Wind, Waves & Wells with Joe

Three energy podcasters. Three different perspectives. One big conversation about where global energy is heading.

In this special crossover episode, I join Stu Turley and Mark LaCour to talk about everything from diesel prices and refinery capacity to energy security, data centres, renewables and the changing global oil market.

We get into the problems facing electricity grids, the huge increase in power demand from data centres, the role of natural gas and renewables, and why energy infrastructure is becoming such an important part of the conversation.

We also discuss global oil flows, the Strait of Hormuz, the Jones Act, California's energy market, Europe, the North Sea, Rosebank and Jackdaw, and how AI could change the way we find and produce energy.

A proper off the cuff energy conversation between three people who spend a lot of time talking about the industry.

In this episode of Wind, Waves & Wells, I sit down with Dan Doyle, oil and gas entrepreneur, author and owner of a hydraulic fracturing company operating across the United States.

Dan takes us inside the American fracking industry, explaining how hydraulic fracturing actually works, what it was like building a service company from the ground up and what really happened during the US shale boom.

We also get into the boom and bust nature of oil and gas, the challenges of operating across different US states, regulation, energy policy and why some of the biggest opportunities in the industry can appear during downturns.

Dan also shares the story behind his book, Roughnecks & Riches: A Startup in the Great American Fracking Boom, including the extraordinary setbacks he faced trying to get his first frac fleet operating. A wide ranging conversation about oil, gas, entrepreneurship, risk, resilience and the people behind the energy industry.

More than 46 years after the Alexander L. Kielland disaster, questions surrounding what happened, why it happened and how the families were treated have never completely disappeared. In Part Two of my conversation with Dr France, we look beyond the physical failure of the rig and discuss what happened afterwards. Dr France explains how his findings have been received in Norway, why he disputes parts of the original investigation, how fatigue cracking could develop over several years and whether there could have been warning signs before the disaster. We also discuss his relationship with campaigner Wayne Hunter, the treatment of the families who lost loved ones, the continuing campaign for justice and compensation, and what Dr France ultimately hopes his research will achieve. Towards the end of the conversation, we broaden things out into the lessons the engineering and offshore industries should take from Kielland and Dr France reflects on a career spanning five decades in welding engineering. 123 people lost their lives on the Alexander Kielland. More than four decades later, the questions surrounding the disaster are still being asked.

On 27 March 1980, the Alexander L. Kielland capsized in the North Sea, killing 123 people in one of the worst disasters in the history of the offshore industry.

More than four decades later, Dr France believes the accepted explanation does not tell the full story.

A welding engineer with 50 years of experience, Dr France has spent years independently investigating the disaster. In Part One of our conversation, he explains the fundamentals of welding and welding engineering before taking us through his analysis of the Kielland failure.

We discuss the condition of the rig when it left the shipyard, hydrogen induced cracking, fatigue, weld procedures, inspection, the evidence he says can still be seen in recovered wreckage, and why he believes the origins of the disaster can be traced back to the rig's construction in 1976.

This is a detailed and at times challenging look at one of the North Sea's most significant offshore disasters, from the perspective of a welding engineer who has spent years studying the evidence.

Steve Devereux has spent more than four decades working across the international oil and gas industry, and his career has taken him a long way from where it started.

Steve began as an aeronautical engineer before joining Shell in 1979 and learning drilling from the ground up. After training in Holland, he headed to Brunei where he worked his way through the drilling ranks before eventually building a consulting career that has taken him to more than 40 countries.

In this episode, I speak with Steve about how drilling careers were built back then, why getting genuine hands on experience mattered so much and whether some of that practical knowledge has been lost from the industry today.

We get into his time in the North Sea, well control, major accident risk, the increasing amount of decision making being moved away from the rig and some brilliant stories from a career spent working around the world.

Steve also explains his third career in dispute resolution, where he now works as an arbitrator and expert witness on complex industry disputes, and why decades of practical experience can become incredibly valuable when trying to establish what actually went wrong.

We also look towards the future.

Steve believes AI could represent a genuine step change for drilling, particularly through its ability to analyse huge amounts of data in real time, identify problems earlier and potentially improve well control and safety. But he also gives an important warning: we cannot allow people to blindly trust the technology without understanding the job themselves.

Towards the end, Steve shares some excellent advice for anyone starting an offshore career today, including why you should build a financial “war chest”, get as much practical experience as possible and never assume you will only have one career.

We finish with one of Steve’s proudest projects, an unusual well intervention offshore Tanzania that required a bit of engineering ingenuity and a very different approach to getting the job done.

A fascinating conversation with someone who has watched the drilling industry change enormously over more than 45 years.

