Paparazzi Ethnography

• Executive Conference: Arctic Oil and Gas North America, 27-29 April 2011

Epilogue

Back in Berkeley, attending to my routine, beginning my day in a cafe with a latte and veggie bagel sandwich. In the midst of my now productive calm – I want to comment on the casual, friendly and emotional exchanges that are often silenced in my write-ups.

latte-bagel-blog

All this traveling, reading, speaking, exchanging of ideas — it is emotion expressed in highly charged conversations among experts.

There is no better person to write about on the topic of emotional exchanges than Dr. Walter Kuehnlein. Walter, if I may be so informal, was the official chair of the conference. He also has some brilliant stories about developing the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan along the Caspian Sea, where he is lead expert advisor on sea ice conditions for the 160 billion dollar oil production project.

Walter and I became friends after we arrived back from the reception taking place at the Norwegian Consulate General’s home on Tuesday evening. We made a good impression that evening. Both of us were invited to return to the hotel via the comforts of a big black SUV escorted by two staff of the Consulate General. Upon entering the hotel, Walter and I bee-lined for the bar and began having a few Crown Royals before moving on to a Laphroaig single malt, in homage to Walter’s investments in the Scottish distillery.

Well, from there, we began to spar over a variety of moral and specifically philosophical standpoints about our personal commitments to purity versus practicality of aims. And this discussion raged on for several days, ending with a hug in the elevator as we departed for our separate destinations. In my opinion, Walter protests too much about the importance of being practical. In his opinion, I am rather naive about a commitment to the ideal. Both of us, in our own way, make compromises we must live with. Walter is perhaps more self-burdened with those compromises and far more wealthy and successful than I am. For my part, I am more self-righteous and selective about which compromises I will even admit to myself that I am making, and of course, sitting here in a breakfast cafe wondering over my fate as a visiting prof. Meanwhile, Walter is back in Hamburg, probably brunching with an aide to Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

I should mention, as an aside, that Walter tells great stories about the written agreements between oil companies and the government of Kazakhstan. For example, the companies were contractually bound to have certain developments in place by certain times. An off-shore rig, which was being put together in Louisiana, but not yet completed – had to be moved to the Caspian Sea to make a deadline, and with the remaining parts flown in from the U.S. on an order of one million dollars per flight — requiring 800 flights. Can you imagine? A one million dollar airline ticket? And to be involved in such massively expensive projects.

Here’s a list of persons with whom I shared a meaningful exchange during the past week on consultancy and arctic energy development (in alphabetical order) along with their links to internet websites of firms they represent (note to self):


Yannick Benedek — Technic
Troy Brown and Jimmy Maingot — DrillTec
Cameron Bodnar — Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Clare Edwards —Kavik-Axys
Jim Kendall — Bureau of Ocean Energy Management- Dept. of Interior
Steven Kopits — Douglas Westwood
Walter Kuehnlein — Sea2ice
Gary Isaksen — ExxonMobil
Daniel Langes — Embassy of France
Consul General, Dr. Jostein and Sonia Mykletun — Norwegian Consul General
Gene Pavia — UMIAQ
Wylie Spicer — McInnes Cooper
Eirik Torsvoll and Per Windingstad Larsen — Royal Norwegian Consulate General

It is dry just to list names. But I need to get in the habit of doing so. And I should note from this list some of the international origins of participants. On the last day, Yannick Benedek (from France), along with Troy Brown (from Germany) and Jimmy Maingot (Trinidad) as well as Walter Kuehnlein (Hamburg) all joined together at the bar to discuss massive energy projects, Shtokman, Kashagan, and the relationships between French and German companies and Russian intel gathering. Troy has great stories of his Moscow office, concerning intel gathering.

The clean-up crew

From there, Walter and I met up with Steve and Sue Woolley (Spain) to have drinks along with Wylie Spicer (Canada) and Jim Kendell (Washington, D.C.). Again, Wylie gave an excellent talk on regulatory issues. He really was the consummate emotionally distanced lawyer– a lawyer’s lawyer, while Jim was always quite concerned, nervous in fact, with how his federal government would view his activities — and would not accept that we buy him a round of drinks, even for a glass of merlot. Emotions run wild among the professionals. But clearly yoked to the utility and restraint of their particular status and position.

Day Four — Friday and wrap up

Great few presentations on LNG and risk management. List of to do items on this conference:

• Names and websites and where they intersect on arctic research;
• Post slides from talks;
• Comparison of this conference to others that I’ve attended over the past year. Clearly, smaller gatherings are excellent to form closer bonds with industry personnel involved in projects.

Day Three — Thursday

conference organizers and…

That is Steve and Sue Woolley, conference organizers celebrating after a successfully organized energy conference. They live in Spain, and manage everything out of IBC Energy in London. We all gathered in the bar after the thank yous and et ceteras. What did we talk about? I don’t even remember. It was hours ago already.

Here, I should like to thank Mark Nuttall for recommending to Sue that I present a talk. Mark was kind enough to send me his slides from last year, and that helped in thinking through my presentation.

