July 7, 2011

Finally, after 14 years and 8 months, I'm leaving Wafra and JO for a well-deserved retirement. I'll rotate between Canada and Malaysia for the summers and winters.

I've been the senior Geologist on the Wafra Ratawi Project and SWD project since I got here.

I'll miss the job, and all the great people I've worked with, but the time has come to leave Kuwait for greener pastures (literally).

Another long-timer at Wafra. John will be retiring himself probably next year.

John is the positive root of John².
Otherwise known as "Smith and Weston",
the "Big Guns of Wafra"...

We've had a lot of dealings over the years, from the daily "Chez Wafra" luncheon sessions, to many of our Kuwait Caledonian functions.

I hope we get the chance to meet up again in our retirement.

My Egyptian Brother....

Osama will have the task of covering for my work after I'm gone.

I'll miss his constant good-spirits and cooperation and all his other good character traits too numerous to mention.

JO NEEDS to keep Osama, at whatever the cost.

My other Egyptian Brother...

We worked for years on the Ratawi Project, but he's since moved to the SUG group.

I hope I'll get to see Shafik and his family in Halifax sometime.

My American kindred spirit...

We share a totally demented sense of humour - so it was a natural that we got along so well.

I'll miss Doug's great humour and attitude.

One of the least recognized (by management, anyway), employees in Wafra. Nick has been our right-hand man technician since I came to Wafra.

I've fought numerous battles to have Nick recognized for his efforts, and at least be promoted to the technical level he deserves, rather than just as a secretary as he is rated now. Many of our co-workers have testified on his behalf, but so far - no progress.

JO Wafra would be far less well-off if Nick were to find better employment elsewhere. I'd act as a reference, and I know others would too.

Austin Baird

Suha Yasin

Chuck Schaff

Bob Bielenda

Steve Palar

Chet Babin

Steve Newton

Shams Obaid

Azhar Bilal

David Readie

Bob Elder

Faris Al-Shammari

Garry Skinner

Nestor Lorenzo

Owayed Al-Rashidi

Abdullah Al-Anezi

Tim Denny

Jamal Al-Rubaiyea

Musaad Al-Harbi

.

Mosaad Al-Harbi

Mohammed Salem Al-Haimer

Nizar Al-Kazmawi

Nasir Souki

Konstantine Jvakine

Joseph Kizhakayil

Abdullah

Gamal Remilla

Mossad Omar

Fouad Youssef Fouad

 Dr. Nader Eloutefi

Dr. Nasser A Fawzy

Anwar Al-Sharqawi

Afzal Iqbal

Shehab Uddin

David Niven

Akram Mohammed Choudary
 & Ali Mahmeed

Falah Al-Yami

Ronny Adriansyah

Mohammed Al-Bathal

Mohammed Al-Rawaf

Imtiaz Toor

Mufti

Rizal Nasution

Oscar Yepes

Kevin Scott

Ahmed Al-Qallaf

David Angstadt

Ken Kelsh

Umar Al-Amri

Khaled Ahmed Saleh

Lee Williams

Eric Pugh & Angelica Eastman

Bader Al-Otaibi

Hamdi Saber Elbosaily

Nathan McKinley

Meshal Al-Ghanim

Frank Azparran

Graham Elliot

Koshy Chacko

Andy McQueen

Don Arness

Comrade Don

Ken Sniffen

Iman Abouzeid

Mohammed Durani

Sheldon Langdon

Summer 2011

Mike is also a recent arrival, brought in to expedite the new Seismic Shoot operations planned for the PNZ. We've had a lot of dealings since I seemed to have the best cultural data in the PNZ for him to start with. He's been a key player in the new GIS team charged with building a GIS data base for JO.

Summer 2011

Caleb is a Drilling Engineer hired away from Halliburton a few years ago. He's served his time in Kuwait now...

June 16, 2011

Jim Turner replaced Digger Ware as Geologist on the Wara and Maestrichtian projects, and he leaves us now for Perth.

