Audio Only.

Interviewer(s): T. Priest. Houston, TX

Affiliation: University of Houston/History International

Ken Arnold worked for Shell Oil Company from the 1960's to the 1980's. He is now CEO of Paragon Engineering Services in Houston. Arnold got into the oil field in 1964. He graduated from Cornell with a degree in civil engineering and went to work for Shell in New Orleans. From there, he was transferred to the head office in New York City where he worked in the production department. He also worked a year in head office transportation and supplies and another year in manufacturing / engineering (refinery work). He was transferred back to New Orleans as section supervisor of mechanical engineering in the Delta Division. In 1971, Arnold moved to offshore operations as a section leader and division mechanical engineer. Four years later, he transferred to Bellaire Research Center as the manager of the production operations research department. Arnold spent his last couple of years with Shell as engineering manager of the mid-Continent production division (west Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Michigan). After leaving Shell, he opened Paragon with a partner.

J. Frank Davis went to work for Shell in 1958. He grew up in the oil fields and got a degree in electrical engineering from Texas Tech. His first job was with W. A. Bill Farmer Construction in 1943. Over the years, he worked on drilling rigs, pulling units, and doing construction and roustabout work. He was in the Houston area gas department as plant engineer, project manager building gas trading plants, gas liquid recovery plants, compression plants, and gathering systems. He was construction inspector and first plant engineer at Shell's first sour gas operation in the United States.