INSIDE GAME
Energy Workforce and Technology Council president says energy transition comes from within
Leslie Beyer has a big vision for the oil field service sector. The president of trade group Energy Workforce and Technology Council, formerly known as the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association, believes oil field contractors and equipment manufacturers will lead the charge for a cleaner oil and gas industry, developing technologies to reduce emissions and capture carbon and store it underground.
At the same time, Beyer is looking for the oil field services sector to become more diverse and tech-savvy to attract the next generation of workers in a variety of fields, from oil and gas to geothermal to carbon capture and storage. The council represents 600 companies providing oil-rig workers, drilling equipment and technology to oil producers.
Beyer, the daughter of cotton farmers in Lubbock, has worked in the George W. Bush White House, for former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. R-Texas, and at Burson-Marsteller Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. Prior to becoming president of the
Energy Workforce and Technology Council eight years ago, she served as the director of the National Association of Manufacturers. Beyer holds a BA in Latin American Studies and Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin.
Q: As oil demand and prices recover, what’s the outlook for the oil field service sector?
A: The entire industry is in a period of change. But this sector is really the one that leads us to a lower carbon future, because so much of the technology to reduce emissions comes from the companies that develop the equipment and provide these services. It’s been amazing to watch and see how these companies are transforming and work across energies. Companies that construct rigs can also construct offshore wind infrastructure. That is an increasingly important part of why these companies have to be part of the energy transition, because the technology they develop is applicable across energy systems.
Q: A lot of the oil majors have promised their shareholders to keep spending on new wells to woo back investment to the industry. What does that mean for oil field service companies that are contracted to drill new wells?
A: I think these (exploration and production) companies will maintain steady production because it’s not good for anyone in the industry when oil prices go way up high or way down low. Hopefully, what that will provide is a little more stability without a huge ramp up and a huge crash. These companies need to be able to attract capital from investors and that stability will be good for our sector.
Q: The sector so far has recovered more than 38,000 of the 115,000 jobs lost during the pandemic last year. Do you expect all the jobs to return as oil prices have recovered to above $65 a barrel?
A: Not all of the jobs will come back. Some of them will change fundamentally. As this industry changes and moves
forward, this is going to be a leaner sector because of the innovation and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Digital innovation is going to be important moving forward for the energy workforce of the future.
Q: These jobs that are coming back, are they the same jobs or different jobs in other energy fields?
A: These jobs are coming back in a different way. They’re more highly technical, more focused on digital artificial intelligence applications, machine learning and remote systems. Those are the primary things that this industry is looking at. But this emerging technology will keep people safer to inspect a pipeline remotely. The sector is going to do what it has always done, but do it more safely and more efficiently. And increasingly, that requires fewer people and working remotely. These are cool, exciting jobs — they’re tech company jobs.
Q: Is that part of the reason for changing your association’s name last year from Petroleum Equipment & Services Association to the Energy Workforce and Technology Council?
A: Yes. The descriptor of oil field services doesn’t accurately describe us anymore. We are energy technology companies. That’s exciting, that’s fun. When you look at all the studies that say millennials really want to feel like they’re giving back and contributing, the energy industry is giving back by learning how to provide energy at a
“Diverse thinking is what’s going to get us to the next step in the energ y transition.” Leslie Beyer, Energy Workforce and Technology Council president
reduced impact to the environment. That’s something you can really get behind and be proud of working in this industry.
Q: With recent oil busts and growing concern about climate change, has it been challenging to attract workers, particularly younger people, to the oil-field service sector?
A: It can be a tough sell because not only does the industry look cyclical, but you have kind of this negative impression of the industry. People who don’t necessarily understand energy or how it’s developed or what it means as a global commodity want to say that fossil fuels are all bad and that people involved in oil and gas companies are all bad. That part can be hard. But this entire sector and the industry should be proud of what we do because what we provide to the world is significant and impactful and so critical to modern life.
Q: How do you break through that challenge of attracting and retaining workers in this sector?
A: This sector, and the industry writ large, needs to work on attracting and retaining the kind of workforce that can get us to that next level. People have to understand that emerging technology in low carbon comes from companies that are already dealing in oil and gas as well as renewables. At the same time, we don’t want to lose the great people we have. These are the great people who innovated all of the technology that gives us low-cost, reliable, affordable energy. These are the people that delivered that to the U.S. and the world and they need to stay in jobs where they can continue to contribute.
Q: You’re a female leader in a male dominated field. What has that been like, and how do you attract more women into this industry?
A: When I came on seven years ago, there weren’t a lot of women in leadership roles. About 15 percent of our sector are women. There were times when I was the only woman in the room. One of my first agenda items was to seek out diversity for our board. We do have much more of a diverse board now, which is fantastic but also reflective of our sector. Diverse thinking is what’s going to get us to the next step in the energy transition. We need more women and people from diverse backgrounds and come from different perspectives collaborating together. If everyone looks and has similar backgrounds, you’re all going to think the same and that’s not what will help us achieve success.
Q: How can oil field service companies innovate when they’ve been squeezed by the pandemic?
A: With everything moving toward the energy transition and a reduced environmental footprint, exploration and production companies will have to pay the service sector more, because they need margins high enough to reinvest in innovation and research and development. All the technology comes from this sector. So the pricing has nowhere to go but up.
Q: Have you seen prices for oil field service contracts go up, now that oil is up past $65?
A: I’ve started to hear a little bit of an increase in pricing. But there’s a disconnect. A lot of the exploration and production companies expect oil field service providers to bring lowcarbon technology, but they’re not willing to pay for it. So they may go with a contract that has the lowest price and not prioritize contractors and service providers that have a real focus on the environmental aspects. There has to be a value built into that. They have to be able to make enough money to sustain it.
Q: Some oil exploration and production companies that contract oil field service companies are shifting away from fossil fuels amid growing concerns about climate change. Other companies still believe oil and gas will be an important energy source for decades to come. What’s your view?
A: It’s really easy as an American to look around and see how energy is plentiful. But we are in the minority. There are 2 billion people on the planet that still need access to energy. Oil and gas, especially natural gas, are going to be a very important part of how energy is provided to people. The world doesn’t move from oil and gas to a completely different energy system over the course of 20 years. Fossil fuels are what drives modern life, and they’re even part of the renewable supply chain. Oil and gas will be necessary for a long time. We need hydrocarbons, and this is the industry that can develop them efficiently and with reduced emissions. Natural gas especially will be critical to the U.S. in our position in the world and reducing emissions across the world. Do you want energy production to happen in Russia, where there’s not a strict environmental regulatory environment? We need to produce oil and gas here in the U.S. and we need to have the ability to provide that to the world.
Q: Are the skills and technology that oil field services bring from the oil patch applicable to other energy sources, such as geothermal and carbon capture and storage?
A: A lot of companies are focused on lower emission and getting to net-zero through technologies like carbon capture. Halliburton has been working on geothermal for like 15 years. Baker Hughes has been involved in carbon capture technology for like 10 years. A lot of our companies have been involved in this for a long time. The engineers who are trained in this industry are the ones that will work across all of these systems because the technologies are very similar. That’s why it would set us back to keep oil and gas companies and engineers out of the mix for the future. We’re the ones that know how to develop this. We need to be energy agnostic. Energy systems have to include natural gas and oil and solar and geothermal and nuclear. All of our companies are involved in the development of energy working across these different systems. We don’t need to get rid of oil and gas companies, we don’t need to get rid of the oil and gas workforce. We all live on this plant and we all want a cleaner future, and we have the workforce that can deliver it.