It is a pretty short column this month. I am writing this at the end of August and it has been a slow month. It was holiday time, not time to change jobs. Hopefully the November column will have more news.
I am disappointed that I did not receive anything for the Giving Back portion of this column for this month. Many of the CSEG members are involved in worthwhile charities outside of the seismic industry. The RECORDER committee would like to give you a chance to profile your charity, give them publicity and educate the RECORDER readers about your charity. You may convince someone else to give unselfishly of their time and resources to your charity. The RECORDER is distributed to over 2000 CSEG members and this column is one of the most widely read features in the RECORDER. This is a golden opportunity that should not be passed up! I, for one, am a pet person, so would like to challenge anyone that is doing volunteer work with one of the animal rescue societies to send me information on their efforts.
ON THE MOVE...
Terra-Sine Resources is pleased to announce Rhonda Watts, formerly with Conquest Seismic Services Ltd., has joined our staff as a “Geophysical Operations Technician”. Rhonda brings eight years of seismic experience, which will compliment our organization to the benefit of our clients. Rhonda can be reached by phone at (403) 387-0771 or by email at rhondaw@terra-sine.com.
Ian Watson has returned to Imperial Oil Resources after a 2-year secondment on the east coast working for Hibernia Management and Development Company (HMDC) in St. John’s. You can contact Ian at 403-237-2788 or ian.a.watson@esso.ca.
Wendy Whitlock is pleased to announce her new company, Wildside Environment & Land. Wendy was with Lorrnel Consultants for 13 years where she worked with all departments. For the last 3 years she worked closely with the environment and land department with permanent dispositions and Oil Sands Projects. Her love of the industry has brought her back. With her partners, Boyd PetroSearch & Wayne Norstrom, the new Environment & Land company will offer a wide range of services to the industry from permanent disposition applications, EFR’s, Environmental Assessments, P re-site assessments, Wildlife, Vegetation & Soils, Environmental Monitoring for both seismic and permanent dispositions as well as Reclamation services. Many of their field personnel originated from regulatory compliance positions with government. Wildside has a vast amount of experience and knowledge to supply a professional service. Wendy is very excited about her new venture. She can be reached at (direct) 403-695-1721, (main) 403-410-5660 or wendy.whitlock@wildside-enviroland.com.
HCL National is happy to announce the addition of Mr. Roger Bilger to their team. Roger has spent the last year working for Ace Explosives, ETI Ltd. as a Sales Representative, while learning about the seismic world. As of July 2006 he has assumed the newly created position of Business Development Manager for HCL National and will be working out of our Calgary office. Roger is excited to continue his career in the seismic industry while expanding his knowledge into the mulching & line cutting operations both in and out of the field. We are looking forward to a bright and prosperous future with Roger as part of our team. Roger can be contacted by phone at (403) 862-9034 or by email at roger@hclnational.com.
Roman Jelinek formerly with Transmedia Technologies Inc. (www.tmediatech.com) is moving to the Czech Republic and starting a new venture. His new company CASLAWIA will recruit skilled workers in Central and Eastern Europe to work in Alberta. So if your company is short of people and is looking for skilled labour please visit www.caslawia.com and post your request.
Geomodeling Technology Corp. is pleased to welcome Marketing Manager, Marta Styler to the Calgary office. Marta brings to the table 16 years of marketing, design and business experience to this position and is excited to work with the marketing team to make Geomodeling and its innovations in geological modeling and attribute interpretation software the new industry standard. With partners like ConocoPhillips, BHP Billiton, Shell, ENI, ExxonMobil, Hydro, StatOil and Total and locations in Canada, the US, Norway, China, Mexico, Venezuela, Malaysia and Brazil – Geomodeling is solving complex sub-surface challenges for exploration and production companies worldwide. To find out more about Geomodeling software, you can reach Marta (direct) at 403.698-8355 or marta@geomodeling.com.
Geomodeling Technology Corp. is pleased to announce the addition of Mark Tobin, Geophysical Support to the Geomodeling team. Mark is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland with a Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Geophysics. His experience includes working as a Geological Assistant with the Department of Mines and Energy with the Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, as a Geophysicist with Fugro Airborne Surveys (Ottawa,Ontario), and working as an Environmental Consultant in the Hydro geological and Geotechnical field with Fracflow Consultants Inc. (St.John’s, NL). Mark can be reached by email at MarkTobin@geomodeling.com or by phone 403-262-9172.
Geomodeling Technology Corp. is the leading innovator in geoscience software for the oil and gas industry. Geomodeling enables petroleum companies to maximize revenue and reduce costs with software solutions for improved reservoir characterization and recovery. Founded in 1996, Geomodeling has offices and resource centers in Brazil, Canada, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, United Kingdom, USA and Venezuela. Find us on the web at www.geomodeling.ca.
Divestco Inc. is pleased to welcome Caroline Mongrain as Client Services Manager. Caroline will manage the Customer Support Team and offers her valuable 17 years of industry related knowledge to the position. She can be reached at 403- 231-5337 or at caroline.mongrain@divestco.com.
