In Vaca Muerta, one of the world’s largest unconventional oil and gas reserves, the SPE Patagonia Section is developing a unique storytelling project: a compilation of stories that bring energy closer to children, youths, and adults. The Wonderful World of Oleum is much more than a book; it represents a bridge between the energy industry and society, an opportunity to imagine, to explore, and to dream about a future in which science and technology have a key role.
Authored primarily by SPE volunteers, this emblematic project originated in the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of SPE Patagonia to motivate youth and children to experience the amazing world of energy. Organized by age, from young childhood through adulthood, the book has 22 stories which share stories of career beginnings, life on or near oil wells, fieldwork in the jungle, and life experiences that animate the energy industry.
The Project
To make this project happen, members of the SPE Patagonia Section formed a dedicated committee with the objectives, scope, and financial needs to carry it out. They searched for sponsors to print the book and invited other professionals to tell stories about their work, stories that would help readers to understand what we do, how we do it, and why we think it’s important.
The book does something quite remarkable: It turns the technical universe of energy into stories that are both accessible and emotional, even creative. With stories, letters, explorations, and parables, the oil and gas industry is humanized, and you are entertained and imparted with knowledge.
The tales encourage kids to dream of themselves as future engineers, geologists, or technicians, showing that science and technology can also be fun, creative, and transformative. The book also highlights the role of women in the energy industry, both in technical and leadership positions, and does so through a positive, empathetic, and realistic narrative.
The stories aren't just good for kids on a technical level; they offer a good range of values including teamwork, never giving up, questioning the world, feeling sympathy for things, and respecting nature. This brings the book into the classroom not just as a resource for teaching energy, but as a teaching tool for citizenship and humanity. The project already has backing from several companies that funded the printing of copies for employees and communities.
Reach and Inclusion Enhancement
At present, the team is looking for additional sponsors for the second phase of this project that believe books have the ability to connect and inspire.
This second phase will expand the scope and accessibility.
- Audiobook edition will be presented and published on Spotify, free and open to the public.
- Providing Braille books free of charge to local organizations supporting the visually impaired in our community.
- English translation to bring these stories to an international readership.
We are convinced that this second phase will be as inspiring as the first one, or even more so.
A Cultural Tool to Inspire STEM Vocations
The SPE Patagonia Section believes this project can inspire other SPE sections worldwide to pick up the baton on similar ventures that can serve as powerful instruments to ignite STEM vocations in their neighborhoods and to bring the energy industry within reach of their communities.
A Wonderful World of Oleum is a tribute to imagination, uniqueness, and the wonders of a good tale. It demonstrates that science can carry emotion; that engineers can be poets; and that the future of energy can start with a bedtime tale. In so doing, we do more than teach; we connect, we empower, and we cultivate the future.
It is a lot more than stories: it's a cultural hazard management tool. It brings energy home for people, ignites the vocation in a person, humanizes the industry, and plants the seeds for the next generation. It’s a heartwarming case of science, human emotion, and the industry opening itself to express itself alongside the community, with creativity and openness.
The Spanish version of the book can be found here: El Maravilloso Mundo de Oleum.
