69. [Career Exploration] The Future of Oil and Gas: High-Tech Careers and Environmental Innovation with Industry Insider Mark LaCour

Imagine shattering the myths surrounding the oil and gas industry and stepping into a world of high-tech, environmentally conscious opportunities - that's exactly what we're doing with our guest Mark in today's episode. Our conversation peels back layers of misconception, showcasing the industry's need for roles like data scientists and field technicians, while highlighting the global reach and educational incentives that await eager minds. 

Mark takes immense pride in the strides towards sustainability and invite others with a passion for the planet to join us in making an impact. He also emphasizes the significance of networking within the oil and gas community, revealing how personal connections can open doors that technology alone cannot. This episode is not just a discussion; it's a roadmap for growing your career in the dynamic world of oil and gas.

A special thanks to our sponsors:

• OGGN 
• TGS
• USI

Links for student internship opportunities: 

• ExxonMobil
• Chevron
• Shell
• BP

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Thank you, Mark, for being here with us today.

Speaker 2: 0:02

Thank you for joining us here at NAPE and it's a great having fun in front of your audiences and hopefully I can have a decent conversation and do a little entertaining education. We'll see.

Speaker 1: 0:09

I love it. I love it. You're getting me here on the spot, but hey, there's always a first right.

Speaker 2: 0:14

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 0:14

I love it. Well, first, I want to start off with just asking a couple of questions. I know that you have been involved a lot with students and are you then getting them involved in the oil gas energy sector? So tell us a little bit about that and what inspired you to connect more with students.

Speaker 2: 0:33

So a couple of things. So the oil and gas industry right now is facing a lot of negative public perception around the world. A lot of people, especially young people, think we're destroying the planet. Now, the problem with that is our industry depends on engineers, project managers and accounting and field techs to get work done. So if we don't have the people, if we don't have the talent, we can't get the work done.

Speaker 2: 0:53

And so one of the things we're doing here at Oil and Gas Global Network is we're telling the true and real stories of the industry. No politics, no opinions, just so our world junk people can understand they can make a fantastic career in this industry and if they decide, for whatever reason, they don't want to go to college, they can still get a job making $150,000, $75,000 a year in this industry. And kids and younger adults and parents we are not destroying the planet Happy to go into that further, but it's a great industry to work for. It's not dirty heavy steel. What everybody thinks is. It's a very high tech industry. Our number one, most role that we can't hire for is data scientists right.

Speaker 2: 1:33

And the number two role that we can't hire for is field technicians, and there's this many women, young women out in the field doing work in the oil and gas industry is the our guy. So it's just a great opportunity and it's an opportunity that a lot of people may not think of when they're thinking of a career.

Speaker 1: 1:48

That's amazing. So what are the career opportunities you think are within that industry that people don't think about?

Speaker 2: 1:55

So I mentioned data scientists. People don't think about robotics. This industry is heavy into robotics, Things like chemical manipulation. So if you want to get a degree in chemical engineering, same way with electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, but also things like accounting, project accountants, if you're into graphics, if you're somebody that likes to draw into paint and understands a lot of the graphic artist's software package out there, we use that very heavily. And Sonia, podcasting. I literally run a company that has 20 separate oil and gas and energy focused podcasting and we're sponsored by very big companies, so you literally can be a professional podcaster on top of everything else in the oil and gas industry if you want to do that for a career.

Speaker 1: 2:38

That is amazing. So what type of student do you think would be interested in this sector, in this industry?

Speaker 2: 2:45

So any young person out there that likes a challenge, that is confident enough to say you know what I have a better way of doing something, that's open to learning with new ideas, people that like to travel, this is truly a global industry. So if you're somebody that would like to see the world, this is the industry for you. Also, if you're in a situation where maybe you want to go to college but you can't afford it, or maybe you want to go to graduate school, this industry is full of companies that, once you're hired, will pay for you to get your undergraduate, your graduate, your PhD right. So it's really up to you. So, literally anybody that is looking for new adventures, this industry is a great place to be.

