Retiring --- today!

Today, June 5, 2020 is my last day at Baker Hughes and GaffneyCline. In late 2006, Baker Hughes began the long process of recruiting me away from my consulting business, CMG Petroleum Consulting. Ltd. I was having a lot of fun as a consultant and didn’t really want to join a service company or so I told their CEO at the time, Chad Deaton. He was persuasive and by mid-2007 I was consulting for Baker Hughes and among other things worked on a team that ultimately recommended Baker should buy Geomechanics International (GMI) and Gaffney, Cline & Associates. They made those deals and in early 2008 asked me to come run the combined companies for them. I bought more reservoir companies to add to the group and thoroughly enjoyed my job of “getting Baker Hughes into the reservoir.” When I signed on at Baker Hughes I told Chad that in about three years I was going to leave and he and Martin Craighead (his successor) both knew that. Three and a half years later when I told Martin my wife and I were moving to Hong Kong for 18 months to coordinate our Church’s humanitarian efforts in Asia he was surprised but insistent that I come back --- and I did.

(See https://meehansinchina.blogspot.com/ for details of that 18 months! These were the most fulfilling days of my life.)

When we returned, the reservoir companies I had bought had been integrated into Baker Hughes except for Gaffney, Cline & Associates. This firm remained independent as it does today. I spent some time working with Baker Hughes management on a variety of projects. However, I was selected as the 2016 President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, a job which was to occupy me almost full-time for three years. My travel as President-Elect began in August 2014 and didn’t let up. I am particularly grateful for the company’s support for me as I traveled the world in that role. Someone asked Martin Craighead how my role as SPE President would impact my work at Baker Hughes and he (jokingly?) responded “He will do even less work for us now than before---if that’s possible.”

(See https://2016spepresident.travellerspoint.com/s16/ for some of the details of my SPE adventure!)

When I ended my SPE Presidency, Baker Hughes asked me to lead GaffneyCline. During my tenure we added the Gas/LNG and Carbon Management practice areas. I am convinced they are a particularly strong consulting group and am deeply proud of my association with them.

In February this year I handed over the reins at GaffneyCline and started working some energy transition projects (hydrogen in particular) and some digital ideas. I turned 1000001 at the end of May and have decided to retire from Baker Hughes. Twelve years and just over two months was about four times as long as I had expected to stay but they have (mainly) been good times.

I will be firing up my old company, CMG Petroleum Consulting, Ltd. and you can check in on me including my blog musings at our website, www.fracjob.com

In the meantime should you wish to contact me try [email protected]

Thanks to all the great employees of Baker Hughes I have had the pleasure to work with.Retiring