Risk and Reward: Talent Everywhere

Abstract

President's column The theme for my columns this year is Risk and Reward because risk assessment and decision making have fascinated me for my entire career. The most significant risks and rewards in our business are created by the judgments of the people who work here. People and their talent create upstream value. How then do we generate the talent pool to create value in the next upturn? If you ever doubt the impact that one person can make, let me give two recent examples. The biggest disaster in our industry—ever—was the Macondo blowout in April 2010. Like the day of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, I’ll bet that most of you can remember when you first heard about the fire and crowded around a computer or television in horrified silence. I remember asking: Why didn’t someone use Stop Work Authority? Why didn’t someone say something? In the recent movie depiction, Deepwater Horizon, actor John Malkovich played the evil manager who pushed forward despite signs of disaster. It was a cartoonish portrayal, but it vividly illustrated the impact that a single individual can have on our operations. The result was a disaster on every level, almost destroying one of the largest companies on Earth. In contrast, on a positive note, there is the story of Steve Keenan, the experienced explorationist who led the team that discovered Alpine High in the Permian Basin, the largest single discovery in the US in many years. Apache’s management gave Keenan and his team the freedom to think differently, and the results were spectacular. It’s ultimately people who create (or destroy) value in our industry. Talent will never be more important than in the next upturn. Companies have retired or laid off the most experienced technical workforce in all parts of our industry: exploration and production, oilfield services, and engineering, procurement, and construction. Just a few years ago, projects all over the world were delayed because of a lack of people, not capital constraints. It won’t be long before that will happen again, and we will be looking for talenteverywhere.