MELANIE CRUTHIRDS, News Editor
In the early-1990s, following a nearly 20-year stint with Texaco in the UK, Jack Christiansen, founder and director of the Petroleum Technology Initiative, returned to the U.S. and noticed a distinct lack of emphasis on petroleum related education in Houston. As one of the nation’s biggest energy hubs, the city did not have many programs that focused on giving students required knowledge and practical skills that would prepare them for careers in oil and gas.
Christiansen started his more than 35-year career in the oil and gas industry with Texaco, later Chevron-Texaco, as a geophysicist, later geologist, and manager of Development Geoscience in the North Sea, in the engineering department. Working in Houston, he became manager of reservoir engineering for major projects in Southeast Asia and South America. His career has focused on creating value by taking exploration projects into commercialization, through development or divestiture.
Abroad, and in the U.S., Christiansen saw an opportunity to combine industry knowledge with education. When Christiansen retired from Chevron-Texaco (now Chevron) in 2003, he had his plan ready for implementation.
“After exciting careers with energy companies, a lot of retired subject matter experts live in Houston, and want to do something meaningful in terms of education and giving back to the community,” said Christiansen. He reasoned that there must be a way to incorporate this desire into the educational system, not only to encourage students to enter the petroleum industry, but to help enable a faster transition into the working world. “We wanted to create a system within the university, in which we could try to reduce the time it takes for a new employee to start creating value in a company,” said Christiansen. “In an education, the focus should be shared between first principles, academic research and practical experience.”
Christiansen said that he had three areas of interest in mind when establishing the initiative: deep and ultra-deepwater operations, unconventional plays and the Arctic. After gauging local interest, evaluating resources and taking cues from the industry, he approached the dean of the College of Technology at the University of Houston, with an idea to equip graduates with as many real-world skills as possible, before they enter the workforce. That idea was fulfilled when the college’s Petroleum Technology Initiative was established in 2007.
Now, University of Houston mechanical engineering technology students can elect to take courses in subjects such as drilling, downhole tools and techniques, valve design, offshore systems and pipeline design. Christiansen teaches the program’s signature course, The Petroleum Industry, which provides students with something uniquely related to energy. “What I try to do during this special course is to give more of an overview,” said Christiansen. “I think it’s important, in the industry, to have an idea of how the oil and gas industry works, where all of the pieces fit together … and why that’s important.”
As a veteran upstream industry professional, Christiansen said that in his experience, new graduates are often very narrowly focused on a subject or area of study by the time graduation rolls around. A well-rounded general understanding of the industry, and all of its moving parts, could be a more useful tool, along with the university major in technology and engineering, for potential hires to have, as they transition into the working world.
In an effort to give students hands-on experience with the oil and gas industry, prior to graduation, Christiansen said Petroleum Technology Initiative leaders work closely with industry companies, and has teamed with engineering and service companies.
For example, Dril-Quip is hosting three-day subsea architecture and mechanical structures classes, introducing applications and manufacturing technology, plant equipment and facilities, global links in logistics and procurement.
Additionally, Camp Red, hosted by Halliburton, includes five days of site visits during the school’s spring break. Through the camp, students, most often from the College of Technology, have the opportunity to see the company’s technology center and testing and manufacturing facilities, and to visit an active oil and gas wellsite, to possibly observe a fracturing job.
Unlike many undergraduate students, who may not be aware of the opportunities that oil and gas can provide, the Camp Red and Dril-Quip class participants get to see first-hand what it is like to apply technology, manufacture engineered structures and work in the field, using one’s own knowledge and skills to solve real problems.
Christiansen said one of his favorite parts of the program is the fact that he and his team of professors are able to share with students their excitement about, and enthusiasm for, the upstream industry, and the innovations it produces.
With the tools provided by Christiansen’s Petroleum Technology Initiative, students and active professionals can gain valuable work-related expertise, which could immediately set them apart from the global field of oil and gas job seekers. 
|
