Engineering news
IMechE member Elizabeth Padmos is lead reservoir engineer at BP
Elizabeth Padmos says that she always wanted to be an engineer. Her passion for puzzles and problem-solving, along with a natural affinity for maths, was apparent from a very young age. Part of her motivation stemmed from an awareness of her father’s career as an aeronautical engineer, but also from activities they did together at home, such as working on car engines and taking home appliances apart. By the time Padmos went to primary school, she was certain that she wanted to be an engineer.
After finishing an MEng in Engineering Science at Oxford, she decided she wanted to work on internal combustion engine design. She went on to do a post-graduate year on the subject at the Institut Français du Petrole (IFP) in Paris. It was while there that she developed an interest in the oil and gas industry, with many of her fellow students studying courses in geology, geophysics and reservoir engineering. Having gained this initial exposure to the industry, she decided to apply to the BP graduate scheme. She was accepted and joined the company in Houston where she stayed for three years, before taking up a role with BP in Aberdeen 15 years ago.
Today, she is lead reservoir engineer for BP’s Schiehallion, Loyal and Foinaven Fields, and is part of BP’s North Sea Reservoir Development division. In her role, she has been responsible for building and managing the Schiehallion reservoir simulation model, which is now being used to predict the amount of oil and gas which will be produced from the field over the coming years and make significant investment decisions.
Padmos is currently based in the BP North Sea headquarters in Aberdeen. Her job is office-based and is a mixture of computer simulation work and working together with other engineers and technical professionals. She is married with three children, and has worked part-time since 2002 so she can balance her work with her family life. She doesn’t feel that part-time working has held her back at all, and has recently taken on more leadership responsibilities within the company.
Talking about her childhood, Padmos says that she was lucky to get an exposure to engineering at home from an early age – an opportunity which not everybody has – but she would definitely recommend a career in engineering to anyone who has a curiosity about how things work and enjoys logical thinking.
According to Padmos, while maths and physics are obviously important academic subjects for any budding engineer, she would also encourage people to investigate how things around them are put together and how they work. To her, successful engineering is all about making ideas work in the real world. She stresses the importance of work experience and internships, advising anyone with an interest in the field to grab any chance they can get to gain an insight into how an engineering company operates. She speaks from experience, having worked in a heavy engineering manufacturing company before and during her university studies – she still draws on those experiences in her role today.