During my years in BP Alaska, I had three different jobs. I went in as Infrastructure Manager, and almost immediately faced my first challenge. There was an earthquake and a volcanic eruption, the snow turned black, and it became completely dark, with temperatures dropping to -60°F with wind chill. I…
Over the last decade, as global energy has become hyper-focused on the Southern Caribbean, the role and opinions of local women have too often been overlooked. In this compelling, first-of-its-kind book, lawyer-turned-writer Celeste Mohammed remedies that omission.
Mohammed is a Trinidadian whose fiction has won numerous international awards including a 2018 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize and the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A Different Energy: Women in Caribbean Oil & Gas (Words Matter Communications; December 2023) is Mohammed’s non-fiction debut. With powerful, eye-opening portraits of eight Trini, Surinamese and Guyanese women who are employed in the Caribbean oil and gas industry, Mohammed uses the breadth of her story-telling range to keep the gender conversation refreshingly candid, often humorous, and always thought-provoking.
The book’s commentary and analysis extract from the women’s stories lessons for any woman seeking to defy odds, shatter stereotypes, and forge paths in a business culture which underestimates her.
Oil and gas operations are commonly found in remote locations far from company headquarters. Now, it's possible to monitor pump operations, collate and analyze seismic data, and track employees around the world from almost anywhere. Whether employees are in the office or in the field, the internet and related applications enable a greater multidirectional flow of information – and control – than ever before.