Crude Conversations with Rohan Irvin

Well, at least own part of one... In this episode I’m joined by Philip Racusin who is CEO and Co-Founder of EnergyFunders. He’s a really interesting guy, full of energy and on a mission. He and his team at EnergyFunders are setting out to give people like you and I the opportunity to invest directly in oil and as development projects that would otherwise be the exclusive realm of Banks and the Uber rich. A good analogy would be Angel’s List who have made investing in Tech start-ups available to the masses. Of course, like any investment, there’s risk involved but what I’m excited about is having the option to apply my knowledge of the industry to my personal investments. I should note that I haven’t invested in any EnergyFunders projects yet nor am I getting anything for having Philip on the show, except of course the pleasure of his company and conversation for an hour or so. He’s just a really interesting guy doing inspiring things. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Philip Racusin.

This episode is the second half of my hilarious chat with author, adventurer and driller Paul Carter. If you haven’t listened to part 1 I highly encourage you to go back and listen to that one first as the two episodes are closely linked. Again there are some naught words in this episode so be warned but enough of from me, let’s get straight back into Paul’s story, where Joe his cigarette smoking, heavy metal loving pet monkey has just locked him in the toilet. You can find out more about Paul and his books at www.pcarter.com.au and you can find all the details about the episode at www.crudeconversations.com/episodes

This episode is part one of my chat with driller and adventurer turned author, Paul Carter. His first book, "Don’t tell Mum I work on the rigs, she thinks I’m a piano player in a whore house" made me laugh and cry when I first read it about 10 years ago. I read it again before this chat and once again was captivated by his stories from remote parts of the Oil and Gas industry. Before we get into the episode, I need to warn all the kiddies out there that there are a few naughty words used during our chat and please excuse my laughter throughout, Paul is a master story teller and I know you’re going to enjoy our chat. You can find out more about Paul and his books at www.pcarter.com.au and you can find all the details about the episode at www.crudeconversations.com/episodes Thanks for listening and thanks for being part of the conversation.

This episode features Tom Fisher who was Senior Vice President of Commercial Affairs for Unocal before retiring in 2004. During his career he had an instrumental role in commercializing the gas markets of Indonesia and Thailand, among many other achievements. He's a Reservoir Engineer by training, like myself, and we get into the engineering weeds a little bit at the start of the interview but stick with it as he has some great insights in the second half of the conversation. Notably he reflects from retirement on what defines success and you might be surprised by his answer. We finish up our chat with the importance of having fun and what Tom believes is the biggest problem America faces today. Check out the show notes at www.crudeconversations.com for details on everything we cover in our conversation.

Imagine the excitement. It's 2008 and the industry is booming. Oil was over $140/barrel and the business opportunities were abounding. That's the environment in which Al and Conor, the guests in this episode, decided to quit their well paid jobs as petroleum engineer and lawyer respectively to start Rigforce. Six months later, everything changed. The world economy was imploding and all their assumptions were being put to the test. In this episode I sit down with Alastair Haldane and Conor O’Brien, to dig into what was going through their heads at this time and how they were able to come out of it stronger, wiser and more resilient to the current downturn. But this conversation is not just about the trials and tribulations of starting a business, it’s about living a fulfilling life. Both Al and Conor are extremely insightful individuals and this episode is full of take aways that we can all apply in our own lives. I hope you get as much out of this as I did, particularly the discussion around personal productivity. If you have a personal productivity hack you'd like to share then I love to hear about it in the comments below! Once again, thanks for listening and thanks for being part of the conversation. Rohan

Welcome to Crude Conversations, the show where engineer and entrepreneur, Rohan Irvin, sits down with the leaders and legends of the oil and gas industry to find out what they do differently. Deconstructing their success and their failures so that we can all learn from their experiences. The guest in this episode is Bodie Nowak from Parkwood International who is one of the most dynamic recruiters in the industry. We sat down for a chat at my office in Austin to dig into the art of job hunting. I had a lot of fun recording this episode, trading stories on interviewing - both as the candidate and the interviewer, defining your true motivations, applying the 80/20 principal and how to stand out from the crowd using concrete tips on resume writing, preparing for interviews and selling yourself. Even if you’re one of the lucky ones not looking for a job right now, this interview is full of life hacks that you can apply in all aspects of your life so I really encourage you to stick it out as the second half is full of gems. I’ve also put links to the TED talks, books and resources we talk about in the show notes at www.crudeconversations.com so no need to take notes while you’re commuting to work, just head over to the website and check it out. Thanks for Listening and Thanks for being part of the conversation! Rohan

Welcome to the first episode of Crude Conversations, the show where engineer and entrepreneur, Rohan Irvin, sits down with the leaders and legends of the oil and gas industry to find out what they do differently. Deconstructing their success and their failures so that we can all learn from their experiences. What you’re about to hear is a conversation with Bill Arnold and Aaron Davis. Bill was Shell's Washington Director of International Government relations as well as being appointed by the White House as Senior Vice President of the Export Import Bank of the United States. Aaron Davies on the other hand is an engineer and manager at Oxy who was one of Bill’s first students at Rice University’s Jones School of Business. During the episode we touch on Bill’s experiences with leaders around the globe, including George Bush, former KGB heads and Saddam Hussein. We dissect Networking which is something that Rohan considers Aaron and Bill to be world class at, and of course they debate the pros and cons of doing an MBA. We also reference a lot of people, books and resources that you can find listed in the show notes at www.crudeconversations.com

This a preview of Episode 1 of Crude Conversations, the show where engineer and entrepreneur, Rohan Irvin, sits down with the leaders and legends of the oil and gas industry to find out what they do differently. Deconstructing their success and their failures so that we can all learn from their experiences. What you’re about to hear is an excerpt from the first episode that features Bill Arnold. Bill was Shell's Washington Director of International Government relations as well as being appointed by the White House as Senior Vice President of the Export Import Bank of the United States. In both of these roles he had the opportunity or the curse of meeting with leaders all over the world including George H W Bush, former KGB heads and Saddam Hussein. This is just one of dozens of stories that we go into during the episode that will be available on iTunes as well as our website http://crudeconversations.com very soon. Thanks for listening.