Shell World 1983 Part 1

SHELLWORLD IMARCH 1983 No 2 Vol Editor Beg Farrance Assistant Editor Vernon Leonard Art Editor John Hawkins Stall VVriter Alison Turner Edilorial Assistant Marian Thorn Associale Editor in the Nelherlands Jim Keulemans 8 RIMA $UPREMA Gala opening of an oilf ield, and the story of PDO BOOKS How to photograph Britain*the latest Shell Guide HABMONY ON LINE CREEK Accent on coal: in Canada and lltinois 't4 THE GUNS OF ZARAGOZA Recalling the remarkable career of Stephen Foot 16 AND SO TO BED In the Sahara's'impassable' Qattara Depression . . 23 VTDEO Behind the action and the cameras of the new Shell Scene 24 BOMBAY, MONDAY 'Our Man' among 700 millions-and a new planting success SO FILMS The Group story in just 12* pithy minutes 31 WEALTH,ANDWANTOK,TOO ln Papua New Guinea, an unusual success story 34 T}IE SNOWY SALESMEN ffoisle Shell celebrates 70 years 36 LETTERS You write . . . we widen the audience 37 FOR YOUNGER READERS Flowers of the desert, illustrated by Audrey North 38 IF ANYONE HAS ANY MORE QUESTIONS Meeting the people at a UK shareholders' meeting 40 AEROPHOBIA How it feels, to have a fear of flying 42 AROUNDTHEWORLD Wnat;s nappeninl-n\"*\" and briefs 46 DIARY Plus people on the move, and retirements COVER Oil in the background, as Oman faces the future Editorial otfice: SIPC, Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA. Telephone:01-934 24811247912478 (Editorial) 01-934 5293 (Distributiori). Editors of newspapers or magazines are welcome to reproduce any article, with acknowiedgements to 'Shell World'. except those shown to be taken from other sources. Opinions expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect the policy of any Shell company. Original photographs and many others are usually available from the Photographic Library UASRC/1, Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA. CORRESPONDENTS Argentina: Santiago Pita Romero: Australia: Frank Colyer; Austria: Gustav Haslehner; Belgium: Christian Dossin; Brazil: Eduardo Reis Lara Resende; Brunei: Sandy Livingstone; Canada: Derek Hayter; Curacao: Mariella Capello; Denmark: Margrethe Skov; Finland: Tuula Bergstroem; France: Eliane Pichard; Gabon: Jean-Pierre Beernaerts; Germany: Marie Luise Brendel; Greece: Chris Georgiadis; lndonesia: Sudjoko Hudyonoto: Japan; Takako Mohri; Malaysia: lmran Alias; The Netherlands, Shpll Nederland BV: Peter van der Hor$t; Billiton lnternational Metals: Frits noeroiJiivrmrnif Nig\"ri\", .lostrua Jack; Norwayr Sigurd Eide; oman: David Docherty; The Philippines: Facundo Roco; Portugal: Joao Serodio Gomes; Spain: Javier de Mencos: Singapore: Tan Chek Sian; Sweden: Jan Eriksson: Switzerland: Christa Dettwiler; Thailand: Precha Phonpraserth; Turkey: Vecdi Kizildemir; UK, Shell UK: Bernard Taylor; USA, Shell Oil Company: Bruce Kleinman; Scallop Corporation: Sherry M. Adler. Marc& l98J SHELL WORLD

*f-f*i !*& i w :e;..iH5.:;-S.l' _--,r€ :.,*; *.i ,,\":ff, ,s.E {* e *t93 Exploration drilling, backed up by a better understanding of the complex local geology, is tr paying dividends for Petroleum Development Oman. For the company is set to reach the end of n thris century producrinngg at its present level, yet with even larger remaining reseryes than now. David Docherty reports the opening of PDO's new Rima field, named after a rare desert gazelle, and details the steady growth from small beginnings to the successes of today 'Nctw that Rima is on streqm, PDO is producing 350,00t) barrels of oil a day and aims to continue doing so for the.foreseeable future'



LL//: many thousands of 'tlroolt'hildren each. vear visit the PDO mobile tlisplay: truiler, to learn :itrttrt Oman's oil. Right: a beom '.tuttp operating in tha South Ontun ilhekls. Belov, antl hottorn: : L o I og ical knot, le dge hns gre at l.t t'.\\ i s t ed e xp I or dt ion drilling fD iml openins. dai dar.rned important discovery ollight oil to aircralt had departed. leaving the -lf. hra ir a' thick. wei. grel tbg the north of Rima, 'which now covering the flat landscape. links the oilfields of North and PDO production stafl to their Nevertheless, the desert tribes- Central Oman with those in the south in a continuous strins of everyday desert camp life and to men started arriving lor the the hard work olcommissioning fields stretching lor *o.. t'ha, celehrationr errrl) in thc morning the new facilities. 800 km.' -stthateioirn packed four-wheel-drive 'The important thing about Following a speech by the Rima is how we handled it,' wagons and pick-ups Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, HE Said Ahmed stresses PDO's technical director looming out of the mist. Max van der Schalk. 'The field al-Shanfari, an invitation was ex- was discovered in mid-1979, ap- Soon the sun had burnt away praised with lour quick wells, the tended to the DeputyPrime Minis- engineers got busy andjust three the log. The trilcrrft carr)-- ter to pul1 a lever mounted on a ing of{icial guests down lrom years later the first oil is tl.re capital, some 600km to the decorated stand. Green, red and produced. We completed the north, and from Salalah, the white balloons billowed in the project on time and within budget Dholari capital to the south, clear area glinting in the strong started to arrive. sun horns sounded and the an example of the drive which anTdhejoliilnthtahned last plane to land beam pump slowly nodded into now pervades the company.' aircraft Rima's opening marked two rank of action. In sequence, the other beside the graded airstrip was signilicant anniversaries. Twenty PDO's eight-seater Beechcralt pumps followed suit. years earlier, PDO then 85 per Kingair carrying Oman's Deputy Rima. named after a rare cent Shell owned made Oman's first oil discovery at Prime Minister for Financial and desert gazelle, was officially 'or.r Yibal. Five years later the'flrst AEbcodnuol mMiucnAimllaarill-sZ,aHwaEwiQ. aHies stream'. shipments of oil, piped through was accompanied by several the mountains to the new oil port The assembled tribesmen con- government ministers and Group at Mina al-Fahal, were made. tributed to the occasion by an managing directol Andre Oman had entered the oil age. impromptu camel race among the Benard. oilfield ironmongery. Later, the However, by the mid-1970s, dignitaries were shown around the future ofoil production in the The ceremony was held in lront Sultanate seemed uncertain. the production centre a lew Production from the original of one of the field's massive beam kilometres to the south of the field. Built to handle oil lrom fields in the north and from those pumps where green, red and white tent stands had becn erec- other fields to be developed in the discovered later in Central Oman area, it is equipped with dehydra- ted. In his speech of welcome, was falling. It had peaked at a PDO's rr.ranaging director Hans tion tanks and heaters and a large por.ver station luelled by 'sweet' 1eve1 of 365,000 barrels a day in Brinkhorst paid tribute to the gas. This is piped down from the 1976. New reserves were not support of HM Sultan Qaboos lields of Central Oman, some being discovered. and said: 'We in PDO are proud to have participated in the real- 300 km away. The picture was translormed isation ol this project, which Before an Arabian banquet by a bold stroke. The government r'onstitutes another major lunch, the guests toured the of Oman and the private share- achievement in the development compact new permanent camp, holders in PDO decided, in 1977, of Oman's oil industry.' walking thlough the enclosed to go ahead with the costly In his address, he also revealed development ol two, then courtyards which were already thought to be small, fields in to the olficial guests that PDO explorers had just made another blooming with flowers and South Oman. This triggered a shrubs. By early alternoon the .HtLL \\I'ORLD Marrli /98J 5

Production' laboratories at Rijs- wijk near The Hague. Recently. a team of PDO and Shell researchers published evi- dence that some of Oman's oil- bearing sediments had a glacial origin, the flrst time that oil has been discovered in such rocks. As part of this massive explora- tion campaign, PDO nowadays commits 36 string, months of work from its 1l drilling rigs just to exploratory drilling. 'One thing is quite clear, the government ol Oman. together with PDO's other shareholders, do not shirk from the investment to flnd the reserves for the future,' Max van der Schalk comments. About half of the new reserves that are so dramatically changing Oman's oil future will come from new discoveries, the rest from increasine the amount of oil to be extracted'from the reservoirs. 'Of course in the older fields of the north we have been using secondarv recoverv methods for some time,' Max van der Schalk explains.'Now, however, we have much better understanding of the behaviour of the reservoirs and can use the most modern tech- niques to lull advantage.' This new knowledge has made a substantial difference to oroduction lorecasts lor the nor- thern flelds. Whereas. in the mid- burst of energy. The company The frequency with which new 1970s, production was expected was set three objectives to to drop sharply, it is now rising -develop those southern fields, to satnepdutpothreevexiepwloraptrioonduecftfioornt, and will tail off gently only towards the end ofthe centurY. methods in the declining northern discoveries are now being made flelds. In all three, PDO has been 'We are also investigating - some 75 per cent of the 25- more sophisticated, and costlY, successful. enhanced recovery techniques, to odd exploration wells drilled each In those flve years Oman's vear discover commercial oil- extract more of the difflcult heavY reserve flgures have doubled and, the effort and in 1981, the decline in production hseklidllsw-hoibcshcusurechs a success ratio oil in the south. We have a Pilot oroiect for steam iniection under was halted-at a low of 280,000 requires. ivav in the Marmul field. It should -barrels a day and began to Han Varenkamp is in charge of give us the first results by the end creep up again. Now that Rima is one of the largest exPloration of the Eighties.' teams of any Shell associated At the same time, the company on stream, PDO is producing company. Five seismic teams, employing more than 700 men. is also looking at the use of 350,000 barrels of oil a day and aims to continue doing so lor the are permanently crlss-crosslng polymers. loreseeable future. PDO's 50,000 square mile con- 'The upshot ol PDO successes cession. Their tapes are flown over the last few years is that Oman has the reserves to Oman can now look forward well pbraocckestsoingdeladbicoaratetodriecosmaptuttheer produce at this level. In fact, it is iompany's Mina al-Fahal head- into the next century with con- calculated that with the signifl- cant discoveries which have been fidence,' Hans Brinkhorst made and are expected to con- stresses. 'This will give the coun- tinue being made, together with quarters. the increased recovery ofoil from try time to diversily its economY PDO's existing fields, Oman will 'It is rare for a company to belore the revenues from PDO's Top; Rima garhering slalion by night. reach the end of the century have the sort of in-house com- Middle lefi: the PDo Board, with oil'Iannd gas flelds run oIut.am managing dir e c t or H ans Br inkhors t, producing at the present level, yet puter processing capacity that we sixth righr, and deputy managing saying this, not di rectoi Said al- Kalbani. filt h lefr with even larger remaining re- have,' Varenkamp points out. Middle right: drillfioor at Rig 9. counting the possible successes 'We have the beneflt of the most Abote: exploration seismic work in which other oil companies maY serves than now. progress advanced equipment available on have in the future. Seven other The most recent discoveries years they have made great combinations of oil comPanies made by PDO's explorers are the market today.' itrides in understanding Oman's have recently joined the search particularly signiflcant. During 1982, three separate shallow The processing is carried out complicated oi1 geology. fields of very light oil have been 'In the north, oil was found in discovered in a so far blank spot by two separate contractors. One, for oil and gas in the Sultanate formations which were oil- and are active in areas previouslY on the map. Much of the oil Geophysical Services Incor- hitherto found in South Oman porated, haasdvoannlyceredce'Tntilymianspta4l-' bearing in other areas of Arabia,' Han Varenkamp reveals. 'When relinquished by PDO. At Present has tended to be very heavy and ied an we went into the south we were in tohner-eshisoprtr,acatnicdalliyt computer system-only the flfth uncharted territory-flnding oil, no free acreage these discoveries will help to for instance, from source rocks maintain the gravity and the such system in the world and the older than geologists had thought would be un- could possibly have formed oil.' value ofthe country's oil exports. flrst to be dedicated to a single reasonable to assume that all the 'Not only is this oil much more The increasing understanding company's use. of the complex geology, he says, is efforts of these newcomers to valuable,' explains Han Varen- the key to the high success rate, Oman's oil and gas game will 'To back up the processing pkalomrap,tioPnDOm'asncaogaesrt,al'-ibtasisedaelsxo- and he pays tribute to the helP remain unsuccessful.' done bv the contractors, we also PDO hrd from the researchers very much cheaper to produce.' Such a dramatic change in have a- small team ol our own in the Shell 'Exploration and not uncommon in the 6 specialists, who use advanced -fortunes is nonetheless, has gSrhaemll-mdeevseltoopecdarcroYmoPuuttesrPePcrioa-l it oil world required courageous investment deiisions by the government of work on the data.' the Sultanate and by the other PDO shareholders, as well as Filty Shell geologists and geophysicists work at interPret- considerable skill and energy ins' tlie inlormation lrom the from PDO men and women. O sei\"smic teams. Over the last lew March 1983 SI{ELLWORLD

