CSI Recruiting - 2009 E&P Salary Report for U.S. Oil & Gas Professionals

2005

Domestic E&P

REPORT

2009 E&P Salary

Petroleum Engineering Petroleum Geosciences Petroleum Land

Salary Data and Position Descriptions U.S. E&P Technical Professionals

1905 Sherman Street Suite 200 Denver, CO 80203 1-888-264-7600 www.csirecruiting.com

CSI Recruiting Domestic U.S. E&P 2009 Salary Report

© 2009 CSI Recruiting 2

Table of Contents

Introduction 3 Using the Report 4 How Report Was Created 5 Why Just Base Salaries? 6 State of the E&P Industry - An Overview of Compensation 7 Petroleum Engineering 9 Petroleum Landmen 22 Petroleum Geosciences 26 About CSI Recruiting 36



Introduction

CSI Recruiting‟s 2009 Domestic Exploration and Production (E&P) Salary Report is a targeted

research study of base compensation within the domestic exploration and production

marketplace. This report consists of salary data presented by average and median for technical

positions across the engineering, geoscience and land disciplines.

Data included in this Report is restricted to technical professionals currently in

full-time, salaried positions with Operator E&P companies, working in a U.S.

location.

The Job Descriptions portion provides detailed and in-depth definitions for the experience and

educational requirements of the position, and delves into responsibilities and expectations for

those particular positions.

The primary objective of this report is to provide up-to-date, detailed data tied to specific job

titles and technical disciplines to enable readers to fully understand current market

compensation conditions within the United States E&P community.

The landscape of the Domestic E&P hiring marketplace has changed dramatically in recent

years. Technical skill sets have been in high demand and short supply, resulting in rapidly

changing base salary numbers, overall compensation structures and hiring packages. Recent

changes in the world economy and within the domestic E&P industry are causing these numbers

to flatten, or in some cases retreat. The changing marketplace has implications for everyone in

the E&P business.

This report strives to provide a comprehensive overview of base salary compensation, backed by

detailed data, to be utilized by hiring authorities, human resources personnel, company

executives and technical personnel within the E&P community.



Using the Report

CSI Recruiting‟s 2009 Domestic E&P Salary Report includes eight Job Categories, which are

organized by three Disciplines:

1. Petroleum Engineering (Includes Reservoir Engineer, Drilling Engineer, Production

/ Operations Engineer and Engineering Technician)

2. Petroleum Land (Includes Landman)

3. Petroleum Geoscience (Includes Geologist, Geophysicist and Geological / Geophysical Technician)

Each Job Category provides an overview of the position within a typical E&P organization, and

then details the experience and educational requirements of the position. The report delves into

specific responsibilities and expectations for that Job Category.

Base Salary data is presented at the end of each Job Category, presented in average and median

numbers. The data is further broken down into Years of Experience and Region Working. The

count of the Respondents compiled for each Job Category is also provided.



How the Report Was Created

CSI Recruiting‟s 2009 Domestic E&P Salary Report contains data from over 2,500 professionals

currently employed by domestic Operators within the U.S. E&P industry. The professionals are

all currently employed in full-time, salaried positions within E&P Operators, based in a U.S.

location, and paid in U.S. dollars.

The data was gathered via voluntary survey, which asked respondents to disclose their current

job title, base salary and years within the industry.

For the sake of useable data groups, certain job titles were combined into the most suitable Job

Category. For job titles with very small data groups that were not deemed to be close to any one

Job Category, that data was not included.

Within a Job Category, in order for an Experience Data or Regional Data grouping to be

presented, we required that the count of that grouping‟s data set represented a minimum of 8%

of the total count for that Job Category.



Why Just Base Salaries?

The most-oft-asked question we get in response to our Salary Report is “Why just Base Salary – Why not include „other‟ compensation?” The argument goes that since base salary is, more often than not, one piece of an overall compensation package, a report that ignores bonuses, stock options, benefits and other forms of non-salaried compensation was not comprehensive. Well, we agree. Base salary is not, on its own, representative of whether a person is well compensated or lags behind his or her colleagues. It does not illustrate whether a company is truly „taking care‟ of its employees, or simply keeping pace with the market.

However those „other‟ important compensation components, most significant of which are incentive compensation and benefits, create problems when compiling a report such as this for three key reasons:

1. There‟s no consistency. Base salaries are paid. In cash, on a regular timetable. As for bonuses, some firms have cash bonuses,

payable annually. Others have cash bonuses that vest over several years. Still others have no bonuses, but instead offer stock grants. Some of those stock grants vest immediately, and still others vest over several years. You can see where this becomes an exercise in frustration. We know a lot about the incentive compensation structures within the domestic E&P industry. Enough to know there‟s no way to boil it down to numbers for a report.

