Geological Training
Authors: Rupp A.W. 
Published: March 2010

General

At present, formal geological training provided by the oil and gas industry ranges from comprehensive to largely non-existent. In general, the major companies provide the best training and the juniors the poorest. Exceptions to the rule certainly exist, however, it is generally recognized that the larger companies provide the training and the smaller ones reap many of the benefits. Each time a well trained (and very marketable) geologist leaves a major and joins a junior the major suffers a multifaceted loss. Not only is there the loss of several years of time and money spent ($50,000-$100,000) in the recruiting and training, but more important is the loss of expertise by the training company and the gain of expertise by the competition. So what is the point in training at all? In spite of these realities, training still has to be of major important to all companies because geological expertise is becoming more and more important as finding remaining hydrocarbon accumulations becomes more and more difficult.

The aim must be to recognize and hire the type of geologist potentially best fitted for your organization and needs, and they initially provide training and work along the lines of his/her main interest and expertise related to company needs.

If the geologist does not "shine " in his optimum environment, then he is not likely to "shine " at any other task. An error in judgment and evaluation has likely been made in hiring this person. If the geologist does perform well, then additional training and structuring of the job and responsibilities to fit the geologist can go a long way to ensure his continuing interest and presence.

Role of the University

Canadian universities differ markedly in: the spectrum of geological courses each offers; their possession of geological hardware; the degree of knowledge and know-how of their professors and their ability to impart all this to the student.

The training of the new hired geologist by the industry should be geared to giving a broad equalizing base of those aspects of geology that are of prime importance to the industry.

What is the value of a Doctorate degree to the company? The answer is not absolutely clear, but the impression is the advanced degree has little bearing on the success of the individual who is engaged as an operational geologist. In practice it has been found that higher degrees are not related to higher performance. In these cases, the higher salaries paid for the advanced degree cannot be justified. In general terms, a B.Sc. geologist with 4 to 6 years' experience in industry initially is a far more valuable asset than a new hired Ph.D.

In other circumstances, however, the Ph.D. will often bring a broader geological background to problem solving and is more successful in working out complex geological problems in areas of limited data (frontier areas for instance). Advance degrees are of course extremely important in research, paleontology, and for specialists in carbonates, clastics and structural geology where the expertise gained in the advanced degree and the thesis topic is of direct and immediate use to the company.