| Description | GEORGE WILLIAMS interview at his home, Saram House, Ascot, Berkshire on Tuesday 28 April, Tuesday 12 May and Tuesday 26 May 2015. Interviewer Sarah Gudgin. Summary by Sarah Gudgin.
One session was recorded on each day. Indicative timings in the summary are given in (hour:minute:second) format.
SESSION 1
[00:00:00] First memory: celebration of the end of WW1 in 1919, a year after the end of the war. Watched the bands in the celebrations from his father's shoulders. Mr Williams' father was a farmer. When Mr Williams was still a young boy, the family moved to Newton Tony. Remembers the move because he was delighted to see his rocking horse at the top of the stairs when he arrived at the new house. Mr Williams had a younger brother and sister. At first he had a governess and then went to a prep school in Salisbury. After that he went to Truro School as a border. His father was the local squire and was one of a few people to own a car, a Humber Snipe. Remembers that his Grandfather had a Daimler and a chauffeur, who would rush around and help his Grandfather get out of the car with a step.
[00:05:15] Mr Williams attended Truro school from 1930-1936 and then went to St. John's College Cambridge, where he took a Natural Science Tripos with its Part 2 in Geology, a subject which fascinated him and offered him the opportunity of seeing the world. Remembers his Cambridge interview. Mr Williams had a tremendous urge to see the world, and looked forward to completing his degree and fulfilling his ambition, but this was cut short by the start of WWII. Tried to get into the University Air Squadron in 1936, but didn't get in because it was full up.
[00:08:21] When war was declared, he had already made arrangements to start working for Shell in The Haag [Hague] on 5th September 1939. However early on, September 4th, he received a call from the Chief of Personnel in Shell, a Mr Wyndam-Jones, to notify him that knowing he would want to join the armed forces, his sailing that evening to The Hague had been cancelled but that there would be a job for him in Shell as soon as he had won the war_the only two words that Williams uttered were "Yes Sir" at the start of the call.
[00:10:12] Describes the atmosphere at Cambridge at the time and concerns about what was happening in Germany. Explains how he was recruited for his first job at Shell. In Mr Williams' year at Cambridge there were only three Part 2 Geology students. There was a shortage of Geology graduates that year, as early as 1936 Shell had come round at Cambridge and had offered him a job and offered to pay for his education. He was also offered a job by B.P. He chose Shell because it was a worldwide company.
[00:13:28] Before he signed to Shell, Mr Williams wrote to Burma Oil to see if they were interested. Within 48 hours they wrote back to say that they were surprised to hear from him, given that he had an offer from Shell.
Mr Williams went to a Cambridge Board which helped people to find the right job in the war. They wanted to put him into the survey branch of the Army as a First Lieutenant. But Mr Williams wanted to join the Air Force. Discusses reasons. They recommended him for a Commission but he had to start at the bottom.
[00:17:30] In 1939 he was able to be designated for pilot training and was sent home on deferred service. Had to wait to be called up in 1940, very difficult and unhappy period. Discusses his six week training and flying training at Carlisle.
[00:19:55] After his EFTS [Elementary Flying Training School] training Mr Williams was due to get his Wings and become an Officer. However during his final exercise, his plane became the only one in the skies over England and crashed into a Wiltshire hill. On impact with the hill, because he had undone his safety belt, he was ejected through the top of the aircraft. Describes the impact of the crash and coming round two days later in hospital with very serious injuries. Describes being given his Wings whilst recovering in hospital and the sadness of learning that his friend and co-pilot, with whom he was flying that day had been killed.
[00:23:30] Although Mr Williams had to rest in bed for six weeks, he found this difficult and was later discharged by the furious matron for not staying in bed. Went to an RAF hospital and later home.
[00:27:11] He had to be retested in order to fly, despite not being able to use one of his legs, he did the air test and passed. Doesn't remember much about the accident, but recalled some detail in hospital. Feels he has had more than his nine lives.
[00:30:22] Mr Williams remembers some of his flying adventures and near misses. Carried out three tours of operations in the RAF and was promoted to Wing Commander in the RAF.
[00:34:34] By the end of the war, the Squadron had been disbanded and Mr Williams was a Commanding Officer of a Recruitment Centre in Hereford with 2000 recruit mostly South Irish. Although Shell was trying to get him out of the RAF early, Mr Williams could not leave because he had promised to move the Recruitment Centre to a new location. Mr Williams had to decide whether to stay in RAF, become a Civil Aviation Pilot or join Shell.
[00:36:30] Mr Williams decides to join Shell. Shell sent him back to Cambridge for three months to relearn what he had forgotten in the war. He was then posted join the Shell British Somaliland Oil Company to look for prospects. Describes how they started by looking at aerial photographs of Somaliland which had been taken by the US during the War. Describe that they were looking for areas where sediment was exposed which would give them a clue about the geology of Somaliland.
[00:39:05] They had three geologists and one surveyor. Mr Williams did not get on with the party leader, Charles MacKay who had worked for Shell since 1936, and had the rank of Flight Lieutenant. Mr Williams had been a Wing Commander and he was given priority sitting next to the Governor etc. which Mackay did not like.
[00:41:26] They decided unanimously that there were no oil prospects in British Somaliland which was accepted. Shell stopped exploring. A few years later BP built a refinery in Aden, and decided to look too, but luckily they were also unsuccessful.
[00:43:30] Returned to The Hague, where he did courses in geo-physics. Shell were keen for him to pursue this, but Mr Williams wanted to continue with geology. He was told that he would go to Nigeria, by which time he was married and his wife was due to have a baby. Mr Williams went off to Nigeria, and his daughter Susan was born in the UK in 1953.
