Wind, Waves & Wells with Joe

Three energy podcasters. Three different perspectives. One big conversation about where global energy is heading. In this special crossover episode, I join Stu Turley and Mark LaCour to talk about everything from diesel prices and refinery capacity to energy security, data centres, renewables and the changing global oil market. We get into the problems facing electricity grids, the huge increase i...

In this episode of Wind, Waves & Wells, I sit down with Dan Doyle, oil and gas entrepreneur, author and owner of a hydraulic fracturing company operating across the United States. Dan takes us inside the American fracking industry, explaining how hydraulic fracturing actually works, what it was like building a service company from the ground up and what really happened during the US shale boom...

More than 46 years after the Alexander L. Kielland disaster, questions surrounding what happened, why it happened and how the families were treated have never completely disappeared. In Part Two of my conversation with Dr France, we look beyond the physical failure of the rig and discuss what happened afterwards. Dr France explains how his findings have been received in Norway, why he disputes par...

On 27 March 1980, the Alexander L. Kielland capsized in the North Sea, killing 123 people in one of the worst disasters in the history of the offshore industry. More than four decades later, Dr France believes the accepted explanation does not tell the full story. A welding engineer with 50 years of experience, Dr France has spent years independently investigating the disaster. In Part One of our...

Steve Devereux has spent more than four decades working across the international oil and gas industry, and his career has taken him a long way from where it started. Steve began as an aeronautical engineer before joining Shell in 1979 and learning drilling from the ground up. After training in Holland, he headed to Brunei where he worked his way through the drilling ranks before eventually buildin...

Mark LaCour has spent more than 35 years around the oil and gas industry and is now Editor in Chief of the Oil and Gas Global Network, which has grown into a network of more than 30 industry podcasts. What I enjoyed about this conversation is that we covered an enormous amount of ground. Mark takes me back to how he accidentally found his way into oil and gas, what decades of working international...

Lewis Senior returns to Wind, Waves & Wells almost a year after his first appearance. At 75, Lewis is still travelling, teaching, coaching and helping organisations understand the role personality plays in leadership, communication and safety. Early in our conversation he sums up exactly why he has absolutely no intention of slowing down: “Purpose never retires.” We talk about how Equilibria h...

The offshore 124 kg weight limit has generated plenty of debate. But Diccen Sargent believes there is a much bigger issue that has received almost no attention: offshore lifeboats. Diccen has spent decades working in technical and operational safety across the oil and gas industry, from FPSO projects and major accident risk to drilling, HAZOPs and offshore safety cases. For around ten years, he ha...

Steve Beedie returns to Wind, Waves and Wells for one of the most open and unscripted conversations we have recorded. Steve speaks honestly about living with PTSD, his ongoing ADHD assessment, and why he has finally realised that helping everyone else cannot always come before helping himself. We also discuss the mental health programme he delivered offshore with Equinor, why genuine offshore expe...

After almost twenty years in the energy industry, Finlay Johnston has seen the offshore sector from every angle.   Starting his career in commercial banking before making the jump into oil and gas, Finlay went on to negotiate major drilling contracts, build businesses across the world and play a key role in bringing the Ocean Great White back to work in the UK.   In this episode we discuss what re...

The energy debate has become incredibly tribal. You're either pro oil and gas or pro renewables. But does it really have to be that way? In this episode, I sit down with Tessa Khan, Executive Director of Uplift, for an open discussion on the future of the UK's energy system. The conversation covers offshore jobs, domestic manufacturing, Rosebank, energy security, electricity prices, climate respon...

Both started their careers as Army chefs before making the move offshore. Between them, they have spent more than two decades feeding crews across production platforms, drilling rigs and accommodation vessels. We spoke about what really goes on behind the scenes in an offshore galley. From feeding more than 550 people offshore, to dealing with food complaints, Christmas dinners away from home and...

On the night of 6 July 1988, commercial diver Ed Punchard was working beneath Piper Alpha. Within minutes, he found himself caught in the world's worst offshore oil disaster. Unlike many accounts of Piper Alpha, this conversation comes from someone working below the platform, coordinating dive operations before escaping as the explosions tore through the installation. Ed doesn't just describe what...

