The Perfectionist
Dr Andy Wood, Shell Country Chairman has struck a perfect balance between the call of duty and his personal life writes Mayank Singh

A theatre enthusiast, avid sailor, geologist and oil man – Dr Andy Wood, Shell Country Chairman for Oman, is a man with multifarious talents. A self-confessed perfectionist, Dr Wood has pursued his work and hobbies with a similar determination and passion, learning and drawing from all his experiences. As he settles down on a sofa in his office for an interview, one notices that his conversations are intercepted with thoughtful pauses. An unhurried and calm demeanour reflects a man who is at ease with himself and his surroundings. He says in a philosophical vein, “Exploration for oil and gas is as much an art as a science. When you drill a well it rarely turns out quite the way you expect; sometimes it is better and sometimes it is worse, but always different. So it is important to have some humility and keep in mind not just what one knows but how much one doesn’t know!” A career geologist himself, his experience in the oil and gas business seems to have left an imprint on his personality.

Going back a long way
Accompanying his parents on trekking holidays around Britain during his growing years kindled an interest in physical geography. Taking up geology at university was a natural progression of this childhood interest. After reading Natural Sciences at Cambridge, he went on to study for a doctorate at Oxford. Dr Wood recollects the excitement of his college days in the early 1970s as revolutionary new concepts in geology like plate tectonics and sea-floor spreading were taking shape at that time. As a student he was privileged to interact with lecturers who were teaching these concepts as they developed.

He joined Shell in 1980 and has now worked with the oil and gas major for almost 29 years. Dr Wood fondly remembers the first of his three tenures in Oman way back in 1981 as a young exploration geologist seconded to Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). “It was an exciting time; we were shooting seismic, drilling wells and making discoveries of some of the big fields in South Oman like Nimr.” He came back to the Sultanate in 1992 as PDO’s Exploration Director at the time that major new gas discoveries in Central Oman were being appraised. His third posting to Oman as a Shell Country Chairman in September 2003 has thus been a homecoming of sorts for Dr Wood.

Sailor at heart
Like geology, it was another childhood experience that planted the seeds of a lifelong passion for sailing in him. Says Wood, “I got into sailing by reading Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series of children’s books. These were not only great adventure stories but also served as very effective sailing manuals, explaining all the principles of sailing.” Coming from a family of walkers rather than sailors, he found little encouragement at home to pursue sailing. It was only at University that he finally got a chance to pursue his childhood dream of sailing across the English Channel to France and the Channel Islands.

He recalls a terrifying sailing experience on one such trip, finding himself in the shipping lanes off France armed only with a compass, an echo sounder and a small foghorn on a day when thick fog clouded visibility completely. “We could hear the engines of passing ships without seeing them till they were at very close range which was pretty scary,” says Dr Wood. Undeterred, he has gone on to either own a boat or to charter one during his postings around the globe. Though he enjoys sailing in Oman and is an avid supporter of the ‘Oman Sail’ initiative his work commitments don’t allow him to sail as often as he would like. “And the wind never seems to blow on a weekend!” He bemoans. His post retirement plans include sailing around Great Britain and Ireland.

A performer at heart
Theatre is a passion that he shares with his better half, Tricia, who besides acting, used to be part of the Welsh folk group as a teenager. Dr Wood himself has been a part of performing art groups since his school days. He still cherishes the part of Face that he played in The Alchemist whilst at school. “It gave me a chance to impersonate all sorts of different characters,” he says. The couple has been involved during their Oman postings with the Muscat Amateur Theatre group since 1982 when they both appeared in Table Manners. Says Wood, “It is nice to do something that is a complete break from work, artistic and – hopefully – appreciated by the community.” As every actor on stage is dependent on each other, he believes that stage performances teach people to operate effectively as teams. “A production is after all only as strong as its weakest link.”

He chuckles recalling a production of Noises Off in Nigeria. As the expatriate community was small, by the time the play was staged almost every member of the community was involved with some aspect of the play and it took some effort to find an audience to watch it!

Leadership traits
Having risen through the ranks to the highest echelons of the corporate sector, Dr Wood feels that the most important ability for the head of an organisation is an ability to communicate, both with his team and to the outside world. “If the head of an organisation is aloof from his customers and staff then the company cannot move forward. A leader needs to have a vision and should be able to communicate this to the people around him. They need a clear idea of where the organisation they are part of is going, and what they are there to do.” As the Exploration Director of PDO, his office used to overlook the sea where the sight of tankers lined up ready to load crude for export provided a powerful reminder of what he was in Oman to achieve. As a manager he believes in setting targets for his team and giving them the space to achieve them. Having spent his entire career in technical and techno-managerial jobs his posting as the Shell Country Chairman proved to be a new learning experience for Dr Wood. “It was a job that required a different skill set, in particular relationship management.” His knowledge and love of Oman and his experience however helped him to settle in his new avatar with relative ease.

He looks back with obvious pride on a number of things – one, the way a generation of Shell people like him have contributed to the development of PDO into a world class oil and gas company and how capable and experienced people from PDO have gone on to make their mark across various sectors of the economy. “I have enjoyed coaching, mentoring and working alongside talented Omanis throughout my career.” Dr Wood is himself an embodiment of the best traditions of Shell and PDO.

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