Alumni Newsletter Spring 2014

Greetings from the Bayou City, where we have nearly floated away as of late. We needed the water, but when you have a car with 3" of ground clearance you think twice before exiting the garage. Truck guys ruled the road the last few weeks.

We seem to have settled down to a rhythm of three posts per year, which suits my schedule as even though technically retired, I seem to find plenty to do. I had imagined golfing, reading and napping. This is not the case, except for the latter which seems to go with the 60+ territory.

Ruminations

Is it just me or has TV gotten more interesting lately? I personally can't wait for the end of the reality shows.. I mean, who wants to watch someone running through 25 dates or someone choking on their pea soup?  I'm liking the rise of documentaries. After all, if you can't remember they will help you out. I grew up in the age of documentary shows, although I have to admit that "Laugh In" caught my fancy. Of course I was reminded of this by a documentary

On a more serious note, I and my family have now been through three cases of adult dementia with our elder members. This is not to be taken lightly. In the past in the South, we used to say that someone was going "batty". It was an amusing term. This is because they would go crazy and then they would die. Now people go crazy and don't die, which is the most painful thing imaginable.So, watch for the early signs of dementia in your loved ones, and get them into treatment before it advances, which it does with terrifying speed. If you're feeling charitable, give to Alzheimer's research or volunteer to help those who cannot help themselves.

On to the politics of the day, the Keystone XL North pipeline proposal has earned its Masters degree - due to the fact that it has been in the approval process for 5 years. Another year and it will earn its PhD. I'm not quite sure how the words "energy security" and "national security" don't connect with the current administrations, and I don't restrict that comment to the US. Although the US is the current leader in dumb regulations. 

A long time ago (say, 1980) I was watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and he had a guest who advocated electric cars. He asked the guest "Where does the power come from?", and she answered, "From the wall". 

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm a big fan of the high-torque, high-powered electrics such as the Tesla. But the question remains, where will the power come from? It's kind of heretical in our industry, but the answer for the moment is, much of it comes from coal. In our industry we do plenty to keep the fuel, chemical and utility industries in business, but you can't change the dynamics of energy overnight. It takes decades, as we all have witnessed. All hail shale oil and natural gas, on which we are sitting upon huge stocks due to hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. We will spread this technology throughout the world, and will profit mightily by it. But don't forget the good people in the coal mines. They are our brothers in arms, after all.

In The Oil Patch

There is so much going on it's almost hard to describe.

Transocean has performed another pivot and has spun off its UK operations into a new company, Caledonian. This is in addition to its prior spin off of the bulk of its jackup fleet into Shelf Drilling. Noble has spun off the bulk of its offshore assets into a new company, Paragon Offshore, based in the UK.We won't get into a discussion of tax domiciles, but the various tax departments in the industry have been very, very busy. Which raises the question: when will the US Congress get its wits and revise the US Tax Code?

Commander Drilling Technologies, a successor to the now defunct Applied Drilling Technology Inc. has set up shop and is drilling. One can find many familiar faces there. The same is true at Rowan, where many of our former co-workers can be found. Which is to say, that the tribe continuously transforms itself and we are all members of it, regardless of affiliation.

There are no less than 22 major refinery, chemical and export facilities under construction in the US, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. That's an investment north of $40 billion, much of it flowing from foreign firms. Investment in the UK is also soaring.

The Business of the Tribe

We had a very nice luncheon the other day organized by Brenda Hethcoat, who has actually managed to relocate to College Station without losing her day job. Attendees were yours truly, Tony Borst, Richard Brown, Ray Bember, Jackie Montgomery, and the ever elusive Robert Bowden, who has returned from Dubai. Robert has a very simple message: "I missed Texas".

Speaking of gatherings, we missed our Stampede last year but sentiment is growing to have another. So, we are thinking of organizing the 3rd Stampede. All those in favor, say "Aye". We'll proceed based on your responses.

Dean Verinder checked in with the news that he has renounced bachelor status. This is quite the development as he may be our longest surviving bachelor. Just never found the right girl, and never tired of partying with the boys, he says, until now. Dean met his love, Leyla, in Baku and was literally swept off his feet. Which is pretty difficult to do to a roughneck. They were married in double ceremonies in Texas and Baku and now reside in the latter. Dean is working for BP, another hot bed of ex-Global Mariners.