2. Benefits mean different things for different people. Consistency rears its head with benefits as it did for bonus and stock payments, as for every company

there is a different health plan, 401k vesting and matching program, and gym membership. However the key problem with creating a report on benefits is their value differs from one person to the next. A single 25-year old female may care little about her health coverage but loves the in-office workout facility. A 30-year industry veteran no longer cares about funding his 401k, but needs comprehensive dental coverage.

3. Fluctuating valuations. The very nature of stock options and grants – their value moves with the daily price of the publicly

traded stock – makes it impossible to assign a value to any stock option program and most stock grant programs, as they gain (or lose) value over time. Would we quantify the value with a fixed percentage appreciation model? What about privately held companies that have „phantom‟ stock programs? These programs by their very nature simply have many variables to boil down into a discernable report format. This leads us back to the singular most consistent, easily quantifiable component of compensation, base salary, on which this report is solely based. In an effort to bridge this gap, this year we have included a brief overview of the state of the exploration industry‟s compensation, which addresses incentive compensation.



2009 State of the E&P Industry - An Overview of Compensation

Incentive Compensation Incentive compensation is defined for the purposes of this overview as present-day or deferred (vesting schedule, etc) cash bonuses, stock options, stock grants or „phantom‟ stock options, generally granted to professionals and managers. Incentive compensation is given to employees for both individual and corporate performance, oftentimes varying in size and amount from person to person or department to department.

During the industry expansion from 2001 until the Fall of 2008, incentive compensation grew substantially, often climbing into the millions of dollars within start-up E&P companies, or for higher-level managers.

As the stock price of the publicly held E&P companies took a pounding over the past six to nine months, the benefits derived from the stock grant and/or option component of incentive compensation dwindled or disappeared altogether. Many professionals experienced significant paper losses, and unvested options sank below strike prices, making them worthless.

In tandem with these equity declines, companies began to drastically cut or eliminate cash bonuses, sometimes despite still reporting robust earnings. The buzz of the industry for a period of time, particularly in December of 2008 through February of 2009 was whether a particular operator would be paying a bonus for 2008 performance. Those that chose not to pay any bonus at all often experienced an exodus of technical talent, frustrated by the lack of financial remuneration for a job well done, and because the „handcuffs‟ of any vesting related to bonuses were eliminated. Those firms that continued with expected bonuses, or made only modest downward adjustments to those payments avoided much of that turnover.

Still, with stock prices depressed, the retention component of many stock option programs, existing as a multi-year vesting schedule, lost its effectiveness. While stock options can always come back „into the money‟, i.e. return to values above the strike price, many professionals viewed these stock price declines as an opportunity to at least test the job market, something deemed not feasible when six-figures worth of options lay in wait. Many professionals saw the downturn as a chance to move from one operator to another for the sake of professional advancement, geographic necessity or even just to get options at a comparable firm, but with a strike price reflective of the downturn in the economy.



Benefits

Benefits have long been an intangible component of a compensation package. Even 10 years ago, robust health insurance was considered to be a given, as was generous vacation time, an office with a window and a covered, reserved parking space. Times are different, even for the oil business. Health insurance costs are onerous. The cost to insure a family in any kind of decent health insurance program can cost a company $1,500 / month or more. That‟s before even looking at vision, dental life or disability coverage. In tandem, gone is the company pension, replaced with 401k matching. Vacation time is now a “PTO Bank” where time off for your honeymoon counts the same as a dentist appointment or the flu. These changes could be viewed negatively, but instead they illustrate that E&P companies, while being eyeful of the runaway cost of benefits, have done well at keeping the key pieces in place: health coverage, retirement, and time off, all while maintaining strong base salaries and installing incentive compensation components. Perhaps the health coverage may have a high deductible or require more out-of-pocket monthly contribution from the employee, or you may not actually get to use all of your PTO because of workload, but overall E&P companies are spending money to maintain better-than-average benefits programs for their employees.

