Dear colleagues and friends!
Welcome to the April edition of our monthly online magazine.
In this month’s letter I would like to touch on the topic I receive quite a lot of questions on – what is it like to be a woman engineer in the oil and gas industry? Do I feel there are equal career opportunities in oil and gas for men and women in the 21st century?
Unfortunately, statistics still indicate a big gender gap especially when it comes to technical roles (see, for example theWPC/BCG report on the gender balance in oil and gas (LINK)). From my experience, back when I was involved into the offshore operations, it was always funny and sad at the same time how I was perceived as being a part of the catering crew rather than an engineer when waiting in the heliport to be
transferred to the rig to start the work shift. Moreover, even when it comes to the ‘office’ jobs the gender diversity is mostly concentrated in stuff support roles – such as human resources, finance and legal. There are several problems here. First, how to attract and boost the women participation in the STEM programs? Second, how to increase the attractiveness of the industry as a technical career choice for women?
The other concern is related to the lack of women in leadership when it comes to the mid-career and the executive level. Of the top 20 companies in the energy sector, only 8% of executive committee members (i.e. employees reporting directly to the CEO) are female.
Here in SPE London we care about the situation with the gender gap in the oil industry. That is why we created a dedicated committee – the Women in Energy. Every year since 2006 the committee runs its biggest event – a one-day seminar – addressing the challenges that women in oil and gas are facing. This year won’t be an exception. The seminar is scheduled for 14 June. I would highly recommend it for attendance which is, by the way, not limited to the women only. On the contrary, we welcome our male colleagues to contribute to the discussion, share your vision of the gender situation in the industry and hear how this perhaps affects you.
More details of the event and how to sign up could be found on our website, social media and further in this issue.
As usual, please let us know of any thoughts, questions, ideas you have and do get in touch by writing to SPELondon@spemail.org
Kind regards,
Dr Olga Bradulina
SPE Chairperson