Interpreter Sam
As a new hire, Sam was assigned to an exploration team tasked with evaluating the resource potential of an undrilled frontier basin in preparation for nomination of acreage for a lease sale. His boss was Gene, a geophysicist who had worked his way up the ladder to a team leader position and enjoyed a reputation as a tough but fair supervisor with a solid technical foundation. His team consisted of three geophysicists/seismic interpreters, two geologists, and one reservoir engineer, this composition reflecting the size and complexity of the basin and the importance of seismic interpretation to the project. As the junior interpreter, Sam worked with the more experienced interpreters in an apprentice-master relationship, and remembers his experience on this project as some of the most formative of his career.