Base Salaries Base salary is often viewed as the defacto “Scorecard” for both hiring company and prospective candidates. It is the most easily discernable data point for all participants in the hiring process, and while salary is not always the determining factor for candidate or company, it plays a very key role in a hiring or job change decision. So while base salary numbers certainly do not tell the whole story, they are a reliable barometer of the general state of the industry. As most employed in our industry have experienced, base salaries have climbed rapidly in the past 8 years. It has been a great run for salaries in E&P, coupled with strong bonuses, stock options and robust benefits packages. Interestingly, with the recent downturn in commodity prices and the economy as a whole in recession, from 2008 to 2009 E&P salaries have stayed largely flat or seen very modest increases in this past year. This is very good news. The bulk of the economy has seen job losses in large numbers, bonuses erased wholesale, and industry stalwarts evaporate or go on government-sponsored life support. Not the case in E&P, or even in Oil & Gas / Energy in general. Our industry giants continue to generate healthy profits, as do the mid and small-cap independent operators. E&P firms from California to New York, be they gas-focused or oil-heavy, continue to sustain and generate profits in spite of the difficult times, and continue to hold onto the bulk of their technical staff in anticipation of a busy year to come.



Petroleum Engineering

Reservoir Engineer

Drilling Engineer

Production / Operations Engineer

Engineering Technician `` `

REPORT 2009 Salary


Salaries, Job Descriptions, and Recruiting and Hiring Trends


Reservoir Engineer Drilling Engineer Production/Operations Engineer Engineering Technician

Petroleum Engineering – Summary Table AVERAGE MEDIAN

Reservoir Engineer $146,145 $149,650

Drilling Engineer $147,526 $151,000

Production/Operations Engineer

$143,614 $145,000

Engineering Technician $83,520 $83,000



Reservoir Engineer The Reservoir Engineer is responsible for estimation of hydrocarbons in place within an oil or gas reservoir, and for forecasting the probable future production performance of a gas or oil reservoir. Responsibilities and Expectations:

Conduct economic evaluation of exploration and development drilling opportunities, acquisitions and divestitures

Prepare budgets, forecasts, and SEC reserves reporting documents

Support drilling plans and execution (e.g. well location, well testing, logging )

Develop and maintain field profitability models, and running economic models of production optimization proposals

Build reservoir models and carry out simulations to evaluate the possible development scenarios and associated reserve profiles

Perform detailed simulation studies to optimize well production/design or to investigate critical aspects related to fluid movements

Conduct analytical studies to understand the fluid flow characteristics in the reservoir

Develop and maintain standard field profitability models, and run economic models of optimization proposals

Prepare reserve estimates and economic analyses for exploration and development drilling and recompletion projects

Analyze electric logs, formation pressures and reservoir fluids

Evaluate potential acquisitions and divestitures

Identify and recommend exploitation opportunities on existing properties

Supervise reserve studies performed by consulting firms

Mentor junior engineers and engineering technicians, and providing guidance and training in fundamental and advanced applications of reservoir engineering

Experience and Educational requirements:

Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering

Hands on experience in field studies, acquisition evaluations, and federal lease sale economics

Oil and Gas Reserve Estimations, Decline Curve Analysis, Petrophysical Log Analysis, Material Balance Studies

Experience in Economic Evaluations using ARIES, OGRE, PEEP software

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) for internal and external project presentation



2009 Update - Reservoir Engineers

Heavily involved in the acquisitions and divestures that guided much of the non-drill bit growth

in the industry, reservoir engineers have been, and continue to be, high in demand for operators

of all sizes. The deal screening and economic evaluations skill set is certainly one reason why, in

addition to skills in reservoir evaluation and simulation, and expertise in company-wide asset

evaluation.

Despite the industry slowdown, by and large Reservoir Engineers have avoided the layoff and

lack of opportunities that other petroleum engineering disciplines have experienced. I attribute

this largely to the persistent need for E&P companies to answer the question, “What do I have?”

Be that, what untapped assets do I need to be exploiting, what assets are saleable and at what

price, or what do I need to do to make this asset worth the money we paid for it, these

questions are asked every day within the industry, and reservoir engineers are best equipped to

answer them. These questions persist when rigs are running or laid down, when prices are high

or low, and when production is flowing or shut-in.

Reservoir Engineers will continue to see strong demand for their services and are likely going to

be the primary beneficiaries of compensation increases when the industry is back to running at

full strength.



