I am writing this column in August as the RECORDER committee is doing it’s best to get each issue to you at the beginning of the month.
Kelly and I attended the Canmore Folk Festival again this year. We were pleased to run into some people from our community. Kathy Waters (Earth Signal Processing) was there for her first time and tells me she really enjoyed it. And once again we ran into Alex Wright (Grizzly Oil Sands). Alex has been volunteering for the Canmore Folk Festival for a few years and had the privilege of working the sound boards for the Stoney First Nation drummers and vocalists as well as main stage support. At the festival, I won the Golden Tarp Raffle. That means next year I get to choose a place for our tarp before any of the other concert attendees. And it stays there for the three days. I am going to put it in front of the stage. So if you are attending the Canmore Folk Festival next year, come and find me. I would be happy to share the tarp.
Our industry is always changing. People change jobs, move overseas, retire and leave the industry to start new careers. I am often asked “whatever happed to..” and “do you know how to get in touch with...”? So check out the “whatever happened to” portion of this column. If you would like to send me an update on your activities, I would be happy to include it.
If you have a new job, been promoted, had a new baby, want to share your contact information, thank someone or share any other information you think may be of interest to the RECORDER readers, you can contact me at carmen.swalwell@shaw.ca or 403-560-8431.
On the Move...
I received the following announcement from Matteo Niccoli. CS
In July I decided to take an exciting opportunity overseas and moved to Stavanger, Norway, where I am working with DONG Energy as Senior Geophysicist in their Subsurface (production) group. My assignments will involve primarily geophysical work on operated and non-operated producing offshore fields in Norway, and secondarily near-filed development.
I would like to thank former fellow students and professors at the University of Calgary, friends, colleagues, and business partners in the industry for making the last 10 years in Calgary (my entire career as a Geophysicist so far!) a fantastic adventure. I know I will miss it being there. For those that would like to stay in touch, you can contact me at matni@dongenergy.no .
If you’d like to stay up to date with my ‘extracurricular’ geoscience activities you can follow my blog at http://mycarta.wordpress.com . At the moment I am investigating the role that colors and colormaps play in geoscience visualization. A practical summary of my results is included in the recently published book “52 Things You Should Know About Geophysics”, edited by Matt Hall and Evan Bianco of Agile Geoscience. My next two writing projects should be: a method for acquisition footprint removal using image processing and mathematical morphology, and a tutorial on exploration gravity data acquisition, enhancement and interpretation.
Phil Butler (P. Geo.) joined CNRL in May 2012 as a geophysicist in the thermal group. He is returning from a stint of international work (formerly with Calvalley) and is currently enjoying the new challenges. Phil can be reached at 403-386- 5738 or at philip.butler@cnrl.com.
Jordan Jonasson recently completed a BSc in Geophysics from the University of Alberta. Jordan is originally from Calgary and is excited to be back and continuing his career at Canadian Natural as a new grad geophysicist. He can be contacted at jordan.jonasson@cnrl.com.
Carmen Dumitrescu would like to announce that she has started a consulting company called TERRA-IQ Ltd. specialized in Reservoir Characterization and Seismic Data Interpretation. Carmen can be reached at carmend@terra-iq.com or 403-809-7187.
David Martin is please to announce that he has joined CNRL. You can reach him at david.martin@cnrl.com.
Whatever happened to...
Rachel Newrick
In 2010, Rachel resigned from Nexen Petroleum UK to join Cairn Energy in Edinburgh, Scotland so that she could work the frontier basins of West Greenland as a Senior Geophysicist. Over the first year, Rachel worked on the drilling campaign while also leading the regional evaluation of the Pitu block in the far north. Her personal highlight for 2011 was her time spent in Greenland, in the field and on both the Corcovado drill ship and Leif Eiriksson semi-sub. In 2012, following the drilling campaign and a successful farm-down of the Pitu block, Rachel took on a new challenge as Technical Team Leader for the Mediterranean Asset. As a side project, Rachel contributed to the newly published “52 Things You Should Know About Geophysics” – an Agile Geophysics (Matt Hall and Evan Bianco) initiative. Rachel can be contacted at motorcyclerachel@gmail.com and will treat you to a Scottish porter if you are ever in Edinburgh.
