Korhan - Geologist, Camper, Turk

I met Korhan during my master's, where I knew him as the "sea cucumber guy"!  His research at the time focused on studying the burial habits of sea cucumbers and their other tidal flats comrades, in order to use that information to understand rocks in modern-day oil formations.  Korhan's work was a classic example of how seemingly odd and far removed research could actually be incredibly important to our daily lives!

Korhan is also the first Turkish person I've met, and through him I've gotten to know a little of his incredibly diverse and fascinating country.  This interview is a great example of all the many identities one person can hold.  I hope in reading this interview, you can learn a bit about the oil and gas industry, geology, and Turkey!

The geologist out communing with the rocks.

What kind of research do you do?

I am a geologist and I have been working on a shale-gas project. My research focuses on logging cores and addressing reservoir heterogeneity problems in an unconventional reservoir. It is a challenging research topic, but at the end my research has an input on the oil and gas industry and that makes me feel that I contribute to Albertan community.

Editor's note: Logging cores refers to making detailed notes on the rock that comes out when drilling an oil well, i.e, the rock that was in the hole before there was a hole!  Oil reservoirs are actually not giant pools of oil under the ground.  Oil reservoirs are actually rock that has oil trapped in tiny holes inside it, kind of like a rock sponge full of oil.  In unconventional reservoirs, these holes are often much smaller than usual, or they're not connected to each other, so we have to use more complicated techniques than simply drilling a well to get the oil out.

Reservoir heterogeneity is a fancy way of saying that the rocks down there are really complicated!  Think about all the different stuff going on in a given stream.  There's the stream bed, the dry banks, islands in the middle of the stream, gunky pools where the water isn't flowing very fast, etc.  All of those different sub-environments are going to lead to different sized holes in which oil can hide.  Fast forward a few millions years to when the stream becomes part of an oil deposit - understanding these differences in environments on a very small scale is very important to understanding how to get the oil out.

Okay, sciences lesson over, back to Korhan! :)

What got you interested in this research?

 My previous research projects were completely different than what I am working on now, so it was an opportunity to learn new things and it was a hot topic which will lead me to my future industry career.

When I was offered this research position, my boss told me that it is a “mentally challenging” job, and I needed to be ready for it. This description was one of the main reasons why I accepted to work on this project, because I believe challenging jobs keep your mind sharp. They may not be easy, but when you start getting some results, or solve difficult issues that nobody has solved before, it makes you feel that you accomplished your goals and you are ready for the next challenge.

What’s your favorite part about your research?

 My favorite part is making interpretations about depositional environments. As I log cores, I explain how those rocks were deposited millions of years ago. Basically, I look at small structures (which I call clues), their stacking patterns, fossils, trace fossils etc. and I come up with a depositional history. For example, if I see certain fossils along with some diagnostic structures, I can interpret that those rocks were deposited in a beach environment. This is particularly important when companies search for new target locations. I can help them to find potential new resources or I can show them where they should avoid drilling. In a nut shell, to be able to tell the history of rocks is my favorite part of my research.

Editor's note: "Depositional environment" is a geology term that just means the environment in which rocks were formed, for example, beach, river, or sand dune.  The term only applies to sedimentary rocks, or rocks that are made up of tiny bits of other rocks, as opposed to coming from squeezed (metamorphic) or melted rocks (igneous).

Korhan prepares to stun the audience with his research at a scientific conference.

Where do you live now?

I live in Edmonton, Canada. I moved here in 2014 January.

Where else have you lived?

 Before moving to Edmonton, I lived and studied in Vancouver for about 4.5 years, and before that I lived in Turkey.

What’s your favorite place that you’ve lived?

 My home city, Antalya, Turkey is my favorite place as it is a beautiful Mediterranean city with good food, nice beaches, nice weather, and friendly people.

What was your biggest culture shock moment?

It was very easy for me to adopt to Canadian culture, because people are generally friendly and everything is very similar to what I was used to, thus I haven’t experienced big cultural shocks. However, I felt the difference in education system. The moment I started working on my research, I was overwhelmed with the amount of workload I had. I was working on my research, I was taking courses, and I was working as a teaching assistant (TA) at the same time. My research project was harder than I expected; it was physically and mentally challenging. My course load was intense and I was having a hard time understanding the English courses. Moreover, TAing duties were hard, including marking exams and assignments, introducing lab material, and more. Normally, a similar workload wouldn’t be a big issue to deal with in Turkey, because courses are less challenging, you can always ask for help, expectations are overall low, and TAing duties are limited to marking exams. It took me a year and a half to adapt to this rhythm of life/work. This was overwhelming and shocking, because I had very little time for myself.

What is your favorite thing to do for fun?

Probably camping is my favorite activity to do. It is a very nice way of getting away from everyday life, and relaxing. I also like cooking on the open fire.

Cooking with FIRE.

What is your biggest worry right now?

My biggest worry, as many other oil and gas people have, is to find a good job. I am lucky to have my research job now, but I will have to find a permanent job soon. Given that the downturn in the oil and gas industry is very severe, this is my biggest concern these days and it affects my productivity at work. I hope things will get better soon, and I hope I don’t have to change the career that I have been putting a lot of effort into.

What do you wish you could tell people, that you wish people knew?

The main issue that I have been seeing is that people are so busy with their everyday routine and they care less about what is going on in the world. As the horrifying news coming from Middle East and Asia, particularly terrorist attacks, people get used to these news and show progressively less reaction. Of course it is hard to generalize this to everyone, but in my opinion this is an overall perception and I wish people knew this and react more instead of less.

Where do you consider yourself “from”?

I am from Turkey, and I consider Turkey as a Eurasian country.