WATCHING THE BIRDIE fhI epartcoafmtehreahhoalisdaloynluggbgeageen. an essential of the time, are not fully aware of their part of the book. Typical landscapes are Whether or medium's true capabilities. described; the selection of subjects, com- not it has been handled with originality, the He tells us that the strength of photo- position, colour, the importance of light, graphy lies in its peculiar characteristics- resulting snap on the sand or view from the the property of instantaneous and direct time of day and the seasons, are dealt with, hill has usually found its way in due course response to reality, the capacity to originate all illustrated with photographic examples, into the family album. images which mirror your own feelings each shot captioned with a technical note about, and reactions to, what you see at a In recent years the technical advances in given moment, and the marvellous ability on camera/ shutter speed, lens, etc. to present you with the gifts of chance and equipment that does almost everything As you owfofeurlbddeoxpneccta, maerBarse,aftildmeaal nodf the unexpected. advice is automatically, except press the brutton, has accessories and the use of filters and lf you are completely aware of your swept amateur photography into one of the environment, and if you are able to react most popular pastimes, and wherever you spontaneously to what you see, then your exposure meters. Bo you are sure to see someone with a images will tend to acquire an oriSinal and Part Two deals with photographing camera of some kind. individual quality. specific Iandscapes-a series of field exer- But good photography is an art, and Summing up briefly the author con- cises in which the author looks at the however efficient the apparatus, the result cludes: 'Cood photography depends, firstly, various pleasures and problems involved in still depends on the skill of the operator. on an understanding of an involvement capturing particular locations in different with your subject, and secondly, on using Just how much skill is involved-to take types of country. photography, a dynamic medium, in a perhaps the most popular of photographic The book concludes with a Bazetteer, dynamic way-seeing and reacting spon- and a detailed guide to places of particular subjects, landscape-is explained by pro- taneously and above all, avoiding static, predictable and preconceived images. fessional Jorge Lewinski in The Shell Cuide photographic interest in the British lsles. to P h otographin g B ritai n (Hutchi nson f9.95). 'Lastly, it must rely on a thorough Jorge Lewinski has illustrated his book ln the early pages of the book the knowledge of, and familiarity with, your with something in the region ol 250 apparatus . . .' One other element he goes techniques are discussed and cameras and on to list, of crucial importance, is a 'visual photographs altogether, and some useful equipment described, and these aspects and aesthetic sensibility'. maps and diagrams. He presents a mine of apply to landscape photography not only in AII these features are discussed in the first practical information. Britain but also throughout the world. camera, To order this book . . . those outside the Uh should conldct their Personnel/Admin. uni! who can place a bulk order with But what considerations of planning and the professional's :\"t9r1y{!1 UASC/325 (Acquisitions Unit), London. ln Shell Centre or Shell- choice. Right: the composition of a landscape photograph Mex House, London, contact your Staff Shop. ln UK locations outside London, Personnel/Admin. should contact the Staff make the difference between a work of art Shop, Shell-Mex House (UASDS/13). and an ordinary, everyday snap? How do you obtain that extra 'something' in a picture whlch arrests the eye by its beauty and unique quality? ln his chapters on techniques, the author describes in lucid style the selection and composition most likely to bring about a fresh and original image from a given subject. 'Among the visual arts, photography alone captures and preserves the very moment of experience .' he writes. 'Photographic image-making, and the photographe/s way of seeing, is unlike that of any other niedium known to us. Why should this be so?' He proceeds to answer the question by explaining that the photographer records the reality in front of him instantaneously, Shell World asked for further comment on the for granted to varying extents, and which are new book from Freddie Mansfied, a former although it is never a mere copy of the Fleet Street chief photographer, who is now often on our doorsteps. reality. The camera is aided and abretted by Having said tha! I found some of the the human brain and eye, which choose a photographic information confusing. The author se8ment of the scene and select a precise moment to br.ing it to light; it is no longer a head of photographic Services at Shell Centre goes to great length, in most cases, to inform the copy which formulates itself on film, but a in London: reader of the type of camera, lens, shutter speed, personal interpretation of reality. lens stop and film used to take the photograph. The uniqueness of photography, he says, Yet there is a vagueness regarding his infor- lies precisely in the fact IhaI a mechanical As a professional photographer I found myself mation on wide angle lenses. contrivance-minutely accurate and judging this book rather too critically, as it gives I confess, too, that I was a little disappointed in precise-is put into the service of a critical the feeling, certainly in the early chapters, of some of the photography, part-icularly the black and original eye. being an authoritive instruction on photo- and white, where I found a lot of emphasis on graphy. But as the title indicates, it is really a over-printing to produce dramatic cloud effects And yet, he admits, remarkably few photographs are truly memorable. The guide as to not only how, but also when and in photographs where the general Iighting great majority taken every day are predict- where, to take photographs in Britain. disproved their authenticity. able, uninspired and very ordinary. Why After reading this splendid book, however, Perhaps these are harsh professional criti- there can be no excuse for not improving your cisms. They should not stop you from buying this this paradox? He feels that the reason lies in technique, motivation and awareness of the book, which is full of fascinating tips and useful wonderfully varied landscapes that we all take information, the fact that the photographers, for much O SHELL WORLD,l.larcl 198J

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..F': :4.i1 verything about Lrne Creek is 1;iaat spectacular. Drivrng up ,;..iiag-A. through the Rocky Mountains from the small airport at Cran- brook. it is difflcult to believe that in this corner of British Colum- bia, with snow falling on the peaks and villages of modern wooden hor-rses hugging the hill- side. the mountains are made of .,'ltl lrttd llte rttett ntr):tl\\ tnincf.. Waste heaps and mrne wheels are nowhere to be seen. And were it not lor the storage silos tower- ing near the entrance. and the rumble ol monster trucks bnng- ing coal lrom lhe mountairr Iop. 16km up the valle)'. it would be well-nigh impossible to tell lrom the roud that there \\ a\\ a nrine on Line Creek ridge at all. And yet Crows Nest Re- sources. a wholly-olvned sub- sidiary of Shell Canada Resources, has reserves ol over 200 million lonnes oI coal in thrs :nourttairt and will be able to produce 3 million tonnes a 1,ear when production reaches capacity. The coal 40m thick in total runs thlough the ridge irr seven mljor' seams. and the men and machines of Crows Nest will litelalll, dis- milntle lhc rnorrrrtlin to get il ,rrrl. The company has already begun blasting away the surlace rock to reach the coal under- neath. This is then shovelled into waiting trucks and driven down the valley along a road specially constructed beside Line Creek. crossing and re-crossing the stream seven times in order not to disturb the natural Lie olthe land and to ensure sal-e driving. Crows Nest Resources likes to think it is a new kind ol coal company. 'Through a new ap- proach to its surrounding\". its business and its people. Clows Nest Resources is comm:itted to earning the respect of the in- dust15 and the comrnunities in which it operates .'savs its brochure. An important part ol this new approach splings from the beliel that 'coal can be mined and processed in a uav thut is rn harmony with the environment'. 'We have a vely up-front kind ol philosophy here,' says Jim Lant, environmental manager at the mine. 'We belier e that mining and the environment are com- patible, provided that proper saleguards are followed and ob- served. We aim to create as little disturbance as possible to the natural environment while we are mining, and when we are finished we want to restore as much ol the uildlile habitat as we can. 'There is a full-time staff of lour in our department and we run essentlally a \"pm\" (preven- tive maintenance) programrne to monitor the eflect ol mining operations on all the wildlile and vegetation. We aim eventually to build up a data base of informa- tion\" so we crn get a handle on the natural rhythrns in the area. 'Ilwe can do this, the scope for surprises is more limited and, knowing what normally happens. we can react quite quickly' if we see any abnormal trends develop- 9 ;-

