Alumni Newsletter - Spring 2013

Greetings from the Bayou City, where Summer has descended upon us in a big way. We can't run but we can hide, at which we are expert. For those of you in northern climes, enjoy!

We have been absent for some time, for the simple reason that we had nothing to report (note to selves: more news, more newsletters). Now we do, and here we are.

Yours truly has just returned from a sojourn in Sonoma and can report that the wine country is thriving and the Russian River Pinot Growers Association, who were the object of the visit, are producing buckets of really fine pinot noir this year. If you're so inclined, this would be a good time to load up on Williams-Selyem, Arista, Davis Family or Holdredge pinots. Trust me on this. 

Ruminations

Before we get to the news, I thought I would speak to the amazing energy boom that is sweeping these United States. It's all happening in the absence of a national energy policy, which is astonishing - the northern branch of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is vital to bringing Canadian crude to the actual refineries, has still not been approved (although its southern leg is nearing completion); New York refuses to permit hydraulic fracturing although they are sitting on a major section of the Marcellus shale formation; California refuses to allow development of the Monterrey shale formation, which is potentially larger than any in the country; well permitting in many parts of the country and offshore is still dismally slow; and yet in spite of all this the general consensus is that North America could be completely and utterly energy-independent by the middle of the century if not sooner. It's a symptom of our success that rail transport of crude products has increased five-fold in the last year, because no one can get a pipeline approved, and the battle regarding liquid natural gas has now shifted from how to import LNG as to how to export it. It's a boom in spite of itself.

This induces some serious head-scratching on my part. No one has ever claimed that we as a people are not ingenious, but it would be neat if our government would go along with the gag. We in Houston and our friends in Calgary are the happy beneficiaries of this phenomenon, and I'm not complaining; we will happily take everyone else's money whilst they fret.

I met an actual electric car for the first time in my life last weekend. Now this was a Tesla S, and Elon Musk (who made his fortune at PayPal and subsequently founded Tesla and Space-X) is a bonafide genius. The thing is gorgeous, will run 0-60 in 4 seconds flat and handles like a demon, and as a certified gear head that counts for something with me. I'm not sure that I would have the same reaction to a Chevy Volt. There is a caveat: one really needs one's own commercial-grade charging station.  Therein lies the itch that has not yet been scratched. Great for bombing around Sonoma though.

In the Oil Patch

There was a dearth of news earlier in the year, but not as of late.

Transocean has begun a major restructuring, with the result that many of our friends may be looking for work. This was not unexpected due to the Shelf Drilling spin off of Transocean's jackup fleet. Transocean also plans to close its turnkey drilling subsidiary, ADTI, which means the end of the road for a long and storied business that was a major factor in the success of GlobalSantaFe and earlier, Global Marine; Challenger Minerals Inc. has also been shuttered. Change is inevitable, but not always pleasant when it arrives. Keep close touch with your friends and lend them a hand. We the Alumni are a huge network with over 50 companies represented. Some of our friends are going to need us.

As part of its restructuring, Transocean announced that J. Michael Talbert will retire and will be replaced by Ian Strachan as chairman of Tranocean's board.

At Rowan Companies, old friend Matt Ralls has announced his intention to step down in 2014 and will be succeeded by Tom Burke. Matt had a fabulous run at GlobalSantaFe and then Rowan, and we wish him well. A good and true friend to many of us.

Shell USA has indefinitely shelved its Arctic drilling venture, which encountered serious difficulties when its primary rig Kulluk was damaged last winter.  This also was no surprise as various regulatory and environmental groups were ready to pounce, and Shell unfortunately delivered. Arctic exploration will happen in due course - the planet is hungry for energy.

The Business of the Tribe

Myrtle Jones has left SCI and has joined Halliburton as Senior VP of Tax. Way to go Myrtle!

Terry Liscano has moved to Rowan as a Project Controller. Al Browning is also at Rowan. Al Schneider has left Transocean/CMI and is taking a short break before seeking work.

Seen at the Institute of Internal Auditors Annual Conference in April: Bob Herrin, Dana Elliott, Eric Garcia, Naomi Cancienne, Keith Shuffler, Craig Harper, and Tom Zahn. Yours truly was a volunteer for the IIA's Houston Audit Challenge Golf Tournament in May, at which Tranocean graciously purchased an Eagle sponsorship; Dana, Eric, and Naomi played and Naomi (who by the way is pregnant) carried away the Closest to the Pin award under most suspicious circumstances.