Speaker 1: 3:23

That sounds amazing, because I'm all about helping students not just go to college if that's what they choose, but graduate with the least amount of that possible, and so if there's opportunities for that, that's awesome. Where can students learn more about the industry? If they wanted to start somewhere, where would they start?

Speaker 2: 3:40

Well, of course they have to go all the gas global network right. We're actually probably about two weeks after this airs. We're launching a Young Persons podcast hosted by a pair of high schoolers and I have an advisory board made up of eighth grade to eleventh graders, and this entire podcast is going to be for young people, by young people, and it's going to explore the industry from one end to another. There's also a lot of good information out on the YouTube channels. Let me just warn people, though, that they're listening to this. There's also a lot of propaganda out there on all the social channels TikTok, youtube, twitter, facebook. Whatever that's showing you.

Speaker 2: 4:16

This industry is a horrible industry that's destroying the planet. It's not. We make modern life possible. This podcast would not be possible without the plastics that the oil and gas industry provides. If you have a smartphone, that smartphone is made with materials from the oil and gas industry. 60% of the world is fed with fertilizer made from natural gas, so this industry is probably one of the most important industries to mankind, and just unfortunately, we've allowed politics and people that don't really understand our industry to have a voice in public, and that voice in public has been amplified by social media.

Speaker 2: 4:51

There's a lot of negative stuff out there. Now don't get me wrong. Just like any other industry, we've made our mistakes. The BP-Maccano disaster, which happened a while back, was a horrendous impact to the environment in the Gulf of Mexico, but we cleaned it up. We fixed it and cleaned it up. So, like I said, just like any other industry, we have our black eyes, but as an industry, we're full of engineers that can fix that and we do so. There's a lot of resources out there. Also, check out oggncom. I know I'm giving myself another plug.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Yeah no, go for it, but we have a lot of educational resources on the website, with more coming.

Speaker 1: 5:25

That's awesome. So what about sustainability? Because that's a big topic right now, right? So how is that being impacted right now with oil, gas and industry?

Speaker 2: 5:33

So here and in Europe. I'm going to be very honest here. Our impact in the environment, our sustainability goals, are one of the most important things to us. So health, safety and environment, which we call HSE, is the most important metric in this industry. If we spilled two ounces literally two ounces so think of a shot glass of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico it has to be reported and cleaned up. It's an incident. Think about all the places in the world where they fill up diesel trucks with diesel. There's a hundred years where the diesel's spent on the ground that nobody even talks about. So sustainability is huge. It's one of the metrics that drive this industry. Now, other countries don't have the same dedication and focus on their impact in the environment, unfortunately. One of the things to ask a lot of people is have you ever heard of a Russian or Chinese oil spill? No, well, that is one of two things. That means either they're better at it than us and the Europeans or when they make a mistake, they don't tell.

Speaker 2: 6:30

And I'm telling you now, I've seen it with my eyes. They don't tell. So the industry globally has a lot of room to improve its sustainability metrics, but here in Europe we're doing a great job. In fact, even though the amount of energy generated in the US from hydrocarbons, from oil and gas, has went up in the last 20 years, in the US our emissions have went down, so we're producing more energy from oil and gas with less emissions, and that trend will continue. And what I'm hoping, fingers crossed, is we eventually can help other countries like Russia and China and Africa do the same.

Speaker 1: 7:01

That's incredible and you know, I always say, if you're complaining, be part of the solution. So if your child is solution-oriented, problem-solving, this is a great place to be and really connect 100%.

Speaker 2: 7:14

My degree is in wildlife manager. I am an educated environmentalist, I love nature, I can talk you through everything and I am proud to work in the oil and gas industry. So even that, if you're an environmentalist and you want to come help this industry, make sure we have the least amount of impact to the planet, come on board. We'd love to have you.

Speaker 1: 7:31

And Mark has a lot of contacts. I know that already.