[00:45:09] In Nigeria, Mr Williams was the Chief Geologist. Remembers his time in Nigeria, which was still under British Colonial rule. At the time, they were still drilling dry holes. Mr Williams returned to The Hague to present his drilling proposals, as he thought prospects in Nigeria were good. However, Shell had already decided that there were no prospects. It was agreed that Mr Williams nevertheless would make his proposals to B.P. even though they were short of money. At the meeting, to his amazement, the Head of B.P. Exploration agreed to go along with Mr Williams' proposals without hesitation. The Exploration Head of Shell queried BP's agreement but had to go along with Mr William's plans. He was very happy and three months later was able to report the first oil discovery in Nigeria.
[00:49:20] Describes the marvellous feeling when an oil strike is made. Celebrates with champagne. It was a joint venture, which is quite common in the oil industry and expenses are shared. The discovery really made Mr Williams reputation. He was moved to Libya next. But before that his family came out to Nigeria.
[00:52:00] Describes the conditions in which his family lived in Nigeria as being quite primitive, as they had not found any oil at this stage. Mentions that wives of geologists in Shell knew what to expect and had to put up with it.
Libya: there were still a US and British Army Division there, so it was secure. Recalls some stories of his time there. He carried on exploring. The Libyan Government offered Shell concessions in return for a few Cadillacs. Mr Williams thought they should accept, but The Hague would not agree, as they thought there was no evidence of oil. Mr Williams tried all day long to persuade the Head of Exploration to agree, even got the Chairman of Shell on the steps of the office on The Hague and kept him there for nearly an hour, but could not persuade him. It was later taken up by Occidental and they found an enormous amount of oil.
[00:57:42] Mentions that it 'got around' to colleagues that he was right. 1956. nRemembers that in Libya, the oil industry decided to work out what the industry needed from Government. This model encouraged Mr Williams to later form UKOOA in the UK. Consumption of gas and oil worldwide had been rising. The industry knew it had to expand otherwise it would be relying on the Middle East and America. Mentions the size of tankers getting bigger. Built in Japan.
OPEC: They saw that OPEC would give them difficulties in the 1960's. At one time governments did not participate in the oil scene, but with OPEC governments began to form their own oil companies. Of course they wished it hadn't happened, because if a government forms its own company, they gave it priority over any other competitors. Not welcome.
[01:08:04] Stayed in Libya until 1958. Then he went to Borneo as an Exploration Manager. After a year or so he became Technical Manager, then Managing Director which involved all the Shell companies in British Borneo. Mr Williams thinks people recognised his leadership qualities which he had gained during the war. In Borneo they were exploring offshore while producing from onshore employing several thousand people. Oil had been found on land but not off shore initially. As far as Brunei was concerned, Mr Williams had warned the Sultan that if they were not successful offshore, the money coming to the government would reduce. On the 4/5th well offshore they discovered a large column of gas. At this time Brunei was considering joining greater Malaysia and the Sultan was in Kuala Lumpur. Mr Williams recalls that he was able to convey the discovery by letter to the Sultan at the point of an important meeting with Malaysia. The Sultan announced that Brunei would not be joining Malaysia.
[01:14:16] Talks about the impact on Shell. Discusses what made Shell a good company. Never worried about salary. Story about being offered a salary five times what he was getting, but he turned it down. Great job satisfaction in Shell.
The decision was made as to where to bring the natural gas which they had discovered. In those days you could not liquefy gas without bringing it ashore. The market was Japan.
[01:19:49] He was moved to the UK to run the North Sea operations for Esso and Shell, to be the Managing Director in a company which Shell was setting up to work for Shell and Esso. They had been in partnership in Holland and they were in partnership in the UK offshore venture, and they had already done some surveys in the UK.
Mr Williams was based in London where he had to build up the whole team. His Deputy was Ken Davison and his exploration manager was John Tomlinson. They had both been working in South America for Shell.
[01:23:23] Gas had been found in Holland and their first objective was to drill on the Dogger Bank, where they found the formation which was completely dry. Very disappointed. Talks about the story of exploration. Later tried Leman Field off Norfolk which was successful and they were thrilled.
Wanted to make an announcement about the find, and mentions a disagreement with the managing directors of the Shell Board over using the word "significant" to describe the find.
[01:27:05] References the seismic surveys. Discusses the main challenges, as being what type of platform and pipelines to use to bring gas ashore. The engineers decided to use a jack up mobile rig that they had bought back from Borneo. In the meantime B.P. had a very bad accident which was found to be due to steel embrittlement in cold conditions. In a way, they were lucky not to have used the mobile jack up rig in cold weather and they only used it in the summer months.
[01:30:39] Discusses his memories of the Bacton Enquiry. Previously B.P. had positioned a terminal without problems, however when they came to apply, they had trouble with local people who thought they had chosen the location because of the direct line being the cheapest. Mr Williams had to appear at the Enquiry and was cross examined by a number of QCs. He was advised by his QCs never to lose his temper and to remain calm, which took quite a lot of doing because he was cross- examined by quite a number of QCs representing various factions. Eventually they did get permission which took several months. Felt unlucky that B.P. had got it so easily without any enquiry.
[01:33:33] Mr Williams reported that Shell and the Gas Council were in total agreement as to where the terminal should be. The land belonged to a large company that could spare the acreage. Responds to questions about local people's concerns. They gave numerous lectures to people about what would happen. Thinks the lectures were successful and describes relations with local people as quiet good. It was a first for the country and people were naturally apprehensive.
[01:36:30] Discusses the Gas Council, which was going to buy and distribute the gas around the UK and was the only organisation that they could sell to. The only problem was the price and this took a long time to fix because they thought the Gas Council's offer was too low. Mentions a marketing play. They had to agree price before building the lines. It took about five years to negotiate a better price. First few years they were setting up and building facilities. Some opinions of the Gas Council.
[01:42:44] Describes his optimism over finding oil in the North Sea. They had learnt a lot from early drilling. Mr Williams remembers an occasion where he had to present his budget to the full Shell Board. They had invited the Chief Geologist from The Hague to sit in and listen. Mr Williams gave a note of optimism and asked for patience, then the Chairman asked the Chief Geologist for his views. He replied that he could not disagree with Mr Williams more, and he recommended that Shell should not anticipate a signal barrel of oil from the North Sea. The Chairman of Shell responded by totally ignoring it and told Mr Williams to go ahead anyway. Mr Williams refuses to name the Chief Geologist.
