| Description | Tape 1 Side A MAURICE ALISTAIR WHITE born 14 January 1952 in Perth. Background to names. Oldest of 4 boys. Brought up on farm. Most of family farming people in Perthshire, Lanarkshire. Paternal family: great grandfather an antique/furniture dealer in Edinburgh. Grandmother's family in farming. Grandfather a doctor and dentist, died early. Father brought up on farm, became a farmer. Details re his education, interest in reading, jewellery. Uncle had antique furniture/carpet business in Edinburgh. Mentions own 3 sons, brothers' children. Maternal family: grandfather Alistair Ritchie farmed at Huntingtower, outside Perth. Great grandfather farmed at Bartha. Details. Grandfather a role model. Describes his character, social household, visits there. Describes routine of regular open houses, parties in one or other family home, card games, music etc. Generally no alcohol. Effect of paternal uncle who was alcoholic. Recalls work ethic, milking cows etc. Little distinction between work and general life. Never watched the clock. Parents a lot of fun. Went to boarding school, Dollar Academy, at age 12. Details of school routine, feelings about being away. Father's attitude to education. Explains own socialisation, desire for own sons, their progress. Describes parents. Father interested in jewellery, theatre, cultured, innovative in farming. Details. Mother lives for the family. Had youthful interest in sport, motorbikes, travel. Explains. Left school at 17, studied agriculture at University of Aberdeen for one year. Worked on farm, then did odd jobs in Edinburgh. As oldest child felt responsible at school. Explains. No pressure to take over farm. Mentions father's innovative thinking. Own attitude to responsibility, enjoyment of positive feedback. Attitude of oldest son.
Tape 2 Side A First job in oil industry with Varco, US company, one of 2 non-US employees. Mostly service work, long hours. Office in Montrose, rented from potato merchant. Recalls first day at work with George Sangster visiting clients, drilling contractors, eg Sedco. George was the salesman. Own dislike for sales work. Other visits, eg Drexal, first taste of foreign entrepreneurship. Had to learn equipment by working on it. Benefit of farming experience. Given company car, bought flat in Montrose. Went to Norway for urgent repair. Describes trip, night of work, the job, problems with cold temperature, long hours. Explains role of the kelly. RC Perkins appointed to London office. Responsible with him for Europe, north and west Africa. Details re another repair job in Yarmouth. Recalls introduction to drilling community. Describes initially rude attitude of Charlie Wills, his attitude after successful completion of job. Sent to Algeria to check Varco equipment on 70 drilling rigs. Aim to get sales. No backup, protection. Importance of self reliance. Visited company in California. Details. Company expectation to be more involved in sales. Social life centred around industry, rigsites. Often on mobile drilling rigs. Recalls business culture of American companies, few British people in senior positions. Can-do type business. No emphasis on safety when with Varco. Self-protection expected, as on farm. Culture of self-reliance. Lots of accidents. Recalls one dangerous piece of equipment, warning Varco, changes made. Describes work routine, extra jobs, general awareness of safety risks. No unions offshore. Attitude of drilling industry. Constant development of equipment design for North Sea. Recalls casual approach to flights out to rigs, frontier approach.
Side B Impressions of early North American toolpushers. A lot were farmers, had farming approach to life. Explains hierarchy on rig. Role of driller. Recalls self-reliance of drilling people, making own rules. Problem arose in North Sea from this self-reliance, non-use of experts. Regulations came in quite early. Big companies very professional, eg Sedco. Eventually found Varco work too much. Explains routines, difficulty with company attitude to after-sales work. Details re new tool, iron roughneck. Reference to US Navy reserve oil field. Background to joining KCA Drilling as roustabout 1977. Details re work on Forties Alpha, offshore platform etc. Describes work on Forties Alpha. Big crew from Eunech construction company, mainly Spanish. Details re crew-change routine, construction crews. Crews all aiming to save money. Own prospects in job, attitude to working through ranks. Recalls duties as roustabout, fellow workers. Sociable aspect of work. Contrasts reputation of drilling people in US, UK. Treatment of crews by toolpushers, drillers. Own reaction to this, aspiration to be toolpusher. Soon promoted to crew as roughneck. Recalls Australian driller who drove hard, didn't speak to crew. Explains procedure for promotion to roughneck. Huge throughput of people, hiring and firing on grand scale. Massive amount of construction, crews trained on the job. Own situation unusual. Describes job as roughneck. Generally drilling crew kept to themselves, macho clique. Comments on treatment of British crews by Americans, confrontations. Mix of nationalities offshore. Details. Mentions marijuana. Few coloured people. Mentions two. Recalls downside to work, eg boredom with cleaning jobs. Atmosphere depended on toolpushers, drillers. Company representatives didn't mix. Pride in drilling crew. Describes hard physical environment.