Mike Perkins and Elizabeth Atkinson
In 2008 Mike was offered a job working as International Exploration Manager for an Indonesian company named Medco, located in their office in the South of France – hard to turn that down! Elizabeth was lucky to have Petro-Canada agree to send her to their London office, so off they went to see Europe together, and the expat odessy began. However, this being the oil business, it soon became complicated – Medco had reorganization 10 months into the assignment, and decided to shut the French office. Mike ended up “commuting” between Jakarta for work and London to see Elizabeth – he joked his address was seat 64B on the flight from Singapore to London. After about a year of that, Medco abruptly announced that he’d be based in Tripoli, Libya instead (where their biggest foreign success is located). So his commute becomes Tripoli to London. But then Suncor bought Petro-Canada and shut the London office, so Elizabeth accepted an assignment to Tripoli as well. Tripoli is not as glamorous as the South of France, but at least they were back in the same place for 6 lovely months... Then along came the Arab Spring. Suncor’s security chief did a great job of pulling them out of there – and thanks for all the greetings and concern from people when they made the paper (the press got ahold of Elizabeth’s worried parents!). So the expat adventure was complicated again, they both returned (at least temporarily) to head office – Mike to Jakarta, Elizabeth to Calgary – half way around the world from each other. So, Suncor graciously honoured a promise of a package after everything was properly archived. Elizabeth went to Jakarta and found a new job working for Murphy doing New Ventures in their Jakarta office. Mike is now Senior Exploration Manager in Medco’s Jakarta head office. Everyday life in Jakarta isn’t glamorous either – lots of haze and traffic. But the vacations are great – Mike and Elizabeth have taken up diving (again in Mike’s case) as they tour the beaches of SE Asia. In June, on a beach in Bali, Mike got down on one knee and gave a beautiful ring to Elizabeth, and they are working on the wedding planning. They hope to return to Calgary to semi-retirement in a year or two, and would be happy to hear from friends in Calgary.
Jolene Goring
Jolene is now living in Scottsdale AZ, after a brief stint in Cairo, Egypt. She says that waking up to palm trees and hot weather makes it feel like paradise every single day. Jolene has started her own company, Geo-Fit Personal Training, where she is lucky to get the chance to impact people’s lives in a positive way. She is training every type of person from business executives, professional athletes, models, to everyday people. Jolene has also recently become a three time bestselling author with her book “Bigger Better Faster Stronger,” which features fitness experts sharing tips from around the world. She is recording an audio product and workbook with Tom Hopkins, which will help people to “Bust Out of Their Rut and Live a Healthier and Happier Life.” Jolene plans to continue to create more books and products so that she can impact more people worldwide.
Jolene says that she misses the amazing people and the dynamic of the oil and gas industry in Calgary, but she is happier now than she has ever been, living out her passion of helping people through health and fitness. Her mission is to transform the lives of 100,000 people by 2025. Jolene would love to connect with former colleagues. They can find her on Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, or http://www.geo-fit.com/.
Amanda Nicholls
Amanda Carreno (nee Nicholls) moved to Australia almost five years ago as a data processor with CGGVeritas. On her first trip to the beach after arriving in Perth, she met a man who has since become her husband. Recently, Amanda has left CGGVeritas to pursue a career with Woodside Energy, based in the head office in Perth, Western Australia. As she was in Canada, Amanda is very involved with the local geosciences community in various roles with the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (ASEG), the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA), and most recently, as part of the organizing committee for the Western Australian Basins Symposium (WABS) being held 18th-21st August 2013. She is enjoying life in sunny Australia living with her husband Joe and their puppy, Carlos.
A New Book...
Matt Hall and Evan Bianco are excited to announce the arrival of a new kind of book about geoscience, “52 Things You Should Know About Geophysics.” Thirty-seven generous, inspiring authors joined us to write 52 short essays about geophysics. Calgary geoscientists will recognize a lot of friends and colleagues among the authors: Brian Russell, Tooney Fink, Bill Goodway, Dave MacKidd, Marian Hanna, Carl Reine, Pavlo Cholach, Fereidoon Vasheghani, Eric Andersen, John Logel, Paul Anderson, Matteo Niccoli, and Rachel Newrick, to name a few.
If you want to read the book, or get it for someone you know, you can find it at most online booksellers, or order it directly from us at http://ageo.co/52geophysics . The cover price is $19. If you want 10 or more copies, please get in touch for a discount (hello@agilelibre.com). There is also a Kindle edition, priced at $9. The essays are openly licensed too, so you can reproduce and re-use them however you like. We’d love to hear what you think of it!
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