OSL appoints first female supervisor

Being responsible for an entire gas production facility with high value assets can be no easy job but for Wendy Bart, it’s in her DNA.
As a fully-trained Oil Search process technician, Bart is now the company’s first female production supervisor and maybe even the country’s.
Bart ensures day-to-day operations of the Hides maintenance and production team under her care are executed safely and effectively.
“It’s not because I am a woman that I have been trained to do certain things,” she said.
“It is because I am a woman that I can do all this and more.”
Bart, from East Sepik, joined Oil Search in 2006 through the company’s apprenticeship programme.
She went on to participate in the Oil Search accelerated development programme and the citizen development programme (CDP).
The CDP creates a pipeline of Papua New Guinea leadership talent to meet the company’s current and future needs.
With the support of her senior leaders, Bart had undergone on and off-the-job development in preparation for the role, including leadership coaching.
She was one of the first two females to operate Oil Search’s Kutubu refinery, where she helped supervise processing of crude oil from an on-site storage tank into jet fuel, kerosene and diesel.
Bart admitted the journey was not easy.
“I have come a long way since I first started as an apprentice process technician,” she said.
“Oil Search did more for me than I could ever imagine.
“They believed in me and helped me realise I was paving the way for women in Papua New Guinea when I became the first female refinery operator, control room operator, production trainer and now the first female production supervisor.
“I am honoured to work for a company that stands for gender equality right down to the floor, giving every support from training and coaching to exposure within all areas of the business.
“My story is a testament of this.”
Bart is also one of many proud parents on a fly-in-fly-out (Fifo) work roster.
“This is my profession, this is what I do for a living to support my family,” she said. “I think Oil Search’s 28-days Fifo roster is ideal as I get to have equal time off work to be with them.
“On top of that, my children are also cared for in education and health by the company.”
Bart’s advice to girls looking at technical fields is that “you can achieve anything if you put your minds to it”.
“I would like to be an inspiring role model for all females venturing into technical fields that were once male-dominated,” she said.