ing which might have an) thing ro having his bottom painted yellow the trap up in a helicopter and that only four ol our original do with our operations.' wait until the alfalfa bait attrac- nine collars are sti1l sending after a visit to the contractors' Mountain sheep, goats, elk, ted the sheep. We then made a signals. Two sheep were killed by bears and cougar have all canteen. Fortunately, he did not predators and we've lost the other abounded in the area since long kind ol \"cattle squeeze\" and before the mine was thought oL return for a second visit and three animals altogether-we Even now, the sheep and goats, immobilised the animal, tied its grazing peacelully beside the escaped being shot as a danger to road, seem to be oblivious ofthe the workforce- feet and covered its eyes to pacify don't know whether thev have activity around them. The shy elk 'At the moment we are making it. This enabled us to put the skipped the counrrl or-if the are iooked for eagerly by the mine special studies of the sheep, elk collars have developed laults. workers, although a rather more collar on and attach an eai tag for weather eye is kept open for the and the fish in the creek,' says Jim visual identification. We're going to try with some grizzly bears, who sometiines get a bit too close for comflort. Lant. 'We began the big horn 'Now we fly over the area once more sheep next winter.' Black bears are also common, sheep survey first two years ago a week to pick up the signals Happily, the collar survival now -by putting radio collars emitted by the collars. By taking rate among the elks is higher. and one had the indignity of cross bearings on the different Seven ofthe ten collars put on last on nine sheep liring on pastures emissions. we can later work out winter are still emitting signals An artist's yiew of at the lop of the mountlin. and providing valuable informa- the movements of the animals. Line Creek: 'Catching them was no easy 'The one major problem we've tion like the lact that the had,'Jim adds rather ruefully, 'is animals cover up to 40 miles in I Line Creek mine task,'he reca1ls. 'There is no road up there, and so we had to take 2 Mine services building their seasonal migrations. They spend onll the wjnter at 3 Line Creek 4 Settiing ponds Line Creek and, unlike the sheep, 5 Waste dump area 6 Canvon road to live in the woods in the valley, plant close to the mine's entrance. The 7 Processing plants animals are too big to catch in a 10 trap, and so Jim Lant and his team use anaesthetised darts to tranquillise them for long enough to measure them and 1it the collars and identification tags. The main object of the third programme run by Jim Lant is to determine the fish popu- lation in the Line Creek stream, so that the ellects ol mining on the health olthe stream can easilv be measured. The enr ironmentalists have so lar found three main types of fish in the creek the bull trout, or Dolly Varden as it is known 1ocally, the Yellowstone cut- throat and the Rocky Mountain whiteflsh about 400 of those were tagged last spring. 'When we c'awtceh the fish,' says Jim Lant, make them \"drunk\" by dipping them into a sedative solution and then measure and weigh them. The correlation between weight and size tells us how healthy the fish populations are. We also take a scale sample to tell us how old they are and finally insert an identihcation tag behind the dor- sal fin, so that we can identify the fish when it returns to spawn.' In developing these pro- grammes, Crows Nest has had a lot of help lrom consultant bio- florogmistsunaivnedrszitoieoslogoisr tsgo-vermnmosetnlyt departments who have shown great interest in the company's ellorts. 'We're actually leading the industry in these kind ol environmental programmes,' says Jim Lant with quiet pride. 'There is no other mining com- pany in British Columbia which has similar projects u,nder way.' The local Ministry ol Mines and Petroleum Resources and the Mining Association ol British tChoalutmthbieayhahvaevbeeejun ssot impressed presented Crows Nest Resources with their highest award for environmental conservation. 'What won it lor us,' says Jirn Lant, 'was the practical way we show our con- cern for the environment, notjust in our animal-monitoring pro- grammes, but in our reclamation projects as well. 'Of course, we won't be able to rebuild the mountain when we've linished mining, but we will do Marr.4 /93J SHELL WORLD

Snow shed built I'rom reinfarced concrete ta pr,tect the mifie rqad from atalanchet -\"d G'1 WH -t:)412: ),,,.'* ::.1;.:,:, A bear caught near the 'jr cantvactofs' canteen is nst *{lt€{#r tr#l,J#fo. sprayed with yellow pa:int, An anj retutn to tht site he wotilcl have been identified as a recuting danger*uul sltat. Below bft: taggi.ng a mountait sheep, Right: heavy^duty ftu(k gets ils load*part of the rewrse etuculation drillins machfuery is at the top aJ the pfuture SHELL IVORLD Marcfi 198J

o the first workday of the new year, the Turris Coal Company, a wholly owned sub- sidiarv of Shell 0i1 in the United States, delivered its flrst coal under contract to City Water, Light and Power of Springfeld, Illinois. The first workday of the new year was an aPproPriate date, for the short history of Turris' Elkhart mine has beeu a series ol'firsts'. This is the first underground mine to be built in Illinois north of Springfield in more than 20 years. Moreover, it is Shell Oil's f,rst underground mine anywhere and incorporates an impressive number of technological accom- plishments. Its shafts are among ,.{ *@ the deepest sunk so far using a special ground-freezing techni- *, . . ,,.,_- que; it is the first underground mine to use an S-shaped conveyor belt to get coal to the surface- and the first with drivgr-operated everything we can to leave the automatic lruck Ioading. In addition to this technical area as good a wildlife habitat as wtzardry, the mine is one of the when we came. first to run its operations with 'We can't do anything about the high the rock lace an'open' management system wall mined-but we where the coal -is ahd when the coal is exhausted, shall re-slope and re-grass the Turris hopes to be among the fust valley where we have been put- companies to help attract wildlife ting the waste rock.' back to central Illinois. He and his team have already Total cost of the mine will exceed $90 million and sales to planted shrubs and trees on about Springfield over the next 25 years 200 acres alfected by the mine will amount to about 32 million construction. They take their tons ol high quality bituminous own cuttings from existing trees coal. 'TTuhrarti'ss a lot of production,' and collect seeds from the forest says Coal president, Ed Sumner. 'If it were loaded on to floor, which they plant as soon as 100 ton railroad cars, the train new grass has taken root. would stretch from San Fran- 'Oddly enough, we plant the cisco to New York. But it's still grass seeds in the autumn before .less than hall ol the mine's 72 the main snowfall. We use a hlayrdgreosweaetdeer rc-annaontfaltntekd with a million ton reserve.' on top lllinois coal is lound in seams to spread a mixture ol grass up to several yards thick at depths seed, fertiliser, water and a bind- of up to 1000 feet. The shallow ing agent on the ground we want Above: an elk grazes on the mountain's lower slopes. Below: afence across Line seams can be economically mined Creek enables mine ewironmentalists to monitor the health offish in the stream to reclaim. The heavy snowfall of lrom the surface, but deeper the winter covers the seeds and during winter, and also any employees show an interest in all seams must be worked under- presses them flrmly into the our environmental programmes,' ground. Turris is mining the Springfield-Harrisburg No 5 ground.' In the spring the melting rainfall. It is often the rain which he adds. 'They keep an eye open one of the two principal seams running through the lllinois snow soltens the ground and for the tagged animals and, if Basin at an average depth ol provides moisture for the seeds to weakens the snow and triggers an asked, would willingly help us at the busy times ol the year. germinate. Using this method, we avalanche. 'To 'One of the things I like best sometimes get the grass to grow says prevent one b'itghaevaslaenccuhreit.y' about 300 feet. about my job here is that I am not better than it has ever done before Jim Lant. working in isolation. Instead of The coal is sandwiched be- tween a clay floor and a ceiling ol on particular patches ofground.' ofhcers use a machine called an assuming the traditional role of a relatively solid shale. But the Though the winter may be explosive avalancher to put clean-up and policing depart- charses into accumulations of good lor the grass seeds, it brings ment, my work as environmental bedrock is coyered by more than its fair share of problems too. A sno#b.fore they get so big they'll manager is an integral part of 200 leet of 'glaciat till'-com- section ol the mine road is in an become dangerous. Several small mi'nlinagmopheeraretiotnos.help the other poSed ofloose sand, clay and si1t. mining departments to accom- avalanche zone and stands to be avalanches which clear the snow 'The soil was far too unstable for quite quickly and in a controlled plish their specific environmental hit should snow slides occur on us to use ordinary shaft digging the mountain. A concrete snow way are much less dangerous goals. In the end, what we all techniques.' says mining engineer shed has been built to shield the than one big avalanche. want is to ensure that the mine, the animals and the vegetation Mark Zik.'If we had simply sunk vulnerable spot and prevent the 'We managed to predict last can all live in harmony in this a shaft, as we would do in hard vear's bis avalanche, so that no beautiful corner of the world.' O rock, it would have quickly filled snow and debris from halting production at the Line Creek Lreat dairase was done. and we witn'water and almost eertainly mlne. fiop. to be i\"n a position lo do the have collapsed.' same this year, as many of the There are two weather stations What Turris did, in fact, was to mine operators have been trained on the mine site and Jim Lant use a technique pioneered by carefully monitors the snow to look out for the signs. Many 12 Marcl ,r98J SHELL WORLD ]