RESERVOIR ENGINEER Respondents: 480

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY $146,145 $149,650

EXPERIENCE DATA

0-2 Years Experience $94,829 $92,150




25+ Years Experience $174,090 $175,800

REGIONAL DATA

Appalachia $135,540 $125,330

Dallas/Fort Worth Metro $151,786 $160,500

Denver/Rockies $147,183 $149,000

Houston Metro $153,401 $160,000

Mid-Continent $148,156 $152,500

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Drilling Engineer The Drilling Engineer is responsible for the design, development, review, and implementation of drilling and well work-over programs, and to recommend changes in such programs due to economic and production factors. Responsibilities and Expectations:

Design and implement a procedure to drill the well as economically as possible

Manage the complex drilling operation including both the people and technology

Work closely with the drilling contractor (the operator of the rig and its crews), service contractors, and compliance personnel, as well as the other members of his internal team

Direct the review and analysis of drilling, redrilling, and remedial well work-over programs; inspect the implementation of drilling and various remedial programs

Review and monitor mud programs, directional drilling methods, and logging methods

Review and analyze well completion methods to be used in the well for secondary recovery projects

Direct and prepare graphic records relative to drilling and redrilling, such as well histories, bit performance records, directional surveys, and drilling cost records

Coordinate activities with other staff as to well logging programs, interpretation of well logs and sand counting for the preparation of isopach maps

Obtain cores and fluid samples for and exchanges information with other sections relative to the drilling, redrilling, and remedial well work required to obtain the maximum efficient recovery of petroleum products from waterflood programs

Prepare detailed reports on the status of drilling operations Experience and Educational requirements:


Knowledge of petroleum engineering and secondary recovery methods and techniques, drilling, redrilling, and remedial work

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) for interface with professional engineers, company management, field personnel and drilling contractors



2009 Update - Drilling Engineers

The „belle of the ball‟ for the past 5+ years, drilling engineers are finally getting a breather,

although it may be more of a laydown than they anticipated. Functioning as the catalyst for the

most recent industry expansion, drilling engineers have been the drivers behind the aggressive,

multi-rig, and high-dollar drilling programs within the lower 48 and offshore. As commodity

prices soared, C-level executives continued to pressure their Engineering VP‟s to „drill, baby

drill‟ in an effort to get the resources out of the ground quickly and efficiently. Drilling

engineers far outpaced their engineering counterparts in salary increases, incentive pay and

overtime as the focus on drilling-intensive resource plays combined with a renewed fervor for

domestic oil kept every capable drilling engineer busy as he or she could handle.

With the drastic decline in commodity prices so went the drilling programs. As prices dropped

and easy, cheap capital disappeared, down went the rig count and the drilling engineers finally

got a chance to catch their breath. Unfortunately, we‟re still there. Rigs are still idle, drilling

programs on hold and engineers once working 80+ hours a week find themselves with one rig

running, or in some cases, without a paycheck.

While operators as a whole have been mindful to not shed staff as a knee-jerk reaction to the

slowdown, companies have done layoffs, and others have shut their doors altogether, and those

drilling engineers caught up in a job loss have found very few companies hiring, and contract

work very scarce.

The rigs will come back on-line, and drilling programs will be funded again, meaning drilling

engineers will soon again be high in demand.



DRILLING ENGINEER Respondents: 242

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY $147,526 $151,000

EXPERIENCE DATA






REGIONAL DATA

Appalachia $131,652 $134,000



Houston Metro $153,525 $155,000

Mid-Continent $149,956 $150,500




Production / Operations Engineer The Production / Operations Engineer is charged with overseeing the daily operation of wells, including constant monitoring of well performance, planning, and supervising workover operations to maximize recovery and optimizing artificial-lift and pipe flow systems. Additionally, as the well produces, these engineers are responsible for the design and implementation of well completions and subsurface and surface production facilities which are needed to produce the field and treat the produced fluids to produce oil and gas with the specifications needed for transportation and refining operations. Responsibilities and Expectations:

Analyze, interpret, and optimize the performance of individual wells

Determine the most efficient means to develop the field considering the viscosity of the crude oil, the gas-to-oil ratio, the depth and type of formation, and the project economics

Identify wells for production enhancements

Maximize the daily production and ultimate recovery of producing properties through optimum operational procedures

Perform open hole and cased hole log evaluation

Recommend wells for completion or abandonment

Design facilities and coordinate installation

Responsible for cost containment and regulatory compliance

Develop a system of surface equipment that will separate the oil, gas, and water. Explore additional technologies to enhance production from wells that are declining

Work closely with reservoir engineers and those in other disciplines to determine the optimal approach for a particular field

Coordinate all phases of drilling, completion and workover operations

Oversee State, Federal and environmental compliance and deliver professional testimony

Experience and Educational Requirements:


Knowledge of petroleum engineering operations and production methods for oil and natural gas recovery

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) for interface with professional engineers, company management, and field personnel



2009 Update - Production / Operations Engineers

Starting in force in 2001, as prices for gas and oil hit historical highs, and the country asked for

more and more domestic production to hedge against foreign imports, the industry raced to

enter expensive resource plays and looked for oil in places long since abandoned. Injecting CO2

and water fueled the EOR-focused firms, while horizontal drilling and large rig counts built the

natural gas leaders.

