Being married and a father had sidetracked
me from going back to Asia. I can't really
say whether I was yearning to go to Asia
or just go somewhere. I am fairly sure that
the urge to find out what was on the other
side of the hill was getting the best of
me. To compound matters, the oil industry
in the USA was in a down cycle. The government
was creating obstacles to drilling and getting
permits to build refineries. For some reason
Chevron did not lay off all the excess employees
or transfer them to overseas operations.
At this time Chevron was not a big competitor
in the world oil operation. Our foreign arm
was Caltex and Aramco. Chevron Overseas Petroleum
when I moved to Bahrain was only a drilling
group with no production. Corporate Management
seemed to concentrate only on Saudi Arabia
and Indonesia. Most managers in the States
thought that you were a bubble off if you
wanted to go overseas. All of this combined
to make working in the States as exciting
as watching paint dry. The net result was
that no one was empowered to do anything.
There was no money to spend, so additional
layers of supervision was created to slow
down the spending of money. This I did not
like.
The desire to travel was starting
to get
to me before marrying. At the time
of the
wedding I was considering a job
in Nigeria,
but a coupe put that on hold. Yvonne
later
admitted that she was glad that
it fell through.
Just before Christmas in 1972 I
came home
and asked Yvonne if she wanted to
go to New
York for a week. Being a rather
astute woman,
she suspected that something was
afoot. She
agreed to go on the job interview
for Caltex
Pacific Indonesia. We spent 5 days
in New
York learning about life and work
in Indonesia.
The Chief Engineer, Woody Fralein
and his
assistant Majadi Hassan gave us
a good overview
of what it would be like in the
jungles of
Sumatra. I was impressed over the
job and
I probably didn't pay that much
attention
to what the life would be like for
the family.
I only saw a chance to really get
to work
and accomplish something. I was
bored out
of my skull in the States and saw
this as
an opportunity. Yvonne was not really
sold
on the whole thing. This would manifest
itself
into a great big gaping sore when
she arrive
in Indonesia.
Caltex exploration crews in Indonesia before
World War II found indications of oil potential.
Several dry holes were drilled, but oil was found just before World
War II at Sebanga and Duri. A rig was on location in Minas just
before the Japanese and their Sphere of Influence
put the whole project on hold. The Imperial
Japanese Army actually drilled the first
well in the Minas Field. In the early 1950's
Caltex moved into the area and started developing
the Minas Field. The main thrust of development
started before the Indonesian Revolution
in the 1960's, but during the 1970's thing
really got going. That was when I got there.
I arrived on the day that we produced a million
barrels per day. This was the peak of production
in the Caltex Pacific Indonesia operation.
Indonesia is a chain of islands that spread
across a large area in Southeast Asia. Indonesia
comprises 17,508 islands according to Indonesian
government estimates, with about 6,000 of
those inhabited. The country extends from
adjacent to the Malay Peninsula in its west
and into Melanesia in its east. It is the
most populace Islam country in the world.
About 85% of the Indonesians were Moslem,
but many other religions exist. When we arrived
there was no way for the Indonesia Government
to communicate with all the islands. While
we were there a tsunami hit an island, but
no one knew about it for two months. Somebody
had to get into a boat and go to the nearest
island where the message was sent to the
next island by boat until it finally got
to Jakarta. Indonesia is located on the "ring
of fire". The geology of the area is
that the Pacific Plate that is colliding
with the Asian Sub Continent. The Pacific
Plate moving under the Sub Continent creates
a lot of volcanoes and earthquakes in this
area. About 25% of the active volcanoes in
the world are in Indonesia. This explains
why the oil was so hot in Indonesia.
On 8 May, 1973 with my brand new passport I bid my
 family a fond adieu
at the Memphis Air Port and started winging
my way across the blue Pacific to Sumatra,
Indonesia. I flew a Boeing 707 from Memphis
to San Francisco in the middle seat. I then
boarded my first 747's for the trip to Honolulu.
