Read the interview with Michael Lennon

I = Interviewer, M = Michael Lennon

I: How did you get started in the oil industry?

M: I left school at 16 and took a course in a car maintenance at the local technical college. I finished the course, but being a motor mechanic wasn’t a right career for me. I wanted something more adventurous so I got a job as a Roustabout on a North Sea rig.

I: What’s a Roustabout?

M: It’s about the lowest job you can get. A Roustabout is a labourer. You get a job as like painting and unloading supplies from the supply ships. Still, the money was good and the food was good too – hotel standard. Food’s important when you’re living in the middle of the sea in all kinds of weather for fourteen days at a time without a break. After a year I promoted to Roughneck.

I: What does a Roughneck do?

M: That’s a skilled job. You need physical strength but you also need to know exactly what to do at any time. Often you’re working with heavy drill pipes – adding pipes when you’re drilling or removing pipes when you’re breaking out the string.

I: Breaking out?

M: Removing the string of pipes from the borehole. You’re part of a team and you need to know exactly what you’re doing at any time to get the job done quickly and safely. Safety’s an important issue on the rigs. Before I could start on the rig, I had to take a course on Off-shore safety and survival at Montrose College. They teach you all sort of things, including how to escape from a helicopter just in case you come down in the sea.

I did quite well as a Roughneck and after a couple of years I was selected to do a Diploma in Off-shore drilling at a drilling school in Aberdeen. There were people there from all around the world – Nigeria, Oman, Vietnam. It was a good course. They had a rig floor simulator so you got practice in dealing with situations such as blow outs.

I: These can be dangerous.

M: Yes, that’s when you hit oil under high pressure and it’s forced up through the borehole. And fishing – recovering from borehole drill bits and tools which have become separated from the pipe.

I: What did you do after the course?

M: When I finished the course, I was qualified as an Assistant Driller. I worked on a North Sea rig for three years more then I moved to a warmer part of the world, the Gulf of Mexico, as a Driller with Texaco. I’m still working there but I’m married now with a family. I like to work but I’m hoping to get a shore based job as a Drilling Superintendent.