The Houston Chapter of the IIA, bye the bye, is a fabulous networking resource, and we highly recommend membership and participation to anyone in the auditing, financial accounting or internal controls fields. You can't buy that kind of exposure.

A "Girls Night Out" with Melissa Lukens Trader, Margie Echevarria, Kyna Agerton, Susan Fontenot, Darlene Dawson, and our beloved Donna Holden. We're not asking, and they're not telling, but everyone looks like there was a margarita or two involved. Maybe three. Each.

We continue to receive cryptic messages from old friend Marshall Bennett, who is apparently building up frequent flyer points like nobody's business. Last spotted in South Korea. Tony Tabone reported in from Ghana, where he was bookending with Frances Fernandez on an ADTI project; the elusive Mel Grahn and Buzz Koons were also on that project.

John Monks has reported in from Northern Offshore in Aberdeen: "I am here and we have here or in other locations, Neil Patience, Tracey Morrison, Ray Mustard, Jeff Durham and... for the hard of hearing...Jeff Surtees and Robert Rhodes".  Now that last is an authentic oilfield observation, and I personally can attest. I kind of liked the old days when we were all just a little rambunctious. Who ever decided that we should all be technocrats?

Thomas Gibbons checked in, saying "I'm a relic of Global Marine/GSF, and a retired Chief Engineer after 35 years with them. Joined Global Marine at the end of 1971...and retired August 2006. My permanent address is in Mariposa, CA - not far from Yosemite National Park". Now I like this because one of my pet projects is the National Parks Photography Project (See thenationalparksphotographyproject.com) and that is some of the finest country in this nation. So Thomas is a lucky man.

Newly found: Gerald Melancon, who is currently with ADTI, and Lawrence Holman, who was an electrician for Howard Guillot and Jimmy Johnson. Newly updated information for: Mark Denkowski, Paul Law and Tim Myers is contained in the Alumni Directory.

ALL of the Alumni information that we have lives in the Alumni Directory under Hot Links in the sidebar of this blog. We do our absolute best to keep it current, but please check your own info and let us know if anything is incorrect or incomplete. You might find an old friend in there too!

Necrology

It seems that we rarely go between issues of the Alumni News without losing someone, and here briefly is the list of our departed members.

Patricia Newton, the much beloved and talented wife of our respected and now departed friend Carter Newton for a remarkable 65 years, passed away on January 23rd. She was vibrant, joyous, and a blessing upon all who knew her.

Joan Brown, one of the original "Global Girls", died on March 8. Joan worked for many years  in the Global Marine and later the GSF Treasury Department and  was known for a dry wit and an arch view of the world, which concealed a heart of gold. Connie and Jim Abbs, as well as others, were heroic in helping Joan through her final days. 

Charles "Chuck" Trowbridge left us on April 1. Chuck was a long time fixture in the Global Marine maintenance department and his passing was reported by old friend Mark Crispi.

The Parting Word

What can we say? We are sitting on an energy boom of epic proportions, one which likely will be the last for many of us but which may last for decades. This is no flash in the pan.

Such events produce both immense benefits and immense change. So it has ever been. But when the winds of change are buffeting us, we need to remember who we are and where we came from - we are doers, entrepreneurs, adventurers. We have done things that most people cannot even imagine. We are different, and we know it.

There is the old saying, "Make hay while the sun shines". Go forth and prosper. Help each other out. There is plenty for everyone. We'll be back with more of your stories in a little while.

Alumni Newsletter Fall-Winter 2012

Greetings from the Bayou City, where Winter has finally arrived and a warm Fall is now a pleasant memory. It's sort of nice to pull out the winter gear and mean it; from my perch above the city I can smell wood burning in the fireplaces and see for miles in the cool January air. 

I am, however, once again reminded of the pleasure of living without snow. I actually like a dose of real winter, snow and all, so much so that I have made an annual pilgrimage to New York City or Toronto or Nova Scotia as the case may be for many years. But I find that over the years I've become warm blooded, and a week or so of that sort of cold and damp is all that I can handle. So I get my fix and then scamper home in the sure knowledge that my old snow shovel from Norway (which I keep as a memento) will never, ever see action again.

I've dallied overmuch in producing the News, so without further ado...

