Corporate Policy - Its Effect On Petroleum Engineer
Authors: Horn A.J. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 40th Annual California Regional Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in San Francisco, Calif., Nov. 6–7, 1969. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

The effect of corporate policy on the Petroleum Engineer in the oil and gas producing part of our industry is a complex, dynamic, and sometimes confusing problem. The policies of a company, like individuals, are a set of principles upon which to base the day-today decisions. Policies are guide-posts that give direction to the business relationships that make the principles live. Most people look for directions from principles live. Most people look for directions from guideposts - unfortunately, others lean on them. I suspect this "leaning" is part of our problem. The policies that affect our engineers range from financial standards to production rates to salary administration. It appears obvious to me from the nature of this panel, and my part of it, that we will not be concerned with MER or the part of it, that we will not be concerned with MER or the Texas allowable. My discussion will cover those principles of a company, or the policies of its management, that affect the stature of the Petroleum Engineer. A business organization is composed of people who are united, presumably, in a common purpose. The ideas of people change with age or business conditions; and the people in the jobs change because of death or retirement - and resignations. To accommodate the new ideas, the new conditions, the new people, then, do the policies change? Do they change fast people, then, do the policies change? Do they change fast enough? Should they change at all? Clearly, to me any change in principles must occur through the initiative, judgment, and experience of the people responsible for those principles. As engineers, it is obvious to us that rapid change is occurring in the sciences and associated technologies. Apparently, the social and political sciences are changing as fast but, as engineers, we may not understand the effects on us, on our own lives, and on our families. This era of rapid change requires us to react faster to Change - to understand it, to question it, to study it, to modify it, and then to determine our course. The young President of our Company, H. J. Haynes, started his career in the oil fields, just like the rest of us. Recently, he told the Pacific Coast District Spring Meeting of the API, that: "Knowledge of social and human relations - as much so as of advancing technology - is fast becoming an essential for successful management. And in the next ten years, the manager who fails to recognize this may well find himself passed by."An example of this philosophy was expressed by 155 businessmen from 60 countries when they listed traits considered desirable in a manager as high moral standards, imagination, creativity, ambition, initiative, dedication, loyalty, courage, decisiveness, ability to plan, organize, and lead people. Certainly, an engineer should be endowed with these same traits. Although my current job title does not include this term, I regard myself professionally as a Petroleum Engineer. Therefore, some company policies must then affect me as an individual, as they do the rest of us. However, it is not possible for me to differentiate the treatment of a Petroleum Engineer from the treatment of other people in the business organization. Because of my age, job position, even job security, broader interests, and greater responsibilities, I suspect that I am not in the best position to reflect the feelings of younger engineers now working in the field offices under different industry conditions than when I was there. So, what are some of the problems of a Petroleum Engineer as they may be affected by the Company policies? Recently, data was made available to me of an extensive survey of several oil companies in the United States as to the reasons for professional oil field engineers terminating their employment with these companies. The operations of these companies are located in the Gulf Coast area, Texas, and the Pacific Coast. Let us look at CHART 1, to determine the size Pacific Coast. Let us look at CHART 1, to determine the size of do problem of terminations of engineers hired since 1958 into the oilfield part of our industry. Using three representative companies of different size, the 11-year period has been divided into two parts to detect trends in the "resignation factor."