So what is the deal with exploration…..we are making it sound externally like we are going big and doing things different and funding it big time.
As a geo outside of exploration….are we actually? I’m hearing mixed things some people happy, some people pi---d off, we’re cutting funding of wells etc….what’s the deal?
@3jz the fact that Nargis 2 should not have been drilled was known ahead of time. The team forced the technical answer they wanted, ignoring lots of technical pushback for years. The management drove things too but make no mistake….several folks on that team were greedy for a flashy success. It wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.
Exploration hiring while everyone else ships jobs off to ENGINE. Rumor on the street is that healthy signing bonuses are being offered.
The change in exp is enormous, this isn’t the usual $100MM consultant PowerPoint with the same business / people in different boxes. Very good move, was always going to be a bit bumpy.
@OP We should be cutting funding for Wells. Senior Wells Leadership is trying to spin this “technical competency drift” narrative as if recent Exploration Well failures weren't the cumulative result of poor selections from their shop. They have to course-correct first, then receive funding. Where is the accountability?
what is at risk - Just Upstream's strategic vision if Exploration success dependent. The Nargis-2 outcome has become an industry embarrassment—a glaring sequence of human performance failure and arguably one of Chevron's worst deepwater outcomes. All the more reason the line management below is trying to pin their failures and outcomes on Subsurface or others' competency gaps. I smell a training program coming.
We don't need McKinsey to identify the problem. An independent leadership assessment would likely expose and recommend the following:
This isn't competency drift. It's technical leadership erosion by design. Accountability remains a joke. Please try again
@q0 we are throwing money at senior management in exploration instead of investing in technical talent. All of KM’s leaders from the outside are brought in at director levels instead of their peer general managers. He-l, even the external AI hire is a general manager level. Let the employees eat!
Outsource to India, same pitiful results for a fraction of the cost. Just keep buying reserves!
Exploration hasn't been very successful in years. Throwing money at it doesn't fix the decisions being made.
There is no need to worry, people. There will be a reshuffle soon enough and we will have a new batch of Horizons geoscientists looking for oil.
Lots of hype and press releases cannot cover up the lack of organic reserves additions. You can't squeeze much out of lack of experience and lousy acreage.
Same pattern just new leader. And he clearly has his favorites or favorite as well.
Great change from the nepotism driven, do nothing, worship the leader culture of the previous leadership. Actually doing exploration and not just putting up a face