Pinar Oya Yilmaz

Pinar Oya Yilmaz is a geologist known for her work in the oil and gas industry.

Education and career
Pinar Oya Yilmaz was born in Izmir, Turkey. After obtaining her Bachelor of Science in Geology from Hamilton College in 1976, she received her master's degree from Bryn Mawr College, in which she chose the Taurus Mountains in Turkey as her field of work in 1977. She then earned her Ph.D. at the University of Texas in 1978-1981. She began working for Mobil Oil in 1980 and completed her Ph.D. a year later.

For Yilmaz’s first well site work with Mobil Oil, she was placed offshore of the Cook Inlet, Alaska, United States. She then proceeded to production drilling located in Kansas, Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, where she helped drill 72 wells. Yilmaz joined Exxon Production Research Company in 1984 and transferred to Exxon Exploration company in 1995.

From 2004 until 2005 Yilmas was the President of the Geological Society of America's International Division. She worked in the National Science Foundation's Earthscope Science and Education Committee from 2005 until 2007. In a 2018 interview Yilmaz shared some of the challenges she faced while working as a woman in the oil and gas industry.

Her research activities spanned from global paleogeographic studies, to regional projects, and to fault seals in reservoirs.

Selected publications

 * Yilmaz, P. O. (1988). Tectonic Framework of Turkish Sedimentary Basins: ABSTRACT. AAPG Bulletin, 72. https://doi.org/10.1306/703C97A3-1707-11D7-8645000102C1865D
 * Norton, I. O., Yilmaz, P. O. (1995).  Mesozoic to Cenozoic Paleogeography and Tectonics of the Apulian Platform: Abstract. AAPG Bulletin, 79. https://doi.org/10.1306/7834efed-1721-11d7-8645000102c1865d.

Awards and honors
In 2000 the American Association of Petroleum Geologists awarded Yilmaz with their Distinguished Service Award. ExxonMobil presented her with the President’s Award in 2008. She was elected a fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2019, and in 2020 the Geological Society of America presented Yilmaz with their International Distinguished Career Award.