This year, Technical Lead for the Gippsland Decommissioning Project, Emma Ogilvie, is celebrating 21 years of working for ExxonMobil. Emma’s career has been energetic and diverse, spanning Australia to Canada and covering a diverse range of activities and roles.
“The best thing about my career has been the breadth of experiences I’ve encountered over the years,” says Emma.
“Within the ExxonMobil family, I’ve worked across engineering, project management, marketing, strategy, business and even Human Resources. It’s certainly not been your typical engineering career!”
Emma spent the first eight years of her career in different engineering roles within ExxonMobil Australia’s Melbourne headquarters, before becoming the Business Manager on the $4.5 billion Kipper Tuna Turrum project in Bass Strait. Emma spent five years working with her team to get the project’s three oil and gas fields up and running, generating enough energy to power a city of one million people for about 35 years.
Following her successful work on Kipper Tuna Turrum project, Emma took the unique opportunity to become a Project Manager in Canada on the Sable Decommissioning Project. Located in Halifax in the province of Nova Scotia, the environment and the role were both a significant change for Emma.
“I went from working on establishing an offshore development in Australia to decommissioning an offshore development in Canada, so I was able to experience a project in its infancy and one at its completion.”
Over two-and-a-half-years, Emma was responsible for all aspects of Sable decommissioning planning.
“The Sable project gave me global decommissioning expertise and, when I came back from Canada, the skills and knowledge I gained there complemented my roles supporting our Gippsland operations.
“I’ve been based back in Melbourne for five years now, and I’m currently working as Technical Lead in the Gippsland Decommissioning Project.
“In many ways, Sable was a smaller scale version of the decommissioning challenge ahead for our Gippsland operations. Having this experience is extremely valuable in my current role supporting the planning for the eventual decommissioning of our Bass Strait facilities.”
Emma’s 21 years of international experience at ExxonMobil are unique and varied, making her a valuable asset to the Australian team. She hopes that her professional journey demonstrates to young women considering careers in STEM that the potential is infinite.
“If you’re having difficulty connecting to the science, technology or engineering career ‘stereotypes’, I highly recommend reaching out directly to women in STEM-based industries,” said Emma.
“You’ll discover the incredible breadth of roles that they have experienced and see for yourself that the career opportunities arising from a STEM-based tertiary education are endless.”