[01:46:08] In the fourth round of licence alterations the government decided to put some blocks up for cash bidding. William describes the bidding practice in use in the oil industry. Shell and Esso held discussions on how much to bid for the most attractive block and finally agreed it would be £21 million - the bid to be submitted in the morning of the event.
[01:50: 22] The previous night Mr Williams had been out with quite a few American oil men. They wanted him to join on the practice of putting a bet on the total amount bid, but he refused and the next day they went to hear the Government open the bids. When their bid was read out Mr Williams was thumped on the shoulder and one of the Americans [Paul Getty] said "you are a rogue", because Mr Williams had refused to enter the bet the night before. Mentions a difference of view with Mr Tom Gaskell of BP who said he would drink every barrel of oil found in the North Sea. In the end Mr Williams made him pay for a good lunch.
[01:54:40] Shell and Esso were quite confident that the attractive 4th round block being offered would be oil bearing because they had successfully found in 1971 the Auk field. Recall the bids being read out by Angus Becket, the Civil Servant. Luckily their bid was the highest, but the difference between their bid and the next was £12.5 million. Remembers phoning the Deputy Chairman of Shell, with the result. His first question was what to ask what the difference in the bids was. Also called the Chairman of Shell, David Barren, who knew ahead of time when Mr Williams phoned him. Contrasts the different responses of the two men.
[01:58:16] Talks about the reaction to the discovery at Brent. States that it is what you work for and when you are successful you are over the moon.
[00:02:01] Didn't announce it this straight away to the press. Had to keep Brent secret because the auction for the other block would have affected the bidding process.
[02:04:36] On the last night that Mr Williams was still employed by Shell he was phoned in the middle of the night by his Exploration Manager in the North Sea. The Exploration Manager was on a drilling rig and reported that he had just seen a dunlin sea bird on the deck which meant that Shell had just made its fourth oil discovery. This was of course a marvellous way for William to conclude his career. Shell Esso in the early days had decided to call their oil finds after sea-birds and had 2 X 52 names available. Mr Williams recalls that the name of the person who wanted him to bet was Paul Getty and he called him a rogue.
[Finish: 02:07:55]
SESSION 2
[00:00:00] Introduction about the difficulties of living abroad and a question about Mr Williams's motivation given the hardships.
Mr Williams states that he had carefully chosen his degree in geology, because it meant he could become an explorer and go to places for the first time. He thinks he was a true explorer.
He was very motivated by the challenge of being successful in finding oil. This gave him his motivation. Recalls that he did not receive large bonuses on finding oil, although in the past geologists did at one time receive bonuses. Money was not one of his motivations.
[00:04:31] Talks about how his wife coped with the conditions abroad. Sometimes she struggled with life abroad and sometimes she was very happy to share the thrill of new countries. When things were tough in Indonesia she found it difficult but she coped well. It was normal practice to take family abroad.
[00:06:18] In addition to the hardships there were also perks. Mr Williams describes the culture of the industry which he found 'exceptionally good' both within Shell and the industry as a whole. He thinks people in the industry were 'good people' and not too competitive. Even though they were competing, they were also prepared to co-operate. Gives example; story of a competitor who didn't hesitate to inform Mr Williams that he was being offered information for sale about Shell. They found out who was doing it but they had escaped to Canada. Information offered for £200,000 but was worth millions of pounds.
The culture of socialising was enjoyable and Mr William's states that it was a good industry to be in. It was also a man's world. All the geologists were men as they had the rough conditions to up with. It was considered at the time not in the scope for females, though this has since changed.
[00:10:00] The hardships of travel and working in hot climates or difficult conditions, females hadn't got round to wanting to do it.
In Borneo Mr Williams talks about the stratification of camp life, which he found it a 'pain in the neck'. He remembers his early days at a Club dance, where he was asked to dance by a female partner. She asked him if he had just arrived and when he said yes, she immediately asked what sort if a car he'd been allocated, because this would have given her a fair idea of how far up the stratification he was. He didn't ask her to dance again. At that time he had Hillman Minx Saloon, if he'd had a Land Rover or a Pick-up he would have been further down the list, if he had been higher up he would have a Daimler or a Humber Saloon.
In Sumatra, staff were discouraged from socialising with individuals from a lower educational background, however Mr and Mrs Williams ignored this directive.
[00:14:33] Mr Williams responds to a question about being told by Shell in the early days where his next overseas postings would be. Remembers that under the Chairmanship of John Loudon things began to change and he was prepared to delegate authority downwards and this made life much better and satisfying, given freedom to do things your way and more responsibility, he found this very satisfying.
[00:16:16] Discusses choices/what direction to go in Shell. Recalls that in the early days at Shell, he was taken to one side and given an extensive interview with the Head of Personal who asked whether he wanted to move up the ladder on the technical side or the management side. Having got the taste of management, from rapid promotion during the war, he preferred managing. Therefore his postings were designed to promote in the managerial line. Shell was a good company and spent a lot of time of staff reporting, management and education. Often attended course to improve performances.
[00:17:49] In 1963 Mr Williams became M.D. [Managing Director] of Shell in Brunei. He recalls his relationship with the Sultan, at a time when Brunei was still under control of British Government, and the High Commissioner virtually ran the country. As M.D. of Brunei Shell, they had always made it a point of having close contact with the Sultan, and had a very favourable arrangement and contracts with the Brunei Government. Around the world, governments had steadily increased their takings from the oil industry and had moved up from small takings, to 50:50 and beyond. But the Brunei Government had not done so and they had arrangement with the Brunei Government that were too favourable. They realised this and didn't want to take unfair advantage. The Head of Shell Brunei had always been instructed by the Board of Shell to offer to look at the arrangements and adapt them to the time. The Sultan had never taken up this advantage. Mr Williams spoke to the Sultan and asked why he was so reluctant to have the arrangements reviewed. He immediately asked Mr Williams who he should appoint. However out of fairness Mr Williams declined to comment, but suggested someone like Walter Levy with a good reputation. The Sultan then appointed Walter Levy, who asked for too much money at first, however they eventually settled the arrangement, which greatly improved the takings of the Brunei Government.