Spring, 2011

Todd was a Workovers Engineer and Jena a Well Optomization Engineer.

Newcomers to Wafra, they only lasted 2 years before heading back to Houston.

Spring, 2011

Sergie was one of our rotation Drilling Engineers, and we had numerous dealings on some of my wells.

He's back to Russia now.

Winter 2010

Bagio took over for Ming Ming as Ratawi Reservoir Engineer.

August 26, 2010

Yet another recent Arrival, Chris was another Drilling Engineer who introduced us to more Chevron Processes. He's off to Jakarta now.

August 8, 2010

Aaron is a recent arrival as well. Our Drilling Division Specialist, he's off to the Gulf Coast operations in Houston now.

June 15, 2010

Ming Ming is a recent arrival who replaced Adwait as our RAMT Reservoir Engineer and modeller. He's off to an assignment in Chine now.

April 12, 2010

this is the second time we said goodbye to Ed from Wafra. This time after 6 years in Wafra after a 2 years in Bakersfield since his last farewell in 2002.

Ed is retiring after 35 years in Texaco and Chevron We'll miss his experience and abilities, and I'll miss a good friend.

I was however, quite disappointed that after 35 years and 12 years in Wafra, no one from Chevron or JO management bothered to show up to this Farewell.

January 2010

Rafa inherited the Ratawi Team leadership from Adwait, who inherited it from Jimmy Dolan, who inherited it from Mohammed Khater, who inherited it from Pablo....

You could always tell when Rafa was around. His voice is very distinctive...

He's left Wafra for Indonesia in January.

Yung Wilson

January 2009

Yung was another office Drilling Engineer here in Wafra.

I had a few dealings with him as he supervised rig 171 when it was drilling some Ratawi wells.

Bob Warman

December 6, 2008

Bob replaced Hani as Superintendent of the Drilling Division we deal with every day. Bob had a reputation for being able to find ways to avoid going to the JO office, cannily managing his time off and time in the SAC office to avoid the commute to Wafra.

When he was here though - he made noticeable contributions to Drilling our wells.

Bob also participated in a number of Caledonian events here in Kuwait.

Craig Mickelthwaite

Summer 2008

Craig was the team leader of the "Central Gas Utilization Project" (CGUP) team.

For 4 years we went through every conceivable Chevron process (as any good Major Projects Engineers would do...) to try and get the Zero Flare project up and running.

Alas but Craig ended up going to London before the project moved into stage 3 as planned years earlier.

CGUP Team

Kalon Degenhardt

Summer 2008

Kalon was Jody Mangus' replacement as Superintendent of the Wafra Asset Management Division. Our boss.

We had a lot of dealings together. He was good to work with.

Kalon attended a number of our Caledonian events.

Scott Simpson

August 19, 2008

Scott was a popular Safety Engineer with our Drilling Group for a number of years.

He left Wafra for China this summer.

Greg Luke

Summer 2008

Like Gerry Raabe, Greg was a progressive Drilling Engineer in our Wafra Office.

He made a point of getting things done, even if it ruffled some feathers along the way.

He moved on to Kazakhstan this summer.

Bob Swanson

March 26, 2008

Bob was a rotational office Drilling Engineer with us for a few years. A Unical orphan, he brought a lot of experience from the far east.

He left JO to work in California near home, drilling hydro-thermal wells.

Mohammed Shahid

March 24, 2008

Mohammed was the DG Petroleum Engineer for the PMP Team when I arrived in Wafra. We worked together for many years on the Ratawi and SWD projects.

He moved over to the Exploration, SF and SUG Division, and left for another assignment I'm sworn not to reveal.

John Garrity

January 2008

John was Jim Ming's replacement Geophysicist, and served as a colourful icon around Wafra for a few years before working a last year at SAC.

Now he's in Rio. Somehow I doubt he stands out quite so much in that crowd.

He was well known for his colourful shirt collection, and a few examples are posted here.