Mark LaCour has spent more than 35 years around the oil and gas industry and is now Editor in Chief of the Oil and Gas Global Network, which has grown into a network of more than 30 industry podcasts. What I enjoyed about this conversation is that we covered an enormous amount of ground. Mark takes me back to how he accidentally found his way into oil and gas, what decades of working internationally have taught him about the culture of the industry and why he believes oil and gas has done such a poor job of telling its own story. We get into the extraordinary level of activity taking place in the Permian Basin, the growing importance of natural gas, LNG and what Mark means when he talks about the need for energy abundance. From there, the conversation moves into AI and data centres, renewables, offshore wind, nuclear power and why trying to apply the same energy solution everywhere simply does not work. We also discuss why selling technology into oil and gas is so different from almost every other industry, the importance of trust, the huge amounts of capital involved and why some genuinely useful technology never gets adopted because nobody knows how to sell it properly. Closer to home, I ask Mark about BP moving away from the North Sea, the impact of taxation and politics on investment and what he thinks the future could look like for places such as Aberdeen. We also talk podcasting, sponsorship, getting things wrong publicly and being willing to change your mind when the evidence changes. And towards the end, things go somewhere I definitely was not expecting. Space. Mark explains why he believes the skills, companies and technology developed by the oil and gas industry could eventually play a major role in commercial space travel and even mining the asteroid belt. A wide ranging conversation about energy, technology, business and where this industry could be heading next.

Lewis Senior returns to Wind, Waves & Wells almost a year after his first appearance.

At 75, Lewis is still travelling, teaching, coaching and helping organisations understand the role personality plays in leadership, communication and safety.

Early in our conversation he sums up exactly why he has absolutely no intention of slowing down:

“Purpose never retires.”

We talk about how Equilibria has developed over the past year, the growing use of E Colours, upcoming work with Step Change in Safety and why understanding personality can influence something as important as whether someone actually feels comfortable stopping a job.

From there we get into leadership and culture offshore.

Why can you sometimes walk onto a vessel or installation and almost immediately sense what the culture is like?

What separates a genuinely good leader from a poor one?

And has the energy industry lost some of the community and camaraderie it once had?

We also get into human performance, the future role of HSE professionals and how AI could completely change a job that has traditionally involved huge amounts of paperwork.

Then Lewis decides to turn the tables on me.

He takes over the podcast and starts asking me the questions.

Why did I start Wind, Waves & Wells?

Where do I see my career going after nearly 15 years offshore?

Why am I moving towards HSE?

What role has my family played in everything I have done?

And where do I want to be five years from now?

It ended up being a very different conversation from the one I originally expected, but probably one of the most personal I have recorded.

A wide ranging conversation about leadership, safety, culture, personality, purpose and ultimately the people behind the energy industry.

Timestamps:

00:20 Lewis returns to Wind, Waves & Wells

00:47 What has changed at Equilibria over the last year?

02:21 A new leadership programme and the E Colours Playbook

03:39 Why are companies becoming more interested in personality and communication?

04:55 Lewis at 75 and why “purpose never retires”

06:31 Equilibria's role in the changing UK energy industry

07:44 Working with Step Change in Safety

09:16 Upcoming announcements and events

10:44 What would make this year a success for Lewis?

11:58 Keeping an open mind and having difficult conversations

12:26 I reflect on interviewing people I do not necessarily agree with

15:02 How attitudes towards different parts of the energy industry change

16:44 What does good leadership actually look like?

17:34 “If you think you're a leader and nobody is following you…”

18:21 Why an OIM and a head teacher have more in common than you might think

19:47 Leadership is 95 per cent about people

20:44 The difference between camaraderie and genuine community offshore

23:38 How job uncertainty can affect offshore culture

25:13 How personality can influence safety and risk

26:23 Are some personalities less likely to stop the job?

27:28 Why stop work authority does not come naturally to everyone

29:19 What companies misunderstand about human performance

30:50 Has the energy industry lost some of its pride and community?

31:21 Building culture before a rig even starts operating

34:32 My concerns about the growing human performance industry

37:47 Lewis takes over the podcast

38:16 Why I started Wind, Waves & Wells

39:57 Where do I see my career going?

41:40 How AI could completely change the role of HSE professionals

42:21 Why operational experience matters in HSE

43:29 The future of HSE could be far more about people than paperwork

45:05 Where do I want to be in five years?

46:35 Lewis asks why someone should take a chance on me

46:47 “If you don't risk anything, you risk everything”

47:42 Lewis reflects on my future

48:28 What does Lewis still want to achieve?

49:59 Why purpose keeps people going

50:37 Upcoming Step Change events and what's next

51:23 Closing thoughts

The offshore 124 kg weight limit has generated plenty of debate.

But Diccen Sargent believes there is a much bigger issue that has received almost no attention: offshore lifeboats.

Diccen has spent decades working in technical and operational safety across the oil and gas industry, from FPSO projects and major accident risk to drilling, HAZOPs and offshore safety cases.

For around ten years, he has also been involved in research looking at the changing size and weight of the offshore workforce.

In this episode, Diccen explains why many lifeboats currently installed offshore were originally designed around much smaller personnel, why seat widths and seatbelt limits matter, and what could happen if those systems are ever required during a real emergency.

We also discuss the incoming 124 kg offshore weight limit, how some operators are already modifying their lifeboats, the difference between occupational safety and major accident safety, managed pressure drilling and the wider pressures facing the North Sea.

We finish by discussing energy security, the future of the UK energy industry and why Diccen believes the transition needs to balance environmental performance, affordability and security of supply.

A fascinating conversation about an area of offshore safety that deserves far more attention.