Speaker 2: 7:34

Well, we so I met you through a Facebook group and we actually have quite a few people from that group. We're at a very large oil and gas conference. We're in our podcast Pavilion. The camera only shows one angle, but if we spun it around you'd see that we have another table recording audio. Only we have people coming in saying, hi, happy to see us. It's a family, sonia, even though this industry is large and global and we do some really hard work. I mean, if you think about what we do, we're trying to intentionally capture stuff that is explosive and safely get it out of the ground and turn it to valuable resources. Absolutely, but it's still a family. I can go anywhere in the world and when they realize I work in the oil and gas industry, I'm accepted in like I'm a cousin.

Speaker 1: 8:13

I love that, I love that. So, and that's something I want to touch on, can you give parents especially recommendations on how to network? You and I do it, naturally, but that is such a key topic that we need to talk about, because without network it's kind of hard to find a job or a career opportunity.

Speaker 2: 8:30

It really is, and especially now, in 2024, with technology, nothing against submitting your resume online somewhere. The truth is, especially if it's a big company, your resume's being read by technology, not a person. There's some machine learning and if your resume isn't written quite right, it'll just reject it, even though you may still be a good fit for that job. However, if you happen to be able to talk to the hiring manager and get to know them, then you skip all of that.

Speaker 2: 8:56

Networking, I think, is one of those vital things. And another thing is it's really vital when you're young. So if you're in college, I know you're busy, I know you're studying your butts off and you're worried about your GPA and maybe you have a little bit of money at a time without your friends once in a while you need to carve out some time to network, join industry organizations in the industry you want to go work for and volunteer and, like I said, I know you don't have a lot of time. So, as a professional out of school that has a career that owns a company, I have eight hours a month in my calendar that's sacred to only network. Now, networking is not just going out having drinks at a cocktail bar right.

Speaker 2: 9:31

Although that's part of it. Networking is going out and seeing how you can help other people. Introduce yourself, find out what they do and see if you can help. Don't ask for anything, but as you do that, people will get to know you and you end up building this circle after circle of circle of people that know you, that trust you, that can help you and at the same time, like I said earlier, join the professional organizations and volunteer that are in whatever industry you want. Those groups also are another great networking resource.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Preach, mark preach. I mean this is exactly what I talk about, because a lot of people parents will say, well, I don't know anybody. You do. If you really think about it, you do and share that dream, share that goal for your child to everyone. You never know who knows who right.

Speaker 2: 10:14

Yeah, 100%. And you would. You know that whole seven degrees of Kevin Bacon thing. It's true. You would be amazed that the people that your closer peers know that you just have never asked them about. And it's not just a way to get jobs, it's also a way to get better at what you do. What better way to learn how to be better at your current position than to find somebody that does what you do, that maybe works for a competitor or a different industry, and then you get to learn different things and what you think is normal, which is no big deal to you and your head, they would think was super great to learn. So by trading that information, you're helping both of you, which in my world, is the definition of networking, where both parties come out ahead.

Speaker 1: 10:54

Absolutely, and I love the point that you made about making it about them rather than yourself. How can I help you Rather than how can you help me?

Speaker 2: 11:03

Yeah, yeah, that's the most important thing. Unfortunately, salespeople I'm talking to you directly right now there are salespeople out there that go to networking events trying to find clients, and that is not the place to find clients. That's the place to start relationships that maybe maybe might end up to a client later, but those people sometimes tend to ruin networking events. That's the guy that comes up to you, hands you a business card without you asking, ask you what you do and before you can get in 30 seconds, they stop the conversation and start telling you how they can help you. Salespeople, stop it. Stop it. You're ruining networking, right? Networking is what we're doing right now.