2007

December 17, 2007

Another enlightened Drilling Engineer.

Now off to deep-water Nigeria.

Blair and Gerry Raabe passing judgment on road reclamation

Blair is an accomplished guitarist in the "Human Shields" band

December 17, 2007

Operational Expertise Expert, and later an Eocene team Production Engineer.

January 16, 2007

Production Engineer with the Wara AMT.

And yet another member of the "Hawaiian Shirt Wednesday" crowd.

We'll miss his great "southern" style humor...

Ricky with Digger Ware
 

December 2, 2006

Adwait started with the Ratawi Asset Management Team just a few days before the JO SAT staff were evacuated for the 2003 war.

He's a modeling expert Reservoir Engineer, and later took over for Jimmy Dolan as Team Leader for the AMT.

 Adwait moved on to Houston and ETC where he's doing great things for Chevron.

Adwait and
Fred the IVth

Adwait and the RAMT
 

Adwait and boss Kalon

Our modeling Guru

June 6, 2006

Thanh was a Reservoir Engineer in the SUG, SF and Exploration Division. And another member of the Hawaiian shirt Wednesday crowd.

A pleasure to work with.

He's since moved onto an assignment in China with Chevron.

Thanh with Gerry Raabe

June 6, 2006

Don was our IT Applications Specialist
 - but mostly worked with us in the WAMD.

 He was another member of the "Chez Wafra" lunch crowd, until it closed.

Another "I Need a Vacation" guy....

Don with his boss Keith Breaux

Don with Ed DelaPena

June 6, 2006

Mark was the 1st Eocene Geologist
 in the WAMD.

Another member of the "Chez Wafra" lunch crowd before it was closed.

Mark moved on to Bali Papa as well.

Receiving an award for his Safety Meeting involvement, from Khalid Al-Ali and Kalon Degenhardt

John with Mark and John Smith

April 12, 2006

Jimmy was our Ratawi AMT Reservoir Engineer
- a specialist in waterfloods, and graduated onto
 the thankless position of Team Leader.

He's since moved on to Bali Papa with Chevron.

Note the "No Cellphones" sign behind Jimmy - as he's on his cellphone.

In the PMP.

He's never been able
 to live this down since...

Jimmy's a great sport
- and we miss his experience - and good nature.

November, 2005

Bill started with KSF seconded to KOC like me, back in January 1997. He was a Major Projects Construction Engineer.

He was forced out of JO, but stayed in Kuwait in a much better position as a project manager on another project.

One of the biggest mistakes JO ever made - not keeping Bill around.

November 14, 2005

Juan joined WAMD as a Reservoir Engineer - and left for Oman in 2005.

I was surprised to see him return, to replace Dave as team leader of the SUG, SF and Exploration Division.

But this didn't last very long. He's back in the States again now.

June 27, 2005

Dave was the Reservoir Engineer with the Wara Team before being drafted as team leader on the SUG, SF and Exploration Division.

He continued dealing with us in Wafra from Houston with ETC, but he's now back in Wafra as Manager of the LSP Project.

Interesting how many people come back to Wafra....

Dave and the Hawaiian Shirt Wednesday group - including Kevin Leahy, Than Tran and John Garrity

Dave and Virginia

July 18, 2004

Workovers Engineer

June 1, 2004

Petroleum Engineer for the Wara Group

I didn't have a lot of dealings with Alan.
 

June 1, 2004

Ricardo was one of our SAT Reservoir Engineers in the Ratawi AMT.

He left for Texaco in Houston, but has since moved on to Hess.

Spring, 2004

Joe left KSF, seconded to KOC in the JO Contracts department in Wafra, but hadn't gone too far.

He remained in Kuwait to instruct diving for a few years, but has since moved on to Athens, making occasional business trips back to Kuwait.

We also Knew Joe from the Kuwait Caledonians social organization here in Kuwait.

July 2003

July 2003

Jim Ming was Mike Waite's replacement
 as SAT's senior Geophysicist in Wafra.

