World Traveler

When I became Principal Process Engineer for Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, my responsibilities became international and I took many all expense paid trips all over the world. On most of the trips, I took a little extra time so I could see the local sights and enjoy parts of the world I had never seen before. Some of my experiences follow.

World Traveler

 

Papua New Guinea and Australia

I lead a team of engineers and contractors on an LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) plant site selection study (refer to previous Cannibals blog) on the inner coast of Papua New Guinea. We flew the coast line in both a light airplane and a helicopter. The scenery was beautiful. On the trip to Papua New Guinea, we spent an extra day in Sydney, Australia and saw many of the best sites there. I loved this trip but the natives in Papua New Guinea made me nervous.

 

The Opera House in Sydney, Australia from across the Inlet where we had dinner.

 

The Parliment Building in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, taken from the plane we leased.

 

 

Caracas, Venezuela

I was the partner technical representative for a heavy oil project being developed deep in the jungles. I attended partner meetings for a week and reviewed the project mechanical and process flow sheets for our input and comments. I stayed at a nice hotel, but driving through the city scared me because of all the muggings and robberies reported by other Phillips personnel. I was ready to get out of the country so I left as soon as I could. Of all the places I visited, this was the worst.

 

Caracas, Venezuela. The shacks on the left side of the picture house a lot of hungry people. This was what scared me when I was there. Muggings were common.

 

 

Tokyo, Japan – Seoul, Korea – Beijing, China – Shekou, China.

I was a member of a 6 man safety audit team for an offshore oil platform being constructed for erection in the South China Sea. The platform was being constructed at Daewoo’s Ship Building Yard near Seoul. On the way there, we spent an extra day in Tokyo, Japan and spent a full day checking all the historical sites and some really beautiful gardens. Following the audit in Seoul, we flew to Beijing and spent a full day there enjoying the sights. We hired a guide and went to the Great Wall of China and I climbed on it and walked about 2 miles up the hill and back. We also saw the Forbidden City and Tianianmen Square while we were there. After our break, we headed for Shekou, China to conduct a safety audit on the Quarters Module for the Offshore Platform. We presented our Audit Reports to the Phillips management team in Shekou and took one more day to see the Chinese equivalent to Disney World and headed home from what had been a month long International trip. This was one of the better ones because of all the historical sights we were able to visit.

 

I climbed this section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing, China

 

Allow a few hours to get through the Forbidden City in Beijing, China.

 

Singapore

I had been the Process Engineer for another project in the South China Sea to install an FPSO ( Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading) Tanker Project which is basically a production unit build on the deck of an oil tanker. I was assigned to be a member of the safety audit team for that project also. They were building the FPSO from a used oil tanker at the ship yards there. Following the audit we took a couple of days and hit all the sights there also. The giant prawns there were fantastic and I bought a couple of Rolex watches with Seiko inside. Singapore is a great place to visit.

 

The Phillips FPSO offloading oil in the South China Sea.

 

Perth and Karratha, Australia.

The Perth office requested me to review the operation of a partner operated offshore facility and an associated Natural Gas Liquids plant near Karratha. Australia. I flew to Perth and met with the office personnel there and then flew to Karratha with a local lady engineer
assisting me. After, reviewing the facilities and completing my draft report, I visited the large Shell LNG Plant near there. I saw a few kangaroos along the way. I presented my report to the manager in Perth and spent a full day investigating The City of Perth. The people there were extraordinarily friendly. I brought back a sweat shirt for nearly everyone I know. I would highly recommend a trip to Perth for anyone who has the time. The trip is very long.

 

The beautiful city of Perth on the west coast of Australia.

 

Milano, Italy

Phillips was partners on a large NGL processing facility and I was sent to Milano to assist our partners, the Nigerians, evaluating proposals that had been submitted for construction of the facility. The Italians were one of the bidders. Two other business type Phillips personnel accompanied me. Following the reviews and our recommendations, we had learned the following. The Italians drink wine with their lunch so always schedule meetings in the morning. The Italians spoke very good English, but when they had something they didn’t want you to hear they switched to Italian . We got to visit the Duomo and loved the Da Vinci painted ceiling. This is a very nice place to visit, but don’t drink the water.

 

The Duomo Cathedral in Milano, Italy. Don’t miss this beautiful historical monument.

 

 

To prevent this blog from being too  long, I will split it into two blogs and end this one here.

Thanks for reading World Traveler,
Hawg Jaw Bill