.OPET'IUINI]IGU.NDErc IND The openness relates in fact to a management system in whieh employees participate in making decisions that affect them or their work. The location: Springfield, Illinois, in the US, where S[e[ Oil has established its first underground mine, backed up by numerous technological accomplishments 500 when it is ir lull produotion. lvfuch care has gore intolho selection of the mine workers. All the applicants were subjected to a vigorous series of tests and interl vi€wl. Ed Sumner explains the purpose behind this: 'We are looking not only for traditional skills but'also for people who would be effoctive working with- in what we call an \"open\" system m-proatvhikadetinising,pw.uphterironetothteheemddeepccloiissyiiboennes-s affect thom or their work. 'This system matures to the . point where the need for a first- line supervisor in the traditional way is minimised. You work in teams and you have a team ,manager. But the teammanager's role in directing day-to-day operiitioos is reducqd, and he , concentrates more on employee ' devqlopment and loog-term pl4n- ning. You, as a meinber of the team, know and support broader Artist's impression of the Etkhart coal mine on surface co,m:Rpeaanyllyo,bijtectcivoemi.es down to nDeierlminan-FHraonnietile, r-aKGeemrmpeanr part- carried out by a 'continuous imposing are the two gianl permitting employees to gain a Cor- miner'. At the lront of poration. Specially designed machine this huge storage silos. Jim Frederick ex- genso of ownership; responsibility is a steel cylinder, refrigeration equipment chilled a covered with strong stoel teeth. plains that, like the mine shafts, and pride in what they are doing. We'are very pleased with the solution ofcalcium chloride and ihe silos were built using the slip- people who accepted employ- As the cylinder rotttes, its teeth form method, which took ten water to a temperature of 30 dgoeulgiveeoreutdctooal; which is then days lor the first and nine days for ment with Turris.' degrees below zero. This was then underground the second. Seventy feet in dia- Sumner carries his positive units by a shuttle car pumped through a ring of cooling barfetearkeitr is dumped on to an meter and 216 feet high, ther silos approach thtough to the mine's wells around each shaft site to effect on natural environment. can each hold 18;000 tons ofcoal. lreeze and stabilise the ground. underground conveyor system. 'What I toll people is that we aim 'Despite the fact that each The coal is then screened and 'A lot of the local farmers came crushed in a larger underground relrigeration unit was over to tour the site when we were to keep the snow white in winter enough to air-condition stotatitohnebesfuorrfeacbeeinogntraannspSo-rbteedlt time,' he says. All of the mining large building,' says Jim Frederick, goproeurantdionosrareenceloithseedr moie under- 'and when they reached the silo above than 400 good-sized homes,' says they'd climb in and say: \"Just Mark Zik. 'it took dbout a month conveyor system for final sizing, thiak how much corn that eould to develop each lreeze wall. But hold!\" All in ground. Nearly halfthe 670 acre we finally came up with big washing and shipping. 400 to 500 all, we had about site is devoted to environmental doughnuts offrozen ground, anii us'eTdheinS-baebltocvoen-gvreoyuonr dhaospbeerean- visitors, a month protection areas. we sank the shafls in the unfrozen tions,'says Jim Frederick, con. during the construction period When the coal reserve is de- holes in the middle.' struction manager at the mine, -wThheen the weather was good.' pleted. the top soil from the site There aie three shafts at the 'but the only time we had seen one Turris management is vrill be redistributed over most of -mine site an exhaust shaft, a uteserdmundliemrgerosutnodnewaes xincaavsahtioornt- delighted at the interest shown in the area to return it to productive production shaft and an intake shaft that provides fresh air and project on the Chicago storm the mine by neighbouring com- . ,iarmland. The sedimentation and carries employees and supplies sewer system.' munities, as it is the mine's policy slurry ponds will be sealod with to enable local people and busi- clay. then covered with top soil down into the coal seam. The coal hoMisto' s*t mines use a 'skip nesses to benefit lrom its presbnce and se€ded with grasses to form a big buckets that is mined using the 'room and deep in 'tThehaerena.umber one concern wildlife habitat. pillar' method, which prevents around here is jobs,' says Ed land subsidence on the surface. two iYears ago,' says Sumner, 'this The mine and the surrounding area is prime farmland where move up and down and counter- was all prairie grass as tall as your balance each other. These require Sumner. 'The Elkhart mine will head. Then the pioneers came out a lot of maintenance trecause 6f the large number ol mechanical allow many people to stay here and turned the grass under and ,and wo(k; We believe we're an began to farm. Ai a result there is subsidence is unacceptable. In the devices involved. At Elkhart, the -asset to the community espe- Elkhart mine, however. only 45 wjohbenaytotuheqomnsinideerittshealtf,, very little wildlife here now, per cent of the coal,will be mined, flexible conveyor belt hangs leaving the rest as support. cially for bgcause tiere is flot enough cover straight up and down for 300 fee1, every Mining engineer Russ Harris we for the animals to survive. We explains how the method works: then runs horizontally over estimate two dernr jobs will be hope, by crgating a new habitat, 'Starting from underground pulleys at the top and bottom to ,to help bring back the wildlife.' chambers at the bottom of the created outside.' .But, shalt, we are branching out form the 'S' . The belt is more than down, five feet wide with vertical l6 inch Almost 90 per cent of the 1100 withewnoEnlk'thbaert mine closes through the searn in all directions, walls made of rubber. Rubber cwoonrskterruscteiomnplooyl eEdlkdhuarrint gcamthee the end of But 40 foot pillars of coal are ,Turris Coal Company. Elkhart pockets fastened to the belt and from within a 60 mile radius of haq.6r*, the first of Shell iOt il'iss being lelt in place to support the sidewalls hold the coal. the mine. An equal percentage of ,undergrouild mines, but ceiling, and the mining machinery Above ground are the mine's Turris' permanent operating staff 'Ifunlikely to be the last. For, as Ed digs its coal lrom rooms cut ,'sSutcm'censesrfusl,ays: this mine is storage, cleaoing and loading is made up of local people. just be selling between the pillars.' Curreatly there are about 230 we'11 facilities. Although tle ldriver- The recovery operation itselfis people working at the mine, more coal and building more operated automatic truck loading though this will grory to 300 by statioa', as it is called, is perhaps the end of the yeaf and 400 to mines. A hundred years flrom now we may still be going strong.' O the most innovative, the most S}IF,LL \\t l ORLD M ar c h I 9 8 3

lfanI dyoulopiockk up Who Was Who THE,GTJNS OF continued to follow the attack for the name of Geoffrey Lumsden came across the autobiography of through his field-glasses. Then a bullet struck the ground not a Stephen Foot, you learn that he Stephen Foot, from which this story is drawn, as part of the yard from where he stood. \"By Jove, that was a close onel\" he was born in 1887, died in 1966, day's work. A retired Shellman, Lumsden specialises in remarked, as he resumed his gaze and that the years between were books and research on how world events have shaped the oil industry and how the growth of oil has itself determined the through the glasses.' eventful; but three inches oftype course of international relations. He is drafting Annals of Just after the party left, Zara- do not even hint at the scenarios Oil, which he describes as a telescoped calendar of goza countered. He brought up a ol his early working lile . . . important eyents and developments in both world affairs group of Rurales, the Mexican Stephen Foot joined Shell on and petroleum. Any readers with material which may be of Mounted Police, and Caballero's August 1, 1910, was posted flrst help to him can get in touch through Shell World men were driven off 'with great slaughter'. Two gunboats arrived to Singapore, then to Kuala next day to reinforce the garrison. Lumpur. From there, in his Humber car. he bounced over Tampico, for the moment, had thousands of miles of road and track calling on agents. racing been saved. railway engines for fun, and Drilling continued. There was spending resentlul nights nourishing new generations of one well at Panuco about which mosquitoes. Then it changed. A Noble was very confident. He 29-day-long trip across land and expected to strike oil at 1850 feet, ocean took him to Mexico and but the drill reached 1 800 without Tampico, where things really encouraging indications. Drilling was then halted so that the steel began to happen. Foot had just turned 25. He casing, which lormed the lining ol knew hardly any Spanish and the hole, could be flrmly cemen- nothing at all, he said, about the ted into position. stern practicalities of the law, Lawrence was taking no risks. drilling, machinery or oil trans- From now on, drilling took piace port. He found himsell suddenly through a massive gate-va1ve in charge oithe Shell operation in screwed to the top ol the casing Mexico, in company with a young geologist named Noble, and built to withstand great pressure. If oil were struck, the and Lawrence. an American drilling tools would be carefully engaged to hustle the field work removed lrom the well and the gate-valve closed, leaving the well for the single oil lease owned by completely under control. the company. Lawrence was try- Foot wrote: 'On the morning ing to set up an oil camp at ofJanuary I lth, 1914, soon alter Panuco, 50 miles up.river, and dawn, the steel drill broke was badly in need ol help. through the rocky crust immedi- They began at once to build a ately above the oil. releasing a fleet ol barges and launches for supplying Lawrence, and al- pressure that was probably in the though the camp was the urgent neighbourhood of 1000 pounds to the square inch. The drilling priority in days crammed with activity, the lone oil lease was lar tools, weighing about two tons, were shot up the hole to ground too slender a base for operations, level, a distance of 1800 feet, in and negotiations for others had less time that it takes to write to continue. There were seldom these lines. Bursting out ofthe top fewer than a dozen at a time; and of the casing with a roar, they apart lrom the geological in- continued their upward flight vestigation called for by each new high into the derrick, and then fell piece of offered land, the work back to earth again with a crash that could be heard all over the demanded endless effort in estab- camp. The driller and the tool- dresser were lucky to escape with lishing title, estimating prospects, their lives . . . Following the tools bargaining lor terms. by-passing up the hole came the oil a land speculators, securing options steady stream, eight inches in and, finaliy, the lease. Leases had diameter, shooting up into the air to a height ol 120 leet . . . sometimes to be signed by fami- 'Men working there lost all lies who could be reached only human appearance, oil covered them, stifled them, oil blinded after a 40 mile ride by mule, with them. They waded in oil, they breathed oil, they drank oil; but remoteness and isolation creating they did thejob. In the course of new problems. A search was also the operations they diverted the beginning for a terminal site, in oil stream into the 9000 ton tank; the hope that storage for crude it was lilled in 8] hours.' would be needed and that ocean- The great strike at Panuco going tankers would want to touched off a wave of oil specula- tion and, in Mexico City alone, berth alongside. more than a hundred new oil As work progressed, Tampico companies were formed; but lell under threat ola ttack in a new Navy's West Indian Squadron, view ofthe surrounding country.' Noble, Lawrence and Foot were arrived to see lor himsell. The attack was in progress. On too busy to bask in success: they phase ofrevolution. Large forces were working to ship out the oi1. Foot joined the admiral and his the level ground between, they were assembling, intent on driv- could see the Carranzistas 'ad- 'The ship was named El Zoruo ing out President Huerta, who officers and so did Noble, as map- vancing by short rushes, half a and she could take 9000 tons, reader. Together they marched about eight hours' flow from the had himself earlier seized power through the town, the admiral company at a time, while the famous Panuco No 5. Tampico other half-company supported by force of arms. A detachment 'talking away at the top ol his them with covering lire'. The was stiil besieged and the soldiers under General Caballero planned voice, to the intense interest ofthe delenders were retreating. surrounding the town had an 'When we arrived they were at to attack Tampico, and the rebels townspeople, who gathered in unpleasant habit ol firing at least a thousand yards away; now surrounded the town. their doorways as we passed. The they were at the foot of the hill on vessels as they came up the river. It was December 13, 1913. sound of rifle-fire could be heard which we were standing, while the The captain of El Zoruo flxed a General Zaragoza, commander in the distance and occasionally attackers were about 300 yards ol the garrison, took hasty we met one of the wounded being beyond. Bullets began to drop measures for Tampico's defence, carried on a stretcher to the Town Hall, which had been converted near us; one of them hit the wall but his lorces were small (Foot to a hospital. Suddenly we came with a resounding crack. to the end of a street, turned the wrote) and when the attackers corner and were on the side of a 'I got behind Cradock. He paid no attention to the bullets and were stemmed they were less than hill where we would get a splendid a mile away. Two days later the attack was resumed and Admiral Cradock, commanding the Royal 14 Mar& .i98J SHELL WORLD