Ruminations

The beauty of January in odd-numbered years (in these United States) is that a national election certainly occurred in the year preceding. So it did, and without taking sides I think that we are all too happy that the massive imposition caused by endless campaigning has for the moment come to an end. We make not like the result, but at least it's done. This time, though, we're not out of the woods. Since no one in our government can or is willing to agree to set ideology aside in the name of the common weal, it's entirely possible that damage to the country of a generational sort may occur whilst the posturing continues. We've already had a taste of that, and it's really becoming distressing. But there are legacies to be manufactured and history to be made, which seems to concern some individuals in our government more than others. I've never liked people who try to make history; it never seems to turn out well. I especially dislike it when history gets made at my expense.

Speaking of odd-numbered years, I'm amazed that an outbreak of triskadekaphobia did not occur when the calendar ticked to 1/1/13. Numerology has been wildly popular of late. We celebrated when children were born on 12/12/12, and cringed more than a little when the Mayan calendar cycle ended on 12/21/12 (I can imagine some immense bar bills were rung up on that date). But for 1/1/13, nada, bupkus. Mirrors did not break, black cats were no more common than usual. Although I will be carrying my lucky rabbit's foot for the next year... just in case.

I realize that this is purely a Houston thing, but I'm pleased to see that the Houston Texans could make history themselves this year; but not so happy to see that having realized this they are busy falling on their faces. At least they survived their first playoff game. Our Astros, on the other hand, succeeded in making the worst sort of history with a 54-107 season, and rightly take their place with the Mets, Cubs and Red Sox of yore who could not buy happiness (or success) but eventually won out - after decades of patience from their fans. So what do we have left? Go Rockets? Super Bowl tickets to anyone who manages to plant a stomach virus in the Patriots' locker room next Saturday. 

Condolences to our Saints and Cowboys fans, of whom we have many in our number. And of course, congratulations to our Aggie members, who have every right to strut as long as they continue to do it in the SEC.

Stampede 2 (The Reset)

After the collapse of our grand plan for Stampede 2, we cooked up an alternate celebration of all things Seahorse at Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen in Houston on October 26th which, in spite of short notice, went very well. We had 45 actual attendees and probably would have had more except for a notably blustery autumn evening. Old friends, good times shared. This is something that we intend to keep doing as it's part of the glue that holds us together; the less formal format is obviously the way to go as it's much easier on the volunteers. 

Speaking of less formal events, there are several alumni splinter groups that meet regularly and we encourage ya'll to keep doing that. And do take advantage of the alumni network; we are more than 450 strong, and are an amazing resource for and of ourselves.

Oil Patch News

Transocean has agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with the US government of most federal claims that arose from the 2010 sinking of the Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent spill, which was the worst in US history. The company will plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act and will admit that members of its crew, acting at the direction of BP's well site leaders on the Deepwater Horizon, were negligent in failing to fully investigate indications that BP's Macondo well was not secure and that oil and gas were flowing into the well. Thus ends one more chapter in the terrible events which took 11 of our friends and coworkers from us.

Noble's Arctic drilling rig Kulluk ran aground on Sitkalidak Island near Kodiak, Alaska when it broke its tow ropes during transit to shipyard. Possible damage to the rig has not yet been determined, but this does not look like a simple matter. Shell's grand gamble on Arctic open-sea drilling hangs in the balance.

As an interesting aside, Kulluk was once managed by Global Marine for the Beaudrill joint venture. Amazing how the world turns.

Enterprise Products' Seaway pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast has been completed and will enter service in January. Persistent transportation difficulties have contributed to a huge overstock at the Cushing hub and a correspondingly large spread in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude versus Brent Sea crude. The big change, however, won't happen until the end of 2013 when TransCanada's Keystone XL South pipeline is completed.

Something Old, Something New

We had a fascinating bit of correspondence from old friend Buddy King, who passed on  research regarding the old Global Marine drillships which were converted into marine mining vessels by DeBeers of South Africa. The Grand Banks, Coral Sea, Pacific and Atlantic have all found new and profitable lives working off Namibia in the diamond sands, extracting more than one million carats of high quality gems each year. On receiving this mail Jay Stiles in turn forwarded recent photos of the Grand Banks with the following commentary.

"I was in Namibia last year, at Saldana Bay. I looked out the window and saw something familiar - a ship. In fact it looked to be a drillship. I got a small boat to take me out to it, as I had a strong suspicion that it was the old Grand Banks. I had heard that DeBeers had purchased some of the old GMDC ships for mining. As we approached the ship I knew it was her - what a lot of memories that brought back - of when I served on her (as I also did on the Grand Isle). I sent some pictures around then to some of you, but for those that didn't see them I include a few here. Thankfully she looks to be in good condition. We worked our butts off on those ships...and had some fun doing it!"

