MY PROFILE

I am one of those people who rolled into their profession. Initially educated into mechanical engineering as a follow up from childhood interests, I switched to photography before finding my way into the oil industry and onward to my destiny as environmental professional. I started in the oil and gas industry in 1980 at the age of 21, and moved to the management of environmental issues in 1986.

It was the interrelation between the technical and social dimensions of environmental management that made me embrace the opportunity at the time. It was when the Bruntland report on sustainable development was published and when the need to protect the environment had reached the corporate agenda. No formal environmental education existed and I gathered the knowledge as I went along.

My infant years in the industry brought me an invaluable insight into the technicalities of oil and gas production. As a purchaser, I got to see what it takes to keep platforms operational; from diamond bits to paint and from Christmas trees to male nipples. As a document controller, I was involved in the construction of 5 small platforms (the record offshore single lift was 3,900 tonnes at the time), and this introduced me to PFDs, isometrics and welding certificates.

My Dutch years as an environmental advisor can best be described along the lines of the challenges of the time. These years featured the development of environmental management standards and of corporate environmental policies. Working with American expatriates and with other European nationals taught me that environmental management differs profoundly between countries. Environmental management and any external communication had to address this multicultural dimension. The Netherlands were and still are ahead of the environmental game, placing emphasis on negotiation rather than regulation, although the temptation of regulatory fixes has not always been resisted.

While on short term assignment in the UK, I developed the first environmental cases for oil and gas operations in this country. Unfortunately, the UK opted for the solution of Environmental Impact Assessment, which rendered that approach obsolete. Back in the Netherlands, I subsequently used the experience for a comprehensive environmental management plan under a recently negotiated joint industry/government environmental agreement. My last assignment in the Netherlands was with two refineries in the Rotterdam harbor. After some acclimatization to the long term planning realities of refining, I helped out with data reporting and soil surveys.

I moved to the UK in 1998, for my first steps in consulting, initially via a moderately sized environmental consultancy, before going it alone in 2000. The world of consulting differs significantly from my years in the operator seat. Not only does it mean that work has to be won, before it can be done; it also meant a shift away from direct contact with the organization, towards more undisrupted problem solving.

I feel lucky to have been given the opportunities to further develop my thinking about environmental management by working on so many different but specific environmental management challenges in the recent years. My first such contribution was the further development of Environmental Statements from documents which described the environment to documents which address the conflicts and challenges at hand; changing them from academic studies to opportunities for improving public acceptance. Many of the Environmental Statements that I wrote concerned developments in highly sensitive areas.

I subsequently applied the same approach to improving company internal environmental communication; removing some of the obstacles in translating high level aspirations into tangible and practical tasks. This lead to the development of EMAS statements that are aimed at an internal as well as an external audience, public statements which are more likely to impress because they are short and to the point, rather than wishy-washy.

My next challenge involved the redevelopment of oil spill plans from documents aimed at obtaining regulatory approval to documents which are of practical use in an emergency, while also communicating the pivotal role of oil spill prevention, increasing their practical relevance both within the operating company as well as externally.

My analytical approach and conceptual thinking have also lead to being engaged in the analysis of environmental information. I have helped to develop a software program that can compare the environmental performance of UK offshore operations, generating a context from where strengths and weaknesses are easily identified. I have also analyzed oil spill records and the correlations between oil and gas production volumes and the energy required to produce these. Both studies have resulted in valuable new insight.

Fifteen years after my first criticism of environmental management systems I have not only found a more effective way of approaching environmental management, but the market is also reaching the conclusion that ISO type management systems are not helping them. I am subsequently helping an increasing number of operators with improving their management systems.

Over the years, I have worked for the following organizations: Amerada Hess, BHP Billiton, BP, Britannia, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, DTI, EnCana, Environment & Resource Technology, Kerr McGee, NACAP, Netherlands Refining Company, Shell, Talisman, Total, and Unocal.