Jim is retiring to Vancouver Island
 - just a slight climactic difference from
arid Kuwait, to the Canadian temperate rain-forests of British Columbia.

We visited Jim and Marilyn in Sidney, B.C.
 in the Summer of 2004.

Gerry McNaboe

July 8, 2003

Gerry was the 1st Eocene Senior Geologist in the Wafra Asset Management Team.

After 4 years in J.O., he's leaving for Bakersfield, to be close to his almond/cherry farm.

We bought Gerry's Land Cruiser in May
- a very well looked after vehicle.
Just for Alice's use.

We still have the truck. It works great.

July 2, 2003

Hani joined Texaco from Mobil for his first assignment in Wafra, and Curt Haddock's replacement as Drilling Superintendent.

He left for Indonesia where he worked with Jody.

July 2, 2003

Jody was our Superintendent - of the Wafra Asset Management Division after the 2000 reorganization. Our task master.

After 4 years in Wafra, he went to Indonesia
 

Spring, 2003

Drilling Foreman, assigned to rig 20.

Billy left Wafra in January, missing a final hitch before he took the "package".  He was the company man on KSF rig 20 for many years. 

February 18, 2003

After 32 years with Texaco, Ken decided to finally take the package and retire. He came to Wafra originally to replace Darrell Davis - the PMP reservoir engineer. After the reorganization, he was the Ratawi AMT simulation engineer.

We'll miss his infectious laughter, and great attitude through difficult circumstances.
And his continual pleas
"I Need A Vacation !!"....

January 29, 2003

Bobby was one of the "Company Men" Drilling Engineers  on Rig 171. We became friends when I had to attend a number of Geological duties on the rig.

Like Ken, Bobby opted for the "package", and is retiring. Although he shortly afterwards showed up in Saudi  plying his profession.

Thanks for the help and bringing in some toys
 for Christmas gifts, Bobby.

(ask him what the LBOC means, sometime...)
 

October 30, 2002

Ron was seconded by KSF to KOC to the Workover Division
 as a Workover Engineer.

He's spent some time in the Philippines with his latest wife,
before he returned to Calgary, where he rotated into Kazakhstan for a while before moving back to Italy

September 17, 2002

Joe was the KSF replacement Geophysicist for Charles Pearn, starting 6 months after Charles left Wafra. He had to leave for Calgary after family problems. His young Indonesian wife didn't want to leave Calgary for Kuwait.

No pix of Giuseppe on this web page
 

July 30, 2002

Ted and I hit it off as soon as we met.
Something of kindred spirits.

   We've socialized a lot in the last 3-1/2 years, and continue to do so today. He left Texaco and Wafra this summer, but started with Qasem at KGOC in Ahmadi.

The Morgan's lived just a mile away from us until 2005 when the family returned to New Mexico. 

   We traveled to Bahrain and Dubai a number of times together. Once even with the families. And 2002 we went to New Mexico especially to see them on home leave.

Ted gave up his 28-28 rotation for KOC Drilling, and now works out of his home in Alamogordo

June 19, 2002

Another enlightened Drilling Engineer,
 Stan left Wafra from Bakersfield, California.

He's now with an independent.

June 12, 2002

Jim McKenzie was the Petroleum Engineer
 on the Wara Project. We didn't have a lot of dealings together.

He went now back to Houston with Texaco.

June 12, 2002

Ed was something of a mentor  for the rest of the Geological crew in Wafra. He alone could resurrect the crash-prone GeoGraphix system we all rely upon.

Fortunately, we've pretty much moved to a new platform since he left.

Ed moved on to Bakersfield,
 California, but returned to Wafra in early 2004.
 

May 22, 2002

Joe Laing took over from Ken Lewis as the 2nd Eocene Senior Geologist.

He left Texaco to join Shell in Indonesia.

February 24, 2002

Wes Paugh is another easy-to-get-along-with Drilling Engineer. We had many dealings together before left for Oklahoma, plying his trade with an independent.