[00:22:29] Mr Williams reflects on his close relationship with the Sultan, who was also very appreciative when Mr Williams kept him informed of their progress and any important discoveries. At a time when Brunei was considering joining Greater Malaysia, at the request of the British Government, Shell made a large discovery. Mr Williams had warned the Sultan that unless they were successful off shore, the income of Brunei would deteriorate over time. The Sultan was in Kuala Lumpur attending negotiations over the possibility of entering Greater Malaysia, when the discovery was made. Mr Williams felt it was right and proper to keep the Sultan informed, so he wrote a letter explaining that Shell had made a discovery and sent it to Kuala Lumpur with somebody who could speak Malay with instructions to pass it to the Sultan immediately. The Sultan was already in a meeting when he got the letter, excused himself and read the letter outside. When he had finished he returned to the meeting and immediately announced that Brunei would not be joining Greater Malaysia. Shell was later blamed for keeping Brunei out of Greater Malaysia, but the Sultan was very appreciative of being informed of events.
[00:26:00] Mr Williams describes his mixed feelings about returning to the UK in 1964 to become General Manager at Shell UK Exploration and Production. He wanted to take advantage of the discovery in Brunei, but part of him was excited about returning home to do something for the UK. He was either going to be running affairs in Brunei or offshore in Britain, from a management point of view both were appealing.
Mr Williams talks about being given a fairly free hand in the setting up of Shell UK and describes how practices differed from Shell's other companies. In all the other companies there had been a division between 'staff' and 'labour', staff got pensions and holidays and labour did not receive the same terms. He didn't like the division and decided to change it, made employees all staff, this was welcomed by people in his company. John Loudon had delegated responsibility to Mr Williams and he took advantage of it.
[00:29:33] He thinks things have loosened up.
Elaborates on some of the challenges of running Shell UK, such as doing things for the first time in a difficult conditions such as drilling off shore in a hostile environment. Second challenge was sharing the waters with the fishing industry who had been doing this for hundreds of years and they were entering their territory. The third challenge was safety and doing things for the first time. Discusses sharing information with other companies. Fourthly being prepared to deal with any possible terrorism which would come from Northern Ireland.
[00:32:40] Mr Williams describes the importance of having good weather forecasting in order to carry out their work. Accurate weather forecasting was of great importance, as they needed 2-3 days of calm conditions in order to erect an installation or move a mobile drilling rig. They began by talking to the Met Office. First of all they placed 3 weather ships to the west of the UK in the Atlantic to remain on site and give continuous weather forecasts, as the weather comes from this direction. Later they were able to replace these weather ships which were jointly paid for by the industry with recording unmanned buoys which gave the same information and were much cheaper. This enabled them to feed the Met Office with information and they were able to forecast more accurately.
[00:35:00] Mr Williams speaks about his dealings with the Met Office. When he was later Director General of UKOOA, he was asked to sit on the Government Meteorological Committee which controls the Met Office and approves funding.
In order to tackle the four main challenges that were faced in the North Sea, Mr Williams was prompted to propose an association of all the operating companies to deal with these challenges jointly. As he was running the partnership with the most blocks awarded, he approached the directors of the other companies and partnerships and suggested that they should form an industry association called the UK Offshore Operators committee. It was an informal body to start with and it was to help the industry to tackle the four challenges. It was greatly welcomed by the British Government in particular the Department of Energy which was headed by Angus Becket. This meant that he could talk to one body, instead of 18 which was the number of operators at the time although this later rose to 46.
[00:38:00] In 1964 Mr Williams invited all the company heads to lunch to talk about his plans and they asked him to be the first President of UKOOA. It was a great success and a Council of all the Heads of the operating partnerships was formed which selected a President, Treasurer and four Officers. They decided to set up around 10 other committees which later increased to 20 or so. These dealt with off-shore aspects and were manned by people delegated to sit on them by their General Managers.
Asked whether there were any disagreements or challenges in these committees, Mr Williams thinks that they made a point of having representatives from all the companies on the committees and it worked extremely well.
[00:41:29] Talks about the seismic work in the North Sea which Shell, Esso and BP carried out during the 1950s. Offshore had not been considered sufficiently until the 1950s when determining ownership was discussed and considered. It was only in 1964 that the UK became the 50th country to agree to the proposals. It enabled it to become formalised, it enabled countries to consider the extent of their interests and settle boundaries and offer licences to the oil industry.
In 1964 Mr Williams and his exploration mangers were taking a very optimistic view on the possible discovery of gas and oil, however his optimism was not universally shared. Remembers giving a talk to an Institute of Petroleum audience, when a BP geologist stood up and said that he did not believe for one moment that there was a chance of finding anything in the North Sea, in fact he offered to drink all the oil ever found. In due course Mr Williams tackled him on this and let him off drinking all the oil providing he gave Mr Williams a good lunch.
[00:45:45] Speaks about some of the preparations and appointment of contractors after being awarded the first blocks. They needed helicopter contracts because this was the safest way to get people on the platforms and rigs; they needed supply boats and drilling rigs and they needed to build platforms. Went to tender and didn't always choose the cheapest if someone was better placed to deliver.
They used the jack-up rig Mr Cap and bring back the Orient Explorer from offshore Borneo. Thinks it was a useful decision, started using Mr Cap drilling in the southern part of the North Sea for gas prospects. However when they drilled on the Dogger Bank they found the formations which had been gas-bearing were missing. So they started drilling at the Leman Bank and found a very good gas column. At the same time, BP were drilling and found West Sole field slightly ahead of them. They were using a fixed platform but had suffered a very severe accident where it collapsed and there were a number of fatalities. They discovered that this was because steel embrittlement due to the cold weather. This meant that although Mr Capp would be ok, they could only use the Orient Explorer in the summer months.
