Women Climbing to the Top in the Oil and Gas Industry
Many thanks to Miley Green for her insightful guest blog. Miley has investigated past and present gender biases across various fields of work. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree, hoping to delve further into the world of feminism and discover new ways to help women succeed in male-dominated industries.
While men may dominate the oil rigs and the engineering teams in the fossil fuel sector, companies are seeing a stronger female presence at the executive level. There may not be any women on the list for the highest paid oil and gas tycoons in the world, but the track record of the female population in the industry is showing much promise.
Vicki Hollub
Vicki Hollub recently made headlines when she was announced as the first female CEO of a leading US oil company. Having worked at Occidental Petroleum (OXY) for 33 years, she was named Stephen Chazen’s successor earlier this year, who is stepping down at the 2016 AGM. Hollub previously served as operations manager and moved up the corporate ladder as the head of domestic operations, and from there she was definitely a clear contender for the position of CEO. Other than the US, OXY also operates in Latin America as well as North Africa and Middle Eastern regions, like in Iraq where companies in the industry aim to engage locals in operations.
Mariana Gheorghe
One of the most influential females in Eastern Europe made Fortune Magazine’s 2014 list for the most powerful women in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. She was named the first ever, female CEO for the Romanian oil and gas group, Petrom in 2006. Other than Chief Executive Officer of the firm, other titles Mariana Gheorghe currently holds include Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board for both Marketing and Gas, and a member of the Supervisory Board for Global Solutions. Some of the important roles she maintains outside of Petrom are Vice President of Aspen Institute and member of the World Energy Council (WEC), Romania.
Ceri Powell
Another woman that made Fortune’s list of powerful female consecutives (21st place) is Ceri Powell, a woman from Wales that received her doctorate in structural geology. In 1990 she joined the global corporation Shell and has since been a remarkable leader in the company’s explorations and developments. Before finally undertaking her current position as the Global Head of Exploration, her achievements include leading major discoveries in several parts of the world, such as Albania, Australia, the Gulf of Mexico, Malaysia and Nigeria.
Sexism has been a struggle in the workplace across industries, but it appears as though women are slowly but surely breaking the glass ceiling in the oil and gas field as they reach the top of their profession and effectively lead their companies to new heights. These three women demonstrate that even in the face of adversity, they know that they are capable of driving changing, innovating, as well as inspiring others to succeed while growing their business.