It's amazing how much positive, heartwarming energy can be found when memorabilia of this type are shared - the thread that bloomed from this correspondence amongst the various recipients was quite emotional. Those really were our good old days. 

If you're sitting on a trove of such things, do share. Speaking of which, Jay also included this memento.



The Business of the Tribe

In case you weren't aware, Northern Offshore has become an alumni hotbed. In no particular order, Gary Sullivan, Campbell Austin, Gary Bauer, Paul Ravesies, Brian Hefty, Steve Gangelhoff, Scott Waller, Maggie Whittaker, Neil Patience and Caroline Carroll all call  Northern home.

Terry Black Bonno was inducted into the Stephen F. Austin Athletic Hall of Fame for her play in the then AIAW from 1977 to 1980. Apparently this at one point involved play against the Russian ladies, who went home worse for wear. Terry is quite the item as of late and was also honored by Ducks Unlimited for contributions to life in the great outdoors.

Shelf Drilling, the Transocean jackup spinoff, is not surprisingly attracting alumni. We know for a fact that Ian Clydesdale will be going to Dubai, and Mark Sacco is working on financial systems in Houston. Many more are rumored to be going but have not yet been confirmed. 

Other sightings: Steve Morrison has started a new venture, Well Advisors; and is in imminent danger of being taken off the bachelor market. Dru Duran is working in IT at the Friedkin Companies. Elizabeth Wilkerson is consulting for UHY. Donna Holden is at the UT Austin Office of the VP for Legal Affairs. Wendy Clark is Director of Financial Reporting at EXCO. Carmel Finlay is Controller at Nalcor Energy in St. John's, Newfoundland. Gary Young is working for Encana in the Dallas area. 

Carolyn Rose sent a nice note from Florida with news of Bob Turrentine, a well known figure at Global Marine who has long been beyond our ken. She also reports that Tom Richards, great friend of dear departed Bob Rose and former chairman of Grey Wolf, has been ill. Good thoughts from those of you who know Tom, please.

For some reason we have lots of babies to report - it must be the water. Long Khuu and wife Huyen welcomed Blake Dao; Jana Coates, Alysse Cambry; Carmel Finlay, Kayleigh; and Brian and Whitney Townsend, Aubrey Elizabeth. Suffice it to say that our Facebook page has been full of, well, baby faces. Lots of baby faces.

On the retiree front, Richard Greff is fishing and playing golf in Oletha, TX; Mike Dawson has taken up his cello and joined the Fort Bend Symphony, and is amassing an enviable art collection amongst other interesting and varied pursuits; and Bill and Marilyn Watson are happily esconced in Lafayette, LA, surrounded by grandkids. By all accounts this retirement thing is not so bad should one be prepared to do it.

Necrology

Now for the part that we hate to write, but which always seems to come.

Our old friend Colin Murphy went to the angels on December 22 at his home on the Isle of Wight. Colin was a great and true fellow from whom many of us learned the ropes of the (then much rougher) oil patch, a kind of Fezziwig to the apprentices; a possessor of a great wit and almost endless patience. He amused himself in later years by gardening (typically, selling produce from the front of his house) and travelling with his beloved wife Carol. He will be deeply missed by a whole generation of Global Mariners.

Rick Bohlen, a brahmin of sharp tongue and sly intellect, left us on November 3rd, dying of complications from ALS in Houston, TX. From his post in the Tax Department Rick was the unofficial head of internal gossip at Global Marine and could always be relied upon to amuse and entertain his audience with selected barbs and tidbits. He spent his later years in the employ of the Rowan Companies.

James Weeks of Magnolia, TX and the world left us on 24th November. In the rough and tumble of the old oil patch, James was always the gentleman. He had a long and distinguished career that began when most of us were watching cartoons - an early player in the offshore business. His wife Maggie can be reached at  maggieweeks@sbc.net.  

Darrell 'Bo' Sadler, a long time Santa Fe and GSF friend, on November 18th. A great friend of Jim Boswell and Bobby Briggance.

The Parting Word

In honor of the season, we offer the lyrics by Robert Burns often begun but rarely completed.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
and surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine† ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !

and surely I’ll buy mine !

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

Be good to each other, and remember: a day above ground is a day well met!