[00:50:21] Considers the impact of the West Sole disaster. It made industry more careful, had to find out what caused it and act accordingly. BP were willing to share the information within the industry and this was partly due to relations of UKOOA.
Mr Williams comments on designing a semi-submersible rig (Staflo) used to tackle the drilling of exploration wells in the North Sea. This was necessary to deal with varying water depths as the limit for the jack-up rig was about 500 feet, and a floating platform enabled them to drill for anything over that depth. The mobile rig was designed and built to accommodate the rough conditions that they faced in the North Sea.
[00:53:46] Mr Williams remembers that the contract to build was eventually offered to a ship yard in Newcastle. However the shipyard struggled and could not meet the deadlines that they promised and he recalls that the Head of the shipyard said that his business had been founded on building steam ships and not drilling rigs and he wished that they were still doing steam ships. Mr Williams had to agree! He then asked Mr Williams weather he could take all the bits and pieces to The Hague to make it there instead. In the end they completed the Staflo and it worked well.
[00:55:53] Comments on relations with the press and media. At the time, the Head of PR was John Drummond. He recognised that the political parties knew nothing about offshore oil operations. John Drummond felt that this needed to change and he asked Mr Williams to arrange a one day conference for the media to give them some idea of what was involved. They bought in experts to speak and Mr Williams gave a long talk and interview to the TV companies. UKOOA informed people what was involved in offshore oil operations and Mr Williams made frequent visits to all the political parties in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Previously the company had been very reticent of discussing operations, but this was not in their interest.
[00:59:00] Mr Williams describes his own particular strategy for dealing with difficult interviewers. Some BBC interviewers were aggressive. He found it important and useful to be trained in television interviewing. He was taught to remain calm and not get ruffled, he found that if he was to appear on television, it was important to decide the main points that he wanted to get over, regardless of what the interviewer asked him. Thinks Tony Benn was a good example and used this tactic before answering interviewer's questions. He was also advised to keep the number of points he would make to 4 or 5. Thinks he did in a way answer the questions, but in his way not their way.
[01:02:03] Explains the difficulties that he faced in trying to find a UK based company to manufacture steel platforms at this time. Once they realised that they needed to build fixed platforms to drill wells and produce the gas. Mr Williams wrote to as many companies as he could think of to ask whether they were interested in producing steel platforms. To his great disappointment he only received three replies out of 25 letters. Of the three, two said no and one said that they might be interested. He then took them to Holland to see what was involved and to his disappointment they said no. Later at UKOOA, they helped the Department for Energy write a Code of Practice for Oil Manufacturing and they did get more of the manufacturing done in the UK and not abroad. Discusses the reason for saying no, which was that it was not in their capability.
Trafalgar House later decide that they wanted to be an oil manufacturing company.
Naturally wanted to use British manufacturers, but at this time, they went to Holland, US and Japan.
[01:06:44] Mentions the public enquiry at Bacton, in Norfolk, as an interesting period of his life. BP had managed to apply for land without any problems, but when Shell applied for land, the local authority wanted a full enquiry to makes sure all interests were heard. Mr Williams says that they did not want to deprive anyone of land over for their livelihood. They had identified acreage at Bacton belonging to a large company and they were happy to sell five acres.
They had to appoint QCs to advise them and the opposition appointed eight different QCs to represent different interests.
[01:09:49] On the first day, Mr Williams was dealing with policy and had to face the enquiry. He was cross examined kindly by the two QCs that British Gas and Shell had appointed but faced aggressive questioning from the opposing QCs. The enquiry went on for weeks and in addition to attending regular and giving evidence, Mr Williams continued to run the company.
[01:11:14] Describes how he managed a door to door journey to attend the enquiry in under an hour and a half from his home in Sunningdale. This involved a car a private aircraft with clearance to take off which arrived 10 minutes later where he had a helicopter to take him to Bacton. Eventually after several months they got what they wanted at Bacton.
[01:12:43] Awarded an OBE in 1968. Recalls his trip to Buckingham Palace. Carefully briefed on the arrangements. Had a chance to talk to the Queen who was obviously also prepared to meet him. She said it was exciting to make a discovery and he agreed with her. Discusses the significance.
[01:15:06] Early in 1971 able to announce the discovery of the Auk field. Explanation of how the North Sea discoveries were named after sea birds and how this came about. Mr Williams asked whether there were enough sea birds to do it twice over, he was being very optimistic. They had a hundred names they could use.
[01:16:21] Refers to the oil licencing process. Explains that in general the oil industry preferred these to be done on a discretionary basis rather than auction blocks for cash, due to not wanting to waste money up front which was the usual practice in the US. In the UK, Angus Beckett decided to give it a try on small basis during the fourth round and he chose good and poor blocks to put up for auction.
There were two blocks which Shell was particularly interested in, 2 11/21. Esso and Shell decided to bid and after much work, agree a bid price. Esso wanted to bid a much smaller amount of money, but Shell wanted to ensure that they got it, as they were confident that there would be oil there. In the end they agreed on £21 million, but it took a lot of discussion and calculations. Then Mr Williams, not wanting to be outbid, decided to include a little extra and added £10.00.
Afterwards his Vice Chairman at Shell asked him why £10.00 why not only £1.00? But he let him keep the ten pounds. Mr Williams didn't have to write a cheque for £21 million pounds, just 20 percent of that. However he had to write £21 million pounds on the application form, actually £21million and ten pounds! The remainder had to be paid almost immediately.
[01:20: 47] The Department of Energy made an announcement to the press. Mr Williams recalls that the bids were read to an assembled group. That was when Paul Getty thumped Mr Williams on the back, and called him a rogue for not speculating on a bet on the total amount of money on the bids on the table. As soon as the heard that this amount of money had been bid, it was obvious that Shell had found oil in the well that they had kept quiet about. They did drill it and found oil and they called it the Cormorant Field.
