harbury of Nautilus outline a new approach to geoscience training that has developed and matured over eight years. The oil price is high and likely to remain so, exploration is no longer a forbidden word, improving recovery factors using new technology is a key driver, and so the need for staff trained to support the burgeoning workload is increasing. Unfortunately, the demographics of the current work force make worrying reading: a high percentage of staff will be eligible for retirement within the next 5-10 years. Figure 1 shows the range of career experience of geoscientists attending the training programme discussed in this article. The histogram shows the proportion of people from Europe and North America attending courses relative to their length of service over a five-year period from 2001 to 2005. Two peaks are clear, one correlating with new hires and the other with very experienced people. Similar figures for North America over the same period are shown in the background with less of a peak at the low end and a very pronounced peak in the 20 to 30 years of experience bracket. Until recently, particularly in North America, the information collected from the companies in this study suggested that the intake of new hires is nowhere near the actual and predicted exodus from the workforce. Suitable candidates attracted to and appropriate for our industry are a finite resource. In addition, the roles of current geoscience personnel and the techniques and methods they need to be acquainted with are changing rapidly. New hires need to be made effective as quickly as possible and there is a need to train experienced staff in new techniques, new ideas, and new workflows.