Mr Durham’s first foray into the world of oil and gas was in 1982 as an exploration geologist for Shell Canada, just prior to joining BHP Petroleum. He was responsible for designing, planning and conducting oil and gas exploration programs.

In 1990, Mr Durham moved to Melbourne to take up the position of Senior Exploration Geologist with BHP Petroleum, a role which would drop him unawares into the Australian pipeline industry. During that time, Mr Durham was responsible for managing oil and gas exploration programs along the coast of northern and southern Australia.

“While we were exploring the Otway region of Victoria, we ended up finding a bunch of gas,” Mr Durham says.

“The company didn’t have many people that could take the discovery and turn it into a producing field, so I was asked if I wanted to take a Commercial Manager’s position, which was specific to developing the Otway Gas Project.

“This eventually led to the construction of a new offshore gas field development and a new transmission pipeline, which linked the field with the Victorian pipeline system and to South Australia through the SEA Gas Pipeline.”

Tackling challenges

Following his position as Commercial Manager, Mr Durham made another move, this time to Sydney, to become BHP’s New South Wales Regional Manager for Gas Marketing in 1997. The role included negotiating commercial agreements that would underpin the construction of a 750 km natural gas pipeline to Sydney that now links the Bass Strait gas fields in Victoria to New South Wales – the Eastern Gas Pipeline (EGP).

“Many thought that the technical and commercial challenges were insurmountable, so it was a thrill to be part of a team that put the commercial agreements in place that allowed construction of the pipeline to commence,” says Mr Durham.

One of the most “nail-biting” moments Mr Durham remembers from working on the EGP was when proponent Duke Energy International oversaw a difficult horizontal directional drilled river crossing, the successful completion of which resulted in a “big sigh of relief”.

Mr Durham personally dealt with the more commercial side of things, which also had its challenges.

“At that stage, most of the regional gas markets were being supplied by single entities,” Mr Durham explains. “In New South Wales’ case, the only supplier was AGL. In the early 1990s, the governments of Australia made the decision that they should open up that industry to competition, and one of our challenges was ensuring that the regulators drafted new access codes that would open up markets and foster competition.”

Mr Durham says building this regulatory framework was important because without open access to the gas market, there would not be the commercial basis to support the decision to invest in the EGP.

“It took us three to five years to build a relationship with and secure gas customers to support the investment decision on the EGP,” he says.

Returning to Melbourne in 2001, Mr Durham assessed oil and gas assets for acquisition as part of the development of BHP Billiton’s coal seam gas (CSG) business in Australia, the US and China in the roles of Commercial Manager – Business Development and Global CSG Business Manager.

In early 2007, Mr Durham joined Perth-based Apache Energy, spending two years as Director – Oil and Gas Marketing, before forming Durham Energy Consulting. In addition to being an APIA Board Member, Mr Durham is also currently on the board of Red Sky Energy and Cady Energy.

Lessons from diversity

Mr Durham’s experiences across these numerous roles have taught him many valuable lessons.

“I have learned that you never know what challenges lay ahead, that the unexpected does happen, that you need to be prepared for things not to go to plan, and to always keep a cool head when dealing with unexpected events, particularly when others are relying on your directions and decisions.”

One such event occurred during the operation of the EGP. Following the Sydney Olympics, the supply to industrial customers was ramped up. Unforeseeably, the increased flow rate dislodged dust particles from the inside of the pipe, which ended up clogging the filters of Marubeni’s Smithfield Power Station, causing it to be shut down.

“We had to mobilise a team of field personnel to regularly insert clean filters for an extended period, as well as sourcing replacement filters from all over Australia and even overseas,” says Mr Durham.

“It was very unexpected. When something like that happens, you just need to come up with a solution and sometimes be very innovative about how you do it.”

However, Mr Durham says the most important lesson he has learnt is “to be patient, listen to good advice and know that perseverance in the right circumstances will often pay off”.

Continuing industry growth

Throughout his years of involvement in the industry, Mr Durham has seen continuous improvement in the quality of design and technical standards of pipelines, as well as in the safety and efficiency of pipeline operation. However, he says there is still more room for growth.

“We need policies and legislation that deliver real greenhouse gas reductions while ensuring that the most cost-effective and efficient fuels – such as natural gas – are treated on a fair and equal basis with other energy sources.”

Mr Durham also comments on strategies for dealing with the availability of human resources. “In the short term, the industry needs to attract and retain people with the core skills required by the industry,” he says. “The industry also needs to train new employees, not only to provide them with the skills to do the job, but to maintain their interest as well.”

“In the longer term, there needs to be more resources applied to training, and further work to promote our industry to attract graduates and skilled workers that are in demand by other industries. We also need to encourage continued growth in the resources sector to ensure that a continuous stream of large-scale projects keeps the workforce employed.”

Mr Durham believes that APIA’s Pipeline Engineer Training Project is a step in the right direction for promoting industry growth, and hopes to see it well established during his time as an APIA Board Member.

“The program examines 20 broad competency areas and breaks these down into 230 very specific competency areas, which outline the core skills and capabilities an engineer needs to have to be able to conduct and operate a pipeline to the standards of the AS2885,” he says.

“There has never been this type of definition of qualifications for a pipeline engineer before, so this is something the industry should be proud of.”

Mr Durham is looking forward to a strong, co-operative relationship between APIA and the Energy Pipelines Co-operative Research Centre (EPCRC).

“The research that is conducted through the EPCRC allows us to construct, manage and operate our pipelines efficiently and safely, and is crucial to our industry being innovative.”