[01:22:56] Discusses a quote from a Shell employee, William Bell, "During the six years I was there we did, with hindsight, most things wrong in the beginning but most things right in the end" Mr Williams thinks it was rubbish and Mr Williams does not know about or agree with this statement. Speculates that the overspend was in Bell's time, not his. He took over in 1973.
[01:25:25] Doesn't think money was squandered in the early years. Wouldn't have done anything differently.
Comments on:
Jock Monroe, first class person, had a tragic car accident. In charge of staff in Aberdeen.
June Webster secretary. Mr Williams chose her out of three people. She was more than loyal, more than proficient and her preparations for all his trips were first class. Couldn't ask for anyone better. Died very early of throat cancer. Influence of secretary, if anyone wanted to talk to Mr Williams, they'd have to speak to her first! Relied on her.
Ken Davidson first class delightful fellow. His prayer when he saw him off by helicopter or plane, was not to crash or was it to crash?
Myles Bowen was an exploration manager and he was an exceptionally good geologist and explorer. In Mr Williams opinion, better than him and enthusiastic. On the eve of Mr Williams's retirement, Myles Bowen phoned up Mr Williams in the middle of the night. He said, I thought you'd be interested to know, I've just seen a dunlin on the deck. This was a shared code to say to Mr Williams that they had just made a discovery of oil. Mr Williams cried. It couldn't have been a better way to leave.
[01:32:03] It was Shell regulations that 20 year overseas service personnel had to retire at 55. But Mr Williams didn't want to retire and didn't feel like retiring. Mr Williams was given advice by a past President of US Steel to start planning his retirement in his forties because he had come across so many people who on retirement hadn't prepared themselves to do anything else. Mr Williams found that he was so busy to think about retirement and didn't want to.
[01:35:01] When his retirement came he was approached by Nigel Broackes, Victor Matthews and Eric Parker who approached him with their proposition. They were aware that a lot of money was going to be made in developing production in the North Sea and they wanted to be part of it. They also required the expertise of an oil man like himself. They offered him a job to set up an oil division their company, Trafalgar House. They explained what they want to do, Mr Williams was interested, especially as he had been disappointed with British industry being reluctant to get involved in the early days. They didn't have a set salary offer, they asked him what he wanted and they would give it to him.
He was not really too involved or interested in the money, more interested in the job satisfaction. Recalls that in his Shell days in the late 1960's he was offered a job by a major oil company who offered him a job in New York which was five times as much money as he was getting. He didn't hesitate to say no. Two reasons, loyalty to Shell and he didn't want to move.
[01:38:44] Broackes and Matthews did not want to become an oil company but they wanted to become the best service company. It was Mr Williams role to get this working. His contract was never drawn up. Mr Williams remembers his experience with Trafalgar House.
He bid for and bought an oil company in the US called Dearbourne-Storm, a drilling company and a supply boat firm. Mr Williams ran it and it became very successful. When they received a bid for it they wanted to sell it for a large profit. But Mr Williams said no. However a couple of weeks later they were offered even more money by another company and they did decide to sell. Mr Williams realised then, that he was in a different world to the one he thought he was in. There was too much emphasis on short term money, unlike Shell.
[01:43:20] Discusses other services at Trafalgar House. These included supply boats and platform construction. Also involved in seismic survey work. Stayed with them for a year.
[01:45:25] Shortly after the sale of Dearbourne-Storm, he was approached to become Director General of UKOOA after deliberation and discussion he decided to go.
Discusses his appointment to Director General of the Offshore Operators Association. In the early days he realised the purpose and the work it should be doing. As Director General he was given a fairly free hand in deciding what objectives and direction to take.
Realised that the all the political parties still had not real knowledge of what was going on or what oil industry needed. He spent a lot of time talking to politicians in the House of Commons and House of Lords about offshore exploration and production involved. He enjoyed helping the press.
Comments on both Labour and Conservative Governments; both were ignorant. He found the Conservative Party more accommodating. When Labour got in, Tony Benn decided to form a government oil company. He had no problem with this, but they immediately wanted to give half of the licences to BNOC, the British National Oil Company, which he thought was outrageous.
[01:50:00] The Labour Government wanted to change the conditions and it was very unfair. Mr Williams led a very strong protest against the idea, but they were in power and forced it through. Then ironically, they could not find anyone to be their Chairman. Mr Williams was approached indirectly to do the job and he was outraged that they thought he'd be so unscrupulous as to take it!
They became a member of UKOOA because they were an operator. Got on well with Lord Carrington even though they had different politics.
An advisor to Tony Benn, Lord Balogh, was interested in oil, but he made negative accusations against the oil industry and companies. Mr Williams did not get on with him at all. Remembers at one meeting he accused Mr Williams of being 'a rotten Dutchman' because Shell was part Dutch owned.
[01:52:29] Remembers meeting Margaret Thatcher when she was Shadow Minister of Energy. He thought he should get to know her as he was Director General of UKOOA so he invited her to lunch at which they both invited their people. Describes having cocktails and she asked what the purpose of the invitation was. Mr Williams explained their problems and difficulties. Couldn't tell Margaret Thatcher something twice; they had a very constructive lunch.
[01:57:09] Speaks about maintaining amicable relations with the local fisherman who had been fishing in the area for many years. In the Gulf of Mexico, the oil platforms improved the number of fish and the variety of fish. Mr Williams wanted to get over to the fishing industry that they were not to be feared, in fact something to be welcomed and may increase their fishing. He agreed that if they did damage their nets, he would set up a fund to provide compensation. It was based on number and size of their member's licenses. They also told the fisherman that they could themselves run the fund.