boiler-plate at each side of the The sun was shining brightly as THIS FEATURE WAS COMPILED FROM TWO bridge, sent all the crew below, NOw-OUT OF PRINT BOOKST FOOT, STEPHEN. they steamed up the river. Every- and steered the ship himself. But THREE LIYES,LONDON, 19]4. ALSO ZIRE' thing seemed quiet (Foot wrote). LIYES AND NOW,LONDON, 1937, BOTH all went well. El Zoruo was loaded Nobody fired at the tanker; no PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD. ivith 9000 tons and sailed for soldiers were in sight when they WHO GENEROUSLY PERM]TTED QUOTATIONS rounded a bend in the river and Europe at six o'clock on a Sunday AND THE PTJBLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS saw the Hermione at anchor. Her morning.' Stephen Foot: 'Bullets hegan The day, however, was only captain was calling El Zorro. to drop near us' beginning. At nine o'clock Foot Two hours after the tanker strike at Panuco touched off learned that General Zaragoza, sailed lrom Vera Cruz, American a wave of oil speculation' commander ol the garrison. marines had landed and captured l5 rvanted to see him. the town. Extreme tension now Before the general lay two telegrams one from the reigned between the United President, the other from the Minister for War. Shortages of States and Mexico. Hermionehad luel for the railways, the tele- been asked to rescue Americans grams said, had been holding up from up-country stations and El movement of troops and thus undermining the capacity for Zoruo was commandeered to ship resisting the rebels. Oil should be out the refugees. Americans flocked into Tam- shipped to Vera Cruz at once. It pico from all the surrounding rvould be Foot's job to arrange it. country. When a shipload had been collected El Zorro steamed Only one course was possible. down to the mouth of the river, El Zorro, now heading for and then a couple of miles out to Europe, would have to be swite hed. Radio range was sea, where the American battle- restricted to 200 miles and, with ships were anchored. Some of the each passing minute, the tanker slipped further away. With no Americans were collected from time to consult, Footjumped into villages up the river and the ship's a launch, boarded the British boats were used for this purpose. cruiser Hermione at anchor tn the When tension abated, the siege river, and successlully trans- was resumed. Several violent mitted the message. assaults on Tampico were re- Foot was shortly to learn two pulsed, but the garrison was now things from General Zaragoza. More than one loading for Vera running short of ammunition and Cruz would be needed, and, the Caballero had been reinlorced by general greatly regretted, it would artillery. Hermione moved certainly take a very long time to anchor and the small British get payment for the oii approved community was quietly evacu- by the Mexican Treasury. ated. Noble and Foot remained. Night fell. They sat up late, Foot swallowed. He had nar. rowly persuaded Hermione to listening to bursts of rifle-flre from the trenches close to their help him divert El Zoruo'. the house and shells from the gun- Navy could only faintly disguise boats droning overhead. The horror at diverting a ship already cleared for another port. London noise, they knew, was a blind; for lound lrankness much easier: they had cabled a blast to Foot, General Zaragoza had made up objecting 'most strongly' to his his mind to clear out and the serious breach of convention. garrison had started to go. Just With the general's intensified belore dawn, in a violent rain- demands, Foot would now have storm. they slipped away. ta cable to London that his action 'They marched up the river would soon be repeated. He had under cover of flre from the gunboats, which steamed along- -aTthleeaflrsstt-tforiegnedtlpyafyamceenint. Mex- ico City was that of the side. They were not molested by company's legal adviser, who Caballero's troops, who were piloted Foot to the Treasury. mostly collected on the other side Payment of so large a sum, he of the town; most of them got learned with a sinking heart, away. A lew weeks later the required the approval and sig- remnants ofthose troops finished nature of none less than the their trek of 300 miles and arrived President himself; but the at Mexico City, weary and dis- Treasurer-General wished to be helpful and they set off through hevelled, but with spirits high and the town to flnd him. There, near the old veteran, General Zara- one of the principal plazas, he goza, marching at their head.' stood, watching a flre brigade. At nine o'clock Caballero's troops entered the town. At noon 'He waved to the Treasurer- the general made a speech. General, and we adjourned to a Huerta was denounced, Carr anza little caf6. I was introduced; we acclaimed. Foreign interests, said sat down at a round table in a private room; copitas of brandy Caballero, would be protected. were produced, and the Foot called offlcially on the Treasurer-General explained . . .' general. . . copitas wereproduced. When the President signed the The siege, at last, was over. order, Foot went by taxi to the Treasury. drew all the money in In the calm of the days that followed, Foot reflected that he Mexican notes, then crossed to a was27 and felt like 45. 'I had had bank and deposited it. That night he took train for Vera Cruz. enough of excitement and sieges,' El Zoruo lay in the harbour, he wrote. 'I wanted to rest quietly and he sailed in her lor Tampico. for a few weeks, with nothing more exciting than watching the roses grow.' He came home to England, reported to The Hague, then went off to Devon on holiday. It was July 31, 1914, a Friday. On Monday he was mobilised for the First World War. O SHELL WORLD Marrn /98J

FACTS DESERTS Egypt's Western Desert occupies more than { ol thc country's total area The Sahara covers the entire width of North Africa. neariy { of the Alrican continent as a whole, and is almost as large in area as the US Only { of the Sahara is rolling dunes; eisewhere there is much surface rock and sravel Sand deserts form the earthls land mass ffinf,ffisTiffi'l Covers-nearly300 km .. rr4rning south-east/north- west, about { of the way belween Cairo and the Libvan border At its deepest it is l40m below sea level-the world's most spectacular desert depression SHBLLWINNING CONCESSIONS At Badr El Din fcode- named BED) and Sitra i: (known as SIT) BED-l signifles the first structure to be investigated at Badr El Din: BED-I-l the first well on ihe first structure. etc Badr El Din means'Genie olthe Full Moon' ,LOCATTON BED'l.l isr300km from Cairo by air, 450km by road via Alexandria and El Alamein .'Totn.Rrl!h, an lefi; a|' BED'2. I; drilling belctw' . sed l€*.el.itn. the Wesle.ln Dese r ::PVibei'ttt1troelis,L: cGoeiicoirrgd,G,.e.r:s:t er I ., .1.,.:r:. ..:.r.. r.::. a,:

The map on the wall at Shell Winning's office in Cairo has an area marked IMPASSABLE FOR CARS: UNSAFE FOR LOADED CAMELS. This is how the Sahara's great and mysterious Qattara Depression has been recorded in modern times. Inhospitable. Uninhabitable. But Shell Winning teams are now beating regular tracks into the depression south of El Alamein and successfully drilling for oil. Yernon Leonard took the trail with them findrcte Tom Rush would be many people's idea of an oilman. Tough, bulky. four-square, talkative, a Coloradan with 37 years in the business-above all. possessively proud of his rig. The day we talked, in Badr El Din on the edge of the Qattara Depression, they believed they had struck the first oil at location BED-2-1 . They were 3534 m down, within 14 m of planned total depth. The 42days' drilling had so far cost $2.2 million. And toolpusher Tom gave the final statistic with a blatant smack of satisfaction - they were now running I 7 days ahead of schedule. 'Even if this [urns out to be not a good strike it willat least give valuable information about the BED-2 structure. But I always like to make a welt.'he said as the cofllee was handed around. 'The company then really gets something for its money. I know a certain number's got to be dug with no oil to show. But I do feel good when there's some result.' Outside the neat Portakabin it was 37'C and the glare of the mid-afternoon Sahara sun had bleached all colour from the flat sand landscape. Not even a desert beetle was stirring. Only the rig was beating on. 'By this time next week,' said Tom, 'we'll probably have capped this well and moved the whole caboose. Next stop is BED-3-l about 50 km north-west.' It is a1l a trifle unreal. Here we are, in the 300km wide Qattara Depression that eventually dips to 140 m below sea level. It is territory that even Aiexander the Great and . centuries of nomadic tribesmen have avoided-preferring instead the old southern route from Siwa Oasis to Bahariya and then to Memphis (Cairo). It defeated the superb desert warrior Rommel himself in the Second World War. Vet here we are today, rr.rorrd.d by millions oldollarsworlh of technology. by air- conditioning and hot water in the bedrooms, waiter-service in the mess, WCs and every mod con-wav out in the heart olthe desert. This rig site is run by Santa F6 International (Egypt) for Shell Winning of Cairo and is something of a showpiece. The white concrete pathways are edged with red-painted bricks. There is a canopied entrance to the Mess Hall path. reminding you bizarrely of a plushy New York apartment block. The Meccano-like rig itself is smart in red and white. Tom Rush is emphatic.'l want things neat. I want a clean mess and good food. and visitois mhde weleome. I'don't want anyrtiash lying around. I guess it comes from a job.' times when things were hard and everybody fought for 'l the complicated When the iwhole caboose', as he calls it, moves on in a felv days' time, cycle of establishing camp anddrilling will begln all over a[aifi- Tom-willby this time be on 28 claysi leave, and his fellgw American supervisor Bob Baggir will have taken over t7

w t3di '* f t ,#e d . ;4,+e _ ry -*h. trb.i i8 VorJr /9,!-l SHILL \\lORI l)