They were playing Hawaiian music which was
nice, but to look at a 747 for the first
time was an experience that still leaves
me in awe. In those days the airplanes were
not sold out allowing you to have a lot of
room. I sat near a waitress that worked for
Don Ho in Hawaii. She asked me to come to
their club, but I declined. I really enjoyed
going for a walk on the beach at night. Hawaii
had really changed since the 1950's. The
Royal Hawaiian was still there. When the
last cock roach is dead you will be able
to get a room at the Royal Hawaiian. The
lay over in Honolulu started bringing back
fond memories of Asia. Granted, I did imbibe
in some of the good Scotch which may have
had something to do with my mellow feeling.
My next stop was Hong Kong, a place that
I visited in 1955. Finally, on 10 May 1973 I was on Singapore
Airline headed for one of the prettiest places
on earth, Singapore. I was met at the Singapore
Paya Lebar Airport by American Express who
took me to the Hilton Hotel on Orchard Road.
At that time the American Express office
was located in downtown Singapore but our
office was just across the street from the
Hilton. We had a contract with American Express
to handle obtaining our visas and travel
arrangements. They would transport us to
and from the airport. Jim Hitchcock, Amoseas
Manager in Singapore, and American Express
both told me to make ordering food at Fitzpatrick's
Cold Stores my first priority. I bought all
kinds of thing and placed them in the back
of the store with my name and address. I
wondered if they would ever get to Indonesia.
They did before my family arrived.
See more about Singapore
After a week in Singapore waiting on a visa,
I boarded the Company airplane, a Forkker
Friendship, for the equatorial jungles of
Sumatra; the camp was about 2 degrees north
of the equator. When I arrived the boss took
me on a trip around the field for orientation.
He had the only air-conditioned car in camp,
but he chose to turn it off so I could see
how hot it was. I told him I was from Louisiana
where the weather was about same. With that
he rolled up the windows and turned on the
AC. He was from California and had never
got use to the heat. I asked him how much authority did I have
to do my job. I was use to having no authority.
He said that you have as much authority as
you think you can handle. That really made
me sit up and take notice. There was so much
to be done and so few people to do it. People
did not look over your shoulder and require
prior approval before doing something. If
a well went down over night, a rig would be moved on it and others
would know about it at the morning
report. It was a great feeling to be able
to do things that I had trained 10 years
to do without having to go through 5 levels
of management just to be told no. I was now
in my element. The Marines had trained me
to take charge and make things happen. Now
I could do just that.
Minas camp was the smallest of the four
camps - Duri, Minas, Rumbai, and Dumai -
and the most primitive. Very little money
had been spent on improving living conditions
in the camp. Most Nationals and all the expats
did not like living in Minas. The company
would from time to time wrestle with whether
the camp should be upgraded or moved to Rumbai.
Both ideas cost more money than the partners
were willing to spend. We did not have a
club house, pool, tennis courts, movie house
or golf course. We were able to add a room
to the mess hall and build a small pool using
material and labor from the existing operating
budget.
We had an office in an old abandoned Indonesian
school. There were no walls separating
the
offices which created a bull pen
working
condition. Due to the lack of a
phone system,
the phones at your house could not
be used
during the day because it was necessary
share
the lines with the office. The phone
would
ring in both places. When I first
arrived
there was no desk or chair for me.
I sat
by the water cooler on a trash can,
a rather
Spartan situation. I knew one thing,
this
type existence could not last. I
searched
far and wide for a solution to my
problem
as no one else seemed to care. After
a while
I found an old abandoned Texas Hut
that was
originally used as temporary quarters
in
new fields. The picture below of
the Minas
Library is an example of a Texas
Hut. After
a little negotiating with Walter
Clark I
was the proud owner of a place to
sit. Arrangements
were made to move the hut to Minas,
where
I set it up behind the office and
proclaimed
that the New Fields Development
Group was
open for business. It wasn't much,
but it
was a hell of lot better than sitting
on
a trash can. I just happened to
have control
over 24 air-conditioners, which
I “borrowed”
for my new office. I had a little
more trouble
getting furniture. Lou Flame in
Duri said
that he could solve my problem if
I would
loan him a Reda Pump. I quickly
learned that
if things got done, you had to improvise.
