It amuses me to read articles in the press about Shell’s high level of drilling expertise – typical comments regarding Alaska are along the lines of “if Shell cannot do it then nobody can…â€Â I’m sorry, but this is a very long way off the mark.
EXPERT COMMENT RECEIVED FROM A SHELL RELATED SOURCE
John
It amuses me to read articles in the press about Shell’s high level of drilling expertise – typical comments regarding Alaska are along the lines of “if Shell cannot do it then nobody can…â€
I’m sorry, but this is a very long way off the mark. Until the 1990s Shell trained and maintained a large international drilling group, whose expertise was unquestionably of the highest standard. For the past 20 years this has not been the case.
In the 1990s it was decided that drilling was not a core business, and was better left to sub-contractors, following the example of BP. This was seen as an efficient way to reduce drilling costs, as many of the overheads could be transferred to the sub-contractors. It also meant that the recruiting and technical development of drilling staff, which had involved sending engineering graduates to the well site to learn about and then supervise drilling operations, effectively came to an end.