MATRUH EL ALAMEIN at Giza seemed of secondary importance. We paid just a brief CAIRO homage and then swung north- 120km west to Alexandria, two hours away along the straight highway. The teeming, dusty port city, with -o5\\\" .\"-oat:.- *::. '' its trams and trucks and markets, o!$9\"reo-z i-ro_, horses and taxis and clamour ado-s l-- and its attractive beaches to the ot'r('FaKI'F'tAsRo!'i\"o ' \"\" east also contains the Shell #*SIWA Winning stores and yard. ffi.-s\"-a\"'*'.\"'',.;e-:::r'.^ HUSSET--N' *:-k'*- ..g*'. ,&. . . i.Y-.*q BAHARIYA This is the operation's vital rfn}r._;.:.L- - supply depot, where seaborne goods are transferred to huge desert-going trucks. Driver Has- : san, a well-known, convivial, 20 7 stone regular on the route, was FfE just leaving with a load of mud Z chemicals lor BED- l-2. o We saw him next on the green coastal strip due west from Alex, had only the Sitra concesslon. the peace ol the olive groves for a month as Shell represen- Formed in 1914, the company temporarily shattered by a caco- tative at Santa F6. had previously drilled abortively phony of tooting horns and It is a microcosm of the current further north at Dabaa and Sidi shouted greetings as we overtook. non-stop Shell Winning activity in the Badr Einl Dtinhe(thnuosrtBhEeDrn) Barani-'flve real dusters,' says At the El Amaid roadside caf6, concession Jim Thomas, 'but it had been Hassan's truck pulled in, like the Sahara, 570km to this rig by decided to have one further look rest, as of its own volition. It is the roundabout road from Cairo, at the Western Desert before drivers' last chance lor Coke or Sh'eFllrqoumit. previous concession Seven-Up belore the run to his- and about 120km from the Lib- toric El Alamein and the turn due yan border. Hopes are high that holders who had moved out we saonudthvivinidtocothnetraSsathtaorath-e a dry also had some seismic geology the f,eld will soon be producing Alam about 10,000 barrels a day. And and well data, and with improved Halfa ridge where Montgomery this from an area unsuccessfully technology you could see that had held his wartime line. drilled by other oil companies in their wells had been mainly off- The flrst dip into Qattara is -the past an area once con- structure orjust not deep enough. dramatic and stunning. Suddenly sidered impossible to work in. 'From Sitra we soon saw a the legend has become reality. The road winds down between a A key day in the story was basin developing to the north and concourse of 30m cliff faces, February I last year (1982), when sandy and layered dark with Shell Winning announced a com- out of the concession. Getting the stone. The top ol a nearby mercial find at site BED-1-1, adjoining Badr El Din concession hillock, is strewn with petrified tested out at about 6000 barrels a and being able to extend the day. It was seismic northwards was the turn- wood, judged by Ian and Kees to best well ecvoensridderrieldledtoibne the the ing point. By August 198 1 we had be 18 20 million years old. got our marbles together and Western Desert. The especial were ready to drill the flrst well. Cells of the wood have been replaced b1 silica. The pieces triumph was that oil had come up are almost as heavy as lead, but with Shell Winning's f,rst attempt We felt we had a chance because in the area. 'And when you strike the grain and the knots of the oil with the first well, then the ol the improvement in seismic wood are still perfectly deline- data acquisition and processing. ated. Further along the road, two mud really hits the fan,' as general We were four years on.' petrified trunks have been man- handled upright, and stand like manager Jim Thomas had told us Jim Thomas had sadly waved gateposts to inflnity. us off at Cairo, unable to make back in Cairo. But then the real ride begins as the desert trip too occupied we turn west offthe surfaced road Jim Thomas, a British north- with negotiations to establish the and into the sand. The wheels countryman, has seen more than new Badr El Din Petroleum Co in a joint venture with EGPC, the begin to slide and the Land a few deserts in his 30 years with Egyptian General Petroleum Co. Cruiser develops a drift and ro11 the Group and since reading like a ship in a gentle sea. geology at Durham and geo- There were four of us in the Toyota Land Cruiser, the kind of There are other tracks we can physics at Imperial College, vehicle that has opened up the London. Service in Qatar had Adel Ghaffar follow, sometimes so many it dmeoseurdt ,- an experienced Mah- looks like a Saharan autobahn, been followed by Algeria, North desert but now we must keep watch for Yemen, Chad and Ethiopia the sand-filled oildrums placed on among others. He was on his way driver, and myself, together with home from Western Australia in British petroleum engineer Ian February 1979 when diverted to Breckels and Dutch geologist Egypt to advise on concession every horizon. Miss them, and we negotiations in the Sahara. will need Mahmoud's sixth direc- Kees Deelder. A month later, with Jimmy tional desert sense to get us out of For once the Great Pyramids trouble. mMaadnd,oax, a Geosource materials An hour's oildrum drive and driver, two pick-up we drink coflee at BED-1-3 with vehicles and a compass, he was hospitable Dutchman Jan Brugge- sleeping out in the desert on a man. This is the rig, on contract three-day trip'to get an idea of from the Egyptian Drilling Co, the seismic crew needed. We went which struck oil at BED-1-1 and to the Abu Gharadig area, to find the old British Army telephone then moved here. line, and then moved back to the Three kilometres away, at Bahariya oasis. 'We didn't really know where BED-1-2 on the skyline, the we were,'he recalls, 'but from the 'tlot'oslpguosohdertoishSavceotaAnlaeisgthabirouSrmliitkhe. Jan,' he says. 'We can often help beginning we were to get the sort each other.' As other neighbours ol seismic results that indicated borrow bags of sugar, however, the whole sedimentary section here it is more likely to be hall a ton of drilling mud. and made wuserfeeedl souinreg.wIenkntheiws Suddenly, four camels appear. what we business, you don't often have There must be a herdsman that kind of luck.- Jim Thomas: 'You don't often have that kind of luck' At that time, Shell Winning SHf,LL WORLD Marcl .1983 19

around'l Il so. he is the u'orld's expcrt at camouflage. Recalls **'rr 1 '! l &i It --\"\\rq'\\ \\t i t 1 i ttGeosource geologist luys a shotline in .,.\" , 'i.i''ii.-.',:1,'.:....-.,,\".....q5.i;.:i.;.:y,:;.r1.:'.*.T,1:;:ll. tlrc c,rrlt ,l,t.r.; Badr El Ditt Amaid earlier in the day, is .-.,;.-,, :.. ,':..-,.i.... f,'..,1..1r;.,.,.i,.;.!1,.,,., .1'.:...,;r.,l:,.:;.,:1,..r.,,,'r\".:..1r. silhouetted on the skyline, des- perately beckoning us lor tea ln r$ffi=f the shade of his truck. He brings out a water melon from a bucket ol ice which has somehow sur- vived the heat, and we divide it withapen-knife... Then it is due west again, into , the setting sun. and we make a huge loop to circumnavigate the $ffi'+i#tili'*li***,1' t final salt marsh. The lights ol the ..; ,-r:i. r.. :. . ., Santa F6 rig seem welcoming and ffi.,i; FW?==rc#;t\";.. homely, like a Christmas tree. t-r,t, ilrl ...l:::,tr::'i.r.:,...',..:;..'1j;!..1',I.. ,''-. Tired, a little triumphant. we :g.;'\"'' .':\"ti*$i*-=iitii*,ffi { feel like history's desert travellers rolled into one. Lawrence. Shakespeare, Freya Stark we've arrived. But not classically to tents and open fires and a night beneath the stars. There are steaks and lamb cutlets lor dinner in the mess, courgettes and peas, a bullet salad. cake and icecream. :,4::,i:;r: :ii:::i':l .i.. r:,,,:,;tl::.r.iii:- Meanwhile. more than 3000m ;iil1IH , :1i::r!::;l:rij.:i below. the news was not so' ii:.ril,, , optimistic as first thought. The 'oil strike'had turned out to be i*{ffi4ffii:gas and condensate only. 'Aw, to hell with it.' said Tom Rush. albeit disappointed. 'Let's get to BED-3 and see if we can pick the right bits again . . .' O 20 ,Ilarrl /98-l SHELL WORLD

:;nli;lieL iq* . ..':*,' *1' iHELL WORLD Marcft /98J

station 1632 . .. anyway, he was Texas, for a former head of the wopithenthinegcoonftinthenetaGl durlifft,oafndSutheez 'We've also found Roman arrow heads, and the seismic just walking along when he saw Geological Survey, Rushdi Said, crews are always on the lookout. probably had some influence on bones lying on top of the sandy is now a professor there. shale-parts of swordfishes and After two SMU faculty mem- Qattara. But whether this was the The legend is that one of.Caesar's bers had followed up the dis- Mediterranean shore . . . it might sharks' teeth among them. He legions went south into the have been just an isolated bay Qattara Depression and flnally thought it was an old shoreline: coveries with a visit to Qattara in disappeared in the \"Great Sand there was a row of pebbles, as if early 1982, helped en route by where the carcases of sea animals Sea\", as they called it. Caesar is washed up by the sea.' both Shell Winning and Geo- were washed up. Another possi- also supposed to have travelled source, they reported they had Geoff went down immediately. bility is of a huge wavet or a south of the depression from 'found an old shoreline of the In his own time? 'He doesn't volcanic eruption which made the Siwa to Alexandria, and to have know the difference,' says his wife ancestral Mediterranean Sea at water sulphurous.' Ineke, with a smile. Geoff Franks the time Africa and Europe were Whatever the explanation, the met Cleopatra there. Siwa itself is said to have been the holy place of has indeed the reputation of sliding apart with the continental bones have been 'extremely well being a professional geologist drift. The aorefa was littered with preserved, due to a combination Jupiter.' carcases and whose hobby is geology. sea-living of arid climate and wind erosion. British-born Geoff Franks has 'The flnds were made near to shoreline animals, including The wind has scoured the area enjoyed the desert and the lone- Ain Hussein, about 60 km south- about 30 ancestral whales as large out at possibly 10cm a year, liness of the long-distance geolo- west of Kifar, near the deepest as 60 feet long'. Adds Bob blowing away the dark grey shale gist. sleeping in the open 'with and leaving the rock outcrops just a blanket and a lew scor- part of the depression,' he con- Slaughter of SMU: 'The type of pions'. In his 17 years with Shell whale found there is a zeuglo- and'ltanwimaasl baonethsreilxlipnogse.du. nique iinues. 'They were at 133.5 m dont, which was a tie between companies since leaving univer- below sea level-the maps had it land and sea mammals, from a esxepeeryieoncuertofogootdporwinntstheinre and sityhe has been to several far-out the at 134m, so they weren't far out. time shortly after the modern locations on geological surveys 'The bones were grouped in mounds, like cemeteries. In one whale's predecessors moved back mounds. You felt that, surely, no for metals, coal and oil. In Chile he worked alongside very good area of about 1 km2 into the water. Although some human being could have stepped 'your original cattlemen and cow- there were 135 groups of bones, zeuglodonts were more than 50 there before.' boys'. In Sumatra he was alone feet long, their slender skulls Qattara, he says, is a hostile with the local population in mainly whales, but also sword- made them look a bit more like place which even the Bedouins fish, sea cows and some croco- crocodiles than whales. Unlike a have shunned. He has met the jungle and mountains where wild Idnilest,oatbaolunt o4w0 mwilelio'vne years old. whale, also, they could turn their nearest inhabitants to the Shell tigers walked. In the hills of Natal identifled Winning concessions-'about 65 there was often Just myself and bones over a 40 km strip.' heads at the neck.' of them living on a rock called jeep plus the snakes'. After mapping the gtorouBpas,hahye But could these flnds indicate an Qara. very poor people existing Ih the middle of last year he almost entirely on dates'. reported the finds old Mediterranean shoreline, now returned for a European posting With Swiss surveyor Rene Issawi, an internationally known 180 km inland? GeoffFranks has with NAM in the Netherlands. stratigrapher, who is head offield reservations. 'It's difficult to be Milan of Geodetic he lound a His wife Ineke is Dutch, his son mapping at the Egyptian Geo- that speciflc. Remember we're burial chamber in 'aI cliff face Martin at school in Switzerland. loMogfuicstaehlueSmuEr,vge'fyyopartniadwnahlsiGcoheinoIlochghaiacrgvaeel talking about the Eocene period, above Sitra Lake. stood on They have bought a cottage 40 to 45 million years ago. The surrounded by trees in the Dutch Rene's shoulders to peep in, and last uplift of the Alps had not yet village of Haren.'I think it's right saw skulls. We crawled in and tremendous respect'. A link was taken place. -hiet'ssayst,impeetno sseivttlee lfoyr. a while,' then forged with the Southern found pre-Roman mummies on a O 'Certainly there must have been a change in the sea pattern wooden bed with leather straps. Methodist University at Dallas, Geologisls all . . . David Gillette of SMU, Hassan Mohammed Eussan and Geoff Franks of Shell Winning, and Bob Slaughter, SMU. Below, centre: Bahay Issawi of the Egyptian Geological Museum in the eerie 'moonscape' at Farafra Oasis; a sw or dfis h skele ton found in Qattara (right); and a group of vertebrae ( left ) probably from a s lender z eug lodont w hale I e.'\\tl ar ch I 9 8 3 SrIELL WORLD I i i;,\\ 22