I remembered that improvise and
Semper Fidelis
were two of the Marine Corps most
used words.
Finally, a home for the New Fields
Development
Group, which consisted of two Indonesian
Engineers, a TA and myself. No one every asked me where I got the buildings
or how. That is the way to run a
railroad.
A month after arriving, I sent a telex to
Yvonne and Cassandra to get on Clyde and
ride. This was the beginning of an experience
they would remember along with Pearl Harbor
and other natural disasters of our times.
Yvonne chose to fly non-stop to Singapore
from Memphis, which was not the best decision
of our time. Communication was a major problem
in Indonesia. The government was paranoid
about their people being able to communicate.
The revolution had used the communication
system to coordinate the junta. The only
way we could communicate was by a telex to
Kuala Lumpur to Singapore to New York. This
combined with the fact that we were 24
hours behind New York made rapid communication
next to impossible. Since I did not have
the ability to argue the point with her,
I could only hope for the best. When I got
her itinerary, it looked like a catastrophe
looking for a place to happen. I figured
that if this happened without a hitch the
Pope would turn Protestant. As Robert Burns
said “best laid plans of men and mice” and
a young redhead did not happen as originally
conceived. Things started to unravel when
they were late getting to Hawaii, causing
them to miss the Philippines Air Lines flight
to Manila. A later flight got them to Manila,
which was where the fun really began. In
those days flights to Singapore only flew
every third day. Meanwhile, I was stranding
around the Singapore Airport pondering the
fate of my family. That is one of the worst
feeling a young lad could experience. I went
back to the company office and with the aid
of Caltex and American Express a search was
initiated from Singapore to Memphis. The
first thing we found when we got hold of
Caltex Manila was that it was Philippines
Independence Day in Manila, which would make
the search somewhat difficult. Caltex NY
confirmed that they left on schedule, so
they were stranded somewhere between Honolulu
and Singapore. Fortunately, when Yvonne got
to the hotel she had the foresight to call
the Caltex office in Singapore to let everyone
know how her first experience in Asia was
unfolding. Cassandra still vividly remembers
the confusion and chaos of this trip. She
reflects on how her mother just sat down
and cried. I always wonder about the life
that I chose for my family. I really believe
that a lot of what Cassandra learned made
the rest of her life easier to handle. I
was very happy with nothing to do for three
days. However, having three day with nothing
to do in Singapore isn't exactly what you
would classify as a hardship. I spent the
time searching the nooks and crannies of
Singapore and shopping at Fitzpatrick's Cold
Stores for groceries. I always like to go
to places where the average tourist would
not venture. This resulted in my visiting
a lot of the sections of Singapore that most
people fail to see. I guarantee that this
is where the best food is located. I never
got over the fact that I grew up on the lowest
scale of existence. That made me seek out
the poorer sections of the world. I met a
lot of really nice people that way.
All our food was purchased in Singapore
and
sent up the Siak River to Rumbai
on the Caltex
Boat. Everyone told me that you
can't buy
too much as it was not easy getting
thing
through customs. I was spending
money like
a drunken sailor after 6 months
at sea. The
stores would allow you to fill your
shopping
cart, put a piece of paper on top
and walk
out of the store. They would then
box it
and send it to our Killlney Road
Warehouse
(godown). When a bill finally arrived
for
$5000, I almost panicked, as I did
not have
that kind of money. The positive
side was
that there wasn't much to spend
money on
in Sumatra. One bright sunny day,
American
Express called me and said that
my little
family would be in Singapore the
next day
causing great jubilation on my part.