To do list and notes to self:

• International attendance: at one point in our discussion at the bar, I realized I was speaking to participants from Spain, Germany, Trinidad, Australia, France, Japan and Singapore
• There was feedback on the Shtokman project with a few folks having competed on the initial requests early on
• Interesting stories from the Woolleys on conference management.

Dr. Walter Kuehnlein — The Master

Daytime: —Technical Day –ice conditions, off-shore pipeline development, electrical heat tracing, pipe-in-pipe, safe line system, etc. These technical presentations are above my head.


Day Two –Wednesday

Wrap up ideas: I first traveled to the Arctic years ago. Back then, I imagined that I had caught a glimmer of the last frontier experience. I was awestruck by the midnight sun resting along the horizon. While I could not kick salmon out of streams (as historically noted), I could still throw a line-and-hook in the water and snag a Chinook in the gills without much bother. I was captivated by rural life of Alaskans, and spent quality time with Alana and Jerry Tousignaunt, who I’d met while volunteering as an archaeologist near Road’s End, in Chiniak, on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

Alana and Jerry lived in a camper with a plywood lean-to expansion. They had no running water, an outhouse and fired up a sauna once a week to bathe. Jerry taught me how to hunt, using 20-odd seven rifle and I used to sleep soundly on the plywood floor of their lean-to — wrapped in a few blankets. Up until that time, I had spent much of my life in the urban centers of New York and San Francisco and in upper-middle class neighborhoods of the San Francisco Bay Area, my first experiences of Alaska were a reprieve from the obligatory expectations of upward mobility, consumption. I cherished the experience.

inside light

Now, I have another type of arctic experience, one that does not take place under the midnight sun but instead, under florescent lights inside office buildings and hotel lounges. Men are accustomed to wearing suits and ties, while women wear skirts and high heels. No one speaks about fishing or hunting, and everyone is totally focused on maps, charts, designs, graphics – of how the Arctic can be managed. It is, nevertheless, an arctic experience.


Noon: Quite frankly, I did not expect to get the positive reaction I ended up receiving. I thought my first presentation to industry would flop. I’m inclined to interpret success here not necessarily based on my coherence and brilliance, but as an example of a real and longstanding need for managing relationships between industry and northern communities. The problems of arctic development are not technical, but social and of course, technical by social means.

Folks were intrigued by my argument getting different groups on one plane, managing the challenges of dealing with different stakeholders through social technologies that provide a continuous flow of information by a third party not-for-fee-service. I even was able to announce that we’re working on a Global Gas Center at Berkeley. I provided an advertisement, just like the other experts. Panelists of the following discussion titled future of oil & gas exploration in the Arctic, constantly referred to my talk and my ego inflated proportionately.

The Chief

I have decided to keep track of select persons who came up to me expressing interest in resolving issues through the type of discussion I provided. Both James Kendall, Regional Director of Alaska OCS Region, and Gary Isaksen, of ExxonMobil Exploration, expressed frustrations on how to manage and deliver a consistent message to community members in Alaska, and would be open to participating in brainstorming sessions for a Global Gas Center. Gene Pavia, of Umiaq (Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation) demonstrated a deep understanding of community frustrations with industry, ranging from fly-by community stops, where CEOs only come to villages for a few hours, to being inundated with details that are unmanageable. Gene expressed interest also in thinking through how to create stability and predictability on northern projects.

I was asked publicly by Cameron Bodnar, of the government of Newfoundland, whether Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports provide the similar kind of proposal I refer to in my talk. I replied flatly in the negative. I reminded the audience that nuclear was not developed by market demand, rural electrification was not developed on market demand. Both were government sponsored mega projects.  Moreover, EIA reports are market mechanisms, where decisions to build are already completed based on market decisions, and where public discussion is back-ended. Thus, all these issues need to be front-ended.

10:00am: Just completed my presentation. Phew. That was, uh, well, I’ll find out during break—Steven Kopits patted me saying it was excellent, and Dr. K. made some warm comments as I left the podium, so hopefully I was worth my passage. Norwegian Consulate Jostein Mykletun is up now talking about High North issues. Norway is increasing presence, R&D and $$ up in the High North. Norway is open to more stakeholder involvement in the Arctic Council.

Three key elements in Norway Strategy: climate change, strategic operations, relations with Russia. Arctic sea ice and climate is changing at alarming rate. Jostein invited Senators McCain and Clinton up to Spitsbergen. “Arctic offers front row seats in the global theater of climate change”. The government has established a Center for Ice Climate and Ecosystem at the Polar Center in Tromsø and investing in research facilities in Svalbard. Border crossings- 140k between Russia and Norway in the arctic, when only a few years ago, there was 3000 crossing- they are developing a border passport when you live near the area.

8:30am: Presenting my first talk to the oil and gas industry in Houston, representing myself as an expert, just like the people that I usually study. Sue Woolley starting the meeting, “keep your badges on and watch your valuables – also plenty of time for mingling”. Sue is the organizer of the conference.

