Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an oil and gas explorer, or how they think about the world? In a series of articles on Exploring the Explorer I want to put a focus back onto these professionals to give insight about their careers in exploring for oil and gas.
Based on initial results of a survey of exploration professionals I will share insights on topics such as inspiration for geoscience, the explorer personality, motivation, resilience, the rush of discovery, and views on moral issues such as corruption and climate change.
Today’s insight is all about the Drive to Explore.
2) The Drive to Explore
Today’s insight is about the fundamental drive to explore and the resilience of explorers to bounce back after experiencing failure.
In my previous insight on Discovery, I pointed out that exploring for oil and gas is a risky endeavour and the following map of selected high-impact dry holes and non-commercial discoveries drilled in 2021 gives this real emphasis (acknowledgement to Westwood Global Energy Ltd). A typical frontier well may have only a 15-25% chance of success and the chance for a commercial discovery from exploration drilling is often less than 20% overall. According to Westwood Global Energy Ltd more than 2 wells on average are needed to open a frontier oil and gas play and over the last 10 years the commercial chance of success in frontier exploration has been less than 10%. These statistics mean that most exploration wells result in failure and explorers often see their years of effort come to a climax and then fizzle out with a dry well. It is a real gut punch when this happens, but how do explorers deal with failure and maintain the drive to explore again?
A strong theme from the respondents was the importance of learning from failure. Explorers feel compelled to use newly gained geological knowledge to create new ideas for the next exploration wells. Explorers are hungry for new information from every well because of course only a well can prove the existence, or not, of oil and gas in the subsurface. In most cases the available data prior to drilling contain uncertainties which challenge the exploration geoscientists to apply their experience and skills to deduce what is likely to exist where data are absent, or unclear.
Explorers get a real kick from the challenges they face in pursuit of oil and gas resources, and they know that a successful exploration well can be a massive boost to their company. This fuels a strong desire in explorers for success and to be recognised as successful. One respondent mentioned an “unrelenting desire to explore”, another just loved “the thrill of exploring”, and another mentioned the “excitement of being successful against the odds.” One respondent used the analogy of fishing – “the thrill of the chase and hope for a big one!”
Self-motivation and the desire to achieve exploration success are present in many explorers. The desire for success is derived from the innate need to validate scientific predictions in the face of uncertainty and be seen to have achieved enhanced understanding when a discovery is made. Explorers are also fascinated by the uniqueness of each exploration opportunity and get really excited by the ability to create ideas based on new information.
So, what really is it that makes explorers resilient after the experience of failure? Respondents mentioned that it is a lot of fun to be with a good bunch of people in a team faced with these challenges and the collective ability to rise to them. Resilience after failure appears to be built up from several factors including gaining new scientific insight from a failed well, the drive to create new ideas, the strong desire for success and always an optimistic outlook.
In the next Exploring the Explorer insight article we will look what changes explorers have observed during their careers and what factors have always kept them motivated.
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