A rather
happy lad met Yvonne and Cassandra
at customs
and immigration. I knew then that
my family
was the most important thing in
my life;
my life changed that day. I now
knew that
my primary mission was working to
provide
for my family.
I spent a few days showing them
the sights
of Singapore while things were being
processed
for their visas to get into Indonesia.
We
were staying in a 5 star hotel,
the Hyatt
Hotel on Scott Road, while suffering
through
their first days in Asia. I felt
like Asia
was home, but it was foreign to
Yvonne. Cassandra
didn't care one way or other, it
had a swimming
pool. Yvonne was never classified
as a path
finder when we traveled and spent
a lot of
the time in the hotel getting over
jet lag.
American Express finally had all
our documents
and picked us up and took us to
Paya Lebar
Airport. In those days the airport
was not
air-conditioned, but it had fantastic
cross
ventilation which made it comfortable.
We
would sit in the A&W Root Beer
Restaurant
waiting on our flight. Yvonne complained
about the heat and all I could do
was smile
because she was soon to be introduced
to
Simpang Tiga Airport in Pekanbaru.
The fateful day had arrived to start the
family on the trek deep into the
Sumatran
jungle. We boarded the company plane
and
began winging our way toward Pekanbaru,
a
short trip of around 180 miles as
the crow
flies. All that they could see from
the aircraft
was a lush green mat as we flew
over the
tops of the jungle trees.
Pekanbaru International Air Port at Simpang
Tiga was not what Yvonne thought
an International
airport should look like, especially,
when
she saw the animals wandering around
the
runway. When I told her that planes
had to
land before 4 pm because they did
not have
runway lights, she looked at me
like I was
crazy. She started getting a look
on her
face when she saw the waiting room
that conveyed
the fact that she was rather displeased.
It was crowded and was not equipped
with
air-conditioning. Our luggage was
put on
carts and hand pulled to the airport
by several
workers. Everyone rushed out to
the carts
to collect their baggage, which
were then
placed on a counter where customs
searched
them for something. To say she was
going
into a state of shock would be like
saying
that beside the ice bergs the Titanic
had
a wonderful trip. This was the beginning of the shock of Indonesia.
Finally, I told Yvonne that we could
now
enter the Republic of Indonesia.
A car ride through the town of Pekanbaru
was another experience that made
me wonder
just when she was going to kill
me and how.
So far she had not found anything
that made
her smile. That did not change as
we left
the airport.
The town was something that almost pushed
Yvonne right off the deep end. She
was rather
quiet, but so is the eye of a hurricane.
At times the smell emitting from
Pekanbaru
was a little unsettling and she
was not hesitant
to express her feeling on this subject.
We
continued on through Pekanbaru toward
the
point where we crossed the Siak
River. There
she started talking or maybe ranting
would
better describe it.
The town of Pekanbaru was about 250,000 with
little or no electricity. To cross
the Siak
River, Caltex had installed a floating
pontoon
bridge which was only wide enough
for one
car. As a result one side had to
pull off
and wait for the oncoming traffic
to cross.
Yvonne was horrified when she saw
people
bathing, defecating, and brushing
their teeth
in the river near the bridge.
Finally, the car arrived at the Caltex camp
of Rumbai where my boss and his
wife met
us. After a quick drink in the un-air-conditioned
Rumbai Country Club we started a
30 km trek
farther into the jungle to our new
home in
Minas. She seemed satisfied that
Rumbai looked
nice and even thought the Rumbai
Catholic
Church was rather quaint. For some
reason
I did not tell her that it did not
have air
conditioning; fear of retribution.
The shock
was ratcheted up a couple of notches
when
she saw the grass huts along the
road. The
Minas Village did nothing for her.
I think
she was numb or maybe plotting my
demise.
When she saw her new home and met her houseboy
Isa Anasman, she finally saw a positive
point,
as he did all the cleaning, washing
and cooking.
