First oil

There is a persistent public perception of the oil and gas industry as a dirty business that is purely chasing profits, with little concern for people or the environment. The reality is that our industry consists of multi-nationals, independents and national agencies that are working hard, in remote corners of the globe, to provide energy for the world. As an industry, we’re fully committed to protecting our employees, communities where we work, and the environment. This wasn’t always true historically, and there will always be a few bad apples, but as an industry, we’re all on the same HS&E page.

One small example of the oil industry’s commitment to people is our participation in the October Breast Cancer Awareness month. Throughout the United States and other parts of the world, industry employers and employees are wearing pink and making monetary contributions to organizations, such as the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Chesapeake Energy painted one of its rigs pink. Baker Hughes manufactured 500 pink-colored bits for distribution throughout the oil and gas fields, and made a contribution of $100,000 as part of its annual commitment. Undoubtedly, there are hundreds of other examples.

Participation in the Breast Cancer Awareness month is reflective of the growing participation of women in the oil and gas industry. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 3,900 positions added in the industry nationwide during the first quarter of 2013, about half were filled by women. According to the Profile of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges published by American Society of Engineering Education in 2011, women received 15.3% of the BS degrees in petroleum engineering during 2009-10. That percentage increased to 16.8% in 2010-11. Hopefully, the percentage will keep on increasing in future years.

Every type of cancer is a scourge on society, but breast cancer has reached epidemic proportions. All of us know a mother, wife, daughter, relative or friend, who is a victim. The National Cancer Institute places the average age of diagnosis at 61. However, a study published earlier in 2013 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that more women, aged 25 to 39, are being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer than in the past.

The oil and gas exploration industry has benefited from several diagnostic methods from the medical sciences, including X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging. While mammographic technology has advanced to include 3D imaging, doctors have to depend on computerized tomography (CT) scans to diagnose whether the disease has progressed to other parts of the body, such as lymph nodes, back or the brain. The radioactive nature of CT scanning makes it both dangerous and expensive. Many oncologists are reluctant to make routine use of CT scans and prefer to wait until there are physical symptoms, but by that time, the disease may have lodged in new locations.

It is, of course, far-fetched, but if our oil and gas scientists and engineers could help develop a scanning technique that is less dangerous and cheaper, it would be a magnificent way of advancing from the symbolism of wearing pink to providing substantive tools for cancer diagnosis. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thanks to Jill Tennant for statistics concerning the participation of women in the oil and gas industry