On 6 July 1988, 167 men lost their lives in the Piper Alpha disaster. Joe Meanan was one of only 61 survivors. In this episode of Wind, Waves & Wells, Joe shares his first hand account of life offshore in the 1980s, working on Piper Alpha, the night of the disaster, escaping from the platform and the lasting impact it has had on his life. This conversation is not just about what happened on on...

This week I'm joined by Rob Hinton. Rob is a former Royal Navy mine clearance diver, commercial diver, military diving instructor and founder of HoldFast Elite and the HoldFast Schools Mission. We discuss the realities of commercial diving, the risks that come with working underwater, near misses that still stay with him today, and why humour is often a vital coping mechanism in high risk industri...

This week I'm joined by Erik de Haas. Erik has worked across offshore oil and gas, renewables, subsea operations and major marine projects around the world. We discuss why offshore remains a "prove it, not potential" industry, whether the sector really has a skills shortage, and why valuable experience is often being overlooked. We also dive into the energy transition, the risks of an increasingly...

In this episode of Wind, Waves & Wells, I sit down with Ian Garden, Managing Director of RigDeluge and creator of the False Positives documentary. Ian discusses concerns he has raised over more than a decade regarding offshore firefighting systems, emergency response planning, rescue capability and what he describes as the growing gap between safety messaging and operational reality. We talk a...

What happens when an offshore driller hits rock bottom and decides to rebuild his life from the ground up? In this episode, I sit down with Keeley Bell, founder of Silverback GRIT, to discuss offshore life, addiction, mental health, leadership, fitness, and why the energy industry needs to start taking care of its people as seriously as it takes care of its equipment. Keeley shares his journey fro...

This episode is one of the most balanced and honest conversations we’ve had on the podcast. John Underhill, Professor at the University of Aberdeen and Director for Energy Transition, joins me to break down what’s actually happening in the energy world right now. This isn’t about picking sides. It’s about understanding reality. We get into the North Sea, the role of oil and gas in the transition,...

This one is a proper deep dive into the world behind the wells. Juan Cottier joins me to break down what geology actually is, how it fits into oil and gas, and why it’s one of the most misunderstood parts of the industry. We get into how oil is really found, the different stages from exploration through to production, and why geologists spend their careers making decisions with incomplete data. Bu...

Another one from the Jim & Joe Show and this one goes everywhere. We start with what’s kicking off globally UAE, OPEC, the Strait of Hormuz, and where oil prices could be heading Then it turns into exactly what you’d expect Stories from offshore that probably shouldn’t be told Close calls Absolute chaos And a few moments where things could have gone very wrong From diesel spills to dropped gea...

This one goes stateside. Stu Turley, CEO of Sandstone Group and host of Energy Newsbeat, joins me to break down what’s really going on in the energy world right now. We get into the current situation in the US, why California is facing serious energy issues, and how global events like the Strait of Hormuz could have a much bigger impact than people realise. But this is not just headlines. We talk...

This is one of the more honest conversations we’ve had on Wind, Waves & Wells. Omar joins me to talk through a journey that starts in Bradford and ends up offshore, travelling the world in oil and gas. But this one goes far deeper than job titles, projects, or locations. We get into what the industry is really like when you first step into it The egos, the pressure, and the identity that comes...

A new offshore policy is coming… and it’s already dividing the industry. From November, any worker over 124kg won’t be allowed to travel offshore. Simple rule. Massive consequences. In this episode, I sit down with Graham Skinner from Offshore Energies UK to break it all down. Where did the number actually come from? Why now? And what happens to the people who can’t meet it? We get into everything...

16 years on from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. On April 20th 2010, 11 men lost their lives in one of the most significant offshore disasters in modern history. This episode of Wind, Waves & Wells is a re-release of an incredibly important conversation. Leo Lindner was on board the rig that night. He shares what it was like to live and work on Deepwater Horizon in the years leading up to the...