He brought her a drink and some
food to snack
on while she got her breath. In
all of Indonesia
Isa was the only thing that she
could really
wrap her mind around. She later
said that
she could not believe that I would
bring
Cassandra to a place like this.
Cassandra
was happy with her room and the
big closet
that she made into a playroom. She
would
spend hours with her dolls, books
and music
in this playroom.
Our house in Minas was built in 1952 from
stone made at Prawang on the Siak
River and
brought 10 km to Minas. The blocks
were 8”
thick, solid. When the workmen laid
the wall
they did not get the bricks even.
The wall
would have one brick sticking out
and another
recessed. It looked strange, but
was very
functional. At this time we were
in the process
of increasing production and upgrading
the
Minas Field. As a result we had
many bugs
in the electric system. Our electrical
system
was hastily throw together and we
were short
on equipment and personnel. Neither
Texaco
or Chevron had anyone with experience
with
110,000 volt transmission systems.
As can
be imagined, we had a lot of power
failures.
To compound this problem the
area had a lot of fruit bats, which had wing
spans long enough to make contact
with three
wires when they landed on the electrical
high lines. Large snakes would also
get into
our electrical equipment causing
shorts.
This all caused a chain reaction
shutting
down power across the area, including
the
houses. Since we lived in a stone
house,
the house would remain cool for
about 3-4
hours. The people in the wooden
houses were
hot almost immediately.
Cassandra rode a bus 30 km to school in Rumbai.
When we arrived there were several
expat
kids on the bus, but that soon changed
to
Cassandra and another girl. One
day the bus
broke down between Minas and Rumbai.
In their
great wisdom these two geniuses
decided to
walk home. Fortunately, one of the
company
workers came along and gave them
a ride.
Everyone in the area knew the kids
and would
look after them. After taking them
home the
worker came by and told me that
he had taken
them home. When I brought this up
to Cassandra
she couldn't figure out how I knew.
All of
the Indonesians would watch out
for the kids.
They really liked children. The bus was how we got our eggs. You would
give the driver some money and a
note stating
how many eggs you needed when he
picked up
Cassandra. He would buy the eggs
and deliver
them on his return trip.
After about a month I got a call from Customs
that our Barong had arrived. A
Barong was
Indonesian for shipment. I went
down to Rumbai
and got all the paper work cleared
and headed
back to Minas to get there before
the truck.
This day was better than Christmas
because
we now had some of our belongings.
Everyone
was on edge waiting for the truck
to arrive
as if Santa was coming. Finally,
it was at
the side of the house and the anticipation
was high. Yvonne, Cassandra and
the servants
were on edge. It took about three
days before
Yvonne got her nest feathered with
everything
in it place. We now had our stuff
and the
house started looking a little like
a home.
As time went on, Yvonne settled in, but was
not completely happy. The turn around
day
was when I bought her a brand new
little
yellow Toyota Corolla.
Two problems existed with the car; one it
was a stripped down model with standard
shift
and the other was the Indonesian
drivers
license. Subro, our Security Chief,
got her
a license by talking to friends.
She had
never driven a car with standard
transmission.
To solve this problem, I would take
her out
in the jungle on roads to various
oil wells
to teach her to drive a stick shift.
Before
long she had mastered everything
except reverse.
She was always like Al Unser in
reverse.
A new day was dawning, she could
now go to
Rumbai where there were a lot of
other people.
Minas only had 5 expat families
and no children
of Cassandra's age. Now Cassandra
could
stay after school and play with
her friends.
After a hard day at the bridge tables
Yvonne
would pick up Cassandra and head
for Minas.
By the time we left Indonesia the
whole family
agreed that this had to be one of
the greatest
experiences we would experience
stumbling
down the rocky road of life.
Every so often I would get the hair
to have
a Pig BBQ and invite all expats
in the camp
over to eat. It was an elaborate
undertaking.
First I would go visit the Chinese
Pig Farm
and pick out a nice looking pig.