Pierre Marchand would like to inform friends and colleagues of his recent career move to HARVEST ENERGY as a senior geophysicist. He would like to thank all of his past managers and colleagues for their mentorship and continued friendship. You can reach Pierre at (403)233.6648 or Pierre. Marchand@harvestenergy.ca.
GSI’s Precision Seismic Processing Division is also pleased to welcome Brad Camroux to the team. Brad earned his B.Sc. in Geophysics from the University of Calgary in 2005, with a minor in Applied Mathematics. His major interests outside of geophysics are web design & programming and electronics. You can reach Brad at bcamroux@geophysicalservice.com or at 514-6270.
Rob McGrory is consulting for Talisman in the International New Ventures group, Geocan Energy as well as for a variety of other junior oil and gas companies. Rob’s consulting company is called “Semajtriz Inc”. You can reach Rob at (403) 612-5749
Darren Pidwerbeski formerly of Kelman Technologies would like to announce that he has joined Iron Mountain as a Sales Executive in their Energy and Exploration department. Darren looks forward to continuing to promote Iron Mountain’s full suite of Data Managements solutions and can be reached by phone at (403) 531- 2068, or by email at: Darren. pidwerbeski@ironmountain.com.
MOVING UP IN THE WORLD...
Paradigm Geophysical Canada Ltd. is proud to announce the promotion of Nick Nikic to the position of Manager, Land Processing. Nick has over 15 years of processing and management experience in Calgary with 2D/3D land and OBC seismic data. His extensive knowledge and experience makes him a great asset to our management team. Please contact Nick at nnikic@paradigmgeo.com or tel: 571.1576 for any of your Land processing needs. Paradigm is a leading provider of geoscience software solutions, services, technical support and training to oil and gas exploration and production companies worldwide.
NEW DEGREES...
All universities or individuals that would like to send announcements about recent graduations are welcome. Give your graduates some well deserved acknowledgement. CS
The following are recent recipients of degrees from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Calgary. Abstracts and complete theses for the CREWES (Consortium for Research in Elastic Wave Exploration Seismology) graduates are available in at www.crewes.org.
Saleh M. Al-Saleh, Ph.D., August 2006, Designing Explicit Wavefield Extraplators for Depth Migration and Migration Velocity Analysis.
Richard Andrew Bale, Ph.D., August 2006: Elastic Wave- Equation Depth Migration of Seismic Data for Isotropic and Azimuthally Anisotropic Media. Richard is a senior research scientist at Veritas. His e-mail address is Richard_Bale@veritasdgc.com.
HOW I GOT INVOLVED IN GEOPHYSICS...
This portion of the Tracing the Industry column is where people share how they became involved in this strange industry. Geophysics seems to be an “accidental” profession. Not many people start out with the goal of becoming a geophysicist. Each month I like to have someone trace their pathway into geophysics. If you would like to share your story, please let me know! CS
Paul Hausmanis – Geo-X Processing, A Division of Divestco
After high school I went to a University Transfer College in Vancouver.
I was enrolled in a General Science diploma program - chem, bio, physics, math...all the good stuff. After my first year I realized I wanted to go to a University, but not under General Science - I wanted to enroll in a focused program. I just didn’t know which one. A buddy and I were in the same physics class where we noticed a bulletin announcing that the Dean of Science from UBC was coming to OUR University Transfer College to inform us of the degrees that we should obtain to guarantee a job for the future. From this, we were convinced that he would aptly solve our education and career challenges. We sat in on his presentation, cafeteria sandwiches in hand, and listened. He moved through the varying degrees - chem, bio, etc and came upon physics...which my buddy and I were doing well in.
“Yes, you could obtain a physics degree, if not for any other reason than to build your own particle accelerator...but you won’t find too many jobs outside of that.”
We looked at each other a little dismayed. “Well, particle accelerators are pretty cool.” My buddy commented. We listened as he continued.
“Next we have geology. Yes, you can find jobs with a geology degree. And if you like hiking in and around mountains all day, this would be the career for you.” I liked the outdoors and took a moment to consider it.
The Dean of Science continued...
“But if you also like physics, you can get a geophysics degree and do the same hiking around the mountains, but you’ll be a heck of a lot smarter.”
Ha, that solved it. I would become a Geophysicist! The decision truly was made that day, and when I enrolled at UBC I was accepted into the second year of the program. By May of 2001 I had graduated and was ready to begin my career in this fair city.
You might be wondering what decision my friend made. He went for the Physics degree at UBC and is now in the final phase of digging the tunnel for his beloved particle accelerator...in his backyard.
Its funny how we grow up thinking we’d become firefighters or an astronaut, and end up becoming Geophysicists. I’m still looking for the guy who grew up playing with a geophone in his bedroom and dreaming of the perfect seismic survey. If you’re out there, let us know!
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