[02:00:05] Mr Williams was also personally involved in dealing with the potential threat of terrorism at that time, from Northern Ireland. They needed to be prepared. It was decided there should be a policeman in charge of all the offshore waters. They appointed Alec Morrison, Chief Constable of the Grampian Region. They worked together and the Government set up and trained an anti-terrorist force, capable of re-taking a platform in the event that it had been taken over by terrorists. Mr Williams advised them and fortunately it never happened but they would have been prepared to take it forcefully if it had.
[02:02:26] Discusses the setting up of UK Offshore Supply Code of Practice which ensure fair dealings with UK manufacturers and suppliers. In the early 1970s the Government decided that not enough work was coming to British suppliers. Mr Williams advised and helped them. It was a success for UKOOA.
[02:04:30] Discusses how the industry would deal with the event of an accidental oil spillage. They divided up the North Sea into sectors and appointed a Co-ordinator for each sector who would be responsible in his/her area if there was an accident or a blow out to get help form companies as needed. Fortunately it was not called upon to operate very often.
Discusses the impact and awareness within the industry at that time about environmental matters, and what action was being taken to monitor this. He thinks they desired to operate as environmentally as possible but there was nothing as specific as there is today.
[02:08:00] Mr Williams shares his thoughts about what were industrial relations and the place of unions in the industry. He thinks the unions felt they should be more involved, both in his Shell and UKOOA days. He remembers saying to them that they could represent their members. However when they were asked if they wanted to leave it to the oil companies, they said yes. He gave the Shell workers a chance to be represented by the unions but they said no. The reason was that Shell was expanding and they had given their workers greater rises than they would have got if they had been represented by the unions and they knew it.
Mr Williams had already increased their wages for the next year and had given that they thought they could afford. If the unions had been pressing and if they had been represented by the unions in no way would they have been offered the same amount. The starting point of negotiations would have been half what was offered. They knew they had a good deal going. Throughout his time there is no union representation. Mr Williams took out union officials offshore to let them talk. After a 12 hour shift the workers did not want to listen to union workers. They had free transport out, free food and accommodation.
[02:12:48] Remembers a meeting at the House of Commons. When Mr Williams arrived the Union were already in their having a pre-meeting and he had to wait outside with Tony Benn. He told Tony Benn to turf them out of his office, but he said no. Tony Benn said why do you want all these people in the union? They said, if they belong to the union they get a vote. He listened but he said that he thought the oil industry seemed to be doing their upmost to help them.
[02:15:20] Comments on Lord Balogh gave them the most trouble in industrial relations. Can't think of any particular union people. Think that generally workers were happy with conditions and pay, two weeks on and off. Employees seemed happy and were rewarded properly.
[02:17:20] Dealings with Red Adair. Mentions his predecessor was Myron Kinley who was a good driller and was used widely by the oil industry. In Nigeria they had a gas blow out and Kinley was called to Nigeria, where he had his 60th birthday at Mr William's house. Kinley's daughter married Red Adair and he took over from Kinley when he retired and he was as good. They called him in when they had a problem in the Leman Bank field. You have to call him and you pay them exactly what they ask because they come at instant notice.
[Finish: 02:19:58]
SESSION 3
[00:00:00] Mr Williams lists some of his memories of North Sea: taking people out, the discoveries, meeting the Queen and getting an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Heriot Watt University.
Recalls taking people out to the oil rigs. Firstly Ted Heath, just before he became Prime Minister. Mr Williams flew him up to Aberdeen then from there to the Staflo rig where he showed him round and they had a press conference. Mr Williams found that Heath was very interested in what was going on at Staflo which was in the process of drilling. Mr Williams found that Heath did not mix well with the workers for lunch. Mr Williams took him round the rig and down below sea level in one of the legs. However when they came back up again, the lift got stuck about 2 feet from the top. In order to get out, they had to climb out on their hands and knees in front of the awaiting press photographers who had a field day. They went ashore for a press conference and Mr Williams again found Heath reluctant to answer any questions.
[00:04:22] Mr Williams also took Victor Matthews the Executive of Trafalgar House, offshore. Landing on the platform he was petrified and Mr Williams had to virtually carry him down and carry him back again. Matthews said he would never go on a platform again. The wind was very high and it was an exposed position.
Getting on and off the platform can be a problem. The safest way is by helicopter. To climb onto a platform by boat is a very hazardous operation and they never really attempted it as it was too dangerous.
Briefly mentions the Leman Field and Indefatigable Field discoveries, both near Lowestoft in 1966. Speaks briefly about oil discoveries such as Brent which they wanted to keep secret. Mentions Cormorant and Dunlin Fields and the phone call in the middle of the night.
[00:08:00] Remembers meeting the Queen, to receive his decoration of an O.B.E. and later on a C.B.E. He found the Queen very knowledgeable and imagines she had been carefully briefed.
Remembers receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Heriot Watt University.
First wife and daughter went with him to the Palace to receive both his decorations. Impressed by pomp and ceremony. Never gave it a thought before it happened. Speaks about the letters and calls of congratulations.
Discusses his Honorary Doctorate of Science, which was a surprise and came out of the blue. Speaks about his relationship with the University, which had specialised in producing people who would work in the North Sea as geologists and engineers. The University has taken more interest in the oil industry than any other university in the UK. Mr Williams attends their functions and has made donations to the University.
[00:12:11] Speaks about the technological developments which assisted in production in the North Sea. Thinks these were global developments. The world wide experience of the oil industry enables it to make technological advancements in drilling and production techniques, but not just in the North Sea. Although tackling the North Sea was a hardship due to the weather conditions.
Needed accurate weather forecasting in the North Sea, so they needed 2-3 clear days for jacking-up. They used weather buoys.
[00:14:50] Discusses whether the oil industry shares its knowledge of technological advancements. They do not share geological information or outlooks, but it does share certain hazardous operational experience and it is always prepared to help each other when things go wrong or during difficulties by sharing helicopters or supply boats. However oil companies always compete on geological information. Mr Williams gives an example such a storm which might cause a breakdown or if there was a blow out. Costs for helping are usually done on a good will basis. Mr Williams states that 'the oil industry is a very nice industry and they do help each other'. Comments outside perceptions of the industry and states that it is highly competitive but also highly co-operative in certain incidences.
