Quotes from conversations with Nigerian upstream oil and gas employees

1. “It doesn’t matter if we are singing
it (digitalisation) at every townhall
meeting. I will join in singing it but
when it comes to actually walking
the talk, I am definitely going to do
something else because I am
trying to protect myself and my
entire village I am feeding. That is
just what it is.”
– Anna, Discipline Engineer (F)

2. “Look, whatever you are doing is
fine. The main thing is that this is
how we have safely been getting
hydrocarbons out of the ground
and going about doing business. It
has worked. I am not sure what
you are up to, you can keep it
going. I won’t stop you except you
get in the way of how I usually do
things.”
– Barry, Discipline Engineer (M)

3. “From time to time, you get
communications talking about what they
are doing or what they have achieved
so far but I haven’t felt anything
personally. It seems more like they are
saying ‘this is what we have done bla
bla bla…’ whereas the individual
employee needs to take an extra
personal step if they want to figure out
what solutions out there that can be
used. So, it is really just emails.”
– Cynthia, Reservoir Engineer (F)

4. “When the person looking up to
you sees that you are not going
for it (digital), why would they go
for it? How do you even know the
effort that people put into it in the
first place? Show us what you
have done, show us what skills
you have acquired. Practice what
you preach.”
– Diana, Reservoir Engineer (F)

5. “To the company at the corporate
level, I do not really exist as
myself. What exists is my number.
I am a number in the system.
When there is a need to reduce
staff strength, it is basically
however the numbers pan out in
their seriatim ranking and then
they cut people off. They try to
remove subjectivity.”
– Ernest, Reservoir Engineer (M)

6. “If I think I have an idea of how to
automate certain parts of my work
process, I am encouraged to, and
it is usually a badge of honour. It
is almost like it is non-negotiable.
If you come up with an idea of
automation, it is automatically
accepted as a good idea, until it is
not. People always want to see
that idea.”
– Fred, Geologist (M)

7. “When you have leadership or
management who do not seem to
understand the ‘whys’ of certain
suggestions in terms of growing
digital competencies, you see
where they try to force a square
peg in a round hole. So, you see
cases where I am not technical,
but I am being asked to do core
technical courses. None of which I
am interested in.”
– George, Technology Specialist
(M)