Oil column: Fattahi rising in industry
| Monday, Nov 09 2009 02:15 PM
Last Updated Monday, Nov 09 2009 02:15 PM
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John Cox
Felix Adamo / The Californian Behrooz Fattahi of Aera Energy was recently elected president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers International.
Life must be good for Behrooz Fattahi.
After putting in long hours and hard work for the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Fattahi was finally elected to become the group’s 2010 president, a role that lets him travel the world handing out awards and delivering keynote speeches at big industry conferences.
That’s a fine thing in and of itself. But when we sat down with him at the Ming Avenue headquarters of Aera Energy LLC, where Fattahi works as coordinator of heavy oil development, we had to ask: What’s in it for us?
It was proof of his graciousness that Fattahi didn’t have us escorted off the fortress-like property at once. He understood what we were getting at: What does Kern’s oil industry gain by having a de facto ambassador in such privileged circles?
Actually, there are several local benefits, Fattahi said — and not merely for Aera, though he concedes that the company does get a decent international publicity bump by virtue of his day-job title.
While at these big events, Fattahi learns about and shares best industry practices, including technological advances that deal with extracting the kind of heavy oil so common in subterranean Kern. He also gets to shape discussions of what can be done to protect the entire industry from the coming brain drain as oil veterans prepare for retirement.
“There’s always little things you can learn about and bring in,” he said.
And then there’s the kind of opportunity that arose about six months ago on a society-related trip to Trondheim, Norway to meet with executives of StatoilHydro, the big international energy company.
Turns out StatoilHydro is interested in beginning to look for and produce heavy oil — and it could use some outside help in that regard, Fattahi said. Sounds to us like a pretty solid sales lead...
No question Kern’s expertise in producing heavy oil garners international attention. Chevron regularly attracts oil people from around the globe and teaches them, right here in Kern, about steam injection.
Fattahi’s new gig is good for us in other ways, too, said Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association.
“I think having somebody with a California perspective will really spread the word about the investment opportunities and the resource opportunities in California,” he said.
Deserved recognition
For some companies, it’s not enough that Kern is a leader in heavy oil production, or that we’re California’s most prolific petroleum region (or even that we provided much of the inspiration for the movie, “There Will Be Blood”).
What finally gets their attention? News of a huge oil discovery.
Yes, we’re talking about Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s July announcement of a 150-250 million barrel gas and oil find in western Kern.
In this case, there may be a bit of local satisfaction, given that the company in question is based in Denver, a city to which Bakersfield last year lost the headquarters of Berry Petroleum Co.
An Oct. 14 news release from Gasco Energy Inc. stated that the company had recently acquired leasehold interest in some 24,000 acres in Kern and San Luis Obispo counties.
“Certain of the leasehold is in close proximity to the recent hydrocarbon discovery” announced by Oxy in July, Gasco’s release made sure to point out.
So what’s the practical impact here?
Again, it’s the potential for partnering. Gasco said it’s looking to share the initial investment and to spread the exploration risk.
Also, in case there was any doubt, Gasco has always adored the Golden State.
“California has always held keen interest to us,” President and CEO Mark Erickson said in the release, “due to its large potential associated with high-quality, oil-prone reservoirs present in the region.”
That’s probably as good a reason as any to throw money this direction.
