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Deidre Brooks

A picture of Deidre Brooks

Name:
Deidre Brooks
Age:
47
Location:
Brisbane
Current job title:
Principal Geologist

Qualifications

Past experience

For the past 27 years I have been working for oil and gas exploration companies based out of various Australian capital cities (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and now Brisbane). Most of my work experience has been on Australian offshore basins as well as some overseas areas (mainly Pakistan and North Africa). Back in 1986 when there was a large oil price crash, I worked for 12 months as a computer programmer until the oil price picked up again and I re-entered the petroleum industry.

How did you get started?

Growing up with a family who were heavily into opal and other gemstone fossicking, led me to being interested enough in geology to study the subject both at high school and at university. When I started my university degree I never imagined that I would end up in the oil and gas industry but I am glad I did as it has turned out to be a very exciting, well paid and rewarding career.

Greatest professional achievement

My greatest professional achievements are twofold. One was winning the best exploration paper award at the Indonesian Petroleum Conference in Jakarta one year, which reflects one side of my job which is being able to effectively communicate and present to others. The other achievement is being involved in a successful oil or gas discovery well. There is nothing more exciting than watching and waiting during the drilling of every exploration well to see if hydrocarbons are found. When hydrocarbons are found it is very satisfying to be able to say that I was part of the team that made the discovery. This is no mean feat as the time taken from when we first start planning a well to actually reaching our targets in a well can take up to two years or more, so it is a long road waiting for the pinnacle of many years work to be reached. Of course some wells do not discover anything - then it is back to the drawing board to plan for the next well!

Challenges the job presents

As a petroleum exploration geologist every day brings new challenges. No two days are the same. I basically undertake detective work so when new data comes in, new ideas and concepts need to be developed to fit the data as best as possible (and often several geological models could fit one set of data). Then I use my skills and experience to piece together a geological model or concepts that will highlight areas where hydrocarbons might be trapped.

What you like most about your job

There are so many things that I like about my job, it is difficult to name just one aspect. The variety of work is great from digging deep into data and coming up with new geological ideas or areas to explore to giving presentations at conferences and high level meetings, the travel opportunities, the great people, the salary - they are all fantastic!

Typical day at work

Like so may jobs now, most of my days involve sitting in front of a computer. But what I do on that computer is very diverse and mostly interesting. It can range from developing complex 3D geological models to creating and giving PowerPoint presentations, writing reports, playing with data on spreadsheets. I have at times undertaken a lot of travel both within Australia and overseas, depending what company and what area I was working on and I have also worked on offshore rigs in the past. But now that I have a young family I like to stick close to home and therefore tend to choose work that does not require too much travel.

Advice for other women

The oil and gas industry is a great place to work, and despite being male dominated, there are plenty of women successfully and actively working in the industry. Because most of the work is office based, the work environment is friendly and easy to adapt to, unlike other mining and extraction roles which could mean extended time in remote areas.

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Last updated: 8 April 2008