The farmer
would kill, gut and shave it so
I could pick
it up the next day. I would then
stop by
the wood cutters shack and fill
up the pick
up with wood to burn. Assam would
start digging
a hole in the yard. As time went
on I improved
on the spit and set up better shelter
for
the cooks. It was a gala affair
with everyone
sitting under the mango tree drinking
and
talking. Everyone enjoyed this activity,
even the cooks. Servants were used
to turn
the pig, but Assam was in charge
of cooking.
Squeek was allow to participate;
not sure
she enjoyed all the people and activity.
She would not stray far from Yvonne.
Cassandra
would invite her friends to come
up from
Rumbai.
Pig BBQ Pictures 
My work in Minas was the greatest experience
that I had experienced since my
tour with
the Marines. There was more things
to do
than time allotted. I asked Don
Tratt how
much authority did I have to get
things done.
He said I had all I was willing
to take.
The prime goal was to increase the
daily
production in any way possible.
I arrived
and was given the new job of Senior
Petroleum
Engineer for New Field Development.
This
included the new field outside the
Minas
Field. The field names were Kotabatak,
Petapahan,
Lindai, Surinam, and Kasikan. At
this time
the only engineers assigned to the
District
were Petroleum Engineers. This meant
that
the PE was responsible for electrical,
mechanical,
chemical, and construction in addition
to
production engineering. Needless
to say I
had to dig deep to remember the
things from
college. When the boss found out
that I had
developed the maintenance program
for a county
club in Louisiana, I was assigned
the task
or water treatment for the camp.
I worked
with Sastro Periowa, who was in
charge of
Field Service. One of the first
things he
asked me to help with was the horrible
smell
at the mess hall. As it turned out,
I found
that the septic tank was plugged.
We had
a lot of vacuum truck that were
used to supply
water to the drilling and workover
rig which
I told him would clean out the tank.
When
I told Dodo Triwidacdosidi that
I need one
to suck crap out of a septic tank,
he was
skeptical to say the least. After
showing
him the spec on the truck that basically
said that sucking crap was the original
planned
use of the vacuum truck he relented
but,
expressed rather vocal doubts. Most
Indonesians
were very cooperative and really
wanted to
get things done. A lot of expats
did not
grasp this. Indonesians are just
like any
body in the world. Sastro was soon
back in
my office complaining that the septic
tank
still didn't work. The problem this
time
was that the bacteria was not working.
I
got a can of yeast from the mess
hall and
dumped it in the tank. Soon the
water was
running clear. After that Sastro
and I were
friends. I suddenly realized that
my courses
in Chemistry was now being used.
I don't
really thing that I had ever had
to apply
my college training until I got
to Indonesia.
Let me tell you that is one great
feeling
to be able to use your prior training.
I
also worked with Sastro to handle
our Reda
Pumps. I was in charge of all of
the Reda
Pumps for the Minas District. I
had to design
the motors and pumps and to get
the old pumps
repaired. One day while taking an
inventory
in the warehouse yard, I felt that
someone
was watching me, but I was alone
at a distance
from the camp. Finally I look out
into the
jungle and there was a big siamung
hanging
by one arm looking at me. How many people can relate that kind of
story.
To get from the camp to my area was about
30 km. The concept of developing
fields was
to use a Heli Rig to drill the discovery
well. We contracted Bristol Helicopter
company
to transport our rig to the location.
Initially
we would drop a crew as close to
the proposed
location as possible and they would
hack
their way into the jungle until
they found
the seismic line that would take
them to
the exact location of the proposed
well.
See Helicopter Operation The crew would clear the location
by hand
until they had an area large enough
to start
dropping equipment. We broke down
all the
equipment in 3500 pound loads. This
was the
maximum slung load that our helicopter
could
carry. First we dropped a Caterpillar
D8
on the location to aid in clearing
the jungle.
This crew would clear an area for
the rig,
living quarters, and a helipad.
Once the
rig was assembled drilling commenced.
