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On foreign assignment with Oil
Search
By RUTH WARAU
As a Papua New Guinean company that has operated in the country
for more than 77 years, Oil Search is proud of the many nationals
it employs - they make up approximately 80% of the 1000 people on
staff in the PNG operation today.
Oil Search has a commitment to developing their employees both in
their current and future roles. An important part of the staff
development programme is the identification and development of
future leaders. As part of the company Training and Localisation
Plan, Oil Search has identified a number of people to be future
leaders in their particular disciplines.
The company’s’ comprehensive staff development and training
programme provides opportunities for employment and advancement
through a career path for those individuals who demonstrate the
necessary skills and abilities.
In line with agreements with the National Government, Oil Search
gives preference in employment and training to people from the
provinces directly impacted by the petroleum development
activities - Southern Highlands and Gulf. Where there are no
appropriately qualified candidates from those provinces other
Papua New Guineans are considered.
Training and self-advancement are seen as an essential element of
being employed by Oil Search and the company recognises and
rewards those individuals who demonstrate professionalism in their
work.
Since Oil Search now has operations in many parts of the world
including Libya, Egypt, Yemen and the Kurdistan region of northern
Iraq, staff promotion and advancement often involves national
staff being posted to overseas locations on short or longer-term
assignments.
In the Oil Search Sydney office, which coordinates much of the
technical and corporate planning for the company’s’ international
operations, there are a number of Papua New Guinean professionals
working. The positions they occupy are not training posts - they
carry out line management roles in their respective disciplines.
In Sydney the PNG citizens include petroleum engineers, a
reservoir engineer, a planning coordinator, a financial analyst,
an IT specialist and one working as a document management
specialist in the company library.
They are detailed thus;
Michael Uiari, (pic1) Planning Coordinator - originally from Oro
province and a law graduate from UPNG, Michael took his bar exams
in 1995 and worked for Gadens Lawyers for a number of years before
being seconded to Orogen Minerals. He joined Oil Search when
Orogen was taken over in 2003 and prior to his posting to the
Sydney office was PNG legal counsel in the Port Moresby head
office.
Dr. Ben Yaru, (pic2)Group Environment Manager. Hailing from Wabag
in Enga province, Ben completed his PhD in Environmental Biology
at the University of Sydney in 2000 after attaining his Bachelors
and Masters Degrees in Applied Science from the University of
Technology in 1986 and 1992. He has worked for the CSIRO in Sydney
and for five years as an environmental scientist with Ok Tedi
Mining Limited. Before being engaged by Oil Search in 2005, Ben
operated for four years as an independent environmental consultant
advising the PNG Government and most major resource developers in
PNG.
Dorothy Weregola,(pic3) Collection Services Administrator. Dorothy
has had a long career with both Chevron Niugini and Oil Search,
before which she worked for nine years for Bougainville Copper
Limited. She moved to Australia in 2000 to undertake a diploma in
library and information practice. During her studies, Dorothy
worked part-time for Oil Search in Sydney. In 2002 she was able to
apply her training to work in her current role in the Compliance
and Procurement section of the office.
Luke Liria, (pic4) Corporate Infrastructure Team Leader - from
Pangia in the Southern Highlands province, Luke worked for the
American contractor Bechtel after his graduation from the
University of Technology before joining Chevron Niugini as a Unix
administrator within their Petroleum Engineering division. In this
role he worked in Port Moresby, Cairns and Perth before returning
to PNG in 2003 when Oil Search took over Chevron Niugini assets in
the country. Before being transferred to Sydney Luke was the Oil
Search field IT Systems administrator.
His current role is to plan, organise, and manage staff and
overall operations to ensure the stable operation of the
organisations IT infrastructure. This includes developing,
maintaining, supporting, and optimising key functional areas,
particularly network infrastructure, server infrastructure, data
communications. The Infrastructure Manager will also schedule and
direct activities to establish standards across Oil Search
infrastructure, R&D, resolve hardware and software problems in a
timely and accurate fashion.
Eddie Guru, (pic5) Senior Reservoir Engineer. From the Central
Province Eddie has had a long career with both Chevron Niugini and
Oil Search. After completing his undergraduate degree in
Electrical Engineering at the University of Technology he worked
as an electrical engineer, before completing another degree in
Petroleum Engineering in the University of Tulsa in the United
States. Eddie has been working in the Sub-surface team for over
two years and is a valued Reservoir Engineer.
Fiona Smare,(pic6) Reservoir Engineer. With parents from West
Sepik & Western Highlands provinces, Fiona completed her
undergraduate degree in Mineral Process Engineering at Unitech and
was employed as a petroleum engineer with Chevron Niugini. She
transferred to Oil Search after the takeover of Chevron Niugini
operations in late 2003 and recently accepted a position as a
Reservoir Engineer in the Sub-surface section in the Sydney
office. In her new role, Fiona is developing a greater range of
capabilities that will prepare her for new roles within Oil Search
in the future.
Roge Kila, (pic7) Senior Reservoir Engineer - From Vula’a village
near Rigo in the Central povince, Roge has degrees in Geology (UPNG)
and Petroleum Engineering (University of Tulsa, USA). He joined
Chevron Niugini in 1994 as field geologist working in various
locations in PNG before transferring to Perth as Petroleum
Engineer from 2000 to 2003. Roge has been working with Oil Search
in Sydney since late 2003 when Oil Search took over all the
Chevron Niugini activities in Papua New Guinea.
Joyce Kayeni,(pic8) Financial Accountant. From the Southern
Highlands Province, Joyce has spent her career working in Finance.
She has been working in Sydney for the last 18 months as a
Financial Accountant. Joyce had previously worked for Chevron
Niugini in Perth and Cairns and has settled well into life in
Australia. Joyce is keen to complete additional professional
qualifications before returning to a senior role in Papua New
Guinea.
Wapu Sonk, (pic9) Workover and Completions Engineer - Wapu comes
from Nipa in the Southern Highlands province. He was recently
transferred to Sydney to take on a new position as Workover and
Completions Engineer with the Drilling team.
Prior to transferring to Sydney, Wapu held positions as Field
Petroleum Engineer, Field Operations Coordinator during the FEED
for the PNG to QLD Gas Project and Well Services Engineer
positions both with Chevron Niugini and Oil Search.
He joined Chevron Niugini in March 1997 after completing a degree
in Mining Engineering from the PNG University of Technology in Lae
and continued on with Oil Search following the change in
operatorship in October 2003. He is keen to spend some time with
the drilling group and is also pursuing studies in Management and
doing Masters in Petroleum Engineering on part time basis, both
sponsored by Oil Search Limited as part of his development.
As part of the company efforts to further improve the standard and
quality of its national staff Oil Search under its graduate
programme engages a number of graduates every year to work with
various departments for two years, after which they are usually
offered permanent positions with the company. This years’ intake
consists of 18 graduates in a variety of disciplines.
The graduate programme complements the range of in-house training
provided by the Oil Search Academy, established in 2004, that
ranges from improving basic literacy and numeracy to
apprenticeships, soft skills, mandatory safety, front line
management and specific technical training courses
Oil Search has an ongoing commitment to staff development
training. Where it is considered valuable for their progress,
people will be seconded to roles in Port Moresby, Australia or to
the Middle East and Northern Africa.
 
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