John Domingue spent some scary moments in hospital. Patrice says he's OK, but we all think about these things as we move on.

Found: Richard Greff, Gurbachan Virk, Stan Brown. Do keep up with our Directory, attached hereto. We have hundreds of records but it's up to you to keep them up to date. If you have news or new address information (and believe me, as we all scatter it will happen), contact us at gsfalumni@gmail.com.

Necrology

We lost two good friends this month.

Clancy Cavanaugh, a true friend to many of us and a mentor to many others, passed away on May 7 in Brenham, TX. Clancy was colorful, as we like to say in these pages, and a memorable character; but also had a heart of gold. He received the ultimate kudos from a number of correspondents: "He was one of the good guys". He was, in short, always one who anyone with sense would work with anywhere on the planet, any time. His boots were always first on the deck, and the last to leave. He leaves his wife Arnie and children.

William T. Williams (Tom to all of us) first of Global Marine and later of Applied Drilling Technology Inc., passed on May 27. Tom was a uniquely organized individual who could pull a single piece of paper - the right piece of paper - from a 3' tall stack, or recall arcane information from the vast Rolodex in his head. He was hard-headed but kind. Tom had two favorite phrases which stuck with me for all of the time since I met him: "Your failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on my part"; and my favorite of all, "If you're not the lead dog the view is always the same". Somewhere, the giant Singapore Airlines stewardess cutout which graced his office will remain. Tom leaves his wife Dinah.

Dave Geer and his wife Judy were lucky enough to see Tom and Dinah in Paris a few weeks before his passing. As said to Dave, Paris is not a bad last trip. 

RIP to both of these accomplished and great co-workers. Yes, they were old school, but they knew exactly what they were doing and did it their way. A lesson to be remembered.

The Final Word

You all will pardon the interval between newsletters but life has been a little complicated for your correspondent. There are lessons to be learned, however.

Be good to each other, and don't forget that empathy is perhaps the most worthwhile emotion. I know. I have people who I love and people who I hate, but empathy is the great equalizer..

We are members of a unique group which most people don't even understand. We have done things and been to places which others cannot imagine. Take pleasure in that - it will always belong to us. 

Best as always to all of you, your faithful webmaster and friends. Seahorse.

Alumni Newsletter Summer-Fall-Winter 2013

Greetings from the Bayou City, where a cold snap is in full force. We have been remiss in our postings, primarily due to the fact that yours truly has actually been working; and has been travelling extensively. Do forgive. 

The aforesaid travel involved California (thrice), Las Vegas (twice), and our annual visit to New York City to observe the holidays. We can report that NYC was more crowded this year than in years past; the Metropolitan Museum of Art is more spectacular than ever due to new acquisitions; we still window shop on Fifth Avenue but alas, Tiffany's is still out of reach for mere mortals. Cartier does, however, have LED leopards climbing on its facade, which is new and interesting.  We did see Steve Tyrell in the Carlyle Cafe, which proves that we are indeed crusters. A true lounge act for no more than 70 people. Made me nostalgic for the old days when big-name performers did small gigs. Surprisingly warm - 35 F days, 32 F evenings - although Morrell's Wine Bar on Rockefeller Plaza does provide a nice respite when the wind chill drops to 25 F or so. We escaped one day before the entire place shut down due to a storm, and are happily ensconced in Houston nursing colds that we picked up in NYC. A festive photo of Rockefeller Plaza. NYC really is something for the holidays. Except for the colds.

Ruminations

The energy boom in the US continues to astonish. A few items of interest: rail transport of crude oil has quintupled in the last year due to the lack of pipeline capacity to get crude to the right places at the right times. The Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Cushing, Oklahoma is still, unbelievably, hung up in a regulatory quagmire, and our Canadian friends are not happy. The Keystone South leg will begin transporting crude from Cushing to Houston on January 23rd. We've made the discovery that crude from the Bakken Shale up north is actually explosive, which is not normal for crude, and as a result have had three explosions of Bakken from train derailments in the last three months. Probably why Mr. Drake, the very first oil driller in the US, observed live flame coming from the ground in Pennsylvania in the 1880's.

