| Description | Tape 1 Side A: VANCE TRIGG GREENE born 1 April 1937 Houma, Louisiana. Father opened first Texaco office in Houma. Recalls growing up there, early work with drilling company owned by family friend. Describes Houma, early oil rigs. Life spent in oil. Most people worked for 'the Company'. Details re father's work. One older brother. Further details re Houma, other industries. Negative attitude to oil industry. Mother a school teacher, had to break in to Houma. Further details re father's work. Hard work ethic in oil industry. Father, Hal Greene, had fictitious middle name. Mother, Frances Trigg. Story illustrating father's loyalty to company. Recalls attitude to other companies. Mentions The Superior Oil Company. Describes parents, their social life. Recalls growing up years, working on barge rigs. Most oil workers came from Texas etc. Attitude to locals, many spoke French. Recalls early drillers, rough cookies. Education in Houma, University of South Western Louisiana. Influence of Bob Reeves, owner of drilling company. Describes drilling routine, maintenance, floating drilling rigs. Mentions drilling rig named after father-in-law, Jim Gibbons. Reason for floating rigs. Recalls dealing with a blow-out. Reference to photographs. Attitudes of drilling crew to employment of youths. Recalls French-speaking crews, expressions, curse words etc. Recalls father's tales of oil workers' relationships with fishermen. Father a kind old man. Recalls religion in childhood, relationship with Blacks. Odeco first to hire Black workers, 1966. Completed degree in business administration. Importance of mother in own education. All through college, worked for Halliburton mud cementing company. Details re work, routine. Never thought of working anywhere but oil industry. Explains. Left university c1963. Did military service.
Tape 1 Side B: Military service (cont'd). Brother Hal involved in oil industry. 1962 worked for Avondale Shipyard, building Odeco rigs. Worked in cost control. Joined Odeco 1964 as Personnel Supervisor, recruiting drilling crews. In some companies, drillers got own crews. Reference to Doc Lebord, head of Odeco. Details re Odeco office in New Orleans, worldwide operations. 1968 invited to work in South Africa by Enoch Dawkins. Took families. Details re life in South Africa, poor communications, setting up office in Port Elizabeth as Administrative Manager. Quality of life there. Details re wife, Dorothy Gibbons, her father, Jim Gibbons. Reference to photographs, individuals. Married 1961 while at university. Recalls early awareness of North Sea, its rugged new-frontier reputation. Details re loss of Ocean Prince. Describes sea conditions in South Africa. Details re equipment used to deal with sea movement. Organised tow of drilling rig Ocean Traveller back to North Sea. Moved to Aberdeen 1971. Details re Odeco operations in North Sea, including rig Ocean Kokuei working for Hamilton Brothers, and other rigs. First impressions of Aberdeen, weather, attitude of people. Lived in Milltimber, Administration Manager for Odeco. Details re hiring of crews, numbers of applicants. Reaction of Aberdonians to Americans. Recalls competition, cooperation between Odeco, Sedco. Formation of Petroleum Club, first president. Recalls search for club house, prices asked, purchase of Kippy Lodge on a handshake. Recalls rental price of own house in Milltimber. Early difficulties with the then Petroleum Country Club, needs of children of oil people. Name change to Petroleum Club, different role. Mentions John Williams, Vice President, Manager. Reference to Jimmy Simpson.
Tape 2 Side A: Recalls Harry Hay, Harry Tocker, Manager, Bank of Scotland, Chief Constable Morrison, Jimmy Clark. Company used No 5 Bond. Recalls Jimmy Simpson, first experience of neat malt whisky. Recalls Keith Laddiman, his marriage to Theresa, his good service. From Aberdeen, Odeco oversaw 5 rigs: Ocean Traveller, Ocean Viking, Ocean Kokuei, Ocean Rover, Ocean Voyager. Biggest task was getting material. Explains complexities, difficulties of communication, use of telex. Each rig had crews of c80. Rigs were state-of-the-art. Technical details. Explains relationship between oil companies and drilling companies, e.g. Sedco's partnerships, move away from oil companies owing rigs. Difficulties for drilling companies in downtimes, losing money, and particularly people. Odeco designed rigs, had them built in shipyards. Cheaper to build outside USA. Reference to Ben Line. Details re building cost, lease-out rate, time taken to pay building costs. Explains cost per day of idle rig, 4-yearly special survey, maintenance requirements. Recalls life in Aberdeen, initial belief in need for American school. Details re children's education in local schools. Travelled around Scotland. Felt no resentment on part of Scots towards Americans, more friction between Scots and English. Many fishing people wanted to go offshore in oil industry. Initially brought expats to work in industry, later there were none. Reference to John Williams, local businessman who saw advantage of oil industry. Recalls difficulty getting barbecue charcoal, refusal of local store to stock it. Reference to Wood Group. Recalls IADC (International Association of Drilling Contractors) meetings, membership, its casual nature.
