Hvad laver en Subsurface Manager hos Total?

Louise Koldig
Employed since 2002
MSc Chemical Engineering, DTU

Can you briefly describe the business areas that you work in and your primary tasks?

I work in Subsurface, so we work with the reservoirs in the ground and the primary task you could say is reservoir management. That means we find out how we get the most out of the wells we have, where we should put new wells and how should we develop the area in order to get maximum recovery. It might sound very abstract but it’s generally about gathering, choosing and analyzing a lot of data as well as forming some hypotheses, finding out what we want to do and coming up with ideas, opportunities and development and then putting these into life.

What are the most exciting and challenging tasks in your job?

For me the most exciting task is to work with people. It’s about motivating my department to deliver set goals and developing them to become even better at what they are doing. Things like that are really rewarding to work with and at the same time challenging. What motivates one person, might not motivate the next person.

Also, I’m part of a cross-departmental Asset Leadership Team. One of the rewarding things is that I learn a lot from other departments outside my area and at the same time I can contribute with my own knowledge. Nevertheless, there is also challenges to it because sometimes I have to make compromises to my own departmental goals in order to move the asset in the direction we want to because for the greater good it’s actually better we don’t.

Finally, I feel it’s rewarding that in Subsurface we work a lot with opportunities to identify something that’s a good idea. So, you work it up, discuss with a lot of people, mature it, get the budget for it, implement it and then you can see the results of your work which is for instance to getting a well back to life, producing or doubling the production and that brings a lot of excitement.

How are you using your education in your current position?

I’m a chemical engineer by background. I did my master's degree at a technical university in Denmark. I can use a lot of knowledge gained from my studies as for instance, thermodynamic and separators. Yet, there is many things that I learn on the job but still I can apply my problem-solving skills from school.

For instance, in university I was given the data which I could rely on, whereas in the company I have to do the data collection and analysis myself before starting the actual work. Giving an example, in university I just assumed that the given pressure was correct but now in real work-life, I have to figure out where I can find that data, which time span should be taken, the reliability, etc. Therefore, I often need to get in contact with several stakeholders like offshore and production but that’s what makes it challenging and exciting.

What are the three most important things to you in your job at Total?

The most important thing is that Total is a company that has strong values. Of course, Total has a great vision and strategy, but for me personally having written down how we should work is of high importance. Also, I find it great that Total’s value of standing together or respect for each other overlap very much with the way I like to work as well.

Another great benefit for me is that Total is a large company. We are 100.000 people in the Group and a lot of locations and functions where we can work. This implies we have huge opportunities. Thus, the people in my team and myself can grow by moving around. Lastly, Total is a place where I enjoy coming in because of the people. I get to meet many smart and funny people within Total.

Also, I love the multicultural team I’m working in as we are 20 people from probably ten different nationalities.

Why is Total an attractive company for you to work in?

Total is one of the energy majors and that means I’m part of bringing energy to people. Our energy is needed and used to fuel developments in greener energy. So, without us providing the energy now, we also can’t move ahead on the greener energy. Actually, Total is in the whole energy value chain as it is also investing in companies that provide greener energy.

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