Yerik Balabatyr is an experienced Well Intervention Engineer with a lot of experience at Schlumberger and is currently living in France. This article focuses on his career and what he has learnt not just from the work itself but also from working in different countries. He has a passion for football and plays whenever and wherever he can.

Full life of an experienced Well Intervention Engineer

Background

What type of science and engineering interested you when you were a child? Did you have any toys that reflected this interest?

My father was a mechanical engineer in the agriculture sector, so we had a lot of schematics of tractors, I really liked to look at them. Also, we used to construct trucks ourselves using a wood frame and parts from broken toys to get a solid and reliable truck.

Who suggested engineering to you?

Our teacher told us to go into engineering as a speciality. I wanted to study in Turkey and applied for engineering degrees – petroleum, computer, construction and environmental. I succeeded in gaining a place to study environmental engineering at Marmara Istanbul University. However, the results came later in October, when I was already studying to become a Petroleum Engineer at Satbayev University in Kazakhstan.

Why did you decide to study petroleum engineering rather than another type of engineering?

I was preparing for the exam with three friends and all of us wanted to have different specialities:

Altay Ormanov – Custom Officer
Tuyak Baymagambetov– Applied Mathematics,
Ilshat Galiullin – Did not know where,
and me – Computer science.
Then Altay Ormanov started to encourage us to choose to study petroleum engineering, and even convinced my parents. In the end all four of us chose petroleum engineering.

Career in well intervention engineering

Who suggested engineering to you?

You worked as a Coiled Tubing Field Engineer, then as a Field Quality Engineer. Which skills did you take from these roles (hard and soft)?

I learnt a lot in these roles, and these are the skills I gained.

Hard skills

PIDs (Piping and Instrument Diagram): PFD (Process Flow Diagram), BFD (Block Flow Diagram).
Operating Manuals: Guidelines, SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Papers, Quality Plans, Spec Sheets.
Equipment Sizing: Integrated Fracturing Services, Bulk Plant, Pressure Critical Equipment.
Well Intervention: Well Stimulation, Water Control.
Field Operations: Design, Execution, and Evaluation.

Soft skills

Account Management: Presentations, Focal Point, Coordinating Skills, Identifying Issues, Problem Solving, Communication.
Quality Management: Internal Audits, Job Planning, Asset Utilisation, Service Quality Improvement.

You then moved into a support role as an Inventory Demand Planner and then a customer facing role as a Customer Engagement Coordinator? Which skills did you take from these roles (hard and soft)?

Hard skills

Budgeting: Net Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Revenue Pipeline.
Planning: Financial Inventory Demand Planning; Operations Planning – Personnel, Equipment, Products; Commissioning Equipment.
Reservoir Management: Well Stimulation Candidate Selection, Well Completion and Intervention.
Petroleum Economics: Net Present Value from Well Intervention.
Operational Excellence: Key Performance Indicators, Transformation, Continuous Improvement.

Soft skills

Project Management: Project Planning and Control, Work Breakdown Structure, Cost-time Resource (CTR) Sheets, Precedence. Diagramming Method and the Gantt Chart, Progress Monitoring, Change and Risk Management, Project Estimation.
Financial Analysis: Balanced Scorecard, Return on Investment, Discounted Cash Flow, Net Present Value, Analytical Skills, Evaluations.
Business Analysis: Competitive Advantage, Cost Leadership.

Field working in well intervention

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting field working?

Work really hard and show that you have energy to become a professional in your domain. As well take all opportunities to get different experiences. If line management propose you for a position, then take it, do not hesitate, you deserve it.

How do you maintain a work life balance when working on site?

It’s easier when you are working in your home country as you have support from relatives. That means you don’t need to prepare and organise all logistics for your family, so they can be comfortable without you for some time. However, when you are expat, it is better to see your family at least at weekends. If not, you need to organise everything for your family so they will not struggle while you are away.

What is your advice for keeping time for family and friends?

Spend most of your free time with family (80%). So, that you are aiming to attend all family events, school events, any tough and happy moments. Then the rest of your free time (20%) with your friends (birthdays, weddings). With age you will see how family is more important than friends.
My wife has a good habit: when she is not at work, she forgets about it and concentrates only on home activities.
As well, in busy times, do one step at a time because then things will be resolved quicker. If you are thinking about lots of things nothing will be resolved.

Working in different countries and with other cultures

You have worked in different countries and are experienced internationally. What have you learnt from this?

Your home country is the easiest country to work in, but you get a lot of different views when meeting other cultures. I am more patient and do not expect as much from people in advance. Then I try to get the best from them based on what they can do.

What are the key skills (soft) for an engineer who wants to work in another country?

I think there are six key skills:

Communication,
Patience,
Adaptability,
Curiosity,
Organisation,
Leadership.

Languages

You speak English, French, Turkish, Kazakh, and Russian. How do you think speaking more than one language makes you a better communicator as an engineer?

Knowing the language means also knowing the literature, the history etc. so you become interesting to colleagues and can find similarities between cultures.

Studying again while working in well intervention

You returned to studying and completed an Executive MBA. How has this enriched your way of working?

I wish I had studied my MBA after 5-10 years of experience, as I did not have a big picture of the business and always spent too much on details. As my thinking was that being technically strong is most important. Now I understand that working as a line manager is a very important step in a career and you can achieve more goals with the team, rather than alone.

Was it easier to study this time as you had a lot of work experience?

The positive part is that you have experience and case studies as examples, which you can share and utilise in your studies. The negative part is that you cannot fully engage due to other obligations like family. But at the end you understand that that you need to get into it to understand for your own benefit.

About the author

Yerik Balabatyr is an experienced Well Intervention Engineer with management experience and has spent over sixteen years with Schlumberger. He has worked in different countries and speaks five languages. Yerik is currently based in Paris in France.

Further reading on well intervention

Spotlight on being a woman working on oil wells

Coiled Tubing Operator at Halliburton working in a swamp

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