Then it all came to a halt. Prices dropped, rigs went quiet, start ups stopped starting and private

equity vanished. While oil has recovered some of the lost ground and the general sentiment is

that prices will stabilize in a producer-friendly range, natural gas pricing continues to struggle.

Further, the dramatic pricing declines in natural gas mean shut-ins within the premium basins

of the price-challenged Rockies. Gas prices have shone light on the Marcellus Shale due to

geographic proximity to strong pricing markets, and has spotlighted the always-present issues

surrounding Rockies „discounted‟ gas.

What does this mean for production and operations engineers? It means that depending on the

make-up of your employer (gas-heavy, oil-heavy or some combination thereof), and the

geographic orientation of their assets, you could be busy and very secure in your employment, or

you could be in trouble. While shut-ins are not rampant, the industry as a whole is nervous

about pricing, which while not a new concern, it has trickled down to decisions in the field and

impacted the market demand for production and operations engineers.

As always, these engineers will be at the forefront of the recovery, instrumental in getting

production back on-line, optimizing assets and performing the needed operations and

completions work from both the office and the field. Company executives understand that to

realize present-day value within the marketplace, you need to focus on the „P‟ of E&P.



PRODUCTION / OPERATIONS ENGINEER Respondents: 381

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY $143,614 $145,000

EXPERIENCE DATA






REGIONAL DATA

Appalachia $126,650 $132,500



Houston Metro $155,952 $161,000

Mid-Continent $150,153 $150,000




Engineering Technician

The Engineering Technician is responsible for economic evaluation of oil & gas properties for acquisition and divestment, waterflood monitoring, workover and well maintenance records, with daily utilization of ARIES and related valuation programs. Responsibilities and Expectations:

Maintain reserve and production databases; provide annual, mid-year and quarterly reserve reports to banks, verifying financial position

Digitize well logs and create reservoir cross-sections

Maintain files and schematics for surface equipment on oil & gas leases

Organize and update well log library

Perform economic forecasting to evaluate marginally economic oil & gas properties for divestment

Provide oil production forecasting and reserve analyses using production decline curves

Generate computations to determine the economic life of oil & gas fields

Maintain well equipment inventory databases for producing oil & gas leases

Monitor operating, workover, and repair expenses

Estimate drilling & completion costs for drilling projects and provided management with requests for approval of project capitalization

Provide support to acquisition, exploration and development by accessing outside information sources

Provide reports and production history graphs, and data imports for engineering software

Use computer software to create wellbore schematics of downhole equipment for well completions and workovers

Prepare AFEs for well drilling, completions, and workovers

Prepare and maintain scheduling time lines of ongoing projects

Organize and maintain well files Experience and Educational Requirements:

Knowledge of petroleum evaluation software (ARIES)

Experience supporting petroleum engineers within an exploration and production environment.



2009 Update - Engineering Technicians

Much like their geosciences counterparts, Engineering Techs are born from a variety of places –

admin assistants, new engineering grads, IT staff, but not from any industry-developed school

or formal training ground. As such, Engineering Techs tend to develop skills both specific to

their upbringing (IT staff focuses on software, former admin keep engineers organized, you get

the idea), yet they also have a key commonality – they make the engineers better. And since

engineers are expensive, high in demand, often are in short supply and are the engine (pun

intended) that drives an E&P firm‟s daily performance, these techs are very important.

In spite of this, much like their geosciences counterparts, their compensation had long been

more like that of the company‟s secretaries than that of its engineers. This last industry

expansion changed that, likely for good. Salaries for experienced Engineering Techs have seen a

rapid rise since 2001, in addition to bonuses and stock options, particularly for those adept with

ARIES, PEEP, DIMS, PhDWin, Enertia, TOW, and Excalibur, among other industry software

packages.

The few operators that still insist on foregoing professional-level incentives for their technicians

have a tough time both hiring and retaining premium technician talent.

Career progression from Technician to Engineer continues to be elusive, although due largely to

the lack of a BSPE, this is also a result of techs enjoying being techs and not interested in the

daily pressures that come with an engineering role.



ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN Respondents: 138

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY $83,520 $83,000

EXPERIENCE DATA





REGIONAL DATA



Houston Metro $83,280 $85,000

Mid-Continent $81,136 $80,000




Petroleum Land

Landman

AVERAGE MEDIAN

Landman $126,044 $125,000

REPORT 2009 Salary

Landman

Landman – Summary Table




Petroleum Land





Landman The Petroleum Landman is a job unique to North America. The petroleum landman is

responsible for obtaining permission to drill a well, meaning the land must be leased from the

landowner who owns the subsurface oil and gas.

Responsibilities and Expectations:

Responsible for acquisition or disposition of oil, natural gas or surface interests

Conduct negotiation, drafting or management of agreements respecting property

interests

Interface directly with surface owners, research ownership records in county, state, or

provincial offices.

Research titles and negotiate and draft a wide variety of leases and agreements with

landowners, mineral owners, state and federal agencies, Native American tribes and

industry partners.

Represent their employer before regulatory bodies, participate in and provide expertise

for multidisciplinary teams, and apply state-of-the-art software to create maps, reports

and other documents to aid management in the decision-making process

Obtain the proper documents and data so that the company may obtain leases on

acreage it is interested in

Assemble data and maps in connection with acreage rental expiration deadlines to

determine whether the company should renew or continue lease agreements.

Review and evaluate lease recommendations and other data for presentation to

management

Work closely with attorneys in preparation of title opinions, filing force integration

proceedings, interpleading to Court suspended royalties, and quiet title suits

Maintain project area land/well forms on computer systems and spreadsheets


Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Land Management or related discipline

Knowledge of petroleum land management principles

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) for interface with professional

engineers, company management, field personnel, and business contacts / partners



2009 Update - Land Professionals

The growth of the industry since 2001 has been very good to field land professionals and

brokers, as emerging resource plays required growth-minded operators to essentially shift gears

from one area to another in an industry-wide land grab that moved from the Powder River CBM

plays to the Piceance Basin to the Barnett Shale to the Haynesville to the Marcellus.

As for in-house landmen, their work from 2001 involved heavy deal flow in the form of

acquisition and divestiture transactions. These deals involved extensive networking, contract

negotiations, and development of joint operating agreements. These deals were essential to the

non-drill bit growth of the industry and its more aggressive operators. As capital has dried up, so

has deal flow, resulting in a dramatic decrease in demand for experienced in-house landmen.

While most are still gainfully employed in positions increasingly focused on the optimization of

assets already in house, those company landmen that have found themselves out of work have

had a very difficult time locating steady employment.

Additionally, new grads (even those from the few remaining Petroleum Land Management

programs) have found themselves with only jobs in day-rate field work as new grad programs for

landmen have gone unstaffed.

For the remainder of 2009 we do not see significant changes to demand for land professionals,

although those companies who do hire in-house landmen or land managers will find a candidate

pool of excellent talent seeking reasonable compensation packages. In tandem with the

resurrection of the credit markets, demand for deal-making landmen to assist in A&D

negotiations will return.



LANDMAN Respondents: 365

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY $126,044 $125,000

EXPERIENCE DATA






REGIONAL DATA

Appalachia $114,875 $118,000



Houston Metro $138,631 $145,000

Mid-Continent $138,420 $136,000




Petroleum Geosciences

Geologist

Geophysicist

Geological / Geophysical Technician

AVERAGE MEDIAN

Geologist $141,124 $142,800

Geophysicist $161,662 $166,000

Geological/Geophysical Technician $79,155 $84,600

REPORT 2009 Salary

Petroleum Geosciences



Geologist Geophysicist Geological/ Geophysical Technician

Petroleum Geosciences – Summary Table



Geologist

The Petroleum Geologist is typically focused on development (also referred to as operations) geology or exploration geology. Exploration Geologists are more involved in the activity of prospect generation, which includes locating a prospect, making geological surveys, and documenting the viability and location of the prospect. Development Geologists work alongside drilling staff to best get the resources out of the ground. Responsibilities and Expectations:

Perform log analysis, and well site work that results in the discovery of new reservoirs and field extensions

Prepare detailed studies regarding producing properties with respect to future drilling, secondary recovery operations, and rework potential

Prepare a variety of detailed structural and stratigraphic maps used to define exploration models for generating prospects

Work closely with Geophysics, Land and Engineering to develop a prospect portfolio

Achieve increases in oil and natural gas production by revising previous formation structural and stratigraphic interpretations

Evaluate prospects and develop lead areas by conducting well data analysis, log interpretation and lithologic correlation, generation of maps and cross sections, and modeling gas/oil in-place volumetric estimates

Develop existing assets by daily interaction with engineering (reservoir management), selection of well completion intervals, and providing geological interpretation to field operations

Select core sites and intervals, and coordinate geologic specific drilling requirements

Interpret geologic data and calculate pay zones from log analysis

Compile and evaluate historical production and trends in completion techniques.

