What's your job about?
As a member of the drilling and completions team, I’m involved in drilling the wells, hydraulically fracturing any ‘tight’ wells to increase their permeability and installing down-hole equipment in the wells including casing, liners and pumps. As a graduate engineer, I’m based out in the field in the Cooper basin (in the North-East corner of South Australia in the desert!) working a fly-in, fly-out roster. At the moment, my time is split roughly 50:50 between on-the-job learning at the drilling and completions rigs learning from the Santos well site supervisor and the rig crew and working on a project to reduce the time it takes from drilling the wells to getting them online so we can produce the wells as quickly as possible.
What's your background?
I grew up in Brisbane and went to school at All Hallows’, an all-girls school in the city. I did really well in maths and science in school and so decided to study engineering at The University of Queensland. Throughout my time at university, I really made an effort to get involved in everything that I could and put myself out there. I got involved in the UQ Women in Engineering Program, I was a First Year Engineering student mentor, and I even tutored a couple of courses! In my second year of uni, I got involved with the UQ Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) as treasurer of EUS First Year Connect, a group that organises activities specifically for first year students. In my third year, I took on the role of Vice-President Careers at EUS where I organised two careers fairs that saw 35 companies and over 800 students in attendance, and in my final year, I was elected as president of EUS where I oversaw over 60 student volunteers to put on over 100 events throughout the year. Whilst I was at uni, I tried to get a broad range of different work experiences. I made it a goal to work somewhere different each break to make the most of the opportunity I had to jump around and try out different things whilst I was still a student. I worked on-site at a copper/gold mine for one summer, I worked at a metallurgical coal mine for one winter, I worked part-time at a mining technology company for one year, and finally worked for Santos at the end of my third year and have stayed on with them ever since!
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes! Drilling and completions aren’t something that’s really that’s taught at university so there’s a lot of learning in your first few years! My team mostly consists of chemical and mechanical engineers; however, I also work with some electrical engineers, mechatronics engineers, some civil engineers and even one physicist! To do well in this team, you need to be self-motivated, curious and have the willingness to learn, the rest will come with time and effort!
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing about my job is the sheer size of what we’re working on out here! We’re drilling wells that are kilometres deep using rigs as tall as a 10 stories building and are responsible for spending millions of dollars on behalf of Santos, you don’t get much ‘cooler’ than that! I find the size of the projects really motivating because even a small change can have a really big impact on the final result.
What are the limitations of your job?
As a graduate, I’ll be based out in the field for at least the next couple of years. I’m currently working a 2:2 roster, meaning I work for two weeks straight doing 12-hour days out at Moomba and then get two weeks off back home in Brissy. I think the hardest thing about my job is that you’re so far away from your friends and family and even when you’re back home, everyone else who’s working a 9-5 is on a different schedule from you. In saying that, I also think the roster is one of the best parts of my job. Only working half the year means I get heaps of time off to travel and spend time doing things I probably wouldn’t otherwise have time for!
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...