If
the well resulted in a discovery,
it was
plugged for reentry. Plans were
then made
to develop the field. In the area
I was assigned
we built a road from the village
of Kotagora
to Kotabatak and then to Petapahan.
From
this area we could punch secondary
road to
new location instead of dropping
the helirig.
We would use smaller rigs to come
in and
drill and complete the field.
We set up a field base camp in the Petapahan
Field where we had temporary living
quarters,
mess hall, and field maintenance.
I would
spend a lot of time in this camp
while we
developed the area. Sometimes on
the weekend
I would take Cassandra with me and
we would
eat in the mess hall. I like to think that she got something from being
deep into the jungle of Indonesia. This was an area that no man had
every walked until we punched the road through the forest primeval.
I was awe struck with this concept. Granted she was very young, but
I think that I exposed her to many more thing than the average
child would ever experience. This area had several families of
tigers, elephants, and all sorts of wild life. Most people never
get to experience this, but I did. Generally, I did not have a fear
of tigers, but elephants were another story. I could only imagine
rounding a curve and hitting a herd of elephants. Ramming an
elephant with a small car could result in body damage to the car
and the occupant. They would migrate at night searching for
something or other. One night I was waiting on Yules Hittapu to
meet me but he didn't show up at the time agreed. When he finally
got there he told me that he had almost run into a herd of
elephants crossing the road. Fortunately, he managed to get his
pickup shut down before he rammed them. The big bull elephant
stopped and turned toward him with his trunk in the air and making
a loud noise. We asked him what he did. His response was "I did the
only thing I could think of; I blinked the head lights".
Fortunately,
for him it worked. Had he rammed
into the
elephants they would have surely
done him
bodily harm. One morning we went
out to the
new field of Suram and found nothing
but
wreckage. That night elephants had
chose
to stomped everything that we had
installed.
Apparently one of them had attacked
some
of our high voltage equipment. The
voltage
was 12800 volts which should cause
a lot
of shock to a young elephant. I
guess the
shock pissed him off enough to tear
up everything
in the area. I always wondered how
the elephant
survived the encounter with 12800
volts.
Another time on the way to Kasikan
I notice
a group of people milling around
the road surveying the utter destruction
of their
homes. I was able to ascertain that
an elephant
herd had came in the night and destroyed
everything they had. A thing that
impressed
me was the fact that in the middle
of all
this destruction, a lady offered
me a cup
of tea. Tigers I could handle, but
the elephants
worried me.
Tigers were a subject that all expats in
Indonesia talked about, but very
few actually
got the chance to actually see one.
That
was not the case if you worked in
the jungle,
especially in the newer areas that
we were
carving out of forest primeval.
There was
an area along the road between Kotabatak
and the Duri Road that had a family
of Tigers
who at dawn they would come out
of the jungle
and warm themselves on our pipe
lines. We
had 36 inch lines transporting oil
to Dumai
Terminal. Oil in Indonesia would
surface
at around 200 degrees F depending
on the
depth of the well, which
 created
a warm pipe
line. In the early morning before
the sun
assisted in making the pipe hot
it was possible
to lay on the line. The Tigers liked
lie
on the lines to warm up after a
cold night.
The Indonesians would also use these
line
to dry their clothes.
When we were working to punch a
road through
to Kasikan and Lindai I stopped
to talk with
a construction worker at the road
intersection.
Out of the corner of my eye I detected
some
movement. There was a mother tiger
and two
cubs. The three of us quickly jumped
up on
a Caterpillar D8. There we were
out in the
open with three tigers between us
and the
cars. A lot of things were discussed
as to
how to deal with the tigers. The
largest
thing that we could find to fight
off the
tiger was a screw driver. All I
could think
about was a cartoon the I had seen
somewhere,
a picture of a little mouse giving
the finger
to a very large cat. As it turned
out she
kept moving off into the jungle
with her
cubs.
We had a old Tiger that was attacking
the
wood cutters in the north part of
the field.