Conduct subsurface evaluations to link logs, stratigraphy, and petrophysical properties to production


Master and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Geology or related Geosciences discipline

Successful track record of prospect generation and finding hydrocarbons

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) for interface with geoscientists, company management, seismic service companies and technicians

Experience as well-site geologist or in well-logging or data acquisition or interpretation is desirable



2009 Update - Geologists

The onshore exploration focus of earlier in the decade is still alive and well, although many of

the high profile resource plays in the lower 48 have been far more exploitation and development

focused, resulting in a rise of demand for experienced operations geologist to ‟chase rigs‟ within

these drilling-intensive unconventional gas plays.

Additionally, those geologists experienced in horizontal drilling operations are very high in

demand as higher cost laterals continue to be utilized in these resource plays.

During the industry expansion of the past 5+ years, independent operators in serious need of

additional geologists to perform development and operations work, began being more lenient on

the long-standing industry requirement that geologists have their Masters Degree in-hand.

Instead, companies eager to keep pace with high volume drilling plans fervently pursued

candidates irrespective of completion of a Masters program, hiring both recent graduates and

pursuing younger geologists already within industry with only a BS in Geology.

Presently, with rigs laid down and exploration plans uncertain, many operators are holding tight

on hiring of geologists at all levels. We see this pause in demand to be temporary, with a likely

return to active hiring for geologists by the end of the year, both for development and

exploration geologists.



GEOLOGIST Respondents: 515

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY $141,124 $142,800

EXPERIENCE DATA






REGIONAL DATA

Appalachia $113,160 $110,750



Houston Metro $159,360 $162,000

Mid-Continent $130,868 $121,000




Geophysicist

Petroleum Geophysicists use the principles of physics to measure and assess the properties of the earth and its environment in order to manage exploration and development projects on land and at sea. They plan, oversee and analyze complex land and marine surveys. Responsibilities and Expectations:

Take seismic projects from concept to drill ready which can include 2-D / 3-D design, acquisition, processing, interpretation, and modeling

Perform evaluations utilizing workstation environments including Landmark, Kingdom/3D-Pak, Geoquest, ZMAP, Geographix, and GMAplus software platforms

Compile regional maps and coordinate seismic processing efforts for exploration efforts

Participate in the evaluation and acquisition of production and exploration assets

Conduct structural and stratigraphic interpretation of 3D seismic reflection volumes

Perform quantitative amplitude interpretation, including AVO, for pre-drill prediction of lithology and fluid types away from well control

Assess 3D seismic data fidelity by, for example, ray-tracing effects of acquisition on seismic image and modeling effects of velocity on migrated position of reflectors

Perform volumetric calculations, risk assessment and preliminary economic analysis for exploration opportunities

Work with Managers of Engineering, Land, and Exploration to fully evaluate all aspects of new exploration opportunities


Master and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Geophysics or related Geosciences discipline

Successful track record of prospect generation and finding hydrocarbons

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) for interface with geoscientists, company management, seismic service companies and technicians



2009 Update - Geophysicists

Development Geophysicists, at one time in the industry thought to be an oxymoron, experienced

a strong upsurge in demand for their services over the past 5-7 years, as on-shore domestic

resource plays utilized seismic data to aid their aggressive drilling plans. Side-by-side with

development geologist, field geologists, and drilling and completions engineers, geophysicists

participated in the fast paced drilling programs within the country‟s shale and other

unconventional gas plays.

In the mean time, exploration geophysicists have been kept busy with additional offshore GOM

projects and domestic oil plays, both old and new (e.g. The Bakken). Always in short supply

during an expansion, Geophysicists enjoyed a period of unprecedented demand as the country

as a whole asked for the industry to find new sources of domestic oil.

As the country took a collective breather during this current recession, so has the demand for

both exploration and development geophysicists, although it does not appear to be long-lived.

Most of the geophysicists that found themselves displaced during this downturn found new

positions quickly, or were able to secure consulting work at solid rates.



