SPECIAL REPORT: POINT OF VIEW—Global staffing to reshape petroleum industry as current workforce ages

Sept. 23, 2002
The petroleum industry's workforce is multinational and global, but the face of the industry will continue to change as today's workers age and approach retirement.

The petroleum industry's workforce is multinational and global, but the face of the industry will continue to change as today's workers age and approach retirement.

New talent from the traditional petroleum engineering schools in the US, Canadian, and western European universities will not provide the influx needed to replace the large, predominantly US, Canadian, and European-sourced staffs that exist at many of the large integrated oil and gas companies.

"Our growth is going to become more nationally diverse, as we've already seen happening during the past 10 years," said Janeen Judah, technical support manager for ChevronTexaco Corp.'s Latin America business unit and immediate past chairman of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Gulf Coast section.

Demographics

Referring to demographics of the industry's technical staff, she said, "You hear this everywhere and it's obvious walking down the halls of any company. It seems that everyone is in their 40s or older."

She explained that the median age of the technical staff in most US oil companies is about 48. With heavy grouping around the median age and few younger employees, she refers to the shape of the age curve as the "rat in the anaconda."

The petroleum industry has great retirement plans, and 10 years from now most of these employees will be gone, she noted, asking, "Who's going to be working here then?"

Judah pointed out that the industry has achieved productivity improvements from new tools. For example, drilling operations have advanced from the days of calling in the drilling report to faxing it in and now to computer systems and drilling databases that analyze data in real time and provide trending patterns.

"Technology improves productivity and I guess it improves cycle time but does it always improve results?" she asked.

The oil and gas industry is always working further and further down the list of exploration and production prospects in terms of reservoir quality and resource size. She explained, "We're looking at more-complex reservoirs, in more undesirable places, and in deeper water."

The task will require increased manpower, Judah noted, adding that attendees last year at an SPE forum on "The Big Crew Change" concluded that the petroleum industry would see large numbers of people leaving the workforce during the coming 7-10 years. While everyone recognizes the problem, there is little action toward a solution. She said, "In my view the solution will be a greater international workforce. We will not be able to hire the numbers that we need from North American universities such as Texas A&M, University of Texas, or Louisiana State University.

"They will come from national universities in the countries where we operate, for example, Venezuela, Argentina, and the former Soviet Union. The technical staff will become more nationally diverse and global, as companies grow and today's workforce ages."

She added, "We have some wonderful technical people in our worldwide operations, and we must focus on their development and integration into a global technical workforce."

Chevron, Texaco merger

The discussion of a global workforce occurs against the backdrop of the merger creating ChevronTexaco that became final in October 2001 when stockholders of both firms voted for the deal (OGJ Online, Oct. 9, 2001).

Judah said, "The merger is going well. The two cultures were not that far off." She explained that Texaco Inc. had worked with Chevron for many years before the merger, particularly in Indonesia through the joint venture company, Caltex Corp.

The global workforce

ChevronTexaco operates in 180 countries, including its downstream operations. Upstream, its biggest operations outside the US are Nigeria, Angola, Kazakhstan, and then Latin America. The company's largest Latin American operations are in Argentina, Brazil, and Vene- zuela. Judah pointed out that ChevronTexaco is the largest offshore leaseholder in Brazil after state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA. Both Chevron and Texaco had Brazilian offshore blocks, prior to the merger, with personnel working in Rio de Janeiro, San Ramon, and Houston, who were consolidated to Houston following the merger.

She said, "We have a huge group here working on Brazil to mature prospects in the deepwater blocks and a second group responsible for project evaluations, trying to bring discovered reserves onto production."

Judah said, "As far as maintaining a truly global workforce I think Schlumberger Ltd. has done the best job of anyone. ChevronTexaco is not quite there yet, but we are working hard to get there.

"It's probably an issue of having enough critical mass in a lot of different countries, where someone like Schlumberger, Coca-Cola Co., Ford Motor Co., and other big multinational companies are able to move people easily between countries," she explained.

Judah said, "We're going to be forced to do it as our primarily North American-based staff gets older and retires.

"Being able to move our staff around the world—not just between their home country and the US—but being able to move them all over the world is a key human resource issue that we'll have to achieve; everybody in the industry is looking at the same issue."

Career highlights

Janeen Judah
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Janeen Judah is the technical support manager for ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum Co.'s Latin America business unit. She coordinates the US-based technical staff supporting operations in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago. She has more than 20 years' experience in various aspects of the upstream energy business. Judah is the immediate past chairman of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Gulf Coast section, Houston. She has served in leadership positions for SPE's Gulf Coast and Permian basin sections and on several SPE international committees.

Employment

•Worked for West Texas independent during 1981-82. Returned to graduate school in 1982.

•Joined ARCO Oil & Gas Co.'s Permian operations in Midland, Tex., in 1983. Moved to Houston in 1990 to coordinate reserves and economic evaluations for ARCO's Gulf Coast region. Left ARCO with the Vastar Resources Inc. spinoff in 1994.

•Practiced oil and gas law with a small firm in 1995-96.

•Worked as management consultant with Arthur D. Little Inc., during 1996-98, specializing in upstream strategy and technology management, mostly in Latin America.

•Joined Texaco's international drilling group in Bellaire, Tex., in 1998. Judah's last Texaco assignment was on the president's staff as senior production advisor for worldwide production operations.

•Assumed current position with Chevron-Texaco merger in October 2001.

Education

•BS and MS in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex.

•MBA from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa, Tex., in 1987.

•JD from the University of Houston Law Center in 1994.

Organizations

•SPE member since 1977.

•Registered professional engineer in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico since 1986.

•Admitted to Texas bar in 1995.