[00:18:08] Mr Williams comments on the fierce competition and use of scrambled codes for communication purposes. If they had to communicate by telephone by geological matters they used scramblers at both ends. Mentions a matter where another company had been offered a log at a very cheap price which contained very valuable information. Police matter, but the criminals escaped to Canada.
[00:20:00] Comments on the huge budgets required to drill wells in the North Sea. Thinks costs could escalate if the conditions were very bad and go into millions of pounds. Whether money was ever wasted, they tried not to. If weather condition were difficult it would add to the costs in the North Sea, however they tried to keep costs at a reasonable amount. North Sea was a great success for the country and the oil industry.
[00:22:10] Impact of super computer technology. Mr Williams remembers how computers came in. and were none being used when he first started out the industry. It was a gradual process and he doesn't remember any particular time of overnight change. Computers became more and more useful.
[00:25:29] With reference to a Communications newsletter [scanned copy made] which Mr Williams instigated whilst at Shell UK: Mr Williams had always felt that to get the best out employees it was necessary to establish a sound working relationship with them. It was important to establish a team spirit it was important that all employees were advised on what was going on or what the results were before hearing about it in the news or in the papers. All employees were given a news update every two months and were talked to every two months and were given a chance to say if they had any worries and this developed a good team spirit. The newsletter was called the Shell Expo News. Mr Williams found that employees were happier to represent themselves than to have this done by unions. When asked if they wanted to have their interest looked after by unions, they always declined. He found this to mean that if you managed your employee properly, then you don't really need unions.
[00:27:50] With regard to union negotiations, Mr Williams did not feel the unions had a useful place in the industry. They wanted to meet employees but the two week system of working on and off was not conducive to union meetings. So Mr Williams provided free transport on and off the rigs and free food and lodging, but the employees were not really interested. They were happy to take the increases in salary. They whole oil industry was expanding and there were good job opportunities and prospects. The employees were happy to put it in the hands of their employees, rather than the unions and they never did. With regard to union negotiations over working conditions, they never had serious discussions on these matters either.
[00:31:07] Comments on the work opportunities created by the oil industry in the North Sea and the workforce. The industry had a positive impact on the local Scottish economy as it grew and developed and opportunities for new employment were welcomes. Needed a highly trained workforce which was drawn from around the world and included Scottish employees.
[00:33:05] "It's Scotland's oil" was a widely publicised political slogan used by the SNP during the 1970s in making their economic case for Scottish independence. Mr Williams thinks that Scotland did benefit from the oil revenue and they did get their share. Didn't feel sorry for them.
[00:34:46] Comments on effects of successive governments on the industry. Both Labour and Conservative parties were quite ignorant about what was involved in oil exploration and offshore but anxious to be informed. Got on well with both Governments, but under Tony Benn a Government Oil Company was formed which was given half the interest that the oil companies had received from their licences and changed the oil companies' conditions. They protested that this was unfair, but could not change the Government's position. Eventually Labour was not re-elected, and the Conservatives put it right. Impact of EEC.
[00:38:00] Government policy on procurement. It took a long time for the manufacturing industries to wake up to the fact that there were opportunities being created by the oil industry. Example of failure of steel manufactures given. Things changed over time and Government established an offshore supplies office with the intention of trying to get the UK to carry out the manufacturing that was needed, rather than letting it go abroad. As Director General of UKOOA he was happy to help them, as from the beginning he had wanted more work to be done in the UK. They provided a Code of Practice for the oil companies to follow. It worked very well, it turned the situation around and more work was carried out in the UK. UK is now capable for carrying out a lot of work for the industry offshore.
[00:40:30] Discusses whether Government policy on the control and pricing of gas was right; thinks initially it was not a good policy, but finally it was good but took many years to come around. Government became more enlightened and it had to provide a chance for oil companies to get a return on their very large investments. Mr Williams played his part in talking to Chancellors of the Exchequer and Treasury and Secretary of State for Energy as Director General of UKOOA. Comments on the high level discussions met at Downing Street, Department of Energy, civilised meeting which he enjoyed and the Ministers enjoyed. Formal meetings with lunch.
[00:43:40] North Sea for Scotland is a positive legacy, and will continue for some time to come through fracking. This will enable the country to be less dependent on imports from overseas. Mr Williams does understand people's concerns about fracking. But it is important that they are talked to and precautions taken to prevent things going wrong. Thinks there is a tremendous future for fracking. He thinks opposition is due to ignorance. Asked whether he would mind fracking taking place near his home in Sunningdale; he would want to make sure it was being done properly, but hopes it won't be the case.
[00:46:00] Mr Williams speaks about some of the opposition to the oil industry and in particular Greenpeace at Brent Spar. Although it was after his time, he thinks the trouble was ignorance about what the oil industry wanted to do which was to dump the remnants of the platform on the mid continental drift where obnoxious fumes were coming. The Spar would have disappeared.
He agrees that it was hard to get information about big oil companies which were reluctant to share and wanted to keep things secret which was a mistake, but companies that he managed did not have that compact because he always made a point of telling people what was going on.
[00:48:48] Speaks about the Burmese oil collapse and about the aftershock within the industry. Other people pick up the business. Speaks about his opposition to Britoil which he remembers spending hours opposing. Piper Alpha.
[00:52:56] Reflecting on his career, Me Williams speaks about his biggest achievements. Helping to find oil off shore, Nigeria, Borneo, Brunei and of course North Sea. He feels that he has been incredibly lucky. His philosophy has always been, that if he is given a job to find oil, he has to preserver and to find it, or prove beyond doubt there is none there. He has been lucky because he has been areas where it hasn't taken long to find all.
Mr Williams thinks that he has had a lot of challenges but his is very lucky to have been successful so often and he is very grateful for the good luck that the Almighty has given him.
[Finish: 00:55:08] |