A Young Professional Session was held during 2008 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) at Denver, Colorado. I, as the Los Angeles Basin YPSPE Liaison and Chairperson, had the opportunity to attend the program. The session focused on uncertainty and risk analysis in the oil and gas industry. More than 50 young professionals from all around the globe joined the 4-hour session at the Colorado Convention Center.
After receiving lecture about risk and uncertainty topic from three different industry and academic speakers, young professionals split into work groups. Each of the young professionals took a different role and position in a fictitious oil company such as geologist, reservoir/production/drilling/facilities engineer, or business analyst. A field in DJ Basin, Colorado was listed for sale. Geology, reservoir, production, and oil price data and information of this field and its analogous were available. Based on a pre-determined dataset of this field, these groups were required to create a development plan for a field it is considering purchasing. The board of directors needed a rough idea so that they could decide whether to write the check and for how much.
Members of my team are Maricel of Chevron, Juan of Vanguard Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips’ Peter, a young lady from ExxonMobil, and myself from Occidental Petroleum. Our team identified associated risk and uncertainty of the field before going further into technical analysis. After estimating a reasonable oil in place and recovery factor based on available data, our team projected the remaining reserves and ultimate recovery based on primary and potential secondary production. Development and depletion plan were proposed. Combination of associated capital and operating expense with remaining reserves were used to estimate present value of the field. The session concluded with the our work group defending the plans in front of board of directors and other audiences.
At the young professionals reception, it was announced that our team had won the challenge. Board of directors were pleased with our technical analysis and “buy” recommendation. Gift card was presented to each team member. Although I could not attend the reception due to my flight back to Orange County, I was delighted to hear we won the session. It is also to prove that Indonesian is able to compete with other nationalities in the oil and gas industry.
Freemind Engineer 