He's Left Mack Oil since, and we're back in touch through Facebook.

February 13, 2002

Qasem Al-Mejadi was the General Superintendent of Field Development. He hired me in Calgary in August 1996. He worked with Ted in KGOC in Ahmadi before working his way to the upper levels of KGOC now.

October 10, 2001

Dave and Jeff Longphee started within a few days of each other back in January 1997. Both as Engineers in the facilities group. We were the 1st of the 15+ Canadians that KSF hired at the time, seconded to KOC to fill positions in Wafra.

   Dave left us in November '01 - but didn't go very far.  In what is the gutsiest career move I've ever seen,  he took on a position as one of the Pastors at the Kuwait branch of the Evangelical church.

   We see Dave and his family on occasion around town.  He's really enjoying this radical change in vocation.

 We wish them all best of luck.

   Dave was our AMT leader for the newly formed "Salt-Water Disposal Asset Management Team",  when it was first started. We did good work together.
 We're very proud of our world-class mega-disposal wells. They may well be the biggest in the world.
 

September 16, 2001

   Charles started with KSF seconded to KOC in Wafra 2 weeks after I did.
As the Division Geophysicist. He was in the apartment across from ours in Latifa. We were fairly close because of our circumstances.

   He's finally retired now in Calgary, spending his time looking after his business interests.

   As you can see from the picture on the left, Charles loved the "Chez Wafra" grub at the mess hall.
 That's his wife Mary with him on the right. We still don't have a replacement for his position, since the replacement only lasted 6 months because of family problems.
Seven years later....

One of Charles' major achievements in Wafra was his 1st Derivative Map on the Shuaiba Structure that we used to make the correlation for our spectacularly successful salt-water disposal project. Without which, JO would only be producing about 1/3 of the oil they currently produce.

We made a good team.
 

June 27, 2001

Ken Lewis is another Senior Geologist,
seconded to KOC by KSF.

He started in Wafra on the 2nd Eocene group early in 1997, and left in the summer of '01 for Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

He's since moved on to Chevron in Bakersfield, California, and is now in Indonesia.

February 14, 2001

Pablo, Senior Reservoir Engineer, Ratawi AMT leader.

Another good friend and co-worker. Pablo took over a lot of Darrell's duties after he left.

Pablo and family are now in Ecuador after a stint with Texaco in Venezuela
 

February 14, 2001

Curt (Clovis) Haddock was the Drilling Superintendent for the DG group.

He was a good friend as well. He was a rare Drilling Engineer - recognizing that his group needs our input for operational decisions.

Unlike many other people in his position  that I've worked with in the past- who regarded the AMT people as necessary evils, to be tolerated and avoided.

   We miss his openness and good humour.
Curt rotated out of Kazakhstan,
 before taking a PMP position with Chevron
 

November 1, 2000

Jeff started with KSF just days within Lance, and also worked in Facilities as a Construction Engineer.

He left for greener pastures in Calgary
 - but I guess they weren't that green.

Six months later he was back in Wafra
- this time as a direct hire with Texaco.
 He's since moved on to Indonesia with Chevron, then Paris for a few years, and is now in Bangladesh with them.

September 6, 2000

Lance started as a Facilities Construction Engineer seconded to KOC by KSF, 2 months after I arrived. A supreme beer maker, Lance returned to Calgary from Kuwait.

No pix of Lance on this web page. If anyone has one?
 

August 16, 2000

The 1st Eocene Reservoir Engineer in Wafra since before I arrived.

No pix of Russ on this web page. If anyone has one?
 

William Smith

May 2000

William Smith was a Petroleum Engineer with the Wafra Asset management Division.

I didn't get to work much with him, but we do share jokes on-line these days.

He's in Midland Texas these days.

Shane Davis

May 10, 2000

Shane Davis is the role model many of us wanted to emulate. He made a fortune on the stock market a few years ago, in high tech stocks. It re-initialized my interest in investing again.

