Interviewer: Jacob Campbell

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Mr. Neil was referred by David Smith. Mr. Neil spent much of his career with Texaco, and provided valuable information on Nichols State’s 7 and 7 petroleum engineering program, which he completed while working. He agreed to meet me at his office in the Tetra Applied Technologies main building south of Houma.

Mr. Neil was born in Chauvin in 1947. His father worked for Texaco. In 1968, he started working for the company as well, in the kitchen. Over the next several years he was a roustabout and a driller, but realized he would not progress in the company as he wanted to without education. With an advance from Texaco, he started the Nichols 7 and 7 petroleum-engineering program, eventually graduating with a focus on mud engineering. In this capacity he worked for the next 15 years, all throughout the Gulf Coast, California and Virginia. He retired from Texaco in 2001, having spent his final eight years in the office. Not ready to be retired, he took a position with Tetra Applied Technologies, a salvage and recovery company based in Houma. Mr. Neil is in charge of the division that plugs old wells and cleans them up for abandonment.