Speaker 2: 11:39

So I don't know Sonia. We met through a Facebook group. I liked her, I liked what she was doing. I invited her to this event, something that she probably wouldn't have ever done by herself, right? No? And so now I have Sonia in my inner circle. So next time we do something like this, I'll invite her again because she's valuable. She's recording podcasts here and guess what? If I need to get in her world? Like I told you earlier, we're launching a young person podcast and I need resources to reach out to young people. I now have some in my network. Now I've given Sonia something that was probably be hard for her to get without any strings attached. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm just trying to get you out of it Absolutely. I'm trying to get you out of it Absolutely. I've been answering from the bottom of my heart. I try to help her. I promise you. If I need your help, what do you do?

Speaker 1: 12:19

Oh, I'm going to help you. Yeah, and that's what makes the world go around. I love that. And something else that I noticed and I want to share with our listeners Mark posted this invitation on a Facebook group, with hundreds probably, and you know how many takers he got? Just a handful.

Speaker 2: 12:37

I'm assuming I think we had seven people took me up on it online and of those seven, I think only three actually showed up.

Speaker 1: 12:44

Do you see that there is so much opportunity and you just have to say yes? The offer was made to everybody and not everybody said yes and I was just like, hey, I'll go for it and it's been an amazing experience. Thank you so much, mark. I'm going to wrap it up by asking you an important question. You network with a lot of people. You work with a lot of teenagers. What do you think most people, or most teenagers as they're going through college, wish they would have known earlier.

Speaker 2: 13:14

Ooh, that is a really good question. So for me and I went to college very long time ago, but I think this is probably still true A lot of people think that once you get that degree, that the world's going to be waiting in line with a check and a pen ready to offer you a job, and unfortunately, it's not true. While you're in school, you need to start working toward your full-time employment or however you want to do it. One of the best things to do is probably get an internship in whatever industry you're fancy or whatever your degree's in, and that internship really should be a paid internship. The reason why I say paid instead of free is most free internships I see they stick to interns somewhere, file and stuff. You're not going to learn how to do anything about that. You're not going to learn anything about business. If it's a paid internship, they actually have structure and they want you to do stuff.

Speaker 2: 14:01

Now students remember this. There's two cycles for paid internships here in the US. It's the summer and winter break. Right, you have to start a year ahead of time. I don't know how many students reach out to me, sonia, in March and April wanting me to help them find a summer internship. Well, I'm sorry it's too late, they're full by then. Right, you need to start the previous March or April. And I'm going to throw another segue for the oil and gas industry Check out Chevron, exxon, bp, shell, stato all the major super majors. They have fantastic student intern programs that are online. But remember, you got to apply the year before. Don't wait until a month before or a week before. You're not going to get in.

Speaker 1: 14:42

I love that and I'm going to connect with Mark to get a couple of other names and websites and we'll put it in the show notes.

Speaker 2: 14:47

We love that. I would be happy to give you a bunch of websites. I would love for two or three year listeners to pick up a paid internship. That would be awesome.

Speaker 1: 14:52

That is amazing. Thank you so much, Mark, for being here with us.

Speaker 2: 14:56

It's awesome.

Speaker 1: 14:57

And sharing your knowledge and connecting and networking. Tgs aims to provide deep insights and understanding to support society's evolving energy needs Across the energy spectrum, through innovation and data-driven solutions. We utilize diverse data sources, including our own, to create actionable insights that enable you to make the right decisions. Check them out the link is in the show notes, which is TGScom, and we also have OGGN, obviously, mark here from the world's largest and most listened to oil and gas podcast network in the world. You can go to OGGNcom. Naep, which is where we are airing from, is the North American Prospect Expo, where deals are done, so you can check them out and we'll have the website on our show notes as well. And then, last but not least, usi, which prizes donated by USI Insurance Services, and you can visit them at USIcom.

Speaker 2: 15:57

So, sonia, thank you, you just helped us pay the bills. I appreciate that. I love it.

Speaker 1: 16:01

And I can't wait to have you back on again. I love that. Thank you so much, mark. You're very welcome. See ya, bye. Oh my gosh, that was so good.

Speaker 2: 16:08

So hit that red button.