Blog & News

Meet the 2019 Council Candidates – Raquel Arzola , Secretary

Thu 01 November 2018

Category: Council, Elections, Membership

I completed a Geology degree at Bristol University, and followed this with a Masters and a PhD in Marine Geology at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. My PhD project was on the sedimentary processes in the submarine canyons offshore Portugal, and involved going out to sea on research vessels to collect piston core samples and drive an ROV through the canyons – fascinating! After successfully publishing a handful of papers on my research, the bright lights of London were calling me and so I decided to have a go in the oil & gas industry.

10 years on and I haven’t looked back.

I started as an exploration geologist for Volantis Exploration in 2009, a small independent company focused on the Southern North Sea gas basin, mapping prospects and writing applications for the 26th Licensing Round, as well as being involved in the planning of the successful Pegasus well. I moved to Atlantic Petroleum following their acquisition of Volantis in 2011, and broadened my geographical remit, exploring in the Central Graben, Norway, West of Shetlands, Faroe Islands and Southern Porcupine Basin. I also started to expand my network by being the Scout Group rep and a member of the Technical Committee for PETEX in 2014. Following the downturn, I left AP and was fortunate enough to secure a position at Edison E&P in 2016, where I currently split my time between exploration activities on our UKCS licences, and development and well operations on our producing Scott and Telford fields (Q15).

I felt very fortunate to find work when so many others couldn’t, and I am keen to give something back to the industry to help others in the future. Last year I became a Chartered Geologist with the Geological Society, and now I am keen to support the PESGB Council in its goal of extending outreach and Earth Sciences education beyond industry into the wider community.