SURVIVING IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY THROUGH TRANSITIONING JOB ROLES

I began my career as a petroleumlandmanin the petroleum industry over 35 years ago. During that time, I witnessed two tremendous upward cycles full of excitement, prosperity and success and twodistressing downward cycles full of concern, fear and, in many cases, unemployment.

During thepetroleumcrisis of the 1980’s, as a landman, I was made aware of a critical fact related to my survival. Since drilling activities of petroleum companies was at a halt, the field landman, the geologist and in-house landmanwere no longer asnecessaryof a commodity as they had been. In many cases, their jobs were the first to go. On the other hand, if a petroleum company wanted to continue operating the fields already producing, they needed to maintain their land administration staff consisting of petroleum division order analysts, lease and title analysts and petroleum land technicians.

The 1980’s also gave rise to the cannibalism of petroleum companies that were failing or going bankrupt. More secure petroleum companies were acquiring those assets and, in many cases, needed to hirecontract petroleum professionals who qualified as competent petroleum division order analysts, lease and title analysts or petroleum land technicians.

As an unemployedlandman, securing a job in land administration as a petroleum division order analyst, lease and title analyst or petroleum land technicianseemed to be my best bet.I needed to transition from land to land administration. However, being without a job was only one of two other big problems I was facing. First, I had never done a day’s worth of work as a petroleum division order analyst, lease and title analyst or petroleum land technician. I didn’t know what they did or how they did what they did. The second problem was this – nobody offered training for any of these positions to those of us who desperately needed to transition and get our foot in the petroleum land administration door.

That is why, some thirty-five years later, seeing the current storm rage on,Petroleum Education Workshops has partnered with the University of Houston Downtown to develop continuing education certificate programs for those wishing to be trained as petroleum division order analysts, lease and title analysts or petroleum land technicians.

The benefit and value of continuing educationor one of these specialized certificate programs cannot be ignored.For many, enrolling in one of these certificate programsor taking one of the continuing education coursesmay be instrumental for future employment and success.

We have made it as easy as possible to obtain one of these certificates.

• The Petroleum Division Order Analyst Certificateconsists of six classes. Four of these six classes has been offered as part of the Petroleum Land Management (PLM) certificate program.One of the six classes has been offered as part of the Advanced PLM certificate program. Those who have previously taken any of these classes need not repeat these classes. In order to receive this certificate, only one additional division order class needs to be taken.

• The Lease and Title Analyst Certificate consists of six classes. Four of these six classes has been offered as part of the Petroleum Land Management (PLM) certificate program. One of the six classes has been offered as part of the Advanced PLM certificate program. Those who have previously taken any of these classes need not repeat these classes. In order to receive this certificate, only one additional lease and title analyst class needs to be taken.

• ThePetroleum Land Technician Certificate consists of seven classes. Four of these seven classes has beenoffered as part of the Petroleum Land Management (PLM) certificate program.Three of these seven classes has been offered as part of the Advanced PLM certificate program. Those who have previously taken any of these classes need not repeat these classes and is entitled to receive a Petroleum Land TechnicianCertificate without taking any additional classes.

The goal of any of our petroleum education programsis to equip petroleum professionalsso that they become more valuable,assisting them in potentially opening more doors of opportunity, and helping to ensure that their expertise will be in line with others in the petroleum industry.

Each of our classesis available online and can be taken in any order. Each course that is successfully completed qualifies for continuing education hours from various industry associations.

Petroleum Education Workshop (PEW) has been serving the petroleum industry for 18 years and is dedicated to providing premier education and training to professionals working in the oil and gas and land administration sectors. For more information about the petroleum education certificates, courses and training we offer, please contact us at(303) 663-0397.