but knew it was a poor match. A year later, Ed Belt, who was Catholic, accepted a job there. I also drove to New Haven and met with John Sanders to assess the situation and my options.
During January, there were changes on the job. I was expected to put out “fire-drill” requests from the operating company and did so. The first involved a granite wash problem in the Permian basin. Bernie and I worked together and completed our report which was well received.
Robbie then told me that management wanted Glenn and I go in the field with Allen P. Bennison, Sinclair’s regional geologist, to get exposed to some of his ideas and places he had worked in southern Oklahoma and Arkansas. Bennison published a definitive paper on the Potato Hills of Southern Oklahoma and correctly recognized it as a window within an overthrust belt. I already spent some weekends in that area looking at the Stanley-Jackfork (Mississippian) and Atoka (Pennsylvania) turbidites which Lewis Cline described at the 1959 Pittsburgh GSA meeting. It was an opportunity to obtain background information and also thought it advisable that I work with the person who Sinclair’s management considered their regional tectonic guru.
Glenn was incensed. He said because he worked with great professors at Northwestern (Krumbein, Sloss, and Dapples) and because I completed coursework with John Rodgers at Yale, we did not need to be taught anything by Bennison. I told him I didn’t know enough about Bennison and welcomed a chance to go in the field.
I went on the trip. I did not agree completely with Bennison’s approach, but learned new geology and at least saw it through his eyes. Geology is a science based on experience and observation. This trip with Bennison was an opportunity to gain needed additional experience.
Moreover, I also used the trip as an opportunity to propose a project to Sinclair management and it was approved. It dealt with a regional sandstone petrographic study of the Stanley-Jackfork boundary, utilizing field samples and well samples. That gave me reasons to go into the field more often at company expense.
In February, Gerry Friedman told me he accepted a position at the University of Pittsburgh as an Associate Professor. Frederickson offered him a job. I congratulated him.
Also that month, I received an invitation from the Yale Alumni Association to attend a function at a local country club. I went more out of curiosity. I met a young couple, Don and Ruth Nelson. He graduated from Yale and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated from Bryn Mawr and met Don while there.
Ruth’s father, a German immigrant, owned the Kaiser Oil company. It sold drill pipe and got into oil exploration using a unique approach. He noticed where his clients drilled from pipe deliveries. He determined from total pipe length how deep they drilled, which wells were successful, and which failed. He reasoned that companies spent a lot of money putting a prospect together so they knew oil might be recovered. He drilled offset wells from dry holes, discovered oil, and made millions doing so. I spent many a weekend with the Nelsons and their children.
During the middle of March, Jimmy Johnson called unexpectedly to let me know I passed my six month’s probationary period, had done well, and all colleagues were pleased with my work and interactions with them. My salary was raised from $9,000 (approximately $57,000 in 2009 dollars) per year to $9,500 (Approximately $60,500 in 2009 dollars) per year. He said he looked forward to a continued long-term working relationship with me at the lab.
As the spring continued, more “fire drill” requests were made. I wondered if I could ever finish any projects. Bernie called a meeting which Glenn, Robbie, John Rodgers, Bill Jacobsen, Nat Sage and I attended. Nat completed an eighth grade education but was a drinking buddy of Harry Sinclair, the company founder. When Sinclair passed away, Nat was assigned to the lab as an oil field water chemist.
Bernie showed a map of an area in west Texas. It displayed the organic content of soil samples and presumably the high organic content was correlated to possible oil seeps. When Nat looked at the map, he smiled and said, “Oh, I remember that ranch. All the highs are around the water troughs for cattle. Their anomalies correlate with bull shit.” We recommended the proposal be declined.
In April, Apache, a small independent in 1961, made a major gas discovery in the Arkoma basin. Other companies leased offset acreage. Sinclair requested me to assess their opportunities with a report due in two weeks. I completed some field work, scoured all reports I could find, made an assessment, and wrote a report. Basically, Apache’s discovery was a stratigraphic play exploiting a strandplain/barrier island system. I mapped the extent of this play and made my presentation. When Sinclair’s exploration management looked at my maps, the landman at the meeting reported that all the good acreage in the play was leased by competitors.
The chief geologist asked me, “George, while you were assessing data, did you see any new opportunities that hadn’t been leased or discovered?”
I explained that on the north side of the Arkoma basin, I observed Atoka outcrops which looked identical to the Oriskanie Sandstone (Devonian) of the Appalachians, a well-known gas reservoir. I interpreted them as fluvial channel sands.
He looked at me and said “Don’t people at the research lab know that oil and gas only occur in marine rocks?” The meeting ended.
Eight months later, Apache found natural gas exactly where I told Sinclair to look for it. By then, I had left the company.
Gerry Freidman decided to stay at Pan Am’s research lab and declined Pitt’s offer. I wrote Frederickson applying for the job. He called two weeks later and invited me for an interview. He wanted a reference from Bernie so I called and explained the situation. Bernie gave a good reference. The interview went well, although I only met with Frederickson. Two weeks later, I accepted an offer to start teaching at Pitt that fall.
I gave Bernie my resignation letter and the first thing he said was “George, we invested a lot in you. Where’s your company loyalty?” I replied, “Bernie, remember when you, Chuck Tenney, and I rode in the car going from Beulah, WY, to Casper back in November and you said that company loyalty was a bunch of crap?” He looked at me and said, “You’re right. Good luck with it. But I hate to see you go to work for Frederickson”
A week later, Jimmy Johnson called me into his office. Bernie Rolfe was there as was the Vice President of the lab. They asked why I would leave. I explained I wanted freedom to pick my own research, that the inability to complete research with all the fire drills slowed me down, and there was a particular project in the UK on the Jurassic Great Oolite Series I wanted to undertake. They made a counter offer. They offered three months off during the summer during the next two summers to do field work in the UK, and they would pay me to do the lab work at Sinclair. I turned it down knowing they could reverse their offer any time.
I completed my reports, turned them in and said my good-byes at the end of July, 1961. I spent two extra days in Tulsa to visit the Carter Oil Research Lab and the Pan American Research lab representing the University of Pittsburgh which meant they could show me more of their work. I then packed everything I owned into my car and headed east.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. When working as an employee of an oil company, one is an “at will” employee, meaning that the company can fire you any time. Therefore, it is best to build up and keep a cash reserve.
2. Risk adverse companies ultimately will fail or are merged into a more aggressive company. Sinclair Oil was merged with ARCO for their assets in Alaska.
3. When employed in a less-than-desirable location, use weekends to go out of town for R&R. While in Tulsa, I should have travelled on weekends to Dallas to counter the negatives of the Tulsa region. I learned later to do so when living in east-central Illinois.
