Feature Article -- by Mark Sproxton

Last year, oil companies held four of the top 20 places on Fortune Magazine's list of the 500 biggest American companies and Bill Gates became the richest man in the world through his software empire. What happens when these two industries come together? No, the price of Duke Nukem doesn't jump every time the United States bombs Iraq. A new industry is formed that makes oil exploration faster and easier and creates a whole range of new careers.

The idea of using technology to help find oil is as old as the Mark 1, but only in the last 10 or 15 years has it become an integral part of the industry. Computer Scientists now work in conjunction with geologists and geophysicists to develop computer software that makes oil exploration quicker, more accurate and cheaper, which allows everyone involved to make more money. Software is constantly being designed and improved upon that does everything from mapping rock formations underground, to compiling existing seismic data for analysis to estimating the size of underground petroleum ponds. It has also opened up new careers for those with a penchant for both computers and rocks.

Putting rock lovers in the same room with computer nerds and asking them to come up with helpful products may not seem like the best way to revolutionize the oil exploration industry, but that is exactly what happens. "We have a couple of geologists on our steering committee," says Marc Shandro, a software developer for Accumap, a Calgary company that produces software to aid oil exploration. "You don't have to understand how they do (their job), you just have to understand what they do." Shandro has a background in computers, but when he got in on the ground floor of new geologic mapping software about 10 years ago, he said he quickly picked up the basics of petroleum exploration from the geologists and geophysicists he was working with. "We still work with them on an ongoing basis," he said. "You get to learn the industry by osmosis, which is fun."

Most software developers bring a background in computers to the development process and count on geologists and geophysicists to provide the exploration expertise. "I went to Waterloo - math and computer science," says Steve Klassen, chief developer for Geonexus, a Calgary company that develops software that allows oil explorers to examine numerous geologic scenarios in real time. "But you could start by going to a tech school then follow up with a background in geology and geophysics." Shandro said Accumap hires people with strong communication skills as well as computing abilities so they can work together with customers and experts from other fields to develop better systems.

Exploration software developers must deal with the same boom and bust economies that come with fluctuating oil prices as the rest of the oil business, though the impact on them is slightly less harsh than other sectors of the industry. When oil prices fall, exploration does also, bringing down the need for software. The merger mania that has overcome big business recently also affects the ability of developers to sell their product. If two companies become one, the number of potential customers is cut in half. The exploration software design industry is still relatively new, however, so it continues to grow despite downturns in oil prices. The demand for new software from all over the exploration industry serves as a bit of a protector from the rises and falls that typify the petroleum business.

Despite the recent downturn in oil prices, the future for exploration software development looks promising. "The future is always exciting," says Paul Christison, part of EFS, Inc., an American based exploration technology company. "We picked up a new client that is working a major basin in the States and hope to have the results from that company in late June of this year. If he is successful, it will be a another success story in the development of this technology." As the oil industry further realizes the advantages of exploration software, the importance of software developers, and the number of career options will grow. "If you focus on being a good software designer," Shandro said, "the world is your oyster."