Playing a Round with Pontem
How I ended up joining the team
With respect to Tommy’s previous reference to Yoda. I may have a Chemistry Degree but you will be disappointed to know that I am not Pete Conrad’s long lost twin sister. But I have got to admit she does look a lot cooler than me.
I am from a small village in Scotland called Law and appropriately I am the son of a policeman.
As for how I got into the oil industry that was pretty much after I decided I wasn’t going to be a professional golfer. After leaving school I didn’t do too much else except play golf for 2 years. Despite moderate success it didn’t look as if I would be joining the pro tour any time soon so I thought I’d better get a proper job.
I chose to study Chemistry because it was the subject I enjoyed most at school and after visiting my sister In Aberdeen I opted to go there. Luckily for me, it worked out well as it was the centre of the UK oil and gas industry and I also met my wife, who I have been married to for the last 30 years.
I may have given up playing competitive golf or hustling as some of my golf buddies accused me of, but golf gave me the drive to be the best at whatever I do, which has allowed me to achieve so much in my career.
During my career I have been involved from the reservoir all the way to the point of export. Working onshore and offshore, shallow water and deepwater, gas and oil, sweet and sour, wells, subsea and topsides. You name it I will have worked on it.
My various roles have been in Formation Damage, Corrosion, Hydrates, Wax, Production Chemistry, Flow Assurance, System Engineering, Interface Management and Product Development. This has allowed me to experience all facets of the oil and gas extraction process and help me realise how important a system approach is and that flow assurance / production chemistry is the thread that ties everything together.
I have worked with all the major oil and gas technical disciplines over the years. When you are as inquisitive and want to learn as much as I do you can’t help absorbing knowledge from all the talented people you work with. This is why I still have such a passion for Flow Assurance, Production Chemistry, Wax, Hydrates, problem solving and all things data related. For me the aim is to use this knowledge to benefit the other industries that Pontem will be working with. There is nothing more satisfying than solving problems, especially if you know it will save or make your client millions of $.
Working for the great companies I have has allowed me to live in 5 different countries and travel all round the world, literally in one case. In this instance, I flew from Perth, Australia then onto Oslo, London, Houston and then finally back to Perth via LA and Sydney in less than 2 weeks. Trust me that is when you find out what jet lag is all about!!
From a project perspective I have worked on Billion $ projects all over the world, which included the first deepwater projects in Mauritania, Indonesia, China and the Falkland Islands as well as offshore GOM, West Africa and Australia. In addition to the offshore projects, I was able to work on world class onshore assets in the UK, Africa and the Middle East. All very different but interesting and challenging in their own way.
I am looking forward to bringing to Pontem my 30+ years’ experience working for small, medium and large Oil and Gas Operators in both operational and project roles. Even after all these years my ongoing desire to learn, innovate and improve. This I think fits perfectly with Pontem’s ethos.
I think I can say that my experience has allowed me to become a Jack of all trades but fortunately for me I have been able to become a Master of quite a few of them as well.
The aim is to take my skills of managing and analysing data gained in the oil and gas industry and to use those to help find solutions in other industries Pontem are working with.
I am looking forward to making my mark on Pontem and for Pontem to make a mark on Industry. Going back to golf, this might be an individual sport but the Ryder and Solheim Cups show that when you bring together talented individuals working for a common goal amazing things can happen and I believe that is what we are doing at Pontem.
