John Krens is a Logistics Supervisor with Shell Egypt and is currently helping to manage Shell Egypt’s Logistics & Supply operation for the company’s drilling campaign in its NEMED (Northeast Mediterranean Deepwater) concession. John talks about his career and the challenges of delivering crew members and supplies to the ‘Deepwater Expedition’ drilling ship, which is positioned in the NEMED concession, some 185 kilometres offshore...

I was born and brought up in The Hague in The Netherlands. I am from a small family with one brother. Life was difficult after the Second World War in Holland and as a child I had to work hard at school to get my qualifications. In the evenings I attended technical college, where I studied mechanical engineering.

At 14 I went to work as an apprentice mechanical engineer. I then worked as a draftsman before joining the government department which managed the civil engineering aspects of Holland’s flood control system for the whole country, including dykes, flood gates and bridges.

I joined the army at 21, and headed up a platoon of logistics personnel as a sub-officer. My duties were mainly in the supplies department and, whilst at the time I did not enjoy it, the work was a good grounding for me in later life.

After the army I worked briefly as a salesman but I could not sell a dog a bone so I joined an American company as a consulting engineer. I stayed with that company for 20 years, working on a number of oil field-related civil construction projects, mainly in the Middle East.

I joined Shell in 1985, when I was offered a job in the materials department at PDO [Petroleum Development Oman – a Government- owned company in which Shell holds a 34 per cent shareholding]. I remained at PDO for nine years, working in various supplies and logistics jobs.

My next posting with Shell was to Norway, where I worked for two years as a procurement advisor on the Troll Project, one of Shell’s biggest natural gas projects in the North Sea. I then moved to The Hague, to work for Shell Common Information Services [SCIS], and worked as a procurement logistics co-ordinator for a number of offshore drilling projects for NAM [Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij].

After that I returned to the Middle East to work for AFPC [Al Furat Petroleum Company – a Shell joint venture] in Syria, where I headed up the supplies department in the Omar field. I remained there for three years before being offered the job to head up logistics operations for Shell’s Soroosh and Nowrooz Integrated Development project in Iranian waters in the Gulf.

This was a job of which I am particularly proud. I was seconded to work with IOSC [Iranian Oilfield Services Company], an Iranian company appointed to be the logistics, supply and services provider for this offshore operation. In this role I was required to establish, from scratch, a logistics and supply base, including a workshop, at Bandar Imam Khomeini [BIK] on Iran’s Gulf coast.

At BIK we were also successful in introducing Shell’s international HSE [Health, Safety & Environment] standards and we developed a road safety campaign to help reduce road traffic accidents amongst staff and contractors.

After Iran, I was transferred to Shell’s Abu Qir logistics base, east of Alexandria, to provide support to Shell Egypt’s offshore drilling campaigns in the company’s Northwest Damietta concession and in Phase 3 of its NEMED campaign, which is where I am today.

We have to provide all supplies and equipment to the drilling rigs using supply vessels, whilst crew changes are usually carried out by helicopter. As a result, all crew members and visitors to the drilling rig must undergo emergency training in helicopter underwater escape techniques.

The use of boats and helicopters means that we are subject to weather conditions. Most people think of the Mediterranean as a tourist venue with sun and nice beaches. However, the eastern Med, especially in the winter, is a wild and dangerous environment subject to gale force storms.

The drilling ship, the ‘Deepwater Expedition’, which is being used in Shell Egypt’s NEMED campaign, is positioned 185 kilometres offshore in over 2,400 metres of water. With over 140 personnel working on the rig the provision of fresh food, fuel and the necessary requirements to drill a well is obviously a big job. In addition, there is a continuous stream of visitors who need to be transported to the drilling ship and, once there, they need to be fed and accommodated.

But it’s all in a day’s work, and Shell Egypt’s logistics team, working out of the Abu Qir base, is a tight-knit group, on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In 2003 I should have retired but both Shell and I agreed that I should continue to work so my retirement was deferred until January 2007. However, in January 2007 I was once again re-hired at the tender age of 63, and I am still here working for Shell.

Have I enjoyed my time with Shell? Yes I have, or I wouldn’t be here today. Shell has been a great company to work for because it offers its employees opportunities. The success that you can achieve at Shell is due a lot to your own making. So, it has been a great career and I am not planning to give it up and retire to the easy life just yet...