XCover: Connecting the World’s Best Geoscientists to Flexible Exploration Projects

XCover is a rapidly growing network for geoscientists and energy experts to join and host exploration projects that tap into their specialized experience and knowledge. Called XiRs, or Explorers-in-Residence, geoscientists become part of a robust community, where they can collaborate with companies to work on projects, adding new perspectives that drastically improve the overall quality and efficiency of the work.

In the first year since its inception, XCover has accomplished some incredible things, including launching 16 projects to bring innovative perspectives and workflows to the energy industry. 25 highly specialized geoscientists have been hired to work remotely, and this talent has helped accelerate exploration projects by 6-12 months on average and deploy innovative solutions. How is XCover experiencing such growth? By doing things differently. XCover takes an entirely new approach to geoscience — and we think it’s going to change the industry.

A New Way to Work

One way that XCover is revolutionizing the world of geoscience is through virtual workstations. These provide XiRs with specialized access to geoscience data and state-of-the-art software that they can access from anywhere in the world, at any time. This opens up XCover to global talent, and XiRs love the flexibility it provides.

“I can work from home if I need to…I can work from my kid’s swim practice,” said Jessica Fallon. “It makes me mobile — anywhere I have a decent internet connection, I'm able to log in and do a little bit [of work]. It's a lot more convenient.”

Andrea Maioli echoed this sentiment: “I was able to work from my own house, with my machine and my settings, [as] I was remotely logging in to the XCover platform to run the software. I could manage my time and decide where I wanted to work, or whether I needed to dedicate more time to family. [XCover] gives me the opportunity to balance work and personal life, and it gives me the opportunity to earn money to invest into further training for the development of my skills.”

Making Data Accessible

The data provided within these workstations is also an advantage for geoscientists. XCover supports exploration by providing ready-to-use data and software on a secure virtual machine to allow the XiRs to do more, faster. The ready-to-use data helps with data loading, management, and preparation, which expedites and eases workflow.

“Most of the pre-required workflows were already done; seismic data was already on the workstation,” said James Agany. “Those kinds of things [allowed me to stay] focused on or devoted to doing the project itself. The virtual machine is cutting edge technology, and it really made work very easy for me. The XCover platform is actually changing the way we do exploration.”

Creating Connection

Bringing remote work to the world of geoscience is exciting, but perhaps the most groundbreaking part of XCover’s work is the open source community that brings together a global talent network of geoscientists and industry experts. Diverse perspectives and collaboration are key elements to progress, and offer major advantages to geoscientists and the companies that hire them.

“It’s like having an extended workforce available for you, with a lot of different skills,” said Maioli. “Each one of the geoscientists has a different skill set or type of work, so you can source different skills. This, I think, is the power behind XCover — to be able to reach out to the geoscience community. The wider your community, the more benefits you have. I think this [will be] the future of science work in the years to come.”

Always Looking Forward

The goal at XCover is ultimately to empower global explorers. By connecting the most talented scientists, providing them with flexibility and competitive compensation, and utilizing innovative data and technology, XCover can change the industry for the better.

“XCover, I think, is looking for ways to work smarter, to do things differently with technology,” said Fallon. “It definitely fills a need. It’s been an excellent way to get work that fills other companies’ needs, and also meets my needs. It's something that I’m happy to advocate for, because I think the world of independent geoscience would be better having more things like this in existence.”

Become part of a community that is transforming geoscience and the energy industry. Apply to work on flexible, remote projects or tap into our specialized network by hosting a project here.