Junior Geophysicists Forum (JGF)

Time for a recap of another Junior Geophysicists Forum (JGF). It is hard to believe that we have already had the 4th JGF and the 5th is just around the corner! So sit back, relax, and find out what happened at the last JGF (or maybe this will help to refresh your memory!) Every time we sit down and start to write these recaps, we always wonder why we never started to write the article the very next day while every thing was still fresh in our minds…but enough with the small talk: on with the story!

The 4th JGF was on Tuesday November 7, 2006 at 5:00pm. Once again, geophysicists with all levels of experience gathered in the lower level of Quincy’s. There were a total of 190 geophysicists, ranging from 2nd year students to geophysicists with 25+ years of experience. We were all there to interact – to seek advice or to dispense it. But is that not what the JGF is all about?? A bit of mentoring, maybe a chance for those who have been through the ups and the downs of the patch to share their experiences. Sometimes the junior geophysicists are not aware of all the different career paths that lay before them. There are many possible routes to take – the JGF can hopefully help us to see those paths and create long-term career goals and friendships. With the coming baby boomer “Exodus” it is becoming more and more important for the experienced geophysicists to find their prodigies!

So what did happen this time around at the JGF? What was different? Who was the great speaker this time?

As for the venue, the manager of Quincy’s, Oscar Lapid, was able to help us make the area easier to navigate. The last time we had a bit of a congestion problem because the food was in front of the bar. We had a new arrangement of the food stations that seemed to help people move around much easier. As for the food, well once again it was very tasty. Much the same as the previous JGF with a roast beef station, chicken skewers, dry ribs, fruits and veggies, cheese and crackers…. Plenty of munchies!

Our guest speaker this time around was Barbara McClary. Barbara has had quite a long and illustrious career and has worked for companies like Shell, Canadian Occidental, and many others… making it all the way to the coveted Chief Geophysicist position and now enjoying her time as a consulting geophysicist. Barbara was kind enough to come out and tell us about some of her experiences – specifically her first dry well (or should I say technical success!).

She recounted her first experience about what is involved and what it takes to get a well drilled. Whether it is working with geophysicists, geologists, engineers, land people, managers etc., there are lots of different people involved. She made it clear that there are more factors to drill a well than just the technical information from the geophysicist and geologist.

Barbara’s talk about what it takes to drill a successful well led us to our icebreaker game. The idea of the icebreaker game is to get everyone to interact with each other. So as people arrived they were given their name tag and a card. On these cards were written either: geophysicist, geologist, engineer, porosity, permeability, trap, porosity or source rock. The catch was that there were only 3 porosity cards amid the 200 mixed cards. The object of the game was to get the whole group together with a card from each of the eight categories, as this is what it takes to drill a successful well. Any group that could complete that task was awarded lottery tickets as their prize. There was at least one big lottery ticket winner that night – for a jackpot of $10! Six gift certificates for gasoline cards from Petro-Canada were also given out to six lucky Juniors.

Once again the turn out for the JGF was great. The email feed back that we have received all had a similar tone: “ really enjoyed it”, “made valuable contacts” and “came away with knowledge or new friends”. One of the added extra benefits that came out of the JGF was the chance to help some new people to the industry and even to the country. This gave the juniors a chance to interact with others that could give advice or even lead them to someone that was hiring. There was one new immediate job placement that came out of the November 2006 JGF, many other leads were followed up on and contacts made.

This event could not have been possible with out the financial support of our sponsors: Nexen, Apache Canada, PennWest Energy Trust, Petro-Canada, ConocoPhillips, Devon Canada, BG Canada and Northrock Resources. On behalf of the attendees, the JGF committee would like to thank you for your financial support and your belief in the value of this event.

We also want to thank you to everyone who attended. The experienced geophysicists that were able to share their wealth of experience and knowledge, the junior geophysicists that shared their enthusiasm and excitement and the student geophysicists who had a chance to see what it is all about– everyone gained something from their interaction at the JGF.

The next JGF will be held at 5:00pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at Quincy’s on 7th. After consultation with our sponsors and the Chief Geophysicists Forum (CGF) it was decided to make the JGF will an annual event from now on to be held in May, just before the CSEG/CSPG convention. Please remember that the JGF is open to ALL geophysicists. We want to give the students a good representation of the career paths open to them. So to both the experienced, new geophysicists and students: make sure you come out in May or you will have to wait a whole year for the next JGF! Details will be available in April on the JGF portion of the CSEG website at www.cseg.ca. Or you can email the JGF committee at jgf@cseg.ca.

We would like to send out our heartfelt thanks to three retiring members of the committee. Leslie Carlyle-Ebert of PennWest, Marzena Feuchtwanger of Divestco and Kelley Classen of the University of Calgary. Your contributions to the JGF committee have been most appreciated. We would like to welcome two new members to the JGF committee. Katarina Rothe of Canadian Natural Resources and Amanda Nicholls of the University of Calgary. Adding some new blood to the committee will help to keep the rest of us on our toes.

We look forward to seeing you all on May 9, 2007!

Sincerely,

YOUR JGF COMMITTEE
Carmen Swalwell, Swalwell Resource Consulting Inc.
Mark Noble, GX Technology
Doug Colvin, Talisman Energy Inc.
Jeff Gautreau, GEDCO
Jolene Goring, Real Resources
Leslie Carlyle-Ebert, PennWest Petroleum
Marzena Feuchtwanger, Divestco
Kelley Classen, University of Calgary