Dr. Walter Kuehnlien, managing director of Sea2Ice Ltd. takes over, begins his comments by stating, “so many distinguished experts here” – I’m actually sitting up at the front facing the audience — typing on my computer while this whole thing is ongoing. And I’m going to give my talk here in about 20 minutes.  This might be weird. Talking about social technologies in the middle of a Houston oil and gas industry audience. I’m a little nervous. Not panicked. But just wanting it to go back to my hotel room and watch tv. I always do this. Present some idea that is unproven and uncertain. Could be embarrassing. We’ll see.

Okay, back to Dr. Kuehnlien, he’s talking about the increases in demand of oil and gas, problems with nuclear power, etc. He has a vision about optimizing development. Mainly technical.

Next presentation. Steven Kopits. I am after Steven. Ugh. Steven just got up to the podium. Looks confident. “Good morning everybody” – talking about macro issues. Begins with an advertisement for his firm, Douglas Westwood is a consulting firm – leads with market research, oil services and technologies, banks, etc. Begins his talk with Oil demand issues. China demand is up, everything is up, even better than government projections. Oil demand continued. Oil demand continued. Macro.

I have about 10 more minutes and then I’m up. Nervous. Did I mention I had a few whiskies at the bar last night while arguing with Dr. Kuhenlien over the importance of Polish film director Roman Polanski? This morning, I shook Dr. K’s hand with trepidation, and then we both burst out laughing. I was so passionate about my ideals and fate of creative projects. Ugh. A few more minutes. Ouch, Kopits is done.

Okay, Dr. K. just introduced me, here I go. Ahhhh!

7:30am: Went through a dress rehearsal of my presentation this morning in my room. Walking through the lobby en route to give up my power point presentation at the conference. Noticing all the bulls starting their day in suit and ties — walking matter and happy to be one of them. And in the middle of my measured confidence I was stopped dead in my tracks by a song coming over the airwaves. What was it? That haunting melody? And then I recalled. It was Yo La Tengo‘s Can’t Forget (Available here on YouTube) — I practically fell off my rails. I used to listen to Yo La Tengo’s tracks years ago in Japan while visiting Miruna Stanica, now a professor of English somewhere on the East Coast. I could just sit in the lobby and keep the tune on rewind, sipping a coffee and drift away:
Day One —

The Meal

Reception: The Norwegians are so gracious! Especially in Houston! I was so lucky. I got to meet with Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Jostein Mykletun, Ph.D. and his gracious wife Sonia Mykletun, who has been running the Fulbright Scholarship for Norway for a couple years now. Who else was there at the reception. Well, everybody?

The fabulous Sonia Mykletun

We had so many opportunities to say hello to each other. And on top of that, we even had time to do a pow wow on carbon sequestration, the future, coal, natural gas , and everything you can think of that has energy in its title. And even the Arctic. — Green Coal. That was the ironic insight we came up with. No longer Clean Coal but Green Coal. Imagine!

There is no better activity I can think of than that of an ethnographer paparazzi of the not-so-famous, and in this case, of the so many talented professionals working on oil and gas in the Arctic.

The King and Queen of Norway, standing behind Eirik Torsvoll and Per Larsen, staff to the Consulate General

pow wow

en route to reception: I showered and left the hotel room for a glance around before heading off to the reception at the Norwegian Consulate. What did I witness? Higher end furnishings and a mall. Stores with food, steel wracks, clothing, people, starbucks, escalators, elevators, marble floors, brass railing, glass walls, air conditioning. Excitement. Fatigue. Restlessness. I remember such events from Arizona. The higher end mall always appears to me as an image of a feudal order. All the various non-mobility positions in place. The concierge is overheard attempting to manage hotel guests who are demanding that they be placed in executive suites. The candy store salesperson flatly refuses to be photographed by a tourist because of company policy. Arriving as I did from Elmwood in Berkeley, an intimate street with small worn-in shops, I had some difficulty adjusting my sight to the present surrounding.

hallways, beds, linens

coffee cups, cocktails, credit cards

air conditioning, gummy bears

2PM: I arrived into Houston and checked into the Westin Oaks Hotel at the Galleria. I forgot how tony this place is.

This is my first gig as an expert presenter to the oil and gas industry, so I’m going to document the entire affair…. I realized, upon arrival, that this venue was the previous location for the Cambridge Energy Week Executive conference, before they headed to the new Hilton, which I covered when I attended that affair last March.

Okay, let’s start with a simple equation: How much does a 1/2 hour presentation by an fledgling expert (me) actually cost an organization? Well, RT airfare ($326), three nights at the hotel ($299 x 3), RT cab fare to the Oakland airport from Berkeley ($85), RT cab fare to Houston airport ($100, but I opted for the shuttle so its $50). Of course, there is a taxi to the reception this evening at the Norwegian Consulate in Houston, and then a few meals but I don’t eat much. So in the end, the cost to hear me babble is about $1358 in expenses. But we should add that I’m going to be observing the event and collecting data, and that under typical conditions, I would be required to pay for the entrance fee ($2698). Thus, the final tally comes to $4056.


I am going to take a shower, and start taking some photographs of the hotel. I will post those later this afternoon before I head to the reception, and then by late night, I’ll have the talking heads posted as well.