Ann Watkins
Vice President

The key duty of the Vice President is to organise the Society’s London Lecture Series and the public Stoneley Lecture. This role proactively delivers the PESGB remit ‘To promote, for the public benefit, education in the scientific and technical aspects of petroleum exploration’.

It is this remit that has played particular significance during two periods of my career when I have not worked. The first as a new graduate and mother caring for young children in Aberdeen, and now, recently unemployed along with so many colleagues, as a consequence of the downturn in the oil industry. I have benefited from PESGB’s low-cost access to training courses, (invariably taught by gurus of academia and industry), field trips and conferences, and the monthly Aberdeen / London lectures, all invaluable for keeping in touch and up to date with science, technology, exploration activity and in contact with friends and colleagues.

I have had a fascinating, fulfilling career. First forays, mapping nappes in Corsica and a BSc in Geology from University College Swansea. MSc and PhD studies at the University of South Carolina offered exploration of syn-rift clastics, coeval carbonates and relay ramps, Gulf of Suez, Egypt; and shear zone structure, stratigraphy and gold mineralisation of the Lower Proterozoic, Ashanti Belt, Ghana. I taught Sedimentology at graduate level and accessed many key field study areas from the Carboniferous of the Appalachians to modern carbonates in the Bahamas. At Robertson, North Wales, I worked as a Reservoir Geologist in the Sedimentology Division, evaluating fields on the Norwegian CS and in Algeria. As a Senior Geologist and Peer Review Team Lead for TGS, I undertook integrated basin-scale projects in the UKCS, Vøring Basin and Barents Sea. I joined RWE as a Senior Geologist in 2007 in EBD, delivering successful exploration, evaluation and quality assurance throughout NW Europe and Egypt. I gained leadership skills at EON as Geological Advisor and Team Lead of the brilliant(!) West of Shetlands Team. I am a passionate geoscientist always willing to share knowledge and to learn from those around me.

I hope to give back to a Society that has offered so much over the past 25 years. During this downturn, I believe the role of the PESGB gains even greater significance. If elected, I will endeavour to support members with energy and commitment, and to educate the public about our essential industry: demystifying fracking should, perhaps, be top of the agenda!

Visit pesgb.org.uk/election/ to cast your vote now!
Polls close on Tuesday 29 November
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