GEOPHYSICIST Respondents: 319

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY 161,662 166,000

EXPERIENCE DATA






REGIONAL DATA



Houston Metro $170,704 $175,000

Mid-Continent $166,242 $168,500




Geological / Geophysical Technician The Geological / Geophysical Technician supports petroleum geoscientists in their exploration and development efforts for company assets. Additionally, these technicians assist the geoscientists with evaluation efforts for acquisitions and divestitures. The Technician‟s work is performed using workstation software and mapping software, including Geographix, Petra, Kingdom / SMT, and Zmap, to name a few. Responsibilities and Expectations:

Scanning, digitizing and geo-referencing all types of hard copy geological maps, lease maps, etc. for use in many different software packages including GESX, AutoCAD, and Global Mapper

Creating thematic seismic basemaps, Isopach maps and cross sections in GES97 and GES Explorer

Retrieve, print and prepare mud logs for geologists

Create and maintain team well files which includes e-logs, mud logs, maps and election papers for wells

Researched and produced acreage ArcView/GIS gas maps to determine new ventures acreage for new acquisitions

Generate contour maps of monthly production (gas & water rate).

Coordinate with Drafting department to complete comprehensive Geographix mapping projects for presentations

Utilize Geographix to depth calibrate and create smart-rasters for wells, creating maps and cross-sections to determine new drill locations

Generate maps and cross-sections zeroing in on multiple pay zones using Petra and hand cross-sections

Prepared structure and isopach maps

Work closely with engineers to determine production rates, reserve adds, decline curves, gas in place, recoverable gas, spacing issues and potential payout

Manage GESX Well Library, consisting of the acquisition and importation of .las data and workstation ready digits from numerous vendors

Deliver clear and succinct presentations to management, geoscientists and mineral owners

Undertake practical field and laboratory work to support geophysical exploration and development work


Bachelor‟s Degree in Geology, Geophysics or related Geosciences discipline is preferred but not essential

Knowledge of geosciences workstation software and mapping software

Experience supporting petroleum geoscientists within an exploration and production environment



2009 Update - Geological and Geophysical Techs

In spite of the industry still lacking a comprehensive training program for geotechs (and

engineering and land techs, for that matter), we have added some new blood to the technician

ranks in recent years. Due mostly to in-house „ad hoc training, there is a strong base of

geosciences technicians with 2-10 years of experience, something we saw none of in 2000-2001.

The resurgence of placing BS grads into Geologist positions (see 2009 Update - Geologist), has

thinned the ranks of geotechs some, as companies promoted their better techs into Staff

Geologist positions. That said, this current slowdown has caused downward pressure on this

career path, resulting in some of these newly anointed geologists returning to tech roles.

Still essential to a robust geosciences effort, geotechs continue to utilize software tools and

geological knowledge to make the professionals more effective, and have (finally) seen a strong

rise in compensation for that effort. Long relegated to a salary not much larger than the admin

assistants in their department, geotechs saw compensation climb significantly over the past 7

years, sweetened by bonuses and stock options heretofore reserved for the professional ranks.

Those geotechs with the stronger workstation skills in Petra and/or Geographix in addition to

GIS software experience will continue to command the higher end of the pay scale.

As we climb out of the current industry slowdown, those salaries will remain flat for the

foreseeable future, having hit an apex during this past expansion cycle.



GEOLOGICAL / GEOPHYSICAL TECHNICIAN Respondents: 126

AVERAGE MEDIAN

BASE SALARY 79,155 84,600

EXPERIENCE DATA





REGIONAL DATA



Houston Metro $88,362 $86,630

Mid-Continent

$84,220 $84,000




About CSI Recruiting

CSI Recruiting is a professional recruiting and personnel search firm focused exclusively on the

Domestic U.S. Exploration & Production industry since the founding of the company in 2001.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, CSI‟s staff of experienced oil & gas recruiters work with

candidates and client companies throughout the U.S., finding and placing E&P professionals

into Engineering, Geosciences and Land positions located from Alaska to Appalachia.

CSI‟s recruiting professionals are consistently involved with the industry‟s annual conferences

and prospect expositions, and have been long-time members and supporters of AAPG, AAPL,

SEG, and SPE. CSI is often cited by national publications such as The Wall Street Journal in

articles pertaining to oil & gas hiring trends and recruiting efforts.

CSI Recruiting is supporting the development and execution of this report in response to market

demands for a detailed and focused summary of current salaries within the U.S. E&P

marketplace.

The comments contained herein regarding compensation trends and marketplace demands are

the opinion of staffers within CSI Recruiting, based on their years of in-depth work within the

domestic E&P industry.

1905 Sherman Street Suite 200 Denver, CO 80203 1-888-264-7600 www.csirecruiting.com

Documents

CSI Recruiting - 2009 E&P Salary Report for U.S. Oil & Gas Professionals