Hart: Last month, Shell announced first oil on its Perdido project, the world’s deepest producing field. The announcement represented the successful completion of two spectacular projects. What are your thoughts?

“What comes to my mind as I think about the BC-10 and Perdido projects ? and I think about our future, not only as a company, but as a society ? is how we meet extraordinary challenges. I think about the quality of these two projects, and what’s really clear when you step back from the technology is how you link extremely complex activities together. How do you realize a dream?

“It is notable that one of the most significant similarities between the two was their exceptional safety records. Both projects took about 10 years to develop, which is remarkable given the water depth and all the challenges that brought."

“It’s really done by people who care, in a personal and visible way, and it’s inspiring to be around people like that. These people are found within our own organization and also within our contractors’ organizations. From their leaders to their new graduates, there is a collective spark that starts with those who have a passion about what they do, and I saw how that spark permeates the entire complex enterprise to enable something special. You just think about how to create those conditions in a regular and systematic way. It made an enormous difference in our ability to progress the deepwater business.”

Hart: How does that passion manifest itself?

“The way that manifests itself is first of all in caring for others, as evidenced by the exceptional safety performance. We operated so many different worksites in so many different parts of the world — different languages, different cultures, different time zones. To deliver two major projects virtually at the same time speaks to the impact that inspired people make. I have extreme optimism when I am surrounded by people who perform in that way. And they perform in a manner that extends beyond themselves. So when they are tackling major global challenges or frontier business challenges, or even their own personal challenges, this is what you look for. If you’ve got it, you can do anything. If you don’t have it, it’s the first thing you have to work on.

“On the BC-10 project, thousands of workers from all over Indo-China assembled to convert the [floating production storage and offloading] FPSO. They spoke 19 different languages and represented different cultures. Some had never before seen the sea, let alone a shipyard, yet the team from Keppel, SBM and Shell were able to transform them into an efficient, organized workforce that delivered 8.5 million man-hours without a single reportable safety incident.

“Credit goes to the environment created by Keppel and SBM, and encouraged by Shell. I’m proud that I spent some of my career in that environment. It makes me want to say, ‘Thank you for an extraordinary job!’ The second thing I would say is, ‘The wonderful reward of having done such an extraordinary job is to be able to carry this winning attitude and performance on to the next project!’”

Hart: How were the projects the same, and how were they different?

“Perdido is a project of similar great challenges. But there are also profound differences. For example, Perdido is a huge truss spar. It is the deepest water drilling and production platform in the world. Wells are drilled with a wet tree, direct vertical access (DVA) technique, which is quite different from the technique used at BC-10. At the same time it uses identical subsurface trees and subsea caissons that perform separation and boosting. So, Perdido combines a novel repackaging of deepsea production equipment with a large capacity surface facility that occupies a small footprint.

“If I think about the two projects together, the thing that really strikes me is the close partnership and collaboration between Dale Snyder, project manager at Perdido, and Kent Stingl, project manager at BC-10. They unselfishly shared ideas and experiences that helped the other do a better job. They created similar ways of working. They shared their learnings in real-time, so whenever there was an issue with one project, it was shared with the other. Although they were located in different parts of the world, and had many different challenges, they developed a rare spirit of collaboration and cooperation. It was synergy personified.

“The special quality of leadership demonstrated every day by the two project managers enabled us to accomplish a greater ‘whole’ instead of narrowly focusing on their own specific issues and to realize the opportunity for their own scope. The greater good of both projects came from working together. And they acted on that, not just paid lip service. When people bring their best ‘self’ to work, amazing things happen. When leaders bring their best ‘selves’ to work, the results are amazing.”

Hart: What were some of the technical challenges?

“There were significant differences including the hydrocarbon itself. BC-10 has heavier oil. The contracting strategies are quite different. There are more basin partners at Perdido, different national frameworks between the two projects. Perdido was operated from our hub in Houston and New Orleans, BC-10 from all over the world. However, both had global supply challenges. Perdido represents a centralized production approach with risers going straight down to the DVA wellheads. There are a few tiebacks from external wellheads at Perdido, whereas BC-10 is completely decentralized with all wellheads separated by many kilometers and steel lazy-wave risers gently touching down at great distances from the FPSO. The Perdido spar was built new in Pori, Finland; the BC-10 FPSO was converted from a former tanker in Singapore. BC-10 is a production FPSO; any drilling requires a [mobile offshore drilling unit] MODU to be brought in. Perdido has its own drilling rig onboard. Perdido must be designed to withstand hurricanes; BC-10 must be designed to handle long-period swells. They will have different operating characteristics but similar production equipment. The Perdido spar has an integral drilling rig, whereas there is no rig on the BC-10 FPSO.

“Perdido production will all be exported via pipeline to shore after normal processing to export quality. The real challenge is the flow assurance issue. The chemicals required to achieve flow assurance ? mitigation of waxes, hydrates, scales and asphaltenes ? are quite complex, as are the associated delivery systems. There is no requirement for dead-oil recirculation at Perdido because of the vertical access we have.”

Hart: What aspects of the projects make you most proud?

“It is notable that one of the most significant similarities between the two was their exceptional safety records. Both projects took about 10 years to develop, which is remarkable given the water depth and all the challenges that brought.

“Second were learnings from the BC-10 and Perdido projects that broke new ground. This will lead to new opportunities in the future. There are opportunities for additional development in both cases, and engineering and economic analyses are ongoing that may lead to further development, not only in the vicinity of those projects, but also on a global scale to develop challenging reservoirs wherever they are. These projects were not about setting new water depth records. They were really about creating the technological framework to undertake development of challenging reservoirs. The basic elements, such as the ability to develop sound flow-assurance strategies; the ability to drill and complete technically challenging wells; the ability to manage immense, complex construction and installation projects, these are the valuable lessons we have learned. They also define the kinds of challenges we can tackle in the future. To me, there is little technical gap in drilling and completing deepwater wells at extreme depths. The technical gap is in developing and producing the reservoirs cost effectively. That’s what has created the so-called ‘heartbeat’ of these projects — the ability to operate the fields economically. We have definitely pushed the boundaries of deepwater development with these two projects. We have inspired the best from our dedicated teams of workers and contractors. The real legacy of these projects is confidence that we have the people and suppliers who we can count on to keep these types of challenging projects going in the future.”

Hart: Would you say it’s similar to the conquest of space?

“Yes, the imagination, the vision and the determination to succeed are quite similar. The investment, the perseverance, and the dedication of inspired people are great to be around. You just love to be associated with people of this character. It inspires you to do your best as well. The incredible communication, collaboration, and cooperation within each project and between the two projects is at the core of their success. It makes me think, ‘Not only do I want to do that again, I want to do it with these people!’

“At the end of the day, teamwork is more important than technical ability, especially in the deepwater world. The success of the project transcends everything.”