Tape 3 Side A Recalls demanding nature of drilling work. Relationships with drilling rep, company man, drilling engineer. Can-do approach of drilling industry, sense of ownership of well until drilling completed. Worked on producing wells in Forties field. Compares work with exploration well drilling, discovery wells in Brent field. Recalls typical 'tight hole' secrecy procedure. Explains feelings and intuition of driller, drilling procedures, equipment used. Mentions promotion to Assistant Driller, Driller. Details re instrumentation, directional drilling. Explains 'kicking-off' of well, ie changing angle, tools used, photographic monitoring processes. Explains in detail process of changing angle of drill string, jet deflection technique, monitoring procedure. Describes skills of directional drillers, ability to visualise in 3 directions. Explains weight indications, drag on drill string, strength of pipe. Procedure when equipment stuck in well. Explains 'drill collars' and other equipment at bottom of drill pipe, use of extra weight on bottom section. Explains processing of drilling mud. Recalls highly skilled team working together. Problem when drilling though coalfields. Enjoyed being Driller. Explains approach to job, feelings about traditional approach. Importance of ability to visualise what happening down hole which some drillers could not do. Benefit of own engineering training, knowledge of equipment. Drillers needed mechanical sympathy, coordination. Explains. Parallels in other industries where there are similar mentally demanding requirements in hard physical environments, eg farming, fishing. Culture of KCA Drilling, its reputation, history, international work. KCA's first contract in North Sea was with BP Forties field. Details. Compares career prospects in KCA with work in American companies. Growth of company. Considered working for BP. Reason for remaining with KCA.
Side B. KCA Drilling (cont'd). Recalls Bob Pawsey, former New Zealand head teacher, deck foreman, later personnel manager, who set up training facilities. Reference to Scottish Offshore Training Association. Went on enhanced driller training programme. Marriage 1982. Details re wife, a midwife. Birth of son 1984 led to decision to come ashore. Explains. Details re wife's work as midwife, her family. Both her parents worked in Post Office, her mother a union leader. Details re wife, her personality, her coping with oil industry life, bringing up children. Recalls promotion to Tool Pusher, first job. Routines as Night Pusher, eg coordination of different personnel. Younger than others in crew, eg driller. Explains own approach to job, forming relationships with crew. Mentions other good tool pushers. Own strengths, weaknesses. Recalls New Zealanders in crew. Had to work hard at being organised. Had reputation for always checking things, being hands-on. Comments on New Zealand workers. Explains approach to firing people, eg in drugs cases. Mentions absence of union involvement. Recalls on Beryl A, Mobil, coming into contact with senior people. Comments on varying abilities of their personnel. Compares Mobil culture with that of contractors, eg in care of personnel. Was one of first British people to be promoted to Assistant Driller with an oil company. Details. Explains possibility of being run off (fired) with little provocation, but with no stigma attached. Goal of company was to keep rig working regardless. Accident rate high in early days. Weekly safety meetings held but attention to HSE scant. Recalls breaking own leg. Describes other accidents on rig, one fatal.
Tape 4 Side A Recalls severe accidents offshore. Describes one at night in bad weather, procedures followed, lack of detailed investigation. Macho approach to job, expectation of accidents. Crew taught to look out for themselves. Drilling industry viewed by others as rough and ready. Contrasts with drillers' view of production people. Reference to IADC (International Association of Drilling Contractors). Every 15 minutes of drilling work logged. Compares approach to work then and now. Recalls expressions used by drillers. Compares life on mobile rigs and big platforms. Recalls effects of weather on structures, eg sway, vibration of Beryl Alpha in very bad weather. Describes close call through major gas escape on Beryl Alpha, brave action by one man. Recalls response of senior American people from standby construction barge Tharos. Describes cause of Piper Alpha disaster. Recalls another incident on the Beryl, fire on sea around platform. Always aware that impossible to get off in very bad weather. 1985 appointed shore-based rig manager for Beryl A, reasons for wanting to come ashore. With growth of KCA, given job of looking after BP Forties Echo, later also a Shell platform. Company was outgrowing some managers. Explains. Details re own situation. Piper Alpha disaster: recalls hearing news, reaction. Knew there would be huge changes to industry. Disaster could have happened to any platform. Disaster brought industry to attention of whole country. Explains. Recalls general expectation in early days that life of oil industry would be short. Effect of Piper on confidence of people in possibilities of engineering. Background to appointment as Operations Manager 1989. Growing professionalism of industry. Post-Piper reorganisation.
Side B Involvement in development of safety management systems post-Piper Alpha. Recalls advent of Safety Case system. Explains evolution, improvement of relationship between oil companies, contractors. Response of Shell, BP to situation. Changes were necessary to success criteria. Drilling industry changed culture, now one of safest businesses in relation to its exposure. Importance of planning. Recalls competitive but lucrative commercial environment in drilling industry. Development of long term relationships between oil companies and contractors. Pressures on individual performance. Own way of working under pressure. Background to leaving KCA in late 1980s, joining International Drilling and Downhole Technology Research Centre 1990-2. Details re centre. Explains return to KCA as Operations Manager. Break from KCA as response to stress. Recalls working hours. Mentions current family situation, gatherings. Own way of dealing with workload. Recalls new more sophisticated management, technical requirements of Shell, need to remove staff. Finds public speaking stressful. Background to promotion to Operations Director. Details of international and other responsibilities. Importance of relationships established early in career. 1996 Managing Director. Background to appointment, changes to ownership of company. Explains own way of approaching job. Unusual aspects of career. Mentions involvement with IADC, appointment to parent company, Abbott Group. Mentions Alistair Locke. Rise in company turnover, business, purchase of subsidiary of US company, own role in this. KCA purchase of Deutag 2001. Own responsibilities for growth, integration, restructuring of company. Compares with work on drilling floor. Does not read management manuals. Explains approach to work, aims for company. Details re numbers of company drilling rigs. Future aspirations. Feelings about career. Prediction for North Sea industry. |