Anadarko Petroleum Geologist Reviews

Pros

Peoples there are amazing. It is a family type atmosphere Benefits Training Culture Compensation IT department Software

Cons

CEO Work life balance Upward mobility Career advancement Locations

Pros

Good pay and decent work environment

Cons

Poor upper management Petroleum engineers treated like gods

Pros

The people at Anadarko are its best asset. I was glad to come to work with respected friends and colleagues everyday. The compensation was good, but the PTO and Friday's off were excellent perks.

Cons

While technical training is something that Anadarko touts it is common for geologists and engineers to be pigeonholed into roles which allow for little to no technical application. The team to which I was last assigned was comprised of a mixture of geologists and engineers. The consensus between everyone on the team is that we all became worse geologists and engineers in that role. Anadarko is probably one of the least innovative workplaces in the industry. While they have an exploration group, the team isn't given nearly enough time to work quality prospects. At the time that I left the company the exploration geologists were given 90 days to identify an opportunity and complete a full regional evaluation. It is no wonder that the company hadn't made a significant onshore discovery in the last decade and they've relied on paying premium prices for acreage followed by copy-catting other innovative E&Ps. The last thing is the core values. Anadarko is so proud of their core values but it's just lip-service. You are hammered with talk about the values but it's totally insincere and it's a way to ding people on their end of year reviews. Get rid of that nonsense.

Pros

Benefits, pay, work life balance

Cons

Senior leaders not understanding the fundamentals of the business for many years, forcing sale (at the right time)

Pros

Combine PTO with 9/80 schedule and paid holidays and you work less days than a school teacher. Great bonus program and benefits package. Peer leading maternity/paternity leave. If you have the unfortunate luck of being marooned in Midland you are paid a 25% “geographic premium” which means a big fat paycheck, and the bar for Midland employees’ work product is pretty low. A culture that fosters physical fitness, I.e. beautiful fitness centers (at The Woodlands campus) and long lunches. Cafes are exquisite and prices for food are low in The Woodlands campus. The community around The Woodlands office is amazingly beautiful, well thought-out, and cheap! Most managers are accommodating to flexible and unique work schedules. Bottom line, if you are willing to put up with a crappy culture and lucky enough to be in working in The Woodlands office it’s like getting paid to do almost nothing and living/working in Disney World.

Cons

Management at all levels are inept, which is shocking given the size of the company. Corporate culture went in the crapper in the downturn and never recovered. Midland office debacle. Denver office in peril of closing.

Pros

As is the case for most O&G companies, salaries and benefits are generally higher than those offered for comparable positions or skills in other industries.

Cons

Extremely unstable in current market conditions. Very poor at providing training for technical professionals. Very self-serving management reflected in lack of layoffs when the rest of the company experienced a ~20% reduction in force. Out-dated approach to work-life balance reflected in parental leave policies (lack thereof) flexible time or workplace policies (also lacking) and relocation demands. Stunningly little diversity and no obvious recognition of why this is problematic given societal, educational and demographic trends coupled with an aging work force in O&G.

Pros

I worked with a lot of good people who were great at their jobs and committed. They also had incredible benefits.

Cons

When I started, management seemed more interested in drilling a lot of wells as fast as possible instead of figuring out the best way to drill them. Also, layoffs were handled extremely poorly.

Pros

great internship project and mentors

Cons

no cons, great internship experience