Page 17 - FINAL Phillips 66 50 Year Book

Meanwhile, the company set about staffing the soon-to-be-opened
refinery. While it wanted to remain true to its policy of recruiting locally
that country’s population whenever and wherever possible, it was clear
people with the necessary expertise and experience were essential.

Enter Scotsman George Peters as refinery manager. He, alongside
American Lou Parks and personnel manager Dick Kearton, set about
finding that talent. Their task was to recruit and train an initial 250 local
men by the time the refinery was ready for commissioning. This they did,
and many of them came from the fishing or food processing industries
the area is famous for.

As luck would have it, Kuwait and Bahrain had nationalised their oil
industries, meaning there were many experienced British personnel
in the market for jobs. The trio also brought in several key managers
from Conoco’s US refineries – so many that the nearby village of Ulceby,
where they settled, became known as Little America.

With construction at the half-way point, the company’s progressive
thinking came to the fore once again: this time, involving communication.
On August 5, 1968, one of the very latest Private Automatic Branch
Exchanges – only the second one of this type – was installed. The
telephone system was automatic and took over much of the manual
work which had to be done on earlier exchanges. It is a prime example
of how much thought and detail went into the preparation and planning
of the Humber Refinery, laying the innovative foundations we are proud
of today.

Above and left: Coke drums being lifted into place.