Case studies : Reservoir geologist: Radzieman

Radzieman achieved his degree in geological sciences. His final year project was about the analogy of a petroleum system. This helped him secure his current job at Schlumberger.

Radzieman has always been fascinated by the evolution of the earth and particularly by petroleum system evolution. Because of this interest, he found that a geological sciences degree programme at the University of Leeds was the best course for him to study. He is also planning to do a Masters in petroleum geosciences in the near future.

His final year project was about the analogy of a petroleum system. When he presented it to the technical interviewers at Schlumberger, he received very positive feedback and they were happy to hire him as a reservoir geologist. The most important skills that he gained during his degree were interpretation skills. He had been taught how to do core analysis, seismic interpretations, field work and basic geological modelling from interpretations, which are particularly relevant to his current role. He found the field work in the curriculum particularly useful as it helps him to undertake geological interpretation and modelling.

Whilst at university, he did an internship as a biostratigrapher with Shell in Malaysia during his summer breaks and he also joined the Leeds University Malaysian Society, the Malaysian and Singaporean Society and the Islamic Society. He would recommend other geology students to look for work experience which will enable them to practise the technical skills they will need in their future career because it will highlight which subjects and skills need to be learned and mastered.

Geology is a very broad subject and Radzieman would advise current students to know what they want to do for a career, e.g. research geologist, petroleum geologist, etc., and then master the relevant skills during their degree course because that will give them the edge over other candidates during their job interviews.

So far, Radzieman’s role has involved full field review projects and field development planning projects, which he finds very interesting and challenging. He is particularly responsible for reservoir evaluation, which includes well correlation, 3D geomodelling, hydrocarbon volumetric calculation and field development planning. He is very enthusiastic about his job as he learns something new every day and has the opportunity to work in an integrated team made up of people with various backgrounds and different nationalities. In the future, he would like to develop his expertise in geology and geomodelling as he feels there are many uncertainties to be tackled and new skills to be mastered, which he finds progressively more interesting.