Shell Residential Area, Port Harcourt

Transcription

Ten years ago I received this phone call from Shell following up on an earlier application I had with them and an invitation to come to Holland for a job interview. I went to this interview, and I was very much impressed by what I had seen. At that moment I really knew that I wanted to work for Shell. I'm Sadat Kolonic, and I'm the senior exploration geochemist here with the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. I started in the Netherlands, I moved later on to Jordan and now I'm in Nigeria. I'm here with the exploration capability team, and I act as the petroleum systems analyst lead, overseeing a diverse portfolio of exploration projects. It never becomes boring, it's never routine, and the interaction one has with different technical disciplines on a daily basis is just unprecedented. Shell has been a leader in exploration for more than 100 years, exploring the most frontier parts of this planet, and it's very exciting to work on these kinds of projects. When you work for exploration you are always involved in really new groundbreaking projects. Drilling, for example, here in the central swamp is quite challenging. The thing about Nigeria in particular is that we have a very diverse operational environment here. You can work on a rig site, like here, and be in the middle of the swamp, or you can work in the shallow offshore or the deep offshore. You can also work on different gas plants, which are land based, or on one of our oil terminals, which are on the shoreline. What I like very much about Nigeria, as well, is simply the weather. It's always nice and warm here, better than being on a rig on the North Sea! There's plenty to do over the weekends. Basically, you spend time with your family, go for a walk, or you would go for a bicycle run on the perimeter road, or you would go for a full session with the kids. So plenty of activities on the camp; mainly related to sports, but also other social events that we have in the week. The life at the residential area in Port Harcourt is restricted and confined, but it's a fantastic experience, and the experience you gain is very valuable. The Shell school at the residential area here in Port Harcourt is really exceptional. My name is Dave, I'm the head teacher at Rumukoroshe International School here in Port Harcourt. We have currently 71 students on roll from 14 different nationalities. The classes are very small, offering optimal student care. My three kids at the school are very happy, and I'm also very happy with the school. I very much enjoy working for such a large group and in a multicultural environment. Our diversity really accommodates different thoughts in problem solving and very often these different thoughts result in unprecedented ideas. You learn something new every day and you also have the possibility every day to give something back to these people you work with. Every day we live and work with basic, but lifesaving, rules. It's our Goal Zero; 'do no harm and no leaks'. HSSE is an integral part of our business performance. Jeopardising HSSE means jeopardising and gambling with people's lives. We don't gamble with people's lives in Shell. Never. As they like to say in Nigeria, "Wazobia" - "Come over here". This is a unique opportunity for you to witness one of the most exciting petroleum systems in the world. For anybody working in exploration and in Upstream in general, this is the best place to develop and grow in your career.