Antony tops up the knowledge tank

Graduation Feature Petroleum industry technical and management adviser Antony Corrie-Keilig is on one of the sharpest learning curves of his life but it’s paying dividends, thanks in large part to the University of Adelaide.

The Singapore-based professional graduated with a Master of Applied Project Management (MPM) in April, earning the highest marks in the 2006 Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre cohort.

Mr Corrie-Keilig, 36, believes the Master’s on his resume differentiated him when applying for a position earlier this year with a top tier Singapore-based mergers and acquisition advisory firm.

Three months on, Mr Corrie-Keilig is using many of the project management techniques and also the business skills that are integral to the MPM course.

“The Master’s has given me a plethora of practical tools to deal with project management and business-related issues, while at the same time providing a framework to confidently understand the nuances of complex, integrated projects in the petroleum industry,” he said.

Mr Corrie-Keilig has 12 years’ experience in the oilfield, predominantly as a petroleum operations engineer working in the United States, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Sydney-born, he was raised in Melbourne and gained his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Monash University in 1992 while on an Australian Regular Army (ARA) scholarship.

“I went straight into the military after university and completed postings in Mechanized Infantry and the Corporation of Transport. Within the next three years I learnt a great deal but knew it was time to move forward, as I was seeking a career in the petroleum industry.”

Upon leaving the military Mr Corrie-Keilig pursued that dream, completing a postgraduate diploma in petroleum engineering at the University of NSW. Mr Corrie-Keilig joined international company Schlumberger Oilfield Services in 1996, and was posted to Alaska in 1998.

He moved to Indonesia in 2000 and subsequently to Singapore in 2002. Prior to joining his current employer in 2006 he worked as a project manager for Schlumberger.

“I enjoyed working for Schlumberger immensely; but significant travel resulted in being away from family for extended periods of the year. I was missing seeing my young children grow up. At the end of 2004 I decided to take a year off and focus on my family.

“In Schlumberger I was managing projects, but I came to see in time that I was lacking depth in my practical project management skills. I had the theory, but I needed to understand and effectively manage the ‘big picture’ process.”

Mr Corrie-Keilig’s wife, Erika, saw an advertisement for the Master in Applied Project Management being offered by the University of Adelaide through the Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre.

“I was sold quite quickly, as it was a holistic course with the right combination of theory and practice. It was taught by lecturers who were all experienced in the real world of project management and who had scars to show for it.

“The greatest learning benefit for me was the ability to select sections of failed projects that I had been involved in and re-work those sections with the skills I had acquired in the form of assignments.

“These facets attracted me over other institutions that offered Master’s courses in Project Management in Singapore.”

The University of Adelaide’s inclusion in the Group of Eight (Australia’s leading universities) also proved a big drawcard.

Story by Candy Gibson