BEHIND THE SCENE Il-llesiavedlyboovweredhi,s one hand cupped pen- clearly wants it to be as polished as possible. whole process, and so far the response has brow, television producer Sir Peter is well used to being interviewed, been tremendous.' Malcolm Nisbet listens intently to the words but in one instance has hesitated over an One such result of that response has answer. Mike Burns has managed to edit the of a video tape being played back in a small sound-track to overcome the problem but been the abandoning of the idea of having a has used a 'two-shot' a picture of both editing studio in London. The monitor interviewer and interviewee to cover the senior executive introduce each pro- cut. lt has Sir Peter moving his lips in a way screen from which the words are coming gramme but the retention of British which does not quite match the words he is shows chairman of \"Shell\" Transport and supposed to be saying. ielevision celebrity Sarah Kennedy to do the Trading, Sir Peter Baxendell, giving an interview to BBC financial correspondent For Malcolm and Mike it is an imperfec- 'voice over' commentary/ introducing and James Long. tion that has to be eliminated. The Iinking each item. 'Yes, that's fine,' says Malcolm to the amended result is the cogent item in she// 'We're now planning to Bo straiSht into the programme,' says Malcolm. 'You can't slightly anxious-looking video editor, Mike Scene that .Shell employees in operatinB companies around the world have been do more than about four items in 20 Burns. 'But try to Bet a better two-shot. That one's too obvious.' seeing over the last month. minutes, and we want to make it as varied as possible. l'm looking for a mixture of 'No problem,' says Mike, swivelling back ('And many viewing it in their own people, places and personalities.' to his various buttons and dials. language,' says Malcolm.'Each pr,ogramme The format, he says, is very much the well The exchange is quick, decisive. Two is going out in five languages-Dutch, tried and tested one used by such seasoned specialists, well familiar with their medium, Spanish, Creek, French and Japanese. We may add Arabic later.') Droerammes familiar to British television have overcome another hiccup. lt could be vieriers as Nalionwide and Newsnight. This first regular She/l Scene is the a scene in a studio at the BBC's Television Appropriately, the electronic music forShel/ culmination of many months' preparation Scene has been specially composed by Centre at Shepherd's Bush. lt is actually and incorporates the lessons learned from two pilot programmes put out in 1981 and Amanda Alexander of Space CitY. the deep down in the Shell Centre building a early last year. parLnership [hat produced the Nallonwide few miles to the east. 'The feedback from the questionnaires signature tune. Malcolm Nisbet, of SIPC is putting we sent out with those pilot programmes 'l'm trying Lo produce a news-magazine has been invaluable,' acknowledges Mal- together the final shots for the first of a programme that is as interesting and of as regular series of She// Scene, the video- colm, an active and vocal 4O-year-old who hig6 a standard as if I were doing it for the is at his desk by 7.30 most mornings. 'l see BBt or anyone else outside,' insists Mal- magazine programme that began in February the operating companies' support and colm. 'Shell people want to bre informed, and is to go out every three months to 55 cooperation as a very important part in this educated and at the same time entertained, operating companies round the world. just the same as anywhere else.' An interview with Sir Peter is the highlight To prove his point, he is pulling in a of this 20-minute programme, and Mal- number of top 'outsiders' apart from Sarah colm, a BBC television producer before he Kennedy and.James Long, to help-notably joined SIPC on contract two years ago, Mike Burns and his co-director for the first programme John Rogers, another film- maker with wide BBC experience who has also worked for the Shell Film Unit. It was John who directed the opening item about the use of laser technology at Shell's Thornton Research Centre in Che- shire, England, to define a petrol engine's performance. He also helped to devise the opening sequence with the titles and signature tune. The remaining two items- the interview with Sir Peter and the Noiske Shell-sponsored trek to the North Pole (featured in January's Shell World)-were Malcolm's work. It took the small specialist team some- thing like eight weeks to get this first video on the road, and now that the wheels are turning Malcolm expects to be producing proSrammes every three months. 'There is no shortage of material,' says Malcolm. 'We are now following up leads for the third programme, and I am coming tl across stories all the time that would make BreaL items on any television pro8ramme. But I am still on the lookout for more. 'This is where the operating companies are so important. lt is for them and depends very much on them. So the more they can Sir Peter Baxendell in interview with James Long lor Shell Scene, walched by producer Malcoim Nrsbet and send me the better all round. I am only too cameraman Pat Woods ready to hear from them.' O SIIELLWORLD March 1983