Meantime, the Environmental Protection Agency has shifted its attention from fossil fuels to coal, which is a much easier target. The only problem is that more than 40% of electric power in these United States is tied to coal; the question then being, what is going to power all of those promised electric cars (or our homes for that matter) when the EPA kills the coal industry? Not everyone can afford a Tesla, which is the only success in the field so far. Chevy can't give away Volts and Nissan can't give away Leafs. And Fiskar, the darling of Hollywood stars, is broke.

The ethanol lobby was dealt a major setback when the Congress struck down the ethanol to gasoline blend mandate since it would result in mixtures which would effectively destroy existing gasoline engines. Between that and more readily available light crude, gasoline prices have fallen nearly 12%. We always thought that producing ethanol from corn was dumb since more of it now goes to ethanol than to food and feed stock. For which we pay twice, both for more expensive gas and more expensive food. And the poor suffer disproportionately.

Another interesting tidbit: Texas is now the #1 generator of wind power in the US, and the grid to provide that power to actual consumers has been completed at a cost north of $6 billion. And we own it; Texas is an independent power producer not connected to the national grid. For which all Texans should give thanks. As the French playwright Moliere once wrote, "Consorting with fools is one thing. Being a fool is completely different."

We don't claim to understand politics nor do we take sides, but the US mid-term Congressional elections are now a mere 11 months away. We would suggest that if you have an opinion, make it known to your friends and gather support for your preferred candidates. We would also suggest that you support candidates who can not only win primaries but who can also win general elections. This is not a time for division but for unity.

Finally, and on a much lighter note,  I think that we all can agree that this has been one of the weirdest football seasons in history, both collegiate and pro. Very entertaining. Meaning that I actually watched the games instead of napping through them. Spouse is a Longhorn and has ceased watching football since the Longhorns went down ignominiously in the Alamo Bowl.

In the Oil Patch

The Arctic seems to be a matter of some interest. Shell's 2013 season was a miserable failure, in which only four top-holes were drilled and their primary Arctic rig, the Kulluk, was irreparably damaged when it broke its tow lines and ran aground near Kodiak, Alaska. Shell, however, intends to proceed next season and has the cash and permits to do so.

As the Arctic ice cap continues to melt, a race for territorial rights (including those for oil and gas development) has broken out. A Russian submarine planted a flag on the seafloor at the North Pole, which technically is in Canadian territory. The Canadian Navy has ordered six armed icebreakers to preserve its territorial rights. It's estimated that one quarter of the world's recoverable fossil fuels reside in the Arctic; as we all know, projections are one thing and facts are another, but this may be the next frontier. Meantime, the centuries old dream of a Northwest Passage may finally be realized, which could transform world commerce routes.

The debate in the US Congress regarding export of domestic oil has heated up considerably. Export of US oil has been prohibited for over 37 years, and the debate rages as to whether we should preserve our own resources or profit from higher prices in foreign markets.Export of liquid natural gas is already permitted, and both Cheniere and Exxon/Mobil have obtained export permits and are constructing LNG export terminals in Texas. In other words, the US has rejoined the ranks of global energy powers due to superior technology,  and we simply have more of the stuff than we can currently process.

In Mexico, dramatic changes to the Constitution have been passed by the legislature and have been signed into law by President Enrique Pena Nieto. Foreign oil and gas companies will not only be allowed to participate in Mexico projects but will be able to retain product for sale rather than having to sell through Pemex, the national oil and gas monopoly. The outcome of these events is not predictable; but a vast new exploration opportunity plainly exists. 

The more that we start thinking about a self-sufficient North American energy complex, the better off we will be, in my humble opinion. Politics be damned - this is a matter of national interest, not only for the US but for our partners. Now consider the following.

Imagine being free of the Middle East, where only one nation - Saudi Arabia - was actually formed on natural tribal and political lines. Iraq was the invention of the British (read up on Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty) to fuel their diesel powered battleships; Syria was the invention of the French to maintain a power base in the Middle East; later supplanted by the Russians, who use it as their naval base in the Mediterranean. The easiest way to solve these problems would be to let new countries be formed out of the old; which in fact is happening by violence instead of peaceful accommodation. It has happened before; witness the former Yugoslavia. 