This Tiger was old and could not
hunt pigs
anymore so he turned to humans.
These wood
cutters would make camp at night
on the area
that had been cleared for the producing
wells.
He would jump in the middle of them
and drag
one of them into the jungle for
his evening
meal. Since the government did not
allow
their people the right to bear arms,
they
were at the mercy to the old Tiger.
However,
the government did allowed Caltex
to possess
one rifle. My neighbor Nasir, Subro,
and
the local police man went out the
next night
to try and stalk the Tiger. Around
midnight
they killed him and brought him
back to camp.
He was very old and had a lot of
scars. Nasir
took him to Pekanbaru and had him
stuffed.
I mentioned the fact that our oil
was very
hot. We would separate the water
and oil
and pump the water into a settling
tank.
One of our foreman was walking
along the
edge of the pit and slipped. He
was scaled
to death.
Pictures of People From Minas
Pictures of Minas
Pictures of People From Rumbai
Pictures Rumbai School
Picture From Rumbai
Pictures From Pekanbaru
Pictures From Isa House
In 1976 I talked Barney Treadway
into transferring
me to Rumbai to work as the Senior
Operations
Engineer. When I told my little
clan about
the transfer, you would have thought that I
had found a secret way into
Heaven.
Now Cassandra could get up and ride
her bike
to school. She would go to school
listening
to the birds and monkeys making
noise in
the jungle around the camp. She
and Yvonne
were so happy, I figured it was
worth it.
I did miss the job in the field.
The good
point was I had a job that kept
me in the
loop as to all the activities that
went on
in Caltex Pacific Indonesia. I made
up the
budget, coordinated the drilling
operation,
developed the exploratory projects
economics
and anything that did not fall under
reservoir
engineering. I got the opportunity
to get
involved in our shipping terminal
at Dumai
and the crude oil transmission system.
It was the second best job I
had in Indonesia.
I was slated to take over engineering
in
the Duri Area, but lost out to another
person.
The man making the decision was
an individual
that I had locked horns with when
we were
young engineers. I was told that
he said
I would get that job over his dead
body.
Our Chief Engineer Bob Smith told
me that
he wanted me to go to Bahrain and
take over
the Reservoir Engineering Department
and
our Managing Director wanted me
to take over
the Jambi Development Project there
in Indonesia.
After a lot of telexes back and
forth to
New York, I got my orders to go
to Bahrain
in the Arabian Gulf.
In 1979 we packed everything that we could not
sell in wooden box and stenciled
Bapco State
of Bahrain on each box, packed our
suit cases
and got on an airplane
to leave
the jungles
of Indonesia. It was a sad day for
everyone.
We were leaving a place that we
were all
the happiest that we had ever been.
We had
a large argument over what to do
with our
monkey Squeek. We wrestled with
putting her
down, but could not do it. Andy
Crook, an
Irish Doctor friend, also agreed
with us
that Squeek should not be killed.
He went
around the camp trying to find a
home for
the monkey. Finally, Eubanks, a
geologist,
agreed to take care of the monkey.
It was
a sad day when were took Squeek
over to their
house and left her. We had had that
monkey
for 6 years.
In 2011 I got an email from Norman & Evelyn
Eddleston who had lived in Rumbai after we left. They sent me the
two pictures below. It looks like Squeek had a good life after we
left. It was great to hear about Squeek after all these
years. It really moved something in both my daughter and I. We
missed her.
The same was true of
our servants.
It was very hard to leave Isa and
Asam. Before
we left Isa had us over to his house
for
supper. I have always been proud
of the fact
that our servant would like us enough
to
invite us to dinner.
Just got to thinking about my going away
party that Bahaki gave. I was given a Garuda bird with the
Indonesia logos on it. I guess Bahaki knew me better than I
thought. I still have it above my desk. Maybe Soemarman had
something to do with this.
Vacations
Vacation 1974
Vacation 1975
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