Joint SPE-PESA SA Mentoring Program Launches with 32 participants

Posted on: 09/08/2016

Joint SPE-PESA SA Mentoring Program Launches with 32 participants

By Helena Wu (Santos), SPE SA Section Past Chair

The joint SPE-PESA South Australia Mentoring Program for 2016 successfully launched on Thursday 14^th July, with an after work function held at The Wakefield Hotel, Adelaide.

In its augural year, the mentoring program is a new initiative of the local sections of SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) and PESA (Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia). It aims to offer additional support and guidance for young members as well as provide a volunteering opportunity for senior members to share their industry experience.

Both the local SPE and PESA Committees believe mentoring is particularly relevant during the current industry downturn, by providing support outside of line management, as well as enhanced networking opportunities. The pilot program this year has attracted great interest from the local industry, with 32 mentors and mentees participating. The program will run until November/December and concluding with a closing event.

The program launch was deliberately combined with a YPP Professional Development Event, with over 45 people attending. Bill Ovenden, Vice President Exploration at Santos Ltd. presented the keynote talk of the evening.

Bill spoke about his career journey to date and reflected on the mentors and lessons learnt along the way. His talk was both insightful and entertaining as he shared stories about his very successful international career, spanning multiple continents, as he raised through the technical ranks as a geologist to his current executive management position.

At the beginning of the talk, Bill revealed he had not realised the number of mentors he has had as well as the impact they have had, until he was putting the presentation together. This provided much food for thought for the attendees, by highlighting the often overlooked importance of informal mentors.

As with all YPP events, the evening provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to network over an informal setting. SPE SA thanks YPP and PESA for their collaboration and efforts in making the event a success.