Like us, he spent too much on a custom home back in Canada, and ultimately retired from work 2 years ago.

Boredom has caused him to seek employment here in Kuwait again, and he came back to Wafra for a while until personality clashes caused him to leave for KOC in Ahmadi. Then he left Kuwait again in December 2005 - for a rotational position with Chevron in Nigeria.

We saw Shane a lot in Kuwait when he maintained his residence here.

March 11, 2000

Benny started in Wafra shortly after I did in January '97,seconded as I was to KOC by Santa Fe from Calgary. He left 3 years later, looking for promotion
 and another career opportunities.

The reservoir Engineer for the 2nd Eocene group,
 he's back in Calgary now, working with EnCana.

March 11, 2000

Mike Waite was one of our Geophysicists, replacing Mark Smithard, until he left for Venezuela.

He lead our team in writing the
 SPE paper on the East Wafra discovery. My name is on the paper as well.

Mike was well known for his programming prowess, and sorting out well coordinates and elevations, and disproving the "Smithard High".

May 25, 1999

Bill was the first 1st Eocene
 Geologist with the
 Development Group.

Gerry McNaboe's predecessor.

February 16, 1999

Keith Brogan was the drilling engineer before Ted Morgan. A real character, Keith left Wafra in '98 for rotation in Nigeria with Texaco.

He's still there.

February 16, 1999

Darrell was the reservoir Engineer
 for the Pressure Maintenance Division
when I arrived and joined the group.
 He left in '98 for Houston with Texaco,
 then Angola, then Indonesia. Then back to Houston.

Then it was off to Oman for a few years, and now he's back in Houston again.

A quiet "loose cannon" (as he's been described) - Darrell could get things done when no one else stepped up to the plate.

A real asset and major reason for the success of the Pressure Maintenance Division.

July 12, 1998

Mark was partially responsible for my arrival in Kuwait,
since he recommended my resume to Qasem.
Here he is at his farewell party in Mina Al-Zour (Texaco camp), before leaving Wafra for Indonesia with Texaco in '98.

  A brash and outspoken senior Geologist, who worked on the Wara formation.

A real character.

April 21, 1998

Doug was a favourite Drilling Engineer when I first arrived in Wafra.

A very quiet and amiable fellow  - he was a real joy to work with. He recognized the need for his Division to do more than meet some arbitrary Management-derived metrics - and actually drill wells the customers wanted.

Not just make a lot of hole quickly and cheaply
 - but drill a hole that was the best for production and long life.

Never an unkind word about anyone...

Photo courtesy of Keith Brogan

September 10, 1997

John Burnett was a Drilling Specialist in the fledgling Drilling Division in "DG" (Development Group).

We didn't have a lot of dealings. No pix of John on this web page
 

Kurt Hillman

August 11, 1997

Kurt was the "Development Group" Manager when I started in Wafra.

Ni pix of Kurt on this web page.
 

Mark Smithard

May 1997

Mark was our Welsh SAT Geophysicist until early 1997.
This photo is courtesy of an anonymous benefactor.

Mark was living in South Africa, commuting to Angola with Chevron before accepting an assignment in Houston.

He is most famous for the "Smithard High", a time-structure  "high" on the 1995-shoot 3-D seismic of the Ratawi Oolite at the south end of the field, just across the Saudi Border.

For years after Mike Waite disproved this structural high as a velocity anomaly - the KOC DZ group continued to try and prove its existence - until we spent a few more million dollars on seismic to finally prove it didn't exist.

January, 1997

Alyn Edwards (left in left picture),
and John Davies (right), invited a few of us Canadians to their homes for their Kuwait  "Sundowners" pub sessions on Wednesday afternoons.

In this completely dry Arab country....   Home brew and Kuwait pub grub in abundance.

Alyn went off to work of a service company in London. John Davies left a couple of years later for Qatar, and is now in Wales again

(Some might recognize Nizar in the background. He's still in Wafra...)