Meantime huge natural gas resources have have been discovered off the coast of Israel, making for a huge national energy shift.

But enough of that. We in the energy industry respond to political events; we certainly do lobby in our interests but we have no control whatsoever over geopolitical events. We go with the flow.

As previously rumored, the acclaimed Applied Drilling Technologies Inc. has met its end. Domestic operations ceased on August 31, and reports are that ADTI's international operations have ceased. Challenger Drilling has shuttered as well.


Transocean is focusing on core businesses, ergo the spinoff of Shelf Drilling with 38 shallow water jackups; a huge bet on the deep water business, the outcome of which will be known in due course. Shelf, now based in Dubai, is making an equally huge bet that shallow water drilling will persist as a profitable business.

Coincidentally, Commander Drilling Technologies LLC commenced turnkey drilling operations in the Fall of 2013. CDT is a startup with a who's who of former ADTI employees and we have every confidence that the model for turnkey drilling will succeed.


The Business of the Tribe

Commander Drilling Technologies has acquired the cream of the crop in the turnkey business: Steve Morrison as CEO, David Crews ex of AGR/Oceaneering as VP of Sales, Bob Wood as VP Engineering, Tom Dolence and Dane Bokencamp as engineers., Joe Bob Wycough as VP Operations, Sonny Rodriguez as VP Purchasing, and Judy Low as CFO. Having done a little work for CDT, I can testify that this is a first class start up and we all should wish them well. Old friends making a run for the gold. I so much enjoyed working and visiting with old friends.

I can't resist posting a few photos of Connie Abb's Corvette. Who knew that nice, sweet Connie was a gearhead? As in, a serious gearhead?

 Look at that thing she is going to drop into that Vette!

A post from Adrian Gray from Singapore (my first overseas home town). A BBQ to remember!

In other news:

Andy Dement has emerged from retirement and is looking for work (like the rest of us, bored and looking for a little excitement).. A more superior sales man I could not imagine. 

Buddy King is working for Nexen Data Solutions.

JP Peplinski has become the CEO of Griffen Americas, which not only provides travel services but also publishes the Houston Business Journal. Eric Garcia has moved from Transocean back to Calpine, which I imagine is a more relaxed environment. 

Robert Bowden has returned to the US and is now working as a consultant. Back to Dubai for three months of work for Shelf Drilling. His info has been added to the Directory and all inquiries welcome in May. 

We did not hold a Stampede this year; however the former GSF HR group got together for a reunion and it was apparently a hoot. Attendees: David Armstrong, Karen McConaughey, Connie Abbs, Rich and JP Peplinski, Cindy Kohlhoff, John Auth, Darlene Dawson, and Kyna Agerton. We need to do this more often, but meantime a pic of the perps.

Recent new founds: Robert Bowden, Tony Reid, Torsen Knudsen, all of whose info can be found in the Directory. 

All of the Alumni information that we have lives in the Alumni Directory link under Hot Links in the sidebar of this blog. We do our best to keep it current, but please do check your own info to be sure that is correct.

Necrology

John McHale, my beloved mentor and co-worker of many years, passed during the Spring of 2013. His beloved wife, Marie, did not want to tell me due to her own grief, which must have been painful indeed.. John was a complete man; satisfied with his place in life, incredibly humorous, and totally genuine. If any one affected my early career with Global Marine, it was he. RIP John, and "just a wee dram" to you.

Jessie Warren: another personal loss, as Jessie taught me everything I needed to know about the operational side of the energy business and was kind enough to be a friend to me when I really needed friends. Passed November 8, news courtesy of George Matej. Jessie was irascible, demanding, and incredibly kind. 

The Parting Word

I've suffered terrible personal  losses in the last few months, and I am selfish to say so; but have also renewed old friendships. The Tribe lives on. We are who we are, forged in triumph and hardship, but always one for all and all for one.

Best as always, your webmaster and friends, Ed.