Tape 2 (Side B: Recalls a few threats from unions. Mentions Clyde shipyards. Explains own dislike of unions. Mentions situation in British shipyards, thugs running unions in US. Unions resisted in Gulf of Mexico. Situation in Australia. Recalls visit by Edward Heath to Petroleum Club. Recalls dangers of work on North Sea drilling rigs, safety consciousness. Tommy O'Neill was shore-based safety representative. Details re his work. Drilling companies had good safety records. Problems with some Glomar drillships. Odeco drilled mainly for Shell, Oxy (Occidental), Total. Reference to Ocean Victory. Compares character of different oil companies. Recalls negotiations setting rates. Reference to new Shell, BP Aberdeen headquarters. Cooperative attitude among companies then. Describes style of Oxy. Reference to Alan Caldwell, Gene Frees. Recalls atmosphere of big bad North Sea, everybody waiting for something to happen. Everybody a little scared of North Sea. Recalls size of choppers, routines when there were storms, lack of radio. Explains routine when rig chains broke, own role. Reference to Offshore Supplies Office. Odeco bought most supplies in UK. Describes typical daily routine in Aberdeen, regular checks on rigs etc. Benefit of having children for breaking into Aberdeen. Example of son's fight with locals. Own children mixed less with Americans than with Scots. Some American children disrupted by move to Aberdeen, difficulty for some parents. Daughters went to Albyn School for Girls. Recalls social life with Aberdonians. Many marriages broke down through oil industry work. Many problems in Norway, including with alcohol. Recalls high use of divers in early days, their earnings, spending. Odeco owned diving company. Lot of casualties involving divers. Compares with situation today.
Tape 3 Side A: Divers (cont'd). Start of development of huge production platforms while drillers developing big fields. Odeco lost Oxy contract to Sedco. Explains. Recalls gatherings at Aberdeen Steak House. Not many restaurants in Aberdeen. Reference to Hamish Jolly. Recalls Radcliff hotel. Compares life in South Africa, Aberdeen. 1974 returned to Foreign Operations in New Orleans. Explains trouble-shooting role, working in different parts of world. Revisited Aberdeen, saw changes. Feelings re Scottish food. Further details re Foreign Operations job. 1979 joined Marketing. Mentions informal promotion procedure. Dealt with contracts. Details approach, procedures. Mentions deal-killers, distribution of risk, exposure, reservoir damage. Drillers put money in rigs, oil companies put theirs in oil leases. Explains. Details re drilling process, relationship between driller and oil company. Oil well always belongs to operator. Explains ownership of drilling rig, other equipment. Explains subcontracting etc. Technical details of drilling well, situation underground, use of different sizes of casing, hazards of pressures. Explains gradual use of smaller diameter casings when drilling well. Explains different methods of lining well hole, composition of drill pipe, distribution of weight in drill pipe, likely break point. In earlier times operators (oil companies) owned more of the equipment. Details. Explains ownership of BOP (blow-out preventer), mud, re-use of mud. Explains process of directional drilling, control of steering tools. Mentions current horizontal drilling. Changes in processes since start of own career. Now Vice President Contracts & Marketing. Spent time in West African countries. Recalls being hassled when in Nigeria. Hard place to work with labour problems. Opinion of industry's treatment of Nigerians. Drilling industry tries not to take families there.
Tape 3 Side B: Piper Alpha disaster had big impact mainly on control while producing. Recalls Odeco accidents, e.g. Ocean Odyssey with needless loss of radio operator. Big impact on company. Recalls Ocean Ranger disaster. Made company look more closely at ballast control. Mentions ballast control simulator in Houston. Industry safer now. Own employment prospects. Reference to Diamond purchase of Odeco, 1991. Reference to early voluntary retirement packages in company. Hopes to stay another 7-8 years. Has enjoyed every bit of career, people in the industry. More promotion of the industry necessary. False public image of oil industry. Explains reality, industry attitude to environment, safety. Attraction of industry is work ethic of people in it, their closeness.
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