Monica Lever-Inglis joined Bluewater in 2018 as Operations Superintendent for the Haewene Brim, working in the Aberdeen office. In December 2022 she was promoted to the position of Asset Manager, responsible for leading the Haewene Brim Teams onshore and offshore. 

I joined Bluewater in April 2018 having taken some time out for a full time MSc. I’ve worked in the energy sector since I graduated in 2002 with the majority of my career spent in oil and gas upstream operations - predominantly in the UK and Europe, in a mix of offshore and onshore roles. 

Variety of challenges

Like many jobs in operations no day is the same: but the variety of challenges does keep it interesting! My day job entails keeping an eye on many different things, from budgets to maintenance planning to succession planning, together with the team.  I also now have more exposure to the contractual and commercial side of the business, which has been a learning curve for me. I do find it interesting – finding out where there’s room to negotiate, and where there are hard limitations. There’s no singular training course that could have prepared me for this role and I do feel lucky to have my predecessor here in the Aberdeen office who has been extremely helpful in helping me get to grips with the new role. 

My roles and responsibilities are wide and varied: I’m responsible for managing operations on the asset, which includes responsibilities for those working onshore and offshore as well as the safety, environmental, operational, technical, and financial performance of the Asset. This requires a broad understanding of different business aspects, and the technical side is just one part of that. The internal leadership development programme I followed in 2020 really helped me prepare for my new role. Understanding and interacting with others in different situations was a big part of that. 

Genuinely interested

Cooperation across departments and disciplines here is great and has been needed to help get the HB back into stable production following our yard visit last year. We have an excellent crew and onshore team and we’ve receiving great support from parts of Bluewater and Shell that we don’t usually work directly with to help investigate and remedy the process issues we have been experiencing.  

We’re a small team; while that means we can be busy, we know what we’re responsible and accountable for and its relatively easy to speak to the right person if change is needed. It might sound strange, but one thing I really like about Bluewater is that I feel like a person here; not just a small part of a big corporate machine. People are genuinely interested in each other and look out for one another at all levels of the company. I also enjoy the social aspect and we are lucky to have a very active social committee in the Aberdeen office who plan and facilitate a wide range of events. From quiz nights and family barbeques to beer festivals and the Christmas party, there’s something for everyone. 

Bluewater as a company invests in you and your success - I really do like working here, it’s an enjoyable, friendly place to work and I have no intention to go anywhere else!