0:00
/
0:00
Transcript

The Permian is a Place for Professionals, Families

Growing up in Houston, Pradhan didn’t have any connections to oil and gas and was thinking about aerospace or computer engineering as a primary career.

Yogashri Pradhan, MBA, P.E., joins The Crude Life to share her journey of becoming a production engineer and working in the Permian Basin in West Texas.

“At a very young age, my mom knew that I was good at math and science and she encouraged me to pursue a lot of those math and science initiatives such as math competition, science, science Olympiad, science fairs and that progressed to STEM interests,” Pradhan said. “But the initiatives didn't stop there. I was in an all-girls engineering camp that was hosted by the University of Houston when I was 14 years old.”

The oil and gas industry has integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) through various educational initiatives and strategic partnerships. Industry leaders have provided funding, resources, and support for STEM education to foster the next generation of professionals.

Many companies have began sponsoring research programs that allow students and young researchers to develop innovative solutions and enhance their skills in STEM fields .

Furthermore, organizations have developed specialized training programs to address industry-specific needs, focusing on fields such as energy technology and digitalization, which are essential for advancing sustainability and innovation. Many efforts also target middle-skill workforce development, integrating practical problem-solving and mathematical skills into curricula to ensure a well-rounded STEM workforce.

“One of the types of engineering that I was introduced to was petroleum engineering,” Pradhan said. “I kept that in the back of my mind because the technologies to extract oil and gas from the ground geology was really cool to me.”

Growing up in Houston, Pradhan didn’t have any connections to oil and gas and was thinking about aerospace or computer engineering as a primary career.

“I am first generation oil and gas,” Pradhan said.

Pradhan talks about the technology involved with the oil and gas industry as well.

“There's a lot of data in oil and gas,” Pradhan said. “There's a lot of different types of data in oil and gas. However, the data science, data analytics, people gravitate towards a lot.”

She continued saying that there's “machine learning” and data science techniques that people are really interested in to get a better understanding of how can the industry can be better in predicting how the wells are going to perform.

“How are we going to be better at predicting, how are we going to operate whenever we produce these wells or whenever we are developing wells,” Pradhan said. “So that's the data science perspective of it.”

Pradhan continued citing angles and elements of data, science and industry analytics.

“Then there are comments on with the environment, for example, how do we safely produce barrels?” Pradhan said. “And when we safely produce barrels, there's technology such as carbon capture sequestration or carbon capture utilization and sequestration.”

“My husband, for example, it was right now in a drilling rig right now in a, in his rotation,” Pradhan said. “We're away from each other for a couple of weeks. So even though he gets to work half the year, I only get to see him half the year.”

At the end of the day, Pradhan completely understands the choices she has made that has brought her to West Texas and the Permian Basin in order to start the next chapter in her life.

“It's a great place to raise a family,” Pradhan said.

Pradhan is the host of PetroPapers podcast, click on image for link to podcast.

Everyday your story is being told by someone. Who is telling your story? Who are you telling your story to?

Email your sustainable story ideas, professional press releases or petro-powered podcast submissions to thecontentcreationstudios(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

#thecrudelife promotes a culture of inclusion and respect through interviews, content creation, live events and partnerships that educate, enrich, and empower people to create a positive social environment for all, regardless of age, race, religion, sexual orientation, or physical or intellectual ability.

SUPPORT INDUSTRY FOR ONLY $5/month. Please support Energy Outreach, Industrial Integrity and those living and working The Crude Life, and consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

CLICK HERE FOR SPECIAL PARAMOUNT + DISCOUNT LINK

Paramount+ offers its subscribers a plethora of quality content.

From classic films to banger TV shows like 1883 and Star Trek: Discovery, there’s no shortage of entertainment to explore.

How about some cult favorites like Red Dawn, Grease and There Will Be Blood?

Start Streaming Today!

CLICK HERE FOR SPECIAL PARAMOUNT + DISCOUNT LINK

Discussion about this video

User's avatar