RiverRipper's Guide to Energy

I'm working for an oil company right now before my MBA and I can see the advantage of learning a language. I would like to recommend French for consideration, because it is surprisingly prevalent in oil destinations throughout Africa. And the difference between a village in Congo and Paris is that in Paris, the person you are talking to probably speaks some English, or at least the other guy in the room does. So it's really important to know some French if you want to be understood outside of work situations - negotiating with customs officers at the airport, directing a taxi driver or ordering food in a restaurant.

However, in work, as other posters have said, most of your colleagues will be expats or westernized locals with decent English. Even if you've done your Berlitz classes or whatever, these guys are going to speak English better than you speak the local lingo and the meeting will move way faster in English.

So learn the language to make your life easier, but don't put it too high on your priority list. Oil companies will pay for training anyway - I got 60 hours of one-on-one tuition when I arrived in Italy. Molto bene!

Recognize ENI here

Any idea if they hire internationals either for US or international locations? Energy companies seem interesting and I wouldn't mind coming back to my home country working for one of these giants.

I am pretty sure they will hire internationals for international locations. Not so sure on the US visa side.

Here is a previous blog post I made for the Consortium Energy Network.

"The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power
Well I’m finally back from some much needed vacation. I spent the last week in Colorado, fly fishing an area of the South Platte River known as the “Dream Stream.” I really enjoy Colorado, and the people I meet streamside. I was surprised how many people I met asked me about the new Oil & Gas laws implemented in Colorado, to protect fisheries from contamination, and how the new regulations might impact the economy of Colorado.

Before I go down the path of regulations, green energy, sustainability, clean tech, and many of the other “hot” topics, I thought this would be an excellent time to talk about how we got here. Understanding the history of the industry plays an important part in knowing where we are going and the growing challenges we’ll face.

Instead of me trying to recap the history I know together into a blog post – I’ll give some references I used in undergrad recruiting and others that have been recommended to me as a Chevron employee.

1. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power by Daniel Yergin (Amazon)

2. For those of you who don’t want to sit down to read 928 pages of The Prize, you can try - Empires of Industry: Black Gold: The Story of Oil (documentary by the History Channel). You can also find this one on Netflix so if you are a member put it in your queue or download it right to your computer. (Amazon) (Netflix)

3. The Vault Guide to Top Energy Employers – this is a nice supplement to a company’s website or basic marketing materials.

4. Good ol’ Wikipedia - History of the Petroleum Industry

5. Post your favorite history sources as comments!

Remember learning as much as you can about the industry and the specific company you are targeting is going to be a big help in recruiting. Hopefully, we’ll get to some talking points, as well as some industry lingo that will help you carry a conversation with industry professionals and recruiters.

“Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler & Geaux Blue!”

It's definitely hard for me to keep up with the consortium/energy/ross threads on the forum anymore best way to reach me is pm. I was actually at Chevron prior to b-school did my summer internship at a "super" major utility and have accepted a position as an energy consultant so I'd be happy to answer any questions along any of those lines.

I'm definitely active in REC and always around if you want to talk energy or recruiting.