kilometres,\"one man alonL ii on the spot to represent the interests of all Shell companies. This vivid - M-udar,,wt*,.nrr,',*un..lr.,B$rl ,. ... r.,t.itr... t:...... i.11:i-..:ti .rt..it .....rr't-::... fIatnisd6.M05rasmAprrveicnisdelyK, aPndariMkhr &is ,, ,thry9 poientia],r:ouqlomei!i1,l,1:,44]s, *iU,, leave their ninth-floor aPartment -dnerieqfi,y.'6qtirni,*t ieaeh i,r,rr i-,,,lOi,, ihe,irnvefqlinute,,. driVer i-al0ng,r,rl tbb.b,y..qgn!t|iat, 5,iiQ- pm;'we ,,,,,,, r daikidqserted rstfeeti I ?o I Bombayl l . titwbiir*'iia*e,,been,into,nretals,' ,Parit<ht la-nads,irwr,,htheer$c9,..re:rv'aeien',r.lrrin,m,r.i'fheq rac€ col.rse. Even India's greatest a-aho'pn;in;pdes-.idciaioanlat\"\"sl'm,of;vaef:env'rtiantmtoiiioife,nnaatlunrcetoialiniegatrne\"adncatts.,nahtthhipee- Un' have accommodation problems.' ,t 1,,,',,,,, tradiqg,,iity r iS,,silentr ra$r :he tiegins,,,, ,,,,.,,,,r,.to riog: afoundr:t&e, fui{y1,112200,m,,1, And then to the Autralian oproblem. What time is it Down- r i i , :,,ritiAak; ,rand r , $heiir,tekes, , off:r.olr ,:,heqr, ,, Under? .urt,',is,.'Oooksd,,,,'Baur', morning stroll. protracted search lor seemingly does rthe bnsin€si;,,andthmrlea:tgs il,i , ,.r,,.iitr'TLi;i, ,, ,,rgi,1ouits ,', rrequd,lling:ll,: ,.,.: .,,rr,(,6r6ri,,.,r1d,.ithree'quertesg rrof,r,atl precious Ektachrome film among ,t0,,,,'1lreitri the'rrnan,r fuimrrrcaleutla:r \", . ,jo:ggingtt ihoui,,iatef ;,,, Arvind,,,r4x4,:,, ,the,taleyways,,bf' Bombaylis, ctn: 1.,; r',rr., r r.rivi-naio rParikh,.,Ai0r:,en,.i te:back.rl home. Dawn is quicklY bringing tral shopping area. 'lt's something like being a i:,,,:r.:,the1li0sL,ofr&qreily,l:!o' lifo:''Of,taeb'.r , one-man Shell Centre.' says Parikh wryly, 'a servicing and ,,:,r,,llr advice brrieau fo' all .fuoeti6rsi,,I r,:., 1:::r,rrrr,r,rrrron the IgfsaillllV{an-liatlaa,skylinel,,',, haie,n0t,,ful1,:authoiity, to,.bind.,6y.., ::,rlr,,:'1r,.,.,::aiound,:,r.ithgr,..tiay,,,',,aiC,,,1..,t*i*lingt,,' Company;,,r,, l,,just' .,,bf ing, ipaatiei,, i ldgelher .r:and, make,', ;lappoin,{,1r, : mentS.,l:trt,,l{9,:, speaksr,rwilhr, :$-qmq,r::r,, ,,,r:.,, t,,:,,rt *so'lveiril,isto,lranoiher:,,.,week1s,,,. under-statement, of course. exlstence. Hejnz Baur chips in: 'How can ir,He,ih6rreif; r,,r,, .r,,,i ihen,take$: a Cu,pj0ftr, i tea and toast while reading lour an outsider in any country Pos- raibltlr orli r&e'tcowboisr,,fiom' r r,,,,rr,,,r'daiiYr,,,pa0eis;,::iwo,,fina.naia!:,,a:r.d,t,:, genuine article?' Baur. managi'nheg,:,, two'ofgeneral news. BY 8.35 he is marketing com- director ol the at the lront door again. This time. 1::,,r:rrr,,t,.,,:r,.,r::,t,,J.:apmeaak-eildrtlhhaei11Stayaid.r1:1,OnlSi,,jql,w'OAUjdp.g- ,-ieAd,.ruh0iSir-rrr,, ,pa-!i;,., Billitonr,,rM,etals,,{!1d rQfest,rrri :tinteraationd;,r:ligr in,r.rBombai,:to,,,,, :1,',,, \",,,',.rWhiter :,toft0n','rnif,o[m.i,]iWifi r,i\"thert' ':appqintrrAioClry:iagenirtO,r:eell&rioi,:,, Shell pecten on it. raidkel, iAOdrt0,.softr ou!r,a,,pinb&m,,rrr, Thd Morris Oxlord- quaintlY lor an Australian associate com- r..:,:i r:,,i:r-outdrted,,rin..r E_0rope,,,bu{,:,oner,::of,,. pany. The potential agent is due Indiathe latest models olcar produced rtor rflt in fi,omr,Caleutla;r, 1,500,krn,,,' in is shiny blhck. The ,:away..;3 ,x1*u3ure ,o'fl lhQ rIndian,,t:, distances involved. t,,:rr : r,,, rr : r,iwO:,Iltake the:,lOog,drivg,Eloq$,tit9l,',, By 9.30 in the one-room Shell wAteilsr, .,.,:,t,.,t, ,,,ui ,t ,€dge r,::,rtO,, l' , the: ,, :.ttofrtltefn;l,1, ,rlndia, o{fiqe;t,'*ith,,'its:,, view back rrr,: ,,,,..,..,,,:'r,modeiu .,.,6naneia1,r,r:, SeCtio.u,,..,.of,,,, l,'' And'irir,ri:.r'd9iry6fgi;41,t$_Onfbay,r,it,,t.,l,,'.:,,'],',t,,,,,,,.:,.r..::r,..1::t: rronei',,,th9,:iOboroiiit8wimmiCIg,ripo.ol,,1,,,, , thisrris,indieia the,,,routinelt.t,: ,tarid:: the,r'bay::,bi.*youd;,:Bafikh, r4nd,,r,, ends. For every day ofeverY w.'''eo0erk,,,r :lBauf,l,,ait,r,elaineqfly,r,siftid.g lqulpjiii: ,,,,1.,,, is: a ,highli,, !ndividua|,,,op-. ,,from'r,,anr,,asEncv:rcontlaet diaftijd,r, l ,1 ri ,,,,,,,fu11!h9 591year.o1-d resideht direcir,,,: lio,,.Thel:.HdStet lL}_Vhatls,t,,plain'r inr,,,:, ,,,, :,,:t,,,foi {and,bnly -fu[:iimg]emdoyee),r:, .11o11and,'reddld: &osSiblr\"' fogr,,,tic,,',,,' 0fi r i, r i: rr ,,tkd, ishel|,, CompqA.y, lndiAii t:bl r.l issue in India.' they agree. t Shell,..,,:,,.,, Limitedr.:,,As1;rthC, !one,.rman,,On,,the.,rr,:, ,,, r:,,r, ThC.ltalbrliwitehes,r:rf{bm,,.feriq.,,\". i'l.l',l,,l,,,,,,l.,.r:,,,S.r,t0a0,tifior.taoi:;if:,rytheiie$n:,1,,,afut rfimoi0,j0lB1tu:iirnnauhlt1i:t]ilf,,, nickel to magnesia. 'Only two or executive, commerce ,,,,,1 1r,i.,,g1adSaier,,of ,:Bbmbay,t,Uaitergilyi:r,:: : rr-, 'ilr il,r,i ,,,,,,,11,,[6efuioi:,: ofi rraii$,l,rht,tr,Cmh1idge.;] r,t, i.,.i.,ii.,rti dii'r,,berristgrat-rlaw,,r,,ft,Oe,iri,Linirtli r. ,.r,,ri.l:i.]lrl coln's Inn, London, has a job ,., r,t,iat,ir:ll .,r,,,,,,r,:,whiChrahahgeijts,d€mallds]],by,ther r rrr., ::rrlrhOui,.r rltr.rrr.i3,,,.rffo1.dblri.,,irrwjthbut,i,, rir.,ttitdd',$endrCqpieg.tlQt:tllitii,:i:1ti.,,tt,,,rr.r'rrlrr,'r.\"t.ir',',i.ri:il.',i:1. p' aTraolldeal yinwthiell Group. tyPicallY r .i,,ii,Ha,,admits'idiatI'tia€].al];er $pead :r,,,,rr again be ', that would hardly be accom- ,r,.,r,r:rr,:',,0AtypiCa-|:ll]Mgr.i\"Iiieelrr,,,.At,l::9.,,,,r&s]::,1: 'i i,rrr.rn0d.ated in.,'Errf opg,:lotl.thgrtSlates,r,,,l :,: oQrfdCthiseelyH) ointethl eOebnetrraoniceTolwobebrsy. together with Heinz Baur ol i rriil,\\[ihen..L.:St i{,'rra.'}OtiOf.,,,Ofr''l619_i:,,{,...:r,1 A ,,:,,,,,:;,,9i{li!Qn;:, who,,liasrr: just r c1o0ked,r,ii&,,,,, :,,rrtmu5t,,rol o.v-e-,' f8sl;'lirhgrltai$i'lll{,',C-anl!,r,r,',,,' ih-ltjt,. , ,,r t- 119f,&ogghi$lip,awap,l ,,,,: , -wltlabryfasqfulol,,oz ,1.,]]i.t,,tiO*l' this.M.oli:ddi it ai ,.,r., ..l!d..,,:is,,'.a,.,.4ulikll.il*ot*1,..iryutr,y1 ,,.,,,. fu:Fl irr ...i t ta rt,,,,l:,i r I a rt.ir,..i ,tiiatlrii l irtd..Piiiik zo aail;:iffiii.,b;aant|si \" :., :: z -:;,liii:I lr:il :r .. ]\",,r:i lr i: r' ,i i,,\"i ,' : : i.l':ll li ll .r,r,i ri .i l.ir ,li:,r i ll.::'l'l.i::l r liridlf-riirotsitit:rilr;Iiii9,{, :Ara:i' r,i:, iU r.., ,tl,: :a.rl:. r :rr.rr',r ir r,:rr .r ,.rr:l

Itt f \\/!r .g.t, i E : a stleet. The roacls are thror-rgcd wc'r-e putting on a ro1,al corr- clavs gonc bv. I anr rneeting so Iight on his ltet. arrd with an u ith r'ir il scn rnt. \\'undue lrng il mand perlbrn'rance lor Sirc11 manv executives of oil and other' peacelul il raucot-ts protest for or-rLstandir-r g capacit-,- tbr vanish- lrighcl prr1. It takes us l\\\\ icc i-i5 ll:orltl.^ savs Parikh * ith j rLst thc companies and airlines thesc rng silently fiorn his desk to check a qucrr- in the cupboard llles or' long as anticipated. trace o1'a snrile. da1 s. ihe olfice next cftror. At the olfice again. a callcr is That night we dine with a touch At dinnel we discuss his tral'el- It is time lbr lunch norv. whicl.r Alvirrd Parikh rvould usuallr, waitirg. *'ithout appoinlment. It ol incongrurly lbl which modern ling lile. Bombay is onl-v one edge trtke in lhe ,,friec rr pirckaue .,f sandrviches and boiled ri,ater seems unlikell. but India is notable on Chinese olhis outspread ten'itor'1'. though blought liom home. He ncver eats hot lboc1 at this time ol day. hur lrrtr-rusl .ril he wants to food at the Lord Willingdon Club ilmons olhcr inrnuItlult i.rspect5 rt ivithin sight ofthe Parikhs' apart- is the headquarters of Air India\" he savs; and no, he does nol make lirr enginc ment. The club lvas buiit in 1916 use ol Bornbar,,'s ertriLordinart, storage. To his sulplrse. he is told b1, at Inr-sighted British lorcl. later r,,'hich he visits cvcr.v $'cck and Viceroy. to give Indian lamilies a .lul,i,,rt,rllttlt seir iee r,r hich tlrrrr.- oSihle'vIl1loud-voloreuusswnt oagntotsttotoortcirimeoIpinlodinritaInSnhdOeialill '\"r,hose busrness is lvorth r.norc ports rndividuallv marked cir- social outlet of thcir o'\"r,n. It is than US$60 million a yeiir to cular cans oi lbod fl'onr wivcs all ovcr the vast cily area. Companl for a permit.' vast.and thliving on two storc)'s. Shell companies. The phone rings. It is Billiton rvith billiards and bridge roon.rs Atter the cans have been de- ll'on.r The Hague rvith rnore and rls ori'n golf coursc. Parikh He calculates that 100 120 livered to husbands at their ollice detlrils .rl t hc Rot tcldum i()nsi-st)- pla_u-s goll there tr.r,ice evcry nights a vear are spent awa)'tl'om desks they are returned hontc that rnenl. 'in that case,'goes the one- alternoon bt, :t successior-r o1'hand weekend. 'Hc could drive stlaight lrome. Delhi hc r i:it: rtboLrt tlricc and cart and train journcl-s. ofT our balconl on to the first a tnonlh to meet government and lltlter likc.r fuil \\)lliet' oPirrrti,rrr sided conversation we ci,Ln hear. green.' savs Vir-roo. Indian Oil Co olficrals (a 2100 km in 1bocl. '1,ou should use Cuicutta ancl not There are about 2000 active round trip); Calcr-rtta rLbout once Tocla1,. though. instcad ol the any srnaller port in Orissa. The cltLb rrembers. and the Parikhs questions you must ask are: Can hird t,, \\\\;rrt 5c\\en \\ei.lrs to Firill in trvo months to tmee the sandrvicl.r or the dubbardllalt admission loday it is a 1:l to 20 year' \\\\'ait. They dine at the club government-olvncd coal arrd sleel routine. rve pick r-rp Hetnz Baur lwo or threc times a week with a arrd harc a cLlrry lunch at the Ta1 a containcr be accepted or can the gloup of abor\"rt ten other coLlples. companics (3000kn lound trip). Mahal Hotel. that splendid relic 'Manv of our liiends arc so useflll olthe Ra.j beside the Gatewal, to customer re-bag there. And in reclir'ing a good image of an Then thele arc Ahnredabad and India monurncnt. On the drive internatronal company, and in back n'e search for Slrcll World Kathmandu about once a quar- llim arouncl Flot'a Fourrtain and possessing inlbrmation ol value the nrain l-ot't atea '[,rpping rvhere must the banker\"s guaran- lo lrc.' ils Parikh puts it. tcr. Btn!rirl\\)re. \\4irdr.L: . . . 'The inlbrmation is oul 26 tee be sent? OK. I'll contact their 'lnstcad of n'rixing erclr-rsivel1, in the neld.'he \\a)\\.'anLl :rrt lrclire trirrt otfice here in Bombay . . .' ttt rr lJttlrnrrlr-Shrll cililc.:r. irr Back to the personal caller': 'Re must not be charrbound. I like Lo the permit to irnpolt oil, you'll have to pr:ove that your neecl is speak to people in thcir o1fices. to rbr.rlutel) esscntiill. und it ntul sec their enr ir.rnnrenl. ner et irt rr take n-ronths.'He leaves rvrth hotel il it can be avoided. Mr tha'IntksaalmndosiLthalonodskhsakaes. thor,rsh lLrlthest tlips tukc tuo lull drL1.' travelling each wa\\,'.' He recalls a journe)' last Ma1 llarclr 193-l SHELL \\\\ORLI)