Penn West Exploration

Typical day starts off with a meeting.. not sure what they called it, was morewhine fest then anything else. Would start at 7:30am go on till 9:00am or later, vendors would stacked up waiting for work permits. Rush to get batt/plt logged to get numbers into PVR before grand central would start crying for production numbers.
What I learned lots of sitting around as contractors did operators' work i.e. house keeping, light maintenance. Pennwest more concerned about apperance and security in remote access areas then actual production. Almost as many closed curcuit cameras as there were wells!
Management? They took a large oil company that was once great and drove it straight into the ground!! The more you screw up the higher you go. Shutting in wells in all areas due to poor pipe line maintenance, pipe line leaks are going unrepaired simply shutting in wells. Sell your shares!!
Co-workers, a few good ones, most I wouldn't allow them to watch paint dry(they'd hurt themselves).
Hardest part of the job was trying to get management and engineers to make a timely decision, perhapsthis is why the company is going to the dogs!
Most enjoyable part.. was leaving. If one is considering on leaving be prepared to wait for your severance, holiday pay and any moneies you may have in the "group RRSP" waited 3 months for mine. Would have been longer had I not envolved a lawyer.

This was the best contract I've ever had. The people and culture were amazing. They kept asking me to do more and I kept volunteering to do more. This included writing and editing documentation. Also, I got to write test scripts (my last project was the largest PennWest worked on in 2014), then supervise the testing cycle, and co-ordinate with development on QA analysis. I learned so much from everyone I worked with and I hoped they learned from me. My manager was excellent. The only problem with the contract was that because PennWest was in financial difficulties and had to relieve the contractors early from their contracts. I was very sad to leave.

I have no insight into current company operations or culture since Penn West became Obsidian Energy, therefore I cannot comment on the company. Penn West was particularly hard hit by low gas prices and then again by the oil price crash, forcing divestiture of  properties and fragmentation of it's land holdings in Western Canada. However, the key properties that remain are rich in reserves and new and improving efficient technologies for accessing these reserves will be important going forward.

I was in charge of using diverse programs in the reservoir and geology areas. In addition, I searched, gathered, and retrieved geological data. It was easy for me to adapt to new technologies and procedures. Considered as a good team player by my coworkers, I have seen as a person who enjoys challenges, help and comply deadlines and goals. Furthermore, I was willing to learn and expand into greater areas of knowledge and experience.

I had a good steady job and career already.  Penn West sought me out and fed me a bunch of good stories to sell me on the company.  They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse and then after 8 months they significantly downsized and pushed me and some of my field leadership team out the door.  Do not trust these people.  The culture is very negative there.  I was trying to change the culture but didn't have enough time.

I like the department which i worked at, which was very strong technical team and very friendly team members. We learned lots from each other. Our department was getting stronger and stronger with very good reputation.
However, because of the economic recession, the company had to be downsize and cut whole department.

I've worked at this company for many years and have gradually found my enjoyment of it to be decreasing. Initially it was a work hard play hard atmosphere with great team spirit. Nowadays it seems glum and the team atmosphere is gone.

Of course it's not all bad! The company gym is great, most of the people are nice. Benefits are competitive. Free coffee, pop & water are a bonus.

Nice place to work but they still suffer from issues with the merger with Connetic 5 years ago, sometimes there still apears to be 2 camps working here. Often it seems no leaders want to make any tough decision. Lots of long term employees who prefer to continue doing things the way they always have.

Helped clients with library and records management inquiries.  I enjoyed troubleshooting specific well record issues.  I enjoyed working on records management related special projects.  My co-workers were always very helpful and I learned valuable knowledge from them.  

The hardest part of the job was being laid off as I enjoyed everything about the job I had.

I have no regrets working at Penn West I met some great team members and unfortunately with the debt problems they had that lead to decisions to layoff numerous people at their company. Penn West  treated me well upon my departure.

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