Austin Emerges as New Hub for Oil and Gas Industry
Access to World-Class Research
From Brigham Exploration’s point of view, Shepherd said one major advantage to Austin is the research conducted here at The University of Texas at Austin.
“There’s a lot of benefit to being here because of the opportunity to work with the university,” he said. “It’s huge.”
Bradley Sparks, chief financial officer at Laredo Oil, said his company relocated to Austin from Tucson, Ariz., in 2010 for the same reason — the promise of working with UT Austin’s petroleum and geosystems engineering department.
“What we do with gravity drainage is technically very complex, so it was important to have access to the best talent coming from a university like UT Austin,” Sparks said. “Plus, we get to be close to the best petroleum engineering program in the country and have already partnered with UT PGE faculty on some of our most challenging technology issues.”
In turn, UT PGE and the Jackson School of Geosciences have benefitted from the proximity of companies such as Laredo Oil, Brigham and Statoil. In 2013, Statoil partnered with UT PGE and the Jackson School on a five-year, $5 million graduate student fellowship program. The company granted 13 fellowships to students who are now conducting research at Statoil’s Austin and Houston offices.
“The growing presence of oil and gas companies in Austin has strengthened the research conducted in petroleum engineering,” said Tad Patzek, chair of the Cockrell School’s petroleum and geosystems engineering department. “With industry setting up shop in the 40 Acres’ backyard, we have developed strategic partnerships that provide our graduate students with the resources required to conduct game-changing research. It is also beneficial to our graduating students who have developed a passion for Austin, as the job options are increasing.”
Written by Heath Hignight. A version of this story originally appeared in the Fall 2012 issue of the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering print magazine, Energy One.