Operations & GIS Geologist
Co-head Australia Operations
Periodic field travel to support drilling operations, field data collection, land access and stakeholder activities
Daly Waters is a leading upstream company focused on the Beetaloo Sub-basin, backed by Formentera Partners, an Austin, Texas based energy private equity firm. Daly Waters entered the Beetaloo Basin in 2022 through a 50/50 joint venture with Tamboran Resources (NYSE: TBN). Formentera Partners is an independent energy private equity platform managing four funds (>US$2.5B). Formentera's expansive development and production experience across all major US shale basins is leveraged to deliver reliable, efficient, and technically driven operations to optimise value and performance across diverse assets.
Daly Waters is poised to take over operatorship of some of the most prospective acreage within the Beetaloo and has an exciting growth trajectory for 2026 and beyond.
The Operations & GIS Geologist provides day-to-day subsurface and spatial data capability for Daly Waters. The role requires deep operations geology capability — well planning input, real-time support during drilling, geosteering and formation evaluation. The successful candidate will already have the skills to work with the company's geospatial data, covering tenements, infrastructure, land access and environmental constraint data; or will demonstrate skills and willingness to develop the necessary GIS skills.
This is a practical, delivery-focused role in a lean team that suits a geoscientist who already has broad operator experience.
Operations Geology
- Provide geological input to well planning, including target selection, landing point definition, geological prognoses and offset well reviews for horizontal wells.
- Deliver real-time geological support during drilling operations, including geosteering, formation top picking, and timely communication of geological risk to the wellsite and operations team.
- Oversee wellsite geological services and contractors — mud logging, LWD and sampling — ensuring data quality, timely reporting and adherence to program requirements.
- Coordinate core, cuttings and fluid sampling programs, including handling, chain of custody, laboratory dispatch and integration of results.
- Undertake petrophysical and formation evaluation work to support completions design and target refinement.
- Complete post-well geological reviews, capturing lessons learned and feeding them into subsequent well designs.
- Build and maintain the corporate well database, including well headers, deviation surveys, formation tops, wireline and LWD logs, and completion records.
GIS & Spatial Data Management
- Act as custodian of the company's GIS environment in ArcGIS, in collaboration with the Formentera Partners GIS function.
- Build and maintain authoritative spatial datasets covering key data.
- Produce maps and spatial deliverables supporting regulatory submissions, environment management plans, land access negotiations, field planning and joint venture reporting.
- Integrate survey, LiDAR, satellite imagery and field-collected data into the corporate spatial environment.
- Develop practical mapping and reporting tools — templates, automated map series and dashboards — that reduce manual effort across the operations team.
Regulatory & Land Access Support
- Prepare the spatial and geological content required for Northern Territory petroleum regulatory submissions and approvals, including well notifications, environment management plans and tenure reporting.
- Support compliance with NT tenement conditions, including work program tracking, reporting obligations and submission deadlines.
- Provide accurate spatial products to support land access agreements, pastoral and traditional owner engagement, and cultural heritage clearance processes.
- Maintain geological and spatial records to a standard that withstands regulatory scrutiny and audit.
General
- Contribute to the development of subsurface and data management procedures, standards and systems as the business scales toward operatorship.
- Maintain professional and technical knowledge through publications, workshops and industry networks.
- Perform other duties as reasonably required in a small, multi-disciplinary team.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
- Tertiary qualification in Geology, Geoscience or a related discipline.
- Typically 5–10+ years' experience with an active E&P operator, including hands-on operations or wellsite geology.
- Demonstrated experience supporting horizontal well planning and real-time geosteering.
- Practical GIS capability with demonstrated proficiency in Esri ArcGIS.
- Formation evaluation and log interpretation capability sufficient to support well delivery decisions.
- Ability to communicate technical findings clearly to non-technical audiences, including operations, approvals, land and commercial staff.
- Comfortable working independently in a lean team with minimal oversight and competing priorities.
- Current driver's licence and willingness to undertake periodic travel to remote field locations.
- Current right, or willingness to gain right, to work in Australia.
DESIRABLE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
- Experience in an analogous unconventional shale play.
- Working knowledge of Northern Territory upstream operations.
- Experience producing spatial deliverables in support of land access, native title, cultural heritage or pastoral engagement processes.
- Familiarity with subsurface interpretation software such as Petrel, Kingdom or Techlog.
- Experience with spatial automation and scripting (Python / ArcPy) and dashboarding tools such as ArcGIS Online, Experience Builder or Power BI.
DWE employment may require background checks and/or other testing.
Daly Waters Energy is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other attribute protected under applicable Australian law.
