Q Engineering sells a cloud-based program that statistically predicts future production. Using its Typecurve Studio, a user can forecast 500 decline curves a minute after the data are downloaded from a database, said Mark Bahorich, the cofounder of Q, which was recently acquired by Enervus. Doing that manually would take from 2–5 minutes per well, or about 16–42 hours, he said. The downside of having a machine do it is that engineers once earned good money doing those boring jobs. If one person can do what 10 to 20 people once did, “you are getting rid of 9 or 19 jobs, or they need to find new stuff to do,” said Nathan Meehan, president of Gaffney, Cline, and Associates and 2016 SPE president. Long-term careers in petroleum engineering in the future will depend on an engineer’s ability to find valuable things to do. It is not a new challenge. Exploration and production is a cyclical business where engineers are possible targets when business slumps and cost cutting is required. Survivors often have additional skills, such as project management, team leadership, digital knowledge, or specialized technical knowledge. During a presentation on lessons learned during a long career in the oil business, Hon-Chung Lau, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environment Engineering at the National University of Singapore, described the decades of effort required over a career, which he breaks into three, 12-year stages (SPE 196027). Those who successfully reach the last stage of their career may feel secure. But Lau warns, “That is the stage when your career may be at risk.” Those who see a hefty paycheck as a sign of their value to the organization need to consider that earning the same salary as two new hires could make them a layoff target, he said during a presentation at the 2019 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition.
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Sep 29, 2020
E A Sorokoumova + 1
Open Access
