When Cabot approached Lackawanna College about creating an endowment at the School of Petroleum & Natural Gas, the management of the program had the foresight to negotiate a financial contribution as well as a pathway to exchange knowledge. This commitment to ensuring the program grows with the ever changing industry is, perhaps, the must unique thing about Cabot’s endowment.

There are many ways in which Cabot can fulfill this commitment and we continue to explore unique opportunities to do so. To date, the most popular outreach has been through expert lectures by our staff and contractors as well as operational tours.

Lectures

During their tenure at the school, students will be immersed into many different subject matters: from wellbore design to environmental protection mitigation procedures and even an overview on hydrocarbons commodities. Given the broad spectrum, facilitating lectures by experts in the field helps create a basic understanding of core concepts while giving the students the opportunity to ask specific questions not usually covered in textbooks.

This fall, Cabot has worked to setup over a dozen focused lectures and many more are planned in the spring, too. Here is a quick overview of who hosted some of the lectures and what material was covered:

Mike Moreland, Baker Hughes, Account Manager II:

• Introduction to Workover Systems
• Remedial and Stimulation Packers and Squeeze work
• Introduction to Fishing

David Ferguson, Cactus Wellhead, Field Sales:

• Wellhead Basics 101
• Introduction to Valve Assembly and Threading

Jerry Dugas, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, Drilling Superintendent:

• Drilling 101
• Oil & Gas Business Concepts
• Careers in the Oil & Gas Business

Santos Gomez, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, HSE Drilling Manager:

• Drill Site Safety 101

Vince Gerrish, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, Landman:

• Ownership of Mineral Resources
• Private Land Rights in the United States
• General Lease Contract Terms and Provisions

Wild Well Control, Training Representative

• Well Control Overview
• Well Control Engineering Overview
• HSE Training

Field Visits

Due to the size of the first year class at over 80 students, three separate visits were arranged to bring students from all four concentrations -petroleum technology, compression technology, measurement technology and PNG business – out into the field for their first operational introduction of drilling and production.

To emphasize the safety of our industry, all students are required to purchase appropriate FR clothing and steel toe boots. The college provides helmets and necessary ear & eye protection. If any student failed to meet the appropriate standards he or she was not allowed to participate in the operation visit – a mandatory requirement for all first year students.

At the drilling location, students were introduced to the company man and tool pusher of the rig. From a distance the operation was broken down so that students could understand what exactly was happening. Following this, the group had the opportunity to explore around the drilling rig under the appropriate supervision. Areas visited included the geology trailer, directional driller trailer, generators, closed-loop mud recycling system, the rig floor and the dog house.

Following the drilling operation, each group was brought to a nearby production site. Students were given an overview of the equipment found on location with special emphasis added for the measurement controls and safety features.

Many of the gradates of Lackawanna college School of PNG will find themselves working on similar production sites after they graduate so being able to see firsthand what the sites look like and the equipment found on each location helps the students quantify what the students are learning in the classroom. The experience also expands their understanding of career opportunities in the field.

-Steve Voytek, Assistant Director, School of PNG