2014 Shagufta Farheen
Mentor Company - Nexen
A Day at Nexen Energy
Ever since I arrived to Canada, my life has changed drastically. From the scorching heat of Saudi Arabia to the cold winters of Canada, it has changed completely in the opposite way. Never did I think that by coming to Canada, I will be able learn about so many wonders and things that this world holds. I was a quiet girl and had known little about the world beyond my immediate surroundings. I never thought of the time I may have to decide what I will be when I grow up. Even though I had ambitions in plenty, I had not set my focus on one particular area where I could become an expert in that field. Through time, I had suddenly realized that there was a vacuum where my future was supposed to be.
Operation Minerva was a boon and an eye opener for me. I was lucky to be selected as one of the candidates for this trip by my school. As soon I heard about this trip, I knew that this could be one way of finding out what lay ahead of me. Curiosity grew within me and I added my name in the draw. The time came when our science teacher, Ms. Krushel, came in with an envelope in one hand. She called all the girls-including me to one side for the draw. As she shook the envelope sideways and up down, I crossed my fingers. As she reached her fingers into the envelope, she grabbed hold of one slip of paper. Slowly, she removed it and opens the slip. We all waited patiently but with apprehension, and when my name was called I shrieked with excitement.
I was really enthused when I found out that I would be going to NEXEN for my job shadowing exercise. It was an entirely new knowledge area for me. I was not at all aware of how the rich resources of Oil Sands form the backbone of the Albertan and Canadian economy. I had no idea that I would learn, meet new people and see so many new things that would inspire me to think of my future. Thus, the journey began towards a new world of science and technology; where I might be able to see myself working in that field.
On Thursday, May 1st 2014, I left for my new journey along with 13 other girls who were selected for the job shadowing at this company; I felt nervous and scared. We all hopped down the bus and see the magnificent building towering over us. At the entrance was Anna Cheysvin with her companions. She and the others were to be our mentors and would guide us for that day. Anna introduced all her companions and split us into groups. I was selected in Wendy’s and Marla’s group. As they led us around the huge office, I tried to count the number of offices and conference rooms we passed by. But at a certain point I had to give up because there were so many rooms and so many levels that I could not keep count.
Wendy led us to a conference room, where all of us introduced ourselves and which school we were from. Most of the people like Wendy, Marla and Anna are Reservoir engineers. They have the opportunity to work together with other people, who had different roles in the company, about where they can extract oil from and how would they do it safely. When they visit their reservoirs, they are responsible for estimating how much oil and gas will be extracted and would report about the extraction. They are also responsible for evaluating opportunities such as optimizing and increasing oil and gas production from existing wells and planning future development projects.
As we sat in the conference room, we discussed about how oil, also called as bitumen is extracted from the ground. Oil is found from fossils and slowly these fossils turn into oil after a very long time. To get the oil, perforated pipes are laid underground and steam is pumped into them to melt the hard oil. Underground, the bitumen is as hard as a hockey puck, thus making it hard to flow up the pipelines. The steam gives heat to the particles of the hard bitumen, liquefying. It is pumped to the surface and is processed for use. Some of the oil is stored in wells. The bitumen we get is used in almost everything we have around us. These things include: electricity, food (harvesting form machines), entertainment, toothpaste and so on. But this oil should also be used for future generations. This is the job for environmental impact scientists like Emma, Paige and Kristen. Their duty is to consider and preserve life and monuments for future generations. By minimizing the impact of oil on water, wild life and habitat users, survival on earth would be safe and not harmful. They are also responsible for considering the ecosystem, like wetlands. Wetlands are very helpful for the survival of life around the area. This ecosystem provides water and prevents flooding and erosion. Another responsibility of these scientists is to consider the rules given by the government in order to set up an oil industry. They have duties on identifying and monitoring any impacts that happen on the reservoirs. Such impacts could be oil spills beside a clean river filled with wild life; this is where the environmental scientists come to solve the problem. Overall, their duty in the company helps create a stable and safe project around the habitat.
Now that I know how oil is extracted and how the environment is considered, how is oil first found in the area? This is where people like Stacey come in whose role is that of a Geophysicist. Her job is to examine sound waves and determine where oil can be found. Seismic is data received from seismic waves that travel down the earth and collect information of what is down there. These sound waves help create a 3D imagery for Stacey to find out what is underneath the earth. This helps her and the company determines where it is a perfect spot to drill for oil.
After a long time travelling from one conference room to another, we sit down and have a nutritious lunch. On the 21st floor of the building, all the 14 girls and mentors sit down and eat sandwiches. After lunch, Wendy said that there is going to be an interesting desert waiting outside. It was a cream cake; yet it was no ordinary cake because it involved a game. All the mentors divide us into 2 groups. Our main goal was to use skewers to dig through a certain part of the cake to find oil and gas; in this situation, oil is the strawberry cream and gas is the whip cream. As we dig through the cake, we should map out of where we found oil and where we found gas. Anna draws a map of the cake and we slowly map out the things we find. As we see more parts of the inside of the cake, we realized that this is how the seismic data would be of the underground. After our data is collected, Marla cut the cake into pieces according to where we decided oil would be. And voila! The half cut cake showed strawberry cream/oil of where we predicted it to be!
After our delicious cake, we walked around the tables and saw damaged pieces of drillers that were used to extract oil. Some were sharp and jagged, while others were broken and damaged badly. Clothing for safety on reservoirs was set up and some of us tried them on and took pictures.
Our last stop at the end of the day was at the Core Lab under the station. We walked down multiple sets of stairs and come across a small lab for geologists. This is where Sabita works and discovers different types of rocks. All the rocks she collects are from the drilling of the oil. As Sabita says, some rocks are useful whereas others could be useless; but what we get when we drill is never known with a 100% guarantee.
The job-shadowing exercise came to an end and all of us girls left to go home. While leaving, our mentors provided us with gift bags as mementos.
As I sat down in the bus, I waved good bye and saw the office fade away the farther we went. In this trip, not only did I learn about how the oil industry works or how science is the subject to earn money in; I realized that to succeed, we must work together. All the people in Nexen worked and relied upon each other. They accept the ideas people have to offer and create a bond where everyone gets the chance to do something good for the company. Engineers know that without geologists they would not be able to determine much about new discovered rocks and geologists would not even attempt to make their discoveries.
Ever since this trip, I have become interested in the science world. Today as I say to the world, I am proud to say that I know what I will become when I grow up. But I will explore other areas too and very soon I should be able to pinpoint the direction that I plan to take.
